A new House of the Dragon TV show poster gives Game of Thrones fans their best look yet at a Targaryen dragon from the prequel spinoff. The first GoT spinoff draws its story from George R.R. Martin’s novel Fire & Blood. Set 200 years before the events of the original HBO fantasy series, House of the Dragon explores the history of the infamous Targaryen family and their loyal dragons.
Game of Thrones of course featured the long rise and sudden fall of Daenerys Targaryen, and the return of her family’s mythical dragons after hundreds of years. In the new prequel, the Targaryens rule the Seven Kingdoms with King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) sitting on the Iron Throne and his brother Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) in play as the heir presumptive. There’s also Viserys’ daughter Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), who is a dragonrider like her uncle Daemon (and eventual descendant Daenerys).
D’Arcy’s Princess Rhaenyra indeed makes an appearance in a newly released House of the Dragon poster from HBO. But the real star of the image is the giant sword-melting dragon looming behind the princess, symbolizing the might of the Targaryens (and representing one of the the main hooks of the new show). See the dramatic image in the space below:
The dragon featured in the above image is presumed to be Syrax, a female whom Rhaenyra first rides when the young princess is only seven. Indeed dragons will be a big part of the action in House of the Dragon (the word “dragon” is after all literally in the title), but politics will naturally also play a big role in the Game of Thrones prequel. The storyline of House of the Dragon in fact tackles the civil war that ensues as King Viserys’ place on the Iron Throne comes into dispute, with House Targaryen splitting into two factions, one led by Rhaenyra and one by Lady Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke), the king’s second wife and the mother of his male heirs.
Indeed the chess game over the Iron Throne and who should sit upon it played a huge role in the original Game of Thrones too. Ultimately, Daenerys Targaryen proved to have a huge advantage in this game by being able to command weapons of mass destruction in a trio of dragons. But as GoT fans finally learned, just having dragons on one’s side isn’t necessarily enough to ensure long-term possession of the throne. A similar story will now seemingly play out on House of the Dragon, proving the adage that history doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes (especially in fantasy stories). House of the Dragon fills in more information about the long saga of House Targaryen when it arrives on HBO on August 21, 2022.
Source: HBO