House of the Dragon S1E03 live Q&A discussion
Vložit
- čas přidán 3. 09. 2022
- Discussing House of the Dragon Episode 3!
Weekly livestreams every Sunday at ~10:15pm Eastern Time, right after each episode of HOTD.
Then an Explained video later in the week, summarising and analysing each episode.
This video has no spoilers beyond House of the Dragon S1E03.
Get a free audiobook with an Audible trial: www.audible.com/asx
Subscribe: / @altshiftx
Support on Patreon: / altshiftx
Twitter: / altshiftx
Alt Shift X Podcast: art19.com/shows/alt-shift-x-p...
Podcast Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/77vubQG...
Alt Shift X audio feed: anchor.fm/alt-shift-zzz
Audio feed Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/23AwdUz...
Discord: / discord
Merch: standard.tv/altshiftx
Stream donations/questions: streamlabs.com/altshiftx
I don’t care what people say, the scene of the knight getting crushed by the dragon after thinking he was being rescued was hilarious
It was great
felt like such a Rick and Morty scene lol
YES
if he hadn't got squished I would have been super disappointed.
I prefer witty dialog for humor over Last Jedi type gags. Maybe it's just me.
I loved killing the crab feeder off screen. It's like the show is straight up telling you to look for your series villain elsewhere, it's not this guy, it was never gonna be this guy.
Good take, only thing I was disappointed in is that we didn't see the killing blow, but it was a deliberate choice not to show it.
I get that. But I really wanted to see dark sister at work :)
The crab feeder wasn't the villain, I would have appreciated the scene though
He didnt even need to exist, didnt speak, no story, no death. Just a mini boss for the sake of a battle. Poorly done
@@YanzBra
This is a book adaptation, and Craghas Drahar is a character that exists in the books. It's not for the sake of a battle, it's for the sake of the adaptation.
As far as I'm aware, the story behind Craghas Crabfeeder is exactly what we got: he was a prince and admiral of the Triarchy that set base on the Stepstones and threatened the trade routes of House Velaryon. He also liked to torture people. Pretty faithful adaptation if you ask me.
The Crabfeeder isn't supposed to be a meaningful boss to the overall story, he's there to give more depth to Corlys and Daemon's alliance and storylines. Remember, this is a show about the internal conflicts of the Targaryens, not some random ass Myrish prince.
The convo between Jason Lannister and King Viserys was phenomenal. Paddy Constantine is simply amazing. Jason Lannister got scared as hell once Viserys pressed him 🤣 If only he could be that stern with everyone else around him and not be influenced so easily because of his kind soul.
Take notice that when Viserys started being stern and dominate is when he is drunk, that could foreshadowing of why he drinks so much.
Yeah... You can see glimpses of the Dragon that could have been with Viserys. His tone shift was epic
@@AnwayPramanik He just comes across as cranky, though.
Had that liquid courage going
Paddy Considine is a great chap all round! I asked him a load of questions for a University project a few years ago, and there's no doubt that he's one of the most passionate actors/writers/directors in the UK right now- a true gentleman
Laenor might not be Targaryan, but he roasted his uncle alive with that "What role have you played, uncle? Other than Master of Complaints" 😂😭
Immediately made me love Laenor lol
He’s half Targaryan because of his mother
@@ericadomingos2410 I think OP means he's not "Targaryen" in the sense that he doesn't have the Targaryen name. He does of course have Targaryen blood through Rhaenys (his mother) which is why he can ride Seasmoke and come to help Daemon at the end.
He is a Targ that's why he can ride a dragon
@@lochofmceo you don’t have to be a targ to ride dragons
Daemon would rather die than be sent aid and I absolutely LOVE that.
His reaction to being sent help by his brother was the most realistic little brother thing I've ever seen on tv it made me LOL
He's a pathetic, petulant child. The only thing he's proven is that his pride is above anything and everything else.
@@willbeard4835 LOL yes!!!!
@@willbeard4835 the poor mailman didnt deserve his temper tantrum :(
@Batrick Pateman haha yes!
"The Pug that was Promised"
-my favorite superchat (by Wealth Wolf)
Timestamp?
@@papapudding It was a 4 hour long livestream, how do you expect me to find that one comment?!?
...It was @ 3:39:32 😝
Here's another timestamp ... 6:45 ... I was perplexed as to why an animal that is HUNTED would be considered the symbol of royalty.
Then it dawned on me that (in the Holocene), the stag represents the most meat that one could expect to find in the wilds of Europe ... It is abundance-on-the-hoof, with the added aesthetic of muscularity.
A king isn't going to celebrate his bounty by associating it with caged cattle ... no, "catch me if you can"
Lion for merciless military might; stag for viril prosperity (self-sufficiency)
I’m dead. …The Real Rhaegar
Lionel Strong continuing to be the realest person in the room.
for sure
he’s based
lyonel strong is so based
He must be thinking: why am i surrounded by morons?
Favorite member of the small council
People are only upset and shocked by all the long time jumps because they are forgetting that we are watching a long extended prologue to the real story that the show runners are trying to tell, which is the dance of the dragons civil war. If they had started the show right at the beginning of the war we wouldn’t care about anything or understand the back story. I’m glad they’re doing the timeline the way they are.
But just imagine they did a 2 season pre dance prologue, with this writing and acting I think they would have killed it… on the other hand I understand why they want to get to the action, it would have been to risky with more politics and less dragons
It's a small adjustment I think people will eventually come to accept. We were used to so many separate stories unfolding at the same time and in separate parts of the globe in GOT. This world is more focused.
@@peepindis I wouldn't call it a small adjustment, the more detailed storytelling puts GoT a few Levels over HotD for me
@@demian9715 considering that show GOT became too bulky for its own good and needed a slap dash and hasty cobbling together of several storylines, I think this may be a mistake learned
I love the time-jumps honestly. It just makes sense for a time of relative peace and stability in the realm, compared to GoT where it seemed like huge historical events and power shifts happened every other day.
