House of The Dragon episode 8 ‘The Lord of the Tides’ was one of the most emotional chapters yet in the history of Game of Thrones. The episode shows the departure of the noble King Viserys I Targaryen from the land of the living after making his last stand in an attempt to reunite his family. It leaves so many cues to the nature of the morally grey characters in the series, no one is truly evil, nor completely good. Paddy Considine’s performance as King Viserys was applauded by fans and critics alike, even by George R. R. Martin himself.
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From earlier interviews, we know that the scene where Matt Smith’s Daemon picks up Viserys’ crown while helping him up on his throne was improvised. In a more recent interview with Vulture, Condine revealed that another important scene in episode 8 was improvised.
He said, “There were little instinctive things, improvisational moments that made it into the final cut. The moment at the end — in my mind, I’ve made a choice that as he dies, he sees Aemma. When he reaches out and says, “My love,” that’s what he sees the moment he dies. I tried to discuss it with Geeta, and I’m like, Hang on. This is Paddy stuff, not character stuff, and I’m just going to keep this thing secret. And if they use it, they use it, and if they don’t, they don’t. Luckily, they used it, which is amazing.”
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