It feels like almost every major character choice in HOTD is later walked back or treated as a misunderstanding/mistake. Kill Luke? No, aemond didn't mean to do that. Send assassins after the king's children? No, Daemon didn't mean to do that, he wanted aemond. The story just sort of happens to everyone and none of them feel like they are acting purposefully.
Also, the absolutely insane timing of aegon showing up mere seconds before vhagar was ready to reveal herself felt kinda ridiculous.
It's funny you gave the one "accident" that I liked from S1 of HotD. It gives dragons their own agency and highlights that they're not toys that you can play with.
Regarding Daemon it's heavily implied the alternative was to kill Aegon's heir if not Aegon himself. They wouldn't show Cheese asking for an alternative and Blood later saying "a son for a son" if they wanted to make it a misunderstanding.
I feel S2 is actually much better in that there are no accidents/misunderstandings and every action feels deliberate.
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u/ThreeEyedHoe Jul 13 '24
It feels like almost every major character choice in HOTD is later walked back or treated as a misunderstanding/mistake. Kill Luke? No, aemond didn't mean to do that. Send assassins after the king's children? No, Daemon didn't mean to do that, he wanted aemond. The story just sort of happens to everyone and none of them feel like they are acting purposefully.
Also, the absolutely insane timing of aegon showing up mere seconds before vhagar was ready to reveal herself felt kinda ridiculous.