Warning: contains SPOILERS for House of the Dragon.
Just two episodes in, House of the Dragon is already properly utilizing a location that was introduced in Game of Thrones. Dragonstone is the seat of House Targaryen, acting as Casterly Rock and Winterfell do for the Lannisters and the Starks, respectively. In Game of Thrones, Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) ruled Dragonstone until his death. Shortly afterward, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) reclaimed the seat for her house.
By the time the location is shown in Game of Thrones, Dragonstone is a deserted island with an empty castle, owing to the fact that the Targaryens are reduced down to Daenerys and Jon Snow (Kit Harington). It isn’t nearly as lively and significant of a location as it is during House of the Dragon’s time when the Targaryens ruled Westeros. The Targaryens settled on Dragonstone when they escaped to Westeros under the guidance of Daenys Targaryen’s dream prophesying the Doom of Valyria. Their seat remained on the island while Aegon the Conquerer, Westeros’ first Targaryen king, united six of the seven kingdoms.
House of the Dragon is starting to not only show Dragonstone’s full scope, but also its significance to House Targaryen. Furthermore, being that House of the Dragon is a Targaryen-centric story, Dragonstone will play a bigger part in the show itself. Game of Thrones only used Dragonstone as a base for Stannis and Daenerys. Meanwhile, House of the Dragon will show how Dragonstone is also a location of political leverage and grand scale.
Dragonstone Will Be Very important To House of the Dragon’s Story
Dragonstone is going to be shown much more frequently in House of the Dragon in a number of ways due to its major significance to House Targaryen, which can already be displayed in episode 2. When ordered to return to his wife in the Vale, Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) instead flees to Dragonstone as an act of defiance. Daemon’s move becomes even more offensive to the crown when considering the fact that upon coming of age, Princess Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) will be the ruler of Dragonstone, which is her right and duty as King Viserys’ (Paddy Considine) chosen successor. Dragonstone is already being treated as more than a settling point for its characters. It’s a place with political significance and claims that can be manipulated by character motivations.
Dragonstone is also the home of the Targaryens’ dragons outside of Kings Landing’s Dragonpit. House of the Dragon shows that Caraxes has remained on Dragonstone with his rider Daemon, threatening Otto Hightower and company by revealing himself among the high rocks. While Caraxes is mainly there because he delivered Daemon to the island, Dragonstone’s active volcano also serves as an ideal spot for Westeros’ dragons. The history of Dragonstone details that both wild and domesticated dragons like to establish lairs there. In fact, before Dragonstone, so many dragons were discovered in Valyria mainly due to its chain of volcanoes known as the Fourteen Flames. Being that Dragonstone is a place of great significance in Westeros, House of the Dragon should adequately be able to develop the location more than Game of Thrones. Dragonstone’s significance as established in episode 2 is only going to grow as House of the Dragon continues.
New episodes of House of the Dragon release Sundays on HBO/HBO Max.
