Ben Shapiro Reviews "House of the Dragon" (Season 1)

[@lauera9482]

It's not unreasonable to believe the 2 girls and Daemon would change over 15 years.

[@morbincentral3607]

Ik

[@guitarguru210]

correct, but not bringing the viewers along for the ride in the change is what the issue is. GoT, we watched jamie change.

[@Sal3600]

"stupid until she becomes a queen" the change happened in the last episode.

[@uvongcukana5440]

@@guitarguru210 don’t compare it to GOT the dance happens over so much time and they handled the jumps as well as they could I feel. It was fascinating watching the two girls change from episode 1 to episode 10 I think that’s why they started the show so early

[@obsidianman50]

@@guitarguru210 Yes but I think an important bit of context is that HBO originally wanted the show to start from the Dance but GRRM insisted that there needed to be a prologue to set the stage. We miss a lot of character development because of that but it was a compromise done well in my opinion. We now understand why everyone is on the side they’re on, and understand how the situation developed. From now on the character development will be consistent and paced conventionally. If they hadn’t done the prologue it would have left viewers alot more confused and would have suffered for it I reckon. And If they had dragged it out it would have been boring.

[@BingBong422]

This is not inconsistent writing; it’s 20 years of character development squeezed into 10 episodes. It was a very difficult task to achieve and I think the writers did a great job.

[@guerillanextdoor]

Exactly. Ben has issues with this but didnt take issue with ring of power squeezing what is thousands of year in books into 10 episodes with zero time jumps.

[@mikeg2491]

That is the problem though, I don’t know why they crammed so many years into one season, I wouldn’t have skipped ahead to the adult years until the second season.

[@colbyclemons3917]

@@mikeg2491 mostly because the whole dance of dragons war is going to take place from season 2-4 and they had to build complex characters. And there is no good guy bad guy GRRM has always made his characters grey so the reader chooses “there character” instead of having the one main one that is forcibly likable

[@jaqenhghar2970]

agreed. Ben overthinks things too much and unnecessarily puts in conventional politics into it. Most of his arguments doesn't hold water and just pass through deaf ears.

[@marvelmedia]

Of course the characters change in the span of *more than 10 years* it's called character development. Lots of situations happen in the story that shifts perspectives, stirs resentment, evokes anger. These things change people because of the various negative emotions that are evoked. What tv show or movie has their characters remains the same from beginning to end? Isn't Ben aware of how narrative works? The show makes sense and Ben probably doesn't fully understand what character development is.

[@shihoblade]

Most of his complaints seem to come from his own misunderstandings. Otto was always power hungry. He didnt send his daughter to seduce the king because he had a kind thought of "the realm needs princes". He sent his daughter so that the princes would be related to himself which would allow him to make some moves.

[@timothywade307]

One of the first thing her dad says is “wear something nice for the king” wink wink

[@catfishwillytubuskis3837]

Lmao you wrote a whole paragraph for a guy named Timothy wade to make you sound dumb in 1 sentences

[@nightfallreviews1533]

@@catfishwillytubuskis3837Nothing Timothy said disproves his paragraph

[@HolyknightVader999]

Otto's mistake was making Rhaenyra the heir. He should've kept his mouth shut, agreed to keep Daemon heir for now, then send Alicent to seduce the king. That way, when Aegon II is born, there's no legal challenge to him being king.

[@happilyevernever4289]

Exactly! He'd been sabotaging Daemon coz he can't control him, even tho he's strong and capable as heir, and also has a blessed dick that any Westorosi man would hope for in a ruler. He instead vouched for Rhaenyra, didn't matter that she was a woman that time, until he realized Rhaenyra also couldn't be controlled like Daemon. 😂😂😂 Why does Ben ignore that obvious truth? Otto is much like Corylys in the way that he cares more about increasing his own power and prestige of his own house than the happiness of his child. It is cleverly disguised under that veil of righteousness, but as time goes on, his actions clearly show what truly motives him.

[@watermonke3323]

Rest in piece Ben's beard you will be missed.

[@Braxtonnnnnnn]

No it won’t

[@MszCharney]

@@vituperativedetritus3628 Maybe prepping for No Shave November 😂

[@Ethan-lq4nt]

I KNOW, it's awful.

[@stealthSGMB]

Yeah it won’t be, Ben always looked better clean.

[@TheSeahawk206]

Yeah he’s definitely a clean shaven dude. The beard, with that high pitched whiny voice…..no thank you.😂

[@beerus553]

You misunderstood Daemons character. He never wanted the throne he just wanted his brother’s approval/attention and everything he did was consistent with that. Rhaenyra as queen was showing restraint as her father did and by the end Luke’s death makes her realise that this isn’t the best way to rule.

[@zoomunzoom5893]

Yep. Daemon has been consistently right throughout the season. Had Viserys listened to him, the dance of the dragons would’ve been avoided in its entirety

[@TimberWulfIsHere]

Really tho?

[@knightheaven8992]

The simping for daemon is funny to see. He is a terrible person, a very charismatic and entertaining to see, but he still terrible, and ultimately selfish. he wouldnt be a good king, he would be another Maegor the Cruel.

[@frankie3010]

No, he did want the throne. Ultimately, he wants to rule in an effort to be respected and loved. He is an insecure psycopath.

[@beerus553]

@@frankie3010 that’s definitely not correct

[@joshbates9015]

I have never understood why Ben failed in his career as a scriptwriter more than I do in this moment.

[@kfizz]

He's too full of him self.

[@pedroperezppeez5547]

word

[@sonofvenus1621]

I was open minded to this review up until he said “Allison spends better time with her children then Rhenerya” not sure what show he was watching at that point

[@naz7759]

@@sonofvenus1621 when he said Rhaenyra was not queenly as a young girl...yet as cup-bearer she suggested that they build garrisons to protect the step stones and the council scoffed at her..only for Colyris to do that very thing in the end ...proved to me that he was watching an entirely different show....

[@OnlyFacts662]

He’s not talking as a script writer. He’s speaking as a show runner. Ignorant YT community fails again folks. Lmfao

[@yassinemiri3555]

Actually Rhaenyra did made some good points when she was in king viserys small council. Once in episode two : when she said we have dragons, send us, it will be a show of force. Two seconds later, she choose a seasoned warrior as a king's guard when Otto adviced to choose one out of nepotism for diplomacy. A second time in episode six when she said that the stepstones should have been reinforced instead of just abandonned after their first victory. Her idea about how to solve the border conflict in the riverlands between the Blackwoods and the Brackens. (That their will be some senior farmer citizens that could be questionned to have an approximative idea of where the borders where drawn) So it's a bit dismissive to say out of no where she became good at ruling.

[@myreisig7531]

Very true - every great suggestion was dismissed because of her genitals

[@chinmay4331]

There was a ten year gap between episodes 5 and 6 where Rhaenyra matures. I think she alludes to this in her chat with Lucerys in episode 10 - “My father named me his heir when I was 4 and 10 and I was not ready. But my father looked after me and prepared me to rule”. The show skipped over those 10 years where Viserys mentored Rhaenyra because it would have been boring to show that but that’s the reason why her actions strongly follow the Viserys tradition.

[@pseudonymousbeing987]

Furthermore she sat on her father's council for what, a decade? More? She is definitely experienced.

[@spacezoo5079]

Half agree. that is all Mary Sue level writing though. Easy options that any character could consider but because the writers have deemed her the hero her options are the ones that end up being correct even though for no reason everyone else dismisses or doesn't think of them.

[@Helldog6]

@@spacezoo5079 I swear, some of ya'll see a woman do something good or smart and immediately go "MaRy SuE!" just to say it lol Rhaenyra has shown to be flawed, is constantly getting reality checked, constantly making bad decisions that put her in fucked up situations, etc. Her having good ideas in the small council every once in a while is not "Mary Sue level writing".

[@cameronblack7984]

Ben is saying inconsistency is the problem. But I think the show is demonstrating how irrational and inconsistent emotions can make us all behave - how they make us act out of character.

[@Modification102]

In any sort of fictional content, if a character takes an action, even an irrational one, because of a previously held trait, belief or emotional bias, then them acting emotionally would not be out of character. You are seeing the same character you saw before simply acting in response to new circumstances or situations. The test of whether it is in or out of character is whether there is a logical progression from actions they have taken previously through to the actions they are taking now. If there isn't a throughline, then you are potentially dealing with character inconsistencies.

[@cameronblack7984]

@@Modification102 Well said.

[@DogandWolfGaming]

It sounds to me like what he is describing as character inconsistency is actually character development. It just probably feels too jarring to him because of the recasts. Using Alicent as an example. She starts out as a virtue driven young girl who is pimped out by her dad into a gross marriage. This damages her over time and ultimately changes her into the conniving and neurotic woman that we see in the back half of the season.

[@Rosaninyei]

He seems to have missed ALL of the nuance that makes us human. It is very very consistent with human behaviour to be complex

[@tar_a]

Ben seems to forget that human beings grow up and have freewill and empathy. Emotions make us inconsistent....unless ofcourse you're a serial killer

[@uthorofthehightower3367]

"This character is not the same as they were at the very beginning. This is inconsistent writing" No, this is character development.

[@neror9499]

it would be a character development, if we could see it

[@theemperiumofkek1362]

@@neror9499 you can see the circumstances that cause said changes, and their effect in the long term. You seem to have no object permanence

[@geronimo5537]

It would be character development if the characters were the same people and they didnt play into musical chairs of personality shifting to fit the plot of each episode. I enjoyed the the first half of the season. The second half was like watching people just become other people both in personality and appearance. Like the writers kept trying to do plot twist after plot twist. The season had some big moments. But Ben hit the nail on the head here.

