House of The Dragon Season 1 finale will introduce us to a third Valyrian house hidden in plain sight

Game of Thrones prequel House of The Dragon took us back about 200 hundred years ago into the history of Westeros. A lot has changed in George R. R. Martin’s universe in those years, Kings have risen and fallen, dragons became extinct, and several famous Houses were wiped out entirely. While we do know of two prominent ancient Valyrian Houses that are the center of focus in House of The Dragon, the dragon lords Targaryens and the sea lords Velaryons, there is a third House that possesses the blood of Old Valyria and has been hidden from sight until now.

The final episode of House of The Dragon season 1 will introduce us to the Black Council, Rhaenyra’s circle of trusted individuals in the image of her father’s small council in King’s Landing. The Black Council comes into being after Rhaenyra is crowned the Queen with her father King Viserys’ crown, and all of them swear loyalty to her at Dragonstone.

One of these Lords who bent the knee in front of her was Lord Bartimos Celtigar of House Celtigar, an ancient Valyrian house that rules the Claw Isle, and is sworn to Dragonstone since the Aegon’s Conquest.

Lord Bartimos Celtigar of House Celtigar

Lord Bartimos Celtigar plays an important role in the Dance of the Dragons, functioning as the Master of Coins for Queen Rhaenyra till the end of his life, and Rhaenyra’s brief rule. Though unrelenting, incorruptible, ingenious, and very wealthy, Lord Celtigar’s disregard for the life of the common folk costs him dearly, which also comes into play in Rhaenyra’s downfall.

The Celtigars are to the Velaryons what the Velaryons are to the Targaryens. However, if House Celtigar is so important, why has it not received any attention in the series yet? No cast member has been assigned with the Celtigars yet in the credits or anywhere on the internet.

So far, all we have is this one leaked image pictured below from the time of the show’s filming about a year ago, which appears to be a soldier carrying a Celtigar shield and getting ready to fight alongside the Targaryens and the Velaryons in the battle of Stepstones.

House Celtigar – A running joke

The reason, as revealed by showrunner Ryan Condal a few weeks ago, is quite silly actually, and we can’t help but feel sorry for all the House Celtigar fans out there. In an interview with Westeros.org, Condal was asked the same question, as to why House Celtigar has not appeared in the show yet, despite appearing in a leak. Condal smiled and acknowledged that he was aware of the fact, and it was done on purpose.

He revealed that Corlys Velaryon’s speech that mentioned Targaryens and Velaryons being the last two Valyrian houses was done on purpose, an act of Corlys blowing his own horn and completely ignoring House Celtigar as an ancient Valyrian House.

Condal says, “Yeah, he’s totally slighting a minor house. We actually had a running joke in the writer’s room about House Celtigar. And I will tell you as a tease for the future, we do have a character from House Celtigar, they’ll have representation in the coming episodes of the show, so stay tuned fans of House Celtigar.”

Yep, House Celtigar was totally sidelined from the show because of a silly joke. Maybe it was meant to be a surprise reveal for book lovers, who, with their keen eyes, spot every little detail on screen?

Condal further added, “We always joked that there was always a lord from House Celtigar in the background going, “But, we’re Valyri—!”. But yeah, it’s Corlys doing his pride and power thing. And he’s essentially saying, Well, we’re the great houses even though you have dragons, and we don’t but obviously I built this amazing navy, and we’re the great houses.”

“As you know, there’s an ease of shorthand there just in terms of those being the two central houses that are a focus of the story. But yes, we’re very aware of the Celtigars!”

Do you think the showrunners did the right thing by making a joke out of an ancient Valyrian House, especially when they aided Corlys and Daemon during the War of the Stepstones? Let us know on our discord server.

Read next: House of The Dragon director says Season 1 finale is one of his career’s biggest achievements

 

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