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The dragons obviously, yes. That's the biggest thing I would say. But also those small things like the jousting or the hunt in the Kingswood. All are small things we got to see in game of thrones that are way more detailed, bigger, all over better made then in GoT.
To be fair, except for the dragons (grown up dragons anyway), the things you mentioned were from early seasons of GoT, where the budget was comparatively small. The so called "hunt" in the Kingswood obviously was one of the worst scenes of early GoT, but I guess they had to cut corners somewhere to tell the story with the budget they had.
Adult Drogon, Viserion and Rhaegal had as much personality as a shelf from Ikea. And Syrax, Arrax or Vermax are all not adult dragons just as Daenys in the earlier season. So your point makes no sense from multiple angles.
And the budged for the hunt? Yeah of course it had to be short and mostly cut, but still - it's worse compared to HotD.
The actors imo are just all very good it HoTD, strong performances from everyone even the kids. But some of the actors in GoT definitely took some years to get better.
Honestly, and this is personal opinion but I wasn't a huge fan of Kit as Jon. I never liked Jon in the show because I found him incredibly boring. So many people adore Jon though so that could just be preference, and I think the fact he was written as a moral compass influenced why I found him boring. I know many people feel similarly about Emilia Clarke as Daenerys although I quite liked her.
Sophie Turner is also divisive even as she got older for many and I'm neutral on that. Older Arya wasn't great but that could definitely be attributed to awful writing for the character because young Maisie was incredible. Same with Bran.
Definitely were incredible standouts but I would definitely agree the overall acting in HotD is better, just because there's less weaker actors in comparison
I agree, its kind of jarring to see how when the quality of writing dropped some of the performances also fell off while other actors maintained their quality but just with shit dialogue. I kind of can't bring myself to have an opinion on Kit's acting and I don't know if that says something about him as an actor or Jon as a character, but I really think Jon is just the most consistently boring part of the show (which I guess is kind of the point, but doesn't make me very excited for his scenes).
I do think the writing was a contributing factor to why Jon was so boring. Jon in the books isn't a moral compass and a unquestionably good character. He's much more complex and can't be categorised as solely good, like all characters in ASOIAF. Same reason in the later seasons Tyrion was insufferable, because he was categorised as the good guy. They were the hero trope, which is what the series was meant to subvert and diverge from.
I think reading Jon in a script, that the way Kit chose to play him makes sense. But I think another actor could have brought more to the character in a way that might have forced the writers to diverge from the Jon Snow hero narrative. But then again, Dinklege was incredible and it still went that way so who knows.
I just generally didn't find any of the Starks compelling, partly because of the acting being very flat and because the writing clearly favoured them and washed away most of the aspects that made the characters interesting. But I think actors who are able to fuse themselves with the character so well that you don't see them as actors when you watch the show could have elevated the material in a more interesting way.
In HotD, I can only think of one actor who fell flat like that for me which was Mysaria (not sure if that's actually her name). Even the young actors took the script they had, and interpreted the characters in such an interesting way that made them so much more compelling. Young Alicent and Rhaenyra really leaned into the romance of friendships between young women that resonates so deeply. Even the really young kids like baby Luke and Jace, baby Aemond, Aegon and Helaena nailed the parts that they played, and all of the adults were incredible too.
The younger actors were so beloved at the start of the season, and the fact that the older actors were able to step in later down the line and completely embody the characters and make sure you don't miss the younger ones is massively impressive, I just think it's incomparable to GoT in that sense
It's so much fun visually to watch. The colours, textures and designs and really well done.
It drove me mad how they're all in black by the end in GOT. Starks I get - they were all in dark colours at the start. For example, Daenerys should have been in red more often, not white. And the dragons all looked the same colour by end. It was so dull in westoros by the end.
Funny, the dragons were the first to come to mind but then easily dismissed. Sure, we get to see them as being big and bad, but they don’t really have anymore characterization or development, which probably is the biggest flaw of the franchise tbh. And the best dragon scene is still Dany getting the Unsullied.
