4 Years Later, HBO’s 3-Part Fantasy Series Is Already Considered a Classic

Carolyn Jenkins is a voracious consumer of film and television. She graduated from Long Island University with an MFA in Screenwriting and Producing where she learned the art of character, plot, and structure. The best teacher is absorbing media and she spends her time reading about different worlds from teen angst to the universe of Stephen King. For two seasons, House of the Dragonhas struggled with the allegations that it is a slower and less interesting version of Game of Thrones. Even after the divisive finale of HBO’s flagship fantasy series, George R.R. Martin’s labor of love is beloved in prestige drama circles. After its conclusion, the prequel series about the Dance of the Dragons was intriguing but didn’t provide the same zest as its predecessor. Now into Season 3, House of the Dragon has achieved the potential it was always meant to. The series has rewarded audiences’ patience for its slow-burn pace. The political intrigue of the fantasy story has differentiated the show from Game of Thrones in the best way possible, elevating it to a modern classic. ‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3 Is the Highest Rated Yet House of the Dragon seasons 1 and 2 did the hard work of setting up the generational trauma of the characters, and now the show is yielding results. The early years of the fantasy were instrumental, setting up the lifelong friction between Princess Rhaenyra and her childhood best friend, Alicent Hightower. As they grew, so did their resentment, and Season 3 finally reached the boiling point. COLLIDER Collider · Quiz Collider Exclusive · Game of Thrones Personality QuizWhich Game of Thrones House Do You Belong To?Stark · Lannister · Targaryen · Baratheon · Tyrell Five great houses. Five completely different answers to the same question: how do you hold power in a world that will take it from you the moment you stop paying attention? Eight questions will determine where your loyalties — and your nature — truly lie. 🐺Stark 🦁Lannister 🐉Targaryen 🦌Baratheon 🌹Tyrell QUESTION 1 / 8HONOUR 01 Someone powerful is acting dishonourably and everyone knows it. What do you do?In Westeros, the answer to this question has ended more than one great house. QUESTION 2 / 8STRENGTH 02 What is the source of your power?Every house endures because of something. What is it for yours? QUESTION 3 / 8LOYALTY 03 Who do you truly fight for?Strip away the banners and the words. The honest answer tells you everything. QUESTION 4 / 8ENEMIES 04 How do you deal with your enemies?A house's method reveals its character as clearly as its words ever could. QUESTION 5 / 8RULE 05 What kind of ruler do you believe in?Westeros is full of answers to this question. Most of them end badly. QUESTION 6 / 8LOSS 06 You suffer a devastating loss. How does your house respond?How a house handles defeat tells you more about it than how it handles victory. QUESTION 7 / 8WORDS 07 Which of these truths about Westeros do you most believe?Every house has a philosophy. This is yours. QUESTION 8 / 8THE THRONE 08 The Iron Throne is within reach. What do you do?The answer reveals not just your ambition — but your character. The Maester Has SpokenYour House Is… Your answers point to the great house whose words, values, and way of surviving in Westeros match your own. Bend the knee — or don't. That's very much up to you. Winterfell · The North 🐺 House Stark Winter is Coming — and you have always known it. You prepare not out of fear but out of duty, because the people who depend on you deserve someone who takes the long view. You lead with honour even when it costs you, because you understand that a reputation built on integrity is the only one worth having. Your loyalty to family and people runs deep — not as sentiment but as a code that doesn't bend when things get difficult. The North endures because Starks endure — not by being the cleverest players in the game, but by being the kind of people others are willing to follow into the cold. You are that kind of person. The pack survives. The lone wolf dies. You already know which one you are. Casterly Rock · The Westerlands 🦁 House Lannister You understand the game — its rules, its exceptions, and exactly when the rules become the exception. You play it without illusions and without apology. You are sharper than most people realise, and you have learned to use that gap to your advantage. A Lannister always pays their debts — and you always keep your word, because your word is an instrument of power, and instruments must be kept in working order. You love your family with a ferocity that sometimes blinds you, and you know it, and you do it anyway. The lion doesn't concern itself with the opinion of sheep. Neither, in