Foreign [Music] Ly for the sake of comparison I decided To refresh my memory on the first season Of Game of Thrones it had been a while So why not watch some of the highlights Like the premiere the finale Bay lore And see how it Stacks up to the first Season of House of the Dragon Something funny happened I couldn't find Any episodes that I wanted to skip and Ended up accidentally binging the entire Season in two days it's just that good Quickly introducing and then masterfully Building on some of the best characters In modern media how could you not root For the ever Noble Starks Rue the Existence of Joffrey Baratheon laugh With Tyrion Lannister or grow invested In the plight of Daenerys Targaryen it May not have the production value of Later Seasons but it's easily one of the Most confident and competent debuts in TV history interestingly enough for as Much as it spin-off house the dragon Attempted to recreate the tone of Game Of Thrones to the point where other Spin-offs were reportedly canceled for Not being Game of Thrones enough it's a Significant departure in terms of story Structure and characterization once we Get that familiar opening theme the Differences grow Starker pun intended From there with characters that have
Much grayer morality you can't argue That house the dragon's Hefty budget Shows where Game of Thrones season 1 had Very little fantasy both by the nature Of its lot and likely buy budget Restraints that grew much looser later In its run House of the Dragon gives us Incredible action scenes with full-grown Dragons but in terms of its storytelling Its different approach has mixed results [Music] Perhaps the most instantly noticeable Difference between house the dragon and Game of Thrones is the fact that we're Able to stay focused on the targaryens And those around them for the entirety Of house the Dragon season 1. that's Something that will likely change moving Forward now that the battle lines and The dance of the dragons have been drawn [Music] Meanwhile Game of Thrones constantly Jumped around from Winterfell to King's Landing to the lands across the narrow Sea and well you get it there was a lot Of hopping around looking back at it now It's incredibly admirable how much World Building Game of Thrones was able to do In that first season it had to make us Immediately invested in the Starks Lannisters targaryens the Dothraki and a Whole bunch of groups in between while Sneakily weaving in hundreds of years of History do we really care about John
Aaron some guy that everyone tells us Was a solid dude but was apparently Unjustly murdered everybody knows that Yes yeah yes of course not really but we Are made to care about how its Ripple Effects impact the lives of people like Ned Stark plus Jaime Lannister shoving a Sweet kid out a window to hide the fact That he's screwing his sister is a Pretty solid way to build Intrigue in The pilot things I do for love That said there are a few times when the Game of Thrones structure does prove Frustrating when we're on the edge of Our seats waiting to see what will Happen as tension grows around Ned in King's Landing Did warn you not to trust me it'll tear Us away to check up on Daenerys or to Show Jon Snow adjusting to life in the Night's Watch it's a problem that house The dragon doesn't have to worry about And that's often a relief it gives us Time to grow to love this sweet bond Between rhaenyra and Allison before Slowly eroding it and their Heartbreaking falling out is the best Part of season one it also gives us a Chance to see the layers beneath the Well-intentioned but weak and passive Visares these sad and often cruel Relationship between father and daughter Allison and Otto and the sexual tension Between uncle and niece Rainer and Damon
And by the way I'm not happy about the Words sexual tension between uncle and Niece either but such as House of the Dragon where the house of the Dragon Approach frequently faced issues though Is in the massive time jumps they often Have the same drawback as Game of Thrones as branching narrative but Instead of tearing us from a character We wanted to see more of it'd Rob us of The immediate aftermath we might have Otherwise seen plus while Emma Darcy has Done an incredible job as the adult Rhaenyra I did find myself of missing The impeccable work of Millie elcock Seeing that aftermath likely would have Better contextualized some of the Characters decisions like in the case of The previously cool-headed raineys Bursting through the dragon pit but it Also didn't allow us to get attached to Characters outside of rhaenyra Alice and Damon and viserys this is most jarring Comparison wise in the finale where the Big death is that of luceri's Luke Valerian it's made clear quickly that He's a nice kid but aside from some Sympathetic scenes in that final episode We're not given a chance to get to know Him all that well that doesn't mean it's Not heartbreaking when vegar decides to Take a big old bite out of him and his Much smaller Dragon a-racks but that Doesn't hold a candle to when Game of
Thrones offed its own main character Foreign To this day it hurts to watch Ned Stark Lose his head in Baylor we had plenty of Time to grow to love him and his Noble Ways something we can't say for Luke I'm Furious at aemond but not nearly as Furious as I was at Joffrey very amusing But even if they falter in their Execution here and there both approaches Are smart ways to cover a lot of ground Quickly and have us get to know the many Players at its Center the crown cannot Stand strong at the house of the Dragon Remains divided The other most prominent difference Between the two shows is how quickly Game of Thrones establishes good guys And bad guys right from the jump we get To know Ned as an honorable man and Loving father and Daenerys is Immediately sympathetic always at the Mercy of the whims of her horrible Abusive brother meanwhile it only takes Joffrey two episodes to get an innocent Butcher's boy killed and we already Mentioned that we're introduced to Jaime And Cersei by the whole shoving a kid Out the window thing that's not to say There aren't more ambiguous characters On the sidelines it's hard to know what To immediately make of the sly varies in Littlefinger or the Brash but humorous Robert Baratheon but we know pretty
