Do you think it's intentional that Rhaenyra gets cut, Aegon drinks, Aemond loses an eye and Helana has visions, all of Viserys's frailties?

The last five minutes where you analyze the importance of Aemma's exploitation and death to the story both plot wise and thematically is SO brilliant. Far too many people overlook her importance as a character in this show. And Paddie Considine credits Aemma's actress Brooke Sian for helping to inspire how he preformed the character of Viserys. As a broken man with wounds on his body and heart that will never heal.

I quite like how pessimistic the show is on human nature. People become their parents. They grow out of their youthful rebellions and conform to the system, changing it only slightly every generation. It's quite realistic, and I prefer it to the ceaselessly optimistic stories that a lot of other shows and books push. That's asoiaf for you.

At around season three of GOT, I wrote to Paddy Consedine and asked if he had any plans to get involved with the series. I said it was the best show and that he's such a great actor that he'd be perfect in it. After HOTD, I am happy calling him the absolute greatest. What an absolute blinder of a performance, bloody sublime.

It was Paddy who really made Aemma's loss the center of Viserys's story.

I think you're kind of discounting how much time can do to cool off old wounds. The reconciliation as adults happens six years after the Drama at the funeral happens. That's a lot of time for nostalgia for their friendship to start eroding away at the anger and fear they felt towards each other in the direct aftermath of events.

Tolkien’s use of the wound that will never heal is itself a callback to the Arthurian legend of the Fisher King, part of the Grail cycle. I suspect GRRM is pulling from this earlier source.

Dany wanted to break the wheel and the final season of GOT crowned the wheel 😭. You were so close Preston.

I agree with you that the reconciliation of Rhaenyra and Alicent in Episode 4 is a bit unexplained, however I think that the one in Episode 8 actually works perfectly well. As you said yourself, the feud has exhausted them. Pivotally, it was the agonized pleading of Viserys that convinced them to try and burry the hatchet. Also it is clear that Alicent is more willing to reconcile then Rhaenyra, desperately so based on her plea for her to stay after the fight between their sons. People are complicated and I think that the actors did a great job showing why they were willing to make the reconciliation with their performances.

There's a great post on reddit that compares and contrasts House of the Dragon with the structure of the Greek tragedy. I think it's through this lens the themes of control and destiny should be looked at. Yes, the characters are trapped in a web of fate they cannot escape and we *know* they won't escape, but their doom is not arbitrary. It's caused by their fatal flaws (hamartia) and hubris. If the showrunners can pull off the downfall and cathartic resolution of these characters I'll be entirely satisfied.

"And talking about it might be the best part". For me, yes. Very much yes. I watched the series with my girlfriend as a book reader and I had many enjoyable talks with my girlfriends friends who "didnt fully understand the season" - just casually talking about differences and certain plotpoints, without giving spoilers was very fun and it made my partners friends more exited for the series as a whole.

Overly Sarcastic did this great breakdown of Doomed Heroes the other day and it made me think if the appeal of this show. You know all these people and the dragons are doomed, it’s the journey that makes the story compelling.

Viserys’ story is truly fantastic, Paddy’s acting is so captivating and gut wrenching, he needs an Emmy!

Saw this on Reddit HotD Fans waiting until 2024 for Season 2: You’re in pain ASOIAF Fans waiting 10 years for Book 6: I’ve had worse, my lady

There is a decent parallel about Viserys in that he was like Ned, universally liked character whose death sends an irreversible ripple effect to the entire world and all characters

And I miss Milky Allcock. For a relative rookie in acting who put all eggs in one basket by leaving school for acting, she was brilliant.

I think the main difference between Rhaenyra's reconciliation attempt in episodes 6 and 8 was sincerity. In episode 6, Rhaenyra was boxed into a corner with the legitimacy of her children situation, so Alicent may have felt that the reconciliation attempt was to get herself out of trouble. Whereas in episode 8, Rhaenyra was clearly succeeding with the Driftmark thing, so Alicent may have thought the attempt was more genuine since there was really no political advantage to be made by making up. I do agree with most of your other points about the relationship though.

