The last trailer for the second season of HBO’s House of the Dragon came out in December 2023. We’ve been patiently waiting for a new trailer to drop, and HBO obliged recently with not one trailer, but two.
When these opportunities arise, I like to write up trailer breakdowns for my dad. He’s read the main series books and has seen Game of Thrones and has watched House of the Dragon, season one. But I like to provide him with a non-spoilery breakdown to get him pumped up. And that’s what I’ll be doing here too.
When I say non-spoilery, I’ve read Fire and Blood, and I know the story, as far as it will align with what the showrunners want to do. (For example, I was pleasantly surprised that Laenor Velaryon faked his death in Season One. Oh, yeah, lets just agree that since my dad has seen Season One, I don’t consider it spoilery to talk about all that.) So, I’ll confine my comments on the trailer to what we know, or what probably isn’t going to get anyone mad – like identifying House sigils or whatever. Again, this is to provide detail and context but not really spoil upcoming plot points for my dad.
Let’s begin.
First shown was a trailer called The Blacks Trailer, indicating that it was featuring the point of view of the side supporting Rhaenyra Targaryen to be queen over her half-brother Aegon. (Remeber, Aegon’s factions are called The Greens, because of the colors associated with the Hightowers, Queen Alicent’s House.)
In case you weren’t aware, the trailer reminds us that this is an HBO production.
First shot sets the stage – it looks like a funeral commemoration or something like that. We can barely make out Rhaenyra talking to her eldest son Jacaerys/Jace. He was supposed to have been sent off on a diplomatic mission to ensure people were going to be loyal to Rhaenyra’s cause, so I don’t know if this scene takes place after he returns, or he hasn’t gone off yet. Remember, his younger brother Lucerys/Luke was also sent on a diplomatic mission to Storm’s End, where he met his end during a storm, at the hands (or teeth, rather) of Prince Aemond’s huge dragon, Vhagar.
There’s a narration voiceover – it’s Rhaenyra Targaryen speaking –
My father chose me, his first born child, to succeed him.
With a whoosh there’s a dragon flying past the camera towards a lakeside castle.
You might notice that the trees on the island to the starboard side of the dragon’s flight have reddish leaves. Is it Autumn? Well, everything else looks pretty green, so those leaves aren’t changing. They’re weirwood trees. That island is probably the Isle of Faces in the God’s Eye lake, which means the castle the dragon is flying to is Harrenhal. (The grim castle where Arya Stark will eventually be held as a Lannister captive.) Based on the dragon’s coloring, it might be Rhaenyra’s dragon Syrax.
The voiceover continues –
He held to his decision until death.
We’re on a balcony on Dragonstone (I say Dragonstone because that’s Rhaenyra there, meeting with someone.) The sun looks to be setting, and since Dragonstone is East of King’s Landing, they’re looking over the horizon at Westeros and the capital she feels she has a claim to.
I zoomed in on the picture (notice the dragon in the background) to see who Rhaenyra is meeting with. It’s a dark-haired woman apparently wearing white. Last season, one of Daemon Targaryen’s girlfriends was a brothel-owner who also made money doing clandestine work, selling secrets, etc. She had dark hair, and wore white. So that person with Rhaenyra is probably Mysaria the White Worm. (She might have a beef against the Green Administration, since the Queen’s spymaster Larys Strong implied to Queen Alicent that Mysaria was spying on her, and in return, Larys had Mysaria’s place of business burned down.)
(Dad, the Mysaria detail would not have been noticed by me if I hadn’t heard Clint Woods of the Learned Hands podcast specifically call this detail out.)
We see Rhaenyra’s dragon Syrax on the beach near Storm’s End (Luke died trying to flee from Storm’s End, you can see the castle in the distance.) Rhaenyra is near those boats, kneeling down over something. Probaby evidence of Vhagar snacking on Luke’s dragon Arrax (and Luke.)
And yet, Alicent’s son sits my throne.
Doors to the throne room open up, and King Aegon the Elder (Rhaenyra has a baby son named Aegon who has a better claim to the throne than this Aegon, so I hate to call Alicent’s Aegon “Aegon II” which means I would be recognizing his claim. The Greens would really like me to do that I’m sure) – Aegon the Elder enters. (I got sidetracked a moment.)
I mean to fight this war, and win it.
Rhaenyra is sitting at a table (probably at Dragonstone) – she apparently has the previous Lord Commander, Ser Harrold Westerling, on staff – he’s seen in the background. Rhaenyra is having dinner with her son Jace on her right, and on her left is her cousin – the betrothed of Jace’s – Baela Targaryen, Daemon Targaryen’s daughter. They both are dragon riders. Sitting at the table are three people we’ve not yet been introduced to, so I won’t comment on that.
