House of the Dragon Plot Hole Makes Battle Scenes Completely Ridiculous
House of the Dragon was well received and generally considered good quality viewing. And let's face it, there were some epic battle scenes – Daemon, I'm looking at your heroics at the end of episode 3 here!
But there were a couple of gaping plot holes that really need to be addressed for future seasons. Like, for example, dragons arriving in battle unseen and unheard!
Now, granted combatants may have other things on their minds at this point. But part of being a top fighter is being aware of your surroundings. I mean, it's not exactly unheard of for the environment around you to change in the middle of war.
And of all the things to arrive unannounced…dragons!
These are massive creatures with huge wings that bash the sky out of the way as they power forwards. They roar as they enter battle to frighten their enemies. They do not sneak up on people.
It's like trying to convince us you can make a Formula 1 car sound like a Toyota Prius!
So, when Seasmoke arrived to rescue Daemon from Crabfeeder without anyone noticing, it's fair to say it was a bit...well…unbelievable. Now, I know that the whole premise of the show is that we need to suspend our disbelief and accept a world in which dragons not only exist but can be tamed.
But that's the point. It doesn't have to be genuinely believable. It just needs to be believable in the context of the show. And this wasn't. And as a result, the whole scene felt deliberate and not in keeping with what we know and love about Westeros.
Likewise, the enormous Vhagar appeared out of nowhere to kill Arrax. Given the darkness and weather in this scene, it's a little more realistic. But surely there would have been some warning. Indeed, there was a great opportunity to throw in a bit of jeopardy.
Hearing the great beast approaching but not being able to quite make out where he was would have created more drama and befitted the fact that this lumbering dragon was heading into battle.
So, as we look forward to House of the Dragon season 2 – where we know we're going to see a whole load more dragons – let's hope the showrunners have realised the errors they made and there are no more surprise dragon attacks.