House of the Dragon's new opening credits: Breakdown and secrets revealed

The second season of HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon is here at last! The premiere episode, "A Son for a Son," contained more than a few surprises as rival branches of House Targaryen vied for the Iron Throne. From its brutal ending sequence to Queen Rhaenyra's (Emma D'Arcy) journey to find the remains of her dead son Lucerys, emotions ran high.

If House of the Dragon season 1 was all about the cold war between the Black and the Greens heating up, then season 2 is when it bursts into an all-out conflagration. The Dance of the Dragons civil war is here, and House of the Dragon let us know right at the top of the episode that this season is going to be a different affair than the last with a brand new opening credits sequence.

The opening for the first season of the series featured rivulets of blood running through King Viserys' model of Old Valyria, spreading from symbol to symbol which represented the ruling bloodline of House Targaryen.

Season 2's opening credits pull things back a bit farther with an elegant tapestry design that shows the history of the dragonriders, from their time in Valyria right down to the traumatic events that kicked off the Dance. There are tons of secrets in this intro, and we're going to break them all down for you. Let's get out the magnifying glass and read the tapestry before us!

House of the Dragon season 2 opening breakdown

We begin our journey through the history of House Targaryen with the founding of Old Valyria, the ancient Rome-like civilization where House Targaryen was but one of many dragonriding families, and far from the most prominent:

The Doom of Valyria

From the structure of the Freehold itself, the camera pans down to reveal the body of a dragon with fiery wings, surrounded by people who appear to be paying it homage:

I believe the meaning here is twofold. First, it represents how dragons became the key to Valyrian power and civilization. Second, it's a play on the birth of the first dragons discovered by the Valyrians. In George R.R. Martin's worldbook A World of Ice and Fire, it's speculated that the Valyrians claimed dragons were born from the Fourteen Flames, the volcanoes in whose shadow the Freehold of Valyria was built. The book leaves the true origin of the dragons ambiguous, but the idea of them being birthed by volcanoes fits this image of one with fiery wings and tail to me.

The good times aren't meant to last for Old Valyria. Next, we see scenes of calamity, likely representing the political maneuvering of the Freehold as it conquered and colonized its neighboring nations across Essos:

That's followed by the Doom of Valyria, when volcanoes erupted, dragons were burned from the sky, and the Freehold was wiped off the map:

Next, we head to Westeros for the Conquest of King Aegon I Targaryen.

Aegon's Conquest

The image above shows Aegon the Conqueror and his two sister-wives, Visenya and Rhaenys, launching their campaign to conquer Westeros. The Conquest is the beginning of Targaryen rule in the region, when Aegon and his sisters united the Seven Kingdoms beneath the Iron Throne. Aegon rides Balerion the Black Dread, followed by Queen Rhaenys astride Meraxes and Visenya on Vhagar, the only one of these three dragons still around by the time of House of the Dragon. Their fleet sails below them; Westeros wasn't conquered with dragons alone.

Next, we see the burning of Harrenhal, one of the most important events in the Conquest:

When Aegon the Conqueror and his sisters came to Westeros, an infamous king named Harren Hoare, or Harren the Black, ruled the Riverlands and the Iron Islands from his seat at Harrenhal. He's the figure in the middle of this shot, with the axe and helmet.

Harren was an old man by the time of the Conquest, and refused to bend the knee to Aegon. In response, Aegon used his dragon Balerion to melt the castle to slag, killing Harren and his entire bloodline in one fell swoop. The carnage was so great that Harrenhal is still a haunted ruin by the time of House of the Dragon and Game of Thrones.

The fact that Vhagar, the green dragon, is in this shot is really more of a stylistic choice in order to have a dragon on either side of the image. Vhagar wasn't present during the destruction of Harrenhal. But she does look good on the tapestry!

Our final shot of Aegon's Conquest features the rulers of several great houses bending the knee. The man in the middle is Torrhen Stark, the last King in the North, who became known as the King Who Knelt after his bloodless surrender to Aegon.

On the left, we have Lady Sharra Arryn of the Vale and her son, Ronnel Arryn. Similar to the way Lysa Tully ruled the Eyrie in the name of her son Robin in Game of Thrones, Sharra ruled while Ronnel came of age during Aegon's Conquest. The Vale fought so fiercely that it was never truly defeated in battle, but it was still ultimately outmaneuvered by Visenya on her dragon Vhagar, and Sharra swore allegiance.

The final figure on the right is most likely Loren Lannister, who bent the knee to Aegon following a horrific battle known as the Field of Fire. The only other possibility is Lord Ormund Hightower, whose surrender at Oldtown served as the true end to Aegon's initial campaign in Westeros. But since the Hightower colors are green, I'm inclined to think this is Loren. You can tell a lion by the color of his coat and all that.

