House of the Dragon BREAKDOWN: Every Game of Thrones EASTER EGG
everyone says targaryens are closer to gods than to men but they say that because of our dragons without them we’re just like everyone else hey welcome back to screen crush i’m ryan airy and this is all the easter eggs references and little things you might have missed in the premiere episode of house of the dragon the new series focuses on house targaryen and most of you probably remember them from game of thrones but even if you haven’t seen the show game of thrones this show takes place hundreds of years before it is a fresh start
and just in case you’re curious about what happened leading up to the series we do have a video out that covers 12 000 years of westeros history in just 12 minutes now when game of thrones starts the reign of the targaryens was over with with robert baratheon having to pose them a couple decades earlier the scattered remnants of the family included vasiris who didn’t last long and daenerys who was a major player from the beginning all the way through to her end the new series thankfully doesn’t move at that same break neck who cares pace
that game of thrones season 8 did where dragons and greyjoy ships warped around westeros faster than a coked up mario i love season 8. i love all game
that tells us that we will be entering the action after a century of targaryen rule as the first century of the targaryen dynasty came to a close the health of the old king jaehaerus was failing king jiharis sits on the iron throne and the targaryens have 10 count them up 10 dragons on their side nevertheless trouble is brewing the king has no real air and his health is failing succession is a huge issue now we’re told this as the familiar targaryen theme from the game of thrones series plays oh i love that music is that
going to be the same music in this show yes same composer riffs on the coronation theme and the main game of thrones theme can be heard as the sequence goes the on the only thing that could tear down the king has called all the lords and ladies of the kingdoms to harrenhal the burnt out husk of a castle which fans will remember from season two of thrones fourteen claims to the throne were heard but only two were actually considered those of princess reynus and her younger cousin prince vasirus he’s played by patty constadine who you
may remember from hot fuzz and many other projects now look the targaryens tend to give each other the same names over and over so if you’re confused this is not that the cirrus he is the earlier one he has made prince of dragonstone which means that he will be the heir to the iron throne now renus is older but she’s a woman you’re a woman yes i hope that’s not a problem so she is overlooked and this doesn’t sit well with her the only thing that can tear down house targaryen was itself and that is
exactly what king jiharis was hoping to avoid with this entire production well at least he bought them some time after a close-up of the targaryen house sigil we’re told that we’re cutting ahead to the ninth year in the reign of king viserys the first in case we needed a firmer timetable we’re also told that it’s 172 years before the death of the mad king heiress and the birth of daenerys now i was ready for some dragon action and that is exactly what the show gives us a golden beauty name cerax flies over king’s landing giving
us a really good look at the red keep and the great sept of baylor the dragon doesn’t burn the city down which already makes this way different from the last time i saw a dragon fly over the city cerax lands in the dragon pit which got some screen time in season seven and eight of thrones she’s greeted by harold westerling the lord commander of the kingsguard and he is played by the hobbit and outlander star graham mctavish so he watches in his white cloak as some attendants sued the beast with some valerian um and valerian
is the ancestral language of the targaryens princess rhaenyra hops off the dragon’s back she grabs a coach and then rides to the red keek with alice and hightower allison ty tower is very important to this show her father is otto hightower and he is the hand to the king and notice in the show they haven’t even changed the little badge the same as it was in the original show they greet her pregnant mother eamon aaron who is queen consort to vasiris and a member of the same house as these charming characters the queen tries to
prepare her daughter for giving birth herself one day we have royal wounds you and i uh whatever but ranira is way more interested in battle and glory the birthing bed is not her battlefield king viserys finishes an anecdote that probably wasn’t very funny so i said to him well i believe you might be looking up the wrong end and then his advisor and master of ships lord corliss tells the small council that he’s worried about a new threat across the narrow sea the growing alliance among the three cities has taken to styling itself the triarchy
now you’ll remember that the free cities are in essos the continent to the east that’s like braavos where arya stark trained now what he’s talking about is that the three most powerful cities in essos are banding together into one force that is threatening the islands to the southeast of westeros which are called the stepstones expect this conflict to escalate as the season continues renera is also her king’s cup bearer and daughter and she enters still smelling of dragon the king’s absent brother damon targaryen is briefly mentioned now currently he is commander of the city watch
