Breaking Down ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 2’s Opening Credits

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Season 2 Episode 6 of House of the Dragon.

The Big Picture

• House of the Dragon
  ‘s title sequence for Season 2 depicts Targaryen history, starting with the Doom of Valyria and going through Aegon’s conquest, Maegor the Cruel, and the Dance of the Dragons.
• The credits are different from Season 1 which featured a family tree; Season 2 focuses on woven tapestries.
• The visual tapestry in the intro symbolizes the rise and fall of Targaryen rulers, setting the stage for the conflicts in the series.

With the iconic theme song from Game of Thrones, the opening credits and title sequence of House of the Dragon always manages to put the audience in the mood to return to Westeros. The spin-off had considerable competition when it came to the intro, as Game of Thrones’ opening was unforgettable. Yet Season 1’s title sequence didn’t disappoint. Each episode of Season 1 opened with a beautiful and eerie version of the Targaryen family tree as blood flows through cogs representing the different characters. This changes over time as different Targaryens are born or die – hinting at a few characters who still haven’t appeared, like Daeron and Maelor. But Season 2 doesn’t continue to follow the literal bloodlines of the Targaryens, opting to depict the family’s ever-growing history in images on a tapestry instead. It’s an appropriate choice, considering that the Dance of the Dragons is one of the major events in the family’s story. And, despite the series occurring early enough that there have only been five Targaryen kings, there are more than enough significant moments to fill the time.

Bonding of the Dragons

Like any good Targaryen history, the tapestry begins in Valyria, the ancestral home of both dragons and dragonriders. Because the civilization was destroyed, there is limited information about this time period, but one particular event made the Targaryens who they are, and that is what the image is focused on. As red spreads across the tapestry, it forms the first image, blood dripping from a sword as a Valyrian in front reaches towards a dragon all surrounded by candles. Though it’s difficult to tell what is going on, exactly, the image seems to show a ceremony that includes both fire and blood, representing the bonding of the dragons, creating a supernatural bond that lasts for generations.

Even among the Valyrians, not everyone was a dragonrider, making this moment critical in Targaryen history as they gained their biggest power. At some point in Old Valyria, certain families learned to tame dragons through bloodmagic, giving them a lasting connection with the creatures. Among them were the Targaryen ancestors, acquiring the power that defined the house for ages to come. Even in House of the Dragon, the Targaryens are said to be more god than man because of their dragons. Without dragons, they would not have gained control of Westeros or been responsible for the bloody civil war in the series. This image of their ancestor bonding with a dragon for the first time is an origin story that allows the Targaryens to grow to the power they have in House of the Dragon, setting into motion the rest of their history.

The Doom of Valyria

The Targaryens lived in Valyria for generations, so the tapestry doesn’t skip away from their homeland yet. Instead, it focuses on the next event that directly leads to the Targaryens ruling Westeros, the Doom. An image of a woman holding a dying man set the tone for the Doom of Valyria. The images continue as Old Valyria is destroyed, showing volcanoes erupting and dragons falling from the sky in a gruesome image of the Doom. The destruction of Old Valyria is a largely mysterious event, but the Targaryens were not there to see it.

One member of the family, Daenys, had the rare Targaryen power of prophetic dreams and managed to warn her family of the coming destruction, allowing them to escape 12 years before the tragedy, establishing their home on Dragonstone, where they remained for several generations. The girl seen in the tapestry is likely Daenys herself, seeing the Doom of Valyria before it happened which allowed the Targaryens to survive while the rest of the drgaonriders died. These images are important to the Targaryens because, present or not, the Doom of Valyria made the Targaryens the powerhouses they were, as it left them as the lone dragonriders in the world, allowing them to remain unchallenged as they ruled Westeros.

Aegon the Conqueror

Of course, the next major event in Targaryen history is Aegon’s conquest, which the title sequence depicts with Aegon I, Visenya, and Rhaenys flying off on their respective dragons —Balerion the Black Dread, Vhagar, and Meraxes. There is much more information about this event as it is a defining moment for all of Westeros, but much of it will not fit into the title sequence’s time frame. Aegon and his sister-wives fly from their home on Dragonstone to take control of Westeros using their dragons. Their war kills many in Westerosi, as shown on the tapestry with fallen bodies soaked in blood. This image shows Balerion and Vhagar’s mouths open as they consume a bloody castle and those who protected it.