I think the problem is older alicent is being portrayed like book alicent but young alicent is too sweet, kind, and sympathic so the contrast is jarring.

Daenerys' dream fulfilled, yes. Everyone knows her dream was to enthrall humanity to an alien gestalt.

“Some Flaws” is being kind

I like Fire and Blood because of the ambiguity. I think it's fun hearing the history and then seeing how wrong or right the sources were. Plus there's enough back stabbing and dragons to keep things spicy

"Talking about it with others is probably the best part". 💯 nailed it. It's like the good ol GoT days. Makes it fun and interesting. Without PJ and other astute HotD analysis/reviews/comment threads, wouldn't be the same.

For Fire and Blood, the narrator was ESPECIALLY and EXPLICITLY unreliable. So your brain can kind of see the differences as just part of that unreliable narration - so things different actually feel GOOD because it feels like HotD is actually elucidating new material. In Game of Thrones it was basically the opposite. The Narrators, while clearly unreliable aren't really SO unreliable that they can mistake things happening right before their eyes, so everything different in the show stands out like a sore thumb. It's actually kind of interesting in this regard. Shows us how adapting can actually make a property stronger and how it can cause it to weaken.

Agreed that the Viserys story is the best one in the season, even though it is a bit overlooked by some fans I feel. Looking forward to Part 2 :)

With exceptions made for the scathing season two Westworld videos, this is the best video what Preston has ever done did. He done spent every word real good here.

A good reviewer: patient, indifferent and tender all at once. Yay! ☺️

I do wonder - have you ever had beef with a close friend and they cut you off? Perhaps you don't have fear of abandonment? They missed each other - you don't need logical reasons to reconsile, when you secretly want to all this time.

fantastic analysis, also very help to explain your critiques of the show stem from your affection for it.

I really don't know why Allicent had any say on whether the children married or not. I would have thought that Viserys would have made those choices. He was also still well enough at that point when Helena and Jacerys could have been betrothed that he could have overruled her.

The scheme is foiled when Viserys returns from the dead* P.S. I don't think it's that strange that Rhaenyra doesn't blame Alicent for creating a threat to the throne. She'd likely realised in episode 4 that Alicent isn't exactly frothing at the mouth to have children. Rhaenyra initially chafed at the system, though I believe she understood it, and would be aware that Alicent lacks a great amount of agency in her life and in her marriage. Plus, it'd be pretty clear if Alicent were propping Aegon up as the new heir if she were actually doing that, though early on, it wasn't happening. Rhaenyra would know if Alicent were preparing Aegon for rule, and at the time of their first reconciliation in episode 4, it was pretty clear that Alicent hadn't been actively trying to do that. Plus, having been a teenage girl myself, their reconciliation in episode four wasn't that strange (if maybe a little unexpected at that moment). Apologies don't always need to be grand, or even contain more than a few words. Sometimes it just happens 💌

The prequel element I consider to be probably the worst aspect of the show. How heavily it at times emphasises these connections to this other series, trying to presimably milk feelings of fondness and appreciation of it in a fanservice way. But it never succedes IMO. Seeing the knife from GOT, the reference to Daenarys in the pilot, and especially the motif of The Song of Ice And Fire, they only made me groan and cringe, up until the point i learned to look past their metatextual content and only see what they mean to the characters in this story. Having those connections was an obstacle to my enjoyment of the show, rather than an extra layer of enjoyment, as they were probably intended. Its a shame, considering Ryan Condal clearly cares about them quite a bit. In BTS material hes always talking about this show as "Game of Thrones", clearly wants the audience to feel this connection that we're getting something intricately connected to that story. I kinda think it qould have been better if theyd thought the show would be stronger if they didnt make it so overt, if the plot stood on its own feet more, and the connections to GOT were kept to the thematic and the stylistic.

