As you probably know by now, House of the Dragon is a prequel. The Game of Thrones spinoff, based on George R.R. Martin’s Fire and Blood, takes place nearly 200 years before the events of the original HBO series. Unlike the original series, which ran out of material to adapt by the end of its fifth season, the fictional history of Martin has already published major details of the Targaryen dynasty. If you want to know how the story ends, you can just as easily Google it — or, you know, read a book.
But since some of The Ringer staffers haven’t read any of Martin’s novels yet, we decided to create this weekly precap for those of you who are clueless as to what will happen next. Is. It’s a dialogue with viewers treating House of the Dragon like a good ol’ mystery box that twists and turns from week to week. Without further ado, let’s move on to this week’s pointers:
After watching the first episode of Burning Question: House of the Dragon in Episode 2, which character do you think is most likely to betray King Viserys Targaryen?
Claire McNear: Otto Hightower. Although the show has done an excellent job of teasing out the betrayal from within the royal bloodshed, I’m going with the shrewd hand of the king. The series premiere was heavy on the hint that Otto’s daughter, Alicent, has an important, special relationship with the king.
We don’t know exactly where things lead up to the ubiquitination of the Y chromosome, but it doesn’t seem too much of a stretch to think that Otto had a very specific goal in mind when he told Alicent to go. He asked for his mother’s dress which the king liked.
The problem, of course, is that Viserys now supports Rainera as its successor. Should Alicent sit in the birthing chair with a claimant of her own—a male, in particular—I would not allow Otto to pass that on to her royal in-laws and her grandchildren. An opening for the Regent, you say?
Khal Davenport: Game of Thrones deals with the politics of running the states and the struggle to regain that power, and my gut is telling me that Damon Targaryen would be the one to betray his older brother. After sitting on the Iron Throne and then carrying it away—in fairness, because of a lewd remark he made about the king’s dead son—Damon is furious, and we’ve seen him go whenever he sees fit.
I am not opposing the members of the court of King Viserys who have reasons to remove Damon from his position; He himself gave a convincing argument as to why Damon would betray his brother. I also say that knowing that I’m suggesting the easiest possible option here, based on how much Damon and his anger were shown in the first episode. But when you pit him against other potential candidates for betrayal in this conversation, Damon certainly seems the most capable.
Jonathan Bartlett: With only one episode under our belt, it would be easy to put Otto Hightower at the top of this list—but if this show got us thinking, I’d happily look elsewhere. She herself must be Princess Renera somewhere else. gasp! but why?
Betrayal can come in all shapes and sizes, and just because Rainera is the heir to the king doesn’t mean that (1) she will remain so or (2) she won’t become a power-thirsty daddy killer (a Tyrion-and – Cersei Lannister mashup, if you will).
One thing to note is that Rainira’s previous role is as the Cupier. As Arya Stark did with Lord Tywin before—er, later—Rainera, the princess is stirring up politics within the king’s council, which also includes her father. As she grows into her role as the clear heir, don’t be surprised if she discovers that her priorities are very different from those of the Viseries. This may prompt him to put a knife in the king’s back. For the good of the realm, of course.
Megan Schuster: Some obvious answers to this are: Damon, the sidelined younger brother who thinks he knows better and is stronger than the reigning King; Otto, the timid hand that sits to the right of his target, is ready to do whatever it takes (including taking out his 14-year-old daughter) to ascend the Iron Throne. But here, I’m going with someone who was kind enough to get our attention in the first episode of House of the Dragon, but not enough to stand out completely: Renées Targaryen.
Rainis has all the motivation he needs to take down his cousin. If the Great Council had not been full of withered old men (I think), they might have given him the seat now held by the Vicarious. And walking around King’s Landing to be called “The Queen Who Never Was” would be enough to take revenge on anyone. But there’s also an additional sly piece to all of this that can’t be overlooked: Rainice’s husband, Lord Corliss Valerian, sits on the Small Council and is informed of all of Veseries’ plans.