House of the Dragon Episode 1 Explained: The Game of Thrones Easter Eggs and the Ending That Names Rhaenyra Heir

The first episode of House of the Dragon is packed with Easter eggs, callbacks and call forwards to Game of Thrones, and it ends with King Viserys naming his daughter Rhaenyra as heir after one insult too many from his brother Daemon. Here I am breaking down those references, the big characters the premiere introduces, and how the show uses the book to fill out a story that ultimately leaves House Targaryen almost extinct by the time of Game of Thrones.

There might be some spoilers from the book here, but I will not give away any of the big twists or deaths. I just want to use the source material to add some insight to the characters. And at the end of this piece I will explain why I think a Stark cameo and one very familiar dagger tie the whole thing back to the original series.

House of the Dragon draws on Fire and Blood, a book that reads like a textbook

The entire series is based on the final third of Fire and Blood, which tells the tale of the Targaryen lineage fighting it out to take their place on the Iron Throne. It begins at chapter 12, Heirs of the Dragon, and recounts all the ins and outs of the family tree. The show was set to chart how that house of cards all came crashing down.

If you have read it, you will know it is more like a textbook than a story, and because of that it is a bit of a slog to get through. There are massive pages that basically list character names, talk about them for a bit, and then that is it. However, that actually gives the series a big advantage. The writers have a few plot points they have to stick to, but beyond that they can pick certain sections and expand on them massively. I think that freedom is part of what makes this such a good first episode.

King Jaehaerys' choice of heir planted the seeds of the Dance of the Dragons

The show takes place roughly 172 years before the death of the Mad King and the birth of Daenerys. We start with King Jaehaerys, who had a reign of prosperity and peace after the first 100 years of Targaryen rule. When his health starts to fail, he has to choose an heir, and this is basically where all the disputes stemmed from. As we learn in the opening, which is narrated by an older Rhaenyra, women were completely overlooked and the right to rule often fell to the males, even if they were not direct descendants.

Jaehaerys and his wife, Queen Alysanne, produced 13 children, with only four growing to maturity, marrying and having children of their own. Jaehaerys and Alysanne's two sons died, and rather than passing the rule to a woman, the crown went to Viserys, played by Paddy Considine. Game of Thrones fans might recognise that name, since Daenerys' brother was also called Viserys. Alysanne believed Jaehaerys should choose a queen and fell out with him when he refused. There is a great line in the book where she says: "A ruler needs a good head and a true heart." She goes on: "If your grace truly believes that women lack the wit to rule, plainly, you have no further need of me."

Alysanne then flew to Dragonstone on her dragon Silverwing, and the two remained apart for two years in what was known as the second quarrel. Jaehaerys still refused to budge. That choice is what we see playing out here, and it fractures the entire family. Thanks to all that peace and prosperity, the Targaryens had lots of children, which led to 14 potential claimants to the throne. It was predicted that so many heirs would cause confusion and eventually the Dance of the Dragons. It sounds like a great little party, but it describes the battle for the Iron Throne and a lot of bloodshed. One early line pretty much prophesies everything to come: "The only thing that could tear down the house of the dragon was itself." Here we also see Rhaenys, who comes to be known as the Queen Who Never Was and becomes something of a mentor to Rhaenyra.

Rhaenyra's flight on Syrax echoes Daenerys over an unfinished King's Landing

After the title scene, which features the Targaryen banner you will probably recognise from Game of Thrones, there is a big time jump to Viserys' ninth year of rule. Rhaenyra rides her dragon Syrax, known for its yellow scales, through King's Landing. The scene is very reminiscent of Daenerys' attack in season 8, except this time she is just there to check out the view.

We get several monuments and little details along the way. She passes the Red Keep, and you might notice scaffolding on it because it is still under construction. Next is the Dragonpit, still intact. This is where the houses all met in Game of Thrones, when it was pretty run down, whereas here it is back to its full glory. Dragons were kept there, and it was often theorised that the confinement stunted their growth.

