Everyone has heard some version of the idea that history repeats itself, and that is even more true in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire. For instance, the kidnapping of Lyanna Stark and execution of Rickard (and Brandon) Stark prompted Ned to participate in Robert's Rebellion, just like the execution of Ned and capture of his daughter Sansa will prompt his son Robb to become a rebel and rise against the crown years later.
This is also incredibly obvious in the parallel story arcs between Game of Thrones and its prequel series House of the Dragon, particularly in their first seasons. While the characters are very different, discerning audiences can see nearly the exact same story beats playing out on each show, which are set over 100 years apart in time. The later seasons of Game of Thrones have more distinctive battles that define one story as different from the other, but the number (and detail) of the parallels go far beyond a writer playing with the same theme twice.
Here, we break down how the character archetypes parallel each other, specific events that follow the same key symbols or themes, and even scenes that feel identical, give or take the character names. While the plot descriptions for each show might seem distinct, the more that individual moments are examined, the clearer it is that House of the Dragon is a remix of Game of Thrones' greatest hits.
1. The Players
There are too many characters to name in Game of Thrones, but the most important for the first season are the Starks, the Lannisters, Robert Baratheon, and Daenerys Targaryen. Each of these characters is well-crafted, with unique backstories and personality traits for audiences to latch onto. However, fans might be surprised to know that all of them have some counterpart in House of the Dragon.
Beginning with Robert Baratheon, there is an obvious parallel in Viserys Targaryen. Neither particularly wanted to be king and neither is well-suited to the role. However, there is relative peace during their reigns, allowing children to be born who have never known war. When each dies near at the end of the first season of their respective shows, it triggers a war over succession, including two claimants with valid arguments for the throne (Joffrey and Stannis on Game of Thrones; Aegon and Rhaenyra on House of the Dragon) and at least one who just feels they deserve it more (Renly Baratheon and Daemon Targaryen).
On House of the Dragon, the rival factions are known as the Greens (those loyal to King Aegon) and the Blacks (those loyal to Queen Rhaenyra). They don’t completely map onto the Lannisters and the Starks, but there are certainly parallels. One side is presented as shrewd and eager to acquire more power, while the other seemingly just wants what is owed to them.
It's easiest to connect the Greens with the Lannisters, although this works best when just looking at the royal family. Cersei Lannister and Allcent Hightower are both queens who use their children to establish a dynasty after their husbands' deaths. Alicent's sons Aegon and Aemond can be mapped onto Joffrey. Meanwhile, Alicent's daughter Helaena and Cersei's daughter Myrcella both get used and abused as pawns in the game. Cersei's son Tommen and Alicent's son Daeron are largely irrelevant to the story at this point, but have more active roles later on.
The connection between the Starks and the Blacks is less apparent, but still there. Both have two daughters (Sansa and Arya; Baela and Rhaena), one of whom follows a more traditional path while the other has takes a more complicated, atypical journey. Robb and Jace are both eldest sons thrown into war and politics too young, while Bran and Viserys/Aegon are out of the picture for much of the story, only to be vital at the end. Characters like Rhaenyra's son Luke and Ned's son Rickon are casualties whose deaths primarily show how cruel the world is.
Ironically, some of the more specific details were switched between the two sides, with both Rhaenyra and Cersei having three children whose legitimacy is questioned, largely because their physical appearance doesn't match their legal fathers.
Daenerys is probably the hardest character to find a simple parallel for on House of the Dragon, because her story beats were dispersed over many different characters. Like Daenerys, Alicent was married off by a power-hungry family member only to eventually adjust to her new life and find power in it. Like Daenerys, Daemon was trying to find happiness in exile from Westeros but struggled with a desire for the throne. Like Daenerys, Rhaenys Targaryen had both the mind and birth to be queen, but had to constantly fight her gender to succeed. Helaena was abused by her brothers, eventually allowing them to be destroyed in a quiet act of revenge.
Smaller, yet still important, characters have parallels as well. Otto Hightower, Corlys Velaryon, Larys Strong, and Mysaria from House of the Dragon are political players like Tywin Lannister, Petyr Baelish, and Varys were on Game of Thrones. Criston Cole and Jaime Lannister are practically the same character in the beginning, as bold knights assigned to the Kingsguard who are secretly (and illegally) sleeping with the Queen. All of these character parallels help explain why the following nine events play out as they do.
