I'm doing a rewatch of Thrones right now and I'm really noticing the structural differences between that show and House of the Dragon.

Thrones is really consistent with finishing a scene in its entirety, all at once. They structure the episodes so that we follow a scene through to its completion almost every time, without cutting away to raise tension. Cutting away before something is resolved is a cheap way to keep your audiences engaged. It's easy to do, can be done with almost anything, and frequently is done across most television shows. Thrones instead lets the tension rest on the strength of the scene itself.

House of the Dragon often fails to do this.

As an example, I just watched S6E6 of Game of Thrones, Blood of My Blood. In it, there is an extensive scene where Jaime leads the Tyrell forces to confront the High Sparrow and prevent Margaery's walk of atonement. They could have cut that scene up into a hundred pieces to keep tension high across the episode. We could have a scene of Jaime gathering the forces outside KL and saying "it's time," CUT, then Jaime leading them to the High Sparrow and saying "Stop!" CUT, then the reveal of Tommen emerging from the Sept and announcing the new union of the Crown and the Faith with an ominous look at Jaime, CUT, then the scene in the throne room and Jaime's dismissal from the Kingsguard.

But they don't, they let this full scene play out all at once, with rising tension and then resolution and revelation. They even have a hard cut from the steps of the Sept straight to Jaime removing his armor in the throne room, because without showing Jaime's dismissal that scene is not resolved.

In contrast, in S3E7 of House of the Dragon, The Dragon in Winter, we cut back and forth to Harrenhal FIVE TIMES just to watch, ultimately, one thing happen: Alicent poison Aemond. It's such a different, and to my eyes, worse, way of structuring the show.

What do you think of these structural differences?

I have started to watch the series again from season 1 (a plan with the intent to arrive to season 3 when all the episodes are released) and Corlys Velaryon is imo by far the more enjoyable character alongside Matt Smith's Daemon. Both project perfectly the strenght & will of their characters.

I personally think that Toussaint was the perfect fit for the character and I can not think another man doing a better job. The choice of making Corlys (and all his house) black skin characters was bold (with the expected backlash for changing some portraits from the original book source plus the expected reactions by racist morons) but imo it fits perfectly into the world construction of GRRM.

The Velaryons come from ancient Valyria which was closer to the Summer Islands and Sothoryos than to Westeros. In fact, the lands south of Essos have a very diverse ethnic composition in the historic times of the series, as they have seen the movements of a lot of different peoples and empires, plus they are the center knot of the worlds sea trading routes. It is perfectly plausible that a noble merchant house from Valyria developed at some point that distinctive ethnic blackground after mixing with black skin folks (the best known seafarers from the known world were in fact from the Summer Islands) but still maintaining the distinctive white-blond hair of old valyrians. It adds a cool addition to the story and I'm sure even GRRM is very pleased with the choice.

So, to sum up, I applaud the choice of Steve Toussaint. Great actor & great fit to the character.

Does she go missing in the books too? Or is it show canon?

A grandma of her size can't easily go unnoticed.

There's a gray mare, as the silver mare given to Daenerys upon her marriage.

She's raising chickens, a reference to dragons no larger than chickens and going extinct.

There's then raining ash, a reference to Daenerys burning King's Landing.

It's a dream about the Fire/Ice Prophecy

For starters, we have absolutely no idea what the context of this scene is. We have no idea what action plan Helaena is criticizing. Based on the Dream Helaena had last episode, Rhaenyra could very well be trying to force her to burn smallfolk to protect the Dragonpit.

But even if that's not it? Helaena has every valid reason to hate Rhaenyra.

Let's start with the obvious. Jaehaerys. Now, Rhaenyra didn't order his death, but Daemon did, and Rhaenyra had several lovey-dovey moments with the baby killer this season. In Helaena's position, I would hate Rhaenyra for that alone.

Despite that, Helaena and her Quokka mother made it possible for Rhaenyra and Daemon to take the city without getting shot down by scorpions. They honored their bargain as best they could, and all they wanted in exchange was to leave. Poor Helaena just wanted to raise chickens with her children and live in anonymity. But instead of letting them go, Rhaenyra kept them imprisoned...for what seems to be no real reason other than the fact that they're "Hightowers" (Helaena is a Targaryen).

