Key Takeaways
- House of the Dragon’s season two lacked in praise due to an unsatisfying finale, rated 6.3/10 on IMDb.
- Vermithor’s standing saddle concept art draws similarities to Dune’s wormriding method.
- Artist Constantine Sekeris may have taken inspiration from Dune for Vermithor’s design.
House of the Dragon season two has already, sadly, concluded, but that doesn’t mean fascinating discussions regarding the show’s incredible looking dragon’s need to end too. In the popular HBO show’s concept art of the mighty and fierce Vermithor, an intriguing detail can be spotted that shows off the dragon’s standing saddle, which could be a reference to Dune‘s wormriding. Created by George R. R. Martin and Ryan Condal for HBO, season one of House of the Dragon captivated fantasy audiences with its intense and somber storyline set nearly 200 years to the time in Westerosi history when House Targaryen was at the height of its power.
Winning a host of awards, which included the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series and the Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series. House of the Dragon season two didn’t garner the same praise as its first season received, which seemed to mostly come down to the show’s unsatisfying finale for some fans, and in turn, was rated a fairly average 6.3 out of 10 on the review site IMDb. However, what season two of House of the Dragon did achieve very well was the vast selection of fire-breathing beasts, as Silverwing, Vermithor, and Seasmoke joined the Blacks’ legions.
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House of the Dragon’s Vermithor Art Shares Ties to Dune’s Wormriders
Highlighted in a post on Reddit by user jonsnowKITN, one of the creature concept artists, who worked on HBO’s House of the Dragon, had previously shared a design for Vermithor, Westeros’ fiercest dragon and the largest after Vhagar, but upon further inspection of the art, the savvy fan saw simailties between Vermithor’s standing saddle and the film Dune‘s method of riding a sandworm. Wormriding in Dune is done by the Fremen after summoning a sandworm to the surface and then using maker hooks to control the worm’s movement by attaching them to its mouth, pulling to force it to change direction while the rider stands atop.
Whether the artist, Constantine Sekeris, who has worked on films such as Avatar: The Way of Water, Black Panther and Avengers: Endgame, took some inspiration for his concept design of the formidable dragon from the 2021 epic science fiction film, or it’s simply a very cool coincidence and just a fun artistic feature included in the art, is a question that’s left unanswered. However, riding in a standing saddle on a dragon as powerful and as temperamental as House of the Dragon‘s Vermithor probably wouldn’t, logistically, be a great idea. This is mostly due to Vermithor having to constantly stay in an upright postilion to decrease the chance of falling off due to his extremely long neck, and since this giant beast flies in numerous directions, including dramatic twists and turns, a seated saddle would be much more practical.
Aside from the tricky politics of dragon riding, George RR Martin, author of the epic fantasy novel Fire & Blood, which House of the Dragon is based on, has recently criticized the HBO show due to changes they made in season two. Martin revealed in a blog post that the Blood and Cheese section in the show wasn’t as strong as it was depicted in his book, as well as taking issue with Halaena and Aegon having three children and not two as shown in the series.
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House of the Dragon is HBO’s prequel series to Game of Thrones. Set hundreds of years earlier, the show follows the inner machinations and rivalries of the Targaryen royal family. The show was created by Ryan Condal and George R.R. Martin, and stars Matt Smith, Emma D’Arcy, Rhys Ifans, and Olivia Cooke.
- Release Date
- August 21, 2022
- Cast
- Matt Smith , Emma D’Arcy , Olivia Cooke , Rhys Ifans
- Franchise
- Game of Thrones
- Creator
- Ryan J. CondalGeorge, R.R. Martin
- Network
- HBO Max
Source:Reddit