A lot has been manufactured from the newfound wokeness that HBO’s Home of the Dragon launched to the land of Westeros. After years of criticism for the way its predecessor, Sport of Thrones, dealt with feminine characters and actors belonging to minority races, the showrunners for Home of the Dragon — Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik — made a acutely aware effort to not repeat probably the most egregious of these errors. It’s a reflection of the occasions we reside in, the place huge companies make efforts to handle the calls for of audiences, whereas these of the dinosaur mentality select to protest of their nook.
Sport of Thrones’ understanding of gender politics was, and stays, deeply flawed. In its over-eagerness to showcase ‘sturdy feminine characters’, it persistently decreased them to problematic variations of male fantasies — brutalised, scheming, morally corrupt individuals who solely had the phantasm of freedom. The strings, in the end, had been nonetheless being pulled by the lads.
In Sport of Thrones, ladies might maintain positions of energy, however solely as a reward for surviving horrific abuse by the hands of ghastly males first. We neglect how badly the present tortured Daenerys Targaryen over time, earlier than persevering with to take action thematically with that asinine closing season. After all, the present appeared to say that energy within the arms of a lady can be no totally different than energy within the arms of males; it corrupts completely, and with out prejudice. In Sport of Thrones, ladies may very well be sexually adventurous, however not with out being judged for it. And ultimately, the present instructed ladies might ascend thrones, however solely after shedding each final sliver of their humanity within the course of. The leaflike Sansa Stark, after weathering the storm for years, was changed into a frigid shadow of her former self.
However what does it imply to retroactively remodel the patriarchal world of Sport of Thrones right into a feminist one? Certain, King Viserys can announce that his daughter Rhaenyra Targaryen is the true inheritor to the Iron Throne — a gesture that reeks of pandering on the present in addition to outdoors it — however she continues to be largely a commodity, dangled earlier than doable husbands like some political pawn, or decreased to a farm animal whose solely job is to beginning extra cattle. However it’s only after Home of the Dragon will get all of the posturing out of its system — comparable to utterly eradicating gratuitous nudity — that it really examines what having two feminine protagonists means on a narrative degree.
What distinguishes Home of the Dragon from its descendant is that despite the fact that the present is ready in a patriarchal world, not like Sport of Thrones, it doesn’t have a patriarchal mindset. As Phoebe Waller-Bridge succinctly stated when she was introduced on board so as to add a feminist voice to No Time to Die, James Bond doesn’t must deal with ladies correctly, however the movie should.
We watch this principle unfold within the season finale, when Rhaenyra is urged by her male advisors, together with her hot-blooded husband Daemon, to wage warfare in opposition to her bestie-turned-adversary Alicent. Swayed by superstition, she dismisses Daemon’s rational reminder that they needn’t be fearful; they’ve dragon firepower of their arsenal. “When dragons flew to warfare, all the things burned. I don’t want to rule over a kingdom of ash and bones,” she says, because the present calls consideration to simply how far it has deviated from GoT’s masculine ‘burn-them-all’ mentality.
We noticed this additionally when Rhaenyra genuinely thought-about Otto Hightower’s diplomatic proposal in episode 9, and when Rhaenys determined to flee King’s Touchdown on dragonback after having witnessed Aegon’s coronation. She made the acutely aware option to not launch an assault in opposition to Alicent, and made do merely with intimidation techniques. It’s a signal of simply how conditioned we now have develop into to sure masculine story beats that Rhaenys’ cold escape was perceived as anticlimactic.
We should additionally keep in mind that each Rhaenyra and Alicent, whose interpersonal dynamic was apparently invented for the present, aren’t the kind who’d select violence. Each are motivated by the phrases of 1 man — Viserys — however their intuition, at all times, is to resolve conflicts peacefully first.
After all, sure modifications are unattainable. Ladies within the present are nonetheless perceived as baby-making machines whose solely goal is to additional royal bloodlines. I joked on a number of events that they might’ve thrown Sima Taparia into Home of the Dragon and no one would’ve blinked, such is the present’s obsession with matchmaking and ‘swayamvars’.
The bloodiest battles in Home of the Dragon all concern ladies, however they’re fought not on huge plains of land with huge armies, or within the air with dragons; they unfold in bedrooms, on beds soaked crimson throughout childbirth. These scenes are brutal, even by the already heightened requirements of George RR Martin’s universe. And I’m undecided if we must always respect the present for portraying visceral actuality with out, so to talk, pushing the viewer outdoors the ICU, or wag a finger in its face for basically changing one type of bodily torture in opposition to ladies with one other.
However Home of the Dragon is, in some ways, a tougher present than Sport of Thrones, not least of which is its absolute refusal to current us with simple heroes to root for. There isn’t any Ned Stark stand-in right here, though there are variations of Dario Naharis and Petyr Baelish. In truth, the character that everyone has determined to stan, King Viserys, might need bucked custom to call a feminine inheritor and rejected the concept of marrying a 12-year-old, however he did marry a 15-year-old as a substitute, and basically sacrificed his spouse on the 50-50 likelihood that she supplies him with a male successor. The significance of bloodlines is foreshadowed earlier than each episode, in a lavish opening credit sequence that exhibits rivers of blood streaming between the kingdoms of Valyria.
It’s encouraging, nevertheless, to see audiences embrace Paddy Considine’s susceptible interpretation of a personality that might usually be related to a sure sort of masculinity.
Like a well-meaning father, Viserys is disgusted when he hears murmurs about his brother Daemon and Rhaenyra having fooled round one night time, however not as a result of they’re uncle and niece. He’s largely involved concerning the wayward Daemon being a foul affect within the princess’ life. And as unusual as it might appear, it’s endearing to look at, very like watching Daemon’s scandalous relationship with Rhaenyra evolve right into a slightly wholesome marriage. All issues thought-about. Not like Sport of Thrones, a present wherein incest felt icky each time it was introduced up, Home of the Dragon treats this thorny concept with the matter-of-factness of Otto Hightower whispering Iago-like directions to Alicent. It’s a reflection of how desensitised we now have develop into to grossness, and the way profitable Home of the Dragon is in establishing its warped inner logic, that the present feels the necessity to jolt us out of our stupor by suggesting, if just for a second, {that a} child lady be married to her child brother.
Skullduggery and scandal made Sport of Thrones maybe the most costly responsible pleasure ever produced. However Home of the Dragon, regardless of comparable trashiness, not less than doesn’t make you decide your self for having fun with it.
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