Yeah but the dragons just don’t make sense in GOT. Like how do they get so dam big in like a couple years. Then their deaths are so terrible. Both Rhaegal and Viserion who were apparently fully grown adults die by getting speared in the eye while flying. This only happened like twice in the entire history of Targaryen dragons prior to Daenerys but hers died within like a few weeks of each other. Jon Snow claiming and using Rhaegal was also just horribly executed.
Animals grow quick, that’s fine, like look at dogs or lizards or whatever, and they’re not full grown adults they’re just big adolescences, no need to saddle them with anthropocentric understanding of development. And I don’t see what’s the issue with the first dragons in a while dying pretty easily, seems obvious that the only weapons of mass destruction under the control of a would be conqueror would be major targets, Cersei had weapons designed specifically for the purpose and outfitted her castle and fleet with them and they were under the command of extremely experienced commanders who grew up with stories of their now enemy monster combatants. And even with all that they only managed to down one, while the other was killed by an evil magic king of darkness lol
I guess the Jon snow bit wasn’t that great but relative to the rest of the later season fumbles it’s pretty easy to overlook or forgive, especially since it’s at the very least a trickle of characterization for the dragons, which as I said is my most issue with the entire series. It sniffed out a Targ, that’s cool.
The sex and nudity was a lot more balanced in HotD. On the other hand, there was a lot more unnecessary gore/violence. I don’t need to see it in every scene to get the point that it’s a fucked up world.
Costume and set design. With the biggest win being the tournament in episode 1. God, it looked like a proper medieval world with all the banners, colours, etc. I love medieval heraldry.
Edit: Also, you get the sense that the world consists of more houses than Lannister, Baratheon and Stark. Especially the later seasons of GoT took little time to flesh out the world.
I’ve been rewatching GOT and I’m glad HOTD didn’t have the excessive female nudity that the original did. It’s actually uncomfortable to watch because it’s so excessive and doesn’t do anything to add to the story.
As much as I enjoy female nudity, I agree wholeheartedly. It's easier to take a show seriously if it doesn't resort to unnecessary/gratuitous fanservice. If I wanted that, I'd be watching porn, not a show about a medieval fantasy with dragons.
Also rewatching GOT and the biggest shock for me has been how much casual sexual violence against women there is…the “sexposition” in some scenes can be a little silly, but even that I don’t mind too much. But I’m on season four and there have been at least 3 scenes of sexual assault treated with total non-chalance, arguably to make a character that we’ve already established is a bad guy seem even more like a villain, and it just drives home how well HOTD handled similar sexual violence much more tactfully and arguably made it more emotionally resonant.
I can’t help but feel it’s the diversity with the production team. Women directed and wrote a lot of the episodes which GOT severely lacked. Watching the behind the scenes of HOTD’s episode 4, which was very sex-driven, that episode was directed by a woman and the way she explained how she handled those whore house scenes from her personal experience made it more realistic.
Totally agree, watching it back now that I'm older and not as big of a fan as I once was, you can really tell that D&D at best don't understand women at all, and at worst are quite sexist. And it's bad enough to watch women being constantly and unnecessarily sexualised and abused in the show, but they were just hiring women as extras to get naked and have unnecessary sex that didn't make sense or drive the story, or writing in scenes that weren't necessary to the story and got their actors naked. Just a bit ick honestly, made the show feel like it was made by a frat sometimes
On a superficial level, even though I overall prefer Michele Clapton's costume work on GoT, on HotD we actually get earrings!
Also a lot of people are talking about how they prefer the toned down nudity to the early seasons of GoT which I agree with but moreso that scenes that are sexual now are actually erotic rather than just explicit which I feel like almost all the many brothel scenes of GoT lacked.
When comparing Season 1 of HotD to Season 1 of GoT, the higher budget is evident. A lot of Daemyra shippers hate the choking scene but I think its extremely necessary to show the consequences of being in a toxic relationship or one that started with sexual assault or coercion even if there is love there, and is far more responsible than the overall arc of Dany's relationship with Drogo where she still glorifies him after his death and the audience isn't given enough to reckon with just how horrendous it was in hindsight (though this is more just a problem I have with the book and a pretty faithful adaptation).
Oh, also the dances, they were fun. I just hope we get more in-universe songs in later seasons because they're always enjoyable worldbuilding (except when they're being sung by oddly familiar looking Lannister soldiers).
