Well read on all of the books, several times.

The show is perfect, seems like its word for word at times

Ser lyonel was definitely a charismatic casting in the show, but definitely the outlier. The guy is supposed to match ser dunc in physical appearance and he’s just not even close to what I thought.

\spoilers\
With how much I loved this tv series, I just don’t see ser dunc vs ser lyonel being that cinematic, given ser Duncs arc. I mean he’s supposed to be Frankenstein esque, and lyonels actor is Oberyn Martell (Pedro pascal) adjacent. I mean this is supposed to be one of the the best 1v1s ever.

All that being said I’m very excited for season 2. I hope they refrain from flashbacks and keep the slow burn of Duncs ascent.

Daeron/Francis: troublesome eldest, runs away from the house any chance he gets

Aerion/Reese: cruel second son, has no idea what he does, has a talent for something specific (cooking/fighting)

Aemon/Malcom: nerds who successfully move out of the whole house

Dewey/Egg: neglected overachiever who cares for the weaker underprivileged people

(Maybe Daella and Rhae are secretly like Jaime and Kelly)

Aerion did it first and Dunk did it next in his concussed state lmao. Almost reads like payback even if Dunk just stabbed the first opening he got.

Maekar needs his very own "Stannis The Mannis". Here is my humble attempt to make this a common thing in the fandom.

Blackfyre rebellion is very important for season 2 and we will for sure have flashbacks to it. However the budget is not as large as any other Westeros show.

Do you think making a POV like flashback is best way? We dont see full battle but just show it from his perspective. 1917 style haha

Like he might see as he describes "the sun beforethe battle", the chaos, maybe Daemon down, but not full battle of course.

Targaryens want to give an image of power and unity, that they're above their subjects as their overlords. Maekar loves his children. Nobody really cared about the predicament of poor Dunk as the lords openly laughed in his face. It was Dunk against the world.

Baelor himself found the puppet show insulting.

Ultimately nobody really cared what Aerion even did. He had used his legal rights by demanding a trial. If Dunk had died, nothing would have changed for House Targaryen at all. Dunk had assaulted a prince after all. As Baelor said, people had lost their hands without trial for the same crime. Dunk was a criminal in the eyes of the people. And the entire process was legal.

What does Baelor do? He shatters the image of Targaryen unity, turns his back on his own brother and flesh and blood to support a hedge knight. What Baelor did was against his own interests and Targaryen's. But he did it because he was a good man and wanted to uphold morals. This was no "PR" move, because nobody about what happened and many mocked Dunk.

Even at the best case scenario, Baelor was set to lose something from his decision and gain nothing in return. The affection of his brother being one of them. Dunk moved Baelor. Dunk reminding Baelor of knightly oaths did something to him.

Neither character had it in the book. Oscar Morgan (Valarr) has natural heterochromia and AKOTSK, instead of giving him a contact, gave Berth a contact to make him heterochormic too.

It's a small thing but somehow makes a bond between father and son, whom we don't see interacting on screen.

For the madness of sons of Maekar, there is only so much dragondreaming can explain. Egg and Aemon had dreams too and they mostly grew up fine. Because they spent their formative years out of this household. Maekar hits Aerion and Daeron. But that can't be all there was. Things were happening that he ignored or didn't find out about.

What we know of the Maekarlings: Daeron becomes promiscuous as a child. Aerion went from a "glad child" to this monster. Dae and Rhae were weird toward their brother Egg. Rhae made love potion for Egg. Dae and Egg were apparently set to marry? Who would arrange such a thing?

Maekar through his neglect created an unsafe space for his children. He definitely loves them and wouldn't hurt them deliberately but he was a bad father. The show somewhat made him better as in he's not an enabler of his second-born anymore but the flaws withstand and the show outright tells us Egg Has to Go if he wants any chance of having an ordinary life.

As someone who doesn't read fics anymore, I find this super interesting. TWO omegas, THREE alphas. Top of the charts. And that's just in six months. AKOTSK will conquer these charts by the end of the year. Great job, yall.

The Sworn Sword is my favourite D&E book but I know it's a bit "slow" for the Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon audience, how do you guys think they structured the 6 episodes to make it more "active"?

The poor guy just wanted to joust and feast and instead his father died and his grandfather is on his way out. All because your cousin wanted to make headlines by being in a trial by seven.

Maekar was waay too soft on Aerion by just sending him away also. I don't understand how he wasn't punished harsher. Everyone seems to overlook poor Valarr.

It's all crumbs (as are most things with Valarr sadly) but this scene implied they were on good terms. Aerion's taunt may come off as mockery but the way Valarr reacts to it, that tiny smile? It was like they traded an inside joke. He didn't take it poorly.

Aerion and Valarr were friends with this implication. I so wish we had seen more of them together. Or more Valarr in general.

We all know Baelor took a liking to Dunk before the trial. He gave him advice, and when it came down to it he was willing to fight alongside him.

But what if Dunk had only managed to find five men willing to fight for him?

Would Baelor have given Duncan more time to get his seven?

Would he have tried to convince Valarr to fight alongside him?

What do you all think?

Curious if anyone knows what this outfit may be called or what it may be referenced from? Really would like to copy as actual formal wear.

I'm very much excited for The Sworn Sword adaptatation, however the gem of this AKOTSK trio will def be the last novella. There is so much shit happening in it, so many characters, cool sets. Can't wait.