And so we see scions of three of the greatest houses who bent the knee to Aegon. Next we see the pedestal beneath those three kneeling figures bleed downward to surround and support the Targaryen family sigil, whose three heads represent Aegon and his sister-wives Visenya and Rhaenys:

And here's the construction of the Targaryen capital in Westeros, King's Landing:

With King's Landing now firmly established on the map and Aegon enshrined as the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, the tapestry skips forward to the next big bit of drama for House Targaryen:

Maegor the Cruel

The next major Targaryen ruler to sit the Iron Throne after Aegon was his son Maegor, who usurped the throne following the death of his half-brother Aenys. At the time, the Faith Militant was running amok in the Seven Kingdoms thanks to Aenys' weak-handed rule, and Maegor's mother Visenya supported his claim to the throne believing he could bring them to heel.

Maegor did accomplish that goal, but his reign was so brutal and bloody that he became known to history as Maegor the Cruel. After losing the support of almost every great house due to his actions, Maegor was eventually found dead on the Iron Throne with his wrists slit and a blade from the throne piercing his throat. Fire & Blood debates whether Maegor was murdered or committed suicide, but regardless of the manner of his death, there's no doubt that's what is being depicted in the image above.

The rule of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen

Our next image shows the king and queen who succeeded Maegor upon the Iron Throne: Maegor's nephew King Jaehaerys and his wife Good Queen Alysanne. These two ruled for the Seven Kingdoms for 55 years and brought a period of peace and prosperity to the realm. Jaehaerys eventually became known as Jaehaerys the Conciliator, on account of how he and his wife brought the realm together.

Fast forward some years, and we get our next shot: the Great Council of 101 AC. That's Old King Jaehaerys on his dais at Harrenhal, where the council decided which of his grandchildren would become his heir. The realm chose King Viserys I Targaryen, played by Paddy Considine in House of the Dragon season 1. We saw this panel of the tapestry brought to life on screen in the very first scene of the show:

On the left side of the image are Viserys Targaryen and his wife Aemma Arryn. On the right, Rhaenys Targaryen and her husband Corlys Velaryon. Rhaenys and Viserys were the two main contenders for the throne at the Great Council. How different might everything have gone had the lords voted for Rhaenys instead of Viserys, I wonder?

House of the Dragon and the lead up to the Dance of the Dragons

The remaining scenes on the tapestry are all from House of the Dragon season 1. Above, we see Alicent Hightower walking into the wedding of Rhaenyra and Laenor Velaryon in her signature green dress.

Then, the camera pans to show the members of Team Green and Team Black arranged on opposite sides of a table, likely a reference to Viserys' last supper in "The Lord of the Tides."

That said, this seems to be an artistic interpretation of that scene, because there are some characters present who weren't at that dinner. The group on top support Rhaenyra: from left to right we have Daemon Targaryen, Rhaenys Targaryen, Corlys Velaryon, and Rhaenyra's children Jacaerys, Lucerys and Joffrey. On the bottom for the Greens, there's Helaena Targaryen, Aegon Targaryen, Aemond Tagaryen, and Otto Hightower. The final figure is a little out of focus, but my best guess is that it's Viserys Targaryen, on account of the dark empty hole where his eye should be. Alicent and Rhaenyra frame the pictures on either side. We saw a close up of Alicent in her green dress in the preceding shot; Rhaenyra is sporting the black gown she wore when she went to King's Landing to defend Lucerys' claim to Driftmark.

Next, we focus on the two Targaryens at the heart of the Dance. King Aegon II Targaryen sits the Iron Throne, while Queen Rhaenyra is poised upon the ornate throne at Dragonstone:

The camera zooms out, revealing that those two shots are part of a larger picture representing the start of the Dance of the Dragons, when both Rhaenyra and Aegon called on their respective allies:

In the center square we have Aegon on the top left and Rhaenyra on the top right. Below Aegon is a green hand dispatching ravens; below Rhaenyra is a black one sending forth dragons. This represents the ways these two factions reached out to their allies at the end of season 1.

The border around the outside shows a number of great houses which are drawn into the conflict, arranged to be closest to whoever they chose to support. On Rhaenyra's side, we see House Velaryon, House Celtigar and more; on Aegon's side, there's House Baratheon, House Hightower, and House Stokeworth, among others. They're just the first of many houses who will be drawn into this war.

The final image from the opening sequence shows the event which started the war in earnest: when Prince Aemond Targaryen's dragon Vhagar chomped up Prince Lucerys Velaryon and his dragon Arrax. This was the climactic moment that ended House of the Dragon season 1. Even though the show framed it as something of an accident, you can't tell that from this tapestry. History sometimes misses the nuances!

And that brings us right to the end of the House of the Dragon season 2 opening credits, and the start of a new phase of the Dance. We'll be keeping a close eye to see if this opening sequence evolves over the course of the season the way the opening for season 1 did.

House of the Dragon airs new episodes Sundays at 9:00 p.m. ET / 8:00 p.m. CT on HBO and Max.

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