This is way too much story ! The plot lacks so much content because of the many timeskips. It feels rushed, confusing and we lack explanations for very important events. The show is good but should have been more focused. Season 1 should have been about Rhaenyra and how she went from "I will never birth a child" to "I birth my first child". We could have : - 1 episode about how Alicent got Sir Criston to be forgiven (god do we need that !) - 1 episode about how Laena tamed Vhagar, met Daemon, got married to him and then exiled to Penthos - 1 episode about how Rhaenyra tried to have children with Laenor, failed, met Strong and decided that she would bear his children - 1 final episode that connects all these dots together with the birth of Jacaerys and the birth of Baela. The show would start with a failed pregnancy ruining Rhaenyra's life and would end with a successful pregnancy giving a new meaning to her life. The show would start with a Daemon that wants to be hand/king and end with a Daemon that is content with his current life, far away from the throne. The show would start with Rhaenyra and Alicent as very good friends and end with them as sworn ennemies. The show would start with Criston feeling loyalty and love towards Rhaenyra and end with him feeling hatred towards her and loyalty towards Alicent. I think this would all feel much less rushed, well paced and poetic. It would also make watching the show less confusing and upsetting. The ever changing casting and the numerous plot holes would be avoided. We would feel more connected to Strong as a character. And we would have more empathy towards Sir Criston so he can become the Anti-Jaime. Everything past the timeskip would make a perfect season 2.

Poking fun at inconsistencies in the Watch series is fun and all, but this analysis is really great. Thank you for your thoughts and time!

Dude i was so down bad i was rewatching your whole catalogue😭, even my recommendations are broken now only showing me ur old videos. As always, really well made and well structured video. Great job👍

this is probably the first review who got me nodding throught the video, i agree with the points you made. i like your channel too, the way you lay out your thoughts is comprehensible, and your voice is nice to hear. great video. i'm looking forward to your new uploads!

Very well done Preston! You raise so many high-level thematic thoughts here.

Big fan of your channel. Also I would like to suggest an idea for future videos. Do a video for each character and what do they want , they're motivations and who they serve

I love your analysis of these shows. Absolutely excellent. Still watch your Game of Thrones stuff it was so good

what i like about this video is that i feel i can disagree about some things, but still understand your standpoint. also i know its personal preference but i really like critiques that arent super cynical so this was nice to see

Rhaenyra having kids is easy to explain. Her fear was always having children and being a brood mare against her will with no control of her body. As an adult we see She has children because she wants them, not because of the men she’s with, she obeys Alicents request to see her third son while refusing to give up the children she had, and even her stillbirth it is her who is given control over losing the only daughter she’s conceived. Contrast that with the clearly unhappy sex of Alicent with Viserys, or Aemma being given no choice to at least die the way she wants(the miscarriage would kill both or just her if they cut her open), or Laena choosing death by dragonfire rather than having another chose her fate for her. Even the amending scene works as it does because Alicent has heard something she has long sought to hear from others - For someone to appreciate all the work and effort she’s done in service to duty, not realizing that the thanklessness of her job is part of how said system works, while Rhaenyra just doesn’t want to deal with the animosity from Alicent. Show needed more episodes though.

Great work as always. Thank you.

Perhaps my favorite video of Preston so far,so many things to think about..🇧🇷

I haven't seen or heard anyone talk about this, but your talk of Emma reminded me.... ...In the first episode, the best moment was very subtle. When Viserys chooses his baby over his wife, the way the Maesters and mid-wives demeanor changed. They grab her like she's a pig ready to be butchered. No longer a woman or a human, just a carcass to be chopped up for the value inside. Really sad and powerful couple of seconds in my opinion.

Damn it sounded like you said “Rhaenyra & Alicent both losing their mothers is an enormous & pathetic point.” 😂 I was like, wow, I knew Preston could be a bit blunt, but that’s cold-blooded.

I never understood what Dany meant by "Break the Wheel". Her goal was to become Queen of the Seven Kingdoms how is that breaking the wheel? She just wants to be the one on top. It always just seemed like D&D bullshit that they made up without actually putting any thought into what it meant.