My immediate reaction to Jason Lannister was "dude, Tywin would have hated your guts, you have no finesse whatsoever"
I wish he was more good looking 😂 Jamie has set the bar too high lol
He will be treated like tyrion haha
Tbh I think all the characters suffer from this issues things seem so straightforward even the schemes seem to be happening a mere feet away from the intended target idk it seems like characters like LittleFinger will be far and in between in this show
I never would've expected to see K&G here lmfao
I hope you guys plan to release a documentary about the Dance once the series is over, I've loved how you portrayed the strategy and tactics behind all the fictional battles so far
@@dav552 Well Larys Strong was just introduced and he is quite a lot like Varys and Littlefinger. We might see some schemes with a little more nuisance following his character if Fire and Blood’s anything to go by.
Viserys had the misfortune of being born a Targaryen, for all of his flaws he is the only Targaryen I would invite to lunch
Jon snow?
@@michaelpeck1865 but he doesn’t know anything
@@michaelpeck1865 Snow is culturally and behaviorally Ned’s Son
Yeah, Viserys would have been a great tavern owner or Mayor or something, low level power he'd likely balance well, it's the dizzying heights of absolute power that demands a different man.
@@Canadish viserys shows the kind of person he is by not bonding with a dragon after his original mount died, he didn’t want the power that came with being a dragon rider. He rode balerion out of obligation not desire
I work as a sub at a middleschool, and some of those kids can go from looking like little children to 30 and paying taxes in a span of 3 years, so laenors rapid aging is not too out of place here. Sometimes puberty can hit like a truck.
You should show HOTD to your students next time you substitute. That would be a good sex ed course with the C-Section.
i was thinking the same thing! leanor and laena are twins, and we know laena was 12 last episode. it's been 3 years, so we can assume they are 15-16 now. i do think laenor looks older than 15-16 but the dramatic jump in his appearance isn't too far off base.
Yup! I’ve seen guys jump from 4-6 inches within a single summer no BS! I myself didn’t grow any facial hair till way later BUT My Voice got deep Asf when i was 12 almost overnight one day it was hoarse then next morning very raspy
Great point! I also think actively participating in a war for 3 years would age anyone pretty quickly as well.
I've subbed for everything from kindergarten to 12th grade and I think Middle Schoolers are the hardest to handle because they have the attention span of Elementary students with the bodies of High School students.
Paddy Considine and Matt Smith are just acting their hearts out, Paddy is giving Viserys soo much depth and character it's fantastic, Matt Smith steals every scene he's is he's feared and loved at the same time, He wants his family to have all the power
Something to note, smith only had one line in this episode! The guy has incredible presence 👏 good example of show dont tell i guess
Yep 100%! Matt Smith is so good as Daemon.
White people creaming themselves over mediocre white actors.
Blew my mind with that Sansa quote about turning wishes into dreams to make them more impressive and prophetic. Wonder how many Targaryens did that? Wonder if this whole Long Night prophecy was actually that?
Like Aegon having a dream of white walkers, and conflating that with his wish to rule Westeros..
@@AltShiftX This level of speculation and mystery surrounding an already expansive and complex story is a testament to how good of a writer GRRM really is.
I don't think Laenor saved Daemon...I think that was the plan all along to draw Craghas out.
me too, it looked like it was planned bcoz the whole army is there on time.
I thought that was obvious as Daemon was looking towards the sky again and again
Not just the plan, but the plan that Laenor argued for.
Regardless, as part of the plan Laenor did save Daemon. But I understand it was all planned, as Daemon frequently looked up to the sky.
Yeah they literally say that a mad man needs to drag them out so they can killed them with dragons, cuz if they send just the dragons they would go into cover before anything is done.
And I see ppl all around saying that it is just out of nowhere plot armour, like did ya even see the same show?
The showrunners used the history of how the Dornish eluded the Targaryan dragons for years by hiding in caves for this story.
😱
Harrenthall wasn't stronger than a cave?
Well, Harrenhall is pretty big and easy to spot from the air, as it were. Pretty easy to find the place, and the right place to start a fire. Caves tend to be very small and easier to hide in.
Also once you're a few metres in the stone around a cave is probably thicker than the walls of Harrenhall. Historically, Aegon used Balerion's dragonfire to heat up the towers of Harrenhall like a big stone oven and cooked everyone inside. That gets exponentially harder the thicker the stone is (more stone = needs more fire to heat up). So yes, cave stronger than Harrenhall in this case.
@@Anthony_RIZZelneck Caves are thicker than any wall humans can build i guess
Balerion was a big boi with an internal nuclear reactor, Caraxys is a noodle boi who’s fire is more like napalm on steroids, not quite as powerful as Balerions nuke breath
I actually loved the moment when Daemon squished his knight, as awful as that sounds. It immediately sets the tone for this conflict overall and tells you that Daemon is not here to save anyone. He’s only here for blood.
They make it look like Daemon flew in there as the hero that will avenge his men, then the squish happens and we realize oh right he doesn't give a shit, he's just there to burn stuff
@@sou713 I assumed Daemon did not see or hear the knight when he landed on him. The whole landing on the knight shows that the knight is small compared to the whole war. I mean the knight looks like an ant from 3,000 feet up. He was collateral damage. Kind of like a passenger jet landing in the middle of busy downtown NYC and the wheel touching down over a person.
It came off to me funny yes but also as a mercy. The man was literally in the middle of being eaten alive. A nice clean death by dragon stomp was much better. Unless someone was expecting Daemon to jump down off the dragon and untie him personally lol the dude was about to be a meal. If I were him I would have appreciated the quick death.
