In the span of just thirteen episodes, House of the Dragon has redeemed the world of George R.R. Martin’s Westeros in the eyes of millions of Game of Thrones fans. After the disastrous final season of Game of Thrones left us all scratching our heads, wondering how showrunners could ruin a show so spectacularly, House of the Dragon is here to make us believe in the Song of Ice and Fire once more.
Unfortunately, as impressive as House of the Dragon has been so far, it will always be a prequel. The events depicted in the show have no direct effect on Game of Thrones, meaning that the ending we saw in 2019 is still the culmination of everything Westeros. And for those fans who are just now getting absorbed in the lore of Martin’s fictional lands, imagine their disappointment once they notice all the years of worldbuilding and character development essentially go nowhere.
A Misunderstood Prophecy
At the core of both Fire & Blood and A Song of Ice and Fire sits the eponymous legend. A Song of Ice and Fire revolves around the Prince that was Promised – the reincarnation of Azor Ahai. This legendary figure would unite the kingdoms against the forces of darkness, leading them in one final struggle against the forces of evil.
The key element here is that the Prince that was Promised was supposedly named “Aegon” in the prophecy. At this point in the story, there’s only one person named Aegon who fits the mould: Aegon II Targaryen, who gets named Visery’s heir due to the old king’s ramblings on his deathbed.
Episode three, The Burning Mill, cements that Alicent Hightower’s misunderstanding of what the Song of Ice and Fire and the name “Aegon” means is essentially the reason why the whole Dance of the Dragons began. It’s a simple case of mistaken identity – one that culminated in a cruel war between Targaryens.
The Prince That Never Was
The fact that House of the Dragon brings back the Prince that was Promised prophecy feels almost like a cruel joke from the showrunners. As fans know, the only person in Westeros who fits the description of Azor Ahai is Jon Snow, whose real name is Aegon Targaryen – the last male Targaryen.
Jon’s messianic journey plays a pivotal role in Game of Thrones. We see him grow from a nobody, a pariah even among his brothers, to becoming humanity’s last hope against the White Walkers. At least, that’s what would have happened if Game of Thrones didn’t ruin his entire character arc in the last season.
Not only does Jon not kill the Night King as was prophesized – but Arya killing the abomination dismantles the prophecy. In the end, there was no Aegon, or Prince that was Promised, there wasn’t even an Azor Ahai. As for Jon coming back from the dead? Yeah, that was just to keep Kit Harington around for a couple more seasons, I guess.
To make things worse, the Song of Ice and Fire and the Azor Ahai prophecy were not mentioned in the Fire & Blood sagas – that’s a creative liberty taken by House of the Dragon to tie the story a bit more to Game of Thrones. The only issue is that the prophecy itself never mattered in the original series.
Now that the Jon Snow spin-off series appears to be cancelled, that Game of Thrones finale is likely the end of Jon’s story – back to the Wall, with no real purpose. It’s a bittersweet ending not just for Jon but for the franchise as a whole. It just goes to show how hard Game of Thrones‘ ending dropped the ball and how impressive House of the Dragon has been by comparison.
Do you think House of the Dragon makes Game of Thrones‘ ending worse?
House of the Dragon |
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An internal succession war within House Targaryen at the height of its power, 172 years before the birth of Daenerys Targaryen. |
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| Creator: Ryan J. Condal, George R.R. Martin |
| Cast: Matt Smith, Emma D'Arcy, Olivia Cooke, Rhys Ifans, Graham McTavish, Fabien Frankel, Steve Toussaint, Eve Best, Ewan Mitchell, Paddy Considine, Milly Alcock, Emily Carey |
| Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama |
| Number of Seasons: 2 |
| Streaming Service: Showmax |
The prophecy never said TPTWP was named Aegon. What it did say was that TPTWP would 1. Be reborn amidst smoke and flame, 2. Wake dragons out of stone, and 3. His coming would be heralded by a red star. All three of these things were fulfilled by Dany, not Jon (who is unlikely to be named Aegon in the books). Also, the prophecy being a dream had by Aegon the Conqueror is not something they just added to HOTD to tie it in with GOT. They confirmed this was told to them directly by George R.R. Martin as something he’d eventually planned to reveal in the books. (And fans had already been speculating that Aegon the Conqueror might have known something about the prophecy and that that was what spurred him to conquer Westeros.)