HotD's Dragons Have What Game of Thrones' Were Lacking, Says George Martin
As the architect behind the Game of Thrones franchise, when George RR Martin speaks on it, people listen. And it seems he wasn't a fan of the dragons that featured in GoT, which he said lacked "personality".
"They were all the same," he said of the Game of Thrones dragons at a recent FYC event for HBO.
And he may have a point. Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion, while playing their own part in the story of Game of Thrones, were very much part of the story of the rise of Daenerys and the re-emergence of House Targaryen.
In House of the Dragon, the dragons are already established and there is no talk of them all being dead throughout an entire series. This gave the showrunners far more licence to get creative with them.
It may also have helped that Martin was more involved with House of the Dragon than he was (at least in later seasons) with Game of Thrones.
And when it came to creating House of the Dragon, which he did in collaboration with Ryan Condal, they already knew what they didn't like about the dragons from the original show.
Although, the author of the book series is not as heavily involved in the production of the TV series of HotD as you might think.
Condal said Martin is not a regular feature of the writer's room and doesn't "weigh in on every single little decision".
But he is in regular contact with Condal who frequently messages to ask why he wrote certain elements of the books, exactly who a character is or what something means for the show.
Condal did, however, say that Martin "gives a lot of feedback".
And you can't help but think that somewhere in his communications there's at least a hint that he felt giving the dragons in Hotd more personality would take them to the next level and show them the respect they deserve within the franchise.
And Martin was a fan of the dragons that featured in the prequel.
"They had personality." He said, adding. "They came alive. It came as great satisfaction to me." And there is good news for Martin and fans of the show.
With production due to begin shortly, and House of the Dragon season 2 expected to hit our screens late in 2024, Condal recently revealed that there will be five more dragons in the series.