Other than Viserys losing his fingers, it was also visible that Crabfeeder's Greyscale had been getting worse, causing him to even lose his eye.
hopefully it progresses but it is not contagious! otherwise, rip Daemon
Yeah, didnt daemon touched him by dragging him out of the cave?
When you play the game of plot armour, you win or you fall in one of your own plot holes and die. It is known. I really, really hope they handle this somehow and not just use a "Daemon kinda forgot" card. I can't handle that kind of trauma.
@@neloangelo7297 right, like no gloves or anything?
@@neloangelo7297 targaryuns cant get greyscale duhhh
The Mountain really did Ser Hugh of the Vale a favor by beating him so hard he travelled back in time and became not one, but two Lannisters.
Tommen's actor also played another character. I know Game of Thrones has a lot of actors and I do like the Jason Lannister actor, but can they really not find enough actors to get a new one for each role?
@@greywolf7577 might be that they just really like the actor and know they work well with the team
@@greywolf7577 They liked killing Tommen's actor so much they just had to do it twice.
Yep. He beat him into the middle of last century. Horrifying.
To the question the chatter raised about why Caraxes wasn't in that final battle, I would assume that it could have easily been there, had they wanted it, however without Daemon riding and directing it personally, it's likely that it could/would have caused a significant amount of damage to the Velaryon forces too. Whereas just having Seasmoke flying around and burning shit in a much more precise manner was a lot more effective. Also, had Caraxes been there, I doubt it would have had the restraint to let the events develop to the point where the Crabfeeder sent out all/the majority of his boys, and would have attacked much sooner to protect Daemon, but also making it so the Crabby bois would have stuck in their caves
Yeah, the way I interpreted it, over the 3 years the war has been going on, Craghas would logically know at this point that Caraxes answers to Daemon. So when he saw Daemon coming forward to "surrender", he was skeptical, and sent only a few men at a time, while looking up to search for Caraxes.
When he saw that Daemon had fallen and was now extremely vulnerable, and still Caraxes hadn't shown up, he correctly assumed he just wasn't going to show up at all, and sent his men forward to trap Daemon and ensure he died there, as that would be a gigantic victory for him.
And then, of course, Laenor and Seasmoke ruined his day.
He's in the battle. He roasts the archers on the ridge, riderless.
@@DrGanjameister wasn’t that seasmoke?
@@DrGanjameister That was Seasmoke
@@DrGanjameister that’s was laenor who was riding seasmoke.
How do you have every and any image of every topic imaginable ready to go at all times. It’s impressive.
Probably has access to a review copy
@@gus9663 yeah but he kept pulling stuff up not directly relevant to the episode. It was wild.
I think he once introduced a new software which works like the search function of iOS (ai recognizes the scene)
He has a software program and everything has a tag that he types in when someone mentions anything from whole GoT universe ... he's very meticulous with his videos .. the best CZcamsr 👌
@@noizW when did he say this?
Did everyone see that Viserys only has 3 fingers on his left hand now? It was the scene where Alicent tried consoling him back in kings landing after the hunt.
Wow I didn't notice that. Thanks for pointing this out you got an eye for detail
Wow, interesting detail. Thanks
Yeah in the last episode they where discussing having to remove the 2 fingers to save the hand. Happens a little different in the book but it's a accurate detail
@@srb2591 nah that's the thing: it was one Finger before, now there's already anozher one
Yeah I saw that, the stubs don't look too healthy
Every single interaction with Viserys this episode was absolutely phenomenal. I loved how no matter how much pressure there was on him to make Aegon his heir, he was steadfast in his support for Rhaenyra and stood by his decision of having named her his heir already, in little details like never actually speaking of Aegon as his heir, mentioning that Rhaenyra's husband would be "king consort", then ultimately his conversation with her in the council room assuring her that she won't be replaced. And of course how he put Jason Lannister in his place and made him sh*t himself.
Beside that the next highlight of the episode was definitely Daemon and his suicide rush, cutting down two dozen men under arrow fire. People who say it was unrealistic can hate as much as they want but all I know is that the man is an accomplished warrior who wields Dark Sister, and he ran in there not intending to come out alive all so that Viserys doesn't steal his glory with the backup he sent. And for me personally it's impossible not to love a badass warrior prince.
Oh and Lyonel Strong is an absolute king who must be protected at all costs
Daemon surviving the suicide mission was bad writing, pure and simple. He didn't do it in a clever manner. The wall of arrows only connects when Daemon is near cover? The men only attack him one at a time? Daemon didnt survive because of any real character traits or clever tactics. He survived because he is the main driver of the plot, and so can't die in the 3rd episode. Horrible battle scene. Goes completely against what made early GOT great.
@@HaroldDipp Yeah, he survived kind of by chance - but then this happens. Sometimes people survive because they're lucky. This isn't really bad writing, especially since at some point he kinda seemed f*cked, hurt by two arrows and surrounded.
Why is Viserys acting like he can't change the heir? Heirs change all the time as people are born and die. If Viserys's son hadn't died in episode one, he would have become the heir even though he already had an older daughter. So why do these extra three and a half years matter? If he was going to grant his last son the chance to be heir to the throne, he should grant his current son the same right.
@@greywolf7577 Well Viserys made the decision to name Rhaenyra heir partly in memory of his dead wife, and he truly cares about his daughter. That's why he's uneasy about giving to Aegon what is now hers.
@@HaroldDipp you guys are absolute cry babies
The whole time watching this episode I was just going "fuck yeah!" to every little thing.
"Breakbones! Clubfoot! The Hooded Hand! Laenor! Crabs! SEASMOKE! FUCK YEAH!"
