Dragon Fire: HOTD S3 Trailer Breakdown

We come back from a long break to dissect the first full-length House of the Dragon Season 3 trailer, from blink and you miss it shots to the lines that hint at where the Dance of the Dragons is headed. We also catch up on the latest George R. R. Martin universe news and debate whether the franchise can keep its character depth as the scale gets bigger and bloodier.

Transcript

Cold Open Trailer Quotes

SPEAKER_02 0:15

And our children will rule it forever and a day. All that remains is for you to decide what you want from this war. We act with holy purpose.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

I'm going to kill my brother on the Indian.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Look at the sky. Dumon ruins run this.

SPEAKER_01 1:46

R.R. Martin. I'm Minua here with my co-host Tony, and today we've got a very exciting episode, our 85th episode, actually. After a bit of a wait and very busy schedules for Tony and I, we finally have something to dig into from George's world and the time to discuss it. The first full-length trader for House of the Dragons season three. We're breaking it all down. The shots, the quotes, the behind-the-scenes information we have so far, what the trader is telling us, what it's not telling us, and generally what we can expect going into the next chapter of the Dance of the Dragons. This is your deep dive into everything you might have missed and everything we think is coming next. Before we get into it, Tony and I want to catch up with what's been going on in the world related to Astros. So what's been going on, the shows, and if there's any news so far. But before I get into that, I have to first hand over the mic to Tony and ask you, how are you, Tony? It's been so long since we talked and recorded.

SPEAKER_03 2:35

It's been um ages, as they say. Yeah, it's this is by far the longest we've gone without recording a uh episode. I feel good to be back behind the mic talking to you. I'm ready to talk all things Game of Thrones. And we started the year strong with the podcast. Of course, we had the Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and then we thought we would be rolling, but again, schedules um and just life work, everything happens. I'm also coaching a lot of softball, and it takes up a lot of time. And we didn't feel like just uploading episodes just to upload it. We wanted to make sure it's good content. We need to bear down here because we have a new season, The House of the Dragon. We have to make sure we find time to recap season two before we would take time to revisit the prior seasons. But I think since we already dissected and analyzed each episode of season two, it would be silly to redo that. My goal was to re-watch the season and then just kind of see how I feel about it two years later. Um, I'm ready to go. I know that our next pod, I'm just gonna preview our next podcast. We're gonna be celebrating our three-year anniversary of Dancing with Dragons. I know Game of Thrones TV show as a whole just celebrated their 15-year anniversary, which is crazy to think that that show premiered in 2011. And uh, we're gonna deep dive on that for our next episode and kind of tie it in with our own anniversary. So this episode we're just gonna focus on the trailer and uh whatever news we're gonna talk about now.

Quick Westeros News Updates

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Yeah, amazing. So um, yeah, I'm very excited for what we have for the podcast planned moving forward, but let's just jump into the news section. And there's actually not that many to go through, even though we took kind of a longer break from the podcast. So I'll just go through them very quickly. Um, the first one is a minor news announcement. It's like a casting announcement, which is that Stephen Hartley has been cast as her edger of Colmote in the Night of the Seven Kingdoms season two. And another smaller piece of news is that George R. R. Martins, US publisher, has debunked the alleged Winds of Winter leak that's recently gained traction online. I haven't seen that supposed leak, but if you've seen it, they are clarifying to everyone that it's fake. And I think I saw something else that said it's not coming soon. I couldn't find that um second like confirmation that it doesn't coming soon anywhere, but I remember reading that a couple of weeks ago. And last but not least, we have like the big news that was announced in this break, which is that an Aegon's Conquest film is officially in development. Um, and it's officially titled, or I guess sensitively titled for now, Game of Thrones Egon's Conquest. And it will be coming soon to theaters, supposedly. Um I hope so. I hope it's not just a streaming release. I don't think that that might be the case, maybe with the Warner Brothers acquisition. It could be like a I don't know.

Aegon’s Conquest Movie Concerns

SPEAKER_03 5:30

I feel like it's I'm very apprehensive of seeing a movie. I know this is what was reported that is gonna be a movie. This Warner Brothers are gonna focus on, you know, they'll have the pressure to have big battles, the dragons, the spectacle. But the reason why this fire and blood, that that whole storyline works, isn't the scale, it's like the context, it's the characters of of what brings this these stories to life. And I don't think with a two-hour, two and a half hour movie, you can accomplish that. Like, where are they even gonna begin? I mean, like, this is this is a show. This is has to be a show. I don't know how it's gonna work for a movie. I mean, yeah, it's gonna be fantastic to watch it on IMAX. I I just thinking about the everything that happens between when they're in Valeria and then they move, you know what I mean? Like, how are they gonna even view that? That's a hundred fifty years of stuff that gonna happen. Not 50 years, I guess. I'll take it back. If they're just gonna it's I think it took like two years for him to like actually get everything done from start to finish. Are they gonna just it took two years?