[@GoDaniel10]

It’s like he didn’t even watch GoT’s character arcs. Jaime Lannister? Jon breaking his vows? Sansas changes?

[@maliceinwonderland00]

@@theemperiumofkek1362 You have to take into account some people haven't read the books so don't have the insight you and I do. They aren't getting the background that we have when they just watch the show. That's the shows fault for bad writing. Just because you and I read the books does not mean we should be arrogant to the ones who haven't like you just did to Neror in this thread. You don't have to condescend people. Thanks.

[@Jack_oats_]

Not knowing who to root for is the magic of grrm’s writing

[@Project_Awake]

yeah but clearly the writers want you to root for team black. example: rhenerya and daemon letting valerian guy escape. meanwhile we are shown bunch of bad stuff alicent does like conspire to kill the strong family.

[@WoolandFlax]

Best part

[@WoolandFlax]

@@Project_Awake we are shown alicent not wanting to kill rhynera and her fam, wanting to give them a good deal to forsake the throne. Alicent pleading with rhynes on a cousin to cousin terms. So they'res good sides and rotten sides to both sides

[@figjam9530]

@NOTSEE Americon English, motherfucker, do you speak it?

[@happilyevernever4289]

​@@Project_Awake no they also changed a lot about the greens, Alicent and her kids. From their ages, to their character motivation and actions. 😂😂

[@zachv465]

I think Ben needs to accept that these characters drastically changed over the decades and that’s what makes it poetically sad.

[@thisiscecy]

and that the story is trying to follow the book

[@nicholasnajibi3082]

Yeah for a smart guy he missed the biggest point of all of it

[@trappedcat3615]

The main characters got dumber, nothing to like about them, and story was absolutely boring.

[@waynegoins5816]

Yeah I’m usually on the same page as Ben with shows but I think he’s forgetting that several Years have passed over this season and some people are different after 20 years. I mean you are still who you are but your value system can completely change. I was a wild liberal 15 years ago when I was 20 and in college. Now I am extremely conservative.

[@sfcSpidey]

I do agree the characters are all over the place episode to episode with their decisions but aemond will be what ben says eventually but he is more cosplaying daemon or book euron until he accidentally kills lucaerys but I think he will act like he did it on purpose to keep up his persona but on first viewing with all these charterers they really do fluctuate too much

[@langkarenga3233]

The ending fight between Aemond and Lucerys was meant to illustrate a point Viserys made in the first episode. The dragons aren’t slaves to the riders they merely allow them to fly on top of them. Vhagar is the oldest living dragon in existence and also the most irritable, the dragons weren’t attempting to scare each other like the riders who are children, they were fighting each other.

[@overheatedeskim054]

The Cannibal is the oldest dragon in existence. And i think daemond mentioned him in show

[@smxwing]

He's right about aemond

[@didinx8417]

@@overheatedeskim054 Cannibal was not mentioned by name but alluded to as one of the 3 wild dragons on dragonstone. I am hoping Cannibal crops up in s2.

[@WizardofGargalondese]

@@overheatedeskim054 this is unconfirmed. No one actually knows how old the cannibal is.

[@hokagedlo6133]

​@@overheatedeskim054vhagar is the oldest abs largest dragon in the world

[@caiocarvalho8844]

He missed the mark for almost every character of this show. Its quite impressive! Maybe he forgot to put the volume on for the entire season. It can certainly happens.

[@friendlyfirecsgo5470]

Ahaha I know. I agree with his point about the birthing scenes, but most of his takes are just bizarre!

[@RobG93G]

He's right about Rhaenyra

[@samsummer8382]

@East Oakland unlike spelling which is interpreted objectively

[@kmt8825]

@@RobG93G not really. It actually showed how limited he is, and the things he didn't catch about her character. I couldn't stop laughing when he couldn't understand why Rynaera kids turned out better than Aliscents 😂😂😂 , ITS SO OBVIOUS, Im surprised he didn't pick up on it. CULTURE 😂😂😂😂😂

[@jamiemohan2049]

@@friendlyfirecsgo5470 The birthing scenes are good. They were frequently pregnant and gave birth. In game of thrones I think only that Wilding girl is the only character to have a successful pregnancy that results in a livebirth. It is just so different to game of thrones in that aspect. In this one we see characters being born and growing up. We also see how brutal childbirth can be.

[@matthewwebb1423]

I’m wondering if Ben actually watched this show or just read the spark notes of this because I feel like he missed a lot of the details of how things happened and why characters act the way they do.

[@miraclepromise5429]

Yes

[@AdrianMartinez-wh4bp]

it doesn't seem like he did, for once he's more disagreeable than ever. you may be right

[@drookard1525]

For once??? How poor are you hahaha

[@sebsignat8286]

Ben don't watch woke shit This is the wokest TV show ever made. No 1 in their right mind would want or support a lady as king of a kingdom

[@Yuh_mama]

Culture war stuff. Can’t be too praising of modern entertainment.

[@tarlochansingh620]

As a fan of the source material, I reluctantly agreed with you on almost every point.

[@sidakbhatia1206]

I think Ben is wrong on almost everything here: 1. Daemon: Really consistent. The goal of the war in stepstones was not to usurp the throne of his brothers but was a really emotional decision where he decided he wanted to prove his worth to the realm and gain visery's approval. He wants power but most of all he wants his brother's approval as could be seen by his scene where he chokes Rhaneyra (feels jealous). 2. Rhaneyra: Teenage rhaenyra made mistakes as teenagers often do. But later she matured to her duties to the realm. Many of her early decisions were frustrating because she felt her father wanted a male heir. Later, she remembered her father and wanted to give peace a chance. 3. Alicent: She has always been a hypocrite. Like alicent says hides behind her cloak of righteousness. Outwardly she maintains a religious virtuous appearance but inwardly she is as rotten as rhaneyra as seen by her relationship with larys and her scheming. I dont get the idea of Ben on why young alicent who is naive and manipulated by her father would make a good regent. You can say that of adult Alicent. There is also an element of jealousy she has with rhaneyra. She is a baby making machine while rhaneyra is their heir who rides a dragon fucks the most charming men in the realm. 4. Otto: Always a power-hungry schemer. 5. Aemond: Just because you are studious and qualified to be king doesn't mean you are not vindictive. He is still a teenager. Also at this moment, he doesn't want to start the war as this what his mother wishes. He is a mamma's boy.

[@staciarenee2982]

I completely agree with you on this.

[@mikayahu4372]

Agreed, almost seemed like Ben was arguing in favor of the Greens which is strange given the show portrayed them as the more murderous party of the two. Saying that Aegon or Aemond should have been king is naive because the war was going to happen regardless.

[@sidakbhatia1206]

@@mikayahu4372 Yes I guess because of his idea on virtue and chastity before marriage.

[@the_henchman4268]

Honestly Ben doesn’t pay attention to the stuff he watches, this is why he should just stick to politics.

[@mikayahu4372]

@Ali Chaudhry What is it about the greens that represent more conservative values in your opinion?

[@thatiowan3581]

I've noticed most of Ben's complaints in most of his reviews is that he expects all characters to behave like he would, and once I understood this his reviews become pretty hilarious cuz you realize how illogical realistic characters are lol

[@invalidusername883]

I agree with this. Why did the King stick with Rhaenyra? Because of his love for Aemma. He carried massive guilt in her death and she was his chosen wife. He loved her. It’s complex. Alicents kids (the boys) are awful and the King noticed that early. Ben misses a lot of the finer points to the show.

[@morbincentral3607]

He missed the point and reasoning for a lot of things that happened in the show. Him saying the characters are not consistent as a bad thing confused me because Rhaenyra and Alicent being different because of the time jump is perfectly reasonable considering they were just teens and now adults. Also him just thinking that people were dumb for not knowing that Rhaenyra’s kid aren’t hers, when in fact everyone knew that but nobody could say anything because Viserys didn’t want to accept that. I thought the show was very good. Good writing, good dialogue, good character development, good acting, good cgi, good world building, and just a well written show overall.

[@rhaenyralikesyoutube6289]

True. His wheelhouse really is politics, not fictional Westerosi politics. 😂

[@myfairlady343]

@@morbincentral3607 also him saying the see snakes wife could have gone for the throne herselfe. Like first of all. She has no heirs left. Second of all she has no allies because she doesn't really have a legitimate claim and she is a woman. third of all even if the unlikely event occurred that she wins her husband would probably take the throne because he is the the one with the army.

[@ChienaAvtzon]

@@invalidusername883 - Rhaenyra is the first born child, and her half-brother Aegon is a moron. While, Haelena is a loony and Aemond is too volatile. That is why Viserys stuck with her. There was no other option for heir.

[@davidally7188]

Ben must have seen a completely different show. Rhaenyra is headstrong and impulsive because shes literally a child when she does all that stuff (children are impulsive). You say she has no qualities that would be good in a Queen. Literally the first major action she takes is defusing tension and possible bloodshed between Daemon and Otto on the bridge at Dragonstone. Second she shows Laenor Velaryon understanding by allowing him to live out his private life in peace and ultimately sparing his life by exiling him in secret. How is level-headedness and compassion negative traits in a ruler? Alicent does not have the good qualities you want in a ruler. She is utterly controlled and steered by her nefarious father, along with caring only about appearances which Rhaenyra makes clear when Alicent grabs a knife to mutilate a child (Alicent hides her true nature under a cloak of righteousness, meaning her virtue is all fake).

