Warning: Contains SPOILERS for House of the Dragon season 2, episode 1, “A Son For A Son.”
Summary
House of the Dragon’s season 2 premiere raises a big question about White Walkers being in the show. HBO’sGame of Thronesprequel makes its first visit to the North in season 2, introducingLord Cregan Stark of Winterfell, who meets with Jacaerys Velaryon and agrees to pledge his and the North’s support to Rhaenyra Targaryen and the blacks. Well, some of his support anyway.
As Cregan notes, his gaze is forever torn between the North and the South. When he tells Jace about the real threat that lies in the farthest reaches of the land, of why the Wall was built in the first game, the answer is a chilling one:“Death.“Still,House of the Dragon’s timelineis around 170 years away fromGame of Thronesat this point… but could the White Walkers be making an appearance?
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There Probably Won’t Be White Walkers In House Of The Dragon
Do They Exist At This Point In The Game Of Thrones Timeline?
House of the Dragon’s focus is very much on theDance of the Dragons. Cregan himself only has a very small role in season 2, episode 1, and may not be seen for some time; Sara Snow, his bastard half-sister, is cut completely. That suggests there won’t be too many deviations, making it hard to believe White Walkers will be turning up anytime soon.
This does get to the heart of one of the biggest unanswered questions about the White Walkers: just what were they doing before Game of Thrones?
There is one slight wrinkle to that, which is thatHouse of the Dragonset photos seemingly teased wights, with a box marked“undead.”It was speculated that could mean wights would be appearing, and that may still happen, though it would perhaps more likely be a vision or dream sequence at this point. Certainly, it seems more likely, after already visiting the Wall, that“undead”is a reference to something else, perhaps for a dead body or a killed character returning in a dream/nightmare type scenario.
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Nonetheless, this does get to the heart of one of the biggest unanswered questions about the White Walkers: just what were they doing beforeGame of Thrones? It’s known that they were defeated at the Battle for the Dawn to end the Long Night; it’s known that they returned inGame of Thrones. That leaves just a small window of, oh, just around 8,000 years unaccounted for.
Were the White Walkers alive - and awake - during that time? Were they just chilling in the Lands of Always Winter, very gradually building their armies, or in some kind of hibernation? So little is known about them that it’s difficult to answer.Osha inGame of Thronesseason 1 says they had been“sleeping,”but that itself may be too simplistic.
Episode 8
August 4
Craster’s sacrifices, for instance, seem to pre-dateGame of Thrones’ timelineby a decent margin, as it’s so well-established.Bran Stark, inGame of Thronesseason 8, notes that the Night King had come for multiple versions of the Three-Eyed Raven, but with no real expansion on that.
So, yes, the White Walkers will technically be alive in House of the Dragon in some way, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be appearing.
It’s likely the truth is some combination of them all - a semi-hibernation, time building the army of the dead (and remember that, to an immortal being, time isn’t going to pass the same way, centuries could just feel like a few years), and a confluence of growing magic and a great Winter (perhaps in part influenced by them) that led to them making their move. So, yes,the White Walkers will technically be alive inHouse of the Dragonin some way, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be appearing.
White Walkers Are Still Important To House Of The Dragon’s Story
Aegon’s Dream Remains A Key Part Of Things In The Background
Just because the White Walkers (probably) won’t appear inHouse of the Dragondoesn’t mean they aren’t important. Season 1 revealedAegon the Conqueror’s dream of White Walkers, which he called A Song of Ice and Fire. He saw the coming Winter, a darkness that would take over Westeros, and that only a Targaryen on the Iron Throne could unite the realm to defeat it.
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Viserys told Aegon’s dream to Rhaenyra when making her heir; he also, unwittingly, told it to Alicent when he was dying, which she took to be about their son and meaning he should be King. To that end, then,while White Walkers won’t be appearing, they’re built-in as part of the point of the entire showand the Targaryen dynasty as a whole.
The threat of the White Walkers looms over everything in the prequel, even if audiences can’t literally see it.
It’ll be interesting to see how that continues inHouse of the Dragonseason 2. It’s pretty clear from the conversation at the Wall that Jacaerys doesn’t know about Aegon’s dream, but that’s surely a conversation Rhaenyra will need to have at some point. As one of her biggest motivations for taking the Iron Throne, then the threat of the White Walkers looms over everything in the prequel, even if audiences can’t literally see it.
House of the Dragonseason 2 releases new episodes weekly on Sundays at 9pm ET, on both HBO and Max.
House of the Dragon
Cast
House of the Dragon is a 2022 fantasy drama set in the world of Westeros, chronicling the Targaryen dynasty at its height. The story revolves around King Viserys’s controversial decision to name his daughter Rhaenyra as heir to the Iron Throne, sparking tensions and divisions within the realm.
