One particular aspect of HBO's House of the Dragon has garnered recent praise from Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin.
Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series, which created the world of the wildly popular Game of Thrones and its more recent prequel House of the Dragon, has spanned five books so far, with more to come devoted to the tales drawn from the fictional lands of Westeros. However, according to Martin, who spoke candidly, House of the Dragon exceeded Game of Thrones in at least one area.
According to Deadline, Martin's praise for the recent prequel boils down to one element that Martin feels could have been done better in the original series: the dragons. At an FYC House of the Dragon screening, Martin admitted that he wasn’t impressed with the dragons in Game of Thrones, saying, “They were like all the same.” With a host of new dragons as companions to the Targaryen family, around whom the prequel centers, the House of the Dragon creators were able to up their creature effects game considerably this go-round. “They had personality,” Martin continued. “They came alive. It came as great satisfaction to me.”
House of the Dragon has already introduced fans to some of the more important dragons in the series, including the immense and frightening Vhagar, who plays a key role in the House of the Dragon season 1 finale. According to Martin, the individual characteristics of each dragon are more thought out than the creatures in Game of Thrones, where they are seen much less frequently and with less personality definition. Martin says of the prequel, “The minute I saw Caraxes I knew who the hell he was. And Syrax, coming in the beginning.”
Audiences will expect more dragons in House of the Dragon season 2, where they are characters with their own motivations, sometimes at odds with their human riders. While Daenerys' three dragons in Game of Thrones began as cute cat-like creatures hatched from eggs, they eventually played crucial roles in the plot. For the most part, however, the three dragons were largely indistinguishable beyond variations in coloring. The new series, and the presence of dragons in its very title, poses a tall order for creating memorable monsters, of which both Martin and fans hope there will be many more.
House of the Dragon season one is available on MAX.
Source: Deadline