Westeros

Another episode aired, and we’re rapidly approaching the end of the second season of House of the Dragon. As usual, Linda and I have posted a video recapping the episode and discussing its deviations from the source material in Fire and Blood, illuminating background that may not be obvious to viewers, and some dragon lore.

And, speaking of dragon lore, a lengthy post on dragons, their legs, and their habits from GRRM got a lot of attention almost two weeks ago. Given that some of what he talks about seems related to House of the Dragon, we’re going to add some of our own thoughts ... following the video, and the extras that HBO released around the episode.

Right around Christmas last year, we revealed the first piece of art from the forthcoming A Song of Ice and Fire 2025 Calendar by Eddie Mendoza.

Now, three new images (meaning a total of four have been released) are available for fans to peruse, depicting the Bridge of Skulls that spans the Gorge at the east end of the Wall, the citadel of Dragonstone with its magic-formed gargoyles and dragons, and finally the palatial Water Gardens that were built by the Prince of Dorne as a gift for his wife, the Princess Daenerys Targaryen, sister to King Daeron the Good.

We’ve been remiss to share that we have posted our video recapping the 5th episode of House of the Dragon, “Regent”, written by Ti Mikkel (fans may recognize her as an assistant to none other than GRRM himself, who has been in the writer’s room from the early days). It’s a very political-maneuvering filled episode, and we dig in to the deviations from Fire and Blood as well as some bits of background and dragon discussion.

You can see the video below:

With House of the Dragon, the now-filming Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, and all sorts of other tidbits (we’ll get into those in other posts) drawing renewed attention to George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, a surprising blast from the past showed up when comic illustrator Mike S. Miller—best remembered by GRRM fans as the artist behind the comic adaptations of the Dunk and Egg novellas—tweeted that someone had found the order page for his lithograph of Robert Baratheon and Rhaegar Targaryen at the Ruby Ford… and actually orderd it, which reminded him he still had some of the lithographs floating around.

And now you, too, can order (while supplies last) the first (and, as far as I am aware, only) officially licensed lithograph artwork for A Song of Ice and Fire by visiting Miller’s website and clicking the “Buy Now” link.

For some history on the lithographs, see below!

The most spectacular episode of House of the Dragon to date has aired, and Linda and I have recorded a video running through the episode, discussing changes from Fire and Blood, and some bits of background and dragon discussion. A good deal of heraldry discussion, it must be said, thanks to the prominent role of House Darklyn!

You can see the video below:

We’re off traveling to neighboring Norway for the next couple of days, but thought that this would make a good opportunity to set the record straight on a couple of claims about the Dance of the Dragons as originally envisioned by GRRM, as there’s a lot of rumors and half-understood details going around in a big internet game of telephone. We’ve done two so far, and there may be others, but you can see the first one—concerning the age difference and precise relationship between Rhaenyra and Aegon II—below!

Another exciting episode of House of the Dragon has come and gone, and Linda and I have recorded a video running through the episode, discussing changes from Fire and Blood, and some bits of background and dragon discussion. You can see the video below:

For those who’ve missed it, here is our discussion of changes, background details, and this and that concerning House of the Dragon‘s second episode, “Rhaenyra the Cruel”:

See below for some extra videos from HBO, including the teaser for next week’s episode, the Inside the Episode, and a segment from The House the Dragon Built

Earlier this week, Linda and I had the pleasure to once again interview House of the Dragon co-creator and show runner Ryan Condal. As we were able to do it after the airing of the first episode (you’ll find our video discussing the episode here), the fact that a lot of fans asked us to ask about the changes to Blood and Cheese when adapting Fire and Blood to the screen is a major topic. We also discuss new props, books he has read for research purposes, the new opening, the possibility of a new opening theme from Ramin Djawadi, unsung heroes of the production, and more!

This last month has been one of the busiest I can remember, with road trips to neighboring Norway and Denmark and all sorts of other things, so we’ve been a bit behind in getting the initial content out for episode one, “A Son for a Son”. We’re now trying to rectify that by catching up with a report on our attending a special screening of the premiere episode of House of the Dragon in Stockholm, including some thoughts in sparked in response to a critic’s commentary on the cinematography of the new season.

But first, one part of being so busy is that while we pushed out our commentary video soon after the first episode aired, we thought we’d make a post about it sometime during what turned out to be a very long evening post-screening. So, for those who’ve missed it, here’s our video:

And now to discussing the screening, and whether the show’s cinematography has gotten worse since Miguel Sapochnik left.

Linda and Elio at the post-screening afterparty.

Via HBO, we’ve received our very first look at Peter Claffey as Dunk in Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, as they announce the beginning of production. Not only that, but the press release reveals some of the actors cast in leading roles in the production. See below!

Ser Duncan the Tall at Ashford.

It’s not usual for HBO to do this even before the premiere, but it seemed a foregone conclusion to everyone (including GRRM and Ryan Condal, based on remarks they have made) that House of the Dragon would see at least one more season. But now the word is official, via a press release from HBO:

Short and sweet, as they say.

The good folks at the WB Shop have sent the ravens out to inform the realm that “All Must Choose”... among the many new branded House of the Dragon items, from apparel to games, books to sunglasses, and much much more! Below you’ll find images of just a sampling of items, and further details with some links for some particularly choice items!

Over at Not a Blog, George R.R. Martin has extended his congratulations to playwright Eboni Booth for her recent Pulitzer Prize for her dramatic play, “Primary Trust”.

This may seem rather random, except GRRM goes on to reveal that she is the latest screenwriter to try and develop the story of Nymeria and the Ten Thousand Ships into a pilot for HBO:

Princess Nymeria as depicted by J.K. Drummond for The World of Ice and Fire

Over at Not A Blog, George R.R. Martin provided an update on the casting of A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which is currently in production in Northern Ireland. We’ve previously

shared the casting of the two leads, but GRRM reveals that a number of other key roles have been cast. . . but it looks like HBO isn’t quite ready to reveal who they are, so they will remain nameless:

As we don’t know who most of the roles are (except for Egg, played by young actor Dexter Sol Ansell, whose video of getting his head shaved is featured in George’s post) we’ll present a gallery below of art by Roman Papsuev (remembered by fans from the early days as Amok or Amoka), commissioned by the Dabel Brothers and based, I believe, on Mike S. Miller’s designs for The Hedge Knight comic book.

Egg, by Roman Papsuev