The only way the television adaptation could follow the pretend-history format would be to do some kind of documentary, which of course would not work in a Westerosi setting (not unless we want to jump very far forward into Westeros’ future!) so the TV writers needed to actually show intimate acts and secret meetings directly to the audience, and they did not need a narrator-character to walk in on anyone. Archmaester Gyldayn tells his readers that he has two sources written by eyewitnesses to the civil war called the Dance of the Dragons a relatively somber history from a cleric called Septon Eustace, who was a supporter of Aegon II, and the Testimony of Mushroom, an account told by Mushroom – a supporter of Rhaenyra – to an unnamed scribe years later which revels in salacious detail and always includes the most shocking, vulgar, or violent version of every story.ĭuring the part of the novel that was adapted into season 1 of House of the Dragon, Mushroom’s main role is as an historical source that disagrees with Septon Eustace and that occasionally provides intimate details, like claiming he found Rhaenyra and Harwin Strong in bed together one morning, for example. He is a court jester who served primarily with King Viserys I and Queen Rhaenyra, though he also spent some time with Rhaenyra’s rival King Aegon II. Mushroom is part of this narrative set-up. There have been a few fantasy novels written this way – Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, for example – in which the story is written as if it were a history of the fictitious events, complete with references to its source material. Its narrator is Archmaester Gyldayn, a scholar writing up a history of the Targaryen dynasty sometime shortly before the start of the action in A Game of Thrones. The book House of the Dragon is based on, Fire
0 Comments
Leave a Reply.AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |