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Inside the Red Keep, Viserys tells Rhaenyra a little bit about Aegon the Conqueror, the first Targaryen king in Westeros and the man that united the seven warring kingdoms of the continent into one that he could rule. Most importantly, Viserys reveals that Aegon first sought to conquer Westeros because he had a vision of the end of the world: <\/p>\n

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And just as Daenys saw the end of Valyria, Aegon foresaw the end of the world of men. It is to begin with a terrible winter, gusting out of the distant north. Aegon saw absolute darkness riding on those winds, and whatever dwells within will destroy the world of the living. When this great winter comes, Rhaenyra, all of Westeros must stand against it. And if the world of men is to survive then a Targaryen must be seated on the Iron Throne. A king or queen, strong enough to unite the realm against the cold and the dark. Aegon called his dream \u2018A Song of Ice and Fire.\u2019 This secret, it\u2019s been passed from king to heir since Aegon\u2019s time. And now you must promise to keep it. And to carry it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This prophecy is both unique and important for its place in the series. While prophecies in modern fantasy stories, especially A Song of Ice and Fire, are often used ironically or as a misdirect, this one is handed to us as almost unambiguously true.<\/p>\n

By being positioned next to Daenys\u2019 correct prophecy of the end of Valyria, which saved the Targaryen dynasty from the Doom that destroyed Valyria and first sent them to Dragonstone and Westeros, Aegon\u2019s dream is given a bit of extra credibility. We also know that it\u2019s (mostly) true because… we\u2019ve already seen the ending. We know that a Targaryen\u2019s return to Westeros, and her dragons, are critical in the fight against the White Walkers and saving men from the Long Night. We even know that it\u2019s a Targaryen named Aegon that does the saving \u2014 since that\u2019s Jon Snow\u2019s real name. (As a fun tidbit, this also gives us our second explanation of the A Song of Ice and Fire series name, which most fans normally assume refers to Jon as the child of a Stark and Targaryen \u2014 representing ice and fire.)<\/p>\n

While all of this sounds like it could be convenient backfilling from showrunners Ryan J. Condal and Miguel Sapochnik, that isn\u2019t the case. In an interview with Polygon ahead of House of the Dragon<\/em>\u2019s premiere, Condal confirmed that this specific dream came straight from Martin. <\/p>\n

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\u201cThat actually came from [Martin], at least the origin of that point,\u201d said Condal. \u201cHe told us very early on in the room \u2014 just as he does, just casually mentioned the fact that Aegon the Conqueror was a dreamer who saw a vision of the White Walkers coming across the wall and sweeping over the land with cold and darkness. […] So with his permission, of course, we infused that into the story because it was such a great way to create resonance with the original show.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is already a huge reveal about one of the most important characters in the A Song of Ice and Fire universe, but with a little speculation, it\u2019s also easy to see how this could give us a clue about ways that Martin\u2019s book ending for the series could deviate from the one we saw in HBO\u2019s Game of Thrones<\/em>. <\/p>\n

According to Viserys, to save the world all of Westeros must be united against the threat from the north and a Targaryen must be seated on the Iron Throne. Both of those are sort of vaguely gestured at by the HBO series, but aren\u2019t really true. Neither Dany nor Jon is actually on the throne by the time the Long Night arrives, and the final battle at Winterfell really only involves a small force rather than all of Westeros. <\/p>\n

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If Aegon\u2019s prophecy is correct \u2014 and proves to be in the books \u2014 then it\u2019s possible that we could see Jon or Dany (notice Viserys says king or<\/em> queen) take King\u2019s Landing and the Iron Throne long before the Long Night arrives. It also means that we could see the army of the dead march much further south, threatening far more of Westeros than they do in the series. <\/p>\n

For now, though, like most A Song of Ice and Fire questions, we\u2019ll just have to wait for the books to find out if any of this pans out. But at the very least, this tiny bit of dialogue proves that House of the Dragon<\/em> has more new information to share with viewers and hardcore fans than its status as a prequel and a Fire & Blood<\/em> adaptation might suggest. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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House of the Dragon, HBO\u2019s new successor show to Game of Thrones, is all about the Targaryen family, so it\u2019s no surprise that it digs into their past. But in its first episode, the series already jumps beyond its source material, Fire & Blood, to reveal previously unknown details about one of A Song of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":29555,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/thumbor\/HnHX7hrDL8nqR3EpDZq58M145ak=\/0x169:1920x1174\/fit-in\/1200x630\/cdn.vox-cdn.com\/uploads\/chorus_asset\/file\/23937020\/paddy_considine_milly_alcock.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-news"],"yoast_head":"\n