Seriously though, I find myself getting a little bit emotional with this show. To be so heavily invested in the original series only to have it turn to utter shit was incredibly disappointing, it just feels so good to have GoT material that I can be excited about again after years and years of wanting :)
🍻to the last part especially
i've got mixed feelings. On one hand i'm glad grrm is helping this show be great. On the other, I just want him to finish asoiaf like goddamn it george
I’d love to see a parody of America, FUCK YEAH!!! Set to Westeros battle scenes and with lyrics changed to reflect what’s on screen
“I saw things I know and I clapped”
Robert Baratheon killed by a boar, Rhaenyra Targaryen tore that shit up
I really appreciate the fact that Alt answered the repeated questions and repeated explanations of theories for anyone who missed it, I imagine it can get annoying and I feel like other people would just skip past it. Idk just something I noticed.
Every time I hear someone mention the Jon Snow TV show I start laughing. What a terrible idea.
I know, right?
the jon snow tv show were those final seasons of got that we never got
Im looking forward to it actually lol
its gonna be a mini series so why not give it a go.
It would be another Rings Of Power as they have no source material
@@Darkstar_Dayne Agreed.
The scene where Rhaenyra was looking at the white Hart made me cry. It was such an emotional scene and I don't know why but any scenes involving character interactions with majestic animals make me tear up. Like Otto was going on the whole time about how this White Hart was a sign that Aegon was meant to be king and yet it appeared to Rhaenyra in some prophetic way.
@@Winter-Alpha-Omega Oh no I know I read the books. I just felt that they did this scene so well. It still basically predicts that it will be her line that will sit the Iron Throne.
@@spearshake4771 And it's all good writing, nothing like this was mentioned in Fire & Blood. I know the majority of ideas must be coming from George himself but still it's so refreshing to see the whole fantasy side being explored here
@@Darkstar_Dayne exactly. I feel if George was still involved with GoT and Dan and David were replaced we would have had a better paced ending
@@Darkstar_Dayne its also cool getting to view all of this from a "fly on the wall" perspective because after all Fire and Blood is a subjective account/history book relying on very vague and controversial sources and getting to compare the book and show is quite cool
@@spearshake4771 that's cool, so there's still new content for book readers then
I don’t think the Laenor looking much older thing while Alicent/Rhaenyra look the same doesn’t make sense. Laenor’s pre and post puberty which can make a massive difference whereas the girls had already done most of their growing. I also think Alicent in particular did look more mature
They've done something with the hair and makeup to make the aging work.
@@AVerySillySausage Thoughts on Slasher to FaZe?
@@ChrisLamia He got blessed but will probably make the best of it.
Year but like only 2 years and a few months have passend 💀
@@sayaalicious9146 yes but 2-3 years can make a big difference while you’re a teen. A 12 year old boy looks a lot different than a 15 year old boy, right?
For me, the scene with Viserys killing the stag gave the impression that it was representing himself. Caught in a snare of power, unable to move in any direction, helpless and strugging. It was almost like giving the killing blow to himself, especially with the very unsettling music in the background and the focus on Vysery's face and expressions.
Daemon being angry that help is coming gave me vegeta vibes. I love that moment!!!
Notice that Matt Smith was second on the bill for this episode but he didn’t say a SINGLE WORD? Shows how Daemon is not just a shit talking trouble maker rich boy but a true force to be reckoned with, he killed the crab feeder without a word. Also Smith’s wordless acting was something to behold.
Holy shit he was such a big presents that i didn't even notice that.
@@nursetobee. My mistake, he did actually have a line in the first scene after Caraxes lands on the guy, Daemon stalks around on caraxes saying “where are you” looking for the crabfeeder. BUT STILL the whole arc later on with getting the letter and waving the white flag and killing the crabfeeder, THAT was all wordless.
While I liked Matt Smith's portrayal of Daemon in this episode, I think he may have been second on the bill due to the fame of the actor rather than the importance of the character in this episode.
@@greywolf7577 That’s not how opening credits works
I think when you feed your prisoners alive to the crabs then you lose the "fair" war.
Good point kid
Fuck why didn't I think of that.
Yeah, but, for an honorable person, what their enemies did shouldn't affect their morals.
@@MondeSerenaWilliams Daemon is many things. Honor is not one of them.
basically yeah.
1:48:00 The "King of the Rhoynar" thing is straight from the books. Aegon the Conqueror takes that title upon his conquest, even though he fails to conquer Dorne. Subsequent Targaryen kings continued to claim Dorne as theirs, even though it was clearly independent. Definitely a case of disputed claims and trying to just say a thing until you can make it real.
English King's claimed to be Lord of Ireland and King of France long before they controlled any large swathe of Ireland and long after they'd been banished from most of France so I guess its borrowed from that
@@georgewright3949 yeah, I was gonna say every king until George III held the title ‘King of France’ regardless of how much French territory they held
China's claim on Taiwan today, completely laughable wishful thinking.
Didnt british royals at some time also have the name "King/protector of Jerusalem" some time after crusader kingdom fell
@@yetipotato8567 sounds plausible unsure how true it is
On the subject of comparison to Robert and Viserys' royal hunts, while the former definitely was limited by budget, I can still completely see Robert just wanting to grab a spear and trudge off on his own to go kill something and not wanting to deal with the fuss. It's almost an inverse of Viserys who wanted to just enjoy the 'fuss' but kept getting sidelined by politics the entire time.
I like that. If you remember King Robert and Ned's trip from winterfell to Kings landing, Robert says something along the lines of "Gods! This is country! I have half a mind to leave em all behind and keep going," and I think that kind of supports what you're saying about Robert's character. The man was a warrior, he was never meant to be a king.
It's always interesting to me that when we talk about old Valyria and the Targs it's brought up they are one of the "lesser houses" but there were only 40 Dragon Riding families- and everyone else was less than that. So even if they were the 40th most powerful, they're still one of the most powerful families on the planet.
“only” 40 dragon rider houses
Is nobody gunna mention how Daemon lifted his arm when arrows were getting fired and Caraxes lifted his wing like Daemon had some mind control shit going on?
