House of the Dragon episode 2 begins with a time jump, a storytelling technique that will continue throughout season 1 and beyond to bridge the gap between it and its sequel series Game of Thrones. The first two episodes of House of the Dragon take place just under 200 years before the onset of the original series and chronicle the beginning of the end of House Targaryen's rule over Westeros. The series picks up with the crowning of King Viserys I Targaryen and the subsequent search for his next heir that leads to complications with his daughter and brother, Rhaenyra Targaryen and Daemon Targaryen respectively.
House of the Dragon episode 2 is entitled "The Rogue Prince". This title refers to Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith), and his capture of Dragonstone, the ancestral seat of House Targaryen. The end of the first episode saw Daemon banished from King's Landing by his brother Viserys, shortly before the latter named Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) his next heir to the Iron Throne. However, House of the Dragon episode 1 ends with Daemon simply leaving the city on his dragon, Caraxes, with his whereabouts unknown.
Daemon's true destination was revealed in House of the Dragon episode 2, with the help of a time jump that hastens the story by about six months. Daemon has therefore held Dragonstone for six months in defiance of Viserys' orders and crowning of Rhaenyra, with the crux of the episode focussing on the latter two characters dealing with Daemon's insolence. The six-month time jump in House of the Dragon episode 2 may come as a surprise to viewers at first, with only one line of dialogue confirming the age of time. However, this time jump will only be the first of many with both the length and frequency confirmed to get worse (at least in of their usage as opposed to effect on the story).
Why House Of The Dragon Needs So Many Time Jumps (When GOT Didn't)
With the time jumps only becoming larger in both size and quantity, the question looms over why House of the Dragon needs them in the first place when its sequel series didn't. The answer is simple: House of the Dragon takes place across a much wider stretch of time than Game of Thrones' timeline did. Game of Thrones takes place across an approximate seven-year period, with the events of each season following on from things that are mostly shown in the show itself.
While the same will likely be true for House of the Dragon, with each season influencing the next, the timeline in which these events take place is much more expansive. The majority of events that are key to the overarching story of the show take place over a long stretch of time, with events shown in episode 1's prologue from around 100AC impacting other things shown over 10 years later in the same episode, for example. With House of the Dragon expected to culminate in the Dance of Dragons, a Targaryen civil war that takes place around 130AC, events from the thirty years prior to this are what provide the majority of characters' motivations, rivalries, and feelings that culminate in said war, explaining House of the Dragon's reliance on time jumps as a narrative technique.
Exactly How Many Years Will Be Covered In House Of The Dragon Season 1
These time jumps may lead to audiences wondering just how much of Westeros' timeline will be covered in House of the Dragon. Well, George R. R, Martin, author of A Song of Ice and Fire, Fire & Blood, and co-creator of House of the Dragon, has confirmed that the show will take place across a 28-year period. Given how the first scene in House of the Dragon episode 1 features the Great Council that crowns King Viserys I Targaryen from 101AC, the show still taking place 28 years later places it in the center of the Dance of Dragons, which began in 129AC. While the war rages until 131AC, which would be 30 years after the beginning of House of the Dragon, it would make sense for the show to culminate with the war that began the end of House Targaryen.
Will House Of The Dragon's Time Jumps Be A Problem?
A show with as many time jumps as House of the Dragon is bound to warrant some cause for concern. Naturally, endless time jumps that span months and likely years can cause some hesitance with the natural narrative flow of a project. However, given how the show has been constructed since the start of its production as a precursor to the Dance of Dragons, it is clear that George R. R. Martin (Game of Thrones author), Ryan J. Condal, and Miguel Sapochnik have a firm grasp on the events leading up to the Targaryen civil war. This means that the time jumps will likely only benefit the series, allowing the showrunners to naturally show every event in the 30-year period that brings the Targaryens to war within themselves.
The only other potential issue comes with the bigger time jumps asking a lot of the audience in of following the timeline. With smaller jumps, like the one between House of the Dragon episodes 1 and 2, a few lines of dialogue are all that are needed to establish the time gap. With the bigger jumps, the issue will likely be avoided by the recasting of certain characters, namely Rhaenyra and Alicent who will eventually be played by Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke respectively. The actresses playing the two at a younger age, Milly Alcock and Emily Carey, are doing fantastic jobs in the roles, making the recasting potentially problematic. However, D'Arcy and Cooke are great actors in their own right and, should the show do a good enough job establishing the time skipped, will negate the potentiality of the time jumps being an issue with House of the Dragon.