SPEAKER_01 6:40

I just double checked it.

SPEAKER_03 6:41

Six months later. Boom. Are they gonna do that? No. The night in Heron Hall. That that should be an episode by itself. And we're gonna just see it for five minutes. I I don't know. I I'm just complaining a lot. I'm sorry. It's just I just no, no, it's I feel like it's not worth it. It's not like yeah, unless maybe unless they say, you know what, we're gonna make uh a trilogy. Then maybe maybe I'll be on board. If it's like at least seven hours, he gave us seven hours of this world, and tightly written, and I know the guy from Andor, I forgot his name, he's the one of the writers. Maybe he could do it, but for now, well, for what I see, I I'm not on board yet.

Trailer Overview And Battle Promises

The Helaena Scene That Confuses

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Okay, that's completely fair. I'm not over the moon, nor am I um like so pessimistic. I think I'm just kind of I don't want to say indifferent because that sounds a bit mean and that I'm not excited for it. I just feel right now I don't have any feelings. We'll see how it goes. I'm I'm just open to see to seeing it at the moment. If you ask me again in a couple of weeks, I could have a different opinion, but the Minu of today has nothing to say and no emotions on the matter. Um yeah, I just hope it's good. And that's pretty much it for the news that um you missed and that we missed in the past couple of weeks. So let's just get into it because the other piece of news is just the trailer itself. So let's talk about it. Um there's a lot going on. Uh heard people say funny enough that there's not enough going on. I guess it's a moderate amount, but there's definitely stuff to talk about, especially for people who have read the books, because um we don't know where they're going with the season. But before we get into that uh rant, what could possibly lead to a rant? Let's talk about what we see, which is many different things. We see Reneira and Damon, a bunch of a bunch of shots of them. Um we see Alison looking up to the throne in the throne room. We see a ton, a ton of um battle sequences and fight sequences. And um in line with that, Matt Smith um recently said the season is bigger, bolder, bloodier, more brutal, and more dangerous. Based on the trailer footage, it seems like we're going to get two major battles from the books. What I guess I can just say the opening to the season, which is going to be a big battle. It was, of course, let's hyped up uh in season two, and it should have been in season two, in my opinion, but let's not let's keep my I'm gonna try and keep my emotions in check. Um, or like my my rants in check. Um it's yeah, it's it's not a surprise that season two is going to start with a battle. It's going to be the battle of the gutts, it's a huge event in the Dance of the Dragons, and then there's going to be another battle very likely, which is called the Butcher's Ball. And it's very likely that we're going to see a ton more battles and fights, you know, in between. It's and scattered all throughout. It's just that those were two um significant big battles. And I heard actually someone from the show, I can't find the quote right now, said that it's going to be similar to the battle between John versus Ramsay. If it's what I think that they're hinting at, I mean in terms of what they're going to adapt. I'll get into it later. It's intriguing because that's considered a very, very iconic battle in Game of Thrones. And I don't know if they can uh pull that off because you know what made that battle so great is the fact that it was I don't want to call it simple, but relatively simple. This is with dragons, I don't think it's I don't know. I don't I don't know what's going to be. You know what? I'm just gonna be quiet before I spoil something. So we get a shot, and in the trailer we also get um a shot of a dragon in the veil, which is likely going to be Raina with sheep seeder. That's another um plot line that we're looking forward to, if or you could be not looking forward to if you're angry about the book change, but I I mentioned last season that I have no problem with it. Um and there's actually a shot, I don't know if you caught this, Tony, I'm sure you did, that really uh confused me. And I want to get into like the discussion part of it now. Just say we have a shot this, we have a shot this. I just I'm wondering what this could be.

SPEAKER_03 10:31

Can I get it?

SPEAKER_01 10:31

There's a shot. Okay.

SPEAKER_03 10:33

Is it the woman who looks like Helena?

SPEAKER_01 10:37

I was gonna say Helena. Is it not Helena?

SPEAKER_03 10:40

Well, it it looks like what's her name again? I always forget. I apologize. Okay, it kind of looks like her. I'm pretty sure it's her. And my mind is like, okay, is she giving birth?

SPEAKER_01 10:53

Or is she like what is going on?

SPEAKER_03 10:56

Because we we all had our rants in the first episode of season two of Sun for Son, like how they changed the whole storyline of she was supposed to have three kids, not not two, and uh, are they gonna add they're gonna add him now? What are you guys doing? Now I know why George was all like, I'm out of here, I'm done.