[@godemperorofmankind3.091]

ok but how has rhaenyra not hidden her true nature under a cloak of being the good guy? did she not have a random dude assassinated so she could marry daemon? does she not have no problem with the fact daemon obviously murdered rhea rhoyce? does she not watch vaemond die and do nothing about it, despite him merely telling the truth?

[@MzCheecharella]

@@godemperorofmankind3.091 Really good points!

[@eduardod8051]

Man, the hole point of starting with their younger versions is to show the events that shaped who the became as adults. I think the character development was very consistent. For example, Daemon. He was loyal to his family and would do anything to protect it. Also, all he wanted was Rhaenyra, not the throne.

[@erkkijunkkarinen9303]

I don't think is that simple. He loves his family, but he also will hurt them f they do things incorrectly in his opinion. He hurts his brother on purpose with words and hurts his wife physically when he gets pissed off by her talking about weird prophecies he does not care about. He is like a very patriarchal father who gets abusive when his wife cooks the wrong dinner or his kid does not do well at sports.

[@eduardod8051]

@@erkkijunkkarinen9303 I agree. He is very volatile and let his emotions take a hold over his actions. But that is one thing about the show and books, like any human, all the characters have flaws.

[@sup9023]

Daemon literally killed his first wife, choked her niece & made celebrated the death of a baby/nephew. He has his own ambitions.

[@Mephisto707]

Why did Daemon marry Laena then? Shouldn't he have waited single until Rhaenyra was available?

[@eduardod8051]

@@Mephisto707 That’s why he killed his first wife, to get a chance with Rhaenyra. At the end, he settled for the best next thing. Plus, he didn’t know Rhaenyra was goint to plot to kill her husband.

[@hat8918]

Someone being different at the end of a season is called a character arc.

[@faelgrim5130]

@@NA.NA.. there are actually answers to both those questions in the show.

[@hat8918]

@@NA.NA.. Rhaenyra in Ep 6 moved to Dragonstone to protect her children. In Ep 7 she married Daemon to protect her children after Allicent sought to remove her son's eye. In Ep 8, she begged her father to not make her Queen, and to just let her retire to Driftmark, but Courleous's brother sought Driftmark, Auto Hightower sought to remove her kid's claim and Aegoyn and Aeymond sought to fight, thus showing they were in danger. In Ep 10, she considered peace, until Aeymond killed her son. Allicent, was peaceful, until she was convinced she slept with her uncle and her Father convinced her, that her children would be killed, which correlated with her father being removed as hand to the king, thus she had no allies.

[@faelgrim5130]

@@NA.NA.. Allicent changed the moment she realized her sons were a threat to the crown, and would be in danger from Rhaenyra the rest of their lives. Rhaenyra just grew up and realized what she needed to do, which was to be queen. But she didn't actually change until her son was killed. She had half a mind to just ditch the crown up until that point, as demonstrated by her consideration of the terms offered. You're welcome.

[@DBRONCOSfan]

True, however… you typically see that transformation in some way or another. Not just poof, here they are now.

[@ValyrianSteel00]

@@NA.NA..: There was jumps of 21 years. No one changed out of the blue. You should try watching the right show. Ben Shapiro is nitpicking just as you are. People change over the course of two decades. I hate to break the news to you.

[@VulgrDisplay]

As for Aemond and Lucerys there are two big taboos in the stories universe. Kinslaying and killing peaceful messengers, the reason he's so shocked when he loses control of the dragon is because he just did both.

[@jeffweatherby5279]

It's called "character development," Ben. People learn and grow and change. I thought it was handled deftly and am actually grateful for such textured, nuanced profiling.

[@fiasypiage952]

Character development takes time and is done on screen. Not off screen where it’s a total 360 on the characters “character”

[@dashingdreww1185]

Yea most of the character development is done off screen , lazy writing.

[@ronthorn3]

@@dashingdreww1185 says the guy with a dbz avatar lmao.

[@marlonarce6691]

No yea he’s right. Feel like most fans are just too blinded to see how chaotic the characters are being handled personlity wise. Stark difference between first half and second half of the season (even though they’re older now) when there just shouldn’t be.

[@colonelsanders1774]

@@dashingdreww1185 Weeb go back to cartoons

[@petri2767]

Seems to me that Ben decided very quickly what these characters are like without seeing what they are like first. Aemond is not cold and calculating, he is a kid who was kinda bullied but grew up to be the biggest and strongest of the kids and has a huge ego now

[@daquaviousbingleton9763]

Tbh so far he’s probably one of the less evil people in the show yh he’s a dick but he hasn’t actually intentionally done anything wrong so far ik it will change but in season 1 he’s not that bad

[@uvongcukana5440]

And even if he was calculating him not wanting to kill the kid and just scare him is quite calculating to be honest because killing him doesn’t help with anything it just starts the war faster

[@athernandez666]

@@uvongcukana5440 I 100% agree with you. Killing the kid actually makes things way worse for him which is why he makes that face at the end. I think that interaction was handled excellently considering that both times we see the character lose his cool (after the final time skip) Lucerys is involved. First, at dinner when he laughed at the pig being served to Aemond and second, when they were at the Baratheon guy's hall and Lucerys had no one to stand up for him. So that being what catalyst for the tragedy of Vhagar killing Arrax and Lucerys, was good enough for me.

[@erkkijunkkarinen9303]

@Joseph Stalin He started a fight at the family dinner because he knew he would win it. He started the fight at Storm's End because he knew he could easily take Lucerys in a melee fight and was sure his giant dragon would win easily too, of course it backfired on him when he actually could not control the dragon.

[@iwantgoals1566]

Ben seems to have forgotten how character arcs work. It was a trash review by him and I couldn’t finish watching the vid it was that bad.

[@AdelaideStJohn]

I think your forgetting that Leanor isn’t just “gay”. He fought alongside Deamon in battle so they’re friends. Deamon was also married to Leanor’s sister. Rhaynera was married and very close friends with Leanor their whole lives. Of course they didnt want to just kill him. Lol maybe you should rewatch 😊

[@Oxbloodmage]

He’s a terribly written character. Nothing he does makes any sense, he’s just depicted as a victim Because he’s gay so he’s not allowed to actually affect the plot they get his straight stand in literally named strong if they could be more on the nose, to do that.

[@godemperorofmankind3.091]

@@Oxbloodmage his retreat into exile and "death" have nothing to do with him being gay. and prior to that, he lived a life of lavish privilege. hes about as far from a victim as one could possibly get.

[@spiralentree737]

​@@Oxbloodmageria also had that thought with her lover sir criston except she dicided to stay. They are forced into marriages for strategic reasons they're all a victim of that just because he also happend to be gay doesn't make it any different. Ali was woken up in the middle of the night because the king was horny she didn't want to marry him but did because otto made her

[@happilyevernever4289]

​@@Oxbloodmage I agree. It makes sense that they're friends but they don't really show that all too well. Same with Rhaenyra and Laena's friendship.

[@TomRad1]

Aemon wanted an eye not to kill Lucerous, especially not dishonorably while he was a messenger. That scene also brings into question the riders' control over their dragons, which could be a game changer for how they are used later on.

[@TheBerylknight]

Plus Aemon always got spiteful about his missing eye when he was around Lucerys. The same thing happened at the royal dinner. So no, he would not have been "calculating" about it. He would have got emotional about it, just like he always did. So there was nothing "inconsistent" about that either. This was honestly a horse shit review.

[@showtimebruin7821]

The riders don’t control the dragons. It’s an illusion as Viserys told Rhaenrya in episode 1. One would assume they have telepathic control over them considering when they say “dracarys” they always burn the object the rider desires to be burned but apparently they don’t have complete control over them and the dragons have a mind and personality of their own.

[@toddbrown242]

Ok but how is chasing Luke with a huge dragon going to result in him losing his eye lol it was pretty easy to foresee that going terribly wrong.

[@itbegins6]

@@toddbrown242 some other reviewer mentioned this theory, but the idea of aemond chasing after Luke was to terrorise Luke so that he would go back to rhaneyra and say something like "beating vhagar is impossible so it's better to surrender than go to war with them". However his killing of Luke was like, "oh shit, they're never gonna surrender now, alicents going kill me for this"

[@chinmay4331]

They were both inexperienced dragon riders. Daemon or Rhaenyra or Rhaenys would have no problems controlling their dragons.

[@briang.2218]

I didn't get the vibe that Aemond was a fully cold calculating sort, I had the impression he was always a barely-contained hotheaded guy who was willing to start fist-fights at the dinner table out of spite. Definitely clever, but also kind of emotionally volatile.

[@Thamb0]

Ya, Ben is lost in the sauce sometimes.

[@ChienaAvtzon]

Aemond is Daemon on steroids. A completely unpredictable wildcard of a character. Which would explain casting Aemond to look more like Daemon than Viserys.

[@arjungadiyar3287]

This was my impression as well. I never felt that Aemond was a cold-blooded schemer intent on grabbing the throne. He's intelligent but also hot headed and he's loyal to his family including his brother (atleast for now).

[@justhair17]

In a lot of ways, he is like a young Daemon, which is definitely not the calculating kind

[@equos5060]

Absolutely, he could barely contain himself at that dinner scene. Den wants to bash the series so he finds stupid reasons to do so. Disappointing.

