It’s been just over two weeks since HBO Max’s long awaited prequel, House of the Dragon, first soared into streaming queues, laying the scaly smackdown on the service’s viewership records and snatching up a second season renewal shortly after.
Set 200 years before the events of Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon chronicles the twilight of the reign of House Targaryen over the Seven Kingdoms of Westoros. The time period covers the “Dance of the Dragons,” the civil war between two Targaryen heirs, Aegon II and Rhaenyra, that ultimately brought the kingdom’s status to its knees.
There could be an even juicier origin story at play here in House of the Dragon, namely for Daenerys Targaryen’s iconic smirk that first made its rounds on the internet not too long ago.
One user gleefully captured this comparison between the squinty smile of King Viserys I Targaryen from HOTD with Daenarys’ much-memed face from early in the final season of GOT. The character found herself in a tense conversation with Sansa Stark, having no way of knowing it would be the internet’s greatest obsession that month.
Plenty of responders were happy to point out the… questionable nuances behind the Targaryen family tree in light of such a comparison.
Meanwhile, another pointed out that the face was not limited to George R. R. Martin’s storied mythos. Could the Daenerys squint be the next Wilhelm scream?
House of the Dragon is available to stream on HBO Max, with new episodes releasing every Sunday until the first season’s conclusion on October 23.