Also when Daemon got hit and Caraxes "squealed" (doesn't feel right to say he roared there)
That immediately got me thinking that when they say that Targaryens "bond" with their dragons, they literally mean it.
@@sou713 targaryens are good people
The bloodmages did some shit with dragons and valyerians.
Yep
I hate when people compare Otto to Tywin. They are two completely different characters with different approaches to politics. Tywin is much more brutal and machiavellian where he uses fear and brutality to gain power. You see this in the war in the riverlands or the sacking of kings landing. Otto on the other hand is much more manipulative trying to scheme his way to the top. Otto is more similar to littlefinger than Tywin, but even that comparison has issues.
I think people compare Tywin and Otto cause they are both hand of the king, they both control their king and they are both played by actors who can portray powerful older men.
Facts
@Immortal Science of Hauntology he was still a schemer; arranging the red wedding, setting up marriage proposals, etc
I, on the other hand, hate when people compare Otto to Littlefinger. Otto is a good politician who schemes, but all of his plots are pretty straight forward (get his relatives on the throne, win some policy debate). That is nothing compared with Littlefinger who is able to control events from afar and kill kings with ease if he gets the fancy. Otto is a good politician. Littlefinger is a genius one.
@@greywolf7577I mentioned that comparing him to littlefinger is problematic as well. They have completely different motivations. I
think during an interview Matt Smith said that people will always compare and contrast the characters and archetypes of got with hotd. Sadly there's not much you can do about it.
The only reason Tywin didn’t have to move the way Otto did is because he was first born. He didn’t have to snake his way to the top.
I like that they showed viserys' hairline receding and how they ever so slightly changed his wig to a flatter, thinner one
Yea I also noticed that. Truly shows that Viserys is getting older. Maybe he is even aging faster with the stress of the position and prolly not that healthy lifestyle.
@@yetipotato8567 slowly drinking more like every king and queen.
I think the dragon landing on the velaryon knight also symbolizes that dragons are powerful in times of war but just as destructive
I wanted to expand on your mention about the appearance of the Hightowers in the books. There is Jorah’s Hightower wife, who he says looked quite a bit like Daenerys. And then there is the mother of Loras and Margaery Tyrell, Alerie Hightower. She is described as having silver hair and it doesn’t seem to be due to age. So it does seem that there are members of the family that are described as having features similar to the Targaryen, just like House Dayne.
I think this is because those families are all descendants of the Great empire of the dawn, a pre long night society in Essos that we get very little information on. These were the original dragonriders and the builders of Asshai. In the first book Daenerys had a dream/vision of some dudes with flaming swords and fancy coloured eyes and I think silver hair but I can't remember. They could be the emperors of the Great empire of the dawn, her ancestors. This is why these ancient houses are so powerful, the Dayne's have the sword Dawn, which has a lot of parralels/could be the ancient sword lightbringer, a GEOTD Mythical weapon. The Hightower's have old town, which has a structure (I can't remember which one) made of the same oily black rock seen in Asshai. And of course the Targaryens have the blood of the dragon. These three families have these common traits like hair colour and fancy eyes because they have ancient ties to an old and mostly forgotten people.
Edit: damn this was all in the video I just got to this point lol.
Anyone who has played crusader kings knows that Viserys problem with Aegon's and Rhaenyras age difference is not so much that it is "gross", but that it leaves them with a terribly tight window of producing heirs. He could end his entire line with one single dubious marriage arrangement here.
And unfair as biology may be in this regard a young woman with an old husband and an old woman with a young husband are simply not the same for that purpose.
Exactly what I was thinking after I guickly did the math. Rhenyra would be early 30s when baby Aegon comes of age.
I have seen that marriage in the game and rarely that would produce any children.
I was thinking the same! You could get away with it if the genders were reversed but not in this case.
Exactly. Like, we know as readers that Rhaenyra seems to be fairly fertile (that felt gross to say, but bare with me), but Viserys doesn't know that. More importantly, Aegon doesn't know that. He'd probably hate Viserys for giving him a, like, ten year window to crank out kids, especially considering all the stuff with Aemma.
@@dnacat5062 Was Rheonyra specially fertile or was THE SEED STRONG
lol
I wonder if maybe the Hightowers suggested the marriage between Aegon and Rhaenyra so that if something "unforseen and tragic" happened to her, the hypothetical King Aegon could remarry, and the hightower line would have an even more advantageous position in politics/ the line of succession.
Open your eyes, sheeple! Crab Feeder ain't dead, he warged into a crab before died!
Daemon’s mad dash across the battlefield reminded me of Speirs in Band of Brothers sprinting across that town while the rest watch in amazement.
Here’s a thought - what if Viserys’ reluctance came from Balerion, not in spite of being able to ride the dragon or due to fear of him, or being unable to control the dragon? Dragons do have intelligence and the bond might work in both directions. An old tired dragon from another world might send the mentality of a vigorous but still empathetic young man into interesting places.
Describing the Hart as a "shiny pokemon" is the very content that keeps me here lol
And I only discovered this place a few weeks ago.
Daemon walking out with the Crabfeeder cut in half was so badass
the white flag was just a zoomed-in Velaryon banner
been following for years and so happy to see more regular and fresh content. feels like we got a good one with HoTD
During this episode, I realised that the decision to make the Velaryons’ black is a really good way to visually separate the two very important, white haired, dragon riding families. Imagine how hard it would be for new fans to remember all these characters with really similar names if they didn’t have such different characteristics.
Thank you! A lot of these characters are of similar ages and have similar names. This makes it a little easier to differentiate
Plus they are well in their acting so far, so I don't mind the minor changes
oh yeah, never thought of that
Aside from making it easy to tell them apart, black people with silver blond long hair just looks cool af.
