‘The House of the Dragon’: the exciting moment between Viserys and Daemon born from an error during rehearsals

SPOILER attention!

* This article contains spoilers for the 1×08 episode of “The House of the Dragon”.

“The Dragon’s House” becomes more and more interesting. The “Game of Thrones” prequel continues to plow through Targaryen history and with the end of its first season just around the corner, the conflict for the throne continues to escalate. The eighth episode, titled ‘The Lord of the Tides’, left us many memorable momentssome shocking and violent, in line with the saga based on the books by George RR Martin, and others more intimate and emotional, reaching that contrast that so much appeals to their fans.

In ‘The Lord of the Tides’, where a new time jump takes place, we witness the definitive decline of King Viserys (Paddy Considine), whose illness has already consumed him almost completely, while the feudal families of Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy ) and Alicent (Olivia Cooke) find themselves stuck in a growing conflict over the succession to the throne. Of all the scenes, the audience was particularly moved by the appearance of Viserys in the throne room, completely weakened and wearing a gold mask to hide her sickly disfigured face, in which her brother, and now also brother-in-law, Daemon Ti helps to climb the steps. Considine has received wide applause for her work on the series and this particular episode, and fans are already clamoring for her Emmy nomination..

Initially Daemon was about to make a toast at the family dinner that takes place towards the end of the episode, but thanks to an unexpected event it was decided to cut it in favor of an impromptu moment that humanized and strengthened the bonds between the brothers. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the director of the chapter, Geeta Patelreveals it during rehearsal, Considine dropped the crown and Smith, instead of stopping, picked it up and continued with the scene. This happy accident gave the director the perfect idea to illustrate the relationship between the two characters.

“There is a moment in the throne room when Daemon helps Viserys up the steps to the throne, because Viserys is too weak and cannot do it alone.”explains the director. “First a soldier approaches him, but Viserys rejects him and tells him he can do it. It’s his pride. Then someone else comes along and thinks it’s another soldier, but it’s his brother. In the rehearsal for that scene, he crowns her. it fell off Paddy’s head and Matt picked it up and continued the scene. There was a discovery at that time”.

This led to the director and the actors discussing how to incorporate him into the series. “The three of us feel something”Patel continues. “We felt a turning point in the relationship. It’s a moment of silence. We thought Daemon’s talk at dinner was getting closer and that would take it away. So we decided to shoot both ways, with the crown falling and with The crown on the head. Every time the crown fell, we all jumped and thought, “Will we have somewhere to go when we get to dinner?” So in the assembly we found that the time had to be the fall of the crown. […] I felt so thankful for that incident, because it slowed down a very intense scene and a turning point for a relationship that started in the pilot: ‘Look, I want your crown, but eventually I’ll put it back on your head and help you rise to the throne'”.

Is he definitely dead?

“The Lord of the Tides” ends tragically with Viserys on his deathbed. After placing him on the bed, Alicent lets the monarch rest, his breathing becomes more and more labored. That’s when Viserys, in a last breath, says “My love” and the series goes black. While it is quite clear that these are the king’s last words, Patel confirmed, even to Entertainment Weekly, that, in fact, that is the scene of the death of Viserys, a before and after that will launch the civil war for the throne inside the Targaryen House.