{"id":43374,"date":"2022-08-12T15:52:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-12T15:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-seven-game-of-thrones-episodes-to-rewatch-before-house-of-the-dragon\/"},"modified":"2022-08-12T15:52:00","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T15:52:00","slug":"the-seven-game-of-thrones-episodes-to-rewatch-before-house-of-the-dragon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/the-seven-game-of-thrones-episodes-to-rewatch-before-house-of-the-dragon\/","title":{"rendered":"The Seven ‘Game of Thrones’ Episodes to Rewatch Before ‘House of the Dragon’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Winter is com\u2014er, no, that’s the wrong show. Winter isn’t the concern now. The Dance of the Dragons is coming!<\/p>\n

On August 21, audiences will return to Westeros for the first time since game of Thrones<\/em> ended with a thud in 2019. The new show is House of the Dragon<\/em>a prequel set about 170 years before the events of Thrones<\/em>which will detail the Targaryen civil war\u2014called the Dance of the Dragons\u2014and, HBO hopes, kick-start a new expanded universe complete with more prequels and spinoffs and animated accompaniments.<\/p>\n

But for fans who haven’t thought about Thrones<\/em> since it ended, can’t quite remember which house supported which faction vying for power, or haven’t retained their degrees in Westerosi history, reentering a fictional world with so much lore might seem intimidating. While there is technically enough time left to rewatch all 73 Thrones<\/em> episodes in the next week, that isn’t realistic for most viewers\u2014but seven episodes, handpicked to provide the best preparation for the prequel material, seems much more manageable.<\/p>\n

So lower those blinds, turn up that TV brightness, and find peace in the light of the Seven while returning to the world of Targaryens and dragons and Valyrian steel. These aren’t the best<\/em> episodes Thrones<\/em> ever aired\u2014but they’re the most important to review before House of the Dragon<\/em> premieres.<\/p>\n

\u201cWinter Is Coming,\u201d Season 1, Episode 1<\/h3>\n

There’s no better place for a refresher on a fictional world than its pilot episode, and \u201cWinter Is Coming\u201d fits the bill about as perfectly as possible. It also doubles as an excellent lead-in to House of the Dragon<\/em>as it features many of the same objects and themes that will carry over to the prequel series.<\/p>\n

Dragon eggs? Check. Violence? Check, too. Mysterious deaths and schemes and plots? Check and check. This first episode also contains a bit of an overview of how the Targaryen reign ended more than a century after Dragon<\/em>. And at episode’s end, the show thrusts incest into the center of the screen. Prepare for a lot more where that came from.<\/p>\n

\u201cFire and Blood,\u201d Season 1, Episode 10<\/h3>\n

\u201cFire and Blood\u201d isn’t just the title of Thrones<\/em>‘ Season 1 finale; it’s also the slogan of House Targaryen and thus the title of the book\u2014which was published years after Season 1 aired\u2014that serves as the source text for Dragon<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Dragons are so central to this story because they’re both a symbol of Targaryen might and the very source of it. Aegon the Conquerer was outnumbered by the families he conquered, possessed fewer resources, and was less familiar with the land\u2014but he had dragons and his enemies did not, so he could claim the continent for his own. Yet what happens to the dragons during the Dance reverberates through the timeline. ace Thrones<\/em> ends its first season with a bang, Daenerys’s children become the world’s first hatchlings in more than a century.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Dance of Dragons,\u201d Season 5, Episode 9<\/h3>\n

Awww, look at Drogon, this list jumped from Season 1 to Season 5 and now he’s flying and terrifying and broiling Sons of the Harpy to save his mom. They grow up so fast!<\/p>\n

Drogon had used his dracarys<\/em> (literal meaning in High Valyrian: \u201cdragon fire\u201d) in earlier episodes, but never while so big or powerful or destructive. And because Daenerys also becomes the first Thrones<\/em> character to ride a dragon in this episode, it’s an obvious choice to review before a fleet of dragon riders arrives in the prequel.<\/p>\n

But Drogon’s dramatic rescue doesn’t come until the end of this episode. First, an even more portentous scene occurs near Winterfell, when Shireen Baratheon tells her father, Stannis, about the book she’s reading, The Dance of the Dragons: A True Telling<\/em> by Grand Maester Munkun. It’s about two relatives, she says, who both \u201cthought they belonged on the Iron Throne. When people started declaring for one of them or the other, their fight divided the kingdoms in two. Brothers fought brothers. Dragons fought dragons. By the time it was over, thousands were dead. And it was a disaster for the Targaryens as well. They never truly recovered.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, uh, seeing a reminder of how Shireen’s story ends could be good preparation for another show with copious child horror.<\/p>\n