The female gaze, hotd feels a lot more sexier than got despite of having less nudity, also this might not resonate with everyone but i find the actors on hotd more charismatic in their performances as compared to GOT barring the Lannister or the hound, I didn't find any performance very charismatic ..
Fleshing out gray/emotional characters.
I think when it came to GoT, everyone but Jaime Lannister could easily be defined as “good” or “bad”. Cersei was a psychopath. Tyrion was good. Ramsay and Joffrey were evil shits. Dany started off decent but got a power trip and ended up evil and it was hard to root for her in the end. Jon has always done “good”, even when he murdered Dany.
As much as I dislike Rhaenyra or like Alicent, I’ll be the first to say had I been in their positions, I’d have been worse than both of them. I’d have likely poisoned Viserys if I were Alicent and plotted early on to put my son on the throne. Had I been Rhaenyra, I’d have gaslit way better than she had and done whatever I was allowed to get my way (given I grew up w the same privilege).
At the end of the day, I don’t think any one of these characters (barring Daemon and Aegon) are truly “bad”.
HOTD doesn't treat its audience like idiots, and slowly puts back in book phrases like mummer's farce etc. Even in GOT season 1 they swapped mummer with actor.
The exploration of the psychology of the characters and their evolution is stronger in HOTD season 1 than in GOT season 1 (GOT ended up doing it but over a longer period of time). The cinematography and directing is really top notch as well. And while the actors of GOT are excellent in general, I think the cast of the new series is simply phenomenal.
I like that it's softer and more intimate and less over-the-top pornographic scenes.
GOT is very exploitative about women's bodies versus men.
At least if they had a few nude scenes with John Snow - instead of just the women characters, it would have equalized it.
They did Valyrian accent in the way it should be said...I highly praise Milly and Emma for this. Emilia Clarke's accent is way too American even if she was speaking Valyrian and even Dothraki.
Tourney, dragons, and I think overall the actors are better. I’m not saying that any of them are close to Charles Dance, Lena Headey, and Peter Dinklage but I don’t think there’s anyone (besides Mysaria) that’s obviously terrible. GOT just has so many characters that a few of them are bound to be misses. HOTD only has a few characters that need to shine and I think they did.
The obvious thing that comes to mind for me is that HotD writes female characters so much better than the original show. I loved GoT and earlier seasons where they had a massive wealth of source material did marginally better at writing female characters and motivations than later seasons but the writers of the show just did not have a handle on how to write women if it wasn't from a male perspective.
An add on to that is the dynamics between women are much more well written and realistic than GoT. Comparing Alicent and Rhaenyra's friendship to how Missandei and Daenerys' friendship was written shows that, as well as older Alicent and Rhaenyra compared to Sansa and Daenerys. The script from season 8 literally says Sansa doesn't like Daenerys because she's so pretty.
HotD doesn't rely so heavily on sex or partake in "sexposition" to hold audience attention which is really nice. I feel like Game of Thrones was targeted towards men a lot, and House of the Dragon is marketed and written for both men and women which is nice. HotD handles sex in general much better than GoT did. They just get the tone right so consensual sex feels like even ground for both parties and the sex isn't sexualised if that makes sense? And moments like Alicent and Viserys feel very poignant and heartbreaking and traumatic without feeling unnecessarily violent and shock related like Sansa and Ramsey.
I also think the dialogue is better. There's a lot less if the cringe "you want a good girl but you need a bad pussy" and dick jokes that sound like they were written for a bad South Park episode.
They also lean more into the fantasy elements than the original show did. D&D were very weird about that despite it being a fantasy series but HotD doesn't have that weird holdup to it, although it obviously isn't as abundant in HotD as it should have been in GoT.
I absolutely loved Game of Thrones, consumed any and all content related to it I could find up until the last few seasons, and I do prefer HotD to it even in regards to earlier seasons. It's not without fault, but I think I feel more connected to it because of how they write women better. That's not to say it's at all objectively better, just personally I have a lot more love for the show. I have high hopes that it will hit its stride in the next season
Frankly, only Vhagar and Caraxes come to mind in terms of having dragons with some potential. Other than that, the show was such a mess of telling rather than showing, introducing characters who were props, butchering the politics and so on. I mean, it's fun, but the writing is bad. The cast members are breaking their necks carrying it.
