House of the Dragon vs. The Rings of Power: Which Was Better?

We are lucky to live in a time when we can partake of different versions of high fantasy. I myself am a HUGE Tolkien fan starting from the books. I read The Silmarillon within the day I got it one Christmas morning, stopping only for brief naps, and getting something to eat. On the other hand, my experience with House of the Dragon is primarily with the HBO series of which I suppose I am in the minority when I say that I enjoyed how that series ended. Having said all of that, I will now share my ratings of these two high fantasy series with a five-star rating scale. Five stars is the highest score on this scale. It’s a bit uneven since Rings only had eight episodes while House had ten. Though I will be averaging the scores in the end. For those of you who haven’t watched both or either yet this is a WARNING THAT THERE WILL BE SPOILERS. It’s time to go on an adventure. Come join me.

Episode One: Heirs of the Dragon vs. A Shadow of the Past. House of the Dragons got me at DRAGONS while The Rings of Power got me at VALINOR. These are two very exciting beginnings with both episodes setting the table quite well on what to expect in the stories to come. That being said, the first episodes were a very good start for both franchises. To that I gave each series four stars, and so the first episode duel ends in a tie. Moving on…

Episode Two: The Rogue Prince vs. Adrift. In The Rogue Prince we get a better look at Daemon Targaryen, the brother of Viserys, and apparently the black sheep between the two. The episode also establishes the closeness between Daemon, and Rhaenyra. On the other hand, Adrift focuses on Galadriel being lost at sea with an apparaent new ally, and Elrond makes the trek to Khazad-dum to visit his old friend Durin. With this I give House three stars vs. Rings two stars. In which case, House of the Dragon wins this round with its steady though unspectacular storytelling. I was really disappointed with the details of this episode of The Rings of Power. I mean, how in the name of Eru do you get to meet ship stragglers in the Sundering Seas? Inconceivable. Then there is Elrond making the walk from Eregion to Khazad-dum within a day? Without any encounters? Really. That just didn’t ride well with me, hence the rating.

Episode Three: Second of His Name vs. Adar. In Second of His Name, we are at the name day of young Prince Aegon who is named after the legendary Aegon the Conqueror. There’s a bit of a time jump here where we see the fruits of Allicent’s marriage to King Viserys. This is all happening while Daemon faces the Crabfeeder. In Adar, we finally get to see a glimpse of the legendary kingdom of the Dunedain: Numenor. Also, we get to delve into more events that happen in the Southlands which many a Tolkien geek will know eventually becomes Mordor. Numenor was enough for me to give Rings of Power four stars for this episode. On the other hand, House gains three stars for me. The episode was good, but nothing caught my eye to nudge the score higher.

Episode Four: King of the Narrow Sea vs. The Great Wave. After the events in Second of His Name, Rhaenyra continues her search for a suitable husband, while Daemon continues being the black sheep by seducing his underaged niece Rhaenyra in King of the Narrow Sea. Yikes. Over in The Great Wave, some shenanigans happen over at Numenor involving Galadriel while back in the Southlands the ranger elf, Arondir, has a decision to make. I’ll be blunt. Both episodes get one star for me for VERY BAD storytelling. You’d think that the security in the Red Keep could be a lot tighter going IN and OUT. How in all of the Seven Kingdoms can Daemon, and Rhaenyra go in and out with NO resistance? I’m surprised that Viserys or any of his blood didn’t ‘benefit’ negatively from those lapses in security. While over there in The Rings of Power, I can’t believe the same thing with the security of Numenor giving Galadriel that opportunity to escape. Come on, writers. This is Galadriel we are talking about…of course she’ll easily escape given the chance. Then there’s Adar, and his chance to just end the life of Arondir. That’s another head-scratching moment for me. You’re supposed to be one of the first fallen elves, Adar. Your wisdom is found wanting. Overall, I’d really like to forget that these episodes happened.

Episode Five: We Light the Way vs. Partings. In We Light the Way Daemon visits his wife, Lady Lhea Royce, in the Vale which results in Lady Lhea dying ‘accidentally’. There is also some politicking between the Targaryen’s, and the Valaryons. Such a classic move for Game of Thrones viewers. Over in Partings, this is the coolest I’ve seen of Galadriel since episode one, and the calmest in all of season one. I like this version of Galadriel over the arrogant, and impetuous one that we see most of the time. We also get insight of the relationship of elven trees, and mithril. This all leads to the story of the Silmarils. I’m a sucker for Tolkien lore, and this version of Galadriel so with that I’m giving Rings five stars vs. House’s three stars. So far, House of the Dragon has been pretty steady, but nothing really catches my eye since episode one.