He MURDERED his wife! She 'begged' for her life, how could he EVER FORGET that??? And they could NEVER GUARANTEE that the child would live!

Dear Preston, I'm almost sure, that for "the wound that never heal" trope, the better reference would be a Fisher King from Arthurian myth, than Frodo. First of all, Tolkien took that trope for Frodo from that myth, secondly - Fisher King was a older man, with wounds that would never heal, who had a prophetic dreams and visions, who lost an ability to keep his lands in good condition, and whose physical worsening condition mirrors the disorder in his realm. There are even more similarities, if you check it closer.

Your analysis of Aemma's importance and symbolism is so brilliant! Very well done, so many accurate observations with valid explanations taken with direct examples from the show. And you explained it all so well! Kudos!

How epic would it have been to have the scene where Daemon fights the Sealord of Bravos son... Daemon with Darksister and him water dancing all over the place

@Preston Jacobs First of all I have really grown to value your in depth essays,I respect the way you think and often points brought up by yourself have often lead to myself to rethink my own positions on many subjects outside the scope of this video too. (I admit I really have a special fondness your comedic video reviews though). The source material I think was written that with a TV adaptation half in mind,by way of not tying down the creative freedom of any writing staff. While still providing options that fall in line with the authors style

Nice work. Thanks Preston

In the Dungeons and Dragons alignment system, in addition to the standard good and evil axis, there is also law and chaos. Lawful characters embrace systems and order whereas chaotic characters embrace personal liberty. This is a great example of a law and chaos conflict, rather than the standard good and evil one you may see in other fantasy genres like Lord of the Rings. The nuance makes it much more interesting.

My main gripes with the series: (1) The dialing-up of the brutality factor (it's been a couple of years since I read F&B but I don't recollect the characters being quite this violent), and some consequent nonsense (Ser Criston committing murder and getting away with it; that tournament). (2) Making "gray" characters a much darker shade of gray (particularly Daemon); why do this?

Finished listening, great analysis as always Preston.

Why's the show so dark though. I don't mean the themes and writing, I mean the lighting on some scenes, like get some lights. I trun my brightness up and it's still hard.

Love it, thank you Preston!

22:19 isn't that what Jahaerys solved by successfully inserting the doctrine of exceptionalism into the religion of seven pointed star??? Hence Alicent is still religious even after marrying her kids to each other

Re the patriarchy/destiny. Isn't it partially the point that hotd is the tragedy of people failing? It's quite clever that both sides had some hope of reconciling, but its blown up because they raised their children in a belief that war was inevitable. The social forces weren't omnipotent, but they provided a lot of inertia. Viserys gets stuck without an "ideal" heir, but also fails to push rhaenerys legitimacy enough while he is still alive. Etc.

17:15 maybe here the page returns as a warning from alicent to rhaenyra to flee the country like nymeria

i have a hard time with the rhaenery and alicent relationship. i neither buy the reason for the rupture and the "rhaenery will kill you"

My take for the reconciliation is that it was only a step towards reconciliation and not actual reconciliation. After the kings speech at dinner, they are slightly moved towards making an effort for him, so they each give a half hearted toast. It was an step towards reconciliation, but they're not there yet. As a more minor note, even though queen Alicent had the same dress one, I would imagine a short duration passing to allow for the blacks to leave kings landing. Minor details likely clothing and stuff don't seem reliable, she just like's to wear green--I also have a limited wardrobe personally

Is it only me or Actors who change outcome of whole product because of personal reasons should be fired and replaced by someone who sticks to the original vision? I mean how do you feel when ordering pizza and getting kebap instead because cook felt like it was better choice...

Just happy to see you posting:))

The cool thing about the show, is that it compliments Fire & Blood. I can't remember if it was George or Ryan that said in an interview: "The show isn't doing the unreliable narrator, this will be the definitive events that actually happened." So it's neat to get that info etc. See where the Maesters' biases may.

