If you’ve been curious to learn more about The Dance of Dragons aka the Targaryen Civil War, which the books and the show have referenced but never described in full, then you now have another reason to look forward to the Game of Thrones season 5 Blu-ray release in March. Its special features will include a 20-minute animated feature detailing the events of the tragic war. IGN has released a 2-minute sample.
The Dance of Dragons was a war of succession between Aegon II and his half-sister, Rhaenyra that, among other things, contributed to the extinction of dragons in Westeros.
This animated feature, written by Dave Hill and produced by Adam Vadnais, will feature the voice talent of Game of Thrones actors Pedro Pascal (heard here in the sample), Kerry Ingram, Harry Lloyd, Mark Addy, Michelle Fairley and Jack Gleeson. Hill spoke to IGN of the project’s origins.
“When HBO and Adam Vadnais broached the idea of adapting The Dance of Dragons for the Blu-ray special features, I was thrilled. I loved the story as George had written it and felt honored to help bring an animated version to the fans,” Hill told IGN in a statement. “Every year I try to keep the scripts worthy of the incredible work that I know to expect from Adam and his team. This year, more so than ever, they’ve set the bar astronomically high with the Dance of Dragons featurette. Winter will eventually come, but not the day that Adam and his team fail to amaze me.”
A complete account of the war will be included in George R.R. Martin’s upcoming book, Fire and Blood, which will detail the full history of House Targaryen. However, if you don’t feel like waiting, you can read abridged accounts of the war in The World of Ice & Fire and in Martin’s novella, The Princess and the Queen featured in the anthology, Dangerous Women.
Wun wun
That’s really cool. I wonder if the show will touch ever touch on that or the Blackfyre Rebellion. Oh, and I’ll be happy to at least hear Shireen’s voice again lol.
Pedro ?❤️❤️❤️❤️
“Upcoming” after A Song of Ice and Fire is complete.
That is amazing, can’t wait for it to come out! In other news regarding the season 5 blu-ray release – best buy is advertising three different houses to choose from for the cover. Bolton, Targaryen, and Martell!
Pedro reciting the end of The Rogue Prince! ?
Can’t find my copy of “The Princess and the Queen” to check, but isn’t the naration in the clip word for word from the novella?
nice to know that Pedro’s Oberyn voice still does things to me
Shireen already explained the gist of the war in season five, in the episode named after the conflict and Shireen’s book:
I wouldn’t expect a more elaborate explanation in the show. They already worked the story of the civil war into the climax of Stannis’ story quite beautifully. If they’re going to parallel a historical event to something happening in the story (which is the only possible reason they would ever bother with this otherwise unnecessary exposition), I’d rather they picked another event for it, instead of working in the Targaryan civil war again.
Prepping the Unsullied for the Blackfyres. Awesome.
Nippled Breastplate,
Most show-watchers don’t ever watch this kind of thing. So it wouldn’t be very helpful, if that was the goal. At this point, isn’t expecting the Griffs to appear even more desperate than expecting LSH?
Nippled Breastplate,
Abyss,
I think they missed a bit. I don’t remember the exact words, but I think it was something like this:
– Aemond: You were a fool by coming here alone.
– Daemon: If I hadn’t, you wouldn’t have come.
Wow…interesting addition to the bluray. Those wacky Targs! Thrilling read. I like Mushroom’s version.
Harry Lloyd yay
Tywin of the Hill,
I think you are right, I vaguely remember that too now, but it’s definitively very close.
I wonder if this will influence any Dance of the Dragons prequel, if they ever make one.
The art looks horrible. Normally they put a lot of effort into the Histories and Lore, but this seems drawn by a 10-year-old.
The hell is up with that dreadful art though?
I’d imagine Fire and Blood will come out before Winds of Winter.
Sweet! Nice to have Harry Lloyd back!
Kosten,
It’s a preview – it might be a “proof of concept” using storyboard sketches.
… or so I hope
I am so excited for this feature.
Oh good, Harry Lloyd! 😀 He did great readings for the history and lore of Westeros videos. Also loved the Supreme Tweeter! This should be good.
Am I the only one not bothered by the animation…?
Luka Nieto,
I completely forgot about that scene lol. And I agree, that’s why I mentioned the Blackfyre Rebellion. That definitely has a bunch of implications to things happening in the current story.
Haha well done
Meanwhile, the video and narrating of Pascal is great
The Blu ray/DVD always releases in February. Why is it mid March now?
