📺 House of the Dragon S2

[humble plover]

https://tenor.com/view/ser-criston-ser-criston-cole-house-of-the-dragon-fabien-frankel-gif-26759343

I swear the day r/freefolk learned one of the producers was a woman they all got so excited

The amount they’ve projected onto her would be funny if it wasn’t so pitiful

You’d think she was the showrunner lol

[sour pulsar]

Gif is getting old. Try behaving like a mature adult.

[humble plover]

https://tenor.com/view/ser-criston-criston-cole-fabien-frankel-house-of-the-dragon-gif-26940305

[sour pulsar]

So you can’t interact like a mature person. Got it

Guess, I have to stoop down to the classless level and you’re surprised why I was rude

[humble plover]

She’s speaking the truth here. The book is in large part about conflicting sources, and how fickle historical records can actually be

You literally couldn’t adapt Fire & Blood as a straight text cos the various POVs within it are contradictory lol

Purists just want something to gatekeep

[sour pulsar]

If that’s the message you got from that statement then idk what to say really.

[humble plover]

That’s explicitly what she says

Lol

“The history tellers want to believe x. But is that true? That’s part of what we’re playing with.”

That’s not ambiguous

[hearty blade]

I've seen Sara get way more pushback than Ryan even though he's the showrunner and has the final say on every decision

The reason is pretty obvious

[sour pulsar]

https://fxtwitter.com/westerosies/status/1821189265197236231?s=46&t=_AWFhpIAIwbUeGd6RdGh0A

[sour pulsar]

Both should criticised. I think Condal is worse.

[humble plover]

And yet

Who actually gets criticised

“They’re both bad but Hess is, of course, a woman”

[sour pulsar]

I am surprised Condal was chosen as the showrunner. His credits are Hercules and Rampage.

[humble plover]

Btw I didn’t reply at the time but I agree with you that it was handled clumsily, and I really want to know where they’re going with those particular storyline

I suspect if we’d gotten Ep9 and 10, there’d be another twist before the end

[sour pulsar]

I don’t like Sara Hess’ views, but seems like she worked on House and an episode of Deadwood.

[humble plover]

It’s unclear what Alicent’s story is gonna be from here, awkwardly done

[humble plover]

That’s not something anyone cares about inside the industry really

Blockbuster films go through so many drafts and reshoots that they’re not indicative of anything except experience in a professional environment

[sour pulsar]

As bad S8 was, gotta say D&D were better than this clown.

[humble plover]

What got him HotD was a track record of being able to write in the studio system, and his repeatedly excellent pitch

[humble plover]

No they weren’t lol

[sour pulsar]

They were

[humble plover]

You’re just all excited cos there was a bad episode

You have admitted S1 was great

Why does that no longer count?

[sour pulsar]

S2 is S7-S8 quality aside episode 4 and 7 imo.

[humble plover]

Also it’s important to note that the things he did which r/freefolk don’t like are things absolutely nobody real cares about

The show isn’t made for a fanbase that hate everything anyway

[sour pulsar]

It was great due to Miguel Sapochnik who unfortunately left as the co showrunner.

[humble plover]

It’s made for the other 99.999% of viewers

[humble plover]

The S2 finale had the best ratings of the season

No decline

You’re a very small minority on this

[humble plover]

You have no idea if this is true lmao

You don’t know what Sapochnik did

Just talking shit

[sour pulsar]

S2 finale was bashed by Rotten Tomatoes and Imdb. Pretty sure it is lowly rated iirc.

[humble plover]

IMDb doesn’t count

Nobody uses that anymore except the terminally online kids

And bots from Saudi Arabia whenever gay people appear

It’s weird

[sour pulsar]

It’s clear by S2 decline.

[humble plover]

You’re guessing lol

You know what’s more probable for S2 being weaker?

• Zaslav cutting the last two episodes right before shooting.
• The WGA and Actor strikes.

Those are both much more substantial reasons

[sour pulsar]

Anyways, what’s done is done. Lost my faith for the upcoming seasons.

[humble plover]

With evidence behind them other than your unsupported guesswork

[sour pulsar]

Those are part of it

[humble plover]

Glad we agree on something

[hearty blade]

Didn't you go on a rant last week when someone very politely told you to use Emma D'Arcy's preferred pronouns

[humble plover]

You could plot out the greatest season of TV ever, but if you got word that the last two episodes were being axed right before shooting and had to stop rewriting due to months of striking during production, you’d have problems too.

[sour pulsar]

And I maturely declined. Don’t bring up that again. Not interested having that argument lol.

[cerulean glacier]

I'll add I do really like Sapochnik and he was crucial in some episodes, emphasis on some. He was the director for the battle episodes in GoT because he was specialized in managing stunts, prop logistics and camera manipulation for fast sequences.

He was only brought back to HotD because his episodes had the highest viewership but that's because it action-episodes have higher ratings in general.

[humble plover]

They couldn’t refine Episodes 5 and 6 on-set, which is a major part of the showrunner’s role, and they couldn’t rewrite a major ending to Episode 8

They were screwed over on multiple fronts that have actual proof behind them

[sour pulsar]

I do think S2 could’ve been a lot better if we had those final 2 episodes.