Aegon’s conquest included many battles and resulted in the death of two royal lines – Harren, King of the Rivers and the Ilse, and Marn Gardner, King of the Reach. The shields scattered in the tapestry’s image show both of these sigils, and the body in the center has an ax nearby, making it Harren the Black, the King who completed Harrenhal before Aegon I and Balerion killed his line and raised House Tully to be Lord Paramount of the Riverlands. The title sequence hurries through the conquest, showing lords and ladies bending their knees — the symbols and colors indicate the familiar houses of Arryn, Stark, and Tully.

With Westeros unified, the Targaryens in the tapestry are officially the power that the audience is used to, shown by the Targaryen’s three-headed dragon symbol that appears above the castle Aegon had built at King’s Landing, establishing the Targaryen dynasty that the series follows.

Maegor the Cruel

Though he is not the next Targaryen King (that honor went to his brother Aenys), Maegor is the next Targaryen to appear in the title sequence. The only son of Aegon and Visenya, Maegor claimed the Iron Throne after the death of his brother, becoming the third Targaryen king despite Aenys’ son, Aegon the Uncrowned, having the stronger claim. Maegor was a tyrant, alienating all his subjects, so when Aenys’ surviving son, Jaehaerys, put forth a claim to the Throne, they supported him. Still, it was not Jaehaerys who killed Maegor, but the Iron Throne itself, as the title sequence shows. The tapestry depicts Maegor’s death atop the Iron Throne with a sword through his neck and the dragons Vermithor and Silverwing (who are ridden by Jaehaerys and his sister-wife Alysanne) threatening him. Maegor’s rule ended when he died impaled on the Throne, making way for a new era of Targaryen history.

The Rule of King Jaehaerys

The next image in the title sequence introduces the fourth Targaryen King, Jaehaerys, with his sister-wife Alysanne. After his brother died in the conflict with Maegor, Jaehaerys became the rightful heir, and he ascended the throne after Maegor’s death, though only 14 at the time. Hailed as a great king, Jaehaerys reigned for 55 peaceful years, becoming the longest-ruling Targaryen monarch. Though his rule was prosperous for Westeros, it was marked with blood, as seen by images below the king and queen. Most notably, Jaehaerys two oldest sons died before their father, leaving the succession in question and leading to the tapestry’s next image.

The title sequence skips to a much older Jaehaerys sitting on a throne in an image House of the Dragon fans should remember from the opening episode of the first season. This is the Great Council of 101, which settled the succession by making Viserys (Paddy Considine) the heir over Rhaenys (Eve Best). On either side of the king are the claimants with their spouses. This event is of particular significance as it is the most relevant precedent of a male heir passing an older female heir and, therefore, is often used against Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and her claim to the Iron Throne.

The Dance of the Dragons Begins

That takes the title sequence into the much more familiar Targaryen history, showing Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) in green and opposing Rhaenyra in black as other recognizable characters in each color stand between them. In black are Daemon (Matt Smith), Rhaenys, Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint), Jacaerys (Harry Collett), Lucerys (Elliot Grihault), and Joffrey (Oscar Eskinazi), and opposite them are Helaena (Phia Saban), Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), Aemond (Ewan Mitchell), Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel), and Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans). This shows the division of Westeros, which took place in Season 1, but it is only the beginning of the conflict.

Next, Aegon and Rhaenyra appear on dueling thrones. While Aegon sits on the Iron Throne, Rhaenyra wears a crown from their ancestral home on Dragonstone, showing their coronations. Below each throne is a hand, Aegon’s sending ravens and Rhaenyra’s sending dragons, reflecting their attempts to gain supporters as the Dance of the Dragons begins. The next image in the title sequence takes history right to the part where Season 1 left off, showing Vhagar surrounding a mangled Arrax and Lucerys’ body.

This is the death from the Season 1 finale and the first casualty of the Dance of the Dragons, which made a peaceful solution impossible. With the ramifications of this event still unfolding, it is the last moment of Targaryen history before the events of House of the Dragon Season 2, making it the perfect lead-in for the premiere, but as the story progresses, many more events occur.

