'House of the Dragon': The Eerie Parallels Between Otto

Separated by time, these two lords stop at nothing to carve out a legacy.

More than 112 years after the death of Ser Otto Hightower (Rhys Ifans), a child was born to Lord Tytos Lannister and Lady Jeyne Marbrand at Casterly Rock. His name became Tywin (Charles Dance), and he noticed House Lannister go back to prominence after the perceivably weak rule of his father. Game of Thrones fans recognize Tywin’s exploits well, and it would not take too near of an eye check to see his moves contemplated in those of Otto Hightower inside the first season of House of the Dragon. Both guys are notably cold, calculating, and could go to nearly any length to make sure the prosperity in their dynasty and the furthering of their station.

Even though they were separated by over a century of history, the 2 lords are eerily comparable, both in George R.R. Martin’s source fabric and their on-screen portrayals courtesy of HBO. Both served as Hands of the King for the duration of the peak in their power, and both had a taste for ruthlessness to relaxed their fame. Both participated in wars that threatened to rip Westeros aside, and each subsequently learned the charge of ambition of their deaths. Considering the enormous chasm of time between the 2 guys, it may no longer be unbelievable to suppose that Lord Tywin took more than a few pages from Ser Otto, although he possibly aimed to do a few matters quite differently.

Tywin and Otto’s Passion For Their Families’ Prestige

There’s no denying that both lords have a fervent love for his or her families, as long as they preserve to improve their respective homes’ role. Otto Hightower’s house is one of the oldest and proudest of the Great Houses in all of the Seven Kingdoms. The Citadel is housed in Oldtown, as is the Starry Sept of the Faith of the Seven. The fame of the town as a hub of trade made the Hightowers exceptionally rich, no longer unlike the massive mines of Casterly Rock and the trading port of Lannisport. With wealth, energy follows, and Houses Lannister and Hightower are both stridently protected by their patriarchs. Otto pairs his daughter Alicent (Olivia Cooke/Emily Carey) with King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine), and sees his grandson Aegon II Targaryen (Tom Glynn-Carney/Ty Tennant) seated at the Iron Throne no matter the desires of Viserys to look his daughter Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy/Milly Alcock) ascend as queen.

Over a century later, Lord Tywin follows alongside quite intently. He marries his daughter Cersei (Lena Heady) to King Robert Baratheon (Mark Addy), and is infuriated while his son Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) forgoes his inheritance of Casterly Rock to end up a knight of the Kingsguard. When his grandson Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) turns into king after Robert’s loss of life, Tywin is inclined to fight the War of Five Kings to defend his relations’s repute because the crown monarch of Westeros. The first season of House of the Dragon won’t have confirmed us the breadth of the warfare called the Dance of the Dragons quite yet, but Otto Hightower actually has set the level in the interest of shielding his own grandson’s claim.

It’s quite interesting to look the parallels of Kings Aegon II and Joffrey thru the eyes of their grandfathers, and how closely the situations replicate themselves. In House of the Dragon, Aegon is a drunk and a sexual deviant, and has no want to turn out to be king as it might draw him faraway from pursuing his greater carnal goals. Despite Aegon now not being some thing near kingly material, Otto guarantees his ascension and defends his claim in opposition to all challengers. King Joffrey changed into no higher, acknowledged during King’s Landing and the realm at large for his unspeakable cruelty and his own ill fascination with the chance of murder, warfare, torture, and dying. Be that as it could, Tywin did all he could to stay his grandson’s worst impulses, however Westeros’ personal little Caligula continued to abuse and torture his topics for fun. As long as a progeny of House Lannister (even one born of incest) sat the Iron Throne, Lord Tywin might be there to keep him seated and prevent all people who interfered. Otto and Tywin may additionally have critical troubles with their respective grandsons as rulers, however in their eyes it is higher than having someone else sit down the throne and resist their have an impact on.