in fact if memory serves he is the first commander of the city watch he’s the one who gave them their gold cloaks to wear that we saw in the original show now this character is a big deal partly because he’s played by dr who star matt smith and the king’s hand otto hightower is played by rhys iffins you remember he was kurt connors in the amazing spider-man now both he and the king don’t care about this trier arc nonsense over the narrow sea and they want to talk about the heirs tournament and they’re advised about
it by grand maester mellows maesters actually still dressed the same way that they will dress 172 years later now this heirs tournament is going to be expensive but all of the important lords and ladies of westeros are already on their way the king really wants this heir to be born during this tournament like a giant gender reveal party even though they don’t yet know the sex of the baby but king viserys is convinced that it’s a boy rainier’s tour of the red keep continues as westerling brings her to the throne room saying that a certain
someone arrives this morning now the iron throne is massive in this time period much bigger than it was on thrones extending itself down to the floor of the room this is closer to its description in the novels which basically described it as a giant mound of melted swords now more notable than this is the person sitting on the throne ronira’s uncle the aforementioned prince damon damon dreams of ruling over westeros himself someday and he speaks valerian with rhaenyra as she approaches now damon at this point is the heir to the throne unless a male heir
is born to vasiris now wait a minute i thought that there was going to be a bunch of dragon squirrels in the throne rooms i haven’t seen these since robert had them removed from the throne room well no doug because the dragons are actually still alive they will not hang those dragon skulls up until after the dragons start to die off oh i was wondering damon gives raniera a necklace made of valyrian steel like dark sisters now dark’s sister is a famous ancestral valerian blade of house targaryen daemon now wields it and he says that
they now both have a piece of their birthright now you’ll hear a lot of references to valyria in this show valyria was the ancestral home of the targaryens it was destroyed about a hundred years earlier in something called the doom of valyria afterwards the targaryens took their family west to westeros so that’s what makes valyrian blades so special they are not making them anymore valerian steel secrets died with valyria and you’ll remember that a few characters on game of thrones carried similar valyrian blades oh careful your grace nothing cuts like valyrian steel studying in with
allison in the godswood throwing out references to dorne princess nymeria and this is who arya named her wolf after the king meanwhile gets some attention paid to a nasty open wound of his that refuses to heal now he’s convinced that it’s nothing and it’s just from sitting on the iron throne otto hightower is a little more worried the king agrees to have this wound cauterized before going to see his queen and guys i think we can consider this wound to be chekhov’s open sore dragon scale anyone it’s as warm as the mess as well don’t
they know dragons prefer heat this reminds us that dragons like it hot the king is still convinced this child is a boy because of a dream that he had and the queen but i placed our son up on the iron throne she has not been very lucky with pregnancies this is her last chance to give the king a male heir like no pressure right prince damon gives a rousing speech to the city watch who donned their gold cloaks king’s landing will learn to fear the color gold now whether damon is good evil or a bit
of both he easily stands out as the most interesting character on the show thus far we’re tempted to say it’s morbid time but matt smith may not get the reference i actually didn’t even know what that meant until yesterday uh the panel because i’m i’m not on the internet the gold cloaks race out of the city and start beating the hell out of anyone they even suspect of breaking the law damon watches as the thief has his hand chopped off and a rapist gets his not hand chopped off if this was thrones they probably would
have shown it but it’s not so they don’t damon himself chops off someone’s head with dark sister and then the next day otto hightower gives a report to the king damon is waiting for them at the council table and he argues with otto about his actions the city has to be safe for the tournament and the king can’t help but agree with him the new city watch might be a good thing otto manages to get a jab in a damon about neglecting his wife ria who lives in the vale you remember the veil with tyrion
and the moon door all that stuff now damon doesn’t like the veil and he presumably doesn’t like his wife rhea either i think my bronze pit is happier for my absence the good and honorable lady of the veil in the vow men are said to sheep instead of women i can assure you the sheep are prettier neyman then gets in a jab at auto about otto’s dead wife your own lady wife tasked recently even to a guy like me that’s cold so damon and otto hate each other that’s the real takeaway of this and it’s
going to be really important later in the season damon tries to rail a woman named asaria while a handful of other women watch behind a screen this is actually mirrored later on in the episode when damon watches a small council meeting behind a similar screen so time for some sport the king begins the tournament which takes place in much nicer digs in the tournament that we saw in season 1 of thrones he announces that the queen’s labor has begun and he has a dagger on his belt with a hilt very similar to the cat’s paw
