Westeros

A new year is on us, and with that is news of the next calendar in the long-running A Song of Ice and Fire series. This time, the artist will be none other than Justin Sweet, an award-winning artist whose contributions have been as varied as concept art for blockbuster films like The Chronicles of Narnia, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and Avengers: End Game to illustrations for books like… well, like The World of Ice and Fire, where his two-page splash of Robert and Rhaegar on the Trident (as well as his depictions of Arya, Jon, and Dany) were some of the very first pieces commissioned for the book.

Creation Entertainment and Warner Bros. Discovery have announced details on this year’s Game of Thrones Official Fan Convention to take place at the Los Angeles Convention Center from December 9th through December 11th, including the fact that they’ve added House of the Dragons performers to the extensive line-up of guests, plus a special “virtual appearance” by Ryan Condal, lead writer and show runner of the hit HBO show. Read the full press release below!

Paddy Considine will be one of the guests at the convention, alongside Steve Toussaint (Corlys Velaryon) and Matthew Needham (Larys Strong)

As they say, the best laid plans of mice and men… but at last we finished our promised season 1 overview/discussion of House of the Dragon, which you can see here:

We’ve some other odds and ends to discuss, such as an extra video we did discussing the finale after Elio’s return from Spain, and a podcast Elio recorded for the Boiled Leather Audio Hour podcast, details about which you can find below!

Arrax approaching Storm’s End.

George R.R. Martin has always been very generous, and as his success as grown, so too as his generosity. Wildlife recues, film and television training programs, writing scholarships... and now the latest example, as he donates $5 million to his alma mater of Northwestern University to establish a new writing workshop for journalism professionals to explore creative writing, as well as to endow the new George R.R. Martin Chair of Storytelling.

For more details, see the press release from Northwestern below:

Today is the day: The Rise of the Dragon has hit book shelves in many countries! It’s also available as an e-book ... and even as an audio book, read by the wonderful Harry Lloyd (Viserys Targaryen in Game of Thrones) which is a particular honor since we’re huge fans of his. We’ve been amazed by the positive response online, especially at the various art previews, and we have to say we owe a lot to all the artists who worked hard to make this what this is. There’s a lot of promotion going on, but one we particularly enjoyed is this trailer from our terrific UK publisher, Harper Voyager:

In the lead up to today’s release, George R.R. Martin took part in an online event where he spoke with friend and author David Anthony Durham to promote the book as well as House of the Dragon. While the stream has not been publicly released as of yet, read below for some of our realtime tweeting of some choice remarks and information from George… including an update on progress on The Winds of Winter!

The final episode of the first season of House of the Dragon is done, and we’re (actually, just Linda initially, but we’ll have more videos in the days to come) back with some thoughts, background, commentary on changes, and more in our latest video at the Westeros.org Youtube channel:

And that concludes the first season of House of the Dragon! The Dance has truly begun.

Rhaenyra by the Painted Table, lit by fire from below.

The penultimate episode of the first season of House of the Dragon is done, and we’re back with some thoughts, background, commentary on changes, and more in our latest video at the Westeros.org Youtube channel:

Next up will be “The Black Queen” to conclude the first season of House of the Dragon.

The Green Council, as Otto and Alicent Hightower inform the councillors of the king’s death while Ser Criston Cole watches.

A year has passed since the Folio Society released their fourth entry in their illustrated editions of A Song of Ice and Fire, and like clockwork they have now released the fifth volume, A Dance with Dragons!  Like the previous volumes, it comes in a beautiful, slipcased two-volume edition with beautiful artwork by Jonathan Burton. Below, you’ll find the Folio Society’s video for the launch, as well as a few images they’ve sent to us share!

From the Folio Society:

On October 25th, The Rise of the Dragon: An Illustrated History of the Targaryen Dynasty, Volume One hit shelves. Based on Fire and Blood by GRRM, the book provides a more condensed account of the events documented in that work of “fake history” while providing over 180 new, full-color illustrations (some were shared in the recent, all packaged in a similar format to The World of Ice and Fire. As we said when the book was first announced, the book is for a very particular set of audiences—those who were daunted by F&B’s size but are interested in something more concise, those who love the artwork, and those who are collectors and completists. If you or someone you know fits that, however…

Ahead of the release, George is holding a couple of events, including one that will be livestreamed for those who purchase a ticket. See more details below, as well as an opportunity to get copies with a different set of autographs entirely… !

One of the many new pieces of art Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen racing their dragons, Syrax and Caraxes, between High Tide and Dragonstone. By Nutchapol Thitinunthakorn

Another episode down, and we’re back with some thoughts, background, commentary on changes, and more in our latest video at the Westeros.org Youtube channel:

We’re in the home stretch now, with just two episodes to go. Next up will be “The Green Council”, followed up by “The Black Queen” to conclude the first season of House of the Dragon.

King Viserys on the Iron Throne.

The official Youtube page for the Game of Thrones Studio Tour at the Linen Mill Studio in Northern Ireland— exclusive home to an enormous assortment of props, weapons, armor, costumes, and even whole sets from the TV show—has released a lengthy video where the show’s weapons master, Tommy Dunne, speaks at length about his work on the show as it relates specifically to the infamous catspaw dagger that has now become so central to House of the Dragon. See below for the video!

The original catspaw dagger as seen on Game of Thrones. The new version is closely based on it, but its proportions have been tweaked for House of the Dragon.

Another episode down, and we’re back with some thoughts, background, commentary on changes, and more in our latest video at the Westeros.org Youtube channel:

The next episode will give us what we believe will be a last time jump this season (and perhaps for all the show from here on out), aging up the children a bit further.

Lord Corlys Velaryon and Princess Rhaenys with their granddaughters Baela and Rhaena. Copyright Ollie Upton/HBO

An interview long in the making, we finally got to sit down with Ryan Condal, lead writer, executive producer, and now sole show runner of House of the Dragon last week to talk about the show. After Linda had a chance to say hello then headed off to keep an eye on our very rambunctious puppy Lancelot, we started the interview.

We open up with a question on post-production, and then get into the weeds on favorite book characters, depictions of violence, heraldry, a forgotten Valyrian house, the change from book canon when casting the Velaryons, whether Ryan will continue with the show after completing this particular story, and more.

Click here for the interview!

Ryan Condal behind the scenes with a maquette of Caraxes. ©️ Ollie Upton/HBO

Half way through the season, and “The Princess and the Queen” makes the boldest jump yet as a decade has passed since the previous episode, new actors play key roles, and a passel of new young characters appear. Linda and I return with with our usual non-review focus on providing some more background information and changes from the source material to the screen. Lots of background in this particular episode:

Ser Laenor supports Princess Rhaenyra as she’s called to present the newborn Prince Joffrey to the queen.

Today features a very notable birthday. No, we don’t mean Sophia Loren’s (though that’s very fine company to be in). It’s in fact George R.R. Martin’s birthday today, making him 74 years young. Six years ago we were invited to write a tribute to George over at Tor.com, that you can read here. We know fans of his work—and fans of the good he’s done for the genre, for fandom, and for the various good causes he has contributed to—the world over wish him well on this auspicious day.

One of the nonprofit organizations GRRM has been a major supporter of is the Stagecoach Foundation, which he co-founded to help provide training and work opportunities for residents of New Mexico in the state’s burgeoning film industry. A donation to the foundation would no doubt be very welcome, especially today!

George R.R. Martin on the set for his cameo in the Game of Thrones pilot, which was later reshot and lost that footage. He has yet to make a formal cameo on one of HBO’s shows.