One specific scene featuring Aemond Targaryen in House of the Dragon season 2, episode 7, calls back to a much-discussed plot hole throughout Game of Thrones involving lore locations. Like Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon‘s timeline heavily features King’s Landing, but this time, it’s during the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. While other notable locations like Dragonstone, Harrenhal, and the Vale. Of course, one of the most exciting locations seen in House of the Dragon season 2 was the Wall when Prince Jacaerys Velayron met with Cregan Stark.
The vastness of Game of Thrones was highlighted by the array of locations featured in the show, allowing characters to travel all over Westeros and Essos. The same can be said for House of the Dragon’s characters, but for the prequel show, more dragons are involved. The number of dragonriders in House of the Dragon gives the characters a different form of transportation that only Daenerys Targaryen could rely on in Game of Thrones. However, that still brings up a long-running plot hole in the franchise.
House Of The Dragon Struggles With Showing The Passage Of Time & Distance
Travel Hasn’t Been An Issue For House Of The Dragon Characters
Like the original show based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series, House of the Dragon has trouble clearly presenting the distance between locations and the time it takes to travel. For example, in “The Red Sowing,” Aemond flies from King’s Landing to Dragonstone after following Silverwing. The sequence takes Aemond to Dragonstone in a matter of seconds despite the fact that Dragonstone isn’t necessarily close to King’s Landing. In fact, the distance between Dragonstone and King’s Landing is around 400 miles, meaning Aemond wouldn’t have reached his destination for a few hours.
That said, it’s not like House of the Dragon would use accurate passages of time for distances since it wouldn’t be logical to lean into accuracy for that aspect of storytelling. Still, there are ways the show could make the distance seem like a greater feat. Whether that’s having characters discuss their long trips or editing episodes in a way that would suggest enough time has passed. Instead, “The Red Sowing” made it seem like Dragonstone is a short ride away, lessening the achievement of Ulf taking Silverwing on a very long journey as a new dragonrider.
Travel Increasingly Became A Plot Hole In Game Of Thrones
Some Game Of Thrones Characters Seemed To Teleport
Game of Thrones had its fair share of plot holes over eight seasons, and the topic of travel had always been on the list of aspects that viewers regularly questioned. For much of Game of Thrones‘ back half, Littlefinger seemed to teleport around Westeros, popping in and out of locations from episode to episode while others would be on a journey from one location to another for a good portion of a season. Game of Thrones‘ travel plot hole became worse as the show went on because the storylines brought a lot of characters together for bigger conflicts.
Beyond the Wall, the location and the episode with that title in Game of Thrones season 7, especially struggle with the aspect of time. The speed of ravens, dragons, and even the travelers within Jon Snow’s party who went Beyond the Wall featured an odd passage of time, which is similar to what House of the Dragon has been experiencing. The season 7 episode “Beyond the Wall” clearly faced pacing issues since it needed Daenerys to fly Beyond the Wall, meet Jon’s team, and then all return to Eastwatch within one episode. Maybe not ideal when travel has been questioned, but again, it was a storytelling sacrifice.
