Your thoughts make a lot of sense, but I think its important to acknowledge how far along the history of House Targaryen is at this point. Targaryens have existed since before the fall of Valyria (Valyria is considered the closest thing to Rome in the history of ASOIAF) but Viserys doesn't become king until about 200 years after the "doom" of Valyria. Furthermore, Viserys is coronated around 110 years after the establishment of King's Landing. Honestly, I think this timeline fucks with any attempt to compare ASOIAF to real history. There's also the conflict that houses such as the Hightowers are native to Westeros, Targaryens aren't, and I think the styles of each reflect their heritage. Tournaments in ASOIAF also go back farther than they do in our history and its unknown how far, but they were adopted by Targaryen rule (because it is a westerosi tradition) at least 70 years before the rule of Viserys. Perhaps then the separation of styles you are seeing are more related to the heritage of Targaryens vs the houses of Westeros. Regardless, I will fully agree Daemon's armor is ridiculous.
As a fantasy writer myself I agree 100%. I didn’t mind the prologue, but I did mind the costumes. Though beautiful, many feel out of place, specially Alicent’s. And taking about The Red Keep, it would have been nice to see that gothic portion under construction or renovations, just like many Roman buildings were renovated and modified during the early Middle Ages to be part of newer buildings.
9:00 Fun fact: Targaryens weren’t powerful in Valyria, additionally, Valyria wasn’t a potent (in terms of power, military and money) and only started to grow in last 5000 of years. The Hightowers however, were the most powerful house and one the most riches families in Westeros, definitely the leader family in their region, and owners of the most ancient city + political-religious-education center of the continent (the Oldtown), and have been this powerful for the past 12.000 of years.
really great video! a big part of the appeal (for me) of GoT is the world building - regional traditions, religion, craftsmanship etc that come together to create such a rich fantasy world. i’m not really into the asoiaf lore but from an anthropological viewpoint i’m not sold when people argue that this world wouldn’t have changed much in 200 years. totally agree with you. we don’t necessarily have to compare this universe to “real” history to measure the rate of societal progression but there are several wars in the 200 years between the series (?), events like that are tipping points for cultural and societal shifts! it would have been cool if HotD explored the culture of the time and used production design more to do that, instead of relying on fans having GoT knowledge of the progression of history imo. the fun of a prequel is the chance to illustrate how past events influenced the story we’re familiar with! anyway loved your thoughts on this :-) daemons armour made him look like a happy meal toy
It is of course quite ridiculous that Westeros does not progress much for thousands of years and some fans speculate why is that - most noteworhty are "constant White Walker apocalypses". We can also say that GRRM just likes medieval aesthetic and that is it. I was wondering how much will HotD try to match with GoT in costume department. Yes, it is 200 years apart, so in our world *much* would be different, but book canon basically says that 200 years is nothing in terms of societal norms, clothing wise etc. *Edit* : I absolutely agree with your dislike of that Rhaenyra's colar. It feels very out of place... and I'm no expert. It seems to me that men's costumes did not change for 200 years, they could be straight up from GoT... which is fair 😅 *Another edit* (yeah, yeah, I know): I do not really dig Alicent and Cersei parallers either (Alicent has a dark side, but she believes the principles she was raised in to most degree, whie Cersei hated them to the core), but religion is important to Alicent. First, her family is close to the Faith of the Seven (first thing Hightowers did when Targaryens started conquering was to talk to the High Septon on what to do). Second, Faith and fundamentalism is what Alicent keeps together, she dedicated her whole life "doing what is right in terms of patriarchal fundamentalist society": she obeyed her father, married the king when he asked her to, and followed Andal tradition of succession and put her son on the throne. Faith is an important ally for her, of course she wears the necklace of the Seven, especially to Aegon's coronation. Her gown also screams "I'm rightous woman in men's society".