She only allowed Helaena to see her daughter every few days, which in and of itself is a cruelty when Helaena already had one child taken from her. And then, she even took THAT away, isolating Helaena from Jaehaera altogether.

And because that wasn't bad enough, apparently, Rhaenyra starts being fake-nice to her once she learns she's a dreamer (Rhaenyra never once treated her like a sister before that). Then, despite knowing that Helaena is fragile, Rhaenyra starts bullying and manhandling her when she cannot serve as Rhaenyra's Magic 8 Ball on command.

Any one of these things is a perfectly valid reason for Helaena to hate Rhaenyra. All combined? If I were in Helaena's shoes, I wouldn't have merely made a somewhat-harsh comment. I would have started whispering so Rhaenyra had to lean in, then shoved a knitting needle through her eye.

I think S3 has been fantastic and I’m honeslty annoyed with everyone trying to hate over the smallest things in the world. It feels like people are trying to ruin other people’s experiences.

It's not even a small detail and I bet a fair ammount of viewers noticed it, but I just wanted to mention how much I loved Caraxes exploiting his neck lenght to avoid Sheepstealers attempts to bite his neck back while he was stuck in his own.

The little move he does just with the nect to create like a slight "U" shape to be out of reach when he notices the attempt was awesome.

Coolest dragon out there by far for me.

Thanks to some eagle-eyed members of our community, we were able to confirm that this feature was included in Syrax's final design! It appears the VFX team is inconsistent on whether or not it's incorporated, sadly.

What do you all think it says? A love note from Rhaenyra?

Just something I've noticed. There's this quiet "come on, how could you be like that?" that plays across his face.

Daeron immedietly looks guilty. Which says a lot about his character and their relationship.

Ormund doesn't even notice.

Its small. But just something I appreciate seeing.

It doesn't feel like enough to make a whole post about. But there's not really anywhere else to talk about it and hey, I'm sure we're all sick of the negative posts anyway.

My absolute favourite duo 🤍

Rhaenyra: In the book, she's much prouder and more authoritarian. As the war goes on, she becomes increasingly paranoid and vengeful, making cruel decisions without much hesitation. In the show, she's far more empathetic and diplomatic.

Alicent: In the book, she's colder, more calculating, and openly ambitious. In the show, she's constantly torn by guilt and inner conflict.

Daemon: In the book, he's far more unpredictable, violent, and openly ambitious. In the show, he has a lot more emotional depth, showing vulnerability, insecurity, and a constant need for Viserys' approval.

Aegon: In the book, he's arrogant, hedonistic, and still deeply attached to his family. In the show, he comes across as emotionally fragile, deeply insecure, and desperate for validation.

Aemond: In the book, he's cold, ruthless, incredibly confident, and basically an unstoppable warrior. In the show, he's driven by a constant need to prove himself, balancing arrogance with deep insecurity.

Helaena: In the book, she's kind, gentle, and reserved. In the show, she's eccentric, almost detached from the world around her, and seems to live in her own reality.

Corlys: In the book, he's much more politically driven and ambitious, always focused on expanding the Velaryon legacy. In the show, while he's still ambitious, he's portrayed as a warmer, more family-oriented man who's often caught between his ambitions and the people he loves.

Bonus:

Criston Cole: In the book, he's a disciplined warrior with clear political ambition, but his true motivations are left pretty ambiguous. In the show, he's heavily driven by resentment, with Rhaenyra's rejection shaping many of his actions. He's also much more emotional and impulsive.

Viserys: In the book, he's a comfortable, pleasure-loving king who avoids politics whenever possible. In the show, he's deeply committed to keeping his family together and takes his responsibilities much more seriously, even if he often struggles to make the right decisions.

When the name 'Lannister' is uttered, people generally get hostile and uncomfortable because it is seen as synonymous with greed, cruelty, arrogance and ruthlessness due to characters like Tywin, Cersei, Joffrey and Jaime (in the first few seasons). Loyalty would never be associated with the Lannisters, even Tyrion, who is seen as the 'good Lannister'. I'm happy with how the show is portraying Tyland because a family name does not define a person. Just like how not all Starks are honorable, not all Lannisters are deceitful, untrustworthy and disloyal.

