The Game of Thrones universe is rapidly expanding, asHouse of the Dragonwrapped up Season 3 and, in the same week, the franchise’s first stage show opened in Stratford-upon-Avon. Performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Game of Thrones: The Mad King explores the era when Daenerys’ (Emilia Clarke) father, King Aerys II, ruled Westeros and features many crucial events such as the infamous Tourney at Harrenhal and the lead-up to Robert’s Rebellion. However, House of the Dragon and The Mad King have more in common than timing because one important element of the franchise appears in both stories: the prophecy known as the Song of Ice and Fire.
Game of Thrones fans remember the prophecy that echoed throughout the show. But House of the Dragon gave it even more weight, as an added storyline explains that it came from Aegon the Conqueror and foretells the Targaryens’ legacy. The recent Season 3 finale, in particular, explores Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) obsession with fulfilling the prophecy, as she declares herself the Prince That Was Promised. However, Rhaenyra is just one of the many Targaryens to wrestle with those words. The Mad King explores another as Rhaegar (played by Noah Ritter) hopes to fulfill the prophecy. This idea forges a deeper connection between the play and the wider franchise that will only continue to grow.
‘The Mad King’ Goes Deeper into ‘Game of Thrones’ Famous Prophecy
The prediction about the Long Night and the threat of the White Walkers may not come true until the events of Game of Thrones, but long before it is fulfilled, it shapes Westeros. George R.R. Martin‘s books heavily hint at Rhaegar’s interest in the prophecy, though he is dead before the story begins, and the play builds on that. In fact, based on audience reports, both Rhaegar and Aerys (Michael Shaeffer) focus on the words: Aerys, as part of his madness, and Rhaegar as a Targaryen dreamer who has visions of the prophecy himself. Though he fears it could be a sign of his family’s madness, he cannot ignore it. Rhaegar believes himself to be the prophesied figure, because family legend claims he was conceived under a red star, as the prophecy predicts. However, when Aerys reveals that to be propaganda, Rhaegar must find another answer.
Collider Exclusive · Game of Thrones Personality Quiz Which 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
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.
02
What is the source of your power? Every house endures because of something. What is it for yours?
03
Who do you truly fight for? Strip away the banners and the words. The honest answer tells you everything.
04
How do you deal with your enemies? A house’s method reveals its character as clearly as its words ever could.
05
What kind of ruler do you believe in? Westeros is full of answers to this question. Most of them end badly.
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.
07
Which of these truths about Westeros do you most believe? Every house has a philosophy. This is yours.
08
The Iron Throne is within reach. What do you do? The answer reveals not just your ambition — but your character.
The Maester Has Spoken Your 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.
The story also features Lyanna Stark (Harmony Rose-Bremner), who has her own opinions about the prophecy. Seemingly possessing Greenseer abilities, like her nephew, Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright), she also dreams of the prophecy and gives a different interpretation. Lyanna believes that the reference to the “Song of Ice and Fire” is not about dragons and White Walkers, but about the Targaryens and the Starks, who must join their lines. This thought process leads her and Rhaegar to have a child, Jon Snow (Kit Harington), whom they expect to fulfill the prophecy. However, he isn’t the only one the play positions to potentially take that role. Like Rhaegar and Lyanna, Aerys intends to father the Prince That Was Promised, so when a red star appears in the skies, both couples conceive a child, Jon and Daenerys, respectively. This storyline, which seems to be a central focus of the stage show, proves the prophecy’s significance throughout Westeros’ history.
‘The Mad King’ Proves This Prophecy Is the Most Consistent Part of the Franchise
As it proves central to yet another story, the prophecy is quickly becoming the through line of the entire franchise. From being fulfilled in Game of Thrones, to House of the Dragon explaining its origins, to The Mad King highlighting another attempt to interpret the words, this prophecy connects each story, and upcoming spin-offs can continue this tradition. So far, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has not referenced it, but later in Martin’s story, Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) becomes fascinated by magic and hopes to revive the dragons, which could lend itself to a tie-in of the prophecy. More directly, the upcoming film about Aegon’s Conquest can explore the prophecy’s origin, making it even more prevalent in the franchise.
The inclusion in The Mad King is fitting, but it seemingly shifts importance away from the events of House of the Dragon. While the prequel’s addition of the prophecy initially intensified the stakes of the war by risking the loss of the message, The Mad King suggests it will survive regardless, since Rhaegar has the same dream (as many other Targaryens might over the years). However, the play emphasizes the idea that the Targaryens have long worked to understand these words and ensure that the Prince That Was Promised is born, further justifying the House of the Dragon‘s change and tying the franchise together even more closely.
House of the Dragon is streaming on HBO Max in the U.S.
