House of the Dragon Season 1: Who Will Take The Throne?
It’s been three years now since Game of Thrones was unceremoniously bumped off in true George R. R. Martin style, and die-hard fans (die-easy?) have been pining for the fjords of Westeros, waiting to reunite with its nine noble families. And nature abhors a vacuum.
Meanwhile, HBO had been harvesting the sighs of grief from the ether, and with eight seasons of commercial success now buried six feet under, it was clearly time for a good old-fashioned resurrection. Denial, anger, bargaining – what comes next? Who cares! This show has nine lives, baby. Besides, what’s that old show biz adage? Don’t quit a hit.
Enter: House of the Dragon. No, keep your shoes on – it’s a helluva trek. The new HBO show, a prequel, is based on the book Fire & Blood, also by GoT author George R. R. Martin, and set two centuries before the events we witnessed in the original series.
Just weeks ago in March, nearly a year after HBO told the world to get ready for the second coming, House of the Dragon’s creators quelled the anxieties of the GoT devotees by announcing that they could collectively exhale at the August premiere. Given that Martin has gotten the band back together to tour the earlier houses of Westeros, speculation is already abound for House of the Dragon betting at Bodog Casino. When it comes to the clincher – of who will assume his or her position on the throne – the question probes at the divine: What would George R. R. Martin do? No, apart from the slaughterfest.
Who Will Sit On The Throne: The Betting
Early teasers of House of the Dragon have been deliberately vague. The trailer is dark and dingy with very short glimpses of action and a few brief close-ups of actors’ faces. It reveals practically nothing, stirring up the pot of juicy speculation for House of the Dragon betting.
At the end of these ten episodes, someone will be sitting on top of the throne, and Bodog has got some ideas about who it might be.
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (-200)
Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen is the favourite to be sitting on the throne by the end of the first ten episodes of House of the Dragon with odds of -200. However, it’s worth noting that she also has odds of -500 to die at some point in the first season, putting her in the top 15 in that market too.
A dragonrider of pure Valyrian blood, Princess Rhaenyra is the firstborn of King Viserys, and the lead character in the show.
Had she been born a man, then her accession to the throne would have been a foregone conclusion. She was eventually named as her father’s heir after her brother was deemed unfit, and that controversial decision is promised to boil over in the show
Aegon Targaryen (+150)
Aegon is the firstborn son of the king and the half-sister of Rhaenyra. This should make him first in line for the throne but at just 14, he is nine years younger than his sister and he’s deemed unsuitable for power by many.
A complicated family tree and politics mean that Aegon has to do a lot of manoeuvring if he wants to take power. His fight with Rhaenyra forms a big part of the Dance of the Dragons, the civil war for control over the Seven Kingdoms.
There had been some speculation as to whether Aegon would even be featured at all in House of the Dragon, but HBO has announced that he will be played by Tom Glynn-Carney.
We could either conclude from this that he’s an unlikely candidate for the Throne who doesn’t have a chance of getting close, or just the opposite – that Aegon will be at the centre of a massive plot twist.
Prince Daemon Targaryen (+250)
Prince Daemon Targaryen will be played by former Doctor Who star, Matt Smith. He is the younger brother of King Viserys and was first in line to the throne before Rhaenyra was born.
He is also a dragonrider and one of the most experienced warriors in the entire Seven Kingdoms.
In true Game of Thrones fashion, Daemon is also the second husband of Rhaenyra, a marriage that was intended to keep the bloodline pure.
This complicated and entangled relationship makes Daemon a much more likely candidate for the throne than if he hadn’t engaged in marital affairs with his niece, resulting in decent House of the Dragon betting odds of +250.
However, like his wife/niece, he is also one of the main candidates to bite the dust before the end of the season. With odds of his demise currently set at -500, he too is in the top 15, so it looks like it could be all or nothing for the prince.
Alicent Hightower (+250)
Alicent Hightower is the first non-Targaryen in the main contenders for being on the throne by the end of the first season, and she is the second wife of King Viserys and the mother of Aegon.
Played by Olivia Cooke, Alicent is the daughter of Ser Otto Hightower, a loyal member of the king’s staff. Having been raised close to power, taking the seat atop the throne wouldn’t be an unthinkable move for her.
She’s described by HBO as being graceful but someone with a strong political acumen, two attributes that will be vital if she wants to manoeuvre herself ahead of her son, step-daughter, and brother/son-in-law.
Alicent is also pretty high up on the list of characters that could bite the bullet before the end of the season, though her odds of +500 put her in a better position than the others.
Corlys Velaryon (+750)
With odds of +750, Corlys Velaryon is an outsider compared to the close relatives of King Viserys. He is the son of Lord Daemon Velaryon and became the husband of Rhaenys Targaryen, though the chronology of this in House of the Dragon is currently uncertain.
He will be played by Steve Toussaint, but little is known about his character in the show. We do know that he became the Hand to Rhaenyra during the Dance of the Dragons when she was queen.
This proximity to power is certainly going to give him a chance at the throne, though how he can pull that off is unclear.
There are still months to wait before we get to see how everything unfolds in this Game of Thrones prequel, but that doesn’t mean you need to wait to make your predictions. House of the Dragon betting is live, and there’ll never be a moment when we’ll know the dark corners of George R. R. Martin’s labyrinthine mind better than we do now.