You also see Targaryen banners before Rhaenyra drops in. I love the way this is shot: we do not actually see her at first, and when she drops down, her hair and dress evoke images of Dany. We even get some notes from the Game of Thrones score reused on this journey to bring back good memories of the show.

Ser Harrold Westerling and Alicent Hightower get important early introductions

Here we meet Ser Harrold Westerling, played by Graham McTavish. Westerling served in the Kingsguard back in the old days of Jaehaerys, and since then he has carried forth that idea of honour and chivalry. He is a really upstanding bloke.

Next we meet Alicent, whose father Otto is the Hand of the King, and who ends up comforting the king by the end of the episode. This is a very important part of the story because it allows her to get a foot in the door down the line. I do not want to spoil too much, but Otto making sure that she comforts Viserys has some big ramifications, and this early meeting between the two characters matters.

Travelling through the streets of King's Landing, we pass a statue of a dragon. I am not 100 percent sure who it is, but I believe it might be Balerion the Black Dread, which is why the monument is coloured the way it is.

Queen Aemma shows Rhaenyra why she wants to be more than a walking womb

Inside the Red Keep we meet Rhaenyra's mother Aemma, who ends up dying during the episode along with her son Baelon. The book talks about how he lived for a day, and that ends up being turned into the insult "heir for a day". Sadly, we do not get much with the baby, and just see the pair on the funeral pyre together. It is one of the most heartbreaking moments in Game of Thrones history, and the entire birth scene had me squirming as Viserys' ambition drives him to choose his unborn son over his wife.

Aemma very much shows why Rhaenyra wants to become more than just a walking womb. It was a queen's duty back then to give birth, and Rhaenyra sees firsthand what caused her mother's death, all in the service of trying to produce a male heir. I also think she is a bit angry that this unborn child has more right to the throne than she does, when at that point it is still just a baby and might not even be a boy. We also discover that Aemma has been through a lot and has lost many children.

The small council introduces Corlys Velaryon and the Crabfeeder

We then cut to the small council, which looks exactly as it did in the original series. Here we see Lord Corlys Velaryon, played by Steve Toussaint. You can catch the seahorse crest on his chest. His house ended up building the largest navy in the world and gained a vast fortune that made them even richer than the Lannisters.

We also get a very important line here about a man called Craghas Drahar, who has styled himself the prince admiral of the Triarchy and whom they call the Crabfeeder. At the time I thought the Crabfeeder was going to be one of the big characters of the season, and he was teased in the trailer. He tied his victims to wooden stakes stuck in the sand and let the tide come in so the crabs could feast on them.

Otto is here too, and you can catch his Hand of the King badge, which also popped up in the main show. Rhaenyra comes in and Viserys calls her his cupbearer. That pulls directly from the book, where we learn she was given the role at the age of eight, and that the king was seldom seen at table or at court without his daughter. The same passage discusses how she was trained to ride dragons at the age of seven. Lord Lyman Beesbury, the master of coin, then brings up that Daemon is absent.

Daemon Targaryen is the gods' coin toss, and he first appears on the Iron Throne

Daemon pretty much embodies the saying that whenever a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin. The book describes him as cruel and ruthless, and the council discusses how he cut the hands off thieves, which we actually see play out in this episode. He is the king's younger brother and possesses the true blood of the dragon. Viserys never had a living son, which made Daemon believe he should be the rightful heir. His brother completely overlooks him, though, and at one point Daemon caused a lot of issues with his mistress Mysaria.

Mysaria is played by Sonoya Mizuno, who you might recognise from Devs and Ex Machina. She is nicknamed Misery and will probably play a big part in things going forward.

Daemon makes one hell of an entrance: the first time we meet him, he is sitting on the Iron Throne. That clearly symbolises his quest to sit there officially, and it sums up the whole character in one opening shot. The book had the throne with a staircase of swords leading up to it, but the first series toned that down and this one had to keep in line with it. They kind of do build the sword staircase, though, merging the series and the book together. If you are picking up on some sexual tension here, you might be on to something. He has brought Rhaenyra a gift of Valyrian steel, a metal so strong that when it is forged into a sword it can stay sharp forever.