2. The death of an Arryn sets the stage for war
In House of the Dragon, the entire civil war can be traced back to the death of King Viserys wife Aemma Arryn. After the death of his wife and newborn son, Viserys became more attached to his daughter Rhaenyra and makes her his heir after hearing about his brother Daemon's cruel comments. While Rhaenyra becoming heir may have been inevitable, the war itself only happened because Aemma's death necessitated that Viserys remarry. He chooses Rhaenyra's friend Alicent, which drives a wedge between the two girls. Alicent will later give birth to male rivals for Rhaenyra.
The situation is different in Game of Thrones, but has largely the same result. Jon Arryn’s death prompts King Robert to ask Ned Stark to be his Hand. Meanwhile, Jon Arryn's widow Lysa sends a letter to Catelyn Stark, her sister and Ned's wife, which fuels the Starks’ suspicions toward the Lannisters. Even though the Lannisters didn’t actually kill Jon Arryn, the belief that they did makes everything more volatile. Had Jon Arryn survived, the Starks wouldn’t have gone to King’s Landing at all, and a lot of the story wouldn't have happened.
The Arryn family doesn’t have a terribly active presence in either Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon, but they do function as narrative canaries in coal mines for Westeros. Both Aemma and Jon Arryn were killed by their spouses, and the need to replace them brought rival factions together and gave them a reason to resent one another.
3. Knights lose their tempers and break illusions
There is a recurring scene from Game of Thrones that appears in two forms in House of the Dragon: the knight eager to kill if they don’t get their way. The original version from Game of Thrones was when The Mountain and Loras Tyrell jousted against each other in the Hand's Tournament. Loras beat the Mountain in the competition, but the Mountain responded by trying to kill him.
The scene is almost perfectly duplicated in the series premiere of House of the Dragon when Criston Cole unseats Daemon and is then brutally attacked for it. But while the Hound and eventually the King had to intervene to stop the Mountain, Daemon stopped once he felt he'd restored his honor. This allowed Criston to get the better of Daemon while he’s gloating, forcing him to yield instead.
A similar scene plays out later on, when Criston Cole attacks Joffrey Lonmouth at Rhaenyra’s wedding. The show just presents Cole as out of control, killing the groom’s boyfriend during a royal wedding. But in the source material, George R.R. Martin's book Fire & Blood, Criston Cole kills Joffrey during a tournament. The violence for entertainment becomes deadly After Cole feels slighted by Rhaenyra, beating Joffrey until his helmet is broken and he falls unconscious, dying days later.
In all of these situations, the concept of tournaments as a place of honor and gallantry is broken by someone unwilling to accept a loss. The knights are not as romantic and kind-hearted as the stories say, and the characters and audience learn who to be wary of in the future. The Mountain, Daemon, and Criston Cole are all violent characters who respond to emotional pain by trying to kill people, showing those around them their true nature.
4. A promise is made regarding the Song of Ice and Fire
The writers for House of the Dragon made efforts in both the series premiere and in the season 2 finale to connect the story with the events of Game of Thrones. In the series premiere, King Viserys tells Rhaenyra about their ancestor Aegon the Conqueror's dream about a great calamity one day visiting Westeros and that a Targaryen would need to fight it, explaining that as his heir, she is responsible for carrying and protecting the prophecy. He finishes with the phrase, “Promise me this, Rhaenyra. Promise me.”
This phrase should be familiar to big Game of Thrones fans. Throughout the book A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin, Ned remembers his last conversation with his sister Lyanna, who told him, “Promise me, Ned.” That line shows up five times, including once with an additional, “Promise me.” On Game of Thrones, that scene was shown in the season 7 finale, with Lyanna begging Ned to protect her child, who will grow up to be Jon Snow. While she may have only cared about protecting her son, Jon's father Rhaegar Targaryen believed his child would be the fulfillment of the song of ice and fire, the promised one from the prophecy.
In both cases, a main character is driven by a conversation with a family member where they were given a piece of the puzzle that was the song of ice and fire. The specific phrasing was done intentionally, and it always drives the characters to preserve the Targaryen line and seek power. Although the fulfillment of the prophecy cannot happen during House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra begins to believe her claiming the throne is the fulfillment of the prophecy, just as Rhaegar believed having a child with Lyanna was.
