Editor’s Note: The following are spoilers for episodes 1-6 of The House of the Dragon.Who will sit on the Iron Throne? This is the question at the core Dragon Househow it was in Game of Thrones. And part of the fun of watching both shows is deciding who you want to take on after you’ve formed an affection for a wide range of characters and backed your preferred candidate to win the coveted prize of ruling Westeros. But should we really root for any of the characters on Dragon House? This is a difficult question, and in order to answer it one must look closely at the morality or lack of it shown in George R. R. Martinfictional world.
Both sides of the Dragon Dance seek power
Dragon House, Game of Thronesand Martin Song of Ice and Fire the novels they are based on provide a brutally honest look at the sword and sorcery genre. It’s not that Martin’s world is more realistic than other fantasy stories (Dragon House and others do feature a variety of mythical beasts, among other fictional creatures and forms of magic, after all), but while other entries in the genre romanticize what are essentially modified versions of Earth in medieval times, the Ice Song and The flame shows that it is terrible to live in such a society, especially for those who do not have power, but also for those who own it. Westeros is a self-perpetuating system of cruelty and immorality that corrupts even everyone and everything in it.
Dragon House plunges deeper into this moral quagmire than Game of Thrones did. In earlier series, there were characters who remained more or less righteous, including the Stark family and fellow players such as Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham) and Samwell Tarly (John Bradley). Yes, even these characters sometimes had to make moral compromises, but only after their enemies forced them into desperate situations, and they were driven by loyalty to friends and family, and even an altruistic desire to protect the world. AT Dragon HouseWhether they admit it or not, all of the major characters introduced so far are motivated in one way or another by the desire for power and the strengthening of the position of their family or other group. The show masterfully crafts likable and seductive characters, encouraging viewer loyalty while also making it abundantly clear that they are all reprehensible in one way or another.
Every character in House of the Dragon has a fatal flaw.
Perhaps the most striking example of this is the characterization of the current king, Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine). When introduced, Viserys seems to be another problematic leader, little better than his descendant of the same name in Game of Thrones. In the first episode, consumed by his desire for his son to be a direct male heir, he tells his medical staff to put his wife through a treatment meant to save the baby during her difficult birth, despite knowing it could very well kill her. , which he does, failing to save the baby. But other episodes have earned the character, if not affection, then at least sympathy and pity.
He showed some moral fortitude by refusing to marry 12-year-old Laena Velaryon (Nova Fuailis-Mose), even though it would have been the most politically strategic move he could make at the time, and he refused to change his word to his daughter Reynira (Millie Alcock/Emma D’Arcy) that she would be his successor, despite political pressure from various quarters. But just when you feel that you start to like him, there is some reminder of this terrible original sin. This is the case with all the main characters of the series, who turn out to have one or another fatal flaw that prevents them from being worthy of full loyalty or leadership.
The main women of the series, Reynira and her ex-girlfriend Alicent Hightower (Emily Carey/Olivia Cook) are by far the most likable of its main characters. Both are exploited and vilified because of their gender, among other things, they become pawns of their fathers. Rainier has been influenced by her uncle Damon for years (Matt Smith) until he seduces her in Episode 4 before leaving her alone in a brothel. Alicent was ordered by her father Otto (Rhys Ifans) to console the king after the death of his first wife by forcing a much older man to marry and have several children with her.
This mistreatment and their personalities endear the public to the characters, but both can only be seen as good potential leaders when viewed through the distorted lenses of Westeros. Both are intelligent, but while occasionally showing a thoughtful understanding of the actual ruling of the Seven Kingdoms, they only do so in a way that benefits their respective sides in the brewing civil war for leadership that consumed them both in the very last episode, in which their friendship completely dissolved into an icy feud over whose children will rule.
Their respective claims to the throne, and the idea of Targaryen rule in general, are also extremely outdated by modern standards. Whether anyone believes the monarchy is righteous or not, the Targaryen dynasty is built on a thin and immoral foundation of power to make things right. The Targaryens and their Velaryon kin see themselves as superior humans with a divine right to rule due to their bloodline connection to Old Valyria. This thinking that genetics can make a person superior to others leads to such horrors as racism, eugenics and, as Martin’s world often shows, incest. What actually allowed the Targaryens to rise to power, as Damon notes, is their control over many dragons, which gives their side an insurmountable advantage in military conflicts.
Rhaenyra’s claim is based solely on the fact that she is the daughter of the Targaryen king and a dragon rider. Alicent is just that she is the wife of the king and the mother of his children. Both are completely rooted in a system that is itself imperfect, and their respective lack of ideology and concern for the people they will govern highlight why, despite their hardships, they do not deserve to sit on the throne. Everyone knows how their descendant Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), but even she did more to earn the loyalty of her followers because of her initial success against sexism and slavery.
All this suggests that if we approach the question of whether we should root for one side or the other while watching Dragon House From a modern point of view, the answer is a resounding no. But, again, that’s part of the fun of the show, and viewers shouldn’t be deterred from it. So the answer is really, yes, we should cheer for whomever we want, as long as we remember that the mindset we adopt while doing so is a distortion that should not be followed in reality.
Source: Collider