The major point of distinction among them with regards to circle of relatives is that Otto Hightower appears to have love for maximum, if not all of his own family (even though a few youngsters which includes Aegon certainly test his endurance). Conversely, Tywin has a bitter revulsion of his son Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), who he blames for killing his wife Joanna throughout his delivery and who he considers a blight at the status of his house. However, as a prideful and formidable guy, there may be no indication that Ser Otto would not act the precise equal way toward a family member in the equal circumstance. Furthermore, Tywin starts to lash out at his kids as they further pass in opposition to his needs for House Lannister, disinheriting Jaime at one point and actively undermining both Cersei and Tyrion on multiple occasions for attempting to go him. Tywin even presides over the trial for the death of King Joffrey, forcing Tyrion to shield himself in a kangaroo court docket before the lords of the realm. No doubt in Tywin’s view, if Tyrion is performed or sent to the wall, he is one less problem for House Lannister. Both Otto and Tywin play the sport to similarly their homes’ call and recognition, and even their family members aren’t spared their wrath if they may be defiant.

Both Lords Have a Penchant for Callousness and Violence

Sure, Tywin and Otto remember themselves shining paragons of status, however they’re sincerely not afraid to get their arms dirty. Well earlier than the dying of King Viserys, Otto starts offevolved scheming and manipulating his daughter to seat Prince Aegon on the throne over Princess Rhaenyra. Well earlier than Viserys’ demise, he video display units Rhaenyra’s actions, including a night time of debauchery where she and Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) sneak into a flea bottom whorehouse get quite intimate. Ser Otto pounces on the instant and right now brings news to King Viserys, stating that Daemon deflowered his daughter, probably in wish that this scandal would cause Viserys to call Aegon his inheritor as an alternative. Even after being dismissed as Hand of the King, it’s clear upon Otto’s return to the location that the line of succession is the biggest component on his thoughts. He may say seating Aegon is good for the realm, however he knows who his grandson is. Despite this, Aegon can nevertheless serve as a malleable ruler due to his lack of preference to be king, making Otto the maximum powerful man in Westeros in deed if no longer in name. When Prince Aegon is going lacking before his very own coronation rite, a rift is opened among Otto and Alicent. They both dispatch their respective marketers into King’s Landing to discover the lecherous prince, however they have very unique plans on what to do once he is retrieved. Alicent, hoping to by some means strike an amicable accord with Princess Rhaenyra and keep away from bloodshed, hopes to ship a message pleading for peace before warfare is joined over the road of succession. Otto has no such desires, and as an alternative aims to recover Aegon after which have Rhaenyra, her husband Daemon and their kids killed to relaxed his grandson’s declare. He may not have in the end been a success, and battle broke out regardless, but moments along with these display Otto’s willingness to shed blood in an underhand manner to maintain his family secure.

With Tywin, do you definitely need to think about it? If there was an unspeakable or ignoble act towards those that hostile him, Tywin in all likelihood had a hand in it. No Game of Thrones fan has forgotten the Red Wedding or the harrowing quote “the Lannisters send their regards.” The death of King Robb Stark (Richard Madden), his pregnant wife Talisa (Oona Chaplin) and his mom Catelyn (Michelle Fairley) became most effective one of the most depraved acts in TV history. Let’s not overlook that properly earlier than the War of Five Kings, at some stage in Robert Baratheon’s insurrection against House Targaryen, Tywin Lannister also set unfastened the bloodthirsty Ser Gregor Clegane (Hafþór Björnsson/Conan Stevens) into the Red Keep. This in the long run led to the brutal murder of Elia Martell and her youngsters by using Prince Rhaegar Targaryen (Wilf Scolding). He uses blackmail to split Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) from Queen Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), and masses of smaller machinations all within the final interest of furthering him and his residence’s aims. Unfortunately for Tywin, so many depraved deeds sooner or later caught up to him, and in an act of poetic justice, Tyrion kills him with a crossbow, reminding him one very last time that he is Tywin’s son, regardless of what his cold-hearted father would possibly assume.