Hi folks,
Surprisingly I didn't see a thread here on HBOMax's House of the Dragon.
I admit to watching and enjoying the show, as I did Game of Thrones. However, I'm not a fanboy or massive GoT nerd. I haven't read the GRR Martin books.
Mostly, I content myself by watching the shows and occasionally reading online summaries that dig into points that I may have missed, being somewhat of a poser to the GoT universe.
But the latest episode, #7 "Driftmark," left me with a burning question that none of the reviews online have really touched on.
A the end of the episode, we see that Ser Laenor was not actually killed by his lover Qarl, but was actually part of a plot to get him out of the picture, free to cross the Narrow Sea to the free cities, as engineered by Daemon and Rhaenyra. OK, great. I kinda saw it coming through the episode. I don't think Rhaenyra as portrayed would be so cold as to have him actually killed (though, in the book he does die, as I have understood).
OK, fine. But, WHAT ABOUT HIS DRAGON, SEASMOKE? It's not very practical to try to live a life of obscurity and anonymity in a new land when you've got a great big fire breathing dragon following you around, on of only a handful known to still exist, and easily identifiable as Laenor's dragon. There is no precedent for abandoning a dragon in the GoT universe, I think. I don't think it works that way.
Sure, the dragons don't constantly follow their rider everywhere all the time. But, it's gonna turn up, sooner or later. And, it's impossible that anyone else would be able to form a bond with SeaSmoke while Laenor still lives. So it will be pretty obvious in Westeros that Laenor lives, pretty soon. Seems like a big plot hole.
None of the writeups I've read have really addressed this question. Anybody here have speculation on this? Again, divergence between book and show may reduce the utility of the books for filling this gap, but I'm interested in other people's thoughts!
Surprisingly I didn't see a thread here on HBOMax's House of the Dragon.
I admit to watching and enjoying the show, as I did Game of Thrones. However, I'm not a fanboy or massive GoT nerd. I haven't read the GRR Martin books.
Mostly, I content myself by watching the shows and occasionally reading online summaries that dig into points that I may have missed, being somewhat of a poser to the GoT universe.
But the latest episode, #7 "Driftmark," left me with a burning question that none of the reviews online have really touched on.
A the end of the episode, we see that Ser Laenor was not actually killed by his lover Qarl, but was actually part of a plot to get him out of the picture, free to cross the Narrow Sea to the free cities, as engineered by Daemon and Rhaenyra. OK, great. I kinda saw it coming through the episode. I don't think Rhaenyra as portrayed would be so cold as to have him actually killed (though, in the book he does die, as I have understood).
OK, fine. But, WHAT ABOUT HIS DRAGON, SEASMOKE? It's not very practical to try to live a life of obscurity and anonymity in a new land when you've got a great big fire breathing dragon following you around, on of only a handful known to still exist, and easily identifiable as Laenor's dragon. There is no precedent for abandoning a dragon in the GoT universe, I think. I don't think it works that way.
Sure, the dragons don't constantly follow their rider everywhere all the time. But, it's gonna turn up, sooner or later. And, it's impossible that anyone else would be able to form a bond with SeaSmoke while Laenor still lives. So it will be pretty obvious in Westeros that Laenor lives, pretty soon. Seems like a big plot hole.
None of the writeups I've read have really addressed this question. Anybody here have speculation on this? Again, divergence between book and show may reduce the utility of the books for filling this gap, but I'm interested in other people's thoughts!