House of the Dragon vs. Game of Thrones Thus Far... What Say You?

Submitted by Kimosabae t3_ycazcy in television

Now that the Season Finale of House of the Dragon has aired, how do you feel it compares to the best of Game of Thrones? The idea that the show is better than Game of Throne's early seasons out-of-the-gate seems to be a pretty common sentiment, though, maybe not prevailing.

I personally find that to be absurd, lol. While HotD is very good thus far, I don't think the characters and dialogue are anywhere near as stimulating as the early seasons of Thrones. Seeing just about any two characters in the main cast interact in a scene in the original show had me hanging on every word, making the political drama that much more engaging in its first season. Ned and Cersei, Caitlin and John, Robert and Cersei, Ned and Littlefinger, every scene with Tyrion, etc. etc.

HotD's character interactions/drama feel merely serviceable but largely in comparison. The show still reminded me from the jump why I missed this universe and enjoyed GoT.

I also find the plot/drama in HotD to be pretty boilerplate in comparison as well. Up until this point, at least. Not that the show needs to end on some main character death or anything like that to be good/interesting, but very little of what transpires in the show up until this point is very surprising/interesting in comparison to Season 1's most empathetic character being debased, bedraggled, and executed over the course of several episodes. It was just something that hadn't been really seen much before at the time.

It kind of feels like there's a Recency Bias relating to HotD and people getting swept up in a lot of the spectacle. I will admit though: these Dragon depictions are based.

What say you?

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LightThatIgnitesAll t1_itl6h2g wrote

I think GOT S1 is much better.

  • I was able to get attached to the characters
  • The story felt like it progressed naturally and wasn't just jumping from major event to major event.
  • The dialogue was incredible.
  • I liked following Ned as a protagonist
  • I also really enjoyed seeing multiple houses: Stark, Baratheon, Lannister and Targaryen rather than just focusing on one house. That isn't a knock on HOTD as that is the show's entire point.
  • There was great humour.
  • Everything made sense and there was no point where I thought any of the writing was poor.
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__War_Eagle__ t1_itl6oax wrote

The best of GOT is far superior to HOTD.

First season only, GOT still wins.

I all honesty, I've yet to speak with anyone that prefers HOTD to GOT.

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b1gmouth t1_itl8fud wrote

I'm enjoying HOTD but GOT started much stronger imo. The time jump was disorienting, and the show sorely needs a Tyrion type character to inject some humor and take these people down a notch.

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jogoso2014 t1_itlgcum wrote

It fine but it’s not nearly as good as Game of Thrones imo.

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simplefilmreviews t1_itl86nq wrote

GOT was way more interesting IMO. YEah it didn't have the budget HOD has and it shows. BUT, the world building from GOT was awe inducing. The families/characters, the fucking White Walkers, The Wall, just very mythological and awesome. All that trumps HOD imo. I have no problem waiting a day or two to watch HOD, I don't think enough happens that I need to watch it the moment it premieres. GOT hit different in the best possible ways.

Not to mention the characters wree more interesting. I don't think HOD has any cool characters. Deamon might be the only one. But outside of that, literally no cool characters I love or hate to love, etc.

HOD has dragons, and that's awesome tho :)

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ChangeUpstairs3352 t1_itlsfzd wrote

I know HoT D is not as good as GoT but it's far better than any other fantasy shows nowadays.

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GarlVinland4Astrea t1_itl5f6y wrote

Game of Thrones was very slow to start and because the first season storyline was a mystery, it was kind of hard to see where everything tied into it. For instance Dany’s storyline almost feels like a different show. Even Jon once he leaves for the wall

This was very focused and got to the point. It was a family civil war

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simplefilmreviews t1_itl8ghx wrote

> For instance Dany’s storyline almost feels like a different show. Even Jon once he leaves for the wall

To me that helped. That was world building and showed how vast the continents were. Obviously some story lines dragged vs other more interesting ones. But still it had a good impact

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GarlVinland4Astrea t1_itl9nem wrote

I agree, but it definitely meant a lot of time was devoted to not the main plot

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simplefilmreviews t1_itlbe4z wrote

Correct, but the Wall and the North had the mystic of White Walkers and that was amazing IMO. Just a constant tease and reminder of global threat. Dany in Essos was decent once things got rolling; where she had power and dragons!