I disagree with the comment that leather armor was the most common armor in the middle ages. To my knowledge the most common form of armor was simply cloth armor; more specifically, layers of linen sewn together. A nice thick shock absorber. I think historical fantasies and historical fiction TV shows and movies greatly overuse leather armor simply because it looks better or "cooler". The standard "leather with random studs" type of armor has become the go to and it makes zero sense. What are the studs for? I guess they're probably just copying the looks of a brigandine, without any of the actual armor underneath. Anyway, I just wanted an excuse to talk about the awful trend of using "studded leather armor" in films and how terrible it is.
I really love the way you've articulated the relationship between history and the production design of the show! I oddly enough would say the complete opposite about the womens vs. mens costumes, but you explain it in such a respectful and compelling way that I'm inclined to study further. Are you on TT? I make lil videos on HotD costumes over there :)
I don't think you're really qualified to speak on the series since you don't really know Asoiaf since you don't know how the world works. Westeros feels like it's stuck in time. And yes, armor should look whacky and colorful, yet the shows avoid that due to budget restraints. Armor in the books is always described as amazing works of art. Since Asoiaf takes inspiration from different times, jousting is a sport that has existed for a long time and it's a popular sport. The Hightowers are super ancient compared to how long Targaryens have been in Westeros, and they're also wealthy.
hi as person how Studied art I suggest you watch the ring of power You will enjoy it even more than hose of dragon I am eager to see your review about this series
ASOIAF is based on real history. GRRM has said this on multiple occasions that he has freely pilfered from history for his stories. So the sexual violence, misogny and the patriarchal norms in the show and the books are "historically accurate" and remain accurate to this day. Those who say its fantasy and hence the show has no business dealing with these issues have a fundamental misunderstanding of the genre.
It's disappointing yet unsurprising that someone with your position is unaware that the sexual violence in particular is not actually historically accurate for the time period ASoIaF would've been inspired by. Contrary to popular belief, it was not a socially accepted occurrence, and the punishment for it was much harsher than we'd expect even by today's standards. And historical accuracy aside, you seem to be presenting yourself as someone with knowledge of the book series, yet you somehow failed to notice that the show actually added in a several notable examples of sexual violence that didn't exist in the books, which only further reveals that this was not done for the sake of historical accuracy, but for some other motivation by the showrunners (evidently for the satisfaction of viewers like yourself).
@@corndo9 You must be refering to an alternate history of the world. The histories of the world that I have read are unfortunately rife with sexual violence. To ignore history is to repeat its mistakes. I do not enjoy depictions of sexual violence but I do like a good consensual sex scene. You must be projecting your own perverted fantasies on a stranger on the internet with your last comment. Lot of growing up to do kiddo!!
@@corndo9 chill geez!, I agree with them. Sexual violence was always there in any form during the historical period. And you're saying writers made their own decisions on writing about that for the show, yes! Of course they did, heck the book Fire and Blood is not even fleshed out that one can adapt it without having to creatively come up with something that adds up to the story. You don't know everything that happened in history, perhaps sexual violence was actually worse than you think it was. Not everything is written in the history books fella.
You just had to go into the "sexual violence" topic even though it had little to do with what you're talking about. In this world things have not changed that much. This is a fantastical element. Instead you have to be so pedantic and nitpicky. The text in the first episode is great as it gives the viewer an exact understanding how far in the past we are in comparisson to Game of Thrones.We would not have been able to gauge this just by the different clothing architecture etc.The Targaryens aren't just like normal humans and have different technologies. So yes I can accept the design of Daemon's armour (This is a fantasy element) .This is the frst time I have heard anyone complain about jousting not being appropriate here. Other UA-camrs that talk about mideval arms and armour and combat had no problem with it because they accept that this part is fantasy. Sorry but I trust them more than you. It is NOT a one to one translation of real history.Most of the stories in this world even if they are hundreds of years apart are set in a time similar too the high middle ages. I will repeat ,in this world things have not changed that much. This is a fantastical element.
I really hope they would publsih a book with all the important costume designs like they did with GoT!
