HOUSE OF THE DRAGON

[houseofthedragon]

Extended trainer here:

I am so excited for this!!! Anyone else???!!!

HOTD will be premiering on the 21st Aug (22nd Aug for U.K.)

Yes, I kept saying: "But the placenta is still inside her," possibly more than the writers intended. I also wondered how far the midwife holding the baby could wander from Rhanerya until she had delivered the placenta. How long is the average umbilical cord? They're not like extendable dog leads.

I still liked it more than the previous episodes though so shouldn't grumble that much.

It was a good episode for me and moved the story along loads - I just wish the scenes weren't so bloody DARK all the time - it's very annoying.

I preferred the younger Rhaenyra, this one seems a bit dowdy. The ubiquitous silver hair looks awful and straggly on most of the characters. But it didn't on Milly whatsit.

Whereas Olivia Cooke looks uncannily like the younger actress in her role. Alicent has become a real hard case and Rhaenyra seems to have become softer.

I suppose maybe now Daemon has lost his wife Laena (poor woman!), he may go after Rhaenyra again?

Quite surprised the King was still in place, I assumed that thump on the floor near the end of the previous episode was him dropping dead! He seemed very ill last episode. You can tell I've not read the book.

I noticed Viserys has now lost his whole arm. I can’t remember if I asked this before, but does he have greyscale?

I like the way they’ve made Aegon so similar in looks to Dany’s brother. Jon Snow was all Stark, though- the blond Targaeryen men don’t do it for me at all.

I read on The Guardian episode recap that in the book Rhaenyra is described as a pretty child who grew up plain.

Apparently, Viserys is being slowly killed by his injuries from the swords in the Iron throne.

The fake history books were quite unkind to Rhaenyra.
There had been a time when she had been well loved by highborn and commons alike, when they had cheered her as the Realm’s Delight. Many a young lord and noble knight had sought her favor then … though how many would still fight for her, now that she was a woman wed, her body aged and thickened by childbirths...
(I deliberately omitted one word, because that would have been a spoiler.)

I didn't know anything about the new actresses till I read this thread, and so didn't enjoy the episode at all.

Oh dear, how long did it take you to stop wondering who these new characters were?

No you weren’t the only one , my husband is a paramedic and has delivered quite a few babies he spotted that as well lol , it’s hard watching stuff with him sometimes “he/she would have bled to death by now “ etc 😃

Yes, he cut his finger way back in the first episode. I wish they'd find some way of explaining that. It's a really good detail but I don't do subtle.

I also found it too dark. I had the brightness on my computer and the volume set to max.

I read that the actor who plays him said that Viserys has a form of leprosy.

I have given up trying to watch it on the TV as it is just so dark and hard to see what's going on - can see much better on the ipad!

I read that the actor who plays him said that Viserys has a form of leprosy.

Could be. Like Robert The Bruce's father in Braveheart. Or that could have been syphilis, it was never fully explained why his nose rotted off.

Ah ok that’s interesting. Yeah Robert the Bruce’s father apparently suffered from Leprosy. Noses falling off or being eaten away were also a symptom of Syphillis. I was surprised Viserys was still alive!

Also there was no “10 years later “ at the start band it was only from coming on here that I knew there were going to changes to the lead female roles

I liked the short hair better on him but I get the long hair is more in keeping with the Targ look. It looked to me like Matt Smith had his own hair bleached in episode 5 when it was short, I presumed he had got fed up with the wig.

@667TheNeighbourOfTheBeast I thought it was Eve Best giving birth at first but quickly fell in. I didn't realise until reading on here that the actress playing Alicent had also been changed because they look alike. It's their hair mostly. I love the colour. It's probably a wig but it's a better one than the pore old Targaryens.

I saw the actress playing Alicent in Vanity Fair as Becky Sharp she was a total bitch( the character) so I’m already disliking Alicent now! I don’t fully understand how Alicent is now a lot harder but Rhaenyra seems to be a bit more passive, and lost some of her spark. Maybe this is because she’s just given birth and is just too exhausted. I suppose that people do change quite a bit in the ten years from teen to late twenties.

I do remember Viserys cutting his finger on the throne in episode one. Putting poultices on it clearly didn’t work too well then.

The new Alicent has a beautiful speaking voice.

Do you not mean Rhaenys, Eve Best?

No I meant Rhaenyra , the daughter of Viserys , I think I’m spelling that right, the actress that’s playing her now is older in episode 6 and was just seen giving birth.

I’ve just looked up the actors names, Emma D’Arcy who’s playing older Rhaenyra and Olivia Cooke who is older Alicent, she was the one I had seen in Vanity Fair in the last few years, think it was 2019 /20

I could have sworn Eve Best played Becky Sharp in the 90s, but I must be mistaking her for someone else.

I can’t remember the name of the lady that played her in the 90s but she was in This Life, I need to have a look at Eve Best without the blonde wig to see if they look the same, hardly recognise the cast without the blonde wigs just makes them look so different

Olivia Cooke (new Alicent) starred as Becky Sharpe in the 2018 ITV production of Vanity Fair
She was pretty good, she's been in several films, I first saw her in Bates Motel with Freddie Highmore and Vera Farmiga which was great.

The Becky Sharpe in the 1998 Vanity Fair series was Natasha Little who has been in various TV stuff, including This Life.