5. A hunt for a white hart ends turns into a fight with a boar
In the House of the Dragon episode “Second of His Name,” Viserys and his family celebrate Aegon’s name day by attempting a hunt for a white hart, which is considered a sign of divinity. They are unable to find it, however, and settle for killing a normal hart. After storming away from the party, Rhaenyra is attacked by a wild boar. She is able to kill it, and later sees the white hart. She lets it go.
Fans probably remember Robert Baratheon’s death from a boar on Game of Thrones, but the parallels go further than that. In the book, Robert’s impromptu hunt was extended because a white hart had been spotted, causing half the court to join in (including his heir, Joffrey). But when they finally find the hart, it had already been attacked and devoured by wolves, prompting Robert to go after a boar instead… the boar that would end up killing him.
In both of these situations, there is a lot of symbolism at play. The white hart is a symbol of royalty, but the ones seeking it are not able to land the killing blow. On the other hand, the boar is a violent threat. Robert believed he could kill it without getting hurt and was wrong. Rhaenyra didn't seek out the boar, but when it came for her, she was able to kill it. This, coupled with her gentle treatment of the hart, suggests that she is both the stronger political foe and the rightful monarch.
6. Children fighting has extreme consequences
One of the most obvious parallels between House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones involve scenes where children fight. In the prequel, Aemond sneaks off after Laena Velaryon’s funeral to claim her dragon, Vhagar. Her daughters and Rhaenyra’s sons protest, causing a fight where Aemond ends up losing an eye. This has great political implications, because the children involved are the king’s son, nieces, and grandsons.
Game of Thrones had a similar scene. While heading back to King’s Landing, Arya Stark is playing at sword fighting with her friend when Joffrey comes upon them. He hurts Arya’s friend so she hits him with a stick. Joffrey threatens to kill Arya and gets attacked by her direwolf Nymeria. Once again, this fight has political implications because it’s between the king’s son and the daughter of the Hand.
In Game of Thrones, Cersei demands consequences. Sansa’s wolf Lady is killed in place of Nymeria, who has run off, and the Houng kills Arya's friend, a butcher's son. But when even that’s not enough, Robert puts his foot down, saying, “Damn it, children fight.” Likewise, Alicent demands consequences in House of the Dragon, pushing for Lucerys to lose an eye and cutting Rhaenyra. Viserys refuses to see it as a conscious attack on either end, looking for the adults responsible for the rumors about Rhaenyra’s children. But despite both kings seeking reconciliation, the events were early signs of the war and enmity to come.
7. A proposal between rival factions could prevent the war (but doesn't)
Marriage alliances can do a lot to bring political rivals together, but it doesn’t always work out for the best. In House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra tries to stop the civil war before it starts by proposing that her eldest son Jacaerys marry Viserys and Alicent’s daughter, Helaena. This would have kept the Hightowers from pushing for Aegon to take the throne, because they would be blocking Helaena from becoming Queen.
The proposed marriage in Game of Thrones was not consciously a way to stop war at first, but that was still a major component of Sansa and Joffrey’s relationship. King Robert suggested it because it would solidify his alliance with Ned in the next generation and fulfill the betrothal contract intended between him and Lyanna. But once everything fell apart, Sansa and Joffrey’s engagement was used as both a weapon against the rebel Starks and a way to keep Joffrey from killing Sansa as he’d killed Ned.
Unfortunately, both of these engagements were doomed. Jace and Helaena were never actually engaged, because Alicent refuses to accept the proposal. In her mind, Jace was a bastard and therefore not good enough for her daughter. Without that protection in place, it was always going to be war between Rhaenyra and Aegon. While Sansa and Joffrey’s engagement might have worked if smarter players had been around, Ned didn't consider it before threatening Cersei with his information. Then Joffrey killed Ned and abused Sansa, destroying any possible peace they might have brokered.
8. A royal and a Hand of the King fight over what to do with a rival claimant
This is another one of the parallels that works eerily well when stripped down. When King Viserys dies on House of the Dragon, Alicent and Otto Hightower agree that Aegon should be put on the throne. But while Alicent wants Rhaenyra to be free, Otto wants her imprisoned or dead. He sees any rival claimant as a threat, and intends to treat her like one.
