From White Harbor to the mysterious Isle of Faces to the Dragonpit of King’s Landing in all its glory, here are places we want to see in HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel.
All of a sudden, there are quite a few Game of Thrones prequel series in the works, but first up is House of the Dragon, about the vicious Targaryen civil war that tore Westeros apart over 100 years before the start of the original series. We can expect this series in 2022.
The show looks good so far, with an impressive cast and solid crew. And it’ll be great to revisit some of the iconic locations we got to know on Game of Thrones, including King’s Landing, Dragonstone, and maybe Winterfell.
But this is a different story, and it will involve places that we didn’t see on the original show at all or where we didn’t spend nearly enough time. The show is based on George R.R. Martin’s book Fire & Blood. Working off that, we can make some educated guesses about what locations will appear in House of the Dragon, both old and new. Where will this new series take us?
Oldtown
Oldtown is the largest city in the Seven Kingdoms next to King’s Landing, and by far the oldest major settlement in Westeros according to Martin’s World of Ice and Fire. In Game of Thrones season 6, Sam and Gilly arrive in the city and viewers can pick out the Hightower, a massive tower with a fire-lit beacon, and the Citadel, home to the maesters.
The Hightowers, who rule over Oldtown from their eponymous tower, are an ancient and powerful family caught up in the Dance of the Dragons through their daughter, Alicent Hightower, who will be played by Olivia Cooke in the show. The young and intelligent daughter of Otto Hightower, the Hand of the King, eventually marries King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine). The rivalry between Alicent and the king’s daughter Rhaenyra (Emma D’ Arcy) eventually erupts into the civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons.
Although the Hightowers play a large role in the event, the city of Oldtown plays a relatively small one. Yet for House of the Dragon, there seems to be room for creativity, and it’d be a shame for the prequel not to explore the location further. Perhaps we could actually see inside the Hightower?
Oldtown, at least in the later books of A Song of Ice and Fire, has a vibrant high-fantasy energy rare in Martin’s dulled-fantasy world. We’d love to see more of it.
