House of the Dragon opening sequence explained
With fans clamouring for a worthy intro, the showrunners had their work cut out to create the score for House of the Dragon (HotD). To their immense credit, they delivered – perhaps even surpassing the work at Game of Thrones (GoT).
Even though the music remains unchanged, the theme of this intro is quite different from GoT – this portrays the bloodline of the Targaryen rulers in all its glory, giving fans a unique access to the Valyrians' family tree.
Settling down to watch the drama unfold, fans are greeted by a visual epic. Even though it looks innocuous, a deeper glance reveals its symbolism. It illustrates the doom of Old Valyria and Aegon the Conqueror's conquest of the Seven Kingdoms. In a sense, the intro represents the core of GoT – hope and despair personified at once. It also shows the legendary Balerion the 'Black Dread,' the mightiest dragon to ever exist in Westeros.
Symbols representing different monarchs getting submerged in blood are a major theme during the intro. It shows the progression of bloodlines, and if the symbols get completely submerged, it means the monarch is dead. This happened with Aegon the Conqueror, progressing to his sister-wives, Visenya and Rhaenys. Rhaenys got more priority, as she produced the next king in the form of Aenys Targaryen.
During its progression, we saw another bloodline quickly making its way towards the left and vanishing into the periphery. It depicts Visenya's son and Aenys's half-brother, Maegor the Cruel, who died without an heir. The swiftness and secrecy emphasise Maegor's inhumane reign is an episode both the Targaryens and the Westerosi would prefer to forget.
Aenys's sigil then submerges and progresses to his son, King Jaehaerys. Together with his sister-wife Alysanne, he produced nine children, a fact aptly depicted by the nine artery-like projections from his bloodline. Among them, the main focus was on two specific ones.
One of them is Baelon the Brave, father of the current King, Viserys I Targaryen. Like we saw in the great council in Harrenhal in episode 1 of HotD, he was the chosen King over his older half-sister, Rhaenys Targaryen – the Queen Who Never Was. The second bloodline shows her father, Aemon Targaryen.
Baelon's bloodline separated into a spade-like shape. It represents his two sons, King Viserys and Daemon. As Daemon got relegated into the shadows, sharp eyes might notice the blue sigil of Valyrian Lord of the seas, Corlys Velaryon. The blood-flow from the fringes introduces us to Rhaenys and Corlys's children – Ser Laenor and Lady Laena.
But the star of the show is undoubtedly Viserys. The thicker blood-flow depicts his marriage with Cousin Aemma Arryn and his daughter, Princess Rhaenyra. A second, thinner streak proceeds to two hollow bowls, which depict King Viserys's Hand, Otto Hightower and his daughter Lady Alicent. With Viserys marrying her, it diverged to represent his children Aegon and Helaena. Interestingly, this bloodline stopped short, perhaps signifying that a war looms large.
All the bloodlines, past and present, splendidly converge into the sigil of Rhaenyra, the heir apparent to King Viserys for now. Her symbol, three flat circles in a vertex, in fact represents the design of the necklace her uncle Daemon gifted her.
The storm and turbulence in which the bloodlines unite, and the subsequent portrayal of fire is an omen of the Dance of the Dragons and the fact that the end of House Targaryen has just begun.
Inqiad is a long-suffering Man United fan and a self-proclaimed Targaryen. Contact him at inqiadali007@gmail.com