House of the Dragon is not doing the job towards the Game of Thrones demonstrate ending

The far more Residence of the Dragon dives into the mysteries of the Targaryens’ earlier, the less it appears to just take spot in the similar universe as Recreation of Thrones. Whilst the series may well be a prequel to Activity of Thrones, it is becoming apparent that the show’s imaginative team is cozy diverging from the original, concluded HBO sequence in favor of a tale that is even now ongoing in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fireplace e book sequence. By Martin’s own account, his books are setting up a lengthier and considerably more complicated ending.

[Ed. note: This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones, all of A Song of Ice and Fire, and the first eight episodes of House of the Dragon.]

The division among Home of the Dragon and Sport of Thrones is additional about themes and emotions than it is about plot, at the very least correct now. In Residence of the Dragon episode 8, “The Lord of the Tides,” the clearly show delved even deeper into Aegon the Conqueror’s royal prophecy, which indicates a Targaryen has to sit on the Iron Throne to help save Westeros from a frozen and fatal risk that waits to the north.

As much as this prophecy serves clear worth for A Song of Ice and Fire followers, who know the place the story is going, and that The Other people are on their way, its impression on Home of the Dragon is substantially additional rapid. The prophecy is an animating power for the series’ figures. Every single man or woman that interacts with it does so in a absolutely diverse fashion, allowing the ideas of fate, fortune, and future shape their planet and selections in one of a kind strategies.

Picture: Ollie Upton / HBO

For Viserys, the prophecy is a final legacy that must be passed on, the duty of a king to guard his realm and men and women. For Rhaenyra, it’s a lifelong sword of Damocles, a threatening accountability she carries as she moves towards the Iron Throne. For Alicent, and perhaps for her kids, it is a misunderstood warning, a past-moment signal that Viserys may possibly have adjusted his mind on who the realm truly requirements to rule just after his dying.

Long right before this prophecy manifests in Westeros, it is guiding the palms of all people who hears it and major them to condition the gatherings of background. When Sport of Thrones in no way managed this kind of complicated marriage with the premonitions in its tale, the idea that a premonition could shape motion is critical to Martin’s books. In A Track of Ice and Hearth, as with numerous fantasy sequence, it often issues less no matter if a prophecy is accurate or not, and far more how the threats or promises it provides guidebook the decisions of the folks it’s about.

But the marriage in between Home of the Dragon and its predecessor display is more than just thematically tenuous at this position. According to Home of the Dragon showrunner, Ryan Condal, the addition of the Aegon’s prophecy is a person that arrived from Martin himself, and presented how lots of different occasions Martin has penned variations of this prophecy (or identical ones) into A Music of Ice and Hearth, his doubling down here certainly appears crucial. And if it is significant, then it need to signify that the series’ ending can’t be the exact same as the 1 from HBO’s Video game of Thrones where by it rarely mattered at all.

Photo: Ollie Upton/HBO

The invasion of the White Walkers in HBO’s sequence was a brief affair, and generally amounted to an episode-extensive struggle at Winterfell in the dead of Westeros’ coldest and darkest year. Several major people were at any time put in genuine threat, the south was by no means concerned, and the premier, most existential risk in the series was dispatched with just a jab from a dagger we now know belonged to King Viserys. It was anticlimactic to say the minimum, but Home of the Dragon offers us our newest instance that it is also probably not the fate meant for the conflict in the book.

Just after all, if the only way to conserve the 7 Kingdoms is for a Targaryen to unite them and sit on the Iron Throne, then points have to alter, because the throne and most of Westeros did not enjoy a component in the Very long Evening, and no Targaryen truly sat the Iron Throne. As an alternative, it appears to be that this is pointing toward an eventual foreseeable future where Jon Snow is discovered as a Targaryen and winds up ruling the kingdom, or Daenerys could conclusion up with a organization ample grasp on actuality to supply the realm from The Other folks just before items go incorrect. Or perhaps even somebody else. Possibly way, it looks like the conclusion of Martin’s saga will be various from the functions we noticed in HBO’s Sport of Thrones, and that the Extensive Night in the textbooks could be a lot longer and extra bleak.

There’s no way to know for sure precisely how Martin’s e book series will conclusion, or what aspects it will or will not improve from the HBO collection. But at the really minimum, it looks that Dwelling of the Dragon is heading a lot more towards the ending admirers anticipate from A Tune of Ice and Fireplace than the one that disappointed lots of back again in 2019. It also doesn’t harm to know that Home of the Dragon is obtaining as many episodes as it demands to end its tale, in contrast to its predecessor.