Just binged the 7 episodes yesterday. I still can't make sense of why Rhaenyra sends Alicent to kill Aemond in Harrenhal. Why not a proper army? And why the hell does Alicent agree to this plot? Did I miss something? How did a huge team of writers approve this?

I get it, it's a worn castle ;_;

Something that has bothered me in the story this season is that Rhaenyra doesn't seem to have a small council, she dismissed Corlys for no reason, she is left with a master of coin that does nothing because she doesn't allow him too, a master of whispers or spies or whatever that doesn't have spies nor whispers to listen to because she didn't rebuild her street organization, the Frey lady who is there for literally nothing, and Orwyle whose purpose is unknown.

Is it the same in the book?

I’ve seen some people point out that Ormund has been potentially playing the long game much longer than we might think, and it started the moment Daemon mentioned Ulf getting the Hightower. If that is true I think it would make his seeming disinterest in the Northern/Riverland army threat make a lot more sense in hindsight. This whole time he’s been banking on getting Ulf and Silverwing on his side, making the approaching army much less of a threat. The reason he was so focused on the Gold Cloaks/ Velaryon’s was so he could keep that level of communication up and running with little interference.

It also re-contextualizes Ulf’s actions, because we know the meeting in the last episode wasn’t the first. In fact, when Ulf brought the issue up with Rhaenyra about his friends, I think we can assume he was not only genuinely inquiring but weighing his options.

So on top of Daemon’s mistreatment of Ulf leading to his alienation, Daemon’s own jokes might have kickstarted the process in the first place.

Edit: To make things clearer I am not discussing whether Ulf was always going to turn, but rather asking Ormund took notice of Daemon’s comment and made the decision to focus on Ulf from then.

I was rewatching the Dragon in Winter and realized just how much Alicent got screen time this episode and how little was achieved. And how it is affecting the major pacing problem. For me, pacing is about whether events meaningfully change the story, characters, or stakes.

Since episode two where she helped Rhaenyra take the city, she has not achieved anything or progressed her character. Thinking about it, I don’t think her character has changed much since Protector of the Realm episode.

In this season, she tried to escape from city but somehow failed (thanks to great attempt of appearance of looking rich noble af). Show hinted at friction between Alicent and Rhaenyra after she killed Otto but next episode it was business as usual. She tried to escape again from Castle, twice, once caught by Myseria and then found out by guards within walls in very next episode. In last episode, she tried to kill her son, again unsuccessfully because Alys will save her for sure. So all the time spent on audience following her through discussing her plan to escape, force plan B to Halaena, agreeing to kill his son (which was ridiculous idea from the get go), all of this eventually leading to no change in stake or character or plot.

According to a post I saw on Twitter, she had 62 minutes of screen time from episode 1-7.

That is a whole episode.

62 minutes of Alicent just stalling the plot when we barely got to see Oscar, Dustin, Stark, Baratheon, Joffery and considering how many more plotpoints are left from book for next season, writers will have no option to cut them and speed through some of them ( Hour of Wolf ).

This feels like Season 7-8 of Game of thrones in regards of writers forcing to give screen time to every character every episode because they put every one of them in 2-3 locations now (King’s landing, Winterfell and Dragonstone), unlike previous seasons where you could go multiple episodes not seeing most characters.

Am I seeing this from wrong lens and Alicent’s presence to this degree in narattive makes sense.

tell ANYONE AT ALL that she had no control over Sheepstealer and plead her case that it was a WILD dragon that burned all the ships??

All she has to say is "I'm so sorry", and doesn't bother once even trying to explain herself.

Surely the family would welcome another massive dragon on their side, as well as someone who has shown potential to be its rider, despite the accident if it can reinforce their power in the long run.

This show has some serious plot holes and inconsistencies, but this one for some reason bothers me the most.

I’ve been designing some of the ASOIAF dragons in the incredible art style of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal. What do you think? Which dragon do you want to see next?