Breaking Down ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2’s Opening Credits

With the long-lasting theme track from Recreation of Thrones, the opening credit and title sequence of Home of the Dragon all the time manages to place the viewers within the temper to return to Westeros. The spin-off had appreciable competitors when it got here to the intro, as Recreation of Thrones was unforgettable. But Season 1’s title sequence did not disappoint. Every episode of Season 1 opened with a wonderful and eerie model of the Targaryen household tree as blood flows by means of cogs representing the completely different characters. This adjustments over time as completely different Targaryens are born or die – hinting at a couple of characters who nonetheless have not appeared, like Daeron and Maelor. However Season 2 would not proceed to observe the literal bloodlines of the Targaryens, opting to depict the household’s historical past in photographs on a tapestry as a substitute, regardless of the sequence occurring early sufficient that there have solely been 5 Targaryen kings.

The Doom of Valyria

Like all good Targaryen historical past, the tapestry begins in Valyria, the ancestral residence of each dragons and dragonrider. However this isn’t Valyria at its top. The primary picture is of blood and demise as purple spreads throughout the display screen. Blood dripping from a sword close to a headless dragon and a lady holding a dying man set the tone for the Doom of Valyria.

The pictures proceed because the previous Valyria is destroyed, displaying volcanoes and dragons falling from the sky. The destruction of Outdated Valyria is a largely mysterious occasion, however the Targaryens weren’t there to see it.

One member of the household, Daenys, had the uncommon Targaryen energy of prophetic desires and managed to warn her household, permitting them to flee 12 years earlier than the tragedy, establishing their residence on Dragonstone, the place they remained for a number of generations. However current or not, the Doom of Valyria made the Targaryens the powerhouses they had been, because it left them because the lone dragonriders on this planet, permitting them to stay unchallenged.

Aegon the Conqueror

After all, the subsequent main occasion in Targaryen historical past is Aegon’s conquest, which the title sequence depicts with Aegon I, Visenya, and Rhaenys flying off on their respective dragons —Balerion the Black Dread, Vhagar, and Meraxes. There may be rather more details about this occasion, however a lot of it is not going to match into the title sequence’s time-frame. Aegon and his sister-wives fly from their residence on Dragonstone to take management of Westeros utilizing their dragons. Their struggle kills many in Westerosi, as proven on the tapestry with fallen our bodies soaked in blood. This picture reveals Balerion and Vhagar’s mouths open as they eat a bloody citadel and those that protected it.

Aegon’s conquest included many battles and resulted within the demise of two royal traces – Harren, King of the Rivers and the Ilse, and Marn Gardner, King of the Attain. The shields scattered within the tapestry’s picture present each of those sigils, and the physique within the middle has an ax close by, making it Harren the Black, the King who accomplished Harrenhal earlier than Aegon I and Balerion killed his line and raised Home Tully to be Lord Paramount of the Riverlands. The title sequence hurries by means of the conquest, displaying lords and women bending their knees — the symbols and colours point out the acquainted homes of Arryn, Stark, and Tully.

Then, the Targaryen’s three-headed dragon image seems above the citadel Aegon had constructed at King’s Touchdown, establishing the Targaryen dynasty.

Maegor the Merciless

Although he isn’t the subsequent Targaryen King (that honor went to his brother Aenys), Maegor is the subsequent Targaryen to seem within the title sequence. The one son of Aegon and Visenya, Maegor claimed the Iron Throne after the demise of his brother, turning into the third Targaryen king regardless of Aenys’ son, Aegon the Uncrowned, having the stronger declare. Maegor was a tyrant, alienating all his topics, so when Aenys’ surviving son, Jaehaerys, put forth a declare to the Throne, they supported him. Nonetheless, it was not Jaehaerys who killed Maegor, however the Iron Throne itself, because the title sequence reveals. Maegor’s rule ended when he died impaled on the Throne, making means for a brand new period of Targaryen historical past.

The Rule of King Jaehaerys

The subsequent picture within the title sequence introduces the fourth Targaryen King, Jaehaerys, along with his sister-wife Alysanne. After his brother died within the battle with Maegor, Jaehaerys turned the rightful inheritor, and he ascended the throne after Maegor’s demise, although solely 14 on the time. Hailed as an excellent king, Jaehaerys reigned for 55 peaceable years, turning into the longest-ruling Targaryen monarch. Although his rule was affluent for Westeros, it was marked with blood, as seen by photographs under the king and queen. Most notably, Jaehaerys two oldest sons died earlier than their father, leaving the succession in query and resulting in the tapestry’s subsequent picture.

The title sequence skips to a a lot older Jaehaerys sitting on a throne in a picture Home of the Dragon followers ought to bear in mind from the opening episode of the primary season. That is the Nice Council of 101, which made Viserys (Paddy Considine) the inheritor over Rhaenys (Eve Greatest). On both facet of the king are the claimants with their spouses. This occasion is of explicit significance as it’s the most everlasting precedent of a male inheritor passing an older feminine inheritor and, subsequently, is usually used in opposition to Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy).

The Dance of the Dragons

That takes the title sequence into the rather more acquainted Targaryen historical past, displaying Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) in inexperienced and opposing Rhaenyra in black as different recognizable characters in every coloration stand between them. In black are Daemon (Matt Smith), Rhaenys, Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), Jacaerys (Harry Collett), Lucerys (Elliot Grihault), and Joffrey (Oscar Eskinazi), and reverse them are Helaena (Phia Saban), Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), and Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans). This reveals the division of Westeros, which passed off in Season 1, however it’s only the start of the battle.

Subsequent, Aegon and Rhaenyra seem on dueling thrones. Whereas Aegon sits on the Iron Throne, Rhaenyra wears a crown from their ancestral residence on Dragonstone, displaying their coronations. Beneath every throne is a hand, Aegon’s sending ravens and Rhaenyra’s sending dragons, reflecting their makes an attempt to achieve supporters. The ultimate picture within the title sequence takes historical past proper to the half the place the present left off, displaying Vhagar surrounding a mangled Arrax and Lucerys’ physique.

That is the demise from the Season 1 finale and the primary casualty of the Dance of the Dragons. With the ramifications of this occasion nonetheless unfolding, it’s the final second of Targaryen historical past earlier than the occasions of Home of the Dragon Season 2, making it the proper lead-in for the motion.

Home of the Dragon is obtainable to stream on Max within the U.S. with new episodes on Sundays.

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