But yeah, some story lines dragged certainly Arya and faceless man over there.....yeah

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GarlVinland4Astrea t1_itlc6lo wrote

True but in the first season the White Walkers really didn’t come into play for Jon until that one scene at the very end

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mickeyflinn t1_itlruu6 wrote

> Game of Thrones was very slow to start

No it wasn't. The first episode of GOT was intense!

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GarlVinland4Astrea t1_itlsgwz wrote

The first episode had a prologue scene that had nothing to do with most of the episodes plot besides killing the deserter, then that prologue didn’t matter until like 7 or 8 episodes in where one more plot point was brought up.

Then 90% of the episode was just introducing various characters and table setting. Then at the very end it showed Bran being knocked off the tower and kicked off the incest plot

The first episode of HOTD had a prologue with a succession crisis to set the scene for a similar central conflict the entire show, then had Daemon slaughtering people and set up conflict in court, then we got a violent tourney, the seeds for Alicent and Viserys, a miscarriage that threw the succession back into question, and the finally Daemon being disinherited and Rhaenyra being made heir.

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GenericAustin t1_itl5cqx wrote

>if not exactly prevailing.

I don't think it's the prevailing sentiment at all. You can even check the IMDb ratings and it's not even close, heck, there are lots of shows rated higher than House of the Dragon, while Game of Thrones was on top for most of it's run

House of the Dragon improves on a lot of things like acting, but I think it feels so good because it is related to Game of Thrones, while Game of Thrones stood on it's own without needing anything to prop it up. Without GOT, Hotd would be considered above average

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Kimosabae OP t1_itl80v7 wrote

>I don't think it's the prevailing sentiment at all

I probably phrased this poorly, but I meant to express exactly that.

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bishey3 t1_itleu4p wrote

I think S1 of GoT was better written and more consistent. But I'm somehow more invested in the characters in HotD. Probably because there are fewer characters and we spend more time with each of the main cast members.

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superciliouscreek t1_itpfjmv wrote

HotD is better than seasons 5, 6, 7 and 8 of GoT and worse than seasons 1, 2, 3 and 4.

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OBIEK123 t1_itqg40c wrote

I think HotD needed another episode between 5 and 6 and another one spread out the whole season(12eps). It feels too compressed and the story needs to breathe a little. The big time jump needs to be more subtle etc (it leaves too much for the viewers to fill in)

I would go with GOT peak as there was not a single thing I remember that I could critisize.

But weirdly, I like HotD more and I am more invested. Probably recency bias idk.

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Poetspas t1_itlc5z5 wrote

The biggest difference thus far is HotD being very excited with throwing a lot of characters at us. Rhaenyra, Allicent, Daemon, Viserys, Aemond, Criston, Rhaenys, Otto, Corlys, Aegon, Heleana, Jace, Luke, Baela, Rhaena, Larys, Laenor, Laena, Harwin, Lyonel, Westerling, Eryck and Aryck, Mysaria… They’re all quite well characterised, but I could do with some more character scenes that don’t necessarily advance the plot.

There doesn’t seem to be room for that, because they decided to end season 1 with the beginning of the Dance. Understandable! Hope the pace slows down a bit, but the actual plot progression, character consistency and arcs since episode 1 have been phenomenal. I’d rate this season as only weaker than S4 of GoT, and on par with season 1 and 3. Defo stronger than 2, 5 and 6 and obviously leagues above 7 and 8.

There’s a lot of respect for character drama, shown both in little moments and during the set pieces. Which is something that defines GoT and ASoIaF in general, for me.

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reddit455 t1_itm7isr wrote

why do they have to be compared?

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