SPEAKER_01 11:15

I mean, what could it be though? Because it's it could weirdly be, we don't know, you know, as we said, we don't know what they're doing with season three just because they diverted from the book so much already, and that's why George left. But Helena already has another child in the book. It should have said, I wish it'd say that way with with um season two. And I was forgotten. Maylor, yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Maylor. It's it was more cruel, it's like it it's um yeah, really emphasized how horrible-blooded and cheese that incident was. So um it just confuses me as to what's this, but there are some theories online that's just saying that it's a hallucination. Either Helena is getting that hallucination, or I vaguely remember this, but there was like a weird subplot, wasn't there, where it was like Eamon was crushing on her a little bit. When I read this theory online, someone said, Oh, it could be Amund getting a hallucination of her like dying in childbirth or something like that. Like to freak Eamund out.

SPEAKER_03 12:10

But I don't know, it just feels like I don't know if it's her having because we don't witness her having a dragon dream. We don't see her.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

It could be like a Heronhall kind of thing, you know, like not that she's gonna end up in Heronhall, but something like that, and that just doesn't make sense to me either. So I'm so confused.

SPEAKER_03 12:27

I mean, that's confusing because her and Alison are not players in the game when it comes to this portion of the dance. Like, we don't really read about them until the future, blah blah blah. Them having this prevalent presence in the trailer, and you're so ominous, and then you're looking, and then is Alison coming back from Dragonstone? Is she leaving the keep? Is she meeting Renera again? Is she meeting with Larry Strong? Is she going with Helena to the to the dragon pit for them to fly away with Dreamfire? Like, who the heck knows what they're gonna do? Yeah, like like again, like Helena does not fly Dreamfire at all, you know. I know that's and if I mean that's something that would be whoa, like a major change. Like, you're gonna leave your kid because she still has a daughter alive. Like, where did where's the daughter? Like, yeah, so is she pro is she leaving the key because she's pregnant? Um, because if African finds out that she's pregnant and she might have a boy, is that he that'll be the heir to the throne and he wants to be, you know what I mean? He still wants to be the king.

Aging Characters And Timeline Whiplash

SPEAKER_01 13:37

It's all that like that that could be it, honestly. That could be it. That's like a good theory. I was gonna say that I I saw Annetizen on Reddit say something like, Um, I I couldn't find the original quote, but one of the showrunners or writers for the season said that there's going to be a conceptual episode this season. So something like out of the ordinary, I guess, which is what's Damon should have been last season. Should have been one uh one-off conceptual episode, but it's going there, it's going to happen in this season. And they apparently hired an older girl to play Jahera. So Jahera is supposedly there. She's not just like forgotten and let anything.

SPEAKER_03 14:15

So she aged five years and two months. Like could be, yeah. I did hear a theory, not a theory, a rumor that Aegon the Second and Viserys the Second. Oh, I'm sorry, not Aegon the second, Aegon the third and Viserys the second, or Rennera and Damon's kids, that they've been aged up quite a bit. And that's something that I was very worried about last when we were talking about.

SPEAKER_01 14:41

Yeah, yeah, I remember.

SPEAKER_03 14:42

And I'm like, how how is it we know we talked about I don't know, we went to spoilers, but it's just like how is this gonna work? They're supposed to be 10 years old in the book, and they it's very important that they're older. And how? But they're like two years old. How can they have any kind of effect in the in the war if they're as as toddlers?

SPEAKER_01 15:02

Honestly, they could just pull a uh thing where they're like, Oh, we hope you didn't notice, or yeah, it's kind of like not obvious. It's like Daron.

SPEAKER_03 15:11

Like modern family as well. Like you ever seen modern family with the little kid with Jay and Sophia, uh not so what's her name?

SPEAKER_01 15:18

How he just like he has like a growth spurt or something?

SPEAKER_03 15:20

Yeah, like they he's born, and then like the next season he's five years old. Like it's it's just like okay, everybody, just believe it. You know, this we haven't it's not a five, it's not a five-year age jump. It's just like here we go. It's the same thing with like I don't know you're gonna watch Fresh, we're going I'm going on a tangent, but it's just funny because shows do this all the time, and they're like, Yeah, we don't even care. Audience, if you like the show, you're gonna give us a pass and whatever. It's it's not gonna Yeah, literally.

SPEAKER_01 15:50

Like, I'm watching, please don't send me any spoilers, guys. I'm watching Desperate's Housewives for the first time, and it's like one of the characters has a dog, and he just all of a sudden has no dog. Where did the dog go? That's what's important to his storyline in the first season. Where did that dog go? So, um no, I was gonna say, I was gonna say back.

