House of the Dragon spoiler thread


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I felt the "tourney" was overly brutal and felt more like a gladiatorial contest. It seems that this kind of attrition amongst your mounted aristocracy wouldn't be very sustainable, but maybe it's intended to demonstrate the overall decadence of a kingdom that's been at peace for so long.
I was thinking it was a bit too much at first, but now, I'm not so sure. The tourney competitors were generally young men who had lived in relative peace. Open up a outlet for violence and they erupt. That may become a theme for the rest of the series based on my delve into the story of the Targaryen war of succession that we're heading into.
It's an echo (pre-echo?) of the same issue in GoT/War of the Roses when big standing forces with not enough to do against outside enemies turn on each other.
 

I was thinking it was a bit too much at first, but now, I'm not so sure. The tourney competitors were generally young men who had lived in relative peace. Open up a outlet for violence and they erupt. That may become a theme for the rest of the series based on my delve into the story of the Targaryen war of succession that we're heading into.
It's an echo (pre-echo?) of the same issue in GoT/War of the Roses when big standing forces with not enough to do against outside enemies turn on each other.
I just wondered where are the families of the killed knights - why arent there friends piling in to stop their champion being slaughtered and why arent their fathers there demanding the kings justice. One would think that a knight getting their face smashed to mince would be a just cause for war and does the king really want that?

I didn't notice two bodies on the pyre.
there was a little bundle wrapped next to the queens body, I thought that was more jarring than if they had shown the baby die at the birth - an omg the baby died moment.
that said like Sepulchrave I think having the king holding his son as the baby dies and then hear him cry out in anguish might have been a chance to build some sympathy for the character
 


I just wondered where are the families of the killed knights - why arent there friends piling in to stop their champion being slaughtered and why arent their fathers there demanding the kings justice. One would think that a knight getting their face smashed to mince would be a just cause for war and does the king really want that?
Probably because those are rules of the game. This isn't A Knight's Tale where the jousting is just sport. This is a much more violent tourney where contestants can and do take it farther and know that might happen. Not that some behavior might not drive a vendetta - just not necessarily one that could be officially sanctioned.
there was a little bundle wrapped next to the queens body, I thought that was more jarring than if they had shown the baby die at the birth - an omg the baby died moment.
Oh, yeah. Definitely highly jarring to see the wrapped baby body. I approve of the choice made by the director/editor/whomever decided that would have maximal impact.
 

Yeah, the lethality of the melee is a bit ahistorical. It was meant to be a mock battle. Perhaps we will see some fallout from the deaths at the tourney in later episodes ... although we're going to get a time skip to when Rhaenyra is an adult soon, so I don't know ... maybe tourneys are just more lethal in Westeros and it's just par for the course.
 

Yeah, the lethality of the melee is a bit ahistorical. It was meant to be a mock battle. Perhaps we will see some fallout from the deaths at the tourney in later episodes ... although we're going to get a time skip to when Rhaenyra is an adult soon, so I don't know ... maybe tourneys are just more lethal in Westeros and it's just par for the course.

Tourneys could be lethal irl a king died due to one.

That was more gladiator games though.
 


I think the tournament (and the brutality of it) is meant to mirror the birth, which is why we cut back between the two events.
There was a line previously in the show about a women's womb being her battleground or words to that effect (can't remember it exactly). This is the point that's being driven home by the juxtaposition of the two events.

I would also suggest the shape of the jousting arena also adds to this theme, I mean it's not really that subtle:

f884f702-adf6-4a31-869c-2a6121c55bf0.jpg
 

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