[humble plover]

Your Sapochnik theory is pure ‘trust me bro’

[humble plover]

Take it up with Zaslav

[humble plover]

Sapochnik is a brilliant TV director, there’s no denying that

But I’d be surprised if I found out he was majorly involved in the writing process

Condal & Sapochnik’s collab to my understanding was Script & Screen

[humble plover]

(You did not maturely decline btw you were a baby)

Anyone can scroll up to see lol

[sour pulsar]

I think you were the one who was being a baby about it. You didn’t even have to bring it up.

[humble plover]

No u

[sour pulsar]

I politely declined and it got heated

[sour pulsar]

How was I being a baby about it? Not everyone should follow what some westerners think.

[hearty blade]

It's just basic common courtesy and grammar

[humble plover]

Sooooo mature

Lmao

[sour pulsar]

Those are the heated arguments. I politely told you that I have different views. Also stated that I don’t mind if others use it.

I think the only person who’s making a big deal about it is you. Why even bring this up again?

We were having different discussion

[humble plover]

Why do you feel entitled to a view on someone else’s personal identity?

[sour pulsar]

Why do you want to keep bringing this up again and again?

[humble plover]

Cos you’re silly and that makes it fun

[sour pulsar]

So as usual you admit that you don’t like having any serious discussion.

[humble plover]

It’s a telly show about dragons there are no serious discussions

[sour pulsar]

I also think you’re the only silly and weird person. In fact, majority of Asian countries think so about the west.

[humble plover]

Slay

[cerulean glacier]

Idek what they're planning on S3

So when Rhaenyra takes KL

What happens to: || Otto? Is Alicent just gonna let her decapitate her dad? Is Alicent not going to be in chains? Also did the writers forget its not just Aegon? She's gonna have to kill Aemond, and Daeron too.||

|| Alicent raised Aegon believing that Rhaenyra wants or will kill him and forced him to take the throne; then does a 180 and sacrifices him for doing what she forced him to do in the first place. She's a villain in the books but jesus fucking christ ||

[cerulean glacier]

Yeah idk dawg I ain't too high hopes for the series

Apart of GoT was how everything had consequences, Ned, Robb, Jon, Joffrey, Tywin etc. all died for making mistakes

Ned had good intentions and was a good man but died for making poor decisions

Rhaenyra's arc was the same, push back against blood thirsty evil patriarchs in her council for wanting violence... and nothing happened

1. Avoid mustering a proper army
2. Literally go into KL
3. Alienated her husband, chief general, and most valuable dragon; Daemon.
4. Antagonized her officers in her council.
   Any of these would have been death sentences in OG Thrones

The only thing that's gonna come back to bite her in the ass is gonna be the dragonseeds and that's only cause George himself made them a crucially pivotal role in the war

That the writers won't be able to write off or forget

[cerulean glacier]

https://www.reddit.com/r/HouseOfTheDragon/s/05MrE1lGGn

[torn valve]

Touch grass

Please go outside.

Smell the air.

[sour pulsar]

Dude you keep telling me this even though I bet I’m much more active than you outside lol.

[torn valve]

Not from what I can see

You’re making basement dweller arguments

[sour pulsar]

Lol sure

Maybe try meeting a normal person. Also, again I don’t need some stranger from Discord to tell me to touch grass.

[torn valve]

“Normal”

Wdym by that bruh?

Elaborate

[sour pulsar]

I have no interest interacting with you further. Also, do me a favour and stop replying to my comments. I think I have already said it once.

[cerulean glacier]

https://www.reddit.com/r/HouseOfTheDragon/s/fqjtfefamf

https://www.reddit.com/r/freefolk/s/hG3oC3wK9p

This just keeps getting worse

https://www.reddit.com/r/HouseOfTheDragon/s/YSFYcBvU9X

[cerulean glacier]

https://www.reddit.com/r/HouseOfTheDragon/s/w544Eua4gy

[cerulean glacier]

https://www.reddit.com/r/HouseOfTheDragon/s/cv7zBI7Hst

[cerulean glacier]

I wanna rant a little

Removing Nettles and what they did with Daemon is atrocious

Starting off with Daemon him doing what he does because prophecy? Really? Take away all the agency from literally the one character in the entire Dance that mascots self-determination.

These two characters also represent defiance. Nettles is a low-born nobody who defied fate and tamed a dragon despite the lack of any dragon blood, a free spirited charismatic peasant girl and they remove her for Rhaena the no-personality having wet blanket.

Daemon goes out the way he does to defy fate and the rules, his entire existence is to rebel against the powers that be which would have been a perfect foil to both greens and blacks as well as adding chemistry to being aligned to the first queen of westeros etc.

But no, he's turned into the same cookie-cutter wannabe king as all the rest and now they even strip his crazy destiny-defying send out.