Those features are always the best parts of the Blu-ray’s.
Once again a behind the scenes with Ramin Djawadi is nowhere to be found. No respect for the single greatest aspect of the show.
By the vast wings of Ancalagon the Black! This IS exciting!
Michelle Fairley returns to Game of Thrones?!?!?!
Some of my favorite once-actors-of-GOT involved in this, yay!
RpCola,
Well ONE of many many many brilliant aspects of the show but yeah tell me about it.
The Dragon Demands,
Why do you think that?
All the other ones who read it – Pedro Pascal, Kerry Ingram, Harry Lloyd, Mark Addy, Michelle Fairley and Jack Gleeson – are all dead (and stay dead).
Yes. Catelyn is being resurrected. So is Oberyn. Viserys. Robert. Joffrey. And Shireen.
Kosten,
It’s rather horrendous, isn’t it? It doesn’t matter much, but I preferred the previous style.
Luka Nieto,
I belive it’s the old ”quantity vs. quality” question.
We get a 20 min video this time, something we didn’t before, so I guess they sacrificed quality to give us more on this subject.
Give me more Pedro. Thank you.
It’s not like the previous style was more elaborate. It was less colourful and with less moving parts; this is in fact a more ambitious animation. It’s just not very good. That’s why I said I’d rather they’d sticked to the original style, which wasn’t very animated (it was more of a slideshow with layered elements), but it was pretty consistent and had an artistic look to it.
It’s not like the previous style was more elaborate. It was less colourful and with less moving parts —this is in fact a more ambitious animation. It’s just not very good. So they didn’t sacrifice quantity for quality —they just aimed too high in terms of quality and failed. That’s why I said I’d rather they’d sticked to the original style, which wasn’t very animated (it was more of a slideshow with layered elements), but it was pretty consistent and had an artistic look to it.
Luka Nieto,
Ahhh, so thats what you mean.
Still need to get better at english it looks like. 😛
Well I don’t really care for animations, so I don’t really have an opinion here.
As long as they tell a nice story I’ll be fine.
But I can easly see why people liked the old ones more, they certainly had a charm of their own.
Pardon my ignorance, but how many books are there out there related to A Song of Ice and Fire (besides the five books we all know of)?
Clearly I have not read the books! haha. But I have them all.
Deesensfan,
There are 3 short stories telling the stories of Duncan the Tall and Aegon V.(fun fact he is Maester Aemons brother who ended up as king. Aemon talked about him before he died last season)
And 2 based on the Dance of Dragons (basically a civil war among the Targaryans), wich is what Oberyn talks about here. (another fun fact, Shireen mentioned this war too Stannis before she died.)
NOTE: Duncans stories are not finished. Martin said he will realese more, ”when he finds the time”, so that may be a while..
Mihnea,
Thanks 🙂
are they all written by GRRM?
DO you know what they are called?
Are they good?
Deesensfan,
Yes Martin wrote them all.
The Hedge Knight/The Sworn Sword/The Mystery Knight are all telling different stories about Duncan and Aegons adventures.
I personally didn’t like the last 2 that much, but that is just my opinion.
But the first one is definetly worth a read and its preaty short, you can finish it in 1 day easly.
The Princess and the Queen/The Rogue Prince are based on the Dance of Dragons.
I have not read these, so I can’t really say anything here.
Mihnea,
Thank you 🙂
and these are all events that occurred before the start of “game of thrones”
Deesensfan,
Yeah all of them. Duncans stories with about 70-80 years earlier.
And the other story with about 200 years.
Now that I remembered, there MIGHT be a ”spoiler” in the last story about Duncan, I don’t know if the show will adress it, hell it’s only a theory even in the books, but you might want to be carefull there.
But the first story about Duncan: ”The Hadge Knight” is safe and really good, in my opinion.
Mihnea,
OMG, tell me the spoiler, please! Never enough spoilers for me! I own the book and I have almost finished reading the first story, but I’m too curious to wait until the third one *blushing*
And where can I find the other two stories? Are they part of a volume?
BTW, have you read The Sandkings? I was a teenager at that time at that short novel mesmerized me.
Deesensfan,
The (currently released) Duncan and Aegon short stories are released in the Knight of the Seven Kingdoms collection.