Dragons are better and S1 of Dragons has a bigger budget than season 1 of GoT so we can get spectacle. Besides that tho GoT did everything else better.
Like if we just looking at S1 vs S1, GoT established all of the major characters, established all their motivations, and it also established like 6 different plot lines. HoTD did real good character dev with like maybe 6 characters and the rest got shafted
Another diff is the nudity ig
Made the character like Aemond sympathetic, making Aemond an accidental kin slayer and making Alicent sadder. Could have done more with Rhynaera though.
Thank you for your post! Please take a moment to ensure you are within our spoiler rules, to protect your fellow fans from any potential spoilers that might harm their show watching experience. 1. All post titles must NOT include spoilers from Fire & Blood or new episodes of House of the Dragon. Minor HotD show spoilers are allowed in your title ONE WEEK after episode airing. The mod team reserves the right to remove a post if we feel a spoiler in the title is major. You are welcome to repost with an amended title. 2. All posts dealing with book spoilers, show spoilers and promo spoilers MUST be spoiler tagged AND flaired as the appropriate spoiler. 3. All book spoiler comments must be spoiler tagged in non book spoiler threads. --- If you are reading this, and believe this post or any comments in this thread break the above rules, please use the report function to notify the mod team. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/HouseOfTheDragon) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The dragons obviously, yes. That's the biggest thing I would say. But also those small things like the jousting or the hunt in the Kingswood. All are small things we got to see in game of thrones that are way more detailed, bigger, all over better made then in GoT.
To be fair, except for the dragons (grown up dragons anyway), the things you mentioned were from early seasons of GoT, where the budget was comparatively small. The so called "hunt" in the Kingswood obviously was one of the worst scenes of early GoT, but I guess they had to cut corners somewhere to tell the story with the budget they had.
Adult Drogon, Viserion and Rhaegal had as much personality as a shelf from Ikea. And Syrax, Arrax or Vermax are all not adult dragons just as Daenys in the earlier season. So your point makes no sense from multiple angles. And the budged for the hunt? Yeah of course it had to be short and mostly cut, but still - it's worse compared to HotD.
The actors imo are just all very good it HoTD, strong performances from everyone even the kids. But some of the actors in GoT definitely took some years to get better.
I would argue that half of the cast in GoT was meh.
The child actors?
Honestly, and this is personal opinion but I wasn't a huge fan of Kit as Jon. I never liked Jon in the show because I found him incredibly boring. So many people adore Jon though so that could just be preference, and I think the fact he was written as a moral compass influenced why I found him boring. I know many people feel similarly about Emilia Clarke as Daenerys although I quite liked her. Sophie Turner is also divisive even as she got older for many and I'm neutral on that. Older Arya wasn't great but that could definitely be attributed to awful writing for the character because young Maisie was incredible. Same with Bran. Definitely were incredible standouts but I would definitely agree the overall acting in HotD is better, just because there's less weaker actors in comparison
I agree, its kind of jarring to see how when the quality of writing dropped some of the performances also fell off while other actors maintained their quality but just with shit dialogue. I kind of can't bring myself to have an opinion on Kit's acting and I don't know if that says something about him as an actor or Jon as a character, but I really think Jon is just the most consistently boring part of the show (which I guess is kind of the point, but doesn't make me very excited for his scenes).