Alicent and Rhaenyra were also supposed to be two driving forces and matriarchs behind their respective factions; they're not just poor little victims of patriarchy, they're literal queens who command fear and respect. But they're reduced to well-meaning paragons of virtue and victims of Le Patriarchy™️

[cerulean glacier]

Mhmhm

Read more bad news

Its prolly lowkey gonna end like S8

Because its going for 4 Seasons, which ok yes could be done in a very good pace but the issue is HBO wouldnt be able to feature all those battles in such a short time

Then there's news its because they dont intend to finish the story

They're gonna end at the "Two Queens" sequence of the books and write it as the conclusion

And not go all the way into the canon end

[cerulean glacier]

House of the Dragon — $20 million per episode.
Jesus fucking christ these people need to get their shit together

[humble plover]

That’s not as much as you’d think lol

[cerulean glacier]

It is, being industry standard doesn't mean its a valid sustainable money's worth

[humble plover]

That money goes into a lot of different things

The show consistently looks incredible, and is far more expansive in its locations than Thrones (which was especially in the early seasons quite reliant on mud quarries and reused interiors)

The battles now are expected to be on par with blockbuster films, which get a lot more money (and crucially, time) to perfect

They’re essentially making eight films in the time it takes to make one

[cerulean glacier]

Yeah like I said industry standard

You can see from other countries or different spaces that productions of this quality don't warrant the price outside hollywood

Your points are correct within the western blockbuster filming industry but thats whats being criticized

[humble plover]

Such as?

[cerulean glacier]

Well the most recent example I can think of is the Godzilla movie

[humble plover]

That’s a very good example

But also I’d argue a bit of an anomaly

That’s one of the great blockbuster achievements of the decade so far

[cerulean glacier]

Because it caught on with western audiences, the thing with movie or show productions is that; discounting practical effect action scenes

So alot of battles

There's a threshold when it comes to financing; like good dialogue or acting scenes don't actually cost much if anything to produce because the cost comes at building the set and procuring the actors

After that is finished the actors and film team could record hours worth of content; its all down to the writing and directing from there

[humble plover]

Sure, but I’d argue that the expected standard for high-end fantasy TV now is completely unsustainable, but also kind of impossible to rein back in

[humble plover]

One of the big things people are moaning about with HotD S2 is that there’s still too much of this

Talking in rooms etc

And that’s with the inflated budget

[cerulean glacier]

And with CGI dragons the issue is the same, its a rendering and design process which takes alot fo GPU and manhours to render and motion but after the model has been built its not difficult to re-command it

[cerulean glacier]

No the problem is that the talking scenes don't go anywhere or repeat themselves

GoT had to condense an entire book into a season so each dialogue driven scene drove the plot tremendously

Tywin telling Cersei and Tyrion of their new brides, Jaimie confessing to Brienne, Ned warning Cersei etc. etc.

[humble plover]

It isn’t btw

Cos they do always go somewhere lol

[cerulean glacier]

Whereas in HOTD Rhaenyra and Alicent the two primary characters go through repetitions

[humble plover]

It’s just not always to a battle

[humble plover]

Their two scenes this season were both pretty major

In terms of direction shifting

[cerulean glacier]

No I mean their respective scenes

Across the series, it was few and far between

Even Larys and whats his name talking at the balcony had more substance and weight behind much of their scenes

[humble plover]

Give me an example of a scene that didn’t go anywhere

Cos I think the complaint that nothing happened is very overblown

Dynamics were shifting constantly

[cerulean glacier]

Daemon's harrenhal arc was for nothing because it ended with him being convinced by a prophecy at the end

We didn't need to spend an entire season for it

Could have just ignored him

[humble plover]

Agreed that the prophecy was a terrible movie

His arc was already complete imo

They overcomplicated it

[cerulean glacier]

Rhaenyra making out with Mysaria for example, the conversation fo Mysaria's past didn't lead to anything and their relationship didn't have any interesting dynamics after that

[humble plover]

If the Viserys scene had been the turning point, it’d be stronger for it

[humble plover]

Well not in S2

Their relationship is deffo more interesting for that happening

[cerulean glacier]

Its not going to matter at all, you said the same with the dragonseeds all being dying but they completely forgot about it too

Ulf and Hugh are gonna turn for different reasons

[humble plover]

Rhaenyra is now taking the council of a known traitor over anyone, including her sons

It’s Mysaria who persuades her to give the bastards dragonseeds

Which will have disastrous consequences

[cerulean glacier]

Jahaerys, Luke and Rhaenys' deaths also fail to reverberate or permenantly changer the dynamics of the characters as well

[humble plover]

I said at the time that the dragonseeds dying will have S3 ramifications

Which it obviously will

It’s a turning point in how Rhaenyra is approaching war

Torching smallfolk for science

It’s literally ||her undoing at the end||

[cerulean glacier]

It sounds like cope honestly, I doubt the writing team is talented or interested enough in long standing details

Rhaenys bursting through the dragon pit is that much obvious, its a huge on its own but didnt mean anything

[humble plover]

What lol

“You said this.”

“No I didn’t?”

“Sounds like cope.”

