As if House of the Dragon didn’t drop enough bombshells on fans with its premiere episode on Sunday night, the series has now made a major revelation in its “Inside the Episode” featurette and in the preview for upcoming episodes. Fair warning: there are spoilers for House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones below!
House of the Dragon Episode 1, “The Heirs of the Dragon,” revealed that House Targaryen was motivated by more than power and wealth when they conquered the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. In a dramatic scene near the end of the pilot episode, King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) revealed to his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) that Targaryen monarchs were the sole keepers of an old prophecy. Viserys describes a prophecy about the upcoming battle with the White Walkers, and when he does so he grips a familiar Valyrian steel dagger on his hip.
Videos by PopCulture.com
If you stuck around after the episode, you might have heard series co-creator and co-showrunner Ryan Condal remark on this scene that Aegon the Conquerer “imbued his secret in the steel of the Valyrian dagger.” The following morning, HBO released a new preview for “the weeks ahead” on House of the Dragon, including a scene that many social media users zeroed in on.
The trailer features Rhaenyra and Viserys talking about the prophecy again in a voiceover, and Rhaenyra seems to be reading from something. It shows both her and Viserys looking down at flames, and the final shot shows Viserys holding the dagger unsheathed this time. With all this in mind, fans guessed that the dagger itself was an emblem of the prophecy.
“From my blood come the Prince that was Promised,” Rhaenyra reads, “and his will be the Song of Ice and Fire.”
As Condal said, this ties in very neatly with Game of Thrones, where that very same dagger was used to kill the Night King and end the White Walker threat. It also presents a fun mystery for House of the Dragon, as fans can trace the dagger through the show and try to understand how it ends up in the hands of Littlefinger at the beginning of the main series. The dagger could serve as a symbolic prop to tell us if, how and when the Targaryens lose their knowledge of this prophecy in the years that follow.
The dagger may not fold into the books’ continuity quite as well, since most fans believe that the White Walkers will be defeated differently when George R.R. Martin finishes writing his series. Moreover, the books give lots of hints that many Targaryen characters knew about this secret prophecy – not just the monarch and the heir at any given time.
House of the Dragon airs on Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO and HBO Max. Martin’s books are available now in print, digital and audiobook formats.
Related Posts
-
Official promotional artwork for <em>Game of Thrones</em> -
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 07: George R. R. Martin attends the FYC special screening for HBO Max's "House Of The Dragon" at DGA Theater Complex on March 07, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/GA/The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images)
