House of the Dragon stunt coordinator teases Battle of Gullet

The lavish, extravagantly realistic war sequences in Game of Thrones were just one of the many factors that contributed to the show’s tremendous success. Its prequel, House of The Dragon, follows in its footsteps, and has so far produced some of the best battle scenes on TV in the year 2022. However, there’s a lot more to come, and the show’s stunt coordinator points to the sea for an upcoming epic war scene.

Battle of Gullet is on the way

The Hollywood Reporter recently interviewed House of The Dragon’s stunt coordinator and Four-time Emmy winner Rowley Irlam about the challenges he faced while choreographing the hyper-realistic battles, and upcoming scenes in Season 2. He said, “It’s not a secret that in this story there’s a battle at sea. I think that’s where we’re headed. The desire is to expand our repertoire to a large sea battle.”

What happened in the Battle of Gullet?

Otto Hightower, before being replaced as the Hand of King Aegon II, convinces the Triarchy to attack Gullet to access the Blackwater Bay, which was under Velaryon’s protection since the beginning of the civil war. Unaware of their advances, Jacaerys had sent his half-siblings, Aegon and Viserys, to the Prince of Pentos to be kept safe until the civil war is over. However, their tiny fleet of 7 ships is captured and marooned by the 90 warships of Triarchy. Viserys becomes their hostage, while Aegon manages to escape on his dragon Stormcloud, delivering the message to Dragonstone.

Who really won the Battle of Gullet?

Jacaerys and the Velaryon fleet, joined by the dragonseeds Ulf the White, Nettles, Addam Velaryon, and Hugh Hammer retaliated and were successful in wiping out much of the Triarchy fleet. Though the Triarchy could not break the Velaryon stronghold at the Gullet, they managed to kill Jacaerys, when he was forced to jump into the sea after his dragon, Vermax, dove headfirst into the water, possibly due to an injury.

Both sides suffered heavy losses; the Triarchy returned with only 28 of their 90 ships, and the Velaryons lost a third of their fleet. The Battle of Gullet remains the bloodiest sea battle in Westerosi history, with no clear victors.

Read Next: House of The Dragon to film at location where iconic Game of Thrones battle was filmed