They’ve very obviously been seeding discontented smallfolk as an ongoing thing, as early as S1E4

[cerulean glacier]

Like it wasnt in the books, but its such a large event that bursting through the dragonpit, slaughtering thousands and having the entire leadership of one faction at gunpoint then leaving dwarfs most events in the source material. They added it in for visuals and abandoned any plot ramifications it could have had

[humble plover]

Young Rhaenyra says she doesn’t care what the smallfolk think, Daemon warns her otherwise

It’s been threaded the whole time

[cerulean glacier]

Which really becomes appearent when the following season there's an amazing scene with Otto and Aegon over hanging a dozen rat catchers, a tiny insignificant moment when compared to the dragonpit

[humble plover]

I agree the Rhaenys scene was a misstep

But I think people are very eager to say the writers have no talent and the whole thing is fucked

[cerulean glacier]

At this point with what we got I don't imagine we're going to get Rhaenyra actually deserving a smallfolk uprising, its either going to be a misunderstanding or not her fault at all

[humble plover]

Their hit rate is still very high

Their worst mistakes are still nowhere near GoT S8

[cerulean glacier]

GoT S8 is a cosmic level fuck up

Nothings going to be that bad lmao

[humble plover]

We’ve literally been shown smallfolks rooting in the streets, sick kids dying and Hugh having to save people from Rhaenyra’s mad experiment

That’s all in the space of two episodes

They clearly are setting it up

[cerulean glacier]

But I can see it having similarities with S7, Alicent on Dragonstone and Rhaenys had the same vibes as Jon & Co. going beyond the wall to capture a zombie

[humble plover]

It’s silly to assume everything will fail

[cerulean glacier]

I just don't find Rhaenyra a compelling character anymore, I was excited at first because D'Arcy's voice and body language had a commanding presence and added enough interest where I could overlook her not being as vile as in the source material

But at this point idek

There's no one in the show rn who opposed Rhaenyra and are portrayed rational and just for it, GRRMs work is so that you can see the perspectives of each side

[sour pulsar]

Guess we won’t be getting this.

[humble plover]

I mean, we will lol

Y’all are addicted to complaining about things that haven’t happened yet

So funny

[tiny marsh]

We absolutely will

That's such a fucking stupid thing to say lol

The show is canon to GoT so that has to happen

[tiny marsh]

There really should be the exploration of the idea that Aegon being king would save lives

Unfair and sexist as Westeros is, having a king, especially the first true born son who himself has a legitimate heir, would keep the peace in the realm

That is one of the reasons why these characters would support the greens but rn pretty much every character has a very one dimensional reason to be on the side they are on

[sour pulsar]

What a dumb idea

[tiny marsh]

In the book but ok

One of the main ideas of the book is that having a queen would bring instability to the realm

Is in the show but isn't used to support the greens claim which it should be

[sour pulsar]

Where and which page?

Don’t recall about this, but it’s been some time I’ve read the book.

[sour pulsar]

Iirc this was covered in the show.

[tiny marsh]

Idk the page

[tiny marsh]

Not as a way of defending the greens

Didn't last either

[tiny marsh]

Who tf would know the exact page 😭

[sour pulsar]

Burden of proof is on you, so I asked

[sour pulsar]

The reason why I have my doubts is due to the showrunner deviating the TV series from the novel with notable changes such as Alicent giving up her sons, Aemond and Daemon being aware of their fates at Gods Eye battle etc. Then we have Aegon explicitly state that his dragon is dead and Larys didn’t correct him that it was alive, but in a wounded state. So one could speculate maybe Sunfyre is truly dead in the show. In the book, we know that Sunfyre was injured from the Rook’s Rest battle and Criston Cole had his men guard the dragon. Then later, Sunfyre surprisingly recovered and killed Walys Mooton plus his soldiers. The dragon flew back to rejoin his rider by sensing by the urgency. In the TV show, there’s a chance they will change Rhaenyra’s death into something less brutal considering how much they shill for the character.

[sour pulsar]

Condal and Hess could do the funniest thing with the way show is being done. Rhaenyra and Alicent will kill each other💀

[cerulean glacier]

I also wish they would emphasize that Aegon and Rhae are siblings more

In the show they're treated more as "Alicent kids"

But in the books a big reason Aegon didn't wanna be king, aside from wanting to avoid the responsibility was

"What kind of a brother would take his sister's birthright?"

Aemond killing Luke was alot like Cersei-Tyrion dynamic too, they hated eachother but you always remembered they were apart of the same family

[sour pulsar]

They should bring in Sapochnik at least for Battle above the Gods Eye. The best duel in F&B.

[cerulean glacier]

If this was OG Thrones with cause and effect, Alicent going to Rhaenyra would cause:
Rhaenyra to die
Aemond reigns forever
Helaena and her kid dies
Alicent is kept as a red keep slave forever

https://tenor.com/view/key-and-peels-consequences-old-gif-22360197

[sour pulsar]

Characters were dying left and right in GOT💀. I think it’s only matched by Attack on Titan.

[cerulean glacier]

Even AoT deaths muddled in the end

The main crew all survived

Whereas in asoiaf everyone is gonna die

[sour pulsar]

The novel series?

