As Daemon Targaryen sums up in the original teaser for House of the Dragons, “Dreams didn’t make us Kings, dragons did”. In the first official trailer, Corlys Velarion suggests an addition: “History does not remember blood. It remembers names,” we hear him say. Both true.

And therein lies the drama that lays the groundwork for the game of thrones: alliances, betrayals, plans and ambitions, more than just “rights”. But the fact that in the period in which the plot takes place about 200 years before Game of Thrones, in a turbulent period that sparked the bloodiest civil war in Westeros (until GOT), means that it was still the time when the Targaryens ruled the land, skies, and seas with their dragons. In the books, there were about 20 alive during this period, but the series will show 17, according to the author himself, George R. R. Martin.

But don’t get attached to them. For those who haven’t read the books, here comes the SPOILER. House of the Dragons will recount the final years of the reign of Viserys I, whose decision to name his daughter Rhaenyra Targaryen as heir ends up causing political and family conflicts. I recounted it in greater detail when I revisited the trajectory of Alicent Hightower, the king’s wife, and Rhaenyra’s opponent because the princess had priority for the Iron Throne before her own children with the King. All drama will lead to the worst confrontation seen, with Targaryens killing Targaryens, and yes almost meaning the extinction of the dragons, in a short period of 2 years.

The largest of all dragons, Balerion, whose skeleton we saw in Game of Thrones being contemplated by Cersei Lannister, should not appear in the story as he would have – at least in the book – died when Viserys I was still a child. Unless they change the timeline or bet on flashbacks. But Cersei’s image is absolutely a spoiler reference to Rhaenyra’s fate.

Of the 17 dragons, we know that three will be confirmed: Caraxes, which was Daemon Targaryen’s dragon, Meleys is from Rhaenys Targaryen, and Syrax, who has already appeared in the trailer and was Rhaenyra Targaryen’s dragon. Also alive – and killed by the revolted population that invaded Dragonpit – Dreamfyre, Morghul, Shrykos, and Tyraxes. We’ll talk about them and the other 10 soon, of course!