Ramin Djawadi: House Of The Dragon (2022)

[Knight of Ren 938]

And here's the third part of my breakdown of the themes of the show, this time focusing on all the different themes and motifs for the character in the black side of the story, Viserys, Daemon and the members of House Velaryon.

 

Djawadi created many different ideas for all this characters, some more prominent than others, and I'm sure he will get to develop many of them as the seasons go on. I tried my best to comment them all, their meaning, and their development in each episode, so I hope you enjoy it, and feel free to share your thoughts!

 

 

Next in line is the last part of my analysis, covering the themes for the greens, as well as some secondary ideas worth mentioning. Enjoy!

[Knight of Ren 938]

And finally, my fourth and last part of my analysis is here. I hope you all enjoyed my breakdowns as much as I enjoyed doing them! This time we cover the Hightower themes, plus some secondary ideas like the Dance of Dragons theme, the Betrayal theme or the Funeral theme.

 

Hope you enjoy, and feel free to share your thoughs!

 

 

[Knight of Ren 938]

It's time to choose a side! Before the season premiere, I created this two suites representing each of the sides of the conflict, one for the Blacks containing mostly Rhaenyra's themes, and one for the Greens made out of the Alicent and House Hightower theme. Also planning on upload tomorrow a small video analysis of all the main themes from the first season, as a preparation for the new one coming up in just a couple of days!

 

Which one's your favorite?

[Mr. Who 957]

 

1 hour ago, Knight of Ren said:

It's time to choose a side! Before the season premiere, I created this two suites representing each of the sides of the conflict, one for the Blacks containing mostly Rhaenyra's themes, and one for the Greens made out of the Alicent and House Hightower theme. Also planning on upload tomorrow a small video analysis of all the main themes from the first season, as a preparation for the new one coming up in just a couple of days!

 

Which one's your favorite?

Great idea! No way to choose between the sides musically haha, love both! Can't wait to hear how the themes are used in Season 2!

[tomsmoviemadness 3,417]

Also wondering what new themes will pop up. For what storypoints or characters.

[bruce marshall 1,344]

CD?

[Knight of Ren 938]

51 minutes ago, JNHFan2000 said:

Also wondering what new themes will pop up. For what storypoints or characters.

No idea about new themes, as I don't know much about the story and the new characters, but I hope we get to hear again some themes from GoT, like the House Stark theme, which I think is a given because of the appearance of Creagan Stark!

 

Also, great to hear it's been officially renewed!

[#SnowyVernalSpringsEternal 10,361]

20 minutes ago, Knight of Ren said:

No idea about new themes, as I don't know much about the story and the new characters, but I hope we get to hear again some themes from GoT, like the House Stark theme, which I think is a given because of the appearance of Creagan Stark!

 

Also, great to hear it's been officially renewed!

Knights Of Ren? Who the fuck are you?

[Jay 38,745]

36 minutes ago, bruce marshall said:

CD?

 

https://www.diggersfactory.com/vinyl/313974/ramin-djawadi-house-of-the-dragon-season-1-soundtrack-from-the-hbo-series-cd

[bruce marshall 1,344]

I have s.1

Any word on 2?

[tomsmoviemadness 3,417]

Well, expect a score release on digital the moment the finale airs, so in 9 weeks time.

[Jay 38,745]

1 hour ago, bruce marshall said:

I have s.1

Any word on 2?

 

What do you mean?  Season 2 hasn't even started airing yet.  It begins this Sunday then goes on for the next 8 weeks.  The soundtracks come out when the season is over, not before it starts.

[Mr. Who 957]

3 hours ago, Knight of Ren said:

No idea about new themes, as I don't know much about the story and the new characters, but I hope we get to hear again some themes from GoT, like the House Stark theme, which I think is a given because of the appearance of Creagan Stark!

 

Also, great to hear it's been officially renewed!

I really hope that the album for season 2 will be released in two volumes so that we get more music released. The first HOTD season's OST and GOTs8's OST were big improvements over the short releases that GOTs1-7 had but they still are missing a lot of music, including themes that are barely represented on the OST at all. In the case of HOTDs1, Daemon's theme comes to mind as the most glaring omission, as well as the aemma & viserys theme. In general a lot of beautiful thematic quieter cues are missing including some big set piece cues as well.