SPEAKER_03 16:08

I don't know if you ever watched uh Fresh Prince of Bel Air in season four, all of a sudden they have a brand new mom. Oh, right, right, right. Completely different, super light skinned. Uh okay, just don't don't pay attention. This is uh the new mom. So that that's what I think they're gonna do here. They're gonna be like, it's okay, you know, just believe it. You guys you you guys who are complaining about them being a little here, now they're big. You happy now?

Alicent’s Fallout And Throne Theories

SPEAKER_01 16:36

Let's just see, honestly. Like, I just guess we'll we'll see what they do with it, and I we'll just have to accept it, I guess. Um or just complain on the podcast. Yeah. Um, but you mentioned Alicent, and I actually wanted to talk about that because um I think that in that scene you mentioned, you like you were you when you were listing all the Alicent possibilities, it was your one of your first ones where you said, and um, are we going to see Alicent coming back from Dargenson? I think we're definitely gonna get that to moment because Amend is there to welcome her, and we and he said tells her where were you? I think that was in the first teaser trailer, not on this one. And uh someone pointed this out, which is that I didn't notice it's a season two comment that as the season goes on, her faith um like declines. And by like as we see her now in season three in the opening uh episode, she has no necklace on. You know, she started the season with that big Faith of the Seven chain around her neck, and now it's not there anymore. But Navya Cook, when she was asked about Alison, she gave a very vague quote. She said, Well, I have accidentally put my son on the throne, so we're really facing the fallout from my mistake, and we're coming to the season at the brink of civil war, and I've parted my freedom for my son's head. She doesn't really give much information, she's just like saying, Yeah, so uh war is starting, you know. So it again it makes me think that maybe Alison just isn't going to maybe have that big of a role. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 18:00

Yeah, and the one the one moment you you mentioned is her looking in the throne very like worried. Is that I was trying to look at the guard next to her, and it it was I couldn't see any um insignia or any kind of like uh I'll say logo, yeah, of any kind of like if was it her Targaryen? Is it the high top? I couldn't really, it was very vague as well. But is she looking at Renera sitting at the throne, or is she looking at Eamon on a power trip on the throne?

SPEAKER_01 18:35

I have no idea.

SPEAKER_03 18:37

It was very well cut, so like if you don't know the material, you're like, what is gonna happen, right? The voiceovers and then the the the shots they pick with you know Damon saying, you know, and our children will rule forever and a day, and then it shows Jace, which is an odd choice because that's not his son, that's his stepson.

SPEAKER_01 18:58

That's very true.

SPEAKER_03 18:59

He's talking about Aegon the third and Viserys II, those are his children. He doesn't treat Jace like a son. He's like No, he does not. For those who know the story, you're like, Oh, okay, that's that's I won't even say the word because I don't want to spoil anything, but I I thought that was a clever way of just trying to like you're distracting. Okay, we're gonna have the voiceovers and show you all these little things, and you see like a skull on fire, like who the heck skull is that? Like, we know we don't know who it is. Is that um auto high time? I don't even know. I'm just like throwing stuff out and just thinking like now we could throw away, you know, the book because they're they're gonna keep the major, like, I guess, events intact, but then the all the in-between is gonna be like, you know what, we're gonna take advantage that this was an unreliable source to begin with, uh, text, and then kind of make it our own to fit the TV landscape.

Signs Of King’s Landing Turning

SPEAKER_01 19:52

Um, I like that you said that um thing about Otto because there are so many people talking about um theorizing about auto the season. And you know, as we said, we can't really rely on the book anymore. People like I've seen people online anticipating Otto the Season, so I guess we'll see. But I actually saw I have another Alison note, and you mentioned the shot of the skull burning. Like, who is that? Could it be Otto or whatever? So that shot, the voiceover, I don't know if you mentioned it, is Alison saying, You will do things that your heart would have recoiled from before you came to the throne. That could only be said to Renera. I she would never say that to anyone else. She can't say that to obviously Aegon, because Aegon is Aegon. She can't say that to Aemon because Aymond is Aemon. So could it be that Alison uh stays on as like an advisor and we see her on the council? You know, like is that an insane thing that could happen?

SPEAKER_03 20:43

That could be like the end of the season. Ranera has taken King's Landing because you could see a lot of shots.

SPEAKER_01 20:48

End of the season, it could be in the middle of the season because it's gonna happen at the end, like you know, like yeah, because there is a lot of stuff that has to happen, and like you don't want to see Allison and Ronera back together, like oh, we're gonna be on the same side now.

