George R. R. Martin Wanted HOTD to Start with King Jaehaerys’ Rule

Author George R. R. Martin revealed that he wanted House of the Dragon to have portrayed the events from 40 years prior to King Viserys’ coronation.

The first season of House of the Dragon is already out, and it has been a huge hit. A tale telling the saga of the mighty Targaryens and their dragons has been received well by the audience.  

Season 1 documents a timeline of 30 years leading up to the Dance of Dragons, a civil war that almost destroyed Westeros and most of the Targaryen dynasty.

The show started with the death of King Jaehaerys Targaryen and how he was forced to name his heir hastily. His sons were dead, and his only living child was Rhaenys, a woman. So, the Westerosi lords chose to crown his grandson Viserys as the next heir to the Iron Throne.

Viserys would later go on to declare his daughter Rhaenyra as his heir. That would cause major tension between the houses. The catastrophic Dance of Dragons will also be triggered by Viserys’ last words when Alicent would confuse Aegon the Conqueror for her son Aegon II.

Speaking with Penguin Random House, author Martin commented that he would have started the events of HOTD 40 years before the events of episode 1.

He said it would be interesting to explore the reign of King Jaehaerys Targaryen and the death of his sons, Aemon and Baelon. After King Jaehaerys’ death, the succession dilemma would have made for good watching material.

Check out what Martin had to say: 

 I would have begun it like 40 years earlier with the episode I would have called ‘The Heir and the Spare,’ in which Jaehaerys’s two sons, Aemon and Baelon, are alive. And we see the friendship, but also the rivalry, between the two sides of the great house. You know, Aemon dies accidentally when a Myrish crossbowman shoots him by accident on Tarth, and then Jaehaerys has to decide who becomes the new heir. Is it the daughter of the older son who’s just died, or is it the second son, who has sons of his own and is a man, and she’s just a teenage girl?

How Starting the Story Early Would’ve Affected the Story

If Martin’s vision were made a part of reality, then things would’ve been a little different in HOTD for sure. Let’s explore them.

Starting the show during the rule of King Jaehaerys would’ve given us more insight into the early Targaryens. Season 1 would’ve explored Aemon and Baelon’s characters, their deaths, and the mystery behind Princess Rhaenys not getting the throne. The last point is a primary reason for conflict in the series.

At the same time, the timeline jumps would’ve been even more frequent and prolonged. Season 1 already has two big jumps in the timeline, and it becomes a bit of a hassle to connect with a new cast playing the same characters. Adding 40 more years would’ve kept the audience less engaged due to the shift in focus.

While it is interesting to know about the history of Jaehaerys Targaryen, it would’ve shifted our focus from the actual conflict of season 1, i.e., the Blacks vs. the Greens. Alicent and Rhaenyra weren’t even born 40 years before HOTD’s pilot. 

Maybe Jaehaerys’ succession dilemma can become a prologue to the prologue in the future. Nothing is certain for now.

About House Of The Dragon

House of the Dragon is the prequel series to HBO’s blockbuster Game of Thrones based on George R. R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood.

Set three hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon will show Westeros under the Targaryen family’s rule before the dragons went extinct. It will follow the Dance of the Dragons, the Targaryen civil war between siblings Aegon II and Rhaenyra, who fought for the throne after the death of their father, Viserys I.

Directed by Ryan Condall and Miguel Sapochnik, the show stars Paddy Considine as Viserys I Targaryen, Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen, Olivia Cooke as Alicent Hightower, Matt Smith as Daemon Targaryen, Tom Glynn-Craney as Aegon II Targaryen, Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower, Steve Toussaint as Corlys Velaryon, Eve Best as Rhaenys Velaryon, Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria, Fabien Frankel as Criston Cole, and Graham McTavish.