It’s not done yet

In the show, key characters like Jon Snow, Tyrion, Sansa, Bran, Arya, Brienne etc survive.

[cerulean glacier]

Which they won't when asoiaf is finished

[sour pulsar]

I think it’s impressive that the main character of AOT died and that too as a villain.

[cerulean glacier]

One of the reasons S8 sucked so bad was because in all the battles the main characters survived somehow

[sour pulsar]

Any interview from GRRM that suggested it?

[cerulean glacier]

Its from his blogs and book signings

Can't be fucked to find them

Asoiaf started as a short story or scene when he wrote a family finding a dead wolf, the opening Starks scene

Way back in the 1980s

Then he gave them names and expanded from there, he had the very general outlines of the ending by the first book. Its why most of the fanbase believes Jon Snow is Rhaegar's son, which he is but isn't addressed or said in the books yet.

[sour pulsar]

Ah that’s why you think it’s Marvel ending if a main character gets some sort of good ending.

[cerulean glacier]

It's also a theme in all his books and what he's been setting up and how he plays with prophecy

[sour pulsar]

This is further confirmed when D&D got the job. That Jon is half Targ.

[cerulean glacier]

He told DnD Jon ends up somewhere beyond the wall, Dany going insane and Bran being king and they took it in the most literal sense and just threw it in

[sour pulsar]

Well, that’s an interesting ending. All the key characters dying.

It fits the anti war theme of the books

[cerulean glacier]

He said he wanted to do that to mirror lotr where everyone survives or has a happy ending

He wanted to explore the cost of victory and the idea that heroes survive

[sour pulsar]

I don’t mind such a bleak ending. It’s rarely done.

[cerulean glacier]

I mean its also possible next time we see Jon he's a white walker

[sour pulsar]

Jon as the book’s version of Night King

Interesting turn of events

[cerulean glacier]

He says he won't ever make it so a character dies and returns the same person, like how Cat is Lady Stone-Heart, a totally diff person

But technically still Cat

And Jon did get stabbed to death and is warged into his dog rn so

Big fan theory is that when Jon died he warged into his wolf, which is literally named Ghost- and thats also the only way he can technically survive

[sour pulsar]

That’s one of the things D&D did right in the show. I think resurrecting her in the books wasn’t the best idea.

[tiny marsh]

That adds so much to Aegon's character

We haven't even seen them interact in the show

Other than when Aegon was a baby

[cerulean glacier]

They did keep in him not wanting to be king but

It boiled down to just "I can't be fucked with the responsibility"

But yeah a big part was also he knew it wasn't what their father wanted, did see Rhaenyra as his big sis

Until shit kept escalating like his son being merc'd lol

[tiny marsh]

Also they never mentioned him not wanting to be king after that one scene with Aemond

I thought Alicent would have at least mentioned it or Aegon would have post rooks rest

[torn valve]

And then have Criston Cole in the books have that one to one with him telling them about how Rhanerya and her children would have him killed

Years of beef

Culminating

“They took your brother eye, what will she take from you?”

Or something like that

[tiny marsh]

They literally started calling Cole kingmaker out of nowhere lol

He isn't that in the show whatsoever

[cerulean glacier]

A big thing I fear they will leave out is:
|| When it becomes Rhaenyra has the upper hand, someone suggests Rhae will let him live and go to the Night's Watch; he responds with a smile of sad hope "Really?" Until his mom Alicent shuts him down like "No, are you mad? She will kill you, your brothers, Helaena and myself" ||

[torn valve]

See you can’t do that anymore

Because the writers insist upon having Alicent and Rhanerya remain friends

Idk why

[cerulean glacier]

Yeah him being Kingsguard and incharge of all the military and security in the Red Keep when shit goes down was kinda important lol

[tiny marsh]

Yeah it was but does he really deserve the title kingmaker in the show?

[torn valve]

I mean IG

You could have tapped into that mentor thing they had when Aegon was younger

Him being like a mentor figure teaching him and Ameond how tk fight

[cerulean glacier]

They're trynna tell a different story or add something that doesn't make sense, like "men are warmongers, women want peace" is a story you could write out well but the entire civil war is cause of those two; just isnt the story to try to add that narrative in

[tiny marsh]

I feel like the show is too black and white

There is a lot of nuanced and well written characters

[torn valve]

THIS

[tiny marsh]

But then when it comes to the greens especially

[torn valve]

Like if it wound stop babying team black

[tiny marsh]

There isn't anything of substance there

They're afraid to have Team Black do anything wrong other than Daemon lol

[torn valve]

Do you know what I think I think they’re afraid of backlash

[cerulean glacier]

The same source that said Aegon was a pedo-rapist was the same guy that said Rhae was a sadistic whore, they left out the latter but kept in the former lmao

[torn valve]

Because look what happened with Damon at the end of season one where Twitter got upset and called it “character assassination.

