re: GoT: House of the Dragon Season 3 Official Thread [NO BOOK SPOILERS]

if the red titty witch were in this show I’d like it better
and daemon should be king, that much is obvious and everyone can see it. All of this would be over quickly (a long time ago) and the rest of the scooby doo BS would never have happened

Had that been daemon on the dragon instead of rhaenys he’d have fried everyone at the altar and that would have been that

When a dragon accepts a rider they become linked by magic. It’s how sheepstealer knew she wanted to go to dragon stone. The show runners said that during the battle sheepstealer got confused and tried to take out everyone to protect his rider. Being wild, he isn’t used to following commands and his natural instinct is that other dragons want to hurt him.

I’m not complaining about the dragon’s behavior that was right in line with what we were shown and told. Viserys said was back in season 1 that “control” of the dragons is an illusion. What is stupid is her yelling out a name to him he’s never heard before

is anyone else not sure which side they support?

I hate everybody but Daemon, but I really can't stand Rhaenyra and her kids so that pulls me away from the blacks

I'm more indifferent about the greens across the board. I guess I just want to see Daemon wreck shite

Wow, never thought, as one of the most ardent critics of this show, that I’d be so dumbfounded by the criticism in this thread.

Are the decisions lots of people in this show make idiotic and frustrating? Absolutely. At the same time, are they true to the characters they’ve presented? Also, absolutely.

This show is about two mothers warring with largely a bunch of teenagers at their sides that control the ultimate fighting weapons of this world. Can y’all imagine anything worse military leaders than two mothers whose commanders are their kids? Can y’all imagine anything worse than giving teenagers ultimate death machines?

It does make for a frustrating view, at times, but I thought it was incredibly true to their characters. Have y’all been around fifteen year-olds lately? They make Tik Tok dance videos and eat laundry pods.

If you gave one of them a dragon, of course he’s gonna think he can fly off to war and save everyone. He’s got no battle experience so he won’t stay high away from the boats or cut the anchor whenever he’s shot. No, he’s gonna recklessly fly low to the water, get shot, do basically nothing but panic, swim away like a scared little boy instead of cutting away and saving his dragon, and then he’s gonna get shot.

The one who claimed a wild dragon? Of course she’s gonna think she can just show up and control this thing and not think through all the training and preparation required. She’s gonna panic and just start yelling nonsense whenever it’s attacking her sister.

Was any of it smart? Of course not, but it was all extremely believable IMO. The first thing I said to my wife whenever I saw her flying was “o god here comes friendly fire”. I’d thought originally it would be one of the three new dragon riders who were just camped out, but you knew there was gonna be some mistaken identity, was so obvious and believable.

I also thought, as someone mentioned, that the stuff around communication with letters and the fog of war and coordinating timing was so interesting. Makes me think of who knows how many instances back in the day where a major conflict was decided bc some rider got killed and didn’t deliver a message or a commander didn’t wait in his position long enough. Must’ve been impossible to coordinate back then.

My only real complaints are that there doesn’t seem to be any world where the Queens Guard dude listens to a fvcking teenager over his Queen. I know there’s been some skepticism over Raynera’s decisions, but I don’t get the sense that there’s this level of rejection of loyalty and authority that he’d listen to her teenage son. That strikes me as no f’n way.

Additionally, the one thing that I kept thinking was holy shite this would’ve made for an epic season finale. It’s insane what they did at the end of last season. Imagine that season ending exactly where this episode ends. One dragon and son dead. The burned king taken hostage. Raenyra clearly about to go psycho mad queen. The one new dragon rider about to defect. Aegon about to go fly out to challenge Daemon. It would’ve ended incredibly and setup an awesome third season. Instead we’re just kind of jolted right back into it.

That’s the only real complaint in my mind. Everything else, even while incredibly frustrating to watch, was perfectly believable and true to all of their characters.

O and thank god the bitch face or whatever her name is got killed. I almost had to change the channel when she was on.

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They try to make everyone sympathize with Rhaenera but she’s pretty insufferable

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I see a lot of people say this but I actually think the show tries to make us see that she's kind of incompetent and not cut out to rule in this type of world.

I think they do a good job of painting Alicient as deserving of some sympathy. She's got pulled into a lot of different directions as a child and was just trying to follow the rules. Now as a parent she's caught between doing what's good for the realm and protecting her children.

I think what's most fricked up is that the writers had everyone rooting for Daemon after S1 and didn't like that so they cut off his balls for S2 and made him boring

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Yea I think you're spot on. It's refreshing to see a show where the make the powerful rulers completely dysfunctional. All too often we get shows where one side can do no wrong. Here they gave 2 completely dysfunctional families nuclear weapons and everyone is fricked as a result.

I get the complaints that it makes everything feel like an accident rather than either side being responsible for their actions but i don't really see it that way. Both sides had opportunities to end this thing before it started but the leadership was too incompetent. It's a lesson on miscommunication and it's a lesson on what happens when idiots get control of the most powerful weapons in the world

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Totally. If you’d given either of the sides to someone competent, this thing would’ve been over in an instant. A strategist like Tywin Lannister or even a seasoned general like Robert Baratheon or Ned / Rob Stark on either side win this thing comfortably as both had extreme moments with the upper hand but they either were hesitant to end it, fvcked up the communication, or someone on their team went rogue.

Again, it’s def frustrating, but I imagine it’s a pretty good look into what medieval conflicts were like back when teenagers became kings and princes. They pretend train in a fancy castle, get given some army of a thousand men and think they’re invincible so they make some idiotic decision and fvck everything up the first time they go to any real battle. Must’ve been insane for all non-royals.

I did love that one new guy with the fancy armor who gets told the burn king is gone and Aemon has taken over and he says something like o well, a king is a king, IDGAF. So good.

Damn that was a lot to take in

Maybe the most enjoyable episode of the series so far

What an awesome episode