The Subtle Connection between Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon's Opening Credits

Summary

• The opening sequence is one of the most famous features of Game of Thrones.
• The original credits scene changed as the characters traveled, revealing more of the world.
• Despite the new look, the credits of House of the Dragon Season 2 follow an old tradition.

Even if you haven't watched an episode of Game of Thrones, you're probably familiar with the sound of Ramin Djawadi's opening theme. For seven seasons of the hit HBO fantasy drama, it accompanied the show's opening credits and featured an elaborate moving mechanism that represented the world with its continents, rivers, valleys, mountains, oceans, and castles.

The same mechanism technique was used in the first season of the spin-off House of the Dragon. But unlike GoT, it showed only one very specific part of the world – Old Valyria, where the story of House Targaryen began. And now the opening credits of the prequel have been changed for Season 2. But despite the change, there's still a very subtle connection to Game of Thrones.

A Sense of Continuity

'The amazing opening sequence for the original show put us in this place where – not that we were trying to top it, but that we were trying to continue the tradition of an evolving credit sequence that changes,' House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal revealed in a recent interview.

On Game of Thrones, the opening credits reflect the events of the show. As the characters travel around the world, the locations are shown on the moving map of Westeros and Essos – just think of all the places Daenerys visits and how they appear in the sequence. According to the House of the Dragon showrunner, they wanted to continue this tradition on the prequel show, but since Season 1 was a crash course in twenty years of Targaryen history and Season 2 is more fixed in time, it was clear that there had to be a new opening sequence.

New Style, Old Traditions

'We decided to go with radical change. Now that the page has turned and we're at war, this is a living history and we want to depict that history in a visual way and give the fans new things to take apart and dive into,' Ryan Condal explained the new credits theme. 'You see how we've moved from Aegon the Conqueror's time and pass through all the kings, and now we're telling the story as we're seeing it unfold and also seeing it literally being stitched into this tapestry.'

The opening sequence of Season 2 is a reference to the famous Bayeux Tapestry, a huge work of art depicting one of the pivotal points in English history, the Norman Conquest. Not only is the historical piece awe-inspiring, but it also holds the knowledge of the era, as it depicts the clothing, weapons and customs of the time, allowing historians to have a more realistic understanding of the period, which was one of Condal's goals when he proposed the idea.

Now we will see how new events find their way into the tapestry of House of the Dragon. Episode 2 of Season 2 is scheduled to air on June 23.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter.