This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon episode 1
HBO canceled the Game of Thrones into an MCU-style universe, and House of the Dragon is the first step along that journey. The show tells the story of the Targaryen Civil War, and it's already clear there will be a lot of surprises.
Surprisingly, though, another spinoff was canceled after a $30 million pilot episode had been produced. Known as The Long Night or Bloodmoon, this would have been set thousands of years before the main show, and it would have told the story of the fabled first battle against the White Walkers. Unfortunately, it proved a non-starter, in part because Martin himself struggled to come up with ideas for the project. It dealt with a part of the Game of Thrones timeline even he'd never really thought much about, and it promised to solve many mysteries he'd not really considered in the first place.
House of the Dragon episode 1 revealed Aegon's Dream, a prophecy of the White Walkers' return. The idea originated with Martin himself, who dropped it in as an unexpected addition to the lore, and it served to create a clear narrative connection between the prequel series and Game of Thrones itself. Unfortunately, it also serves to highlight how valuable The Long Night really would have been as a spinoff, because the prophecy focuses in on the White Walkers it reminds viewers how many mysteries there are about these powerful beings.
Game Of Thrones' White Walkers Have Too Many Unanswered Questions
Game of Thrones left a lot of unanswered questions about the Night Walkers, both in of their history and their very nature. The White Walkers were created by the Children of the Forest to protect them from the First Men, and it's unclear how they lost control of them. Their vulnerabilities to Valyrian steel and Dragonglass seem rather irrational, and it's difficult to say why they went dormant for millennia in the first place. There's even been speculation the Children of the Forest created multiple Night Kings, with an initial war between them for control of what seems to be a basic hive mind. All these questions could have been answered by The Long Night.
Hopefully, House of the Dragon will deal with some of these mysteries, especially as Aegon's Dream is key to the Targaryens. Not all of them will be, of course; the fact Martin seems to have been of only limited help strongly suggests even he doesn't have any answers to some of these questions. The weaknesses and the dormancy are really plot contrivances, existing to give the people of Westeros a chance against the Night King and his White Walkers, and there's likely no real logic behind them. Given this is the case, there's a sense in which House of the Dragon is a better pitch for HBO, simply because it means some of these Game of Thrones conundrums do not need to be faced.
New episodes of House of the Dragon release Sundays on HBO/HBO Max.
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