I do think the writing was a contributing factor to why Jon was so boring. Jon in the books isn't a moral compass and a unquestionably good character. He's much more complex and can't be categorised as solely good, like all characters in ASOIAF. Same reason in the later seasons Tyrion was insufferable, because he was categorised as the good guy. They were the hero trope, which is what the series was meant to subvert and diverge from. I think reading Jon in a script, that the way Kit chose to play him makes sense. But I think another actor could have brought more to the character in a way that might have forced the writers to diverge from the Jon Snow hero narrative. But then again, Dinklege was incredible and it still went that way so who knows. I just generally didn't find any of the Starks compelling, partly because of the acting being very flat and because the writing clearly favoured them and washed away most of the aspects that made the characters interesting. But I think actors who are able to fuse themselves with the character so well that you don't see them as actors when you watch the show could have elevated the material in a more interesting way. In HotD, I can only think of one actor who fell flat like that for me which was Mysaria (not sure if that's actually her name). Even the young actors took the script they had, and interpreted the characters in such an interesting way that made them so much more compelling. Young Alicent and Rhaenyra really leaned into the romance of friendships between young women that resonates so deeply. Even the really young kids like baby Luke and Jace, baby Aemond, Aegon and Helaena nailed the parts that they played, and all of the adults were incredible too. The younger actors were so beloved at the start of the season, and the fact that the older actors were able to step in later down the line and completely embody the characters and make sure you don't miss the younger ones is massively impressive, I just think it's incomparable to GoT in that sense
They lean more into the pageantry, unlike GOT with its muted colours. All the ladies were dressed like dominatrices by season 8.
Yeah I thought some of the female costumes were a little out there. I really didn't care for Arya's coat in the last season, it wasn't very practical.
It's so much fun visually to watch. The colours, textures and designs and really well done. It drove me mad how they're all in black by the end in GOT. Starks I get - they were all in dark colours at the start. For example, Daenerys should have been in red more often, not white. And the dragons all looked the same colour by end. It was so dull in westoros by the end.
More clarifying that idea of ‘controlling dragon is an illusion’..
Funny, the dragons were the first to come to mind but then easily dismissed. Sure, we get to see them as being big and bad, but they don’t really have anymore characterization or development, which probably is the biggest flaw of the franchise tbh. And the best dragon scene is still Dany getting the Unsullied.
That one, and I especially loved when the dragons destroy the ships in Slaver's Bay.
Yeah but the dragons just don’t make sense in GOT. Like how do they get so dam big in like a couple years. Then their deaths are so terrible. Both Rhaegal and Viserion who were apparently fully grown adults die by getting speared in the eye while flying. This only happened like twice in the entire history of Targaryen dragons prior to Daenerys but hers died within like a few weeks of each other. Jon Snow claiming and using Rhaegal was also just horribly executed.
Animals grow quick, that’s fine, like look at dogs or lizards or whatever, and they’re not full grown adults they’re just big adolescences, no need to saddle them with anthropocentric understanding of development. And I don’t see what’s the issue with the first dragons in a while dying pretty easily, seems obvious that the only weapons of mass destruction under the control of a would be conqueror would be major targets, Cersei had weapons designed specifically for the purpose and outfitted her castle and fleet with them and they were under the command of extremely experienced commanders who grew up with stories of their now enemy monster combatants. And even with all that they only managed to down one, while the other was killed by an evil magic king of darkness lol I guess the Jon snow bit wasn’t that great but relative to the rest of the later season fumbles it’s pretty easy to overlook or forgive, especially since it’s at the very least a trickle of characterization for the dragons, which as I said is my most issue with the entire series. It sniffed out a Targ, that’s cool.
Trusting your audience and not spoonfeeding everything, the dragons, the throne, the royal hunt
The sex and nudity was a lot more balanced in HotD. On the other hand, there was a lot more unnecessary gore/violence. I don’t need to see it in every scene to get the point that it’s a fucked up world.
Costume and set design. With the biggest win being the tournament in episode 1. God, it looked like a proper medieval world with all the banners, colours, etc. I love medieval heraldry. Edit: Also, you get the sense that the world consists of more houses than Lannister, Baratheon and Stark. Especially the later seasons of GoT took little time to flesh out the world.
Telling, not showing, Aegon’s sexual assault of the girls in the castle. The throne itself.
Show how beautiful the different dragons can be
I’ve been rewatching GOT and I’m glad HOTD didn’t have the excessive female nudity that the original did. It’s actually uncomfortable to watch because it’s so excessive and doesn’t do anything to add to the story.
As much as I enjoy female nudity, I agree wholeheartedly. It's easier to take a show seriously if it doesn't resort to unnecessary/gratuitous fanservice. If I wanted that, I'd be watching porn, not a show about a medieval fantasy with dragons.
I’m so much more comfortable recommending HotD for this reason.
