Excited for House of the Dragon - Season 2? Here's what went awfully wrong with the final seasons of Game of Thrones and how House of the Dragon can avoid the same fate -
George R.R. Martin's world of 'A song of ice and fire' book series is a nuanced one.
1. Balance in characters - Every character has an intricate backstory and morally gray areas. No character is "good" or "bad".
2. Unpredictability - Martin never had favourites! Any character may die on any given day in this medieval world.
T.V audience obviously demands a clear demarcation between "heroes" and "villains", and the T.V adaptations offered exactly that!
1. Game of Thrones - Starks are good. Lannisters are not.
2. House of the Dragon - Blacks are good. Greens are not.
Yet the 'unpredictability' factor was kept intact. And this made the shows that more interesting. Characters were now clearly good or clearly bad, yet stood on equal footing to die on any given day! A complete chaos! Audience loved it.
Why the last couple seasons of GoT tanked is because the makers removed the "unpredictability" factor too. The books were unfinished and so they had to improvise, which they did poorly.
Stark kids became the centre of everything and even got to 'choose' who wins the game and sits on the iron throne. There was no 'chaos' anymore.
House of the Dragon's season 1 was also highly one-sided, strongly favoring the Blacks (Rhaenyra's faction) and depicting the Greens (Aegon II's faction) as usurpers.
However, as long as the creators adhere to Martin's sequence of events, the show should retain its 'unpredictability', and thus, remain captivating.
'Winter' may have failed to send shivers down our spines, but we can still delight in the fiery 'dance of dragons'. 🐉 🐉
#Houseofthedragon #Gameofthrones
Head of Business Development and GTM @AWS Industry Products
1moRare privilege to see one of the all time greats! Hope all is well with you! :)