3 Attachment(s)
House Of The Dragon Will Fix GOT’s Most Controversial Daenerys Episode
Rhaenyra Targaryen's (Emma D'Arcy) story in House of the Dragon can help to fix and better explain a controversial Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) episode of Game of Thrones. House of the Dragon's timeline begins just under 200 years before Game of Thrones; it's a very different Westeros with very different characters, but the two will still impact one another. Much like the prequel will inevitably be compared to its parent show - both at its best and worst - but House of the Dragon can also change Game of Thrones, shedding new light on events, locations, and so on.
This is particularly true of House Targaryen, the history of which will be explored in much more depth in House of the Dragon. Game of Thrones only had one true Targaryen main character (discounting Kit Harington's Jon Snow), and never more than two Targaryens in any given scene. In contrast, the spinoff will be centered around the Targaryens, from ruling King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) to his brother, Daemon (Matt Smith), and from Rhaenys (Eve Best), the Queen Who Never Was, to Viserys' children with whom Rhaenyra will go to war. House of the Dragon can flesh out House Targaryen far more, which can then reframe how Daenerys herself is seen, giving greater understanding to her actions and motivations.
That's particularly true of Rhaenyra's story, and one part of it in particular resembles the highly controversial turn that saw Daenerys burn King's Landing in Game of Thrones season 8, episode 5, "The Bells." That episode marked the point of no return for Dany, who delivered on the promise of taking what she believed to be rightfully hers by fire and blood (and then some), and was criticized for how much it suddenly changed her character, in particular without full explanation or justification. Whether that's correct or not, it's not too dissimilar to events in House of the Dragon's story. During the Dance of the Dragons, Rhaenyra (previously based on Dragonstone) is able to take King's Landing. It doesn't come with the same destruction, but there are interesting parallels in how it plays out (down to the ringing of the bells), which indeed could well be magnified on screen for more dragon action and help to better contextualize Daenerys' turn. In George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, it's described as:
House Of The Dragon's Rhaenyra Can Make Daenerys' Game Of Thrones Story Better
Although the House of the Dragon trailer perhaps makes them seem a little more alike, Rhaenyra and Daenerys are very different characters and it's overly simplistic to portray the former as the latter's equivalent in this story, but there are some similarities. Both are people who spend much of their lives believing in the Iron Throne belonging to them (or their family, for a good chunk of Dany's tale), who are incredibly ambitious, are backed by dragons and great armies alike, and ultimately will do whatever it takes to achieve the power they see as theirs. They are driven by the idea of their right to rule, and unfortunately that leads both to making some terrible, often fatal decisions.
Daenerys sought to make the world a better place (or at least convinced herself of that); Rhaenyra had no such lofty goals, yet both came to Westeros, took King's Landing, and left it in a worse state than before. Importantly, though, this is baked into Rhaenyra's House of the Dragon story from early on. With the show setting up the Targaryen civil war, then it will quickly get to the point where viewers see how driven and ruthless she is for the Iron Throne, and then follow along as she'll do whatever necessary for it and her family (such as killing people who suggest her children are bastards).
This can deliver where Daenerys' story failed; not so much in the exact same destination, but in properly developing that journey. Rhaenyra herself grows increasingly cruel, but there's also an understanding of why she goes to such lengths; she's not a great ruler, but viewers can see that fully play out in a way they didn't with Daenerys in Game of Thrones' "The Bells." It's also worth noting that both Targaryens taking King's Landing is also the beginning of the end for their stories: for Dany, it leads to her death an episode later; it's a slower process for Rhaenyra, but from that point on she is faced with a lot of political struggles and the smallfolk increasingly turn against her as she moves from would-be Queen to the grim realities of rule.
In doing all that, it will reflect that back on Daenerys and Game of Thrones' ending; there will be more context for how a Targaryen can be driven to that Westerosi concept of "madness," of what someone will do when denied their birthright and they have the equivalent of nuclear weapons at their disposal, and of how someone once seen as a force for good (Rhaenyra was "the Realm's Delight" early on) can become so twisted. House of the Dragon's Rhaenyra should be judged on her own terms, but will nonetheless be an interesting comparison point to Daenerys, someone who is arguably a "better" or at least more idealistic person, yet follows a similar path. Game of Thrones could have done more in fleshing out Daenerys' thought process along the way to her destroying King's Landing in "The Bells," but Rhaenyra is a chance to see similar events play out with much greater context and more depth to them.
