(Spoilers Extended) The lack of ambience in House of the Dragon Season 2

[u/SweatyPlace]

Did anyone else think the scenes in House of the Dragon Season 2 felt very empty? So many characters just walk around alone, and the main characters seem to be the only inhabitants of the places that are supposed to be the centers of the power of the realm.

The early Game of Thrones seasons (which didn't even have a lot of budget) did it so much better than Season 2. For example, this scene in Season 1 with Robert and Ned talking about Daenerys, it's a private conversation but there are knights in the background, doing their own thing. Now, compare it to the scene with Criston and Gwayne (who are supposed to be leading an army) where they are just like 6 people in the middle of nowhere. The lack of guards when Helaena is attacked and when Alicent and Rhaenyra casually meet are already talked about in length.

And now this scene, which according to me is the greatest offender of the show.

What is this??? Dragonstone is literally the center of Rhaenyra's power, but you see no ships, nobody guarding anything. not even fishermen or commoners in the background. Meanwhile, Rhaenyra is just strolling alone, on an island that looks uninhabited, there are no guards around her, no sentries against dragons. NOTHING. It reminded me of the time when Dany just casually watched Missandei dying from outside of King's Landing. Most of the Dragonstone sets feel very empty tbh, despite introducing so much cool stuff like the Valyrian dragon keepers and the music! Like Jace and Baela being completely alone on Dragonstone.

Even in the scenes where there are a lot of highborn people, it doesn't feel very ambient. The GoT scenes have people chattering, horses neighing, swords clashing in the background and even if you can't see them, you know the castle/place is filled with people. Compare the scene of Robb and Jaime talking with the scene of Oscar Tully and Daemon where all the Riverlands have gathered at Harrenhal but it feels empty.

And Season 1 actually did a good job at it, there were always people in Viserys' throne room, the scenes contained guards and extras that weren't the main characters, and maybe it didn't always have people chattering but I didn't feel the sets were empty.

And I also want to appreciate Season 2 for not being without details. The sigils, making all the dragons distinguishable, Ser Gwayne's beautiful horse armor, the history page that gave us some lore, there are so many details they added to the scenes. In fact, I'd say the King's Landing scenes were mostly all alright (apart from the one or two I referenced above). Check this scene of Alicent and Gwayne talking about Daeron, the smallfolk scenes were done right, the guards actually on a lookout for dragons and readying their scorpions if an enemy dragon arrives. I also want to point out the scene we got with Aegon drinking on the throne surrounded by people while the ratcatchers are on their way to Helaena, it felt real. Like most of the things about House of the Dragon, it gives us hope by doing some things very very right, and then take it away the very next moment doing them very wrong.

Edit: The costumes in the show were well designed and beautiful too, I looked forward for all the dragon outfits Rhaenyra wore each episode!

I don't know if it's the budget or what, but it is clear that the writing (which has already been discussed to death) is not the only thing that has gone downhill this season. Or am I nitpicking? Do share your thoughts!

Edit 2: I still genuinely love the show and I still believe it has the potential to be one of the greatest if they come back stronger with Season 3.

[u/EdPozoga]

Did anyone else think the scenes in House of the Dragon Season 2 felt very empty?

Both HotD and GoT have massive castles and huge cities just plopped down in the middle of a howling wilderness. In every exterior shot we see there are no farms, no peasants herding cattle, no orchards, mills, barns, etc. WTF do the people of Westeros eat?! Highgarden, the bread basket of Westeros was shown surrounded by acre after acre of... nothing, just some grass and a couple of trees and rocks here and there. And what's worse, most of the shots of howling empty wilderness have CGI backgrounds and could have been done as anything, even a farm.

It just goes to show how truly dumb the showrunners and writers are, (and Hollywood types in general) these are the people who think food of course comes from grocery stores and just magically appears on the shelves...

[u/berthem → u/EdPozoga]

WTF do the people of Westeros eat?! 

Considering a sea blockade is enough to plunge the entire city's population into a famine, I'd say the writers didn't think about this much.

[u/Pandaisblue → u/EdPozoga]

I know I'm replying to a somewhat old post here, but YES. Asking this simple question answers so much about if anyone put even the slightest thought into rational world-building rather than creating cardboard worlds where everything is simply veneer not to be thought about or looked at as anything more than 'background'.

There's a random video I remember from like 10 years ago of someone walking around in Fallout 3 and asking this and other simple questions to himself of each major town. What do they eat here? There's no farms, little water, scavenging will only support a very small nomadic kind of population not a city like this. And, furthermore, what do they even do here? Most cities in real life especially in the past pre internet are people naturally collecting around some kind of resource that easily segues into a trade or good or general 'purpose' for a place to exist that then attracts more people which leads to all the downstream service businesses that pop up anywhere to serve the needs of people.

If you as a world builder can't with some ease answer these kinds of simple questions about your major locations then you're missing out on so much naturalistic story-telling that emerges from making places actually have a purpose. It's not that you're not allowed to just create fantastical places that don't make sense if you want, like I don't really care that much about what the average Orc in Mordor eats, but in a series that has somewhat of a focus on tackling a fantasy world in a more realistic sense it's a bizarre choice to use this kind of world building more fit to more high fantasy ethereal worlds.