House of the Dragon: Guide To The Main Characters Of The Series! Here Is Everything
The countdown has begun on Monday 21st August with House of The Dragon, three years after the Game of Thrones finale, we will finally return to the world of Westeros born from the pen of George RR Martin with House of the Dragon, a prequel TV series set about 170 years. before the main saga and dedicated to the golden age of the Targaryen house. Waiting for us, we will find Seven Kingdoms that will be very different from those we remember: despite the many familiar traits that can be glimpsed from the first trailers, the TV series will lead us to the discovery of a completely unexplored era, much older than the Robert Baratheon revolt and the expulsion of the Targaryen house from King’s Landing.
House of the Dragon: Guide To The Main Characters
The narrative focus will also be different: at the center of the story, alongside Daenerys’ ancestors, there will no longer be the Starks of Winterfell and the Lannisters of Castle Granito (both relegated to the rank of simple secondary figures), but new factions, new leaders and new political balances. To prepare for the first episode’s release, here is a short guide to the first season’s main characters.
1. King Viserys Targaryen
Despite bearing the same name as Daenerys’ petty and tyrannical brother who appeared in the first season of Game of Thrones, the benevolent and popular ruler of the Seven Kingdoms played by Paddy Considine has little in common with his distant descendant. Ascended to the Iron Throne at a young age after the death of his grandfather Jaeharys I, he is the fifth king of the House of the Dragon: during his long reign he helped to consolidate an era of peace that lasted for over 70 years, administering wisely and moderation the continent of Westeros.
During the first years of his reign, Viserys was struck by mourning that marked him deeply: his beloved first wife, Aemma Arryn, mother of Princess Rhaenyra, died in childbirth along with the second child she was carrying. This helped make him an overly uncertain and fearful monarch, anxious to preserve peace at any cost, even within his own family. Now that old age approaches, however, Viserys begins to wonder how he will be remembered by history, knowing that to go down in history as a great king is certainly not enough to have ensured a long period of peace and stability in Westeros.
2. Rhaenyra Targaryen
More at ease in the saddle of a dragon than with the typically feminine duties reserved for a girl of her age, Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy), daughter of King Viserys’ first wife, is a strong and determined young woman. who has long served his father as an assistant and cupbearer? Considered by all to be the most beautiful girl in the Seven Kingdoms, she is a natural leader, with a resolute personality and is unwilling to accept compromises, especially regarding her role as a woman in a strongly patriarchal society. In the absence of male heirs, King Viserys has designated her as her heir to the Iron Throne, but the birth of a son from her second marriage could always turn the tables on her.
At the death of Jaehaerys I, Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best) was the most authoritative claimant to the Iron Throne, as she had a much stronger blood bond with the old king than that of the other potential heirs. However, we know, that Westeros has always repudiated the idea of a female ruler, and eventually his cousin Viserys rose to power. Decades after that fateful episode, the failed queen is now the consort of the mighty Lord Corlys Velaryon and has become shrewd, calculating and intelligent woman, incredibly comfortable with the palace games and political intrigues of the Seven Kingdoms. The wound to his pride at not being crowned, however, never stopped burning.
3. Daemon Targaryen
The younger brother of King Viserys and uncle of Rhaenyra, Daemon (Matt Smith) is the commander of the golden cloaks, that is, of the City Guard of King’s Landing. ancient swords of the House of Targaryen forged from the formidable steel of Valyria. Unscrupulous and unpredictable, he has a turbulent and fluctuating relationship with his peaceful older brother of which, in many ways, he is the exact opposite. Many fear that behind his civil appearances there may be a glimmer of madness, which has not yet manifested itself to the whole world. After all, as we all know from the main series, greatness and madness go hand in hand in the blood of the Dragon’s house: “Every time a Targaryen is born, the gods toss a coin and the world holds its breath“.
Despite Rhaenyra’s appointment, Daemon is also considered a possible successor to his brother Viserys. The temperament of the commander of the golden cloaks, however, feeds many disputes within the restricted council: there are those, like Lord Corlys Velaryon, who would prefer him to Princess Rhaenyra, and those, on the other hand, like Hand Otto Hightower, are ready to hinder him at any cost, fearing that he might turn out to be a bloodthirsty despot. The only person who can truly say that he knows Daemon’s soul is his mistress, Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), a prostitute from the slums of King’s Landing.
4. Alicent Hightower
Daughter of the Hand of the King, Otto Hightower, Alicent (Olivia Cooke) became the queen of the Seven Kingdoms after the death in childbirth of Viserys I’s first wife. Far younger than her husband, she was a childhood friend of the princess. Rhaenyra, from which, however, an increasingly heated rivalry now divides her.
Anxious soul and particularly loyal to the duties imposed on her by her role as a woman and queen, Alicent struggles to accept the free and unscrupulous attitude of her old friend and is secretly envious of the many possibilities that the king granted her during her adolescence. and still grants them. According to a popular rumor, however, even Queen Alicent has a secret to hide before marrying King Viserys, Otto Hightower’s young daughter lost her virginity to her charming younger brother, Daemon Targaryen.
5. Otto Hightower
A prominent member of one of the oldest, most prestigious, and noble families of the Seven Kingdoms – the Oldtown Hightower house – ser Otto (Rhys Ifans) is the King’s Hand. A long-time, refined and intelligent politician, he has already worn the Brooch of the Hand of the Knight under Jaeharys I, grandfather and forerunner of Viserys. His deep devotion and loyalty to the Targaryen house are beyond question: his character combines the cunning of a Littlefinger with the fidelity of an Eddard Stark.
In Old Town, as we have already seen in the last seasons of Game of Thrones, there is also the Citadel where the Grand Masters are formed: it is certainly no coincidence, therefore, that Otto Hightower boasts an education far superior to that of the other nobles, a trait that has earned him a reputation as an authoritative and deeply conservative intellectual. More than anything else, Ser Otto fears change and instability and sees the impulsive and unpredictable Daemon Targaryen as a threat to peace.
6. Corlys Velaryon
Despite what Game of Thrones has led us to believe, in reality, the Targaryens are not the only noble family to come to Westeros from the east after the fall of the mythical city of Valyria. With them also came to the house Velaryon, which, having played a key role in the ascension to the throne of the lineage of King Viserys, currently rules the Narrow Sea from the fortress of Dragonstone (which belonged, in Game of Thrones, to King Stannis Baratheon). At the head of this family of warriors and great navigators, distinguished by the emblem of the white seahorse on a teal field, is Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), the richest and most powerful man in the Seven Kingdoms.
Consort of Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, she sits on the King’s select council and is a formidable military commander: ambitious and ruthless, she is well aware of how much the Dragon house depends on the support of her fleet and goes to great lengths to be feared by the other nobles of Westeros. However, Lord Corlys is also an attentive and caring family man, ready to do everything to ensure a better future for his children.
7. Ser Criston Cole
A young knight from the southern lands of Dorne, as well as the plebeian son of Lord Dondarrion’s attendant of Blackhaven, Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), boasts no noble title or land holdings, and his fame lies entirely in his spectacular skill in handling every type of blade, which surpasses even that of Prince Daemon Targaryen. His extraordinary talent has allowed him to don the white cloak of the Royal Guard and will lead him to play an enormous role in the palace intrigues of the Targaryen house.
