«House of the Dragon»: what does the new intro mean?

Luca Fontana

1.9.2022

Translation: Megan Cornish

The «House of the Dragon» title sequence is spectacular, grand, bloody – and confusing. Unlike in «Game of Thrones», the camera doesn’t just fly over a map, but through the Targaryen family history. Allow me to explain.

George R. R. Martin’s «House of the Dragon» launched two weeks ago. We didn’t get to see the intro until the second episode premiered last weekend (a creative decision, according to showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik). It included not only the animation style typical of «Game of Thrones» and Ramin Djawari’s iconic title music, but also a lot of blood, strange sigils, stone walls and confused camera panning.

What’s going on? If you look very closely, you’ll see one thing above all: a family history.

Fire and blood

The first sigil paints the dark picture of flames, death and fiery rain so hot even dragons would burn in it: the Doom of Valyria. Hardly anything survived it. No stored knowledge. Not a tamed dragon – almost. Because the day that nearly wiped out the most powerful and advanced civilisation of its time was foreseen by one person: Deanys Targaryen the Dreamer, daughter of the head of the family, Aenar Targaryen.

It would have been the end of all the dragonriders in the world had Daenys not told her father about her dark visions and convinced him to leave Valyria with their five dragons. Dragonstone was built as the new family seat, a castle on a volcanic island off Westeros. Only their closest allies went with them, including the Velaryon family, whose members, while of Valyrian blood, are not dragonriders. Then, long after the Doom of Valyria, Aegon I Targaryen began his war of conquest in Westeros, establishing the Targaryen royal dynasty – driven by the Song of Ice and Fire.

Back to the intro. Blood pours from the sigil of Valyria, splitting into three new streams, or bloodlines. Targaryen bloodlines after the Doom of Valyria, represented by Aegon I and his two sisters Visenya and Rhaenys.

The camera heads off again, flying to the next sigil: that of Aegon I, mind you, because the camera always follows the royal bloodline, never the branching lines that lead to siblings, cousins and spouses.Though, with the Targaryens, they tend to be one and the same.

The bloodline flows on, downwards – symbolic of the generational leap. The next sigil therefore refers to Aenys, the royal descendant of Aegon and Rhaenys. Then blood flows out of the sigil again. Again, the camera flies to the next level of the royal line and to the next generation. Now we’re on to Jaehaerys, Aenys’ son – the old king we saw in the prologue of the first episode of «House of the Dragon».

This is where it gets spectacular. A total of nine bloodlines flow from Jaehaerys’ sigil, representing his nine children, not a single male descendant of whom lived long enough to inherit his crown. That is why the [Great Council at Harrenhal] came about, where over a thousand lords gathered in the greatest castle of Westeros to debate who of Jaehaerys’ descendants had the most legitimate claim to the crown.

Fourteen claims were made, but only Princess Rhaenys, daughter of Jaehaerys’ first-born son, and Prince Viserys, son of Jaehaerys’ second-born son, were considered serious candidates. Ultimately, the council voted in favour of Viserys, setting a precedent. Because the empire preferred a male ruler, even though Rhaenys actually had the stronger claim to the throne in terms of inheritance.

An interesting detail: the sigils representing Viserys’ parents are already drenched in blood when the camera hovers over them. After all, they are already dead when Viserys inherits the Iron Throne. His sigil: a simple crown.

The blood swells again. This is followed by a wild tracking shot through stony gorges and down to the next level. Again and again, though, the camera pans around and points to other, non-royal Targaryen bloodlines as they increasingly blend with those of the powerful Westeros families. Finally, we reach the last royal sigil. It represents Rhaenyra, Viserys’ heir, and her symbol is the necklace given to her by her uncle Daemon in the first episode.

At the end, the camera zooms right out. So far out that we finally see what the stone walls and gorges are all about: they’re part of a city with Valyrian architecture. Perhaps even the ruins of Valyria itself. And at the foot of the city, the three-headed dragon crest of the Targaryens sits atop a pit with a raging fire where all of the bloodlines flow again. It’s true to the family’s iconic words:

fire and blood.

Luca Fontana

Senior Editor

Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.ch

I'm an outdoorsy guy and enjoy sports that push me to the limit – now that’s what I call comfort zone! But I'm also about curling up in an armchair with books about ugly intrigue and sinister kingkillers. Being an avid cinema-goer, I’ve been known to rave about film scores for hours on end. I’ve always wanted to say: «I am Groot.» more

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