We see a shot of Daemon, as if he’s sitting next to Rhaenyra but that doesn’t work compared to what we’ve seen above. Is it from a different scene? Was Daemon at the bathroom earlier? Who can tell?
There’s a brief shot of a castle interior, and there’s a dragon flying just outside.
Rhaenyra is walking away from her keep and towards her dragon Syrax. There’s a collection of Valyrian dragonkeepers, who seem to be acting as her flight crew. She’s about to fly off and do something.
The scene cuts to the North (we can tell because of the weather) and there’s a new voiceover, from Jacaerys/Jace Velaryon (Rhaenyra’s son and heir.)
The realm will soon tear itself apart,
if men do not remember the oaths sworn to King Viserys,
We get a shot of Jace Velaryon talking to Lord Cregan Stark, who seems to be visiting The Wall. We know it’s the Warden of the North Cregan Stark because you can just see his greatsword Ice over his left shoulder. And we know this is Jace and not a time-traveling Jon Snow because the actor turns to face Cregan and we can see his face. (Otherwise, it could have been a time-traveling Jon Snow, with that hair.)
(Dad, I must confess that I did not notice Ice when I first watched the trailer. Again, eagle-eyed Clint Woods of the Learned Hands podcast saw the detail, which had me try my best to get a screenshot with Ice’s handle visible.)
and to his rightful heir.
We get to see that rightful heir, looking scary, and then there’s a cut to some random guy in armor.
Notice the lighthouse sigil on his helm and armor? The kind of greenish look to the armor under the metal collarbone-piece? This guy is a member of House Hightower, Alicent and Otto’s House. (We know who the actor is and who he is playing, but no spoilers.)
I’m not sure why he’s in the trailer, per se. Oh, following up is most likely Rhaenyra’s dragon Syrax flying in the direction of the camera.
There’s a brief shot of two armored guys falling down, the one in the foreground just a shadow of soot, the guy in the background a bit more shiny. I can’t wait to see this in the show, honestly. Just to know what’s going on.
A new voiceover starts, from Corlys Velaryon – Rhaenyra’s one-time Father-In-Law, famed nautical adventurer.
The Hightowers are marching.
Here’s Aemond Targaryen, the son of Alicent Hightower, and pretty much an up-and-coming clone of Prince Daemon. Behind him is a tapestry or some other art of a castle burning. Very Targaryen-themed art.
Here’s Otto Hightower, looking skeevy and displeased.
You must crush this beast at its head.
Lord Corlys is giving Rhaenyra his advice, that she takes quick, decisive action.
Here’s a shot of Rhaenyra, possibly considering quick, decisive action.
There’s a quick shot of Daemon Targaryen, armored up and looking for a fight, moving through a castle in the rain.
We’re getting a voiceover from Daemon –
Our terms are very simple:
renounce the false king, and bend the knee to the queen
Quick aside, you can see in this shot with Queen Alicent (not the Queen that Daemon is talking about) and Queen Helaena (also not the Queen that Daemon is talking about) that they have not only a Kingsguard (probably Ser Criston Cole, indicated by the yellow circle) but a posse of House Hightower troopers (I’ve circled their lighthouse sigils in red.) The royals don’t have any of the goldcloaks or some kind of Targaryen-designated troops, it’s Hightower troops. (Just like Cersei always had Lannister dudes, specifically Lannister troops, with her.)
Hey, there’s that false king that Daemon was talking about. So I wonder what will happen if one didn’t renounce the false king and didn’t bend the knee to Rhaenyra?
or your house burns.
Ah, that is simple enough. I’m not sure where Daemon is – there are hills on either side of a valley, and a river snaking through it.
Super fast shot of armored horsemen charging. We can see that they’re cavalry allied to King Aegon, since they have his personal sigil, a green field with a golden dragon on it. (Aegon’s dragon is golden colored, called Sunfyre. We’ll see more of that sigil on banners.)
We get more fast shots of men on horses, but it’s some riders rushing through a forest. That’s Ser Criston Cole, you can kind of tell that it’s him, and he’s a white-cloaked Kingsguard.
It’s impossible to tell who the other person is, but they have a green cloak, so probably a Hightower or associate.
Things cut to Baela Targaryen, on dragonback.
She’s having her dragon, Moondancer, nose down for a dive. Moondancer’s belly seems big, and I kind of think that means she’s cooking up some flame to be disgorged.
We hear a new voiceover, from Rhaenys Velaryon, the cousin to Viserys Targaryen (and so cousin to Rhaenyra as well.)