Hi Preston. Will you be continuing the deep dive into Fire & Blood soon? It's ironic that the show got in the way of the analysis videos, but now that the season is over, I'm looking forward to your discussions again.

I was havin a HORRIBLE day & just got this notif and screamed in joy lmao. Thanks for saving the day Preston 😭🙌🏼

Excellent review Preston!

I just wanna say that Paddy did an exceptional job to bringing Viserys to life. I'm 75% through reading Fire and Blood and am about to read about Aegon Ill. I actually love the book and I think that the show did a decent job with the source material given. ❤

I think the timejumps are there to suggest that the viewer should put the missing pieces together and I love it - it's so much fun, there are no perfect answers.

I've been waiting for this.

34:48 "The house of the dragon looks STRONG" lmao

Your craft is definitely evolved over the years

Wow. 17 seconds ago is one of the fastest I’ve ever seen a video pop up. And I was watching the GRRM interview on Colbert 😂

Loved the frinds reference, my show, but it makes since

Wow this is very insightful Preciate the video man

Preston, our lord and saviour

Hey Preston, can you please make a short video on why u think Jace and Lucerys is Criston Coles and not Harwin Strongs? Like it seems super out there and would love to hear your take on it... Maybe you can do a video with alot of bunch of short theories which can't be series or maybe a KZfaq shorts type thing.

Chad Summerchild came to me in a dream and pointed out an Easter Egg no one is talking about: White Worm is the great-great grandmother of Gray Worm

Honestly, I feel like you did a better job than the scrips writers

and both jon and aemma arryn was killed. so moral of the story is do not kill an arryn in westeros or things will get fked

Wow, Preston praising a _Game of Thrones_ property while doing the opposite with an _Ice and Fire_ property? I still find that shocking. And I just realized this was only part one of this great review. Very excited to hear more of your interesting thoughts on this show.

Can't wait till you get to Daemon!

All in all, so Awesome!

matthew needham, who plays larys strong, said larys and alicent's 'arrangement' is a case of abuse/harassment on his part. remember, she was an isolated young girl when he first propositioned her. needham said he doesn't see it as a foot fetish, it's the degradation.

Season 8 would have been great if it ended with Jon trial by combating Gray Worm and winning because he has his ancestral sword dark sister. That one that Bran gave him after Meara took it from the Three Eyed Raven’s cave.

Alicent was forced into her marriage it's normal Rhaenyra doesnt hold a too big grudge over it, even with the whole Grand Sept & bonding over their moms thing. Alicent knew what was happening but had no agency whereas Rhaenyra did.

I appreciate that you are willing to point out how in some ways the show falls flat. I feel like everyone is just gushing about it, and I'm over here having a hard time following character motivation and getting frustrated about time jumps. I'm not saying it's bad. I'm saying it's too much story done too quickly and that they didn't set up any of the big moments to earn big, emotional responses.

My main issue with HoTD is the blandness of the characters, with some notable exceptions. The strongest point of GRRM's writing is his understanding of human psyche& the depiction of characters who aren't good ppl but are realistic,relatabe, and hence likable, nevertheless. In contrast,what we get in the show is a very B&W conflict. It clearly wants us to support the blacks and the supposedly girl boss princess. I hope her character will become more villainous in the future at least. It doesn't help that some of the supporting characters are cartoonish (larys, who was a mystery in the book). I also wish they kept some of the ambiguity and mystery of the source material, although I'm aware that's much easier in written form.

Long time fan, still can’t believe these videos are free

perfectly done Preston!

Videos like this are why I always come back to your channel, despite the Sweet Robin and Chad Summerchild videos constantly annoying the shit out of me 🤣

Bro I just finished studying physics for the whole day then an hour and a half of wildling playthrough on crusader kings 2 my brain is racing !!!!! Thank you for your time

great stuff!

