For Fantasy fans, the last few years have been a real tour de force. Prequel series to the two biggest fantasy properties of all time, The Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones, hit the small screen in 2022, with their second seasons arriving this year. These series, for the uninitiated, are The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and House of the Dragon.
Both series have the unenviable task of standing alongside some of the most popular works in their genre, and both are adaptations of relatively little-known sections of their respective stories. That hasn’t stopped both raking in serious viewers, however, and filling the gaping void Thrones left when it wrapped up in 2019. But of these two Fantasy titans, which is the better watch? Read on to find out.
6Characters – House Of The Dragon
A Classic Tortoise And Hare Situation
What a start they made, though. While it’s not quite at the level of the classic Game of Thrones cast, the likes of Rhaenyra, Daemon, and Viserys were all absolute icons in the show’s first season, delivering standout moments in abundance. The supporting cast is great, too, with Otto Hightower making a more than acceptable Tywin substitute, and Allicent really going through the wringer with her early arcs.
Rings of Power, on the other hand, is largely populated by forgettable faces. Morfydd Clark adds some welcome depth to an early Galadriel and makes a solid lead, but the rest of the cast fails to make much of an impression. Many, like Robert Aramayo’s Elrond, have potential, but they are limited by the scenarios they have to work with. A point we’ll get into more in just a second.
5Pacing – House Of The Dragon
Time Is A Powerful Ally
Pacing is difficult to pin down and quantify sometimes, but it’s absolutely vital to the success of any given show. Go too fast, and you end up with the last two seasons of Game of Thrones; too slow, and you end up with the first season of Rings of Power. Spoilers, I suppose. Tolkien’s work has always had a slow, sprawling quality to it that fans adore. Just look at the eye-watering runtimes on those Extended Editions if you need proof. But Rings of Power pushes things a bit too far with its glacial pace.
There are very few major incidents in the first season of the show, and those that do exist are found at the end of long and labored roads full of clunky exposition and awkward character development. This is a problem in the Galadriel-focused A-plot, but you feel it even more in the side stories. Every Halfling scene feels like an endurance test, with no clear reward in sight for putting up with it all.
House of the Dragon, on the other hand, absolutely rockets through plot points. Nearly every episode features a time jump of some description, the biggest being a massive ten years between the two halves of the first season. This allows for rapid character growth and fresh perspectives every episode. House of the Dragon also just has a lot more going on, with the same addictive scheming and intense fight scenes from Game of Thrones making welcome comebacks. It’s another point to House on this one.
4Writing – Draw
Both Shows Shoulder Strong Legacies
At the heart of our comparison lies perhaps the most important category of all: writing. You can discuss slick visuals and well-charted plot points all you want: if the writing doesn’t sell all of that, then your show will never be a classic, plain and simple. Both Rings of Power and House of the Dragon are descendants of Fantasy writing royalty, with countless lines from both properties continuing to echo through the popular consciousness to this day.
How do they compare to their venerable ancestors? Well, it’s mixed results. Both shows try to emulate the high, almost flowery dialogue style of their predecessors, and for the most part, they succeed. You can detect more of a modern touch, of course, but in their defense, both shows have a lot less direct-from-source written dialogue to work with this time around. The important thing is that both definitely feel like grand fantasy epics, which is a tricky thing to nail.
On the other hand, neither show has really produced a line or scene that has captured the public imagination. After watching both, I’d personally struggle to cite my favorite line from each, and I’m sure the same is true for many viewers. You hear the phrase ‘cultural impact’ bandied about a lot nowadays, but it’s an area where both of these shows are lacking, especially when compared to their predecessors. Overall, the writing in both shows is solid but unspectacular.
3Faithfulness – House Of The Dragon
Stick To The Source, Boys
If there’s one group of people that cares about an adaptation staying true to the source material, it’s Fantasy fans. There are still people who, to this day, complain about the lack of Lady Stoneheart in Game of Thrones or Tom Bombadil in Lord of the Rings. What’s interesting about Rings of Power and House of the Dragon is that they both draw from sources that are very different from those of their mega-popular predecessors.
Rings of Power pulls very loosely from The Silmarillion but also, for legal reasons, from the extensive appendices to the Lord of the Rings books. House of the Dragon has a more solid foundation in Fire and Blood, George R.R. Martin’s condensed history of the Targaryen dynasty. Neither of these sources are fantasy works in the traditional sense. Both are fairly high-level in scope, skimming over broad swathes of history without delving too deep into specific characters the way Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings did. As a result, both shows have had to take a lot of creative liberties.
Which one takes them better? I’d have to say House of the Dragon. While some of the changes made have proven controversial among mega-fans, and even with George R.R. Martin himself, it benefits a lot from being able to take full advantage of its source material. Rings of Power, on the other hand, has to awkwardly dance around a lot of plot elements, resulting in a strangely constricted timeline and, as mentioned above, weird pacing.
2Visuals – Rings Of Power
Middle-earth Still Stuns, 20 Years On
While they certainly aren’t the be-all-and-end-all, visuals can make a huge difference to the way a show is perceived and received. In this category, both House of the Dragon and Rings of Power manage to impress. They both take established worlds and show them to us in a new light. Rings of Power manages to do so on a scale that is frankly breathtaking, however.
While the physical sets of the original film trilogy are certainly missed, the new version cooked up here is a real feast for the eyes. That $465,000,000 budget really shows in the meticulously crafted version of Middle-earth we see here, with the elvish city of Lindon and the soon-to-be-lost civilization of Numenor proving highlights. There are times when it looks a bit too polished for its own good, making you long for the rugged practical effects of the films, but it’s still undeniably visually stunning.
House of the Dragon is no slouch either, but it does have a lot less to work with in terms of new and fantastical settings. Westeros at the time of the Targaryens is largely the same as it is later on in Game of Thrones, with the notable exception of a lot more living dragons. These are impressive, certainly, but for the most part, House of the Dragon is content to look functional, not flashy. The point goes to Rings of Power for this one.
1Verdict – House Of The Dragon
Rhaenyra Claims The Iron Throne!
With all the points tallied up, the results are clear: House of the Dragon cinches it with a 3-1 lead. As a show, it simply has more direction and momentum than Rings of Power, which has so far struggled to carve out an identity in the shadow of its legendary predecessor. The characters and storyline are more compelling in House, and there’s a better sense of what it’s all building up to. That said, the real winner in this face-off is Fantasy fans, who get two big-budget shows to enjoy for the foreseeable.