When the desire to kill and burn
takes hold and reason is forgotten
(We have some nice shots of Rhaenyra, one in shadow – maybe thinking about killing and burning – and one in the light, maybe remembering her faculty for reason.)
There’s a shot of Rhaenys, who has been pretty reasonably positive towards Rhaenyra – despite rumors that Rhaenyra killed her son, Laenor.
There’s then a shot of Aegon, who is claiming that he’s the legitimate heir. (The shot has Aegon clocking someone with a club, it looks like.)
we will not even remember
what began the war in the first place.
Rhaenys’ quote ends with Vhagar in flight, the ancient dragon stolen by Aemond as a child, and which killed Rhaenyra’s son Luke.
The trailer then kicks off some scenes with Daemon getting his voice over. It first shows an armored figure opening up doors into a chamber. We can’t really make out who is inside.
We fight for our queen!
We see either Arryk Cargyll or Erryk Cargyll (Kingsguard Arryk is serving Aegon, Kingsguard Erryk is serving Rhaenyra) – since they’re twins, we can’t identify which one is in the shot. This Cargyll is fighting someone though.
The trailer nearly ends on the queen that Daemon is yelling about fighting for. We see Rhaenyra looking to the west (I assume that’s a sunset, but maybe not.)
Rhaenyra gets the last human voiceover.
I fear what I have begun.
But noodle-necked dragon Caraxes (Daemon’s dragon) gets the last word. AAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHH! (Or something like that.)
The trailer ends with the classical red-dragon on black Targaryen symbol. Again, this was the Black trailer, since Rhaenyra’s faction adopted their nickname from Rhaenyra dressing often in black, as opposed to Alicent’s factions commenting on her fondness for green dresses. It’s a thing from Fire and Blood.
In some ways, the trailer put forth simply the political argument from the Blacks. Rhaenyra is the rightful heir, right up to Viserys’ death, it was acknowledged that she was the heir, anyone supporting Aegon as king was supporting a false king and threatened to throw the realm into chaos for not upholding their sworn oaths.
There’s a lot going on in the trailer, but maybe even more going on in the Green’s trailer. And they make their counter political claim.
Things kick off with devout Queen Alicent, hanging out lighting candles in the sept. (Not the Great Sept of Baelor, to be clear. There is still a king or two before we get to Baelor the Blessed who will commission the creation of that great house of worship.)
Queen Alicent starts off the trailer’s first voiceover.
Only weeks ago, my lord husband was alive
She blows out a taper just like Viserys life was snuffed out by whatever was going on with him.
The scene changes to briefly show the Dragonpit, before showing us Alicent again, talking to someone in her chambers (probably her master spy, Larys Strong.)
and the realm was at peace.
Signs of the change in administration. King Aegon has his own personal banners, a golden dragon on a green field, being rolled out conspicuously.
We enter the small council chamber – it looks like Alicent is going to do some royal business.
The scene then cuts to Rhaenyra, ominously in shadow, and the voiceover continues. About her.
On his death bed, he knew the realm would never accept a queen.
Rhaenyra’s supporters will believe what they wish,
(I cut out some of the Aegon walking in, Aegon sitting down shots because they’re the same in the first trailer. This shot with Otto is new.)
but Viserys wanted Aegon to succeed him.
Reminder: Alicent misunderstood Viserys’ final drug-addled ravings, where Viserys confused Alicent for Rhaenyra and Alicent confused her son Aegon for Viserys’ mention of the O.G. Aegon the Conqueror. And this has caused a lot of fuss.
A lot of fuss.
We see dragon-deterring defenses being mounted on the walls of King’s Landing.
We see Arryk Cargyll overseeing some of the ballistae in operation, and we hear old Otto Hightower weigh in.
They wish now, not for the good of the realm
A quick shot of Daemon Targaryen overlooking an allied army in a green valley. Look, it could be almost anywhere.
but the satisfaction of vengeance.
The trailer cuts to Rhaenyra, possibly contemplating the satisfaction of vengeance, and then Syrax flying, and then those two armored dudes falling.
But then things get interesting. Someone looks to be trying to bribe one of the gold cloaks.
Some torch-bearing fellows walking in a tunnel. Who can say what this is all about? (No one say, please.)
It’s possible that Aegon’s voiceover adds some context to the above.
Plot against the king, and I will pay it back one hundred times over.
So, either he had the actual crown of Aegon the Conqueror attached to a helmet, or had a facsimile of the crown added as a design element to a helmet.
I’m as fearsome as any of them.
We see Sunfyre, the model for Aegon’s personal golden dragon sigil, in the Dragonpit.