[@benjaminngopwaamos6878]

Ben, I genuinely think you're clutching. You're not the same person you were 20 years ago. The point is that these characters have changed because of the responsibilities placed on them and the power they have. Also, Aemond's reaction to Vhagar killing Arrax and Lucerys shows that he had no intention to kill him. He wanted revenge for his eye which was taken from him.

[@brettsilva7317]

Yeah. I agree with Ben that it should’ve been a calculated kill. But the way the show portrayed the scene, is like a couple of teenagers fighting or a bully beating someone up with no intention of killing the other person, but as young kids they don’t realize the unintentional consequences of their actions.

[@Mozz78000]

Which makes no sense because he clearly stated that it was a "fair trade" after it happened. So why do a 180 and be obsessed by that many years later?

[@McBlammy]

I agree. He even told him he didn't want to blind him completely. It wouldn't make sense for him to not want to completely blind him because its cruel, but would also want to murder him.

[@McBlammy]

@@Mozz78000 His mother (Alicent) didn't think it was a fair trade and wanted Lucerys' eye as repayment. In Storm's End Aemond said he wanted Lucerys' eye to give to his mother. There's also the scene in that dinner in episode 8 where it seemed like both sides were on the edge of making peace and it was Lucerys laughing at Aemond across the table that set Aemond off and brought the kids to blows again, so at that point Aemond may have no longer considered the matter part of the past...and you could perhaps look at Lucerys' death in the last episode as ultimately being a bit of karma for that mistake.

[@Mozz78000]

@@McBlammy It makes even less sense because his mother dropped the whole thing shortly after. She didn't want any eye from anybody at that point in time. Wanting to give the eye to his mother makes no sense because it contradicts the will of both characters.

[@rangedlime]

I don’t understand the argument that the characters are inconsistent, not only does the show take place over the course of years and years, but the reason it started so early in the timeline is because they had to show the major events that carved the characters into who they’d be at the start of the war. The whole series was basically a prologue.

[@CharletonWarriot]

@@NA.NA.. Age, having kids, her father dying. Her lover dying. A lot. Are you so stupid that she needs to look into the camera Family Guy style and announcer her changes of heart?

[@MarcusT86]

@@NA.NA.. None of these have to be major events or external factors. Most people develop in life because of internal ruminations and one's own thoughts.

[@thelambsauce7223]

Also...EVERYBODY is inconsistent in real life. Such a lame critique.

[@XoldnewsX]

Here is the problem with covering such a large span of time in one season. It is expected that characters would morph and progress over the many years, but with only 10 episodes we don't see a lot of the events driving this change. In the case of Rhaenyra, we really aren't shown her transition from unruly defiant teenager to mature ruler. Ben's criticism is legitimate.

[@jakemilano8868]

@@XoldnewsX She was a mature ruler for like 17 seconds. When the crown actually gets placed on your head while the stakes are extremely high, it isn't wild to think someone would take their responsibility in that moment seriously. Even if they did sneak out of the house and visit brothels that one time when they were a kid. She also offered a marriage pact to alicent in episode 6. She was the first to toast the other side at the dinner in episode 8. There's really nothing remotely jarring about her small time with the crown on her head.

[@jonathanj9260]

Ben doesn’t get that Aemond is clearly regretting the dragon killing Lucerys because he essentially just started a war that they’re sure to lose.

[@dinko3232]

@@alek1766 they literally lose the war lol

[@anastasiawhite7482]

No I don’t think he is regretting it at all. He is in shock but something tells me that he enjoyed it more than anything else. This is the first time he took a life. You can see there is an anger inside him, and murdering his cousin is the first time he was able to unleash his true nature.

[@extrasoap4881]

@@anastasiawhite7482 what i liked about his expression is that it's so ambiguous! there's some regret, "what have i done?", yet there's also a little bit of awe, because he just saw his own dragon destroy another. think of that level of power. and then slightly fearful too, because he probably started the war. and realisation that dragons can't be controlled. what a face.

[@timothywade307]

But it’s not like he told or made the dragon eat him though. Damon did that singing thing to the dragon and hypnotized mind transfer thing

[@barronspears]

@@dinko3232 Sunfyre literally eats rhaenyra 😂😭😭 team 💚💚💚

[@TariesWang]

11:19 - "Originally Otto's motivation is the kingdom is going to split apart if you name a girl and so we need a son" Otto's motivation is that he wants his bloodline on the throne. 'The Kingdom is going to split apart' is the way he convinces and manipulates the Viserys to marry his daughter thus they can produce an heir with Hightower blood.

[@zonefreakman]

Otto is so good he apparently convinced the audience with his master plan. But any fans of the series by Martin knew what was up with Otto from day 1.

[@happilyevernever4289]

Exactly 😂😂

[@LordHollow]

It's like Ben is watching a completely different show. Aemond was bullying Luc until Arrax flamed Vhager. Then, he lost control and the dragon killed them. The characters are consistent, their goals are what changed. Alicent was concerned for the kingdom first, then for the safety of her children later. How is that not clear on many occasions?

[@ThomasFoolery8]

Right. It’s a weird thing for Ben to choose to be critical of, because these characters are actually really well thought out and the story is really fleshed out because it’s based on a GRRM book.

[@1Chasg]

Ben isn't very good at understanding stuff like this.

[@birdsofafeather8368]

@@1Chasg you can replace “stuff like this” with “anything.”

[@LordHollow]

@@birdsofafeather8368 lol. Nice.

[@robertwilson3866]

I like Ben but he is clearly a bit on the spectrum. He is more logical/autistic in the way he understands things.

[@billygoat9006]

Ben, to suggest that the timejumps shouldn't have occurred is bizzare to me. The depth and history between the character is what makes us understand the blood fued. Seeing Lucerys take Aemond's eye is more impactful than hearing that he took it once. Seeing the tension in the courtyard while training as children. Seeing Harwin Strong around the children and Rhaenera makes us understand the rumours more. Hearing some guy was probably their dad and he died in a fire isn't as good as Seeing what actually happens. The time jumps were essential.

[@LetsGetitBoah]

You are correct.

[@pchiethegreat1]

I don’t think Ben understands the concept of “character development” very much…

[@uriahl2331]

The problem with time jumps is that if the writers need to jump to a point in time where only 20 minutes of material happen, they have to figure out how to fill the remaining 40 minutes of material. This mainly is done by having the characters repeat themselves as nauseum, or fill the time with things that won’t pay off.

[@daisymacias5856]

Exactly 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@Helldog6]

@@uriahl2331 Like what? What are things they "filled the time with" that haven't or won't pay off? Go ahead.

[@birdsofafeather8368]

This is why I know Ben is out of his depth engaging with art (or really any topic to be honest). He really just said, “Character X isn’t the same character at the end of the season as the beginning,” and then repeated for multiple characters who all experienced massive upheavals over the course of their lives. This is literally just character development. It really isn’t surprising though that this is so baffling to Ben. I’m not sure there is much he understands about anything.

[@amysteriousviewer3772]

He especially doesn't know anything about growing and changing as a person so it's no wonder he doesn't understand how people could.

[@vincents782]

Cringe

[@AlejandroGonzalez-ft4si]

@@amysteriousviewer3772 fr dude believes people are set in stone and the idea of a person changing throughout their lives is so completely foreign to him that the entire concept of a character arc doesn’t make sense to him. Truly the titan of conservative intellectual thought.

[@drsgme69]

Ben is a typical zionist, what do you expect

[@jianju4916]

I have seen stories where the characters do not change as in changing as a person, but rather no longer are the same character at all. Kind of like the first seasons of The Simpsons vs what some call "the Zombie Simpsons." But I agree with you in that this did not happen in House of the Dragon. It was actual character development, and I think it was quite well done.

[@thinkingoutloud3757]

Adult Alicent got worn down by all of the stress of the world around her. Adult Rhaenyra got battered with guilt over her countless bad decisions. This was all pretty obvious to me. The transition of the characters into somewhat different people was totally believable to me. It's how people wear down and change with time.

[@PhoenixRiseinFlame]

Yeah and Otto being fired from being Hand if the King also meant he was no longer in court, which meant Alicent had to figure out how to survive on her own. It makes sense she’d become more politically active in this scenario.

[@BoYcLuE]

Yeah, I respectively disagree with Ben's opinion on this.

[@Butterflieslove2]

@@BoYcLuE likewise

[@khangmai5753]

As he mentioned, obviously people change in real life. But this isn't real life. This is a fictional show, where these things have to be shown, not intuited.

[@87leslo]

Especially when you look at Alicent and Rhaenyra it makes sense. They start the show as kids. Ppl evolve over time

[@Benji567891]

Ben did you completely miss episode 5?, it has huge moments for Alicent in it that compeltely changes her charecter and her views towards Rhaenyra, and symbolically ends with her wearing the hightower dress when he enters the feast. It's crazy to me that you've completely glossed over things like that.

[@elijahbluhm8097]

Fr😂

[@ashriot6050]

Expected from Benny boy. I wonder if he covers his eyes during the gay love scenes. It is not all over the place at all. It's called character development.

[@Gizmomaster]

I think he only watched the first and last episode. His main criticism is that the main characters changed from when they were children to when they were adults with their own children. It’s like he expected them to completely remain the same from their childhood age to midlife adult age. It’s ridiculous.

