Let’s break down the House of the Dragon season trailer

“Dreams didn’t make us kings. Dragons did.”

Next, we get a beautiful moonlit shot of Daemon and Rhaenyra walking on a beach while Daemon waxes philosophical about the root of Targaryen power.

King Viserys and Alicent step out of a carriage, surrounded by smallfolk and men-at-arms. It’s not clear what the deal is with this camp, but we’re away from King’s Landing and it looks pretty festive. Also, is it just me, or is Alicent looking like she could be pregnant in this shot? She’s bundled up pretty heavily compared to everyone else in the scene.

Next, we’ve got a huge fleet making its way to King’s Landing, replete with a pair of dragons soaring through the skies above. We only get a brief glimpse of these dragons as they swoop over a tower in the city, but it’s enough to tell that these are not Syrax or Caraxes. Note the full back legs on the dragon on the left (as opposed to Caraxes’ smaller legs with fins), the short neck, and the silvery scales.

Another slew of quick shots, starting with Rhaenyra and Ser Harrold Westerling (Graham McTavish) looking down on a group of hopeful knights, including Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel):

Viserys enjoys the view of the Dragonpit from his chamber window:

And young Rhaenyra reaches for a certain dagger:

Meanwhile, Alicent proclaims, “Let the people remember the ancient strength of House Targaryen,” and we get this very interesting shot of a Kingsguard holding out Viserys’ crown.

Some mild spoilers from Fire & Blood here, but after the death of King Viserys, the royal crown changes hands a few times. One of those times the crown is taken in the dead of night when Ser Steffon Darklyn changes sides in the Dance, and he then presents it to his new allies. Perhaps that’s this scene? We know Darklyn is being played by Anthony Flanagan in House of the Dragon, but I’ll be honest, even after staring at side-by-side pictures of the actor and this shot for a few minutes I can’t say for sure if it’s him or not. That beard is like a disguise.

We’re off to the beach, most likely in the Stepstones. Corly Velaryon mentioned this area during the Small Council meeting in the premiere; raiders backed by an alliance of the Free Cities known as the Triarchy are attacking Westerosi ships from this location. It has an important role to play, so we’ll be seeing it this season:

Leading the Triarchy forces is a brutal man known as Craghas Crabfeeder. He got that name from nailing his victims to stakes out on the beach so that the crabs could feed on their flesh. The trailer lets us know with a nice little crabby cameo that we’ll see this happen in House of the Dragon:

“You are no conquerer, you are a plague,” growls Viserys as he pins his brother Daemon to the ground at the foot of the Iron Throne and holds the catspaw dagger to his throat. I swear, that weapon is cursed.

Also, note that Daemon has shorter hair in this scene. House of the Dragon season 1 will span around 28 years. Maybe Daemon gets a hair cut after some of those years go by?

Rhaenyra dances with Laenor Velaryon (Theo Nate), presumably at their wedding. The composition of this shot is interesting; who is Rhaenyra looking at here, who’s out of focus in the foreground? Ser Criston Cole?

Speaking of weddings, this next very brief shot appears to be of a handfasting. Since we’ve seen this before in other trailers, we’re pretty sure it’s from another wedding that occurs later in the season, which we will not name for spoilers. Fire and blood is the Targaryen way, and that apparently extends to their nuptials.

Next up, we get a sneak peak at some of the characters who have yet to be introduced: