With dragons burning people alive and Daemon finally getting what was coming to him, many House of the Dragon fans might have missed one of the best cameos in Season 2.
House of the Dragon isn’t known for being a cameo-heavy show, but with the likes of Milly Alcock and Paddy Considine both turning up across the second season, the doors have been opened for some sneaky appearances. In Episode 7, you can even see the face of George R.R. Martin himself.
During the scene in which Oscar Tully artfully knocks Daemon off his pedestal by insulting him in front of the Riverlords, Harrenhal’s Weirwood tree can be seen in the background.
There’s a face carved into the wood – and it’s none other than Martin’s.
THEY USED GRRM’S FACE FOR THE HARRENHAL WEIRWOOD TREE pic.twitter.com/VKTtYLNRmA
— gigi (@bitchysansa) July 29, 2024
It’s not an identical representation, but with those features, it’s clearly meant to pay tribute to the author behind the book House of the Dragon is based on.
In the behind-the-scenes featurette for the episode, production designer Jim Clay explained, “Ryan [Condal] wanted to do it as a bit of a tribute. The idea was that it gradually started to disappear back into the bark of the tree.”
Later in the video, Martin sees the tree and tells the team, “That’s really cool guys. Thank you.”
In the original unaired Game of Thrones pilot episode, Martin was supposed to play a Pentoshi nobleman. However, when the pilot underwent extensive reshoots, this appearance was scrapped.
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As such, the tree is the closest thing House of the Dragon viewers will get to seeing the author in-universe… for now.
But fans aren’t necessarily celebrating this piece of trivia. Instead, they’re using it as an opportunity to return to a joke as old as the Weirwood tree itself.
“He needs to get out of that tree and finish Winds of Winter,” one X user wrote.
Another added: “This is why he hasn’t finished Winds of Winter. He’s trapped.”
“GRRM will literally become a tree before finishing Winds of Winter,” a third wrote. Another went so far as to say: “We need to get this tree butchered down to form the paper pages of Winds of Winter ASAP.”
For more, check out our guide to all the House of the Dragon dragons. You can also learn more about Seasmoke, Vhagar, and Tessarion. Don’t miss all the other new TV shows to watch this month, too!