The Princess and the Queen can be found in the Dangerous Women collection by GRRM: Rogue Prince is part of a collection called Rogues
It should be noted that the writing styles in those series is quite different from another (and from ASOIAF): The Du´nk and Egg short stories are straightforward adventures and the others are written as (in world) history books.
Dragonslayer,
Thanks for the information. I wish I had known about the different style before beginning to read The Hedge Knight, I expected the same style as in ASOIAF and I was disappointed.
Shy Lady Dragon,
I guess Mihnea means
(Minor spoilers for AFFC/ADWD/The mystery knight)
There are also hints that Duncan may be Briennes ancestor: She recalls seeing Duncans shield in her fathers armory during her travels in AFFC.
Dragonslayer,
Thanks again! So, no new spoilers for me 🙁
Shy Lady Dragon,
Was sent to the Wall by Aegon the V, for killing a blackfire pretender (when Aegon V was chosen king there was a Great Council, because there where numerous pretenders)
Brynden promised that the boy could attent the council too press his claim, but it was a ruse, too make him lower his guard, when he landed in Westeros Brynden killed him. When eventually Aegon was chosed as king (after Aemon refused the throne) he condamned Bryden for his actions and sent him too the Wall togheter with Aemon (Aemon insisted he should go too the Wall so no one could use his claim against his brother)
Once at the Wall Brynden quickly rose in the ranks, eventually becoming the Lord Commander. On a ranging beyond the Wall he disappeared.
People think he deserted to go to the children of the forest.
The theory is that he is the 3-Eyed Raven (the dude in the tree that Bran meats.)
It is said in those short stories, that ”Lord Bloodraven dables in dark magic”, people think he is a greensear, basically what Bran is, just that he mastered his powers.
If you already knew this then I feel like a fool now, for writing this much.. 😛
EDIT: Yup I’m a fool….
Deesensfan,
There’s also The World of Ice and Fire. It’s a compendium of the history of the Seven Kingdoms and the Targaryen kings. Definitely worth a read, if only for the illustrations
Mihnea,
You’re certainly not a fool, it was kind of you to explain to a fellow fan in so many details. Thank you!
I’m glad you did. Although I had known about Brynden, I was glad to read the whole story, especially the part about Maester Aemon. I have read The World of Ice and Fire but I must admit that, only a few months later, I forgot most of it – so many stories and details… So, it was a very good reminder.
Tywin of the Hill,
Yeah, I have bought the book for the illustrations, but it was also a good read. Unfortunately, too many things to be able to remember them…
Shy Lady Dragon,
The only thing really worth to read, is in my opinion the Targaryan history, the other part is just too much adding story/characters just…because.
The Targaryan history is preaty good tough. Ilustration are good too.
The rest tough is preaty poor, it shows that Martin didn’t write it all.
Also Kermit and Elmo Tully… Really..?
Mihnea,
Now that you mention… yeah! Ran out of names? Twisted humour? But still, happy opportunity to stay into this fascinating world, better read than some I must for work 🙂 I was glad that GRRM’s style of ASOIAF was not imitated, for such a volume the history book style was suited imo.
Shy Lady Dragon,
Wait ’till he writes the story of Tinky-Winky Tully, Lord Paramount of the Trident and Riverrun ?
Maceless Fan,
Luka Nieto,
If I’m not mistaken there are several Blackfyre rebellions during the Targeryan reign. In the Dunk and Egg stories, especially The Sworn Sword and The Mystery Knight, it’s lots of talk about the one where Daemon Blackfyre rebel against Daeron Targeryan and that’s just fifteen years earlier. The Dance of Dragons takes place a century earlier. The former is pretty interesting as well with the involvement of Branden Rivers..
Why ? Do you want to analyze her income tax statement ?
Tywin of the Hill,
And his beloved Rontsy-Krontsy? Sorry, I couldn’t help goofying around, it was too good an opportunity! I seem to have already acquired the merry season disposition, no liquor involved!
(….it’s a joke. You know, misleading headline)
What?
…..
I rather like the artwork, actually. Recall that Season 1 didn’t even have full color.
Mihnea,
ill be careful!!!!
I look forward to it!
Dragonslayer,
Thank you for the information!
Tywin of the Hill,
I heard about that one also. Looks interesting, but I don’t like that Linda character. Turns me off from buying it hahaha
Deesensfan,
Elio and Linda are simply the editors. 95% of the book is Martin’s.
