TV

Breaking down that prophecy in the House of the Dragon premiere — and its connection to Game of Thrones

In the series premiere, King Viserys reveals to his daughter Rhaenyra a new angle to a long-held Targaryen prophecy.

By

Updated on August 22, 2022 10:13AM EDT

Warning: This article contains spoilers for the House of the Dragon season 1 premiere and the entire Game of Thrones series.

Before naming his daughter Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) heir to the Iron Throne in the premiere episode of House of the Dragon, King Viserys I (Paddy Considine) reveals to her the secret prophecy that each Targaryen ruler has handed down to their heir. Beneath the enormous skull of Balerion the Black Dread, the great dragon both Aegon the Conqueror and the king himself once rode, Viserys tells his daughter about the prophetic dream their ancestor had that led him to conquer Westeros.

In this dream, the Conqueror saw that the end of the world of men will begin with a terrible winter coming from the North. Absolute darkness will ride on those winter winds to destroy the world of the living, and the only way Westeros will be able to survive is to stand united with a Targaryen seated on the Iron Throne. Aegon called this dream the Song of Ice and Fire, a familiar name to readers of George R.R. Martin's novels that comprise the material for Game of Thrones. And viewers of Game of Thrones will know that Aegon's dream did come true — in the form of the Night King's invasion of Westeros in the final season.

But despite being an Easter egg for knowing fans, this prophecy is important because it winds up affecting years of Targaryen decision-making, all the way up to the time of Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) and Jon Snow (Kit Harington). Within the novels, the Song of Ice and Fire was about the Prince who was Promised, a prophecy in which the hero Azor Ahai will be reborn and bring about the end of the Long Night foreseen by Aegon I. In The Clash of Kings (the second book in Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series), Daenerys witnesses a vision in the House of the Undying where she sees her brother Rhaegar and his wife Elia discussing the prophecy in regards to their baby son Aegon, who they claim is the prophesied prince and whose song will be that of ice and fire.

Though this scene never made it into the show directly, and Aegon and his parents perished in Robert's Rebellion, the question of the Prince that was Promised's identity affected everyone from Melisandre (Carice van Houten) to Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane) to Daenerys. Fans spent years arguing that the prophecy really referred to Jon Snow — Rhaegar's youngest son with Lyanna Stark and was reborn after death. Others argued it was Daenerys herself, or the two of them together with Jon representing Ice and Daenerys representing Fire.

Though Jon and Daenerys did battle with the Night King during the course of the series, the fact that it was the non-Targaryen Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) who actually killed him and ended the Long Night made the whole debate feel a little beside the point. But eagle-eyed viewers will notice that Arya killed the Night King with the very same Valyrian steel dagger that Viserys showed Rhaenyra in the House of the Dragon premiere — so maybe the Song of Ice and Fire was really about the dagger and not the prince all along.

Jokes aside, Martin is still writing this song, and has said that the Game of Thrones ending will be different from his forthcoming The Winds of Winter novel. Where the books left off, Jon is still laying dead in the snow, Daenerys is stranded in Essos, and the Night King's forces remain a deadly chill on the winter wind (there's even a character in the books who doesn't make it into the show that could have a claim to the Iron Throne). Therefore, the Song of Ice and Fire and the Prince who was Promised prophecy could have a much larger part to play in the final story when all is said and done.

In House of the Dragon, the prophecy drives King Viserys' decision to name Rhaenyra his heir. As she takes the responsibility of the throne, Rhaenyra must also accept that she might be the only thing that stands between the Realm and its end when the winds of winter start to blow. In the Inside the Episode featurette, showrunner Miguel Sapochnik explains further, "Viserys is obsessed with the idea that they may be around the corner from the end of the world. And we felt like it was a really good way of adding this weight to the notion of Rhaenyra becoming queen. Instead of her wanting to do it out of ambition, she was being handed down a responsibility to bring everybody together to fight the incoming White Walker problem that in fact we knew would not show up for another 170 years."

Heavy is the head that wears the crown, indeed, but what will Rhaenyra do with this knowledge and how will it affect her actions in the Dance of the Dragons to come? Well, that song is still to be sung.

Subscribe to EW's West of Westeros podcast, which goes behind the making of House of the Dragon and the growing Game of Thrones universe.