Fans Hope House Of The Dragon Will Bring This Important Piece Of Valyrian Culture To The Screen
On May 5, HBO released a nearly two-minute-long trailer for its upcoming "Game of Thrones" prequel titled "House of the Dragon." This new series will chronicle the lives and adventures of characters from "Game of Thrones" past, including names like Rickard Stark and Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine).
While this will mark the first proper "Game of Thrones" content on HBO since the conclusion of the mainline series in 2019, it arguably comes with certain caveats. For example, "House of the Dragon" will have to somehow overcome the fact that it's a prequel, meaning that existing "Game of Thrones" fans already know many key details about the fates of its key players and their kin. Furthermore, certain characters — namely, Rickard Stark and Viserys Targaryen — serve as inspiration for the names of some of their ancestors in "Game of Thrones," which may well lead to some confusion in viewers mixing up these multiple characters with identical first and last names.
Of course, fans of the "Game of Thrones" franchise have plenty to look forward to as well. Specifically, following the premiere of its May 5 trailer, a number of fans online shared their excitement for what they believe to be an important Valyrian ritual outlined in the show's source material appearing for the first time on TV.
House of Dragons will likely include the first depiction of a Valyrian wedding
After the premiere of the May 5 trailer for "House of the Dragon," one user shared a screencap to the official subreddit for the series of the faces of Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) and Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D'Arcy) opposite one another. In the thread's title they mentioned that they believe this to be a Valyrian-style wedding, and one of the first depictions of Valyrian culture in a "Game of Thrones" TV series. In response, many users either corroborated the idea that this is indeed a shot of a Valyrian wedding or shared their excitement about its inclusion.
According to A Wiki of Fire and Ice, Valyrians often marry family members to one another, and sometimes engage in polygamy. While Daemon and Rhaenyra are indeed uncle and niece, commenters in the Reddit thread described particularly looking forward to unique Valyrian wedding customs, like both spouses cutting and joining their hands together.
Thus far, the Valyrian language — kept alive by the Targaryens, who are some of the only surviving Valyrians — is one of the sole artifacts of Valyrian culture featured in "Game of Thrones." In fact, Daenerys Targaryen actor Emilia Clarke once improvised a monologue entirely in Valyrian (via Entertainment Weekly).
If these Reddit posters are correct, then, viewers interested in learning about Valyrian beyond just its language can look forward to a Valyrian wedding at some point after "House of the Dragon" premieres on August 21, 2022.