SPEAKER_03 21:01

It doesn't work, like it just can't um after other stuff that's gonna happen. Like, how is she gonna go? Okay, we're gonna put that aside, and and because you know, we were besties and when we were when we were teenagers, now we're gonna have to keep no.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

And on that note, on that note, uh Olivia Cook gave a seminar quote that said, Um, to hate someone, there first has to be a passion there. So she's talking about the relationship between Allison's and Ronera and like how they were best friends and everything. So are is this like a hint that they're gonna go back to that friendship or that the hate is gonna like it's gonna be a cycle? Because I'm just gonna make a wild prediction, and it's not a wild prediction, it's obviously like with Allison's quote in mind, which is you will do things that your heart would have recoiled from well before you came to the throne. I think that we're going to see them genuinely be like somewhat of a close ally in like by episode three or four, and then drift apart by the end of the season again. So we're gonna see that um Up and down of their relationship. Just mentioned Renera in the throne room. And it's not just not only that. I mean, if you're listening to this podcast episode, then you probably don't mind like a detailed analysis because that's what you came for. There is literally a shot of Renera looking over like the green Targaryen um heraldry, I guess, or like the merch not merchandise, but they're their flags, and she's seeing them burnt.

SPEAKER_03 22:23

Yeah, you're right. Them showing that, that's that's kind of a like, yeah, that's Ranera taking uh King's Landing. King's Landing, here we come.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

I know it's it's insane.

SPEAKER_03 22:34

And I think this uh sorry, I think this trailer was focused on Ranera's like conquest here. Like they the beginning of the trailer was all about the blocks here, and then you get to see her at the end with the blood on the shoes, and then her like wailing in in agony and screaming. It's back to okay, this this is not gonna be pretty because this is one of the most deadliest events in the history of Westeros. So nobody, there's no real winners here. Like they they can win battles here and there, you know, team green and team black, whatever, but and the grand scheme of it all, they're all losers, they're all gonna lose very big. Is it was it worth it? And I think that's what Corless said. Uh uh to I think it was Damon. That's probably after the Battle of the Gullet, obviously, because Corless is not wearing any armor. Okay, now you got King's Landing. What are you gonna do with it? You're just gonna keep killing people, or are you gonna help the people? Like, so it's one of those struggles because Corless comes, will be a big part of all this as well. Yeah, going to the future.

SPEAKER_01 23:40

Yeah, I noticed that and people saying, like, oh, Rhine and Damon are uh like look similar. So people were like, Oh, does that mean that Renera's going to become more unhinged like Damon? You know, is she going are we going to see a mad-ish Renera? I'm like, whatever. Yeah. I'm supporting her either way.

SPEAKER_03 23:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:58

I I've been there done that with a mad target. I don't I don't like those two queens.

Dragon Sightings And Missing Dragons

SPEAKER_03 24:03

We did see um a shot of Rhaenyra walking down the steps of the keep or dragon stone, and you pause it, you could see a sword. So I think uh Oh, I didn't catch that. Yeah, I think uh Emma Darcy said that she wanted a sword for season three, so they okay, but it looks like somebody's sword, and I won't say who.

SPEAKER_01 24:24

So we'll go we'll go from the Okay, tell me that sir because I didn't catch that.

SPEAKER_03 24:27

Yeah, yeah. Let's talk about the dragons. As I think they were shown purposely to tell people, hey, you're gonna get a lot of dragon fire here. Uh, you see a shot of two dragons flying over the the ships, which is all the the Valerian fleet, and it's Moondancer and Vermax. Moondancer is Bela, Vermax is uh Jace, and then you've mentioned uh Sheep Stealer. People thought it was um Cyrax, but then you look at it, it's obviously the veil, and then Sheep Stealer has that design in the wings. I don't know how to even describe it. It looks like a long, uh it's like coming out of the wing, it looks like a claw, but it's not a claw, it's just an extension of the wing, and it's very um um unique to to the other dragons. So I'm just gonna say because I'm pretty sure we're not gonna see that character anyway. It was a character called Nettles, she was a low-born uh dragon seed who tamed sheep stealer by leaving him a daily offering of sheep every day, and that's how she got to tame the dragon and become a player for team blocks. But I don't think we're gonna see her. They're gonna give Raina that that arc. So for sure. We see the majestic Vagar burning down Heronhall. We see we see her a couple times. Um, Vagar is so beautiful in the the design of the wings. You know, she's seen so much war and destruction. Uh, we see Karaxis, we see Ronera riding Cyrex. That's the beginning, the first first shot. I think that's it. I don't think we see Caesare on.

SPEAKER_01 26:01

I saw someone say that they can they could spot him, but I couldn't, so I didn't I didn't like put it down. I could not spot him. Yeah, so I tried.