In Game of Thrones, that rival claimant is Daenerys Targaryen. When Robert finds out that she is pregnant, he decides that she must be killed. She is a threat on her own, but a son is worse, especially with a Dothraki army behind him. But Ned refuses to kill an innocent girl, especially a pregnant one, just because she is a Targaryen. He also (unbeknownst to Robert) has been caring for a different rival claimant for over a decade.
In both of these cases, a member of the royal family, currently in a position of power, is locked in battle with their Hand over how to handle a rival. While they are generally innocent in the moment, a person with the right blood can always be a figurehead for those who want to go to war. The true options are death or exile. In both of these cases, the royal won the argument in the short-term, but the Hand ended up being right in the long run.
Although it could be argued that the claimant would not have been a threat if not for the actions taken by royals. Khal Drogo only committed his forces to Danaerys after Robert’s assassin tried to kill her, and she might have been perfectly content away from Westeros if she hadn’t been consistently put in danger. Likewise, Rhaenyra seemed willing to accept Aegon for the sake of peace, but Aemond’s murder of her son Luke made it impossible for her to stand down.
9. Grief triggers stillborn children in female characters' darkest moments
The world of Game of Thrones spends a shocking amount of time on pregnancy. It’s important to establishing the line of succession, but both shows discuss miscarriage and maternal mortality frequently. In House of the Dragon, this concept is most memorable with the two maternal deaths in season 1. We also revisit it in the season finale, when Rhaenyra is pregnant with her daughter.
When Rhaenyra learns about Viserys’ death and Aegon’s coronation, she goes into premature labor. The baby is a stillbirth, forcing Rhaenyra to cope with the loss of her father and the loss of her daughter. Meanwhile, the men around her just want her to get it together and prepare to go to war. Both the physical danger of labor and the emotional turmoil Rhaenyra is suffering are ignored, and she has to make a life-changing decision at the worst possible time.
Similarly, Daenerys goes into labor with her son after learning that her husband Khal Drogo will almost certainly die. Although she had done all she could to save him, the rest of the Dothraki either abandon her on the assumption that Drogo would die or attack her for resorting to blood magic. Her son is stillborn, his body horribly deformed and decayed as the magic price paid for her husband’s life. But she then has to kill Drogo anyway, experiencing the dual heartbreak. Also like Rhaenyra, she is in a volatile political situation, as her greatest protector is now dead and she is vulnerable.
Both women suffer the loss of someone they loved, but also someone who protected them and gave them power when others sought to destroy them. On top of that, they suffer in a particularly feminine way, being weakened physically and emotionally while others seem frustrated by the inconvenience. This combination of events makes it almost impossible to not sympathize with the characters, which makes it that much more compelling when they find a sort of triumph (Rhaenyra in being crowned, Daenerys in waking her dragons).
10. Killing family members makes war inevitable
While the majority of both shows’ first seasons were spent putting all the pieces in place, the Dance of the Dragons and the War of the Five Kings becomes impossible to stop when a cruel child kills a member of their rivals’ family. In House of the Dragon, this is when Aemond kills Lucerys, ending any possibility of Rhaenyra accepting Aegon as King. The fight has gone from being about honor and birthright to a personal fight over the unnecessary death of a child.
In Game of Thrones, the peace-breaking death is Ned Stark. Although Tywin Lannister had already started fighting when Catelyn imprisoned Tyrion and Robb had starting fighing when Cersei imprisoned Ned, there was still a chance that things could be stopped. That’s why Varys pushed Ned to lie about Joffrey’s heritage and be exiled to the Wall. But once Ned’s head was cut off, there was no stopping the Starks and the Lannisters from full-blown war.
Some people (like the knights mentioned earlier) are willing to fight over anything, but both stories show that calmer minds can prevail. There was always a chance of preventing war, even when the Hightowers crowned Aegon and Ned tried to de-legitimize Joffrey. Rhaenyra didn’t want to throw the realm into chaos just for her own personal glory. Ned was willing to betray his honor to protect his daughters. But once it became personal, once family was killed for no good reason, there was no turning back.
There are more parallels than this between Game of Thrones and House of the Dragons, but these 10 are enough to show just how often the shows present the same ideas. This goes beyond George R.R. Martin having favorite themes, or particular events being common in every war. As the prequel series continues, it must continue to distinguish itself from its predecessor.
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