‘House Of The Dragon’ Knew Exactly What It Was Doing With That Perfect ‘Game Of Thrones’ Callback

House of the Dragon naturally appealed a lot to Game of Thrones fans for a few reasons: (1) Same dang franchise but with more fiery beasts; (2) We get to see King’s Landing back in the day when it wasn’t engulfed in dragon fire. Speaking of which, there was some metaphorical semi-fire in the form of Daemon’s “HotD” scene, and the show also delivered heavy on the devastation with the visceral childbirth scene, in which King Viserys I chose the life of his male heir (who didn’t last long) over that of his wife. George R.R. Martin has compared that scene to the Red Wedding, but the flagship series received an even more direct callback when it came to Queen Aemma’s funeral.

That’s where “Dracarys” came into view, or rather, into our ears again. The word, of course, is High Valyrian for “dragon fire.” It’s a word that we heard spoken multiple times by Daenerys Targaryen (who uttered it to command her dragons to torch her opponents) in Thrones, and we also heard it as a pivotal snarl from Missandei, whose death helped to spur Dany onto her final incarnation. Not too long after, Dany went onto unleash her dragon’s breath all over King’s Landing, but now, we’re back to where it all began, and Rhaenyra Targaryen’s uttering that fateful word at her mother’s funeral.

The command arrives amid Rhaenyra’s distraught emotions not only for her mother but also because she mourned not being able to make her father as happy as a male heir did for one day. (The dynamic between Daemon and Rhaenyra is obviously something, ain’t it?) And in the end, Rhaenyra did what her father needed her to do. She ordered “Dracarys” upon the funeral pyre. (And just like that, Dany was with us.)

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Cue the chills, goosebumps, and memes with Rick Dalton in a Targaryen wig.

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House of the Dragon airs on Sundays at 9:00pm EST.