'I'd given up on Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon clawed me right back in'
It's no secret that the ending of Game of Thrones was hugely disappointing, after years of wondering who would end up on the Iron Throne viewers were met with the worst possible outcome in 2019 when instead of Daenerys Targaryen we got Bran the Broken.
I remember that day well, not wanting to risk spoilers I woke up at the crack of dawn to watch the finale as soon as it was available. A friend stayed over to make a movie night (morning?) out of it, and at 2am we were ready and buzzing with excitement as the iconic opening credits began, it didn't take long for that feeling to sour into bitter disappointment.
It hurt when Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) was unceremoniously killed by Jon Snow (Kit Harington), and the knife was only twisted further when Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) argued for Bran to be king — a character the showrunners didn't think was important enough to use for a whole season and yet was suddenly worthy to sit the Iron Throne.
By the time the show ended, and Jon Snow walked away from his destiny by going beyond the Wall, something shifted, not only in the pop culture landscape but also in me. I was angry, so angry in fact that even hearing the name Game of Thrones filled me with annoyance over what had happened in the finale.
I couldn't even bring myself to read the remainder of George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books that I had —one and a half to be precise— and any word of spin-offs either didn't interest me anymore or filled me with dread. And then House of the Dragon was released.
At first I was resistant to the idea of returning to Westeros, the anger was still too fresh in my mind but working in this industry meant I needed to (first world problems, I know). So I put aside my reservations and pressed play, and though the pilot made me think it would be more of the same, it wasn't long before I was sucked into the narrative.
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Showrunner Ryan Condal has taken a slow burn approach to the story, with the first season —which he worked on with co-showrunner Miguel Sapochnik— using time jumps to explore the lives of Rhaenyra Targaryen (first played by Milly Alcock then Emma D'Arcy) and Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey, then Olivia Cooke). We watched them grow, and became invested in their lives, their hopes and dreams.
We saw their friendship begin to strain as the years took their toll, until ultimately it all fell apart when Rhaenyra's father Viserys (Paddy Considine) died and Alicent put her son Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney) on the throne instead. Rhaenyra and her uncle-husband Daemon (Matt Smith) were on one side, and Alicent and her children were on the other — by that point the show had me hook, line and sinker.
Season 2 has only added to this sentiment, as the writers have brought the Dance of the Dragons to the small screen in wonderfully, intricate detail with every betrayal and bloodcurdling death hitting more ferociously than the last.
It's true that in some ways House of the Dragon feels smaller than its predecessor, we are, for all intents and purposes, watching a family spat of the telenovela kind unfold before us. There aren't nearly as many characters as Game of Thrones to get invested in, but if anything this more contained approach works just as well.
House of the Dragon may owe much of its success to the way the flagship series changed the cultural landscape, but in turn it is making up for the way Game of Thrones ended. There's also something that House of the Dragon has in spades that took Game of Thrones years to deliver on — yes, you guessed it, dragons.
Something as simple as seeing the Targaryen dragons battle it out is so satisfying, season 2's fourth episode was breathtaking for its fiery action and upped the stakes in devastating ways. It is exactly what I wanted more of in the flagship show but we weren't able to get because there just weren't enough dragons around.
The advantage that House of the Dragon has over Game of Thrones is that Martin has finished the story in his book Fire & Blood, which focuses on the history of the Targaryen dynasty. In that sense, House of the Dragon will logically do something that the flagship series wasn't able to do: give viewers a satisfying ending.
Season 2's finale may not have landed as well as the writers might have hoped, given it felt more like a prelude to season 3 than a truly breathtaking finale, but there is every reason to believe the slow burn narrative will pay off. The fact that the writers are working towards a conclusion that has been set out in full by the author is something to be excited about, and the wait should hopefully be worth it.
What is perhaps unexpected —but still welcome— is how House of the Dragon has been able to undo the damage of that truly awful Game of Thrones finale. I was ready to call it quits, to never return to Westeros again, to not bother waiting for Martin to finish the books (though the jury's out on whether he ever will), but that's all changed.
I'm invested in this world again even though I thought I'd moved on, and that is testament to the power of House of the Dragon. With war on the horizon in the HBO series, I for one can't wait to see how it all plays out.
House of the Dragon season 2 is out now in full on Sky and NOW.
This article originally appeared on Yahoo TV UK at https://uk.news.yahoo.com/game-thrones-house-dragon-given-up-133524533.html