Tywin of the Hill,
good to know 🙂
Indeed, they went out of their way to shoehorn that much into the tale. It’s difficult to imagine that any of the details of the old civil war will be relevant to how Jon, Daeny, Tyrion, etc., evolve as characters, and thus difficult to envision how it could be relevant to the remainder of the story.
Tyrion the myrion,
I’m sorry you’re upset, please put your pitchfork away. I never said anything about Griff, only Blackfyre. It would clearly need to be a heavily modified version of the storyline. People have theorized that Blackfyres might be involved in the endgame for quite some time and I think this is the most telling evidence yet. HBO could’ve just ignored them but instead they made a 20 minute movie.
This is not evidence supporting that idea. Remember, if something is important in the TV series (or in the book series), then it has to be in the TV (or book) series. However, this is not material for the TV series. Ergo, this does not indicate at all that it is going to be important in the TV series. Indeed, the fact that it is being done as an extra for fans (as opposed to just viewers) probably is stronger evidence that it won’t be relevant in the series.
The same can be stated about all of the stuff in the Dunk & Egg series. The vast majority of book readers have never read or (probably) ever heard of those: after all, the sales are a tiny fraction of the novels’ sales and they were not even easy to find for a very long time. This short probably is comparable to those.
At this point, anything that is going to be important in the series should have been strongly introduced in the books or TV series. The Blackfyres have not been: my bet is that the vast majority of people who’ve read the books would not even remember them, as they have not been “Chekhovian Guns” so much as “Chekhovian wall hangings”: i.e., background stuff to provide some “realistic” context to an important overarching plot or story device.
Tywin of the Hill,
Most of the information came from Martin, but if most of the writing is his, well, it seems like he forgot how to write. Mind you, I’ve only read bits here and there when I’ve been at my friend’s who owns a copy, but while some of the info. is certainly interesting, some of the writing is downright painful, imo. The artwork is great, though.
I don’t know what you mean. Then again, I’ve only read the Spanish version.
But it seemed like a normal history book, nothing that made you think “this guy’s forgotten how to write”.
Wimsey,
Totally agree. I was never a fan of the whole return of the Blackfyres theories, so I’m glad to see the info relegated to Blu-ray extras.
Nymeria Warrior Queen,
Although I also did not purchase this item because of their participation, I did look through it at B&N and was appalled by the writing. It read like a children’s Bible story book! Dismal.
Tywin of the Hill,
If a novelist starts writing like a historian (or vice versa), then he/she has forgotten how to write appropriately for his/her craft!
I was able to read only part of it for this reason. I had thought that it would be short stories set in different times in Westerosian history. Instead, it was just faux history. Having never been a fan of “world-building,” it did little for me.
That is an even better description! It really does read like history books for children, with the simplified language and dialog. And, of course, real history books usually are written as theses: the scholar is trying to assess alternate ideas for why things happen. It’s almost the reverse of literature: in stories, events are important for how they cause characters to evolve; in history, what people are like is important for explaining why things happened.
Rat Kook,
I know I love me some Harry Lloyed. I miss him on this show. Even as evil an whiny as his character portrayal was, he did things for me. I just want to see him in anything again, really.
B,
If you watch Manhattan, you’ll see him as a main character in the series.
Didn’t like the art (I’m on the “things looking old wagon” and the art featured in Duncan’ novellas or the History&Lore bits) but I wonder why they specifically choose this event. It was about the Stannis/Shireen scene, the Targs story overall, or some kind of paralel about
?
Tywin of the Hill,
That’s not true at all .
SlayerNina,
Like others said,it’s just some cool backstory extra for the hardcore fans,not everything has to mean something or foreshadow something you know .
Right after Shireen told that story to Stannis, which I forgot about till now, I had wondered if it was a foreshadowing that history was going to repeat itself with Dany/Jon. Is it still possible? The build up/pacing of the story so far doesn’t lend itself towards that and with only two seasons left and other story lines to cover (especially since Winter is coming) it doesn’t appear likely at all. But does anyone else get the feeling that something climatic is looming for the main protagonists once they meet? If Jon is the heir then it will be interesting how Dany takes it when she finds out about him. Will she fight for the throne anyways, having come so far? And will Jon be a changed enough person that she’d actually need to fight him for it?
Deesensfan,
Also he wrote a children’s book called the ice dragon, it was a fun read. I know you said related to a song of ice and fire but this story is still part of the same world.
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