[torn valve]

lol

Telling tbh

[cerulean glacier]

Here's my problem, in by babysitting the Blacks as the good guys they also make them boring which is worse than evil for a show

[torn valve]

💯💯💯💯💯💯

[tiny marsh]

They definitely dislike Daemon

[torn valve]

The one person they aren’t babying as much is Damon, and he is an exception among them

Are y’all reading my mind?!

lol

[cerulean glacier]

They even managed to make him kinda boring 😭

[torn valve]

You guys psychic?

lol

[tiny marsh]

They have ruined pretty much all the nuance of his character

[torn valve]

100% agree

[cerulean glacier]

Hear me out, maybe we all just watched the same dumpster fire

[tiny marsh]

Made him the bad guy in s2 until he saw a prophecy in a tree 💀

[torn valve]

Now

I wouldn’t say it was a dumpster fire

[tiny marsh]

Yeah I wouldn't go that far

[cerulean glacier]

I mean he's prolly the biggest psycho in the books but in a very different way

[torn valve]

But it has its flaws

[tiny marsh]

Can we all agree Daemon's arc in S2 is just a shittier repeat of his arc in S1?

This entire arc was unnecessary if instead of him choking Rhaenyra which isn't in the books, he listened to her in the S1 finale

[torn valve]

Id say it’s an attempt to save face

Like to soften the moral impact of his actions with remorse

Which ids fine, I think it adds complexity

But the fact that this is what they did for a good chunk season

[cerulean glacier]

Im still a sucker for book Daemon, he's very 1-dimensional tho

[tiny marsh]

Yk I hate what they did to Aemond too

[torn valve]

Like, I’m not a book absolutist when it comes to adaptions

But Some of the changes they’re making are just weird

[tiny marsh]

Like up until ep4 I was liking the character but from ep5 he's just been a complete villian

[cerulean glacier]

Yeah but Daemon was a straight up 1-dimensional no-depth having anime villain, entire personality being "he's cool" in books lol

[tiny marsh]

All that nuance to his character disappeared after ep4

[torn valve]

Like having Alicent meet up with Rhanerya multiple times during this war

Just seems, a bit silly at a certain point

[tiny marsh]

I actually didn't mind it in ep3

But in the finale I laughed at it

[torn valve]

Me neither but the 8 one

YEAH

[cerulean glacier]

She straight up sold out her kids like what

[torn valve]

Why didn’t she just capture her and throw her in a prison? Even if it wouldn’t work, she could at least try to ransom her right.

[torn valve]

THAT TOO

[cerulean glacier]

Also what was the logic behind that "theyre not respecting me anymore so imma kill 3 of my boys"

[torn valve]

Exactly

Like it’s silly

[tiny marsh]

This is another thing, because of how they've portrayed Aegon, Alicent has no defence when Rhaenyra said she needs his head

[torn valve]

“My children were mean to me so now I’m going to betray them and risk possibly being capture or killed”

[cerulean glacier]

i wanna kill ur babies
uh no
STILL YOU DEFEND HIM

bruh

[torn valve]

If you wanted a scene like this? Why not do it in season 3 at the seige of kings landing after they break in the red keep.

She asked for her and Halana to be able to flee Leave for safety. Renee offers it in the exchange and she tells them where eon has fled to.

[tiny marsh]

They've completely villainised the greens

[cerulean glacier]

Helaena the only good green is helping Daemon 💀

[torn valve]

And now when we have a genuine momment with Criston Cole, it’s hard to sympathize with him because of the contrasts between the greens actions and blacks

Like I don’t think Martin thinks that war is absolute and that one side is all good and one side is all bad.

[cerulean glacier]

I liked how she's more sentient n shit this season than before but; her giving cryptic riddles was better than "Yeah Aemond lemme give you a spoiler warning, episode number and exact timestamp where you're gonna die"

[tiny marsh]

George RR Martin has made it specifically clear that there is no good side. He said you can argue about who deserves it in the beginning but when the war started there is no good side

But in the show the greens are made to be the villains

[torn valve]

NAH ZUKP

ZUKO

GREEN BAD

BLACK GOOD

and they wonder why the fandom has a heavy black swing

[cerulean glacier]

grrm: the only "good" people are the powerless victims of it all, the smallfolk

hbo: aight rhae rhae slays, gotcha boss 👍

[torn valve]

“Rhanerya is a victim of sexism, therefore she’s a good person.”

[tiny marsh]

Proof of the black bias in the writers room is the scene where Rhaenyra sends the food supply

Trying to make her seem like the good heroine when in reality she's the reason they're all starving

[torn valve]

BTW, someone pointed this out? But have they made made any effort to show why the Greens don’t use the Rose road from the reach?

The Tyrell’s are on there side

[cerulean glacier]

i cant even, wanna add in her being victim of a patriarchal society? ok well entire war addresses that

her councilors disrespecting and insulting their queen who they're risking their lives for doesn't make sense; they also made some good points, but it was actually bad cause they had to deliver it in a sexist manner

like bro theyre already on ur side when they dont have to be, we're kinda past them seeing you as just a woman

[tiny marsh]

The show even mentioned the Tyrell's?

Also are we getting Dalton Greyjoy?

