Did the GoT credits change from week to week? I only saw a handful of eps and couldn’t tell for sure from one viewing to the next but it seemed like they showed different parts of the land(?) On HoD, I recognize the music (of course) and when the prompt to skip the intro came on I thought “no way, I love the intro” but I won’t bother in the future if it’s just going to be blood running all over the place. Very Shiningesque.
Yes, each area often covered. I’m not sure if the actual animation for region changed much (ie: it was same for the wall, and same for winterfell, and kings landing, which were the main ones). But the locations of that episode tended to be shown and named. So you’d perhaps get somewhere different like Dragonstone or Iron Islands.
I didn’t pick up on this watching it, but the opening is set over the model of Valyria that Viserys is working on, and the blood that flows down it is tracing the bloodline of Targaryen kings with a different token unlocked for each monarch. Viserys’s token is his crown and Rhaenyra’s is the Valyrian steel pendant that Daemon gave her. Will have to pay closer attention next episode.
I dunno, it seems to be asking for a whole bunch more of effort if it’s sigils and stuff. It’s not as if we really see those up close very often.
I liked the second episode: just skillful, steady plotting which really sharpens the multiple coming conflicts.
Viserys has probably made a mistake by choosing Alicent but it’s understandable; he is still struggling with his grief and wants a genuine companion.
I agree that the decision to recycle the GOT theme is both lazy and baffling: creating a new and memorable theme would have really given the new show its own identity and it’s not like they are short of money…
It’s the Targaryen royal blood line (and one point you can see where it splinters into 9 forks when Jaeherys I has 9 children and then you can see the blood line stop and another comes spurts out in the distance when a Targaryen king dies with no heir). Seeing as the blood line is important here, I found it a very apt opening graphic.
I don’t have anything against recycling the theme music. I’m sure it was not simply lazy, but a very deliberate decision to further tie the new series to GoT in people’s minds, and it worked on me.
Hearing that theme every week always stirred something in me, grabbed my attention and piqued my anticipation for what was to come in the next hour.
When I heard it this week, I felt much more than the prior episode that GAME OF THRONES IS BACK, and I was excited. And I felt that way throughout the episode too, perhaps in part because I was primed to feel that way by the music; that this isn’t just a spinoff or an imitation, this is GoT.
That probably sounds weird, but it is indeed a very powerful piece, And I was quite glad to hear it again.
If their aim is to create A Song of Ice and Fire cinematic universe, it would make sense to utilize the same very moving theme to emphasize it’s all part of a larger narrative.
Here’s an explanation of the opening credits.
An actual conversation I had yesterday:
Me: “Honey, want to watch Game of Thrones? I mean, I know it has a different name, but let’s still call it that, OK?”
My wife: “I mean, obviously.”
If your want, we can call it GOT:HOTD, as if it were a Law & Order show.
So Matt Smith, arguably the series’ most interesting character, conducts a covert mission into the heart of the literal dragons’ lair to steal one of the most valuable items/weapons in the entire known world, and we are notified of this during a council meeting? I enjoy the politics and scene setting of the GoT world - but holy hell let’s not violate “show, don’t tell” so blatantly.
I’d say compared to the people he’s being compared to in the last two episodes - namely his cousin and her husband. We see him get continually injured by the actual throne itself - this isn’t a subtle metaphor showing us that he might be a little soft for the role.
The point was to show how ineffective Viserys is. He was basically not even that angry until the dragon egg was named and then he was talked out of going himself by his Hand (who is really in charge).
By the sound of it he just walked in, took it, and walked out, and no one had the authority to tell him not to so they just ran to get the king.
Completely agree, we needed that scene. Show him take out a few guards with some badass stealth attacks along the way.
Yup. And even if it was like Babale suggested - he just walked in and no one offered resistance - show THAT. It’s 100 times more effective at showing the divided loyalties that he’s created. It would show how affectionate he is to Rhaenyra to then just yield to her later in the episode.
Another suggestion to the show runners that likely reading all of our suggestions: stop showing the dragons as if they are merely public transportation, and more like awe-inspiring death machines that only the bravest and most unique are able to ride/tame.
You’ll soon get your wish.
Maybe they wanted us to be as caught off guard as the King in that moment.
One thing I hope they cover in this series is just how risky it is for a dragonrider to go into battle, like Rhaenyra threatened to do. We are used to GoT where dragons are only on one side of the battle and practically invincible, but in Fire and Blood, dragonriders who face off against dragons are usually killed.
That may have come into play, but it’s more that he had no better option in that moment than to hand over the egg. Affection or not, Daemon is smart enough to realize that harming the princess would not end well for him.
The whole incident seemed to me less about Daemon actually wanting the egg, and more about both antagonizing his brother and testing what he can get away with.