The highly anticipated premiere of Season 3 of The House of the Dragon is set to hit our screens on June 21. Unlike the previous season, it appears the latest instalment of the prequel series promises to be bolder and bloodier in the fashion of its predecessor, Game of Thrones.
The great Targaryen civil war, also known as the “Dance of the Dragons”, pitted Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and her supporters against her half-brother, Aegon II Targaryen, who House Hightower largely backed through his mother, Alicent.
HOTD showrunners have confirmed months before that Season 3 will open with a big battle scene that fans quickly deduced to be none other than the Battle of the Gullet.
As fans speculate which characters and dragons will perish in the upcoming naval clash, let us look back on some of the unforgettably macabre moments of Game of Thrones that HOTD showrunners might be gunning to at least match, if not surpass, in spectacle.
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3. Massacre at Hardhome
Perhaps the most pivotal decision of Jon Snow during his tenure as the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, the supposed rescue of the wildlings hiding at the spooky area north of the Wall known as Hardhome, ended in death and tragedy.
Snow, who was extremely concerned about the Night King adding fresh meat to its growing undead army, joined forces with Tormund Giantsbane and other wildling chieftains to try to persuade the wildlings at Hardhome to hide behind the safety of the Wall.
However, their efforts proved futile as the Night King and his horde of zombies had already reached Hardhome. What ensued was not a battle but a massacre of unarmed wildlings.
Thousands of frail old men, women, and children met their demise at Hardhome. But they did not stay dead as they eventually became zombies themselves.
Despite the sad ending of the episode, at least Jon Snow was able to display his above-average sword skills by killing a White Walker.
2. The burning of King’s Landing
This direction elicited both admiration and disgust from avid GOT fans as Daenerys Targaryen’s beloved character went full circle. The young, meek Targaryen princess, who was supposed to save Westeros from the clutches of tyrants, went scorched earth against the inhabitants of King’s Landing.
The deaths of dragons Viserion, Rhaegal, and her handmaiden, Missandei, including the secret parentage of Jon Snow, caused something to snap in Daenerys.
Atop her biggest dragon, Drogon, Daenerys unleashed dragonfire as the citizens hopelessly tried to evade the torching heat in the alleyways of the capital.
Lannister soldiers, old men, women, and children perished in Drogon’s fire. The sky was filled with ash as the soil blackened due to extreme heat.
After King’s Landing, Daenerys turned her gaze to the Red Keep, which she incinerated with dragonfire, leading to the deaths of Cersei and Jaime Lannister.
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1. Red Wedding
Daenerys’s Sack of King’s Landing may be shocking for fans, but the infamous Red Wedding was on another level when it happened on screen.
For fans who already read the books, the massacre of the Starks and their allies at the Twins was already expected.
But still, the interpretation of GOT showrunners Daniel Benioff and Dan Weiss of the Red Wedding was so brutal and visceral that they left fans stunned and awed by the sequence of events.
No one would ever forget how Talisa Maegyr, Robb Stark’s queen and wife, clutched her body as blood spurted from her pregnant belly.
In the scene, Robb Stark tried to act, but the Freys peppered him with arrows, with Roose Bolton plunging a dagger into the young king to finish the betrayal.
Catelyn Stark’s death was haunting, not only because of how she died with a slit throat, but also because she took an innocent life with her as a final act of vengeance, albeit how fruitless that would be.
Finally, the butchery of the Greywind and how the Freys sew the direwolf’s head to Robb Stark’s lifeless body will forever be an iconic but visceral imagery for all GOT fans.
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Eleni Poulios 
Rosemarie Zamora 
Hazel Camba