Sven Sauer, The Rise of the Dragon illustrator, recalls designing Harrenhal

The first season of Game of Thrones prequel House of The Dragon has reached its conclusion. It had its ups and downs but overall it was a hell of a roller coaster ride. It had everything that the fans had expected, amazing casting, a thrilling performance by the cast, breathtaking scenery, and an intriguing storyline. Season 1 began with an extensive look at the interior of the massive hall of Harrenhal, which looked way better than it did in Game of Thrones.

Sven Sauer, artist for the Fire & Blood artbook, The Rise of the Dragon, was also a designer for the TV show, and recalled how he first went about designing the infamous castle. He told Los Siete Reinos, “Basically, we made five illustrations to describe the location. I had wanted to finish developing that castle for a long time. And then came the pandemic. And like many people, our jobs went down the drain as movie sets closed all over the world.”

“We dissected the texts of the books and gathered all the information we could about Harrenhal. Elio [Garcia] found old letters in which George wrote more details about the castle that had not appeared in the books.”

“In fact, there is no exhaustive description of the castle. It is always in fragments, which we put together like a puzzle piece by piece. In a very detailed work, the first sketch of the castle, to scale with all its towers and salts, was created. We worked for almost six months on that model.”

What do you think of the design of Harrenhal in Game of Thrones and House of The Dragon? Tell us in the comments below!

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