“Like @GameOfThrones says, dragons are coming … On Thursday, HBO surprised fans by announcing that the “Game of Thrones” prequel, “House of the Dragon,” will begin production in 2021. And how could a Targaryen-focused series be fire without concept art revealing a couple of dragons? Dragons are coming.#HouseoftheDragon begins production in 2021. pic.twitter.com/Bxl763FVdY— Game of Thrones (@GameOfThrones) December 3, 2020 Though the dragon art was presented without names, the speculation ― as shown by this tweet from Elio & Linda, super fans turned collaborators with author George R.R. Martin ― is that the dragons are Sunfyre the Golden and Caraxes, aka the Blood Wyrm. Nice concept art! Guessing these might by Sunfyre the Golden (looks like a young dragon) and Caraxes, the Blood Wyrm #HouseOfTheDragon #GameOfThrones #dragons https://t.co/uAnT5ToLnj— Elio & Linda (@westerosorg) December 3, 2020 So what does this all mean? “House of the Dragon” is inspired by Martin’s tale of Targaryen history, “Fire & Blood.” It’s a long, long history. But these images seem to offer vital clues about the series. According to “Fire & Blood,” Sunfyre was said to be the “most beautiful dragon ever seen upon the earth,” while Caraxes was among the fiercest. Both of them were key players in the Targaryen civil war, the Dance of the Dragons. Earlier this year, Entertainment Weekly reported that sources said the Dance of the Dragons would be “tackled at some point” in the prequel series. These images, along with previous casting news of Paddy Considine as King Viserys Targaryen, seem to confirm that and even hint that the civil war may be the main focus of the show. You can think of the Dance of the Dragons as basically HBO’s “Succession” if the Roy family all had fire-breathing monsters and tried to kill each other. Following the death of King Viserys, all heck breaks loose when the Targaryens can’t agree on whether Aegon II or Princess Rhaenyra will rule Westeros next. The dispute nearly tears the realm apart, leading to backstabbing, betrayal and a lot of, you know, fire & blood. In summary: Daenerys, if you’re looking for dragons, look no further than this “Game of Thrones” prequel.