[@ihkeseteeietos5722]

Be easy on him his braincells can’t handle much media literacy

[@pulpficti]

It's always funny watching Ben Peppino fans realize he's talking bs when it's a topic they know about. That's how the rest feels. Everything is woke now

[@viroconstanti3320]

I had a completely opposite feeling about what you call inconsistencies, I saw that as the most valuable element of the show. HOTD and more generally GOT is one of the rare stories able to depict how humans are not good vs bad, but rather imperfect beings changing their minds with time, experience, feelings, interest. And as a writer, trust me, that deep instable construction is difficult to achieve, way more than simply dividing the plot with the ‘good’, the ‘bad’, the ‘traitor’ and the ‘redemptive’.

[@arinerm1331]

I felt that Viserys' stubbornness regarding Rhaenyra was based on two factors. First, she was the one whom he told of Aegon the Conqueror's prophecy, the one true duty of the Protector of the Realm. Second, she was his only living child from the woman he actually loved. He wanted his first wife's child to succeed him, not any of his second wife's children.

[@Mephisto707]

I don't think his feelings to Aemma mattered here. He loved Rhaenyra as much as his children with Alicent, but he promised Rhanyra the throne and actually made the whole realm pledge allegiance to her when the time came. It would be a betrayal to his loved Rhaenyra to suddenly declare Aegon his successor. The fact that Aegon himself was always cool with the fact he was not the heir, even in adulthood, only made Vyserys's decision easier.

[@georgeleinberger8670]

@@Mephisto707 he named Rhaenyra his heir to deny Daemon and to assuage his guilt over his wife’s death. He SHOULD have reevaluated after Aegon’s birth, something similar to what King Jahaerys did before him. This is ALL his fault.

[@Mephisto707]

@@georgeleinberger8670 Jaehaerys never promised Rhaenys or Laenor the throne, very different situation than Viserys's.

[@georgeleinberger8670]

@@Mephisto707 it’s like a will. It can be amended. At the time, Viscerys chose Rhaenyra because she was a better option than Daemon. When Aegon was born, he had more options.

[@sharptakes1662]

@@georgeleinberger8670 It wasn't just guilt. It was to honor her memory. He loved her. He even swore "on your mother's memory, you will not be supplanted" to Rhaenyra.

[@TheRealOtakuJoe]

This is where Ben's computer like logic, especially in his wheelhouse which is politics, seems to have got it the way from him enjoying this. I do say Ben does layout all the glaring holes quite convincingly. That said, HOTD is just a marvel to watch and had me on the edge of my seat for the entire season. I can't wait for season two.

[@grahamsiebring5227]

Yes it’s odd too me that he was much easier on ROP than this show although it is obviously far inferior to HOTD. I expected him to rip ROP to shreds much more than he did!

[@morbincentral3607]

Fr. Ben missed the point with a lot of things. This show was very well written and the time jumps were handled the best they could.

[@michaelshackley3476]

Us much as I agree on some tips from his point of view on the show, he doesn’t understand the idea of the journey of all characters in ep 1 till 10. Both rhaenyra and alicent are both fascinating to watch, their evolution on this season has been the idea of the show runners to make this show interesting. But for me daemon is my favourite, also shout out to paddy portrayal of viserys( lovable, tragic, sad, kind ) just wonderful, even George himself said that paddy portrayal of the character in the show is actually better than the book.

[@ioanaazamfirei8777]

Yeah.... I'm kinda disappointed to see him gloss over the glaring problems ROP had, and kinda chew out HotD, which is very much the superior show of the 2. I mean the writing alone in the latter is complex and full of nuance that keeps you guessing. RoP was ineptitude after ineptitude starting with "do you know the difference between a rock and a ship?" English ain't my first language, but good grief that's stupid when translated in my native language....or really any other one!

[@zachrobinson6801]

He does this for a lot of things lol I think you’re only noticing it here because you don’t agree with him.

[@alecbunting8116]

I don’t think there is a good or bad group to side with this in this show. We have been able to sympathize with each side, understand that both of them have at least some good intentions, and we are left asking ourselves “must they really fight like this?” And sadly yes, yes they do. All we can do is watch the dragons dance.

[@jkroundumup365]

How war changed him is really one of the most realistic qualities of the show

[@invalidusername883]

Exactly.

[@EpicMRPancake]

Who? Daemon?

[@weirdversions]

Most of the time in this rant it sounds like Ben will start hating characters if they do something his religion doesnt approve... Lol

[@siin9522]

*FUNNY FOOTAGE OF BEN BLOWING UP AN ORPHANAGE:* kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKmynXqYZdNmj5o

[@ChienaAvtzon]

I think fatherhood changed Daemon, even more than war. He seems to adore his daughters, nor care that Laena did not give him a son.

[@renaissanceinblack]

People are often inconsistent, which causes inner turmoil and external conflicts. Also, we do things out-of-character all the time. Part of being human. It makes the show even more interesting and sparks a bunch of conversations about hypocrisy, etc., amongst people in power. It really is a nuanced conversation.

[@daisymacias5856]

This ^^^^^^ 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

[@noticedruid4985]

Ya but the Average person is not incredibly bi-polar with split personalities. Ben's opinion is that they are completely different characters, There is a clear lack of character development. It's like having having a sandwich but there is nothing between the bread. Like he explains with GOT, take the character Arya Stark. We see how she develops. We see her as a child and she's a innocent tomboy that looks up to her older brothers and wants to do male things and learn the sword. And then we see the tragedies and experiences she goes through and how she developed into a cold faceless Assassin and how she got her list of names to kill. We see that whole development, in Ben's opinion what we see in HOTD, is basically as if we saw Arya Stark as a innocent tomboy kid and then poof time skip and now she's a coldblooded Faceless Assassin with a list of people she is going to kill.

[@renaissanceinblack]

@@noticedruid4985 that's well thought out, for the most part. But I don't see any characters that I would describe as jumping from one extreme to the next in their personality ("bi-polar" as you say). The point being made here is characters change who they are, when in fact, they evolve. The show runners have the dilemma of the time jump to work with, as this season has just been a prologue for many seasons (hopefully) to come. So we didn't get to see the character development that made the franchise show such a beautiful, epic work. I'd like to think that most viewers are smart enough to realize that time has passed and people change. As to the character inconsistencies that I mentioned, consider Rhaenys (sp?), who said it wasn't here war to start, even after having ended the lives of likely hundreds of people, busting up from the dragon pit. Or Ser Cole who appears to be very loyal, until it no longer suits him. Come to think of it, as I type these words, I can understand that the show runners handling of the work seems slap-dash, when in fact, they just had a lot of content to work with in a short period of time.

[@aureum7479]

7:51 Viserys does this because he swore on his wife’s memory that Rhaenyra wouldn’t be supplanted, he still feels guilt over her death. This is already explained early on

[@kristinholzerart]

Ben’s gripes with this show are EXACTLY why I love it (and the game of thrones series). The characters aren’t clear cut and dry. With every single character, there is something I hate about them, and something I love about them. They are complex! The only thing I didn’t like was the sheer amount of birthing scenes, and the horrid sounds that accompanied them. 😂 especially since I was always eating dinner while watching them. But, I love House of the Dragon and I am not looking forward to waiting so long for season 2 😭

[@rasta77-x7o]

Yeah I think he's not a fan of being open to interpretation. More of a simpleton who would enjoy the annoying characters explaining everything in rings of power.

[@LetsGetitBoah]

Particularly with Aemond. We clearly saw that as a child, Aemond was a good kid that let the bullying eventually get to him. He was clearly a dutiful child who wanted to do the right thing for the family, and he had some serious balls. I mean just walking up to Vhagar and actually getting him to commit to being his dragon was next level stuff. He deserved Vhagar, and despite being jumped by his punk nephew and nieces, he had every right to fight back. He could have smashed Jacearys head in with that rock, but refused to do it. I think part of why he became so dedicated to being a warrior and educating himself, was because he knew Aegon wasn't the one to carry their family forward.

[@ibtissempharm8800]

@@LetsGetitBoah did I miss something ? To me it did seem like Aemond very well intended to smash Jacearys head with the rock if it wasn't for Lucearious ?!

[@nathanielclaw2841]

​@@em_c-chucky5554 he is a teenager's idea of an smart person

[@briannakisisa5636]

I thought the same thing

[@shytguy]

Daemon’s character makes perfect sense if you think of it as him being layered. Internal conflict within himself.

[@aliciai.9150]

My favorite character!

[@viktoriavaradi7159]

Daemon wouldn't challenge his brother while he is on the throne. He had problems with Viserys naming Rhaenerya as his heir (without a son, naming the daughter) instead of him, but he sort of circumvented it by making her his wife, thus getting close enough to the throne.

[@blackeyedlily]

While, as you mentioned, Game of Thrones took some inspiration from the War of the Roses, House of the Dragon took inspiration from an earlier period of English history, known as the Anarchy. When Henry I’s only legitimate son, who was his heir, drowned in the sinking of the White Ship, he designated his daughter the Empress Maude as his heir to the English throne. And as in the House of the Dragon, the realm rejected her because she was a woman. This began several years of war, primarily between Maude and her cousin Stephen. IMO, the inclusion of the numerous childbirth scenes was very appropriate to the story. At the heart of it this is a family, multi generational story. As Rhaenyra’s mother told her in the first episode, the birthing bed was the traditional battlefield for a woman in the story. They wanted to show that birth is messy, and can be both painful and complicated. The various birth scenes, with their various outcomes showed that birth can be very uncertain with a wide range of experiences. I will agree with you to some degree about the character inconsistencies. I do think that the aim was to show the development of the various characters through the events that transpired over the years. And they were more successful with some characters than others in that regard.

