The “House of the Dragon” teaser trailer was littered with subtle and obvious easter eggs from the original “Game of Thrones” series and “A Song of Ice and Fire” books, after the trailer for the prequel show dropped on Oct. 5.
To audiences who never watched or were unfamiliar with the flagship series, the trailer gave no details about the plot of the show or its characters. Die-hard GOT fans, however, freaked out the second they saw the iconic Targaryen white hair.
The show is set 200 years before the end of the original series when the Targaryens ruled Westeros and rode dragons to assert their power.
Excitement built as the GOT theme song vocalized and fans got their first glimpse of Matt Smith as Prince Daemon Targaryen and Emma D’Arcy as Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen. The characters stood on the shore staring out at the sea, hinting at a brewing conflict in the house.
There is a brief shot of a dragon sleeping around a bed of candles, then cuts to a glimpse of what appears to be Rhys Ifans as Otto Hightower adjusts the hand of the king pin on his jacket.
The pin is quickly recognized as a symbol of power in the GOT world, as powerful characters such as Tywin Lannister and Tyrion Lannister have taken the position of the king or queen’s hand.
A man who appears to be Patrick George Considine as Viserys Targaryen sits on the iron throne and wraps his fingers around a sword, prominently displaying his Targaryen ring. The shot cuts away quickly, but by pausing the trailer audiences can see the subtle details.
The sword Considine is holding has a dragon wing cross guard, showing the symbolism and power of the Targaryen house.
Milly Alcock as a younger Rhaenyra Targaryen stands in front of the iron throne, staring dramatically into the camera.
A younger Rhaenyra raises several possibilities, such as a time jump during the season or multiple flashbacks.
It could also indicate the return of the “Three-Eyed-Raven,” who had the power to see into the past. Fans will remember during the GOT season 6 finale, the raven saw a young Ned Stark in the past.
The trailer shows a fight scene between a Targaryen and another armored man in an arena, as the Targaryen cuts through his opponent.
Proud houses in Westeros display their sigil everywhere they go, and because of their wealth, they make outfits and armor to show the symbolism of their sigil.
The Targaryen sigil is a red three-headed dragon on a black field, as displayed by the Targaryen fighter’s shield. His armor also resembles dragon scales as the armor plates are layered and designed to invoke the image of the fire-breathing beast.
His sword also has a dragon winged crossguard, but the sword is different from the weapon at the beginning of the trailer.
It is unknown if the sword is Valerian steel since the Targaryens originate from Valeria in Esos.
Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon enters the throne room with what appears to be his family. They each have snow-white dreadlocks and wear similar clothes with gold and black colors and jewels.
Toussaint wears a sigil on his chest, of what appears to be a gold sea horse.
Velaryon is a nautical adventurer from Valeria, perhaps bringing Valerian steel.
The white hair also suggests the possibility of blood relation to the Targaryens, but is unlikely as the Targaryens prefer to mate through incest to keep their bloodline pure.
A quick shot of Sonoya Mizuno as Lady Mysaria is shown as she stares dramatically through a smokey environment.
Fans with a close eye will notice in the next scene that Alicent Hightower, Olivia Cook, runs through the throne room with the Valerian steel dagger Arya Stark uses to kill the Knight King in GOT season 8.
A tournament joust also shows quick glimpses of iconic house banners such as Stark dire wolves, Bolton flayed men, Lannister lions, Martell suns and Tarly huntsman.
After a snippet of a sword fight, the iron throne is revealed.
Fans finally receive the closest book-accurate design of the iron throne, with hundreds of more swords than seen in GOT. Swords from hundreds of Targaryen enemies are melted together with dragon fire, to create the literal seat of power in Westeros.
This also raises the question of what happened to the additional swords within the two centuries between the spinoff and original series.
Audiences’ questions will be answered when the series premiers in 2022.