“That was going to be really appealing”: House of the Dragon Director Confirms Brutal Dragon Battle Was Inspired By How to Train Your Dragon, Claims Roger Deakins Advised the Same

House of the Dragon and How to Train your Dragon
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The first season of House of the Dragon provided many fans with what they were searching for. The ten-episode series was extremely long, serving only as a prelude to the story’s setting of war. The audience is eager to see the Targaryen Civil War. The first season of the show ended with the death of King Viserys, who had named Rhaenyra as his heir to the House of Targaryen before his death, and Lucerys Velaryon and his dragon, Arrax.

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Vhagar vs Arrax
Vhagar vs Arrax

However, Do you know what inspired House of the Dragon director, Greg Yaitanes for the brutal climax of dragon flight? Well, you guessed that right (from the title), it’s How to Train Your Dragon films.

Also Read: “I was the only one who was really enthused”: House of the Dragon Originally Had a Different Origin That Would Have Irked a Few Fans, Reveals George R.R. Martin

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House Of The Dragon director got his inspiration from How to Train Your Dragon

Greg Yaitanes, director of House of the Dragon, stated that he watched How to Train Your Dragon to prepare for the series’ first dragon encounter. Lucerys Targaryen (Elliot Grihault) and his uncle Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) engage in a dragon fight amid a storm in the season finale, as tensions rise to the point of civil war. 

While Lucerys is attempting to avoid conflict and obey his mother’s orders, Aemond pursues his nephew with his much-larger dragon, Vhagar, in order to exact revenge for Lucerys slicing one of his eyes in episode seven. Aemond initially teases Lucerys, but as the dragons seize control and start fighting for real, the combat finishes with Vhagar biting Arrax and his rider in half.

House of the Dragon FandomWire
A still from the show

Yaitanes told in a recent interview that he watched several films to help choreograph the sequence. “In preparation, I watched the first How to Train Your Dragon because [Oscar-winning cinematographer] Roger Deakins was the visual consultant on that. So that, cinematically, was going to be really appealing,” Yaitanes said. “And I went back to the original Jurassic Park because there was a sense of scale to the dinosaurs that I don’t think any of the subsequent films ever recaptured.”

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Related: House of the Dragon Season 2 Confirmed to Bring Back House Stark, Fans Demand Henry Cavill as Cregan Stark

Fans had already noticed parallels between Aemond’s chase of Lucerys on his much smaller dragon and a sequence in the 2010 animated picture about a Norse kid named Hiccup. Yaitanes also stated that after detecting parallels to How to Train Your Dragon, he changed the dragon fight scenario.

What to expect in the future of House of the Dragon?

If you thought House of the Dragon lacked action in its first season, calm down: There’s the potential for battle after battle that might blow Blackwater, Hardhome, and the Long Night out of the water — as well as enough character deaths, to make Game of Thrones appear positively merciful.

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Vermax House of the Dragon 2
Vermax in House of the Dragon

Also Read: ‘She still hasn’t been invited to a single talk show’: Fans Defend Emma D’Arcy, Claim Talk Shows are Ignoring House of the Dragon Star Because They’re Non Binary

George R. R. Martin has stated that four 10-episode seasons will be required to completely tell the story of the Dance of the Dragons, and while Warner Bros. has not yet committed to a 40-episode run, we’ll presume George RR Martin is correct.

Because of the nature of adaptation, not everything from the source material Fire & Blood or A World of Ice & Fire will be included in the program, and there will most likely be some new scenes, characters, or plotlines that aren’t in the novels.

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House of the Dragon is streaming on HBO Max.

Source: Twitter

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Written by Rishav Deb Roy

Articles Published: 142

Rishav Deb Roy is currently pursuing his graduate degree in Cost and Management Accounts from Chandigarh University and he is also a budding Chartered Accountant aspirant. He has always been passionate about writing and has been honing his skills since a very early age. He uses his writing skills to help businesses create compelling content that engages and informs their audiences. Rishav says he has a passion to research on many things, especially anything related to pop culture. He’s been following them since a very early age and is eager to work on them. Currently, he is working as a Content Writer at Fandomwire.