They've mentioned the Greyjoys slightly

But like in S1, Cregan got his name mentioned 3 times

[cerulean glacier]

one comment i read was that the reach is in a civil war therefor the roads are blocked by rhae's supporters, but it was a very vague line in the show

rhae and alicent meeting twice ruined all the weight and emotional impact of them seeing eachother again for the first time since the war started

https://tenor.com/view/monkey-gif-18890916

[tiny marsh]

And both of those times the other should have had the other imprisoned

[cerulean glacier]

The writers be like: "Alicent and Rhaenyra's people both don't believe they got the right stuff to lead a war effort... now lemme show you exactly why that's true"

[tiny marsh]

S2 wasn't terrible but I have lost interest in most of its characters. The only characters that really interest me are Cregan Stark, Larys, Otto, Coryls and Hugh

[cerulean glacier]

It's still a visually spectacular show with cool characters so im 100% gonna see S3, but yeah its far far from what it could have been

[sour pulsar]

They’ll mess up Cregan Stark as well.

[weak spoke]

Just gotta watch the final episode. And tbh I'm not as offended as some of the fan reactions of mediocrity

They got a lot of the dice rolling

[sour pulsar]

Not a trustworthy source, but crazy if most of these leaks end up being true https://www.reddit.com/r/HOTDGreens/s/IX49SoIyt0

[weak spoke]

Only thing I wish there were more dragons

[cerulean glacier]

The kicker is that each season has 2 maybe even a 3yr gap

Instead of the usual 1

So its moving super slow

Nevermind we only got 8ep after a 2yr wait

[cerulean glacier]

4chan

[sour pulsar]

They got that moontea part right from S2.

[sour pulsar]

There are enough dragons

[weak spoke]

i want there to only be dragons

[cerulean glacier]

Look at the timetag

It was weeks after that scene aired

https://www.reddit.com/r/HOTDGreens/comments/1dzzeh2/ep5_leaks_thoughts/

This leak was true

Though idk when it was posted

[cerulean glacier]

Characters and screen time

Aegon, Gwayne and Larys def made the best out of their screen times

Imo

[humble plover]

Idk who Kat is

[hearty blade]

Kat is Hugh's wife

She's only ever named in the subtitles, I think

[cerulean glacier]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l84_g4Kbq_A

this is as stupid as if theon greyjoy snuck into robb's camp to secretly meet with robb after he had taken winterfell and burned the boys and then robb lets him leave because they were 'like brothers' once.

Alicent agreeing to Aegon's public execution is one of the most insane choices the writers could have made. Considering he is a cripple, a half dead corpse who lost his son and his dragon and he is going through the worst time in his life where he needs her the most and she just gives up on him. Considering when she forced him on the throne he didn't want.

That was the most absurd scene in the whole series. Alicent was telling Aegon his whole life that he has to be king or Rhaenyra will put him to the sword. She forced the crown on his head when he clearly had no intrest in rulling, and now she sacrificed her son to go camping in the woods with Helaena. They ruined her character and made her a bipolar psychopath

Who is worst, a woman ready to kill his own son, or a woman who convinces a woman to kill his own son?

me spending my free time incessantly hating on an alright show that already ended:

he just like me fr

[sour pulsar]

S8 level fuckery right there

[humble plover]

Y’all need some air

[cerulean glacier]

Hating is fun

Condal gave me a gold mine

[tiny marsh]

If they fucking butcher Cregan like that

[sour pulsar]

Lmfao

[tiny marsh]

I mean if you swear that someone is ur king, serve him and kill him then that is regicide

Doesn't matter if that person is the rightful king

I refuse to believe she is that fucking moronic

[sour pulsar]

These are the ones that are actually worrying, if true. They should chuck these ideas.

[humble plover]

Why would you believe a 4Chan leak lol

So silly

[sour pulsar]

I don’t believe it. Hence I said “if true”

[cerulean glacier]

Rhaenyra turns herself into a pickle, big if true

[weak spoke]

So will Daemon find out about Rhaenyra's new lover?

[sour pulsar]

Didn’t realise the actor who played Alyn of Hull voiced Bayek in Assassin’s Creed Origins.

[cerulean glacier]

Was the only reason I accepted them casting a middle aged grown ass man to play a swashbuckling teenager

I hope in years to come they make an animated series

Its the only way they can do justice to all the visuals and stuff

[sour pulsar]

They can do one for S7 and S8 of GOT after GRRM is done with the books. We need a proper conclusion.

[humble plover]

r/freefolk letting the mask slip again

[hearty blade]

I don't understand why those two screengrabs have gotten so much mockery

It's just a case of someone hitting the pause button at the wrong time

[cerulean glacier]

Noticed the same with the actor that played the pirate

[sour pulsar]

https://fxtwitter.com/westerosies/status/1822961078004805858?s=46&t=_AWFhpIAIwbUeGd6RdGh0A

[humble plover]

https://x.com/darren_mooney/status/1822984361702010883?s=46&t=eMMffnBeofBy9DaRIz_9FQ

Darren Mooney (@Darren_Mooney) on X

Martin has none of the constraints of a television show.