dagger that littlefinger used to cause so much trouble in the first season of game of thrones the jousting commences and a member of house baratheon asked the favor of reynus whom he calls the queen that never was now in martin’s writing a court jester named mushroom gave her this title renera and allison are front and center for the action making references to houses that we’ve heard of including stokeworth and tarly lord stokewood’s daughter was promised to that young charlie squire lord massey she asked westerlin about sir kristen cole just knocked two baratheons into the dirt
not much is known about this guy apart from him being the common born son of lord dhandari and steward i assume that lord dandarian is somehow related to barrick dondarrion remember he was the guy with the flaming sword and thrones so rainier is looking at this guy and she is liking what she sees so damon hits the list and chooses otto’s son gwen hightower to be his first opponent master of coin lyman beesberry can also be seen placing a bet on this beasbury incidentally is played by bill patterson an actor who has appeared on both
outlander and doctor who as well as good omens and the sandman busy little beesberry wayne is unhorsed and so damon asked the favor of alison tytower daughter of his rival seriously yeah and then she gives him her favor otto ain’t happy about this but there’s no time for this the king is quickly called away to his wailing wife and the grand maester says that she’s in breach meaning that this birth is not going well the selectively reliable milk of the poppy is not helping do something for her we’ve given her as much milk for the
poppy as we can without risking the child the joust gets more violent outside with reynos telling corliss that the day is turning ugly it’s been 70 years since king maegor’s end these nights are as green as summer grass none have known real war and because these knights have never seen war they’re all full of energy and rage and no healthy place to put it so is this observation a harbinger of the great war to come i can’t say for certain but yeah it is it absolutely is the pump is primed and war is inevitable the
dragons want to dance if you catch my meaning the situation is even worse inside the grand maester tells king vasiris that he can either save his wife or the unborn child now before we get an answer we’re back to the joust where sir kirsten cole is going up against damon but as soon as they go at it we’re back inside with king viserys’s choice he’s chosen the baby the grand maester starts to cut it out of her while sir kristen unhorses damon so symbolically what’s happening here is that the king’s new heir is coming into
the world as his former heir daemon is being diminished in combat but the fight is not over because out comes night sister as damon chooses to continue into a melee sir kristin puts up a pretty good fight with his flail but damon gets him down but then he peacocks takes his eye off the prize like oberyn martell you raped her you murdered her you killed her children so sir kristen turns the tables damon is forced to yield sir kristen removes his helmet and reveals that he is dornish now dorne is the land to the south
that at this point has not ever technically bent the knee and become a formal part of the seven kingdoms the astonishment approaches rhaenyra and receives her favor the king is told that the baby is a boy the queen consort is dead and unfortunately the baby dies too all gather outside the city at a funeral pyre and damon prods raniera to help her father a dragon walks forward and lights the pyre aflame after she gives it a very familiar command it’s a word that will become daenerys all-time favorite over 172 years later but notice that rhaenyra
says this word with a slightly different accent because she is more closely tied to her valyrian roots dracarus but there’s no time for grief the small council meets and otto hightower presses the problem of succession these recent tragedies have left you without an obvious heir lord corliss argues that succession is set damon is already the heir apparent now if you think that otto is going to accept this then i got a bridge to sell you the gods have yet to make a man who lacks the patience for absolute power your praise they say every time
a targaryen is born the gods toss a coin and the world holds its breath none of them seem to know that damon himself is listening in on this but then the notion comes up that the king has the power to name his own successor and that his successor would have to be his first born child rhaenyra you’re a woman the council is lightning fast to point out that no queen has ever sat on the iron throne ronero a girl i love working with women let me rephrase that i will work with women otto drives this
home further believing that damon as king would be as bad as a second maegor pulsive and violent it is the duty of this council to protect the king and the realm from him so in the book maegar targaryen was known as the cruel and the abomination on the iron throne and he definitely lived up to those titles maegor was the worst meanest ugliest king that ever sat in the iron throne so right now are renera and damon the only options but king viserys has had enough and shouts them all to be silent cordless puts it
a word for reynos i just want my kids back otto sends a raven to old town where the citadel of the maesters reside i’ve never seen so many books in all my life he also since rave visibly shaken allison’s and tells her to visit king vasiris and give him comfort i don’t know how i feel about otter right now she just like you know like pimping out his daughter and stuff yeah man it looks like he’s playing the game that’s for sure otto gets what he wanted though because alison visits the king in one of