EXACTLY
To be fair, Balerion was ancient by the time Viserys rode him. It's explained in Fire and Blood that Viserys mounting him was a surprise, but the old dragon was so slow and sluggish by the time he was chosen, that Viserys himself commented that he didn't think the Black Dread had the strength to fly him to Dragonstone. He died not long afterwards, so Viserys selected his dragon at 16, and the dragon died within the year. Perhaps his indecisiveness starts here?
Paddy Considine’s performance in this episode was off the charts
I know the Lannister Twins as Torstien, Ragnar's buddy in Vikings. He is great in that. I did not realize he was Sir Hugh of the Vale until watching this..
every two seconds someone asks about greyscale and it hurts
Otto is playing the game "how young can I marry someone"
I thought he was going to say "me" lol. The grandson makes more sense though.
@@swiftfated same I actually laughed when I thought about him saying that and when he said aegon I laughed even more
I loved the trio of parallels between the three "hunts" this episode.
1 - The King cleanly slays the majestic beast that was held down for him
2 - The Princess finishes off the wounded large animal (but less than a stag) and gets a bit bloody
3 - The Prince bloodily slays a crab - arguably the only one that actually had to fight for their kill.
I think the king sloppily kills the Hart. It seemed to be a difficult thing for him both emotionally and physically
Countershading evolved frequently to counter the effects of natural shadows. Sunlight falling on the top of an animal makes its top look brighter and the shadow it casts makes the bottom look darker. Countershading mitigates this effect, reducing the contrast so that the animal becomes less easily visible to predators or prey.
It must be really rewarding to be a writer or just anyone on this series, coming up with all these really smart allegories and metaphors and then have CZcamsrs like you pick up on all of them so they don't go unnoticed. :)
13:00 It was also comical the "exposition" guy was rewarded with crabs thrown onto his body so nonchalantly by the Crabfeeder, and was later squashed by Daemon's dragon.... perhaps a subtle metaphor for how the rulers in this world don't really care for the People they rule over or soldiers they command, but wage wars only to safeguard own legacy/legitimacy.
This show has been amazing so far. The huge budget has made every scene actually so much better than some of the GoT stuff and the writing has been just as good. The actors have been killing it in their roles and have really outdone themselves.
@Senso What CGI do you think looks bad? The only part which jumped out at me was the funeral in episode 1, beyond that I think it's been fairly good.
@@Beatness121 I think the dragons have been pretty great so far and much better than the GoT series. The white deer was pretty solid as well.
@Senso Yeah I have to agree that battle felt disappointing to me. There was 0 sense of danger for the characters. I've been thoroughly enjoying the show but this battle was not impressive. Completely bereft of tension IMO and you really need that in action scenes. Hopefully the action later down the line is better.
exaggeration is a nice drug aint it?
this show does not look better than "some" GoT stuff. its a step below GoT. big budget doesnt make your show look or feel better. GoT had a low budget before the battle of black water but it made up for the lack of on screen fights by having interesting characters verbally clash with each other. behind all of Little Finger's conversations are clues about who killed Jon Arynn. we also got characters discussing ancient histories of other mysterious characters like Gregor Clegane. none of that is in HoTD.
the pacing for HoTD is also a drag considering we are stuck listening to political expositions for 1 hour instead of natural conversations/schemes we should be keeping an ear out for and some of the actors need better direction or retakes as you can hear their struggles in keeping an accent. Matt Smith included. it aint easy to act but the directors should have a sharper eye for these problems.
also the "time skips" are so invisible that it takes away any character growth we are suppose to witness. how are we suppose to know Daemon has been fighting Mr. Krabs and his Bikini Bottoms army for 3 years? i dont see any battle scars, facial wrinkles, some sort of stressed out emotion. we do see Rhaenrys go ape shit on that wild boar and we should have seen Daemon do the same to Prince Drahar. also the dragon's fire breath looks like some unfinished transparent CGI rendering. in GoT, you felt the fire of the adult dragons cook their victims because there would be a detailed explosive burst of heat before the BBQ-ing sets in.
I legit thought when the Unsullied were attacking Casterly Rock that they were attacking Castle Stokeworth. Yknow, Bronn's castle in season 5. They could've just posted a PNG file of book-accurate Casterly Rock in the episode and I would have been fine with it.
Sounds like we will see casterly rock in the show at some point
@@willbeard4835 so are they gonna retcon it if they ever will show the Rock?
@@lanceandrew1319 honestly I hope so. I wouldn't be upset if they retcon everything post season 4.
@@willbeard4835 I'm on board for retcons. We can all just pretend the og show was some alternate timeline and whatnot. At least, that's my head cannon 🤣
@@lanceandrew1319 I blocked out the long night. Everything else happened except episode 3 in my head. It was so bad I prefer to believe the white walkers didn't come.
I loved the image of Viserys killing the stag (representing the Baratheons) with the Lannister spear. I thought that was a pretty cool foreshadowing to how the Lannisters will overthrow the Baratheons in Game of Thrones.
01:33:00 on the 'Targs don't get sick' issue, I suspect its linked to the concept of the 'true dragons' vs normal Targs. Its like the Targs have latent super powers (dragon riding, sickness immunity, fire immunity in the show etc) but it only comes to the surface for certain family members, if 'the dragon wakes' etc.
Id guess it's also linked to the Valyrian blood magic/genetic experiments.
Wasn't there a, I think it was Preston Jacobs, video about how it might be X-chromosomal? And the math checked out? It also seemed like something GRRM would do. Take a romantic fantasy concept ("royal blood") and then go "this, but realistic and with all the shitty, ugly implications it would actually have" like incest and superstitious medieval people trying all kinds of magic tricks to summon their abilities. And the idea of making it x-chromosomal and then having that play out in a patriarchal society with no idea of genetics is just so juicy it seems in character for George.