Your thoughts make a lot of sense, but I think its important to acknowledge how far along the history of House Targaryen is at this point. Targaryens have existed since before the fall of Valyria (Valyria is considered the closest thing to Rome in the history of ASOIAF) but Viserys doesn't become king until about 200 years after the "doom" of Valyria. Furthermore, Viserys is coronated around 110 years after the establishment of King's Landing. Honestly, I think this timeline fucks with any attempt to compare ASOIAF to real history. There's also the conflict that houses such as the Hightowers are native to Westeros, Targaryens aren't, and I think the styles of each reflect their heritage. Tournaments in ASOIAF also go back farther than they do in our history and its unknown how far, but they were adopted by Targaryen rule (because it is a westerosi tradition) at least 70 years before the rule of Viserys. Perhaps then the separation of styles you are seeing are more related to the heritage of Targaryens vs the houses of Westeros. Regardless, I will fully agree Daemon's armor is ridiculous.
But Westerosi armor is supposed to look whacky and colorful
As a fantasy writer myself I agree 100%. I didn’t mind the prologue, but I did mind the costumes. Though beautiful, many feel out of place, specially Alicent’s. And taking about The Red Keep, it would have been nice to see that gothic portion under construction or renovations, just like many Roman buildings were renovated and modified during the early Middle Ages to be part of newer buildings.
9:00
Fun fact: Targaryens weren’t powerful in Valyria, additionally, Valyria wasn’t a potent (in terms of power, military and money) and only started to grow in last 5000 of years.
The Hightowers however, were the most powerful house and one the most riches families in Westeros, definitely the leader family in their region, and owners of the most ancient city + political-religious-education center of the continent (the Oldtown), and have been this powerful for the past 12.000 of years.
really great video! a big part of the appeal (for me) of GoT is the world building - regional traditions, religion, craftsmanship etc that come together to create such a rich fantasy world. i’m not really into the asoiaf lore but from an anthropological viewpoint i’m not sold when people argue that this world wouldn’t have changed much in 200 years. totally agree with you. we don’t necessarily have to compare this universe to “real” history to measure the rate of societal progression but there are several wars in the 200 years between the series (?), events like that are tipping points for cultural and societal shifts! it would have been cool if HotD explored the culture of the time and used production design more to do that, instead of relying on fans having GoT knowledge of the progression of history imo. the fun of a prequel is the chance to illustrate how past events influenced the story we’re familiar with! anyway loved your thoughts on this :-) daemons armour made him look like a happy meal toy
It is of course quite ridiculous that Westeros does not progress much for thousands of years and some fans speculate why is that - most noteworhty are "constant White Walker apocalypses". We can also say that GRRM just likes medieval aesthetic and that is it. I was wondering how much will HotD try to match with GoT in costume department. Yes, it is 200 years apart, so in our world *much* would be different, but book canon basically says that 200 years is nothing in terms of societal norms, clothing wise etc.
*Edit* : I absolutely agree with your dislike of that Rhaenyra's colar. It feels very out of place... and I'm no expert. It seems to me that men's costumes did not change for 200 years, they could be straight up from GoT... which is fair 😅
*Another edit* (yeah, yeah, I know): I do not really dig Alicent and Cersei parallers either (Alicent has a dark side, but she believes the principles she was raised in to most degree, whie Cersei hated them to the core), but religion is important to Alicent. First, her family is close to the Faith of the Seven (first thing Hightowers did when Targaryens started conquering was to talk to the High Septon on what to do). Second, Faith and fundamentalism is what Alicent keeps together, she dedicated her whole life "doing what is right in terms of patriarchal fundamentalist society": she obeyed her father, married the king when he asked her to, and followed Andal tradition of succession and put her son on the throne. Faith is an important ally for her, of course she wears the necklace of the Seven, especially to Aegon's coronation. Her gown also screams "I'm rightous woman in men's society".
2:33 I think the best example I know of this would be the movie Ladyhawke.
who designed the "war table" in Dragonstone on HOTD. that table is magnificent!!
Great video, by the way!
I disagree with the comment that leather armor was the most common armor in the middle ages. To my knowledge the most common form of armor was simply cloth armor; more specifically, layers of linen sewn together. A nice thick shock absorber.
I think historical fantasies and historical fiction TV shows and movies greatly overuse leather armor simply because it looks better or "cooler". The standard "leather with random studs" type of armor has become the go to and it makes zero sense. What are the studs for? I guess they're probably just copying the looks of a brigandine, without any of the actual armor underneath.