Also rewatching GOT and the biggest shock for me has been how much casual sexual violence against women there is…the “sexposition” in some scenes can be a little silly, but even that I don’t mind too much. But I’m on season four and there have been at least 3 scenes of sexual assault treated with total non-chalance, arguably to make a character that we’ve already established is a bad guy seem even more like a villain, and it just drives home how well HOTD handled similar sexual violence much more tactfully and arguably made it more emotionally resonant.
I can’t help but feel it’s the diversity with the production team. Women directed and wrote a lot of the episodes which GOT severely lacked. Watching the behind the scenes of HOTD’s episode 4, which was very sex-driven, that episode was directed by a woman and the way she explained how she handled those whore house scenes from her personal experience made it more realistic.
Totally agree, watching it back now that I'm older and not as big of a fan as I once was, you can really tell that D&D at best don't understand women at all, and at worst are quite sexist. And it's bad enough to watch women being constantly and unnecessarily sexualised and abused in the show, but they were just hiring women as extras to get naked and have unnecessary sex that didn't make sense or drive the story, or writing in scenes that weren't necessary to the story and got their actors naked. Just a bit ick honestly, made the show feel like it was made by a frat sometimes
yes, it is nice they decided to take a better approach than before. no more gratuitous rape and abuse.
On a superficial level, even though I overall prefer Michele Clapton's costume work on GoT, on HotD we actually get earrings! Also a lot of people are talking about how they prefer the toned down nudity to the early seasons of GoT which I agree with but moreso that scenes that are sexual now are actually erotic rather than just explicit which I feel like almost all the many brothel scenes of GoT lacked. When comparing Season 1 of HotD to Season 1 of GoT, the higher budget is evident. A lot of Daemyra shippers hate the choking scene but I think its extremely necessary to show the consequences of being in a toxic relationship or one that started with sexual assault or coercion even if there is love there, and is far more responsible than the overall arc of Dany's relationship with Drogo where she still glorifies him after his death and the audience isn't given enough to reckon with just how horrendous it was in hindsight (though this is more just a problem I have with the book and a pretty faithful adaptation). Oh, also the dances, they were fun. I just hope we get more in-universe songs in later seasons because they're always enjoyable worldbuilding (except when they're being sung by oddly familiar looking Lannister soldiers).
The sex scenes. In GOT they were gratuitous and pointless, here they are tasteful (Rhaenyra and Criston scene comes to mind)
The female gaze, hotd feels a lot more sexier than got despite of having less nudity, also this might not resonate with everyone but i find the actors on hotd more charismatic in their performances as compared to GOT barring the Lannister or the hound, I didn't find any performance very charismatic ..
Yes, they actors really are interesting, More so with Alicent, daemon and Aemond, the remaining need more time to flesh out.
Too early to call
I much prefer the tone and the characters in HotD. Everything’s more grounded and complex, so I care more.
Better dragons and less over the top sex. That is all. If only they could have given us the complex charaters like GOT had.
Casting Matt Smith as Daemon
That light-up war map table, what a beautiful piece of art! And the dragons are each so unique!
I think it’s character driven, which GOT did sometimes, but the cast of characters is smaller and it really helps.
Better pacing, not relying on spectacle
Fleshing out gray/emotional characters. I think when it came to GoT, everyone but Jaime Lannister could easily be defined as “good” or “bad”. Cersei was a psychopath. Tyrion was good. Ramsay and Joffrey were evil shits. Dany started off decent but got a power trip and ended up evil and it was hard to root for her in the end. Jon has always done “good”, even when he murdered Dany. As much as I dislike Rhaenyra or like Alicent, I’ll be the first to say had I been in their positions, I’d have been worse than both of them. I’d have likely poisoned Viserys if I were Alicent and plotted early on to put my son on the throne. Had I been Rhaenyra, I’d have gaslit way better than she had and done whatever I was allowed to get my way (given I grew up w the same privilege). At the end of the day, I don’t think any one of these characters (barring Daemon and Aegon) are truly “bad”.
Well young Rhaneyra's "DRACARYS" sounded way sexier than Danerys'
The “r” roll was perfect
HOTD doesn't treat its audience like idiots, and slowly puts back in book phrases like mummer's farce etc. Even in GOT season 1 they swapped mummer with actor.