But fearsome as Aegon is, he can’t escape a scolding from Queen Alicent.
You have no idea the sacrifices that were made
to put you on that throne.
The trailer cuts to a dark castle, from an extremely low position. There are guards patroling, passing over the camera, and they appear to be missing the dragon flying overhead.
We cut to back-to-back shots of Daemon Targaryn skulking about, and Aemond Targaryen skulking about. They both like to skulk about, it seems.
Aemond has things to say about Daemon.
My uncle is a challenge I welcome,
if he dares face me.
My advice to Daemon is to approach Aemond from his left.
Those two shots were taking place in the Small Council chamber. Ser Criston Cole is seated and has that marble parliamentary ball in its base. Implies that Cole is a legit council member.
The trailer cuts to a crowd, appearing to be emotional upset, casting flower petals down on Queen Alicent.
Alicent is in a veil, which seems to place this happening at the shot in the Black Trailer, where Alicent and Helaena are out on the town.
Otto’s voice is now heard.
We will prevail and bring forth peace
but you must accept that the path to victory now
We get some random scenes during Otto’s comments. A person in Bracken livery is pulling a blade on a bunch of House Blackwoods. Behind the Bracken is a stone bridge maybe. Bracken and Blackwood lands are on opposite sides of one of the forks of the Trident in the Riverlands. These two Houses are long-term feuding Houses. Against the greater Green-Black conflict, it’s likely that these two Houses will be on opposite sides of the Aegon/Rhaenyra conflict.
Some enigmatic shots. Someone is manipulating a coin during a discussion, which has the usual implication that money talks.
Aemond is at the Small Council meeting. You’ll notice that he’s at the table but doesn’t have one of the parliamentary balls in the placesetting before him.
This is followed up with Ser Criston Cole, out in the countryside, wiping the blood from his sword. (I say that he’s out in the countryside because there are a mixed bag of Crownlands troops in the foreground of the shot, along with regularly uniformed King Aegon troopers in the background.
is one of violence.
Speaking of violence, a maid is carrying a very bloodstained item.
King Aegon has an opinion.
Good… to war, then.
We see the same shot from the other trailer of Vhagar, Aemond’s dragon, ruling the skies.
From the previous trailer, we saw Criston Cole riding in some woods, here we see the shot leading up to that. He’s not the only horseman doing this. There’s his companion and some other folks seen entering the trees. Are they pursuing or being pursued?
Cole seems rather motivated. And he was promoted! That’s the Hand of the King chain around his armored neck.
Same sequence of one of the Cargyll twins in a fight.
Alicent begins a voiceover.
All my life, I’ve endeavored to serve
both my house and the realm.
There’s a quick shot of a military installation, built from the stones of the surrounding hills, overlooking some pass or road. There’s an army on the way, but the castle defenders don’t seem too worried.
Meanwhile, Alicent continues her voiceover against some shots of her sinking into water.
And somehow none of it matters.
We hear Ser Criston Cole’s voice as a white dragon – probably Moondancer being ridden by Baela Targaryen, is circling over some woods.
Hold to your courage.
For the one true king, Aegon!
We see Aegon strolling through a bowing audience, followed by two retainers (I don’t know who they are. I don’t even know if Aegon knows who they are.)
And the trailer ends with a dragon having the final word. AAAAARRRRRRGGGHHHH! (Or something like that.)
This trailer, from the Greens’ point of view, hinges on Alicent’s belief that Viserys declared his son Aegon to be heir, conveniently the situation that Otto Hightower and his cronies were going to push forward with regardless.
And their position is that Rhaenyra is going to strike out of a desire for revenge, rather than act with the good of the realm in mind.
In defense of Otto’s opinion, it did sound like Corlys was urging her to strike. In defense of Corlys, Otto previously wanted to assassinate Rhaenyra. It’s all a mess.
Dad, I hope that you enjoyed this non-spoilery trailer breakdown. (If anyone else besides my dad read it, I hope you all enjoyed it as well.)
If, by chance, you have not seen these trailers, I’ll include links below:
The Blacks Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=csSaSrJJPRs
The Greens Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnxB9xZByyQ
(Comments are always welcome. Super welcome! But if you want to talk spoilery Game of Thrones talk with me (also welcome) I’d invite you to visit my Safe Spoilers page on my backup blog. That way my non-book-reading friends won’t be shocked with foreknowledge.)
Images from HBO’s HOUSE OF THE DRAGON. I make no claims to the artwork, but some claims to the text here. So there.
If you liked this article, thank you! I have all of my Game of Thrones related articles on my handy-dandy Game of Thrones page should you want to read more but don’t want to navigate around my site.
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