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The second episode is here, and right away I was met with a little dissapointment, not with the quality of the episode but with the main titles. The design itself is really cool, and stays within the same universe of the Game of Thrones Main Titles, but offering something fitting for this storyline. The dissapointment for me came when the music was revealed to be the same as the one in Game of Thrones.
Don’t get me wrong, the Main Titles theme is awesome, and probably one of the most memorable themes of the past decade, but the fact that they decide to reuse it for the series left me wondering what Djawadi could have created if he had done something entirely new, perhaps with the same style, and rythmic patterns, but using the Targaryen theme? Well, this is just my thoughts and what could have been, and it’s just a small dissapointment that does not take away from the quality of the episode itself, which is just as great as the first episode. Let’s get right into it!
Warning: There might be some SPOILERS for the episode and some small spoilers from Game of Thrones ahead.
SHORT DISCLAIMER: The transcriptions are not always in the same key as the pieces I put as example, and sometimes they are simplified to make it clearer and more concise
Right away, we learn that there has been a short time jump (about half a year), which helps the story go forward easily. The tensions between characters have grown, as external forces threaten to break the stability of the realm. Some characters like King Viserys and Alicent Hightower grow closer, while others drift away in their own doing like Daemon and, as the end of the episode reveals, his new found ally, Corlys Velaryon. The episode is a slow burn, leaving space for the development of some of the main characters, while slowly introducing some conflicts, which culminate in the Dragonstone stand-off, and later the reveal of who is going to be the King’s future wife, for the shock of members of the council and his own daughter.
The first cue that stands out is the one that accompanies Rhanerya and Alicent’s prayers at the Sept, when Alice encourages her to pray for her deceased mother. Here Djawadi brings back the Heir theme (“The Prince That Was Promised”) from the end of the previous episode, in a new setting, this time more tragic, with some gorgous high strings, and giving it some space to develop both sections of the theme.
It also includes and ascending melody which had been already introduced in one of the first scenes, at the Small Council, when Rhaenyra suggests to send the dragon riders to Dragonstone to face Daemon. This melody will reocur several times within the episode, like for example in the scene when Rhaenyra and Viserys talk after she returns from King’s Landing. I think this might be a theme for Rhanerya, which plays in some scenes in relation with her father, so it could be a sort of father-daughter theme. It’s in the same key as The Prince That Was Promised (A minor), so both themes are definitely linked, and in many scenes play in conjunction with each other.
One of the best dialogues of the episode comes at the “order of things” sequence between Rhaenyra and Rhaenys. Djawadi supports the scene with soft string ambiences, and hints of a melody, which might be a theme for House Velaryon. Small traces of this melody can also be heard in the scene where Lord Velaryon tells King Viserys to marry his 12 year-old daughter, Laena Velaryon, to strengthen the kingdom. This melody returns briefly as Lord Velaryon talks to Daemon at the end of the episode, after the King’s betrayal of his marriage proposal, finally cementing the idea that it’s a theme for House Velaryon and all its allies.
Withouth a doubt, the standout sequence of the episode is the stand-off between Daemon and Otto Hightower, with the surprise appearance of Rhaenyra and her dragon. The tension slowly grows as the two men exchange threats, and Djawadi scores the first part of the sequence with percussion, exotic instruments and dark ominous drones, which are very much in the same vein as what played with Daemon’s introductory scene in the first episode. This seems to be a recurring sound motif for the Rogue Prince, and while he hasn’t been given a strong melody just yet, this dark ambience supports perfectly his scenes.
This changes when Rhaenyra arrives riding Syrax. Percussion starts to play, together with a synth sound which is definitely mimicking the dragons’ own screeches. As we see Rhaenyra, the melody that played in the first episode as she arrived at King’s Landing plays again, which for me confirms that this is definitely a theme for the Princess.
As she finally retrieves the stolen dragon egg, the Targaryen theme plays for the first time in the episode (very similar to what plays at 1:43 of "Love in the Eyes"), together with some vocal textures based around the melody of her theme. This develops as she flies away, with the female voices joining some exotic percussion, which reinforce the strength and power of the character, even at such a young age. The same idea continues as she returns to King’s Landing, and goes to talk to her father.
Their conversation is first scored with soft string passages, which later directly reference the Heir Theme (The Prince That Was Promised) as Rhaenyra mentions the King’s duty to the realm. I think this theme is meant to represent not only the struggles for power between the Targaryen house, and their Heirs, but also the duty for the realm that comes with it, and when Rhanerya realizes that and accepts what her father has to do, Djawadi plays this time in full, with the two sections developing beautifully, and later on adding what I called above the Father & Daughter Theme.
For the reveal of who Visreys intends to marry, Djawadi adds some tension on the string section with hints to the Heir Theme, which are not fully formed, as this twist of events suddenly threatens to break the estability of the kingdom, and Rhaenyra’s life. Dark ambiences continue to grow, with a vague reference to the House Velaryon theme that I mentioned above, until the credits, where we are exposed to an extended variation of the Heir Theme, both sections developing on strings with percussion.
So this is it for the second episode! It was as great as the first one and I really like how it has been slowly building the tensions and conflicts between characters without making it feel rushed, which really brings back memories of the golden era of the first seasons of political intrigue of Game of Thrones. I cannot wait to see what else this show has in store for us, and I cannot wait to hear what else Djawadi does with his already established themes. If you liked this you can check out my analysis of the first episode, and definitely feel free to share with anyone you feel might enjoy it. Thanks!
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