SPEAKER_03 26:09

Yeah, so the only ones we saw were Sheep Stealer, Caraxis, Vagar, Moondancer, and Vermax. So you still have Sunfire, you still have um Sea Smoke, Vermitor, Silverwing, Caesareon. Those are all dragons that are in the war that um will be seen. And then you have one uh dragon that is named Stormcloud that might show up now, but I won't say why.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 26:40

Yeah, a lot of dragons, a lot of dragon fire. We did get dragons last last season, but this right here is it's already gonna top. I mean, what happened to season two?

SPEAKER_01 26:51

Yeah, I mean season two was a bit of like a lull for some we have our characters. And if the Battle of the Girls was moved season one, then I think it would have been um delivered on that. Yeah, to season two, sorry, then yeah. I think it could have delivered on that. Um But it's interesting that to that because um in the first trader, we do get a quote of Damon telling Renera, you are the queen of dragons, you have an absolute power within your grasp. This is the moment you become queen. And also in this uh in this trader, um, he says, which I assume is just part of the same scene. He tells her you will have an empire no man has ever wielded, you will have an empire unassailable, Renera, and our children will rule forever and a day, which is that line that you mentioned. So at least, you know, for the Damon for the Damon Ronera shippers, there's going to be one scene out there for sure where Damon is, I guess, hyping her up.

Aegon’s Revenge And Sunfyre Questions

SPEAKER_03 27:44

Yeah, and I think he's just happy that there's war. He's war hungry. And that that line, that line of you'll you've never nobody's ever wielded this power. I mean, he's referencing Aegon. Because Aegon had I mean Aegon had the three massive dragons, but she has already, I mean, I've already counted, you know, what six to seven. Like six, I can't believe I just said six to seven. Uh six six, seven, six or seven dragons. Um, compared to the two, I guess uh team green has. Right now, at the moment, you have Vagar and you have Tesserion, and that's it, right? For Sunfire, who is hurt. And I have a question from uh Kaden Crippen who asks, Does Aegon's dragon survive? Because there's no way he could kill his brother. He can't even walk. Let's talk about that little quote from Aegon. He says, I'm gonna I wrote it down, unless you have it.

SPEAKER_01 28:42

He just says, I'm going to kill my brother or die in the attempts.

SPEAKER_03 28:45

Okay, that's the quote I was looking for. Yeah, so it's that's kind of a big departure, and we've talked about that as well. As how um in the novel or in the book, Aemon is more of an ally to Aegon. Like he they don't love each other as like, oh, he's my brother, I love him. It's more of a work thing, like more of a family thing. Like he yeah, they Aemon hates Ronera and Damon so much, like that overtakes his like annoyance with Aegon. Like, he feels superior to Aegon in every way, but he's gonna help him because he just hates Team Black. It feels like Aegon is forgetting about Ranera, he's gonna focus on Aemon. Like, I gotta kill him first before and now, like, how are you gonna kill your brother without a dragon? So that that's a good question. Is Sunfire coming back? Is he healing? Is like what's gonna happen? That's uh we won't know until the the show starts.

SPEAKER_01 29:42

Um, I do want to talk about Eamon. Uh you mentioned him, and we got the question in relation to Eamon as well. So just pausing that note for a second, and I want to mention Aegon, who is shown, I believe, in the first trailer. I unfortunately mixed my notes for the Caesar trader, which I rewatched, and then this full trailer. But we do get a shot of Aegon actually killing someone and like half limping and half walking. He's like clung on to um oh yeah, yeah. Lars Strong, and then literally like seems like he grabs someone off the ground and just stab him. So um, we're definitely going to be seeing that side come out, you know what I mean? Even if it's not uh it seems like how are we going to see Aegon do that or like act on his uh feelings and his extreme anger and everything? We're gonna see that for sure.

SPEAKER_03 30:32

Maybe, maybe they're ambushed on the road somewhere.

Aemond in Harrenhal

SPEAKER_01 30:35

Maybe it looked like a battlefield if I'm being honest. So I don't know, I don't know why he would be there, but to me it just looked like it looked like a field. So and there were other people there, so I'm guessing maybe it was a black uh allied group. I don't know. Um so we'll see. But um picking on Amond, who was a fan favorite, um, he is seen in the straighter on the Iron Throne, and he's also seen in seemingly a sword fight, but without his eye patch, which is kind of insane, not because he just without his eye patch, but I don't know, but it could it could be a huge event. It could be something huge.

