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House of the Dragon returned with a new episode on June 30, 2024, continuing the saga of bitter exchanges and war preparations. This episode, though relatively quiet, featured many subtle developments, hinting that the inevitable war may be closer than fans imagine. Moreover, this episode also featured a special reference that would appeal to fans like no other.
House of the Dragon finally connected to the Game of Thrones storyline through the dragon eggs that Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) receives in the original HBO show. Those three dragon eggs were shown in the latest episode of House of the Dragon, where Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) handed the eggs to Rhaena for safekeeping along with her young children.
Fans had their doubts about this from this very scene. Later, the showrunner confirmed that these are indeed the dragon eggs that eventually get passed down to Danaerys, effectively starting the saga of Game of Thrones.
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How House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 practically sets up all of Game of Thrones
In what can be considered a brilliant cinematic move, House of the Dragon season 2 episode 3 effectively sets up the entire story of Game of Thrones, which takes place over a century after these events.
In this episode, amidst the growing uncertainty of war, Rhaenyra decides to send her youngest children away with Rhaena Targaryen (Phoebe Campbell) as their safekeeper. Rhaena, who is also too young to fight in the war, begrudgingly agrees after understanding the importance of this role.
Along with her children and the tiny dragons, Tyraxes and Stormcloud, Rhaneyra also gives Rhaena four dragon eggs for safekeeping. As confirmed by the showrunner, three of these four eggs make it to Game of Thrones and eventually hatch to become the three dragons Danaerys used to fight her war for the throne.
This is quite an intelligent way to link the story, as this ensures that all the events of Game of Thrones happened because Rhaenyra sent these eggs away. This possibly made sure that these particular eggs survived and gave Danaerys the dragons that started her quest for the Iron Throne. This also links Rhaenyra and Danaerys by a thread through generations. These are also two characters who have been constantly compared in the two shows.
This episode was also a cinematic masterpiece in many ways, which is possibly why this Game of Thrones thread was drawn in this episode. Director Geeta Vasant Patel broke this down in a new episode in an interview with Screen Rant, saying:
"The entire season to me is a film, and when we look at film, we look at the three-act structure and the first act and the third act need to mirror each other. There needs to be a setup. The first act has the setup, and the third act has the payoff — visually, performance-wise, and story-wise. A lot of times they say, "Write your ending before you write your beginning." It's so difficult to for me just have an episode and not know where it's going and what it's setting up, even if it's the middle of the season."
She further emphasized how intentional things were in the episode, saying:
"Everything was incredibly intentional, and knowing the end very much influenced what we did as a team for episode 3, because there is a lot of setup in that episode that pays off all the way through the episodes that lead to [season 2, episode 8]."
The first three episodes of House of the Dragon are now streaming on Max.
