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The first teaser for House of the Dragon season 3 is positively bursting with dragons. At least five of the giant creatures are keeping it one hundred on the land, the sea, and the sky – breathing fire and striking fear into the hearts of all who see them.
Given the name of the show, this shouldn’t be as surprising as it feels. But after spending five weeks in Dunk and Egg’s more wholesome corner of Westeros on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, where simple concerns and smallfolk rule the day, the return of House Targaryen’s greatest weapon lands like a thunderclap. No more questions of duty or what makes a true knight, it’s time for some of the worst people in the realm’s history to take the reins again, plunging us all right back into the kingdom’s darkest hour. And no one is having a good time.
House of the Dragon has received its fair share of criticism for slow-walking some of the bigger, more violent clashes at the heart of the infamous Dance of the Dragons Targaryen civil war. To be fair, the show had its reasons for those choices, particularly during a second season that was undoubtedly impacted by the writers’ and actors’ strikes of 2023. But that hurry up-and-wait philosophy seems to be fully out the window now, as the teaser promises several major confrontations that mean Rhaenyra Targaryen’s hopes for a swift victory with the help of Allicent Hightower are very unlikely to come to pass.
The clip’s scale is positively enormous, featuring everything from marching armies and dragons burning onlookers to a crisp to naval battles and aerial attacks. We see several shots from what is clearly the infamous Battle of the Gullet, the big fight that was teased throughout the final episodes of season 2 but that had yet to come to pass. (And it’s one fans have been waiting for since the show started.) A naval face-off that’s one of the bloodiest battles in all of Westeros’s history, the Battle of the Gullet sees the Triarchy take on House Velaryon’s naval blockade, which is backed up by Jacaerys Velaryon and several of Team Black’s newly-minted Dragonseeds. And it’s as horrifying as you’d expect anything that involves giant creatures that breathe fire and boats made of wood can be.
Elsewhere, a glimpse of blue dragon Tessarion hints that Prince Daeron Targaryen’s onscreen debut is imminent, and a shot of Otto Hightower (James Norton) amid a field of soldiers ready for war means that it’s a good chance we’ll also be seeing the Butcher’s Ball on this season’s dance card of major conflicts. Daemon is shown repeatedly in armor and swinging a sword. And, Aemond is preparing for Rhaenyra to try to take King’s Landing, with a badly injured King Aegon II still in hiding. All while the sounds of dragons fill the air.
Seeing the inevitable death and destruction looming on the horizon is a big adjustment after the more lighthearted take on George R.R. Martin’s world in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. In fact, it makes it all feel like even more of a tragedy. This family is ripping itself apart for nothing, for a world that will barely respect their house after their magical beasts fall. In A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, just one good Targaryen dies and the world is forever altered. How many are about to perish here?
House of the Dragon season 3 is set to premiere this June on HBO and HBO Max.
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