# House of the Dragon, an HBO prequel series to Game of Thrones **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, hbomax-wb-dc\ **Created:** [May 6, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521 "2021-05-06T13:17:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 29
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/562 "2022-10-17T17:56:29Z")
> [@duality72](#): > > I still think she should have BBQed them, though. Would have saved a lot of suffering to come and it’s not like they wouldn’t have done the same if the situation was reversed. Well Alicent wouldn’t have, that was the whole point. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/563 "2022-10-17T17:58:57Z")
Well, it takes a special kind of person to fry their blood relatives… I think if it had just been Otto and Cole, they’d have been crispy critters, but Alicent and her children was a step too far for her. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/564 "2022-10-17T18:01:28Z")
Right. Alicent would just stand idly by and watch her minions do it. What’s one more murder to get your desired result? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/565 "2022-10-17T18:04:24Z")
The entire episode was her trying to manipulate things so Rhaenyra and her children wouldn’t be murdered, what show did you watch? ---
**Author:** ![Lantern2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lantern2/32/3010_2.png) [@Lantern2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern2)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/566 "2022-10-17T18:16:29Z")
> [@Dr\_Paprika](#): > > This was the best episode yet. Agreed. The first few episodes were a slow burn though still quite absorbing but the season just got better and better and is now right up there with early GOT IMO. I can’t wait for the next season. As for Rhaenys, she is clearly not someone who can cold-bloodedly kill her own relatives and let’s not forget that she still thinks Rhaenyra may have killed her son and is probably still ambivalent about her becoming queen. Now she is owed a solid by both the new king and Alicent and will get to shape the future. Though I have to say that security around her dragon should have been tighter. Who did they have in there: stormtroopers? It looks like there will be at least a half-serious effort at negotiations, it will be interesting to see how that goes. To be honest it’s hard to see how Rhaenyra would possibly accept. She will view the mere act of crowning Aegon as a massive betrayal and her side has a large edge in dragons, right? And not much suspense about what Daemon will want to do… ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/567 "2022-10-17T18:16:35Z")
> [@peccavi](#): > > Well, it takes a special kind of person to fry their blood relatives… Basically the sort of person who lives in Westeros. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/568 "2022-10-17T18:23:58Z")
> [@Lantern2](#): > > She will view the mere act of crowning Aegon as a massive betrayal and her side has a large edge in dragons, right? Her and Daemon have dragons, So do Rhaenys and Corlys, her two kids and one of Laena’s daughters also, but I imagine those are fairly young. Not sure how many the green side has, Aegon and Aemond I assume, but Aemond has Vhagar and he is not just older and bigger but also has actually fought. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lantern2/32/3010_2.png) [@Lantern2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern2)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/569 "2022-10-17T18:37:44Z")
It’s too late now but one of the options for the Greens would have been to send Aemond on Vhagar on a pre-emptive attack to kill some of the Black dragons before they even knew the king was dead. Would have evened the odds by a lot. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/570 "2022-10-17T18:38:17Z")
The one where Alicent’s personally picked goon murdered a member of the small council in front of her eyes for having the temerity to disagree with her insurrection plans, another noble was hung for the same, and Rhaenys was held captive and needed to escape the city for her own safety. Alicent picked her side and she’s fully complicit. You can’t say she’s immune from the consequences of being a traitor just because she’s okay with murdering a few less people than the rest. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/571 "2022-10-17T19:25:12Z")
Shrug, there are certainly no innocents here but it is a bit silly to claim she would have killed Rhaenyra and her children if given the chance when the whole freaking episode is about her trying to keep exactly that from happening. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/572 "2022-10-17T20:25:52Z")
> [@duality72](#): > > Alicent picked her side and she’s fully complicit. You can’t say she’s immune from the consequences of being a traitor just because she’s okay with murdering a few less people than the rest. It’s a bit more complicated than that, unlike the other conspirators she _actually_ believes she’s carrying out Viserys’s dying wish. She almost feels like a weird combination of Cersei Lannister and Ned Stark. ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/573 "2022-10-17T20:51:55Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > …but it is a bit silly to claim she would have killed Rhaenyra and her children if given the chance when the whole freaking episode is about her trying to keep exactly that from happening. It’s a good thing no one claimed that then. You seem to be confused that Rhaenys (not Rhaenyra) was the one with the option to BBQ the usurpers and, probably foolishly, chose not to take it. > [@alphaboi867](#): > > It’s a bit more complicated than that, unlike the other conspirators she _actually_ believes she’s carrying out Viserys’s dying wish. I could have been more sympathetic to Alicent up until the small council murder, but now she’s seen innocent people get killed for her machinations and just rolled with it. That she is doing so based on a confused conversation with a dying man doesn’t mitigate that much, though I understand it’s necessary to drive the plot. If she were to get murdered right back (say, by dragon fire), it would only be fair at this point. In modern terms, she’s part of a criminal conspiracy that has committed felony murder and has earned the full weight of those consequences, even if she didn’t commit the murders herself and thinks it’s for a really great cause. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/574 "2022-10-17T20:54:28Z")