\u201cBattle of the Bastards,\u201d Season 6, Episode 9<\/h3>\n

Make sure to watch at least one episode\u2014if not more\u2014that Miguel Sapochnik directed, as he’s one of Dragon<\/em>‘s showrunners. \u201cBattle of the Bastards\u201d isn’t actually Sapochnik’s best episode; that’s \u201cThe Winds of Winter,\u201d which we at The Ringer<\/em> rank as the best Thrones<\/em> episode overall. Nor is this the best Sapochnik-directed battle episode; that’s \u201cHardhome,\u201d which we rank no. 2 overalls.<\/p>\n

But \u201cBattle of the Bastards\u201d is the most relevant to the new show, for two reasons. The White Walkers from \u201cHardhome\u201d won’t appear in House of the Dragon<\/em>but \u201cBattle of the Bastards\u201d demonstrates the brutality of mere man-on-man warfare, which will surely reoccur in Dragon<\/em>. And the titular clash between Jon Snow and Ramsay Bolton isn’t the episode’s only battle: Before it heads north, the episode begins in Meereen, where Daenerys’s three dragons fight together to complete her conquest of Slaver’s Bay.<\/p>\n

Notice, too, that when all three dragons fly together, Drogon is much larger than his siblings. That’s because Rhaegal and Viserion spent a while chained under Meereen’s Great Pyramid, while Drogon flew untethered; the effect of freedom on a dragon’s growth rate should prove even more important in the prequel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Spoils of War,\u201d Season 7, Episode 4<\/h3>\n

A few factors make this a recommendation to viewers preparing for the new show. First, Jon and Daenerys explore Dragonstone, the Targaryen’s ancestral seat, which will serve as a much more frequent location in Dragon<\/em>. <\/p>\n

Second, Dickon Tarly comments to Jaime Lannister that he felt conflicted about his fight against the Tyrells in the previous episode, saying, \u201cI knew some of those men. I hunted with them.\u201d Jaime responds that \u201cthey didn’t deserve to die,\u201d but because of their liege’s political choices, \u201chere we are.\u201d That concept\u2014of brother forced to fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, friend against friend\u2014will permeate the new show’s civil war. <\/p>\n

And oh yeah, third, this episode features the most spectacular example of dragon warfare that game of Thrones<\/em> ever provided. House of the Dragon<\/em> will offer plenty of dragon fights, but can any of them top Drogon’s Dothraki-aided assault on the Lannisters’ loot train? There’s so much fire and so much blood.<\/p>\n

\u201cBeyond the Wall,\u201d Season 7, Episode 6<\/h3>\n

Dragons are such imposing weapons of war because they are tremendously powerful, tactically innovative\u2014while everyone else in Westeros is fighting in only two dimensions, dragon riders can attack from the skies\u2014and nearly indestructible. thigh nearly<\/em> business note completely<\/em> indestructible. <\/p>\n

Thrones <\/em>offers two examples of dragon deaths, but it’s impossible in good conscience to recommend Season 8’s \u201cThe Last of the Starks.\u201d So that leaves \u201cBeyond the Wall\u201d\u2014still a somewhat lackluster episode by itself, but, in the Night King’s successful javelin strike, crucial to forecasting how human forces may grapple with their airborne opponents during the Dance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Bells,\u201d Season 8, Episode 5<\/h3>\n

One of the most controversial episodes in Thrones<\/em>‘ history is also one of its most essential to understanding <\/em>the characters who will appear, and who will exchange acts of bravery for monstrosities, in Dragon<\/em>. Targaryen terror is a family trait\u2014centuries of incest might have that effect on a family line\u2014inspiring the aphorism that Barristan Selmy parrots to Daenerys in the core text: \u201cMadness and greatness are two sides of the same coin. Every time a new Targaryen is born \u2026 the gods toss the coin in the air and the world holds its breath to see how it will land.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nowhere is that delicate balance more apparent than in Daenerys’s turn, just one episode before the Thrones<\/em> to the final. That turn, and the ensuing finale, didn’t land well with viewers. May the prequel find firmer footing next week and in the years to come.<\/p>\n