[@LithiumFireX]

I don't think you're supposed to "root" for any particular character or faction, and it's intended that way. You can root for anyone you like and that's the beauty of this show. I think the show isn't even intended to have clear "good" and "bad" characters or factions, they are what they are, just like anyone and anything in real life, with virtues and flaws. And that is one of the greatest strengths of the show. I can't even begin to describe how enjoyable and exquisite the writing is, this way.

[@John-xr9ry]

Definitely agree but at the same time I don’t understand how someone can not like Viserys. Sure he’s a flawed king but at his core, he’s a man who ultimately cares for peace and wants a family that’s reunited in affection and care for each other. His actions may have caused the war but he always has good intentions

[@l.jboylan6704]

idk, it seemt hey want you to like rhenerya, with the saving lenor thing, its really silly tbh. Maybe even have daemon kill him without her asking, it makes more sense and she could feel guilty over it, its something

[@zazuofficial.]

Exactly, just like Daemon said to Rhaenyra ''Each of us is capable of depravity''

[@LordHollow]

Yeah, I get it because of typical story dynamics, but I don't think we're supposed to look for good guys in this franchise.

[@Captain_Insano_nomercy]

The book is a absolutely written this way except the characters are all 3x worse, and that's what I loved about it so much

[@uraniumjoe]

Something to note at 9:59 - since they are first cousins, once removed, Rhaenys *is* related to Rhaenyra's kids. But there's a more significant thing not mentioned: Daemon, who is now married to Rhaenyra, _does_ have Rhaenys and Corlys' grandchildren by blood. Her granddaughters, combined with the fact they are betrothed to Rhaenyra's kids, incentivizes Rhaenys to side to Rhaenyra and not start her own war. Edit: Also at 11:23, I think Otto was motivated to gain power for himself from the beginning, but if there's a concrete transition point for him to fully embrace that agenda, it happens early in the season when he tells Alicent to "tend" to the grieving Viserys.

[@melissasimmons3222]

Right! I was going to say this. It wouldn’t make any sense for Rhaenys to kill the Hightowers and then take the throne for herself. With what allies? She has the Velaryon fleet and Meleys and that’s it. She also said in the show that she gave up the pursuit for the throne ages ago when she was passed over for Visery’s so it would be a complete 180 of her character to just automatically want the throne now. Alicent clearly changes because Otto has slowly poisoned her mind against Rhaenyra over the years. Quiet easy to understand

[@andreK560]

After rewatching the entire Game of Thrones, I'm not as mad at season 8 as I was.

[@Nathan-jh1ho]

I just stopped mid season 6, 2nd time

[@MathsNotHard]

I disagree with your assessment, Daemon never really wanted to be king, he wanted his brother to just be a good king. Rhaenyra is like you said, a teenager at one point and grows with the years. Alicent is very clear to understand, she cared about her kids and didn’t want to see them killed, she also hated that Rhaenyra was doing everything wrong and that led her to do whatever it took to keep an immoral person like her from claiming the throne.

[@moriartythethird5709]

Idk why but Ben seem to miss clear character development and at times, like with Rhaenyras, thinks that a teen should still act like that after 20+ years.

[@gooldenmushrxxm4437]

Ben's psychologically steps ahead of you we dont know his true motive you cant just get that from him completing orders and acting nice

[@filmsbylis]

Doing everything wrong for sleeping with another man because his husband was gay and couldn’t have kids? Rhaenyra didn’t ever plan to kill Alicent’s children she even offered her to marry Helaena with Jace and she just said no, Otto was the one who put that in Alicent’s head, not because Rhaenyra was like that tf 💀

[@Chicano_pistolero]

Daemon wasn’t happy when aemma and the baby died, he just can’t help but process death of loved ones differently than others, it shows consistently how uncomfortable he is with it throughout the show. He says it himself to viserys when he says we all grieve in our own way. Like when he finds out viserys is dead he almost immediately thinks he was murdered and he must avenge him, dude just can’t handle death of his loved ones well..

[@teampa1996a]

Plus he laughed at Vaemonds speech at his 1st wife's funeral.

[@MylesKillis]

@@teampa1996a that was cause vaemond was being a passive aggressive ass

[@larryn3301]

Nearly every important character in the original GOT has a transformation....

[@juancena2149]

I think with the people changing characters, this season was basically a big set up to the start of the actual show. Al this season was when it came down to it is setting the stage and telling which character is which. You can’t view it as a finished story yet

[@Chris-0113]

Exactly. I feel like they wanted us to really understand the characters and where they are morally before the war begins.

[@1958PonyBoy]

Certainly not a finished story yet. But an entire season just setting the stage and establishing characters? They could have thrown a few more bones to us fans that wanted to see a bit more action than posturing.

[@juancena2149]

@@1958PonyBoy I thought there was enough action with the whole stepstones stuff and the end episode with the dragon fight which I liked a lot

[@1958PonyBoy]

@@juancena2149 Maybe if I had stuck with it long enough. But I only got about 4 or 5 episodes in before I got bored. I was even halfway through that episode when I was reaching for the remote.

[@Al-ji4gd]

@@1958PonyBoy That's your problem. Needing a dragon fight or a battle every episode is an issue with you, not the show. The early seasons of Game of Thrones had the smallest budget and yet they were the strongest seasons. Anyway, literally the rest of the show is going to be chock-full of battles, dragons and deaths, so you've got that to look forward to.

[@FlexAndBustGaming]

“For some reason Rhaenyra ended up with with like amazing kids and Alicent ended up with horrible kids which is weird because Alicent seems to be much more involved with her kids than Rhaenyra is but never mind you that” Has the thought that overbearing super involved and intrusive parents forcing their will upon there kids is actually toxic for the child occurred to Ben? I don’t think so 😅

[@ChienaAvtzon]

Also, Alicent’s children knew their father hated them. Besides Alicent being a toxic mother who brainwashed them, there was no chance for the boys to end up normal, if Viserys wanted nothing to do with them.

[@WitchChangkyun]

I don’t get his take either that Rhaenyra was less involved with her kids? Based on what? That she doesn’t constantly tell them to be against the green children? Every time we see Rhaenyra with her children she’s very loving and affectionate. I don’t see how it’s confusing the boys turned out to be good lol.

[@josephatherley]

@@WitchChangkyun I actually got the impression that Alicent spent less time with her kids. Whenever we see her she's asking where they are, aegon was always off drunk doing something devious and Alicent was busy doing Queen stuff. Like you said, we see rhaenyra being a good mother more often

[@Mephisto707]

@@ChienaAvtzon At which point does Vyseris hints at hating his children with Alicent?

[@LetsGetitBoah]

@@Mephisto707 He doesn't, Chiena is wrong.

[@jollychiu1269]

Ben is like a one of the lords from westeros who wanted to uphold their traditions. Unfortunately, Targaryens were not from westeros and did not 100% obey their customs.

[@serarthurdayne5880]

Viserys stuck with Rhanerya because of his love towards Rhanerya's mother ,he still feel he's responsible for her death and Daemon may look like ambitious ,but he's always loyal to his brother and loves Rhanerya.

[@msrainbowbrite]

The dragon fight at the end of the season is heartbreaking. My heart was in my throat. Just that silhouette of the huge dragon flying underneath the smaller one is so telling of the outcome

[@kninezbanks]

"The dragon fight".....fight?......More like the dragon "encounter" or dragon "altercation".......That wasn't much of a fight....Literally lasted 3 seconds when Vhagar got serious.

[@raduradu334]

A big dragon would never catch a small one who can turn with ease

[@GoodFilms28]

@@raduradu334 well it did

[@HaleyStark.]

I literally finished it like 5 min ago. The regret on the older kids face and him trying to stop it too late was just... 😫

[@msrainbowbrite]

@@kninezbanks it broke my heart nevertheless. Luc was just a baby

[@anastasiawhite7482]

I agreed with Ben with his review of ring of power season but house of dragons is in a different league entirely. Throughout the season Rhaenyra has always shown herself to be somebody who would make a good queen. But she is also human who would make some major mistakes growing up but learns from them. This came as no surprise to me. Daemon is interesting character because seema to take somewhat of a background role and you never truly understand him. He plays his cards close to his chest but there is clearly both good and in bad in him, which makes him all the more compelling as a character.

[@barronspears]

Sunfyre is my favorite dragon do you wanna know why

[@Alex-eh8hv]

@@barronspears Caraxes is better

[@barronspears]

@@Alex-eh8hv Sunfyre is better it eats rhaenyra😂

[@destineefaire2736]

@@barronspearsyou waited six months just to attempt to spoil something to a random stranger , your life sounds so sad…

[@TheRamirez9987]

Daemon loves his brother and all he ever wanted was to be part of his court and be his right hand. Rule as targaryans. He is the only one who can speak bad about him, but if someone else does, he will have your tongue. Also you can see this how he is concern for his brother in those final episodes b4 his death.

[@augl1300]

I think the critique that the time jumps hurt the show is valid, but I think the criticism of character inconsistencies doesn’t hold up. there’s also an assumption that there’s supposed to be a good side and a bad side, and that’s really not the case. GRRM has said so himself that when he wrote ASOIAF, he wanted to get away from the good and evil tropes a La lord of the rings. I’m curious what Ben will think of S2 when the big time jumps are a thing of the past.

[@metarra]

Of course the characters are different after growing up. You're not the same person you were when you were 15. I don't know if you are just biased due to liking Lord of the Rings more but Rings of Power is far worse in every way than House of the Dragon.

[@baxter326]

It’s almost like Ben doesn’t understand the story.