the end, do you. Dragonstone · The Iron Throne 🐉 House Targaryen You carry a sense of destiny that is difficult to explain and impossible to ignore — the feeling that you are not simply participating in the world but meant to reshape it. You are capable of extraordinary things, and you know it, and that knowledge is both your greatest strength and your most dangerous quality. Fire and blood are not just words to you — they are a philosophy about what change requires and what it costs. The Targaryens at their best were transformative rulers who broke chains and defied the limits of what anyone thought possible. At your best, so are you. The dragon has three heads. You are one of them. Storm's End · The Stormlands 🦌 House Baratheon You are a force — direct, powerful, and difficult to ignore when you enter a room or a conflict. You do not negotiate with challenges. You meet them. Ours is the fury — and yours is a kind of intensity that commands attention, respect, and occasionally fear from those who underestimate what's behind it. You value strength and straight dealing. You'd rather know where you stand in a fight than navigate a web of courtly whispers. The Baratheons built their house on the back of one of the greatest military victories in Westerosi history — and then struggled with what came after. The lesson of your house is that winning is not the end of the story. Governing is. You are learning that too. Highgarden · The Reach 🌹 House Tyrell You understand that power does not always announce itself — that sometimes it arrives with flowers, good wine, and a smile that doesn't quite reach the eyes. Growing strong is your house's motto, and you live it: patiently, strategically, always investing in the relationships and resources that will matter most when it counts. You are charming by choice and calculating by nature — a combination that makes you one of the most effective players in any room you enter. The Tyrells fed King's Landing and shaped its politics without ever sitting on the Iron Throne — and they were arguably more powerful for it. You know that the person who controls the food controls the kingdom. And you always know where the food is. After an adult Alicent (Olivia Cooke) orchestrates a coup to put her son, Aegon (Tom Glynn-Carney), on the throne instead of his older half-sister, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy), the tension rises. It is the Battle of the Gullet, however, that marks the best years of the show. House of the Dragon Season 3 marks a Rotten Tomatoes best for the series and has been a decided improvement from Season 2. The sophomore season of House of the Dragon was divisive, to say the least, particularly with fan-favorite character Daemon Targaryen’s (Matt Smith) plotline at Harrenhal. The Rogue Prince was wasted in the cursed castle as he grappled with his niece-wife’s claim to the throne and was plagued with nonsensical visions for a time. Daemon returns at the end of the season to pledge fealty to Rhaenyra, and the story finally reaches its full potential. Now with Daemon being Rhaenyra’s unrelenting supporter, the Dance of the Dragons has finally begun, promising more fire and blood than ever before. This is a comeback that fans have been waiting for and one that is as thought-provoking as it is exciting. ‘House of the Dragon’ Has Surpassed ‘Game of Thrones’ Game of Thrones was such a popular fantasy show in its day that it would be difficult for any fantasy series to surpass it. House of the Dragon was slow going in establishing itself, but it was time well spent. The Fire & Blood adaptation is at its best when it is nothing like its predecessor. Game of Thrones was high-octane from the first episode, but House of the Dragon succeeds in drawing out the drama. At its core, the prequel is an anti-war narrative that needs time to gestate. It can – and should – exist outside the realm of Game of Thrones. Its recent success proves that the Song of Ice and Fire adaptation doesn’t need carbon copies. Shows that exist in the extended universe should be different from one another. Streaming hit A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms demonstrates that as well. It takes archetypal characters, but instead of placing them in life-or-death situations, it succeeds with comedy and low-stakes drama. Additionally, House of the Dragon isn’t the long-form epic that Game of Thrones is. This is a brutal civil war where there is no obvious winner. Whether viewers root for the Blacks or the Greens, neither side comes out ahead. This is the war that drives dragons to extinction and decimates more than one House. Westeros may survive, but it is never the same. Thanks to Season 3, House of the Dragon has become must-see TV that has established itself as a classic.