Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 5, the book ‘Fire & Blood,’ and the larger lore of A Song of Ice and Fire.As the franchise continues to explore Westeros’ history, there is one major problem: fans know what to expect. The issue doesn’t stem from Game of Thrones‘ reputation or even George R.R. Martin‘s books, but from the content of the other shows. While some spoilers are unavoidable, as fans can anticipate which families remain prominent long after House of the Dragon‘s civil war, others take it a step too far as characters directly discuss the historic figures of Westeros who have major roles in other franchise projects, making it impossible for fans to avoid spoilers.
Initially, the issue came about by accident when, long before anyone expected a prequel series, Game of Thrones mentions the events of House of the Dragontwice, one with Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) specifically spoiling the story’s ending. Though unfortunate, this was an odd coincidence. However, more recently,House of the Dragon continued this tradition by giving away a pivotal part of Aegon’s Conquest despite the upcoming prequel film about the event. While the detailed world-building is an integral part of the franchise, the problem will only grow with more prequels on the way, making it more difficult for fans to be surprised by the new releases.
‘House of the Dragon’ Brings Up Dorne’s Complicated History
House of the Dragon has made no secret of its connections to Game of Thrones, but the series also references an upcoming franchise project. Recently, Warner Bros. announced that the franchise would release a film, choosing the story of Aegon’s Conquest. Of course, much of this story will not be a surprise because Aegon I is such an important figure in Westeros. Going in, fans can expect him to unite Westeros and establish the Targaryen dynasty that leads to every story they’ve seen so far. But there is more to it than that, and House of the Dragon just spoiled one of the most interesting plot points.
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.
In Season 3, Episode 5, “Unbowed and Unbent,”House of the Dragon shows Ormund Hightower (James Norton) lecturing Daeron (Benjamin Evan Ainsworth) on history, focusing on a particularly important moment in Aegon’s Conquest as he tells of Dorne. The scene reveals that Dorne was the only kingdom to resist Aegon the Conqueror, as Ormund describes Meria Martell and her methods of protecting her people. Known as the Yellow Toad of Dorne, Meria was an old woman when Aegon I set his eyes on Dorne. She poisoned the wells, hid her soldiers, and defeated her enemies in a surprise attack. With these tactics, Dorne remained unconquered and continued to fight the Targaryens for generations. This one event sparked several Dornish Wars, and even led to the death of a dragon. Though Dorne eventually joined the realm, it was through a marriage alliance a few generations after House of the Dragon.
‘House of the Dragon’s Spoiler Is Part of a Larger Problem
It’s a shame that House of the Dragon reveals this aspect of history because it deserves to be a major part of Aegon I’s prequel film. Not only is it the only defeat he suffers, but fans know Dorne to be part of the Seven Kingdoms, which could have allowed this loss to be a shock when the film comes out. However, House of the Dragon is just the most recent example of this. Game of Thrones not only gave away plot points of House of the Dragon, but also contains hints about A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms characters. In the same scene where he reveals Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) fate, Joffrey explains Aerion’s (Finn Bennett) future as well. Additionally, Maester Aemon (Peter Vaughan) tells Jon (Kit Harington) of his family, revealing that both Maekar (Sam Spruell) and Egg (Dexter Sol Ansell) will eventually become kings despite the many people ahead of them in the succession. These spoilers may not be quite as dramatic, but they do take away some of the surprises.
The spoilers that fans cannot seem to avoid are an issue with how the franchise is expanding. Constantly moving back in time and focusing solely on the Targaryens makes it difficult to avoid situations like this. However, it places a burden on fans, as avoiding spoilers becomes increasingly convoluted and complicates the choice of where to begin, which makes it more difficult for new fans to become invested. The Game of Thrones franchise is creating problems for itself by citing the detailed history of the fantasy world before adapting a series based on that event, ruining the surprises for fans who don’t know Westeros’ detailed history.
House of the Dragon is streaming on HBO Max with new episodes on Sundays.