[@THEFISTOFTHESTONEDSTAR420]

Its garbage

[@rezartacaushaj5631]

I understand. I waited years for it be done. It's garbage! I was pissed how they allowed radical feminism to ruin it, lack of script and plot. Ben understands!

[@filipesottomayor268]

I bet he didn’t see either of the shows. He just does theese videos on it to make a buck.

[@filipesottomayor268]

@@rezartacaushaj5631 nonsense… it portrays a medieval, violent, monarchical society. It’s not the present day so don’t apply the same filters. If you don’t like it don’t watch it.

[@rezartacaushaj5631]

@@filipesottomayor268 you are proving my point. And I wont be watching💁🏻‍♀️

[@lauera9482]

There are hints that Otto wanted power from the beginning. At one point Vicerys insinuates that Otto killed his father so he could be hand.

[@daniduck8911]

I love how they changed the character throughout the series. I found it really interesting and it makes me understand the characters and they’ve changed. I actually really loved it all and found it amazing.

[@danieljardim5245]

I understand Aemond's recklessness in getting Lucerys killed. Although he was calculative, he was always scarred with the fact that he lost an eye to Lucerys and that he was always made fun of by him. He is very brilliant, but let his emotional side get in the way and caused a very believable accident (he thought he was capable of controlling Vhagar due to all his qualities, but he had little to none experience in dragon battling)

[@manymusings]

Right. I viewed it like he was just trying to terrorize Luc but not kill him. He wasn't able to control his dragon.

[@JoJoZaka]

Ben needing static characters and not being able to comprehend that people change over time (especially since the point of starting young is to show the growth of Alicent and Rhaenyra into monarchs) is the biggest smooth brain take I've seen in awhile. Goes to show that it's true what people say about generational gap. New fantasy likes to have shades of grey, intrigue, and no true heroes. Whereas Ben prefers when it's a simple story of the good guys beating the bad guys and their virtue is never in question and everything is simple

[@michaelk4740]

Well said

[@Butterflieslove2]

Exactly

[@michelleb3698]

I don’t think it’s a matter of Ben being unable comprehend that people change. I think he was making a point about the writing failing to reflecting that.

[@ShockinglyAverageApex]

To be fair Rhaenys didn't consider frying the greens and then pushing for her own claim because as she's said multiple times, she has no interest in being queen. And the grandchildren she speaks of are her grandaughters(Daemons twin girls) who are her legitimate family.

[@doomrot]

In which said granddaughters are betrothed to Jace and Luke, heir to the Iron Throne and heir to Driftmark.

[@juniormedina4485]

House of the Dragon was really good. It’s dialogue is so good and much more captivating than the action. The time jumps I thought were well done and didn’t feel jarring . Only thing I thought sucked was how quick the finale felt. It was good and rip to the boy who got munched but I just want more.

[@daze.d5462]

ikr. Alicent's dialogue to Rhae when she's holding the knife was really good. I think the time jumps were necessary just like in the books but I think that S2 hopes to address this by flashbacks thereby completing their character arcs.

[@robdubent]

Yeah it sucks. Sorry not sorry. All series are garbage these days.

[@thelambsauce7223]

@@robdubent lol? What about it "sucks"?

[@Георг-л5л]

@@robdubent Its better than Ring of Powers that forsure and its faithful to the source material

[@morbincentral3607]

Great show. I’d give the show a 9 out of 10

[@tbone6032]

I do want to emphasize one problem with Ben’s take-the difference from the books like exiling him is because the book is from secondary accounts. If nobody would know about a secret it wouldn’t have been in the books. In terms of why to exile him it makes sense-he has a dragon. Could always use it in the future if you need to bring him back

[@nathanharrison4777]

I agree with your statement, except he no longer has a dragon. If you are saying he is a dragonrider, ok. But there is no way you can hide a dragon whereever you decide to go

[@tbone6032]

@@nathanharrison4777 the dragon is released to the wild it doesn’t stay with him. But it also doesn’t unbind so he could get it back

[@ChienaAvtzon]

A legitimized Velaryon bastard claims Leanor’s dragon, later in the story.

[@joaoluis9333]

This may be a little spoiler for the book but is not that major anyway. In the books after the war begins, Daemon and Jacaerys gather the population of dragonstone and drifmark and promise to give lands and titles to those who claim one of those unclaimed dragons, remember as they said in the last episode, they have 11 dragons for 5 Dragonriders on Dragonstone. The man who claims Seasmoke, Laenor's dragon is called Addam of Hull and he is supposedly the bastard son of Laenor which doesn't make much sense since Laenor is gay. So I think the show might bring Laenor back disguised as Addam of Hull which in my opinion would be a very good chance and make the character arc of some character's much more interesting. If you read the book and know what happened to Addam, Corlys and Seasmoke you know what I mean.

[@Smayor75]

This is exactly the case and even George RR Martin (who is highly involved in this series), stated that the books are a recounting of these events by meisters (3rd perspective, heavily limited)that the series is the definitive recounting of the events. If the books do not match the show, it’s because the meisters made a mistake. The show is official canon now and describe what actually happened.

[@sertank735]

Dear George, Finish the fucking books. Sincerely, Western Civilization

[@Chris-0113]

I love it. Can't wait for season 2

[@rutchjohnson]

Time. Ben is not considering what time does to a character. If none of the characters changed over the 20 years time span he would be complaining the opposite. I liked that aspect of this show. That characters changed with time. The Sea Snake captures this quite well in the last episode of the season, mentioning that he is done chasing the throne. All it has brought is sorrow and loss. Now he wants a peaceful life and to delight in what he does have. I think a lot characters have gone through a transition like that.

[@jamesseiter4576]

"All of Alicent's kids are horrible," What the fuck is wrong with Helaena?

[@peterg5375]

It was definitely in Aemond’s character to be “oh shit” of killing his nephew. 1. He knows he started a war 2. His mom will prob beat him 3. That was definitely his first kill so he was a bit shook from that

[@mjbull5156]

The book portrays him as being pleased with himself about it. While that is an unreliable narrator, the show seems to want to make Aemond less ruthless and hot headed.

[@ChienaAvtzon]

@@mjbull5156 - The book is an inaccurate account of Westerosi history.

[@Mephisto707]

@@mjbull5156 yeah and I don't understand why. Him always trying to start a fight, being totally cool with losing an eye because he conquered the biggest dragon, trying to kill Luke inside Storm's End and later ravaging the riverlands with Vhagar all point toward a psychopath, not an intelligent honorable man.

[@retrojohnny1899]

What Ben isn't considering is what time can do an individual. A person isn't going going to be the same now as they will be 20 years from now. This is what makes the characters more realistic and more human. They change based on the events and circumstances around them.

[@anastasiawhite7482]

But ben is wrong when he says these characters are inconsistent. For example Rhaenary’s demonstrated the qualities of a good queen when she was a teenager, most notably when she flew her dragon in between Otto and Daemon to diffuse the tense situation before them! There were many other moments that alluded to her leadership traits! Aemon is clearly somebody that has a lot of anger boiling him. Ben for some reason thinks he is just calculating. It is possible to be both in real life

[@grizzlyv2.076]

@@anastasiawhite7482 The problem with Rhaenyra (young) is that, although she does showcase some good traits, she also shows some other horrible, and I do mean horrible, traits for a queen.

[@anastasiawhite7482]

@@grizzlyv2.076 true, but this is what makes her a compelling character. Now of course she was a teenager at the time and was coming of age but I suspect that some of these bad traits will come out again in season 2 with murderous consequences. To say that her inconsistency is an example of bad writing is far from true, I think the exact opposite.

[@melmelb6146]

The problem wasn’t that the Velaryons were black… the problem was the Strongs weren’t 😂😂😂

[@NathanShinholt]

There’s so much to love about this show. I wish Ben would say more about the things he liked in his review - he’s always hellbent on identifying a problem and giving us how he would have done it differently

[@alextrujillo8611]

Also loved how Ben just kept reviewing all Rings of Power episodes and probably disliking them and how woke the show is. Totally agree on Ben just hellbent on the problems lol 😂

[@gmee123]

There's not much to "love" in my opinion.... Ben nailed the issues...in between there isn't much to hang on to.

[@Fankas2000]

He gave a 3.5/5, which is a pretty fair score.

[@zub41r75]

He is honestly a numpty and not even half as smart as he thinks he is. In all honesty he has always had bad takes and some odd good ones. He is pretty clueless

[@robertwilson3866]

Ben knows his audience - it's those angry anti-woke guys.

[@mosespelican3507]

Ben seems to have missed the whole point of character development, this is the beauty of the show, it’s a human experience, no one is outright good or outright evil, peoples motivations change over time as they adjust to the changing environment, the Hand of the king initially wasn’t keen on power until an opportunity came for his blood to sit on the throne and that changed his motivations going forward, Aemon was bullied and grew up to be strong and consistently wants to show his strength because of this insecurity, he’s not cold blooded, and he’s aware that his insecurity and childhood fooling around might’ve started a war… On a base level it seems Ben has missed the entire point of the first season…it’s to make us see quickly that there aren’t good guys and bad guys… there are humans on either side and ultimately they are of the same family and house and it’s infighting

[@average7youtuber]

That's the beauty of the show in a ways, there are no good or bad characters, it just happens! In so many ways it reflects today's society 😅

[@kevinage2332]

What I understood from everything you said is that every characters should fight for the throne. They clearly show us how rheanys asked his husband to stop fighting for the throne but for their family. And alicent is not a bad person she’s wanted to protect her kids. There are many things you missed on the show you should watch it again and consider the time jumps and what had happened

[@x3merx3mer]

No we don't. Go watch Vampire Diaries if you want clear sides and who to root for. People are not b&w, history is not b&w, no war ever is b&w. So go watch fairy tales or sport events if you feel like rooting. Leave the somewhat realistic show alone ...yeah, the one with the dragons :)

[@morbincentral3607]

A lot of people are complaining about the time jumps and character changes but I think it was necessary to tell the story the way they did. The books are just a bunch of histories, so they did the best they could to honor the source material and make it the way they wanted.