 

For S2 I really hope that the Dance of Dragons theme is used and developed further in season 2. It can be heard at the end of The Heirs of the Dragon and in Aemond Flies Vhagar and I have a feeling that it will be tied to action and dragon related cues.

 

House Stark's theme will probably appear and I also think House Baratheon's theme could appear (even though we did not hear it in S1E10, where a portion of the episode took place at Storm's End).

 

I'm also curious about how the House Hightower will be used. It was primarily used for Alicent in S1 though also sometimes for the Greens overall and at the end of S1E9 it is used when Aegon walks through the swords towards the stage where he is crowned king (to great effect).

 

I read somewhere that the show would have 4 seasons, given that S2 only has 8 episodes. 

[tomsmoviemadness 3,417]

Wouldn't hold my breath for 2 volumes. Only time HBO has done anything like that was with the episodic albums for S1 of Perry Mason and Djawadi has never done something like this with his releases.

 

I would bet on a near 90 to 2 hour release. If it's more, then great!

[Knight of Ren 938]

Yeah, 2 volumes would be awesome, but it will probably be a release similar to what we got for S1, which was two hours long, but even then we had some pretty great cues missing! Even so, the bigger the release, for me it will always be better!

[Jay 38,745]

I'm glad you guys can enjoy these scores so much, and can recognize these recurring melodies and appreciate their variations.

 

I watched all 8 seasons of GOT and loved it until B&W ruined it, but I really never noticed the score apart from the Rains of Castermere theme for the Lannisters and the few times they worked the main title theme into the underscore.  And I loved HOTD season 1 more than most seasons of anything I've ever seen but couldnt' describe one aspect of the score to you or which characters or families have themes and such.  But I'm happy there is a composer working on it that is doing these things and fans like you can appreciate it.  Hopefully some day I will too.

[Richard Penna 3,999]

I've never got to the bottom of all the themes as I've never seen either show, but the tone, orchestration and general sound Djawadi has done throughout just hit it on the head for me. It feels like a cross between a sort of medieval score and Tudor-like in its qualities, and he's done a magnificent job of curating albums for listeners like me who listen to them as entirely concept albums. I can't wait for this next release.

[Jay 38,745]

The show (HOTD in particular) is great. Really great

[Knight of Ren 938]

Well, I really like when a movie or show allows a composer to build such a rich thematic tapestry, and I think Djawadi's work is such a great example of this, and I love listening to it and finding all these little thematic connections. If anyone's interested in a bit of an in-depth analysis, here's my video analysis of the main musical themes that appear in the first season!

 

It's in spanish (my native language) but you can activate subtitles in english in case you need them. I don't know if anyone's really interested in this, but I just love doing this kind of things and being able to share them with people who might enjoy them as much!

[Mr. Who 957]

23 hours ago, Knight of Ren said:

Well, I really like when a movie or show allows a composer to build such a rich thematic tapestry, and I think Djawadi's work is such a great example of this, and I love listening to it and finding all these little thematic connections. If anyone's interested in a bit of an in-depth analysis, here's my video analysis of the main musical themes that appear in the first season!

 

It's in spanish (my native language) but you can activate subtitles in english in case ypu need them. I don't know if anyone's really interested in this, but I just love doing this kind of things and being able to share tjem with people who might enjoy them as much!

Great job on this analysis video! I don’t speak Spanish but with the subtitles it’s easy to understand!

[Jay 38,745]

I rewatched episode 9 this morning. There was this 8-note theme that ran through the whole episode. Is that the theme for the Greens?

[tomsmoviemadness 3,417]

If you mean the theme mostly heard on piano... yes.

 

 

 

[Mr. Who 957]

 

6 hours ago, Jay said:

I rewatched episode 9 this morning. There was this 8-note theme that ran through the whole episode. Is that the theme for the Greens?

The House Hightower theme can be heard at 1:24 in this cue.

