House of the Dragon Opening Credits and Theme

The second episode of “House of the Dragon” launched what seems to be the show’s opening credits going ahead. They function the identical theme music that was utilized in all eight seasons of “Game of Thrones,” composed by Ramin Djawadi who did all the music for that sequence. Djawadi returns to attain “House of the Dragon,” however the present’s artistic staff did not change the iconic theme music itself.

The “Game of Thrones” opening credit famously featured fashions of the most necessary areas in Westeros and throughout the Narrow Sea. As occasions happened on the present that modified these areas, these adjustments had been additionally made to the fashions proven in the credit. When the Lannisters took the Iron Throne, the banners in King’s Landing modified from stags to lions. When Winterfell was burnt to the floor, that was represented visually, too.

The “House of the Dragon” credit use an identical technique, with a fairly large change. Instead of utilizing fashions of precise areas from “House of the Dragon,” the sequence makes use of a mannequin of Old Valyria — much like the one King Viserys (Paddy Considine) retains in his room in the Red Keep. As the credit journey by means of the mannequin, blood flows by means of the streets. The mannequin additionally options symbols and small gadgets that characterize the completely different characters of the present.

The query stays of why they selected Old Valyria for this, as an alternative of utilizing King’s Landing or Dragonstone, areas tied intently to the Targaryens that can be seen in the present. The Targaryens (and Valeryons) hint their ancestry — and their dragons — again to Valyria. (It’s additionally the place all Valyrian steal comes from.) Valyria fell about 100 years before Aegon the Conqueror took over Westeros, however the Targaryens fled the area earlier than the cataclysmic occasions, often called the Doom of Valyria, happened. That’s as a result of Daenys Targaryen dreamt of its fall and warned her household earlier than it was too late.

It’s not fairly sure how the Doom occurred, however each hill in Valyria exploded without delay. Ash, smoke, and hearth rose into the air, killing everybody and all the things, together with dragons. Other components of the space had been destroyed by a tsunami. It’s doable the Doom was a pure volcanic explosion, however in the world of “Game of Thrones,” some consider it was attributable to magic or as punishment from the gods.

Which brings us again to what this implies for “House of the Dragon.” We know that Viserys places an enormous inventory in desires and the issues they may foretell. That’s half of why he shares Aegon’s dream, the Song of Ice and Fire, with Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock). Viserys additionally had his personal dream about having a son and inheritor, which has influenced lots of his choices, in the end resulting in his wife Aemma’s death.

But maybe extra importantly, Viserys’s household is heading towards combating and bloodshed due to his personal choices about who will succeed him as inheritor. The opening credit, then, function an ominous warning of the violence to come back. What model of House Targaryen will survive?

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