[@turbokid8719]

They ignored a lot of the source material 😂season one had a lot of flaws & there was some good stuff etc.

[@GeniusEdwin]

In the case for Rhaenira, I think the writers tried to make the "night walker prophecy" as a pivotal and cornerstone aspect of her character. She suddenly peered away from the hormonal teen to a wise person because she knew of the threat of the white walkers. She even considered accepting Green's offer because of this. This is also what separated her from Daemon character, daemon just wanted victories, wars, and family-preservation, but he doesn't know nor wants to believe in the prophecy.

[@therabbi9848]

I initially thought that it was just a meaningless tie-in to the original series. Now that I think about it though it actually does a lot to re-contextualize the trend of “Targaryen madness.” Surely being told that a member of your family, potentially you, will be critical for the survival of mankind will have some effect on your decisions.

[@AwayAgain]

Daemon is apparently living 300 years ahead of his time because the entire song of ice and fire prophecy ends up being complete horse shit! A stark girl ends up killing the night king with a measly dagger. So yeah. Fuck the prophecy take what’s yours

[@caiocarvalho8844]

I think she wanted to honor her father legacy more tha anything else. He was a pacifist, the glue that tied a calm realm. She knew that when he chosed her a heir, he put the peace at risk, so chossing a more reasonable mindset rather than a bloodlust one may be seen to her not only as duty, but gratidude toward the late king.

[@therabbi9848]

@@caiocarvalho8844 Viserys was a peace-loving man, but he was also unwilling to make uncomfortable decisions in order to guarantee peace. It was downright irresponsible as a ruler in that world to continue to name Rhaenyra as his heir after Aegon was born. It is because of precedent which he made no real effort to change that war was essentially guaranteed at this point. Obviously, it isn't fair to Rhaenyra to do that. But what is even more unfair is totally setting his children up to go to war with each other pretty much whether they wanted to or not. Viserys completely failed to see the bigger picture.

[@pchiethegreat1]

I don’t think Ben understands the concept of “character development” very much…

[@cardhubchris]

Reportedly, the showrunners originally had the series start with Ep.6, but GRRM wanted a "history lesson" for non-bookreaders to be caught up. Hence, Ep.1 to 5, with the young Rhae and young Alicent being casted.

[@EveryoneisCanceled]

Not gonna lie, I like Ben Shapiro the film critic.

[@erich2385]

The way I perceived Aemond was that he just wanted to toy with Lucerys when they were fighting on the dragons. Both Aemond and Lucerys lost control of their dragons. As the write up on episode 10 on wikipedia states Aemond was shocked. I don't think he actually wanted to kill him.

[@mayowaadeleye1999]

In the books he did

[@alexfish128]

Last episode of the season was amazing. Sets up season two extremely well

[@frankie3010]

Not really.

[@hurricane3033]

@@frankie3010 how not? It's literally an event that's going to lead to a massive war

[@myfairlady343]

@@hurricane3033 no idea what these peoples ecpectations are. I meen i think they expect the show to be the same than the book

[@TheTribute410]

Daemon realized his place. That’s what made the most sense from episode 8. One of the most beautiful moments on television was Viserys walking the great hall. They all have to grow up in this show and it was actually very effective. It was a very PRO family show

[@JaeWoodFLAWDSKWAD]

It also shows that the pursuit of power often has a self-destructive end, which JBP often talks about... So destructive in fact that it can tear families apart.

[@TheTribute410]

@@CallmeCalypso no I was mostly referring to Viserys you dolt. It’s obviously based off of a gross medieval type house hold that keeps the blood line too thick. I’m not promoting incest obviously I’m saying that it’s the fact that the father and king stands up for his daughter and the brother stands up for his brother and the parents make the decisions they do to protect their family line and children. A lot of it unfortunately though is at the expense of duty so they make mistakes that’s the entire plot and why it’s interesting. It’s not interesting if everyone makes a smart and perfect decision it’s good writing when they’re flawed human beings making flawed decisions from the heart and out of emotion but a lot of times at the expense of the actual correct decisions they SHOULD be making. I’m what’s wrong with this world lol go pound sand

[@JaeWoodFLAWDSKWAD]

​@@CallmeCalypso Yeah, cause that's what he meant. Nuance and overarching themes/narratives be damned huh?

[@SamirSiraj8542]

@@CallmeCalypso lol that was normal for that time. Puberty is the age limit if consent. And targaryen don't care about blood.

[@holysecret2]

@@CallmeCalypsoyou are straw manning someone rather than asking for clarification, and then condemning them? You are what's wrong with this world

[@GoDaniel10]

“In season 2, we need to know who we are rooting for.” But why? A Song of Ice and Fire has always been about grey characters, GRRM has always said as much. That’s what makes it interesting. Can’t believe you want to dumb down the series to good vs evil

[@mma12078]

Aemond's motive for the last scene did change slightly from the books but for the better imo as it add more layers to his character

[@livelovelife32]

Exactly. Before he was one note. Basically an anime character. Now he has layers and seems more believable.

[@MrUppa]

We just know that he CLAIMED he killed Luce intentionally in the books. Else he would have needed to admit that he has problems controlling Vhagar ... I really like this twist

[@420DB]

Fire and Blood is supposed to be from the perspective of a Westerosi historian, so this works. All a historian would know is that Aemond killed Lucerys. He would have to assume Aemond's motivations.

[@smaug9833]

It's based on Fire and Blood which is written like a history book, with loose accounts of events spaced over decades. It wasn't the easiest thing to adapt to the screen. Personally, I think they did a fantastic job so far, despite its flaws.

[@isthatwhatemptymeans8222]

Not having white hats to root for and black hats to hate is actually one of the things I like best. Morally fluid and complex characters as opposed to flat ones are what I find interesting

[@stumodman]

Characters grow and change over time it's called character development Ben, there are still consistent throughlines throughout the series and the characters are nuanced and complex and you can understand the decisions they make based on the situations they face

[@BrendanBrown1]

Aside from all the incongruities with each character's development, I feel like the show runners accomplished one major thing for me: they got me emotionally invested into them. Rhaenyra has kind of reluctantly donned the responsibilities layed before her; Alicent has taken her father's guidance (and coercion lol) and installed her son as king; Daemon steals the show when he's on screen no question; and Aemond is going to be much more of a threat after what did in the finale. All the pieces are set now for a lengthy and well-written story to unfold.

[@hanshammerhand9854]

The f...? Character development is seemingly bad? Thats new. Having the want to be independent makes u unlikable? Being a layerd Character with internal conflicts makes u inconsistent? Man, if u want to look a show were everything stays the same look a sit-com.

[@oakraidergrl4lif]

The House of The Dragons did not pull no punches and nothing was taboo. Everything and I mean everything was touched. My jaw is still on the floor with those graphic birthing/miscarriage scenes to Vaemond getting his freakin head chopped off mide sentence suddenly, incest, random foot fettish scene and Vhager devouring that poor kid and baby dragon in one chomp. Damn. Looking forward to season 2.

[@mjbull5156]

There was something taboo. Killing off Laenor for real.

[@birefringent2851]

@@mjbull5156 you can't kill off LGBT characters anymore

[@foodudey8u]

I loved the first season of House of the Dragon, I think all the character's growth was consistent. I found it really jarring that they switched the actors halfway but I think the way they told the story with the time skips made sense. It feels more natural compared to having flashbacks telling how Aemond lost his eye. My only issue with Aemond is why tf does he look like he's 10 years older than Aegon and could be adult Rhaenyra's age.

[@sarahcarter122]

The bloody childbirth is something that I think was needed, I see childbirth in shows and they depict it being so easy going and perfect but childbirth isn’t always easy going. And that line that childbirth is a woman’s battlefield is so true!! I’m lucky to live in a time where I can get advanced medical care. I loved seeing childbirth being depicted “bloody” and from a woman’s perspective the blood is not what scared me, I see blood every month. I think it was really empowering.

[@monkeydavefraud]

Some women used to give birth then go back to work. Depends on the birth and quality of the mother

[@itsbreezy2521]

Daemon is consistent through the lens of House Targaryen, people misunderstood this as his wanting the throne for himself, but all he ever wanted was to maintain and protect the stature, rule and greatness of House Targaryen, it is why he loved his brother but resented his weakness, it is why he wanted Rhaenyra as he knew together they could restore the house, it is why he was filled with rage in the finale with Rhaenyra showing the same weakness he seen in Viserys once they had been usurped.

[@TheBerylknight]

Yeah, that's what Shapiro doesn't understand. Daemon only wanted to be king because he saw Viserys as weak (the show makes that pretty clear). When he saw the strength inside Rhaenyra, he was then content to rule by her side.

[@frankjennings4489]

I liked that they showed the young versions of the characters. Seeing the way they changed over time was really interesting.

[@rodvincetolosa9386]

Not everyone needs to be a one note character like you Ben