‘House of the Dragon’ Will Feature 1 Weapon That Both Started and Ended Wars in ‘Game of Thrones’
House of the Dragon takes place two centuries before the events in Game of Thrones. But the prequel’s trailers have indicated that plenty of Easter eggs from the original series will be popping up in Westeros. Most notably, House of the Dragon will feature one weapon that both started and ended wars in Game of Thrones.
The first ‘House of the Dragon’ trailer featured a familiar weapon from ‘Game of Thrones’
In the first House of the Dragon trailer released last fall, one scene featured Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) wielding a familiar-looking weapon known as the Valyrian steel dagger. In the second trailer, it’s revealed that the person on the receiving end of Alicent’s threat is Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy).
The high-quality blade was forged in Essos using magic and spells, and it’s made from Valyrian steel — a rare and costly Westeros metal. The hilt was crafted from dragonglass. And as fans know, Valyrian steel and dragonglass are the only two substances capable of killing White Walkers.
This iconic dagger made two appearances in Game of Thrones — once in the first season and the other in the eighth and final season.
The Valyrian steel dagger started and ended a war in ‘GoT’
The dagger seen in the House of the Dragon trailers is significant because it indirectly started the War of the Five Kings, and it also ended the Great War.
The blade made its first appearance in Game of Thrones season 1 when Petyr Baelish, aka Littlefinger, sent an assassin who used it in an attempt to kill Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) to further get power in the Vale and the North.
Because an assassin is also referred to as a “catspaw,” the weapon earned the nickname the “catspaw dagger.’ This iconic weapon was also used by Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) in the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones to kill the Night King, which ended the Great War.
‘Game of Thrones’ linked the Valyrian steel dagger to the ancient Targaryens whose story is told in ‘House of the Dragon’
House of the Dragon tells the story of the Dance of the Dragons, a bloody civil war among House Targaryen at the height of the family’s power. At the time, White Walkers were just a myth. But the connection between the ancient Targaryens and the catspaw dagger doesn’t come as a surprise because the link had already been alluded to in the original series.
In the season 7 premiere of Game of Thrones, Sam Tarly (John Bradley) was reading from a book that featured an illustrated page with an image of the dagger in a section about Targaryen weapons.
“When Aegon the Conqueror forged his Seven Kingdoms, he and his descendants would often decorate their blades with dragonglass, feeling a kinship with the stone,” the page read.
With the dagger both starting and ending wars in Game of Thrones, will it get the same reputation in the prequel? Fans will have to wait and see when House of the Dragon premieres Sunday, August 21 on HBO.
