The best thing about House of the Dragon is not the people, battles, or sets. It is the dragons. In episode 4 of the third season, one of them now exhibits behavior that MeinMMO editor Sophia Weiß can only associate with her own dog, and it is quite entertaining in the best sense.
So far, four episodes of the new season of House of the Dragon are live, and I have a feeling that the showrunners have come up with something particularly nasty for us this season. After much consideration, they realized that many viewers are especially attached to the dragons. And now they are doing everything they can to give the beasts as much personality as possible before they are sent to certain death.
Otherwise, I cannot explain why the long-necked wyrm Caraxes is now suddenly behaving like a stubborn Border Collie with a need for movement: He simply kidnaps rider Daemon and flies to a location where the dragon has sensed something interesting. This is something my dog has done several times as well – he recently discovered a badger sett.
And now I see even more parallels to our pets than just Caraxes’ stubbornness: All dragons are increasingly behaving like cats and dogs. And that will really get to me.
Stubborn Border Collies & scrappy street cats
Caraxes is just the first example that comes to mind. He shows that he is not simply the follower of Daemon, but also has a mind of his own: Caraxes smells something interesting and simply disregards his rider’s commands.
By the way, my dog does that sometimes too: He is a Labrador-Border-Collie mix, and when he smells certain things, there is no stopping him – even though he usually responds well to commands. But especially the grill field in the park next door is an olfactory paradise for him. Or the new badger sett in the woods.
For Caraxes, it was probably the stench of the dragon Sheepstealer, who lives in the area with his new rider Rhaena.
Rhaena talks about her dragon like someone defending their absolutely terrified, thus aggressive, and perhaps also a bit scrappy street cat in front of sensible roommates or parents. Furthermore, Sheepstealer brings his rider freshly hunted food. Just like cats bring their owners dead mice and birds at the door.
Of all people, Rhaenyra’s brother Aegon, the upstart and false king, has one of the most beautiful connections in the entire series with his dragon Sunfire: Aegon hardly speaks Valyrian, even though it is the mother tongue of the Targaryens. Sunfire seems not to mind. The dragon simply responds to commands in the normal language of Westeros.
In season two, Aegon retrieves his fire-breather from the dragon pit. Sunfire greets him like a horse greets its beloved rider with a nudge of its snout against the chest, which brings a smile to the green king’s face. Now, a season later, I almost cried when Aegon finally finds his dragon again and sheds tears over the lifeless body.
Aegon must have loved Sunfire very much. Just like I love my dog. Just the thought that I may one day not be woken up by his wet snout in my face makes me sad.
Last but not least, episode four of season three has also shown us the bond between Alicent’s youngest son Daeron and his dragon lady Tessarion: Although Daeron is not supposed to show any love for his dragon, the two cuddle with each other. When Ormund Hightower shows aggression towards the young Targaryen, Tessarion immediately goes into intimidating posturing – like a good guard dog.
We must learn to love the dragons to suffer even more
When animals die in movies and series, I am more affected than by the loss of a human character. Animals do not have evil intentions and act instinctively in most cases. My love for my own dog and also for my cat, who passed away many years ago, does not make it easier.
Dragons are also my favorite mythical creatures, and now they are behaving in House of the Dragon as I am used to from my pets. This will not end well for me.
When Arax and Lucerys died in season 1, it happened so quickly that I barely registered it. I also had hardly any connection to Vermax from season 3 because he appeared so rarely. When Meleys was killed by Vhagar in Crow’s Rest, it was the first stab to the heart.
The fate of Sunfire is now incredibly sad to me in retrospect. How will it be when it comes to the lives of dragons that we will see much more of? Syrax, Caraxes, Vermithor, Silverwing, and Sheepstealer already have more screen time than the previous dragon victims of the war.
I will cry my eyes out. My dog will try to comfort me and underscore my tears with the squeaking of his favorite toy. It will be grand.
House of the Dragon has not only improved the personalities of the dragons in season three, but has also truly put in effort on all fronts. Especially the second episode showcases the acting talent of Rhaenyra actress Emma D’Arcy, and the level has not dropped since: With the new episode, House of the Dragon reaches 9.4 stars on IMDB – Because it is the absolute highlight of the story
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