House of the Dragon deliberately violated a Game of Thrones character aging standard with its young actors, with tragic and effective results.
House of the Dragon brutally broke a major Game of Thrones rule with the death of Lucerys Velaryon. The Game of Thrones showrunners took great pains to avoid placing its young actors, and thus characters, in violent or sexually-charged situations. It largely accomplished this by aging up the characters from the books to the show, whereas House of the Dragon employed four strategic time jumps to move the story forward, and more importantly, age the characters to where they needed to be at the time of the Dance of Dragons. Lucerys Velaryon was thirteen when he died by dragon above Shipbreaker Bay, a death particularly disturbing because of his age and one that added fuel to the Targaryen civil war fire.
In the world of Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, kids grew up fast. It’s often been noted that the characters in George R.R. Martin’s novels seemed too young to be doing the things they’re doing, such as Jon Snow joining the Night’s Watch at fourteen or Arya Stark killing a stable boy at age nine. The stories were set in a medieval, feudal age, before the concept of “childhood” existed, where being twelve meant adulthood. Transferring this to the screen posed a few problems.
Why Game Of Thrones Needed A Character Age Rule
Game of Thrones aged up its characters from how they were depicted in George R.R. Martin’s books. Each character had intricate backstories and histories, making casting a daunting task, particularly when there were so many children in the source material. Increasing their ages was a way of sidestepping the necessity of working with very young actors and a means of making some of the central characters’ experiences a little more palatable and less controversial. In 2017, co-creator and showrunners David Benioff said, “[Arya and Sansa] start so young, but we knew if the show worked, [the characters] were going to go to extremely dark places, so it was a tricky thing, casting people and just hoping they would blossom into the women that they’ve become.”
Without the Game of Thrones”age rule,” Bran Stark would have been pushed from a high window at seven instead of ten. Daenerys Targaryen would have been thirteen on her wedding night to Khal Drogo instead of sixteen, and most shocking, Sansa Stark would have been thirteen for her forced marriage to the uber-sadist Ramsey Bolton instead of fifteen. Bran, Daenerys, and Sansa were still children to modern eyes, but they were aged up to make these events somewhat less harrowing.
Why House Of The Dragon Needed To Break GOT’s Character Age Rule
House of the Dragon didn’t need to age up its characters to allow for a childlike appearance early on and a more mature look later. The show used strategic time jumps to reflect the aging of its characters. For one character in particular, a young age was very important. Lucerys Velaryon, the second son of Rhaenyra Targaryen, had flown on his dragon Arrax to Storm’s End to meet with Lord Borros Baratheon to rally support for his mother’s claim. Aemond Targaryen was already there. He mercilessly taunted Lucerys, demanding an eye for an eye, and followed him on dragon back when Lucerys attempted to leave. In the midst of a raging storm, Aemond’s dragon Vhagar bit Lucerys and Arrax in half.
The scene was horrifying, a frightened boy on a frightened dragon fleeing a one-eyed maniac. The impact of this event set in motion more violence against children to come. House of the Dragon broke a Game of Thrones age rule when Lucerys Velaryon died violently. It was necessary that Lucerys be young, thirteen years old, at the time of his death as the gravity of it initiates a dark desire for revenge in Rhaenyra and Daemon Targaryen. The Dance of Dragons was a pivotal point in Targaryen history, and the ages of its players were relevant. Season two of House of the Dragon will continue to break the Game of Thrones character age rule with events even more shocking.