> [@duality72](#): > > It’s a good thing no one claimed that then. You said “it’s not like they wouldn’t have done the same thing if the situation was reversed” I said Alicent wouldn’t have and you implied she would. Did i misunderstand any of that? ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/575 "2022-10-17T20:55:17Z")
> [@duality72](#): > > but now she’s seen innocent people get killed for her machinations and just rolled with it. They are not “machinations”, she is following what she believes is the last wish of the king. ---
**Author:** ![Lantern2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lantern2/32/3010_2.png) [@Lantern2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lantern2)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/576 "2022-10-17T21:03:06Z")
BTW I just realized that there is in fact another episode in the season. I guess the end of the Rings of Power season had primed me into thinking that this was the last episode of House of Dragon too. I think the season could have ended here but certainly I am looking forward to how the Blacks react. As for Alicent, I think she is intelligent enough to understand that the ramblings of a dying man don’t necessarily mean much. Choosing to take them at face value and push her son as king is very much a choice that she makes while recoiling from the full implications of that choice. Realistically she could either accept Rhaenyra as the queen or go full medieval on the Blacks like her father wants. She is trying to find a middle way which probably doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/577 "2022-10-17T21:17:40Z")
> [@Lantern2](#): > > Realistically she could either accept Rhaenyra as the queen or go full medieval on the Blacks like her father wants. She is trying to find a middle way which probably doesn’t exist. Yep. She’s trying to Ned Stark this - offer the other party a choice, when acting immediately would have won the day. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/578 "2022-10-17T21:18:27Z")
> [@Lantern2](#): > > As for Alicent, I think she is intelligent enough to understand that the ramblings of a dying man don’t necessarily mean much. Ah, but they do when you are the king. ---
**Author:** ![WalterBishop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/aeb1de/32.png) [@WalterBishop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WalterBishop)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/579 "2022-10-17T21:22:55Z")
How many people does Ser Cristen Cole need to beat to death in front of a room full of witnesses before someone puts a leash on that crazy bastard? Is it higher or lower than the number of people Larys has burned to death so he could perv over Alicent’s feet? Did Quentin Tarantino direct this episode? ---
**Author:** ![duality72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duality72/32/3910_2.png) [@duality72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duality72)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/580 "2022-10-17T21:28:14Z")
Ah, I think I get where our confusion stems on the type of reverse situation I was referring to. If I may, you’re thinking that if Alicent were on the dragon facing down Rhaenyra and family, she would not kill them. That I agree with. What I meant by the situations being reversed, though, was that specific situation. That if the group of usurpers had the upper hand over a fleeing Rhaenys that was threatening their little coup, it’s quite likely that they would have had her killed and Alicent would have gone along with it like she had several times already. At best, they might have captured her as a bargaining chip, but that hardly makes them better people. And I would still call them machinations because 1) this isn’t the start of her angling to put Aegon on the throne, just the moment that pushed her over the edge into doing it “illegally”. It just so happened that her father was more prepared for this moment than she knew. And 2) for 20 years, Viserys had been adamant that he wanted Rhaenyra to succeed him and established this was to happen through the proper process and announcements. You don’t just toss that out the window based on one confused conversation with a dying man with no witnesses and then get to play the innocent “I’m just following the king’s wishes” card when people start dying because of it. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2022, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521/581 "2022-10-17T21:31:12Z")
> [@WalterBishop](#): > > How many people does Ser Cristen Cole need to beat to death in front of a room full of witnesses before someone puts a leash on that crazy bastard? The only thing I can say, is in Friends style: “I KNOOOOOOW, RIGHT?” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521.md?page=28) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-an-hbo-prequel-series-to-game-of-thrones/941521.md?page=30)