 

It is also featured heavily in the Fate of the Kingdoms cue that was posted but in that one it’s often played together with the Green Alliance motif.

[Knight of Ren 938]

Yeah, the Greens have those two themes associated with them so far, and if you listen to The Green Dress, Fate of the Kingdoms and Interests of the Realm, they present both the Hightower theme and the Green Alliance motif (that repeating 8-note motif) in full. The Hightower theme also appears in the beginning of Compromise and Consequence.

[Jay 38,745]

OK yes it is the theme at 1:24 in the track @JNHFan2000 posted that I noticed throughout the entire episode.

[Jay 38,745]

I rewatched  episode 10 this morning.  If there was any recurring melody I was supposed to pick up on used in the episode, I didn't notice it

[tomsmoviemadness 3,417]

The biggest theme from Ep. 10 is Rhaenyra's theme during the coronation scene.

 

 

 

And the Dance Of Dragons theme is hinted at furing the final scenes in the storm.

 

[tomsmoviemadness 3,417]

Here’s the album track list of Season 2

 

1. Main Title (from “Game of Thrones”) (1:45)
2. End a War Before It Begins (2:07)
3. The Whisper Network (1:33)
4. Blood and Cheese (3:38)
5. A Son for a Son (2:03)
6. Indulge in Darkness (2:14)
7. Remembering Those Who Came Before (3:22)
8. Patience and Restraint (2:56)
9. Right to Grieve (1:18)
10. Born Together (4:29)
11. The Feeling of Betrayal (2:16)
12. This Is Our Purpose (1:20)
13. Strange Victory (4:08)
14. Peace Will Be Restored (2:42)
15. A Final Journey (4:33)
16. I Do Not Know My Part (1:05)
17. A Matter of Honor (2:33)
18. Rook’s Rest, Pt. 1 (7:34)
19. Rook’s Rest, Pt. 2 (5:18)
20. A Sworn Protector (2:50)
21. A Mad Thought (1:37)
22. You Know What You Must Do (2:45)
23. Our Hope for the Future (3:00)
24. Bear the Burden Alone (2:15)
25. Claim a Dragon (2:34)
26. Stolen Inheritance (2:05)
27. Born with Other Names (1:39)
28. There Will Be No Mercy (2:28)
29. The Triarchy (0:50)
30. Fight for Our Queen (2:03)
31. All Must Choose (4:44)

 

1 hour 25 minutes

 

https://music.apple.com/nz/album/house-of-the-dragon-season-2-soundtrack-from-the-hbo-series/1756692128

[Jay 38,745]

I noticed the Lannister theme at the end of tonight's episode

[Knight of Ren 938]

Listening right now! The album seems to be pretty much completely out of chronological order so I will try to sort it out when I have some time.

 

The music in tonight's episode was great, and that last cue was one of the best of the whole season. Djawadi incorporated at least 6 or 7 separate themes including the Stark and Lannister themes!

[tomsmoviemadness 3,417]

Currently working on making it chronological

[MattyO 62]

My question is, if this can come out moments after the end of the season, WTF is up with new Doctor Who music not being released at all?

[Richard Penna 3,999]

Oh cool, missed this coming out!

 

And yeah, gigantic WTF with Doctor Who. Maybe some idiot at Silva still thinks they have to tie a soundtrack release into the DVD release? (which is in the next couple of weeks). Or Gold has just given up releasing his music.

[MattyO 62]

I feel it has to be a lack of interest on his part at this point. It's a multimillion dollar franchise now being bankrolled by Disney Plus. There's no excuse - Gold must have a music team around him, any one of them could organise a digital release of the music. It's truly baffling.

 

But, I digress. Love Djawadi's Westerosi music so look forward to giving this a proper listen. Kudos to Djawadi for getting it out so quickly.

[tomsmoviemadness 3,417]

This is not really Djawadi behind when it will release. For big series like this HBO always releases the album at the moment the finale premieres. It's been that way for years

[tomsmoviemadness 3,417]

I've been able to place all but 2 cues "A Son For A Son" & "Stolen Inheritance".

 

If anyone is able to place thoee that would be great.

