SPEAKER:
for the next 100 years.
♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
Just as they did the last.
(DRAGON SHRIEKS)
GEORGE R. R. MARTIN:
The story of
is a story about very flawed human beings
capable of doing good things,
capable of doing monstrous things,
capable of courage, capable of cowardice.
These are the kind of characters that I love the most.
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
Game of Thrones
almost 300 years after Aegon's conquest.
House of Dragon
before
Jaehaerys Targaryen, the old king,
who was the fourth Targaryen
to rule over Westeros, he was only 14 when he ascended
to the Iron Throne, and he ruled for 55 years.
It was a very peaceful time in the history of Westeros.
It was a time of prosperity, and King's Landing
really grew enormously. It was a good time.
Viserys I, who is the heir
that was chosen by the Great Council
when Jaehaerys passes away, he takes over,
and he is now reigning over the seven kingdoms.
There were a lot of Targaryens at that point,
and you can see how the seeds of war are sometimes planted
in a time of peace.
People die, and the sons take over for fathers of lords.
They don't necessarily think they're bound
by their father's allegiances or decisions or vows
so little by little, the seeds are spreading.
Game of Thrones
on the Starks and the Lannisters.
For
the
but two of the biggest players
in the Dance of the Dragons Civil War
are the Velaryons and the Hightowers.
In terms of history in Westeros, the Hightowers are the oldest.
They've been there for thousands of years.
Their seat of power is Old Town, which was for many hundreds
of thousands of years, the biggest city in Westeros.
They're a very rich house.
Old Town is wealthy from trade mostly.
And in the center of it is
from which the Hightowers take their name.
Lord Hightower is in Old Town,
ruling over his domains in the city,
but his younger brother, Otto Hightower,
is the Hand of the King when the story opens.
Same position we saw Ned Stark play to Robert
at the beginning of
The Velaryons were also a house from the Freehold of Valyria,
the mightiest empire in at least the west, in my world,
and they actually arrived in Westeros
before the Targaryens. They were not dragon lords,
however, they were seafarers.
At that time, the Freehold of Valyria depended
a lot on its trade and it was a good position
to dominate trade from all the kingdoms of Westeros
and from other places even further north.
So they moved for reasons of trade and wealth.
Corlys Velaryon is Lord Admiral and Master of Ships
as his own grandfather was before him of a similar name,
so since Aegon's conquest, the Velaryons have been
very high in the councils of House Targaryen.
And after all his voyages,
he's married to Rhaenys Targaryen,
the Queen Who Never Was.
House Targaryen and House Velaryon were close.
It was a definite relationship between them.
♪ (EPIC MUSIC PLAYS) ♪
The Targaryens are also an ancient house,
but they're not an ancient Westerosi house.
They knew that destruction was coming to Valyria
and went far away from the capital city
and they settled on the volcanic island of Dragonstone.
They were dragon lords in Valyria.
Now, dragons are really formidable,
and they can turn the tide of a battle.
It flies, it's difficult to hit, it breathes fire,
against which most knights and men at arms
have little or no protection.
So if you have dragons,
that's where the nuclear option analogy comes in.
You're hard to mess around with.
(DRAGON SHRIEKS)
So the dragons and fear of dragons
was one of the things that made the Targaryens
very secure in their power.
VISERYS TARGARYEN:
but the Iron Throne is the most dangerous seat in the realm.