LOS ANGELES — House of the Dragon showrunners Ryan J. Condal and Miguel Sapochnik discussed the metaphors hidden within the show during an ‘Inside the Episode’ featurette following a new episode which aired Sunday night.
“One of the major themes of the show is that big lizards are really cool. That’s what we were trying to symbolize with the dragon characters, which in a sense, are very large lizards. It may seem subtle, but that one was one of the major themes we had in mind when we came on board for this project,” Condal explained. “A lot of people seem to think the dragons represent nuclear weapons for some reason, which is really odd, because they didn’t have nukes in medieval times, which is when House of the Dragon takes place. They didn’t even have guns back then; everyone had swords and horses and such. Obviously we’re willing to make concessions for the sake of art, but we want to keep the show as historically accurate as possible. So, no, there’s no nukes or even bombs in the show — just normal dragons.”
Sapochnik further explained some of the other hidden meanings of the show.
“We really want to reward fans with rewatches of House of the Dragon, which is why we made it so layered. After this season ends, I think people are really going to love going back and seeing themes like ‘swords are very sharp and scary’ come to life in these early episodes,” Sapochnik said. “The throne is even made of swords and even occasionally cuts King Viserys I, which is a subtle allusion to the scariness and sharpness of those swords. I don’t want to give anything away, but I think fans are also really going to connect with some of the ideas we have coming up that I’ve never seen done before in a show, like how sex is really hot but also sometimes bad.”
Fans of the series remain cautiously optimistic following the release of episode two.
“I really want to like House of the Dragon, but Game of Thrones let me down so hard by the end. I’m not sure I’m ready to be hurt again,” said redditor u/holdmydoor87. “But it’s really comforting watching these behind-the-scenes things and seeing that the guys in charge really have a plan and know what they’re doing. The original show borrowed a lot from the books, but then dropped its most important themes as they ran out of material, like how cool big wolves are. Where did the big wolves go? I’m happy to hear that the new show is committed to having throughlines like the dragons that will make it to the end of the series. I had no idea they represented big cool lizards, but it makes so much sense.”
As of press time, thousands of YouTubers flocked to their channels to upload 30-minute videos entitled HOUSE OF THE DRAGON – THE DRAGONS – EXPLAINED! for viewers who watched the ‘Inside the Episode’ featurette, but still couldn’t wrap their heads around the idea that the dragons symbolize big cool lizards.