About the greyscale: Shireen's greyscale has been healed and is no longer contagious, and it also looks like that. Her greyscale is really only grey scabs on her face. The crabfeeder's greyscale, however, looks red and quite active and I think would still be contagious.
(I'm saying this as someone who has no more medical experience than the average person, this is just something I thought of.)
Daemon felt that Viserys was patronizing him by sending help after YEARS of ignoring the conflict
Daemons main character trait is attention seeking brat, he specifically asked Viserys for help and then gets upset when Viserys sends help.
I think I have read somewhere or heard in one of your videos that Targaryens are immune to various diseases and greyscale is one of them.
@Acacio Moore After reading several comments and searching I found that Targaryens do get greyscale.
The Deer screams reminded me of Aemma's screams and it made me cry
That's a great point! I didn't notice that.
Alt-Shift-X did not see the Coldplay GoT Musical?! I would love to see a "Coldplay's Game of Thrones: The Musical Explained". Maybe in the style of "Game of Bones Explained"?
I like Aegons A song of ice and fire theory/dream. It fits on why he was so into counquering Dorne. His dream says unite all of westeros. Also explains why Torrhen Stark bend the knee so quickly after he marched the whole way down. I mean sure dragons were scary but these are northerners. They talked in private and they were in agreement that the others were a threat.
42:00 loved the symbolism too: the minstrel acting like a playlist on repeat on CZcams, Spotify and Rhaenyra as the stubborn teenager. Also with her stay in the Kingswood with Criston Cole felt a bit like Rapunzel in Tangled meets Flynn. Rhaenyra is startled for the attention the baby Ageon gets and potential replacement as true heir while Ser Cole plays the role of Prince Charming protecting her from the attacking boar. Did love the resemblance to Robert Baratheon his hunt though.
I loved the mirrored symbolism between Daemon in Rhaenyra. Both had their moments returning with a carcass and blood on their faces. In both instances it's a pretty big statement.
I think Dr. Crab Man is a bit like The Mountain: a warlord, a mad dog, a blunt instrument. A simple man with simple tastes who can be deployed when the time is right.
Bruh, I thought he was a prince who had acquired greyscale, lost everything and now is out for blood because he realises how fickle life can be and how not much matters.
After his death another Prince arrives I don't remember the name but as soon as Daemon leaves The Stepstones are gone again
@@Darkstar_Dayne could you elaborate more on what happens to the stepstones when Daemon leaves?
It is so evident that daemon is not so brave at the beginning, he retreated on hit one and even with a dragon he fing retreated, but at the end even after hit three times, not sure of any backups, he goes on, it shows how nuts he gets for acknowledgment.
I expected RHAENYS be on her dragon to fight alongside her husband and son. also Very RISKY of Corlys to put his young son his heir into the frontline.
He's half Targereyen you can expect that from a dragon lord
@@Darkstar_Dayne To ride a dragon, a person has to bond with the dragon. Once the dragon and the rider have bonded, that dragon will not allow anyone else to mount it while its rider lives, no matter how familiar said person might be to the dragon.
His heir needs to win some glory and personal influence, plus he's a grown man by the standards of the realm. And fighting from a dragon is pretty much the safest position he could be in, compared to his father and uncle
@@ccdsds3221 hmmmm,
SPOILERS.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
not super sure, but didnt the targz employed anyone that can try and ride dragz and some were succesful and was able to ride dragz even if they had zero targ blood and no baby dragon cradle bonding...
mot sure if it was plothole, or something martin forgot...
jom also just suddenly started riding after touching a dragons (not that that season truly exist anyway)
@@asasipogi spoilers
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
You're thinking of the Dragonseed, but those are ostensibly all Targ bastards.
I thought for a moment there, the stag was gonna kill Viserys.
I thought he was going to get injured
Aye, he was awfully close to those antlers and awfully sluggish with hungover and oldness.
I'm pretty sure it was an obvious callback to GOT S1 to have a Lannister weapon kill a Stag... or is it just me?
I want to enjoy the show but they need to stop overtly reminding me of got 🙄
Dude I’m so dumb.
Your chat brings up such good points and notices things that just fly right over my head.
To be fair with the white flag, we saw the triarchy already drawing their arrows while he was offering up his sword. I think both sides wouldn't have honored the banner
really impressed with hotD so far. love this channel
did you notice that the chairs in the tent had some Arabic patterning and an ornament؟ It really shocked me.. because I'm an Arab myself and the last thing I expected was to see "العدل اساس الملك" and "أهلا وسهلا" in Westeros 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Like I know with the amount of attention to detail, The showrunners didn't just put it there by mistake ( or maybe it is idk, ). so why is it there? is there some sorta an Islamic caliphate in Essos? that'd be frickin interesting
edit:
"العدل اساس الملك" translates to "Justice is the kingship essence" .. it's a pretty common phrase, usually used in Courts
"أهلا وسهلا" just means welcome< and when it appears on the screen a woman in the tent greets Ser Strong and welcomes him to sit>> so I don't think it's a mistake or a coincidence
Nice catch.
I hope that someone already said this here, and to be honest I was surprised that this seemed to not come up in the Q&A. The minstrel playing for Rhaenyra was called Samwell, or Sam, which must be a reference to the movie Casablanca, and the famous line "play it again Sam."
Finally got the time to watch this, I felt a little frustrated with Viserys but at the same time really sorry for him this episode, mans was just straight up not having a good time, could barely even relax lmao. But omg Seasmoke! Was soo surprised to see him and absolutely loved his design!
Daemon did play dirty with the truce banner...and yet his foe(s) were playing dirty by torturing all those men. So in my mind its fair play.
props for showing the MOST legit sibling behavior i've ever seen on tv of getting so mad that your sibling is coming to help you that you say hold my beer and win an entire war in one go
Fighting on after being hit with arrows isn't plot armor...it's literally just armor. That's what armor is designed to do. And underneath plate is several other layers. I'd say that an arrow that punctures armor shot from a distance might only penetrate an inch into the skin. A couple of inches lower, finding a gap in the armor, would surely have been more serious, perhaps fatal. It would have been accurate to show any number of arrows simply deflecting off Daemon's armor as he was running.