 

Episode 1
Main Title
Right To Grieve
Remember Those Who Came Before
Blood And Cheese

Episode 2
The Feeling Of Betrayal
A Final Journey
Indulge In Darkness
Born Together

Episode 3
Our Hope For The Future
End A War Before It Begins

Episode 4
A Matter Of Honor
Rook's Rest, Pt. 1
Rook's Rest, Pt. 2
A Sworn Protector

Episode 5
This Is Our Purpose
Strange Victory
Patience And Restraint
I Do Not Know My Part
A Mad Thought

Episode 6
Peace Will Be Restored

Episode 7
The Whisper Network
Claim A Dragon (0:00-1:30)
Bear The Burden Alone
Claim A Dragon (1:30-end)
Born With Other Names
There Will Be No Mercy

Episode 8
The Triarchy
You Know What You Must Do
Fight For Our Queen
All Must Choose

[Edmilson 8,491]

Is the music from the scene in episode 7 where Alicent is at the river and then it cuts to Rhaenyra at her castle watching the common folk arrive on the album? That cue really stood up to me, it was pretty good.

 

Without having seen episode 8, the 7th one is what had the best cues IMHO. But perhaps because it was fresher in my mind.

[tomsmoviemadness 3,417]

9 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Is the music from the scene in episode 7 where Alicent is at the river and then it cuts to Rhaenyra at her castle watching the common folk arrive on the album? That cue really stood up to me, it was pretty good.

Yes, cue is called Bear The Burden Alone

[Jay 38,745]

One of the cues that stood out to me while watching the season was in episode 3 I think, when Cole's army marches out of King's Landing.  Is that on here?

[tomsmoviemadness 3,417]

No it's not. And I'm pretty pissed about it.

 

Personally I feel there around 20 minutes of music not on the album that easily could've been put on there. Then it would still be shorter than the S1 album, but now I'm again left with a feeling that I'm missing stuff.

It's the early GoT albums all over again, lot's of missing music and out of order without reason.

 

I do really love the music that is here, but it's just a shame in this day and age with limitedless digital releases and such.

[Knight of Ren 938]

Yeah, and also the fact that some of the omissions leave out some important themes like the Addam/Seasmoke theme which is completely absent from the release!

 

Gave the album a couple of listens. Some great tracks in here, and it really makes it a lot easier to understand and appreciate Djawadi's thematic writing, without the sfx covering the music. I really like his string writing in some of the more emotional cues with that new War Theme, and also some of the new renditions of the Hightower theme. I also really like the new theme for the Dragonseeds which is actually derived from the song Daemon sung to Vermithor in episode 10 of season 1!

[Jay 38,745]

28 minutes ago, Knight of Ren said:

the new theme for the Dragonseeds which is actually derived from the song Daemon sung to Vermithor in episode 10 of season 1!

 

Woah, that's pretty cool. 

[dylanskie 109]

There's some kind of new theme that seems to be associated mostly with the war theme, as it plays before the war theme comes in. It's in "A Son for a Son" and opens "The Feeling of Betrayal" and "All Must Choose"

[Knight of Ren 938]

Yeah, and it also appears in A Mad Thought joined by Rhaenyra's vocal theme and I think it also appears briefly in the middle of End the War Before It Begins!

 

Such a beautiful theme! It's clearly tied to the war theme perhaps representing the more tragic side of the war?

[MaxMovieMan 293]

Pretty disappointed by this album. To be fair this season and its soundtrack haven’t really impressed me in the first place so there’s not much the album could’ve done for me but still wasn’t expecting to be so bored listening to a Westeros score. Especially me since I adore the GOT scores I even went to the live concert experience. Rather than have a mix of new and old themes that are further developed the entire album is essentially dominated by new themes (mainly the war theme) that aren’t too interesting. I’m not big on the female vocals for the war theme and that theme in general isn’t my favorite. I didn’t hear the main GOT theme once on album besides the main titles which is strange. Season 1’s album is far superior IMO. Hopefully season 3 has a better offering. I’m gonna try and get these unreleased tracks ripped from the episodes to upload them because I feel that there’s some better stuff there than what’s on album.

