GoT Season 1 VS HOTD Season 1

HotD doesn't have to start as amazing as GoT... It just needs to end better.

I doubt HoTD can ever be as great as the early seasons of GoT, but after this brilliant beginning I'd say they can come pretty close.

In favor of HotD, S1 had the heavy lift of bringing the franchise back from the dead and restore the fandom.

Personally I prefer GOT season 1's cinematography. The warm, Mediterranean colours are quite inviting and really make you feel like you're in a coastal city. To be honest, real life just doesn't look like how HOTD looks.

Got season 1 can never be fairly compared. It was brimming with compelling world building, characters, and plot. And it truly shocked and surprised us as we learned about what this world was. It really challenged what we were used to seeing on TV and it asked the audience to broaden their expectations. I love hotd though. It is a great show about a political fantasy and a family drama in a world we understand and feel comfortable being in.

I think Alicent Hightower’s character arc is one of the best between both shows. The switch between Emily Carey and Olivia Cooke felt very fluid and Alicent’s character evolves so much over the season. She goes from the timid, anxiety-ridden girl who is “content to being the spectator” to the Queen and finding her footing there to finding her own wearing the green dress at Rhaenyra and Laenor’s wedding. Becoming a player of the game in her father’s absence and the overflow of jealousy and being gaslighted and betrayal at Driftmark and turning to religion to cope with what has happened. Not to mention that the juxtaposition between Alicent and Rhaenyra as mothers is phenomenal. Her arc is just fascinating and even the switch between actors felt so clean.

LOVE HoTD but GoT is god-level TV. Pretty much near perfection.

In terms of pure single characters, Viserys is the best single-season character in both HOTD & GOT. We love Ned and Robert, but they did not have the pure development Viserys had. Certain characters overtook Viserys overall with time, such as Jaime by season 3 & 4, but for a single season Viserys is a masterpiece of character building.

I prefer GOT season 1 by a mile. Not only did i find the plot more compelling, the show also had the incredibly hard job of introducing the world (which i think it did masterfully), whereas Hotd didnt need to introduce the world. Feels like got season 1 was bigger accomplishment in that department

I think It's unfair to compare a show that comes from an amazingly-written novel with excellent existing dialogues and a structure that is already ideal to fit into a series because of the POV chapters with a show that comes from a fictional history book with a lot of different sources, much fewer dialogues and a structure that is quite hard to bring into television. In ASOIAF Martin has already done all the hard work, in HoTD the writers need balls. D&D could never adapt succesfuly Fire and Blood, it needs to actualy read a lot the source and have a full vision.

I think doing the scoring system with checkmarks (winner/loser) was a mistake cus it does HotD such a disservice. If you gave them each a score out of 10 (or 100), then we could visually see that yes, GoT was better, but it was really close. Otherwise I think you brought up some great points that I agree with for the most part (Although, I think Aegon, Aemond, and Corlys were more compelling than some of GoT's secondary characters like Theon, Jorah, or Sam, for example)

I think got season one has great lines because of the source material. Hotd didn’t have much dialogue from the source material to use and that makes their brilliant dialogue more impressive

For me seeing Viserys and his arc was definitely the highlight of HotD

GoT S1-4 is a friggen masterpiece, so HotD coming even close in these categories is a great accomplishment. It's almost as if the HotD team created a redemption arc in response to what Derp&Derpier did to the GoT denouement.

so hyped for season 2

The only moment where HOTD came close to Got, was after the death of Vyseris, when Otto tries to steal the Throne. Still i didn't like how Ser Criston just killed the old man at the council with no consequences. I think GoT>>>

The only time we ever get about all the houses of HOTD is the part where Rhaenyra was introduced as the heir of the throne and every lord of all seven kingdoms swore their allegiance to her.

I wish Game of Thrones season 1 had the costumes and armour quality of House of the Dragon

Comparing HOTD season 1 to the legendary status of the first four seasons of Game of Thrones. There is no competition. The first four seasons would win. That said...... I think this first season of HOTD season 1 is the closest we've gotten to a good season in Westeros since those first four seasons of the Main Show. Now that it's got all the set up done. I think going forward the show has potential. That is if they can maintain the quality or grow from it. 🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻🤞🏻

I've already rewatched HOTD 5 times in the past year and i can never get enough of it. The writing of the characters, given the frequent time jumps in the first season alone is mind blowing. i just LOVE how engaging each episode is and has its own conflict unlike GOT that mostly focussed on the larger plot of the season or show. Every single episode of HOTD feels like a movie of its own written with such adherence to the story and character development. the conflicts and relationship dynamics between the characters is the best part.