Even without armor it's realistic. We have countless historic accounts of people fighting on after being hit by an arrow. It's not an insta-kill weapon.
Even without armor it's realistic. We have countless historic accounts of people fighting on after being hit by an arrow. It's not an insta-kill weapon.
Even without armor it's realistic. We have countless historic accounts of people fighting on after being hit by an arrow. It's not an insta-kill weapon.
@@olenickel6013 I'd be a bit concerned about the arrow to the knee, tho. That would be debilitating. Nobody is going to do any running after that kind of damage.
@@texasman1836 a woman was able to finish a gymnastics routine with a shattered ankle, so it can be done. (And I think the arrow hit the calf, not the knee exactly)
I like the counter between Robert and viserys cause Robert would jump at a war. He wasn’t afraid to make enemies he just couldn’t stand the tedium of ruling. Where as viserys while cautious it’s to a fault. He doesn’t want to upset anyone and will upset everyone
Another thing I noticed was even viserys reinforcements were a half measure. Cause when you see what he was sending it honestly didn’t feel like enough
For the Crabfeeder he basically gets his own little kingdom to rule over. It’s better than just pirating off the coast of Sothoryos
My favorite one-armed Viking has been reborn as a golden-haired Lannister! Nice.
I'm so glad it was mentioned about the Bard (samwell) at 41:00, my immediate thought was her treating him like an Amazon Echo device.
1:12:13
They don’t just stay in the cave because it’s WORTH risking taking Daemon, he’s a huge prize
At the same time, they don’t want to send all of their men out because they would lose all of their men in one dragon strafe (which is what ultimately happens and what Daemon intends to happen)
So the middle solution is to send out a few at a time, enough to hopefully overpower and capture daemon but no enough to risk all of your forces, but daemon’s putting up a fight lures them all out.
Pretty compelling sequence and writing imo
Robert is the kind of guy that wants to get his hands dirty. He's the kind of guy that WOULD go out with a few friends and get the boar on his own. In the show, they went out on a hunt at Winterfell. They showed all of them on horseback, etc.
Great discussion, love the video, and thank you for not spoiling things while still comparing the show and book. 100% will watch your next one!
About the greyscale, I think it also has to do with the idea that Targaryens don’t easily get sick. It’s one of the basis for the Targaryen exceptionalism.
Rhaenyra stole her Body Guard's thunder with that boar kill.
They need to take it easy with this whole prophecy stuff.
Yeah it's an empty plotline because we know it ends up going nowhere
When it turned out Joffrey sent the dagger to kill Bran in the books I realized GRRM had absolutely no plan for that plotline and just had to write something to get those books out.
I mean, it was a huge mystery that set the whole war in motion. Tyrions capture, Ned's beheading, I mean everything....and GRRM just tosses in yeah Joffrey did it...just because.
I actually thought it perfectly showed the opportunistic nature of Baelish's plotting; he had no idea who had really done it, and played along with it to turn it to his own advantage. It shows the cannablising of the Lannisters by how Joff indirectly fucks over and almost kills Tyrion.
Joffrey overhears Jaime discussing how it would be a mercy if Bran died in the fall rather than having to live life broken. I think it’s believable
@@blaertes4976 He overheard Robert, not Jaime. But I agree you can make it work without holes.
I'm saying it's just obvious GRRM didn't plan that from the start. He had to make something work to keep the story going, and wrote that to make sense.
@@blaertes4976 I don't think Joffrey would care if a boy was suffering. He might kill someone for fun, but he isn't going to pay an assassin to kill someone just so he can sooth their pain.
But I'm willing to overlook this particular plot hole. There are bigger fish to fry.
2:34:12 I love that the moment Glidus pops in, Alt starts taking the piss for a bit.
Thank you for filtering out the spoiler supercats as well. I'm really digging this series thus far. Would hate to be spoiled. Much appreciated!
People are making way to big of deal about Deamon landing on the knight at the beach and team killing him. It's dark af out, imagine landing a huge ass dragon in the misty dark night. He wouldn't have heard him crying for help nor would have cared regardless, he didn't know he did it. There's nothing funny or serious about it. It's literally collateral damage.
I mean it was funny though
The only thing I kept wondering when watching this is how is the Crab man still causing them trouble if he's just hanging out in a cave? As soon as he and his men get in a ship have a dragon burn it down and any survivors will drown. It seems like all Daemon had to do was wait for them to finish their supplies in the caves and get back in their boats.
Exactly and yet it is Daemon’s provisions which are dwindling. I also disliked how they depicted Daemon using the white flag to surrender as oppose to initiating a cease fire for negotiations. If he were truly getting decimated by an enemy hold up on an island he would pack up his toys and go home instead of surrendering. And no one can convince me that two dragon couldn’t both neutralize the archers on the high ground while aiding the foot soldiers as well. The Crabfeeder should have been starved out the caves in no time and not this 3 year BS
Daemon wasn’t dodging arrows they were just missing. He was pretty far way and running at full speed not that unrealistic imo.
Nah cmon thats blatant plot armor. That sequence is the only part I really disliked this episode
They were all just conveniently landing right next to him(until he got hit under the wood to protect him ofcourse).
@@rayeya3138 And then they all came out and just stared at him until they were attacked from behind
cope lol
If he was dodging he did a piss poor job he still got hit by 3 lmao.
The plan was for him to drag them out so they can be turned into BBQ. Them "standing" there was for like 2 seconds dragged out for dramatic effect.
The festering wound on his hand is clearly a metaphor for Otto's intentions? His hand is rotting