[terry93d 3]

On 24/10/2022 at 6:19 PM, Knight of Ren said:

~snip

 

I have been doing a detailed analysis on the score for each episode, so feel free to check them out if you want to clarify some thematic connections. Also, I'm planning on doing a sort of thematic catalogue for the first seasons, in my blog and perhaps also in video format for YouTube

 

~snip

 

do you plan to do similarly with the new season? I have been rewatching the first season, and since it is my third time 'round, much of the fun has been in picking out the themes. I believe I've noticed all of the themes you've identified, though I would be curious to find out if what you identify as the "betrayal" theme lines up with what my ears are picking up on as a "turning point" or "moment of revelation" theme (not actually sure how I'd identify this)—it plays, for example, when Mellos brings Rhaenyra the tea. I tried to check your notation against my memory; either there is a mismatch or I've got a very poorly developed internal ear. 

 

[Richard Penna 3,999]

1 hour ago, MaxMovieMan said:

Pretty disappointed by this album. To be fair this season and its soundtrack haven’t really impressed me in the first place so there’s not much the album could’ve done for me but still wasn’t expecting to be so bored listening to a Westeros score. Especially me since I adore the GOT scores I even went to the live concert experience.

 

I aproach all of these as concept albums and I got to around Rook's Rest a few days ago and similarly to you, I was finding myself a little detached from the whole thing. Significantly more RCP influence coming through than he's done on any prior GoT score, and I'm not picking up much standing out in the way of new themes.

 

It's a shame as I really like all of the prior albums - this one just feels an awful lot more atmospheric and trying not to get in the way, which doesn't work as well on album. Could be the first one I don't end up buying, sadly.

 

---

 

Pretty much finished the album tonight and yeah... it's actually quite boring. It's like a compilation of pretty anonymous, a-thematic percussion and string material with the occasional cameo from a theme. Extremely disappointing.

[Knight of Ren 938]

3 hours ago, terry93d said:

 

do you plan to do similarly with the new season? I have been rewatching the first season, and since it is my third time 'round, much of the fun has been in picking out the themes. I believe I've noticed all of the themes you've identified, though I would be curious to find out if what you identify as the "betrayal" theme lines up with what my ears are picking up on as a "turning point" or "moment of revelation" theme (not actually sure how I'd identify this)—it plays, for example, when Mellos brings Rhaenyra the tea. I tried to check your notation against my memory; either there is a mismatch or I've got a very poorly developed internal ear. 

 

This time around I didn't have enough free time to do a proper weekly analysis, but I was thinking of doing something similar for the whole season to help people identify all the new themes and start a little discussion about the themes and their meaning. But I'm glad someone found these write-ups helpful! I agree that on my rewatches of the show, I really like picking up on new details on the music and it enhances my appreciation of it!

 

That betrayal theme you mention is indeed what plays in the moon tea scene and I ended up calling it the destiny theme but I guess your names could also work!

 

I can see what some people are saying here that the album might feel boring, because it's true that it's more focused on softer cues and there are a couple of dissonant/ambient tracks that perhaps should have been replaced with some other unreleased cues, but the thematic development is still there and almost every cue has at least one or two themes presented in new variations. For example, I'm a big fan of how Djawadi has used the Hightower and the Greens themes this season, using them in a lot of more tragic/dramatic variations in cues like Feeling of Betrayal or Bear the Burden Alone, sometimes joined by that new war theme. I think the album might need a couple of listens to be appreciated but the highlights are still there imo.

[MaxMovieMan 293]

What are the main cues missing from this season?

[Knight of Ren 938]

I would say some smaller/softer cues could have improved the overall listening experience. There are several variations of the Hightower and the Green Alliance themes that could have been included, some extra variations on Daemon's new theme or the Rhaena theme, and then there's Addam's theme which is completely absent. Also, the cue when the green troops depart King's Landing was one of the unreleased highlights for me! And then, the cue for Daemon's vision of the future in the last episode had a couple of references to GoT that would have been nice to have on album. The first part of that sequence is included in the first half of You Know What You Must Do but the rest of that cue is also really nice.