The deaths of Ned and Viserys served similar purposes for Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon, respectively, but with a major difference.
Ned Stark’s death in Game of Thrones season 1 was a landmark not only for the A Song of Ice and Fire adaptation but also for TV as a whole, and House of the Dragon cleverly flipped the moment. Given Game of Thrones’ massive pop culture impact, returning to Westeros for a prequel or any other spinoff would always be challenging. It was easy to predict that the Game of Thrones universe would continue, and after George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood was released, a Targaryen-centered show became an obvious choice. With a legacy to live up to, House of the Dragon had to carefully avoid repeating Game of Thrones tricks.
While Viserys I and Ned Stark are very different characters, several parallels between the two can be drawn. Two peaceful men who would often try to see the good side of a situation, both Ned Stark and King Viserys Targaryen ended up setting major conflicts in motion due to their naivety. Given the parallels between the actions of Ned Stark and Viserys Targaryen, House of the Dragon could have tried to replicate Ned’s shocking death with Viserys. Fortunately, that is something the show avoided. Whereas Ned’s death was surprising because of how unlikely it was, Viserys’ death in House of the Dragon was an inevitable, long drawn-out process easily foretold.
Why Flipping Ned’s Game Of Thrones Death Trick Works So Well
Viserys’ death in House of the Dragon was surprising because of how long it took to happen. Between the many House of the Dragon time jumps, viewers would often assume that Viserys was about to die, or that he would not return after the next time jump. While those who had read Fire & Blood knew at what point in the House of the Dragon timeline Viserys would die, the rest of the audience was shocked by every episode featuring Viserys after the first couple of time jumps. The build-up leading to Viserys’ death in House of the Dragon was the opposite of Ned’s in Game of Thrones, which is why it works so well.
HOTD Proves GOT’s Perfect Season 1 Ending Death Trick Can’t Be Repeated
The fact that House of the Dragon didn’t try to replicate the tone of Ned Stark’s death in Game of Thrones proves how iconic the Game of Thrones season 1 ending was. House of the Dragon could have chosen to be more mysterious regarding Viserys’ condition, only to surprise viewers at the end with how critical the king’s situation was. House of the Dragon could also have focused on the question of whether Viserys was being poisoned by someone in his court, thus setting up a mystery of whether he would die. However, none of those tricks would have worked as well as Ned Stark’s death.
AGame of Thrones, the first book in the ASOIAF series, makes the reader believe that Ned Stark is the main character and therefore safe. Replicating that feeling in Game of Thrones was not easy, but the show masterfully succeeded. Ned’s death in Game of Thrones changed a lot of character death tropes on TV, making audiences more prepared for a surprising death in similar shows. That is why it is more difficult for shows like House of the Dragon to replicate Game of Thrones season 1’s Ned Stark twist. Not even Game of Thrones itself was able to do it again, the only exception perhaps being the Red Wedding.
