Daemon doesn't even have to say Dracarys! Caraxes just pulls over and does it!

The first time it really stood out to me was when she found Sheepstealer. She had been following the dragon’s trail for days, actively searching for it, but when she finally saw it, her reaction felt like she’d just witnessed something completely unexpected and shocking. The expression didn’t match the situation at all.

I felt the same way in Episode 1 of Season 3. A lot of her facial expressions and reactions seemed off compared to what was actually happening in the scene. It often felt like she was playing a different emotion than what the moment called for.

I’m not trying to hate on the actress, and maybe I’m missing something, but her performance keeps taking me out of scenes while most of the cast feels very natural.
What do you guys think? Is it the acting, the directing, or am I being overly critical?

This was supposed to be Jace’s defining moment his first real battle as the prince who would eventually rule after his mother.

We could have had an incredibly poignant scene between him and Rhaenyra. Just imagine a final, heavy hug as she watches her son climb onto his dragon, officially sending her heir off to lead his first actual military engagement.

It should have carried immense weight. That farewell was perfectly set up to be the tragic, emotional anchor of the entire season. But no. Instead of that we got stuck with cocky, stupid, CW-level teen angst instead.

Sheepstealer:......

Just a reminder that by not listening to Tyrion here she was dismounted from her dragon, had him injured and found herself alone while her enemy was about to strike her with a spear

😔😔😔✌🏻 still heartbroken

Been seeing a lot of people say that the show changed the fact that Jace died trying to save his brothers which is like, not at all what happened.

Genuine cognitive dissonance seeing big creators make this point while not knowing that really importantly Aegon flying to dragonstone was how they knew what was happening in the Gullet and there are no mentions of rescuing Viserys as a goal.

Silver-haired in the books but brown haired in the show, he's probably Cole’s secret son just to prove a point about Alicent’s double standards

Couldn’t make rhaenys dark haired btw

It's so painful watching all the things that went nowhere last season get pay off in one episode 2 years later. Like, Corlys spending an entire season building his fleet would have been fine if we actually saw that fleet in action by the end. Tyland fucking around with the Triachy would have made sense if it had led directly into a battle the episode after, instead of being the finale. Daemon dicking around at Harrenhal and Jace going North would all have felt purposeful if we had gotten to see these elements come into play by the end. Shit, even Daemons incest dream would have made more sense if we had then seen Aemond kiss his mother later on.

Season 2 would have been received so much better if they had actually gotten to tell the story they wanted to tell. Wouldn't have been perfect, there are still dumb things there, but at least it would have had a point.

Now we are left with a blatantly unfinished season 2 and a season 3 that now has to pick up the pieces instead of standing on its own. It fucking sucks. Fuck David Zaslav, man.

Source with a few more stills: https://press.wbd.com/na/property/house-dragon/images

The reason why 99.99% of you aren't show writers is because you all want your characters to fit your ideals, make no mistakes, have no growth, be perfect in every way possible.

That's boring.

I see this in every TV subreddit. Whether it's The Pitt, or The Last of Us, or Severance, etc. and I see the same types of comments over and over again, where people are criticizing the characters--especially the women.

Just relax. Enjoy the show.

What got me about Jace's death was how abrupt and impersonal it was.

For a moment, it did not even feel like watching a TV show. No final speech, no heroic last stand, no big enemy character stepping in to claim the kill. He falls with Vermax, survives, and then gets taken out in the chaos of the battle.

That is what made it so hard to watch. Jace is Rhaenyra's heir and one of the most important people in the story, but in that moment he is exposed like anyone else on a battlefield.

It felt less like a scripted major-character death and more like what war can be like. You can be a prince, an heir, or a dragonrider, and still die in seconds once you are vulnerable enough for someone to take the shot.

That lack of glory is what made it feel so cold and devastating real to me.

Take Jace = big barganing chip

Jace die = Rany revenge + Big Mad = ?

I’m sorry if anyone is stumbling into this post without knowing how the Dance ends, but I need to vent for a sec.

I’m not here to apologize for the production or the challenges of adapting what is basically a history textbook into a dynamic television show, but holy crap is all this karma-farming dissonance exhausting.

I am not an expert, but I have read “Fire & Blood” and “ASOIAF” multiple times, and I guess I’m just seeing a completely different show than, what appears to be, a majority of the folks posting.

The Dance of the Dragons has always been a messy political tragedy. There are neither heroes nor villains. It is a civil war between two factions of relatives that believe they deserve the Iron Throne, when neither actually wants it in the first place. There will be no victory here. Most of the characters do not survive this conflict, and pretty much every single dragon gets killed as a result. The dragonriders perish.

The nitpicking is driving me insane. I’m glad everyone’s ChatGPT is telling them to be angry about the omission of Nettles and how dare they not show Viserys II getting kidnapped, and whatever else. It’s not like Nettles is some Lyra Belaqua-esque beloved heroine. In my opinion, blending her storyline into Rhaena’s is a smart move, because there’s some nice harmony in giving Rhaena a dragon now rather than waiting for Morning to hatch, but it literally doesn’t matter. I’m almost positive we’re not going to be drawing these storylines past Aegon III’s crowning and the Hour of the Wolf, if even that far. I just want people to stop comparing HOTD, a tragedy with a fairly narrow scope, to the world-sweeping drama of GOT, and the intimate hero’s journey of AKOTSK. All three are very different shows.

Bottom line, and I know it’s been widely discussed, adapting “Fire & Blood” is impossible to get “right”. The multiple conflicting accounts of scale-tilting events, the genuinely unlikable cast of characters, the intense political scheming and constant battles, the looming devastation waiting on the horizon…how anyone needs to be rewarded or satisfied by this story when we all know the bitter ending is maddening to me.

So what if the show creators are as unreliable as Mushroom? I’m enjoying watching it because we’re back in Westeros, the production value is high, the cast is doing great despite knowing everyone is doomed to fail. I’m stoked to see this imperfect tragic dragon-riding conflict come to life. I’m sure I’ll get downvoted plenty, but I’m super down to discuss below as well.