Anyway, I just wanted an excuse to talk about the awful trend of using "studded leather armor" in films and how terrible it is.
I really love the way you've articulated the relationship between history and the production design of the show! I oddly enough would say the complete opposite about the womens vs. mens costumes, but you explain it in such a respectful and compelling way that I'm inclined to study further. Are you on TT? I make lil videos on HotD costumes over there :)
Well, when you get right down to it, the series takes place about 8000 years after steel was invented in this world. So in our future
I don't think you're really qualified to speak on the series since you don't really know Asoiaf since you don't know how the world works.
Westeros feels like it's stuck in time.
And yes, armor should look whacky and colorful, yet the shows avoid that due to budget restraints. Armor in the books is always described as amazing works of art.
Since Asoiaf takes inspiration from different times, jousting is a sport that has existed for a long time and it's a popular sport.
The Hightowers are super ancient compared to how long Targaryens have been in Westeros, and they're also wealthy.
hi
as person how Studied art I suggest you watch the ring of power
You will enjoy it even more than hose of dragon
I am eager to see your review about this series
ASOIAF is based on real history. GRRM has said this on multiple occasions that he has freely pilfered from history for his stories. So the sexual violence, misogny and the patriarchal norms in the show and the books are "historically accurate" and remain accurate to this day. Those who say its fantasy and hence the show has no business dealing with these issues have a fundamental misunderstanding of the genre.
It's disappointing yet unsurprising that someone with your position is unaware that the sexual violence in particular is not actually historically accurate for the time period ASoIaF would've been inspired by. Contrary to popular belief, it was not a socially accepted occurrence, and the punishment for it was much harsher than we'd expect even by today's standards.
And historical accuracy aside, you seem to be presenting yourself as someone with knowledge of the book series, yet you somehow failed to notice that the show actually added in a several notable examples of sexual violence that didn't exist in the books, which only further reveals that this was not done for the sake of historical accuracy, but for some other motivation by the showrunners (evidently for the satisfaction of viewers like yourself).
@@corndo9 You must be refering to an alternate history of the world. The histories of the world that I have read are unfortunately rife with sexual violence. To ignore history is to repeat its mistakes.
I do not enjoy depictions of sexual violence but I do like a good consensual sex scene. You must be projecting your own perverted fantasies on a stranger on the internet with your last comment. Lot of growing up to do kiddo!!
@@corndo9 chill geez!, I agree with them. Sexual violence was always there in any form during the historical period. And you're saying writers made their own decisions on writing about that for the show, yes! Of course they did, heck the book Fire and Blood is not even fleshed out that one can adapt it without having to creatively come up with something that adds up to the story. You don't know everything that happened in history, perhaps sexual violence was actually worse than you think it was. Not everything is written in the history books fella.
You just had to go into the "sexual violence" topic even though it had little to do with what you're talking about. In this world things have not changed that much. This is a fantastical element. Instead you have to be so pedantic and nitpicky. The text in the first episode is great as it gives the viewer an exact understanding how far in the past we are in comparisson to Game of Thrones.We would not have been able to gauge this just by the different clothing architecture etc.The Targaryens aren't just like normal humans and have different technologies. So yes I can accept the design of Daemon's armour (This is a fantasy element) .This is the frst time I have heard anyone complain about jousting not being appropriate here. Other UA-camrs that talk about mideval arms and armour and combat had no problem with it because they accept that this part is fantasy. Sorry but I trust them more than you. It is NOT a one to one translation of real history.Most of the stories in this world even if they are hundreds of years apart are set in a time similar too the high middle ages. I will repeat ,in this world things have not changed that much. This is a fantastical element.
Besides, I loved Daemon’s armor. Very fitting to his CHARACTER. That is how far I got into this video before stopping.
I agree.
"... Always a reflection of the time they were written". And therein lies your problem (and the problem with today's writers).
this was good! unscripted is fun
It was just like that back then tho. Rap was a very real thing in the medieval times and happened to women.