Quickly which size we should be taking No no the characters in House of the Dragon meanwhile vary infinitely more in Their morals and that's by Design coach Showing her Miguel sapachnick previously Told IGN that hopefully they'll start With one and then they'll switch the Other and then they'll go back and forth And they'll be the greens and the blacks And they won't be able to decide which Is which and people will have fights and Bars over it Rainer who could be called The main character of this series is far From an upstanding citizen but it's also Easy to feel for her plight as she Struggles against westerosa's patriarchy And the obligations of the crown it gets Even Messier from there viserys means Well and wants to maintain peace among The realm and with his daughter but his Greed for a son leads to his first Wife's torturous death Allison betrays Her best friend and has raised some Absolutely insufferable Sons with Viserys but you can see the love she Still holds for rhinera and the ways in Which she struggles with being a pawn For the men in her life and then you Have Damon a character who's well Objectively horrible but hey he still Loves his brother and it hard not to Love Matt Smith's incredible acting That's something that's consistent Across the board Patty considine in
Particular did a fantastic job showing The many complexities beneath viserys And hey humans are messy house the Dragon understands that and portrays it Well even if it's sometimes stunted by Those aforementioned time jumps it's no Doubt an intriguing approach and in fact It's where most of House of the dragon's Intrigue came from where Game of Thrones Season 1 largely focused on two Central Mysteries who killed John Aaron and will Bran remember who tried to kill him House the dragon leaves us wondering Just how many war crimes Damon will Commit in a given episode that's kind of A joke but really we're waiting to see Whose side will be on something that can Easily shift from episode to episode Foreign Still there are times when I missed Having someone to more clearly root for In-house the dragon sure there are more Noble characters like Harwin strong but They tend to be killed off pretty Quickly I find myself on team black not Because I like rhaenyra and Damon so Much but because I can't bring myself to Root for Kristen Cole or Allison's awful Sons and Despicable as they may be even They aren't as hateable as Joffrey Baratheon quite yet plus there are times Where house the dragon feels Oppressively dark basically it could Have used a Tyrion someone to lighten
The mood now and again I still laugh at His confession in the veil when I was Seven I saw a servant good Bathing in the river I stole her robe She was forced to return to the castle Naked and in tears If I closed my eyes I could still see Her tits bouncing it may be unfair to Compare the characters of house the Dragon to the now iconic ones of Game of Thrones but it's a comparison that's Inevitable House of the Dragon whether It likes it or not will always be put up Against the Mothership On that note it doesn't seem like house The dragon is even shying away from that Comparison much has been made about its Decision to stick with the same exact Theme song from Game of Thrones but even Before that it doesn't hide its source It opens after all with a text card Telling us where we are in Westeros History at the moment with the words Fading away until all that reads is 172 Years before Daenerys Targaryen I mean Points for self-awareness they know who We're here for and while it's a bomb to Not have to get to know these different Houses so quickly when house the dragon Brings up the Starks Lannisters and Baratheons it can rest assured that Audiences know exactly what that means Krugenstock is
Close to your age then to mine I would Hope that as men you can find some Common interest it also faces the Classic prequel problem we know much Later down the line that the targaryens Are going to lose after all we already Watched their descendants fall but what House the dragon is determined to do is Make us care about those characters in The meantime and that's all any prequel Can hope for it may not have all the Unpredictability of Game of Thrones but It does have some damn complex Characters so what's better Game of Thrones season 1 or house the dragon so Far well it kind of depends do you Prefer moral ambiguity or a clearer Fight between mostly good and evil I may Prefer the charms and drama of Game of Thrones but it's also a relief to stick With one group throughout house the Dragon and either way you're gonna get Some messiness in the narrative Structure when all is said and done the Comparison between house the dragon and Game of Thrones may not be as Straightforward as it initially seems Credit to House of the Dragon for Carving something of its own path the World may be the same but the stories Told within it are talkingly different For more on House of the Dragon check Out why it changed the book canon in a Major way and watch a sword expert react
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