Chosen by the Gods

SPEAKER_03 31:14

I don't think they're gonna jump to it just yet, but no, it could be what I what I thought, which is they're him and Damon are gonna parallel each other from season two to season three, and I think we're gonna see Alice Rivers oh yeah, yeah, messing with Eamon. Yes, I mean that's gonna happen because you could see like why would he do that? And he's like, is he talking to himself? He's like he had the same um shot of Damon coming in in season two with his his sword at the ready. Eamon is doing the same thing. Like, is he hearing things while he's in Harrenhal? We're gonna mess with his mind the same as um Damon. Okay, I have actually one thing about you talked about Aegon. I wanted to talk about um Allison's uncle, Orman Hightower. We see him quite a bit here, and he he has a kind of a contradictory um quote here. He says the Targaryen is a savage race. We act with and then holy purpose. Yeah, we act with holy purpose to restore a rightful king. I mean, who is he talking about? He's talking about Aegon, yeah, right? Like Aegon is a Targaryen who is married to his He's a Targaryen.

SPEAKER_01 32:33

What do you mean?

SPEAKER_03 32:34

No, no, I'm saying like the rightful king, and they're so high and mighty with the religion, and they're they're not into incestual, you know what I mean? Like all this and they're and they're they're talking about Aegon. They feel like they were talking about this this uh person who was squeaky clean, like Alison was in season one, you know, and the season one. She was so, oh, I'm so into my religion, and you know, I'm so high and mighty, my word, blah blah blah blah. And here it just feels like you're talking about Aegon, chill out. I thought I found that funny, that line.

SPEAKER_01 33:09

Yeah. That line stood out to me too. Um, when he says we act with holy purpose to restore a rightful king, because that happens like towards the beginning of the trader, and then towards the end, we get a quote from Raniera who says, There will be no doubt who the gods have chosen to rule. So when I heard both of those quotes and the trader, that was my first this is my first note about the entire trader, which is that I think that though it's going to be a a war-heavy season, I think they're still going to lean into the religious aspect in season three. So it will be like the uh another it will it will continue to be a central theme for season three, with um what they would maybe use to um, I don't want to say validate their power, but to kind of validate their cases will still be a central thing, and you'll see the greens using the the faith of the seven and uh the blacks using maybe the prophecy, and and I hope that that doesn't make a comeback, but I think it's going to. But um, yeah, so I I think that that's something to look after, which is that though many of us don't really like that uh prophecy part playing coming into play in House of the Dragon, I I would still suspect that it's gonna be just because it could be a central theme running through it. And I could also see how that would play into seeing how uh possibly each uh team will I want to say uh rule, but how each team will have influence and will that would whether it would be in favor or you know, and like a good thing for them or not. So yeah, just uh a thematic prediction here.

Hopes and fears on HOTD S3

SPEAKER_03 34:40

I I forgot that we have a Christian Cole sighting here, and he mentions look to the sky. Um I forgot about doom and gloom or doom and ruin surround us, and we get that more level-headed Cole that we saw in season two. For me, he's already accepted his death, like he knows he's going to die. Just like okay. Uh I also I do want to mention we get another quick shot of the winter wolves with their majestic shields, and then you see a shot of Caraxis in in the Riverlands. You see the Tully insignia, and then you see uh Damon, and then in the back, I think are the Winter Wolves, and that that's the another major battle in the Riverlands that we're gonna get. Yeah, just the the majority. What I got out of this trailer is a lot of action, a lot of moving pieces that meet need to move quickly because there's a lot of events that need to happen. We're only getting eight episodes. Season four, you know, I think is committed to eight episodes. There was a rumor about a fifth season, but I don't know if that was squashed after all the stuff we talked about with George and these people, House of the Dragon. I'm kind of looking forward just to seeing this this season, and I'm looking forward just to re-watch season two and see what I get out of it going into the season three.

SPEAKER_01 36:01

Same, I wonder if I'll appreciate it more or not, uh House of the Dragon season two. I'm not um I think last time when we talked about season two, uh sorry, uh uh after season two, talking about season three in the future of House of the Dragon, I was a bit uh nervous. I was like, that's it, I'm nervous, they're not sticking to the book, and now I feel like I've just made my peace with it. I'm not nervous anymore, I just accepted it. Yeah, and um and we'll see. I mean, I just hope that it makes sense and that it's good. And I know that it's uh uh you know George disapproves and it's well within his rights, and you know, he's right. So I just I just hope it's it's it's good and decent.

SPEAKER_03 36:40

Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and see if they what if the changes they make make sense for the show. Because like we've all said, everybody said this, you can't faithfully adapt a book to a show 100%. It just doesn't work. You can't do it.

