Archive for the ‘Game of Thrones’ Category

The Dad-Focused Breakdown for the Knight of the Seven Kingdoms Trailer

Posted: October 11, 2025 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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Thursday, October 10th 2025, HBO released the trailer for A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, an adaptation of The Hedge Knight, the first of three (so far) novellas about a lowborn hedge knight named Ser Duncan (the Tall) and his scrawny bald squire, Egg.

George RR Martin, the author of the (unfinished) A Song of Ice and Fire series, wrote these novellas roughly sometime after the third ASOIAF book (I have not researched this) – as part of the background for his main series. The Dunk and Egg novellas take place close to a century before the events shown on HBO’s Game of Thrones series, and roughly 70 years after the events in the still-ongoing House of the Dragon show, detailing the Dance of the Dragons or the Targaryen Civil War. Alright, that’s enough detail. Why am I posting this shot-by-shot breakdown of the trailer?

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Erryk Vs Arryk, After-Action Report

Posted: June 27, 2024 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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House of the Dragon is in full-swing on HBO, having aired its second episode, “Rhaenyra the Cruel” – if you don’t want to be spoiled by an event that happens in that episode, please stop reading, right now. (I’m sure you’ve already been spoiled though. BETRAYAL!)

Near the end of the episode, an assassination plan involving Aegon Targaryen’s kingsguard, Ser Arryk Cargyll, comes to a violent conclusion. Arryk came to Dragonstone to kill Rhaenyra, but is foiled when he’s recognized by secondary-character-on-the-rise Mysaria, who gets word (we assume) to Arryk’s brother Ser Erryk Cargyll that the Green Faction twin is up to no-good.

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In Defense of Blood and Cheese

Posted: June 19, 2024 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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House of the Dragon is back, HBO’s show adapting the historical narrative of Fire and Blood, George RR Martin’s fictional work. The Dance of the Dragons civil war period, the time period of the show, is set before his famous A Song of Ice and Fire fantasy series (and HBO’s juggernaut show Game of Thrones) by roughly 200 years. (Give or take several decades, don’t check my math.)

And back with it is the DISCOURSE that plagued Game of Thrones and the showrunners, who did a solid job adapting Martin’s books (if we kind of ignore much of book five) and were then forced to complete the uncompleted and incredibly complex series, more or less from whole cloth.

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For Your Situational Awareness: House of the Dragon Geography

Posted: April 27, 2024 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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We’re another month closer to the premiere of the second season of HBO’s House of the Dragon. I’m trying to ease in to writing about the show, one blog post a month. HBO helped me out last month by releasing two trailers for the season, featuring the opposing perspective of the two factions: the Blacks and the Greens. My write-up of the trailer for my dad counted as my monthly blog post submission.

This month – since the show doesn’t have the cool traversing-the-globe opening credit sequence that Game of Thrones had – I wanted to lay out some of the geography for those not fully up on where things are located in Westeros.

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House of the Dragons’ Dueling Trailers (a Trailer Breakdown for My Dad)

Posted: March 24, 2024 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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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.

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Rhaenyra’s Ex-Boyfriend and X-ed Boyfriend

Posted: February 17, 2024 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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We’re another month closer to Season Two of HBO’s House of the Dragon, but there’s still plenty of time to write about Season One. In particular, about two men in Princess Rhaenyra’s –

Rhaenyra Targaryen: That’s Queen Rhaenyra, thank you.
Me: My bad, I’m sorry Your Grace.

– about two men in Queen Rhaenyra’s dating history – Ser Criston Cole and Ser Harwin Strong.

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Rhaenyra and Relationship Roulette

Posted: January 31, 2024 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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HBO’s House of the Dragon will be returning this Summer, and with it return the complicated relationships between its major players. Complicated Relationships is an illustrative phrase when describing Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen’s role in the show.

Rhaenyra: That’s Queen Rhaenyra, actually.
Me: I regret my error.

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The Dad-Focused Breakdown of the House of the Dragon (Season 2) Teaser Trailer

Posted: December 3, 2023 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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On Saturday, December 2nd, 2023, HBO released a teaser trailer for their upcoming Summer 2024 show House of the Dragon, airing its second season. Within hours, trailer breakdowns were crafted by the usual explainers – that’s awesome to see. But none of them, I feel, are going to be suitable for my dad.

Dad Sponaugle has read all of the main A Song of Ice and Fire books, has seen Game of Thrones, but hasn’t read Fire and Blood. It wasn’t hard to get him to watch House of the Dragon, but I wanted him to see the show with at least some context – non-spoilery context, so for Season One I wrote up trailer breakdowns as they came out.

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In Defense of Otto Hightower

Posted: September 10, 2022 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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So, here’s some background. After the third episode of House of the Dragon, I felt some sympathy for Otto Hightower, and as a joke I tweeted (as one does…)

New Draft: In Defense of Otto Hightower

People got so crazy about that, it was clear that I had just committed myself to writing an Otto Hightower defense.

The good folks at Watchers on the Wall did not deny me when I suggested this as a feature article, and the die was cast.

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Regarding the Kingsguard

Posted: September 3, 2022 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, TV
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House of the Dragon, HBO’s next series set in George RR Martin’s Seven Kingdoms (more or less Seven) is now airing, and I’ve been fortunate enough to resume my role as occasional contributor to the Game of Thrones-centric fansite Watchers on the Wall.

The second episode featured the crown’s heir-designate Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen, tasked to choose a replacement Kingsguard, to fill in an absence. I felt that this was a good opportunity to talk about the institution of the Kingsguard. Look, this might sound dull, but I’m a funny writer. My dad will back me up.

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