her mother’s dresses with a big book of history in her hands he speaks words of comfort to the king while he works on a model of king’s landing nothing toward here at least not yet but damon’s game is going strong in a pleasure house on the street of silk everyone toasts that he is the heir once more and damon gives a speech let’s give just as the gods take away he’s not so easily replaced we cut to otto the following morning who reports this to the king what did damon do next he made a toast
to the king’s dead newborn and called him heir for a day this party was a celebration of the king’s misery we then see king viserys sitting on the giant iron throne himself as daemon enters the throne room he asks if he really said what was reported and damon’s response is we must mourn in our own way anger and resentment pour out of them both as damon dunks on otto hightower for being a worthless second son a second son who stands to inherit nothing he doesn’t seize for himself he calls vasiris weak in response viserys says
that he’s decided to name a new heir daemon will return to the veil at once on the king’s command so then the king pricks his finger on the iron throne and symbolically this is very important the reason aegon had this throne made from the swords of his defeated enemies is because a king can never get too comfortable on this throne they had to understand that their position was always in danger in the case of king viserys damon’s right he is a weak king he tries to appease everybody so this little tiny cut is showing that
there is a weakness in his rule that is soon about to be exploited in war so then the king appears before a set of lit candles under the skull of valerian that’s the dragon that belonged to aegon the conqueror renera joins him and he tells her that bolerian was the last creature that saw valyria before the doom and then he asked her when you look at the dragons what do you see rene is confused and shaken but king viserys demands an answer everyone says targaryens are closer to gods than to men but they say that
because of our dragons without them we’re just like everyone else and then the king replies with the idea that we control the dragons is an illusion he then says that the dragons cause the doom of valyria and gives her a warning they will bring the same doom down on them if they neglect their history and any king has to understand this or queen after so many wasted years waiting for a male heir vasiris makes a choice that was right in front of him the whole time his heir shall be renera and one by one members
of the court swear new allegiance to both viserys and rhaenyra lord cordless is first and he swears his allegiance with the familiar phrase i swear this by the old gods and the new i swear by the old gods house hightower and house baratheon follow suit followed by rick and stark the lord of winterfell we’re guessing the game of thrones fans will recognize the name and the location the cirrus has also told renera a story about aegon the conqueror he was not guided by a need for conquest it was a dream one in which aegon saw
the end of the world of men just to begin with a terrible winter egg absolute darkness riding on those winds and he adds targaryen must be seated on the iron throne a king or queen strong enough to unite the realm against the cold so according to vasiris aegon called his dream a song of ice and fire that’s what sam tarly calls the history he writes in the thrones finale that’s right and it’s also what george r.r martin calls this overall throne saga so viserys asked for nearest to keep this secret which has been passed down
from ruler to ruler since the time of aegon himself and it makes you realize that had robert’s rebellion not happened this secret would have been kept with the targaryen line and daenerys would have known it instead of needing jon snow to convince her to go off and fight the white walkers so then damon flies off on his dragon as viserys officially declares renera his heir in front of the entire court the familiar strains of the main game of thrones title music begin to play once more and continues to play over the end credits so i
guess that winter is coming once again but it’s a winter that we’ve already seen get defeated on another show now did a targaryen end up uniting all of westeros against the long knight kind of yeah they would not have defeated the white walkers without jon snow who was a stealth targaryen or without daenerys stormborn obviously a targaryen the real enemy that the long night brought us was a horde of badly calibrated televisions but that’s another video it is interesting that for this premiere there was no opening credit sequence or any titles to speak of that
may change going forward but for now it’s an interesting way to make this show different from the one that came before it so what can we expect to see next in thrones many characters refer to a targaryen civil war which was called the dance of the dragons you could read about valerian madrid they say you can still see his skull in the dungeons beneath the red keep now that civil war is what this show is going to depict damon flies away angry and entitled vasiris is really not looking long for this world and rhaenyra is
set to take his place and the dance of the dragons has officially begun but what did you think of the show do you have any questions let me know in the comments below or you can add me on twitter and if it’s your first time here please subscribe and smash that bell for alerts for screen crush i’m ryan airy you