Cast Quotes And Testing Loyalty

SPEAKER_01 36:59

Um yeah, I feel like we're almost ready to like wrap up, but before we do, I want to share some more quotes that we got that I found on or like from the cast of House of the Dragon. Um, Matt Smith had a very interesting thing to say, which is he's which is he basically mentioned that there's going to be a lot of high Valerian in House of the Dragon season three. Emma Darcy said something very interesting as well. She said, I want to test the audience's loyalty. I wonder how unsympathetic she can be. I said I said I'm not that nervous. That makes me a little bit nervous just because I mean, you know what? I said it before, so again let me retreat or like take a few steps back. If they make her mad, I still support her. But I just feel it's a bit unfair, but you know, what do you mean? Like this before. Yeah, well, I mean, we were I think they want to make her a bit cruel, which honestly isn't like a need to.

SPEAKER_03 37:53

We were complaining that she wasn't last season.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

She was too but cruel in terms of like the because in the book when I did my didn't did my research for this episode, in the books, she was perceived by the small people to be as cruel as Magor. Magor the cruel. So that is too much. And I just hope that they're just it's just going to be exaggerated to the public rather than her actually being that way.

SPEAKER_03 38:15

She should be um firm administrative, but not after the loss of the and the loss of the city. You know what?

SPEAKER_01 38:26

Yes, yes. And she I thought I was gonna support her, but well, I know.

SPEAKER_03 38:29

I mean, we thought she was gonna be that way after that final shot of season one, and then one line in the opener, I want Amen Targaryen. Okay, she's Alpha Blood, and then she becomes this Quaker of No, we have to peace and peace, and my father, my father had all those years of peace and Jaharris and this, this, and that. And then you know what? I think there's one more, one more thing that's the shawl that's gonna break the camel's back, and just be like, you know what? I I've I've I've tried my best. Get my right what what is rightfully mine peacefully. Even the the talk she had with Allison in the end of the season was like, she could have been like, you know what, I'm gonna keep you here. You're gonna be my president now, and stuff like that. She lets her walk away. Like I said, you know what?

SPEAKER_01 39:18

Yeah, you're yeah, you're completely right.

SPEAKER_03 39:20

Like, yeah. We don't want to see we don't want to see Daenerys. That's we still get nightmares about the nurses flipping an episode and a half. Like, yeah, how do we do that? We we built this character to be so uh groundbreaking and sympathetic and for the people, and then all of a sudden you made her this jealous, petty, yeah, stereotypical, like, oh, let's fall back on the Matt King thing because you know uh that's just an easy yeah, let's just we want to be done with this. Let's just have her burn everything down to be because you know, having to write something complex for her that made sense is too much work. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, her dad, her dad was Matt King. Okay, you know what? They're gonna eat it up. That they're they'll be fine with it.

SPEAKER_01 40:11

No, no, you're right, you're right. Let's let her do whatever she wants.

SPEAKER_03 40:15

But then, like, but how do we know? What is cruel though?

SPEAKER_01 40:19

Like, is she gonna know what they're gonna do?

SPEAKER_03 40:23

Like, is she gonna kill children? Is she gonna you know I mean that's something different? Like, do you have collateral damage? You have those innocent people who die in every war, real or fake in shows. And is she going to just like go overboard? And that's what we might see. Be like, you know what? She might need to just chill out a bit. But you know, she's gonna have her stands no matter what, like, even you know, with Damon, you know, he he can do no wrong. So if he can do no wrong, then she can do no wrong either. So true.

Premiere Date And How To Follow

SPEAKER_01 40:55

We just have to wait and see until June 21st, which is when the episode is premiering, and we did not mention that, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:01

And I think that's what seven weeks away, which is um, yeah, we have a lot of prep to do. I have to figure out a way to watch the eight episodes before that and have a little uh recap. That's gonna be good. I'm excited for our three-year um anniversary pod, which will be our next episode, and we're gonna have fun with it. It'll be a little bit different. Uh, we probably just skip the QA and we'll put a prompt out for questions. Our plan is to do something we've never done before. I know that's a lot of pressure on both of us right now, but I I think we have to figure something out that's gonna be um fun for both of us and and for everybody else. And with that, that's gonna be all for our 85th episode of Dancing with Dragons. Thank you for listening, and thank you all for your patience with our close to two-month uh hiatus. We really appreciate it. We've had some actual people message me on our page asking, are you guys okay? Are you gonna record soon? No. We thank you, that really, really uh hit me in the feels, as they say. I think we're doing something right. People are checking on us. Uh, to keep up to date with our podcast, you can go to Instagram on dancing with underscore dragons. Like I just mentioned, we'll celebrate our three-year anniversary. I can't believe we did this three years ago. And I it's funny how I invited you to the real spotlight to discuss season one of House of the Dragon, and that was in 2022, like late 2022, and it's already that was almost four years ago. Wow, so that's insane. Yeah, that's crazy, crazy. What a crazy uh dragon ride. I'll say dragon ride there. Uh so thank you all again for tuning in. Until next time, peace out.