Great video but I disagree with the idea that Rhaenyra's journey from a rebellious teen to someone who cares about duty made sense. There wasn't even a journey at all, Rhaenyra in ep 6-8 : gives birth to obvious bastards and apparently never thought of the consequences, runs away from court (the center of power), kills an innocent men to get rid of Laenor and marry Daemon (she was literally named heir to avoid him being on the throne) which could have very likely make the Velaryons turned against her if they weren't such doormats, proposed a betrothal between Jace and Luke and Baela and Rhaena because she had fucked up her alliance with the Velaryons whereas she should have ideally betrothed them to other big houses for alliances (the Baratheons for example), she chilled on Dragonstone for six years while her father was dying and Otto and Alicent were ruling and only came back when she needed her father to bail her out of a mess she created and then after getting what she wanted, despite seeing that her father was clearly on the brink of death, she immediately leaves KL. How am I suppose to believe that this woman suddenly cares about duty, stability and religion?

Love the review so far ((was a bit sad you hadn't made serious Q&A /review videos of this season after episode one) I enjoy your more casual streams and the humorous stuff but the straight-forward pieces were always my personal favorites)). Generally I dislike the overly blunt equivocation of the, arguably, more sympathetic Black faction with what could generally be called progressivism today, clearly (apart from some individuals) this faction is just as bad in regards to the overall societal structure, no one gives a shit about meaningful changes or bettering the lives of the masses. This is of course somewhat realistic if you only view the series as a fantastical version of our "middle ages" but that's also clearly not what the showrunners are going for. Hopefully that aspect will make its way into the plot next season, in an ambiguous way if we're lucky. The peasants suffer no matter who wins, war, feudalism and patriarchy are the real enemies. (also a bit disappointed that religion as a factor has so far been mostly excluded)

Interesting but minus points for bringing up Chandler and Friends as an (by implication) suggestion of a show that works good at setting up themes.

tbh mysaria reminded me of the high sparrow, but a lot better. honestly i think an important perspective to have about the series is that these are a bunch of nobles doing whatever without regard for the common folk. i shouldnt have had much sympathy while seeing the nobles purposely facing the same abuse they cause to others. there are a few i can respect, like the northerners but i shouldn’t root for people who enforce the system, but its hard when you follow them throughout the entire show

What an incredible review

Best anaylisis of the series

Preston, I think you did a great job summing this up, but around the 20 minute mark I think you’re way off. You describe how Alicent betrays Rhaenyra so badly by marrying her father and Rhaenyra “unrealistically” forgiving her, but you also completely neglect points you made esrlier. Alicent FOLLOWS the rules. This IS a patriarchy. Alicent was told by not only a power in the system, the SOVEREIGN power not to tell Rhaenyra about their talks. The show may not have displayed it, but we don’t need an on-screen conversation to understand that Rhaenyra SHOULD know Alicent didn’t want to marry a rotting old man. Young Alicent wasn’t scheming at all, she was placed into an arranged marriage and did what her dad told her to do. There is no betrayal on her part, and categorizing it on the memory of their shared loss of mothers is really unfair to Alicent. Young Rhaenyra was a spoiled brat, meanwhile young Alicent gets used like a pawn. Rhaenyra maybe hurt, but she’s not stupid. She knows Alicent wasn’t scheming, and just did what she was told to do by her father and the King. If this was F&B where we pretty much have zero info on young Alicent, and just know her as the evil step mother, then she can take some blame. Not for betrayal, because as far as we know her and Rhaenyra never liked one another. But definitely for playing a role in the coming war. But in HotD, Alicent is ABSOLUTELY painted as the sympathetic character for the first half, RHAENYRA’S betrayal breaks her (and Cole) which flips the dynamic. Rhaenyra matures and tries to mend the rift a few times, meanwhile Alicent won’t allow it because she had backed Rhaenyra in so many ways (of which you mentioned all of them) and Rhaebyra still lied to her. I’m very surprised you think Alicent marrying Viserys is the betrayal that should break the camel’s back. Everybody in Westeros knows she has no choice in that. It can’t be a patriarchy where a woman has no choice whatsoever and a betrayal at the same time. Those two would be mutually exclusive in this scenario.