The Death of Jaehaerys and the Aftermath

House of the Dragon answers that problem by expanding the opening sequence. As of Season 2, Episode 3, there are more images formed on the tapestry because Targaryen history is made in the series. Adding the most significant parts of Season 2’s early episodes, the tapestry continues to chronicle Targaryen history as the Dance of the Dragons breaks out. First is the image of baby Jaehaerys as a line crosses his neck, spreading blood. This is a quick and less graphic depiction of the events of Blood and Cheese that occurred in the premiere when Daemon sent assassins into the castle to kill Aemond, but they killed the young heir instead, decapitating him. Just as Lucerys’ death changed Rhaenyra’s approach to the conflict, Jaehaerys’ murder changed Aegon’s, who eagerly embraced the war after his son’s death. Rather than showing the child in bed where he was killed, the image in the opening shows the child laid out on the cart used in the procession through the city, where the Greens blame Rhaenyra for his death for all of Westeros to hear, escalating the war further. Not only is it a tragic loss, but the Greens use it to turn people against Rhaenyra, giving it an even more substantial impact on the Dance of the Dragons.

The next image shows part of Aegon’s reaction to his son’s death. Learning that one of the castle’s ratcatchers helped in the murder, Aegon hangs all of them, and that’s what the tapestry shows. Several bodies, drenched in blood, hang from their necks. While Jaehaerys’ death is significant because it drives the two Targaryen factions further apart, the execution of the ratcatchers is different. Aegon’s choice made in his rage got a lot of pushback from Otto Hightower, who feared it would lose him the love of the people, and he was right. The opening indicates that the alienation of the smallfolk has consequences for Aegon, much like Lucerys and Jaehaerys’ deaths sped the war along. Since the hanging of the ratcatchers, the unrest on King’s Landing has been growing as they resent the Greens. Already starving and on edge, little is needed to set off this group, and with the help of Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno), Rhaenyra plans to take advantage of the unrest, proving this is another important step in the war and Targaryen history as a whole.

The Battle of Rook’s Rest

Season 2, Episode 6 includes a new image. This time depicting the events of Season 2, Episode 4, the tapestry now includes the destruction of the soldiers as dragons go to battle. The Battle of Rook’s Rest was not the first battle in the Dance of the Dragons. That distinction goes to the Battle of the Burning Mills, which is left out of the tapestry. However, this is the first battle with a Targaryen presence and, more importantly, dragons. Rook’s Rest saw Rhaenys ride Meleys to battle, turning the tide against the army, which is reflected in the opening. The soldiers burn, dying horrifically in dragonfire, just as they did in the episode. Criston Cole reveals that even though they technically won the battle, roughly 900 of their 14,000 men died on the battlefield, proving the carnage a dragon can cause.

However, Meleys is not the only dragon to participate in the battle. After luring the Black’s largest dragon, the Greens fight back with two of their own. Initially, Aegon and Sunfyre’s appearance is a surprise, but they are the first to clash with Meleys. Sunfyre’s arrival brings the first dragon battle of the Dance of the Dragons (because the Vhargar Arrax incident was no contest). Above the army, the two dragons claw and breathe fire at each other. Though the intro cannot show the fight, it reminds the audience of it by showing the aftermath: two fallen dragons. In the image, Meleys has weapons sticking out of her hide as blood seeps from under her, showing that the dragon died in the battle. But Sunfyre’s image shows flames on the dragon’s body because he and his rider were badly burned, but not by Meleys.

Represented in the image by a dragon flying above is Vhagar, the third dragon on the scene. In the battle, Vhagar, ridden by Aemond, burns Sunfyre and Aegon, sending them crashing to the ground, injured, but not quite dead. Then Vhagar fights Meleys, killing the dragon and her rider. The tapestry doesn’t just show the three dragons, but a figure in the middle holding a sword in the air. From the long, silver hair, this seems to be Aemond, the only dragonrider to emerge from the battle unscathed. Certainly victorious, as he not only killed one of the opposing dragons but gained power as the Prince regent, Aemond’s presence in the image suggests the Green’s victory in the battle, despite the heavy losses. Though the war is ongoing, the fallout of the Battle of Rook’s Rest is still going on as neither side has made a substantial move yet, making this scene an appropriate lead-in for the show. Though it is a change from Season 1’s intro, the overview of Targaryen history is the perfect opening, fitting with the name and showing the dangers of a war fought by dragons. This opening also serves as a review of what has led to the events we are about to see, and the iconic song gets the audience in the mood.

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