He has no budget cap. No exhausted production team. No aging child actors. No older actors looking to capitalise on their “moment.” No limited access to sets and location. No deadline.

And he can’t end “Game of Thrones.”

Twitter · Aug 12, 2024, 1:11 PM

This is so key

So many of the moaners overlook this

It’s a near impossible story to finish

[cerulean glacier]

I don't think anyone's forgiven george for not finishing his books lol

It is an honest task given how expansive it is, the character count eclipses even the bible

And there's so many independent story-lines and lore its almost impossible to tie in

But it shouldn't take his ass more than a decade

Anyway imma die on a hill that GoT should've been an expansive animated series; and if they're smart avoid a star studded voice-cast and just go for good VAs

[humble plover]

He’s just not doing it

Imo

The Meereenese Knot is unsolvable

[cerulean glacier]

Yeah that's I mean, if homie took 2-3 maybe even 5 it'd make sense maybe, 13yrs aint lmao

We got another one too the Dream of Spring, which we won't ever see

https://tenor.com/view/crying-crying-meme-gif-26327776

[humble plover]

https://x.com/thanergy/status/1823484350601511322?s=46&t=eMMffnBeofBy9DaRIz_9FQ

Andrea 🩵 (@thanergy) on X

house of the dragon season 2 is actually good when you don’t have a bitch whining in your ear about how much it sucked

Twitter · Aug 13, 2024, 10:18 PM

[sour pulsar]

https://tenor.com/view/sopranos-gif-25313384

[cerulean glacier]

Wish we had scenes with Daemon and the strong boys

[formal wind]

if or when Daemon dies, there's gonna be SO MANY Regeneration jokes

there were already 50 for David Tennant in Jessica Jones, Matt Smith gets his time

[hearty blade]

https://fxtwitter.com/DiscussingFilm/status/1825604989123015027

Does he know that he can still finish them

[torn valve]

I guess not

[sour pulsar]

https://fxtwitter.com/clytemnestraes/status/1827391684902318213?s=46&t=_AWFhpIAIwbUeGd6RdGh0A

[rich bay]

https://youtu.be/NGJzsArTOKI?si=mc191btfd5GjNdsb

[cerulean glacier]

S3 leak by grrm

[sour pulsar]

And he deleted the blog

I was already skeptical regarding future seasons.

[sour pulsar]

https://www.reddit.com/r/HouseOfTheDragon/s/seTUrve5VW

[rich bay]

I read the book long time ago, so don't even remember much but for me I don't mind the changes, of course the author isn't gonna be happy

[sour pulsar]

Even if S2 wasn’t all that good lol

[sour pulsar]

https://www.reddit.com/r/HOTDGreens/s/x3R3OKdpuG

I think GRRM should just post all his thoughts in that blog.

[cerulean glacier]

He was supposed to keep on posting

Like a couple more

But HBO shot him down lmao

[sour pulsar]

HBO has been a mess when it comes to ASOIAF now.

[cerulean glacier]

They messed up on GoT cause they gave too much faith to DnD

In HOTD its cause of the merger with Discovery

They took away HOTD's budget and gave it to some other random shows, like Oprah for example

So we had an 8ep season with only 1 battle in exchange for some random talk show no one watched

[sour pulsar]

When the creator himself thinks the show is on a wrong track, you know there’s trouble.

[cerulean glacier]

There's alot of adaptations that are better than their originals, The Boys for example; but in asoiaf's case, the show was at its peak when they were closest to the original

Like S1 hotd or S1-s4 GoT

[sour pulsar]

Adaptations being better than the original is rare.

[cerulean glacier]

Depends on the media, with books it can be rare because the author can shove in a gorillion lines of content

That movies or shows just cant

But its also just not as stimulating

Idk my hope is one day they'll do something like Castlevania animation for asoiaf starting all the way from s1 GoT; cause alot of big scenery and shit they just couldnt do in the show

But actually add everything from the books

I read the books and its like, really deep and full of content but its largely with descriptive text and inner dialogue

So they can adapt like a dozen pages into a single 30-second scene if done well

Anyway HBO's hotd budget issue is deep

Like if you saw the behind the episodes

They had an entire team on payroll, so totalling maybe half a million dollars

Just to fucking set up the table at Rhaenyra and dragonseed dinner scene

Which they didnt even feature much

[dusky abyss]

https://youtu.be/7fpQA0EFSsE?si=-h2oxP2yZVysWejA

As much as I liked the show, i do see the cracks and symptoms of bad writing in s2

[lean dawn]

Squee!!!!!!

https://deadline.com/2025/03/tommy-flanagan-house-of-the-dragon-season-3-1236354372/

Chibs!!!!

[inland basin]

Are these side quests (spinoffs) necessary to watch, I feel like if I watch these shows, it would change how I feel about the original GOT.

They have another show called: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms

I’m not sure if these were books like: ‘The Hobbit’ from Lord of the Rings, which was its own thing too

[rich bay]

Not really as their time periods are very different.. I think House of the dragon is fantastic and I watched the first episode of the new one and it is very different

[inland basin]

👍🏽

I’ll give it a watch