House of the Dragon proved to be a more tight and consistent story than Game of Thrones but which of its elements have already been foreshadowed? We found all the House of Dragon references in Game of Thrones that you should know about.
Warning: HoD and GoT spoilers below!
Joffrey Baratheon Mentions Rhaenyra's Death
It is no secret that Rhaenyra and all the other House of the Dragon characters are long-dead by the time Game of Thrones unfolds - HoD's events are already history by GoT's time. But Joffrey Baratheon specifically mentions Rhaenyra's death early on.
In Episode 4 or Season 3 - one of the show's early and best seasons - Joffrey Baratheon gives Margaery Tyrell a tour of the Red Keep.
In this scene, Joffrey mentions Rhaenyra and how she dies, so if you don't want to find out don't rewatch that episode and don't read further.
As it turns out, Aegon II, Rhaenyra's half-brother and, conversely, the GoT fandom's new Joffrey Baratheon in terms of personality and status, killed Rhaenyra by feeding her to his dragon, Sunfyre.
Joffrey Baratheon and Aegon II Targaryen are very similar. Both were young, spoiled, cruel raised by well-meaning but distant and not particularly smart fathers, and cunning but ruthless mothers.
It's no surprise that, while the Targaryen dynasty is all but wiped out at the time of Joffrey's reign, he looks up to Aegon, in a sense.
RELATED: House of the Dragon: How Is Rhaenyra Related to Daenerys?
Shireen Baratheon Reads About the Dance of Dragons
You might have missed it, because Season 5 was one of GoT's worst and because of what happens next, but Shireen Baratheon reads about the House of the Dragon story and shares her thoughts about it with her father.
Her book focuses on The Dance of Dragons, as the Targaryen civil war that starts at the end of HoD Season 1 comes to be called.
Shireen and her father, Stannis, discuss the Dance of Dragons and the difficult decisions a king must make.
When asked who she would support, Aegon or Rhaenyra, Shireen refuses to take a side - though we're pretty sure she would be more clear on that if she had known them.
Unfortunately, this heartwarming scene is marred by the fact that Stannis proceeds to sacrifice his daughter in a vain attempt to gain his new god's favor.
Many fans believe that book Stannis would never do such a thing and the overall shock factor of the scene has likely made many viewers forget the HoD reference.
Daenerys Discusses Her Family's Violent History by the Dragonpit
While not as direct a reference to House of the Dragon, Daenerys does discuss the beginning of the end of house Targaryen, conventionally believed to coincide with the beginning of the Dance of Dragons.
In Episode 7 of the seventh GoT season Daenerys talks to Jon Snow about the Dragonpit where dragons used to be kept by the once-ruling Targaryens. Remember that Aegon II Targaryen was crowned in the Dragonpit, too.
While it isn't really known if there were any fathomable alternatives, it is believed that keeping dragons in the pit stunted their growth, which likely played a role in their almost-extinction by the time of GoT's events.
RELATED: House of the Dragon Ending Explained
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