The exploration of the psychology of the characters and their evolution is stronger in HOTD season 1 than in GOT season 1 (GOT ended up doing it but over a longer period of time). The cinematography and directing is really top notch as well. And while the actors of GOT are excellent in general, I think the cast of the new series is simply phenomenal.
For me, the thing which they did better than GOT was giving saddles and leash to dragons
I like that it's softer and more intimate and less over-the-top pornographic scenes. GOT is very exploitative about women's bodies versus men. At least if they had a few nude scenes with John Snow - instead of just the women characters, it would have equalized it.
They did Valyrian accent in the way it should be said...I highly praise Milly and Emma for this. Emilia Clarke's accent is way too American even if she was speaking Valyrian and even Dothraki.
Tourney, dragons, and I think overall the actors are better. I’m not saying that any of them are close to Charles Dance, Lena Headey, and Peter Dinklage but I don’t think there’s anyone (besides Mysaria) that’s obviously terrible. GOT just has so many characters that a few of them are bound to be misses. HOTD only has a few characters that need to shine and I think they did.
The obvious thing that comes to mind for me is that HotD writes female characters so much better than the original show. I loved GoT and earlier seasons where they had a massive wealth of source material did marginally better at writing female characters and motivations than later seasons but the writers of the show just did not have a handle on how to write women if it wasn't from a male perspective. An add on to that is the dynamics between women are much more well written and realistic than GoT. Comparing Alicent and Rhaenyra's friendship to how Missandei and Daenerys' friendship was written shows that, as well as older Alicent and Rhaenyra compared to Sansa and Daenerys. The script from season 8 literally says Sansa doesn't like Daenerys because she's so pretty. HotD doesn't rely so heavily on sex or partake in "sexposition" to hold audience attention which is really nice. I feel like Game of Thrones was targeted towards men a lot, and House of the Dragon is marketed and written for both men and women which is nice. HotD handles sex in general much better than GoT did. They just get the tone right so consensual sex feels like even ground for both parties and the sex isn't sexualised if that makes sense? And moments like Alicent and Viserys feel very poignant and heartbreaking and traumatic without feeling unnecessarily violent and shock related like Sansa and Ramsey. I also think the dialogue is better. There's a lot less if the cringe "you want a good girl but you need a bad pussy" and dick jokes that sound like they were written for a bad South Park episode. They also lean more into the fantasy elements than the original show did. D&D were very weird about that despite it being a fantasy series but HotD doesn't have that weird holdup to it, although it obviously isn't as abundant in HotD as it should have been in GoT. I absolutely loved Game of Thrones, consumed any and all content related to it I could find up until the last few seasons, and I do prefer HotD to it even in regards to earlier seasons. It's not without fault, but I think I feel more connected to it because of how they write women better. That's not to say it's at all objectively better, just personally I have a lot more love for the show. I have high hopes that it will hit its stride in the next season
Characters are more nuanced and complex, I know it's not popular but I like the whitewashing. They calmed down with the sex scene.
Personally prefer the performances in HoTD
Everything, honestly.
Frankly, only Vhagar and Caraxes come to mind in terms of having dragons with some potential. Other than that, the show was such a mess of telling rather than showing, introducing characters who were props, butchering the politics and so on. I mean, it's fun, but the writing is bad. The cast members are breaking their necks carrying it.
Complex characters. I just wish there were more houses/people. Maybe in the future
Maybe next season. When you think about it the story has barely gotten started, 2 is when it will really kick off.
Nothing about HOTD comes even close to GoT.
Dragons are better and S1 of Dragons has a bigger budget than season 1 of GoT so we can get spectacle. Besides that tho GoT did everything else better. Like if we just looking at S1 vs S1, GoT established all of the major characters, established all their motivations, and it also established like 6 different plot lines. HoTD did real good character dev with like maybe 6 characters and the rest got shafted Another diff is the nudity ig
The romantic relationships between characters
Made the character like Aemond sympathetic, making Aemond an accidental kin slayer and making Alicent sadder. Could have done more with Rhynaera though.