The weirwood scene and a nod to Nymeria hint at Rhaenyra's direction

We then cut to Alicent and Rhaenyra going through the history books beside a weirwood. The faces on these trees were carved by the children of the forest, who ended up fleeing north once the First Men came to the continent and started a war. The trees were later worshipped by the First Men and were meant to be shrines to the gods of the forest.

We hear the name Nymeria, a sort of warrior princess who could end up inspiring the direction the show takes with Rhaenyra. She also rips a page out of the book, showing she has no patience for tradition. That fits in with the idea of a woman sitting on the Iron Throne, and a queen coming soon.

The king's wounds from the Iron Throne foreshadow the bloodshed to come

Viserys is then treated for a cut on his back, and he says: "It's a small cut from sitting the throne. It's nothing." That was actually the case with the chair, and kings had to sit in a certain position to avoid getting cut by its sharp blades. We see it again at the end when the king cuts his finger on the blade on the armrest. The blood on the throne is symbolic, a metaphor for the bloodshed that is about to come.

As for the wound on his back, I am not 100 percent sure what it is. We even had some talk in the office that it could be greyscale. Whether it is or not, I do not know, but I think it is there to show that the king's health is failing. After a tender moment in which his wife says this is the last time, the stakes are planted in his mind that this is his last chance for a male heir. The child would have been a boy, but after his death, the heirs all line up to stake their claim.

Daemon's night raid shows what kind of king he would be

At night we see Daemon and his forces clearing the streets before the tournament begins. It is very much an act of terror to show the peasants who is in charge, and it cements what kind of king Daemon would be. His name is a play on the word demon, and the book introduces him in a paragraph describing cruel acts: slitting the noses of thieves, chopping off other body parts, and generally doing whatever he wants. The book also describes him frequenting wine sinks, gambling pits and the brothel, which is where he meets Mysaria.

The raid is super violent, and I love the costume design on Daemon's helmet. It is shaped like a dragon, with a head at the top and the wings around his face. The raid causes a lot of issues and splits the sides that might support him becoming the heir. He clearly makes an enemy of Otto, and really gets one over on him later when he takes Alicent's favour at the games. The disrespect.

We also get a mention of Lady Rhea, who in the book comes from House Royce. Daemon did not want to marry her and completely detests having her as his wife, though the match did offer house solidarity because she is heir to the ancient castle of Runestone. Daemon much prefers Mysaria, which leads to him publicly pursuing a relationship with her.

The tournament introduces Criston Cole and a likely love triangle

Next we see a tournament, similar to the one early in Game of Thrones. Whereas that introduced the Mountain, here we meet the knight Criston Cole. He becomes something of a love interest for the young princess, and it is likely to cause a love triangle between him, Rhaenyra and her uncle. The book cites an event where Daemon and Criston went head to head and Criston took the win. It is described as a humiliation for Daemon, with Criston knocking Dark Sister from his hands with his morningstar.

This riffs on the Tourney at Maidenpool, held when Viserys ascended. Here it welcomes his new son and is meant to be a day of celebration that sadly ends in tragedy. I feel really bad for Viserys, as he genuinely was a nice king who looked after his people. He wanted nothing more than to carry on the prior king's legacy of peace and prosperity, but all the heirs that era created made that impossible. Much like the joust was one of the last happy moments in the original series, I thought this one likely would be too.

We also meet a Baratheon here, an ancestor of Robert, who went on to become king in the first season of Game of Thrones, and he ends up skewered in the joust. The show pushes events together somewhat: in the book, Criston took Rhaenyra's favour when she was seven, which is a bit weird, so I am glad they avoided that here by placing it much later in the timeline.

Aemma's death is a devastating way to open the series

The celebration is cut short as Aemma goes through a lot during her pregnancy. She is given milk of the poppy, a Game of Thrones staple used to ease pain. Between the gore on the battlefield and the pain Aemma goes through, it turned my stomach. It is such a devastating way to start the series, and it shows that this show will not shy away from killing not only a pregnant woman but also a baby. It takes nerve to do that in the first episode, and it is really messed up.

Even the line "Congratulations your grace. You have a son" feels devastating, and it rips your heart out to see the baby on the pyre. In Targaryen fashion, a dragon burns the bodies, and after cremation they are placed in a sept. We also hear dracarys, High Valyrian for dragonfire, which is of course what Dany said during the original series whenever she wanted things to kick off.

Viserys names Rhaenyra heir after Daemon's final insult

That night, Viserys is forced to discuss a new heir for the stability of the realm. Daemon is put forward, but Otto argues against it, and Viserys says his brother does not really have the patience to be king. Daemon, of course, is listening in. They say he would be a second Maegor, a Targaryen known as Maegor the Cruel, who lived for war and murder, and that raids would become commonplace if Daemon got into power. These arguments set up the Greens versus the Blacks, with people choosing allegiances. The Blacks were known as the party of the princess and supported Rhaenyra, who we see at the end once she is named heir.

In the king's chamber, Viserys builds models, which reminded me of people who play with model trains, though he made a pretty good recreation. He finds some comfort in Alicent, and in the books the pair had lots of visits and grew really close in the absence of his wife. After Daemon's "heir for a day" celebration, Viserys summons him and sits on the throne with his sword Blackfyre, an ancestral weapon of the Targaryens carried by the kings throughout their conquests. That insult is the final straw. Daemon tells him straight that he is a weak king who gets preyed upon, but Viserys tells him to return home and says Rhaenyra will become heir instead.

Viserys then goes to a giant dragon skull, evoking images of Cersei visiting one in the main series. He meets Rhaenyra, gives her the knowledge she needs to rule, and impresses on her that dragons cannot be controlled. He apologises for wishing for a son while she was there, and we see her clothed by Alicent. It is a really important scene, because this friendship does not last long once politics come into it, and the divide between the two grows as their history goes on. Meanwhile Mysaria visits Daemon, which speaks to the misery soon to follow, and the pair leave together.

Aegon's dream and a familiar dagger link the ending to Game of Thrones

The king brings up a dream of Aegon's about winter coming from the north, and we even get a cameo by a Stark during this. It is said to be the great winter, which could wipe out the world of men if a Targaryen is not sitting on the Iron Throne. It is obviously setting up the White Walkers, along with what I believe is Jon Snow, who is said to unite the realms against it, and that is known as the Song of Ice and Fire. I might have my analysis off there, as I am not good at interpreting dreams, but that is how I took it.

Viserys then grips a Valyrian steel dagger, and if it looks familiar, that is because it is the blade used to kill the Night King. It sets things up beautifully and ends a brilliant episode.

My verdict: this is how you kickstart a series

I really enjoyed the first episode. I think this is how you kickstart a series: it has a lot of big moments, introduces intriguing characters, has progression, and feels like they put everything they could into making it memorable.

I was someone who felt a bit disappointed with season 8 of Game of Thrones. Even after buying the 4K set to rewatch the show, it felt like a low point that ruined a lot of the goodwill people had for the series. But something about that theme playing and seeing the dragon sweep through King's Landing brought back the feeling of why I fell in love with the show in the first place. The prequel did such a good job of placing us back in that world that it is difficult not to admire it. Even with all new characters, you can see how their characteristics would carry over to their ancestors, and it is really well thought out.

As I said above, I think the book is pretty basic in its storytelling, used more as a way to describe the different houses. The show really brought it to life and made me appreciate the original text in a way I never had before. At the time, I could not wait to see what came next, and I felt the Lord of the Rings show had a lot to do to match it in this game of clones.

Was I right to read Aegon's dream as pointing to Jon Snow, or do you have your own theory about who it foretells?