Episode Six: The Princess and The Queen vs. Udun. We have a ten year time jump for The Princess and The Queen. Allicent becomes more curious of Rhaenyra’s children because they do not have the recognizable silver hair. Daemon loses his wife Laena Velaryon after she commits suicide by exposing herself to Vagar’s dragon breath. You really can’t blame her since she lost her baby at childbirth. I suppose the emotional struggle was unbearable for her. Over in Udun, war happens as the army of Numenor steps in to save the Southlanders from the attack of the orcs led by Adar. All’s not so well as we get the reason why Mordor is the way it is as the episode ends with an eruption from Mount Doom. Three stars for both series with up-and-down storytelling, but nothing really happened to deserve a higher score for both.

Episode 7: Driftmark vs. The Eye. Here’s where House of the Dragon gets interesting for me in Driftmark. This is the funeral of Laen and aftermath to that. This is a beautiful episode that is the calm before the storm. Viserys is dying, and it shows. He manages to gather his family to get along up to one ominous dinner. You can feel his influence in the factions of Allicent, and Rhaenyra. It really is just his presence, and influence that are holding the Targaryen’s together. There isn’t a lot of action here, but the tension is at a boiling point, and I really love the undercurrents set in motion here. This episode is worth five stars. On the other hand, The Eye gets three stars for me with a slow but even story in the aftermath of the volcanic eruption. Queen Miriel of Numenor is now blind. The Harfoots run into a group that is hunting for a returned Sauron. Durin sides with Elrond for the mithril. All good, but nothing to push my rating beyond three stars.

Episode 8: The Lord of the Tides vs. Alloyed. The Lord of the Tides showed the last exercise of power by Viserys. He supports in person on the Iron Throne the legitimacy of his grandson’s (Rhaeneyra’s son) succeed in the Driftmark. Vaemond Valeryon challenges this by calling out the parentage of Rhaenyra’s sons which leads to him being decapitated by Daemon. Also, in his dying breath, Viserys causes enough confusion to make Allicent believe that his grandson Aegon, and not Rhaenyra should succeed him on the Iron Throne. Such a beautiful episode that gets five stars from me. In another world, Alloyed is the last episode of The Rings of Power. We find out that ‘meteor man’ is Gandalf, and Halbrand, Galadriel’s closest ally, is in fact Sauron. I’m not surprised with this, and I can deduce from what I know from Tolkien lore that Sauron as the Bringer of Gifts is in fact Sauron. Same goes for Gandalf though his appearance in Middle-Earth is a bit off to me. Also, we get to see the Elven Rings of Power made with the help of Halbrand/Sauron. Having said that, I can only give Alloyed four stars, and not five. I was expecting something much more for a final episode. These events weren’t enough for me to give Alloyed five stars.

Episode 9: The Green Council. Since there aren’t any more episodes of Rings of Power, I will be moving forward with my review with only House of the Dragon episodes starting with The Green Council. Here we get to see the aftermath of Viserys’s death. Allicent makes her move to establish her son, Aegon as King of the Seven Kingdoms. With her allies, Allicent begins to remove threats to Aegon’s rule, and preven anyone from joining Rhaenyra’s side. She gives an offer to Rhaenys Velaryon to basically ‘join her or die‘. Rhaenys gives her answer with a roar from her dragon, Melys. Rhaenys then storms out majestically on Melys out of Aegon’s crowning ceremony, and off to join Rhaenyra. The battle lines are being drawn, and the Dance of Dragons is coming. This episode gets five stars for me.

Episode 10: The Black Queen. Now this is how you end a season with a promise of what is to come. The Black Queen shows us the reaction of Rhaenyra to the crowning of Aegon II as ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. It is interesting to note that the crown worn by Aegon II is the crown Aegon the Conqueror while Rhaenyra wears the crown of her father Viserys who was an advocate of peace. And, this is exactly what Rhaenyra did in the episode: eveything in her power to avoid war. It’s what her father would’ve wanted. To the very end of the episode she was forging alliances to ensure peace. Unfortunately, Vhagar and Aemond had other plans. In a diplomatic mission, Luke Targaryen, and his dragron , Arrax, were devoured by Vhagar in an aerial assault. Rhaenyra’s expression at the end of this episode says it all. No need for words. THIS IS WAR. Five stars for me on an excellent ending to the first season of House of the Dragon.

So who won the battle of supremacy in high fantasy? Totalling my scores, ten episodes vs. eight, House of the Dragon wins over The Rings of Power 3.75. over 3.25. House of the Dragon was mostly steady until it reached its second act where the story really picked up. On the other hand, Rings of Power had all the lore within its grasp, but suffered from inconsistent, and sometimes lazy storytelling. As a long-time Tolkien fan, I’m hoping that the showrunners come up with a much better season two. Season one was passable, but below expections. Meanwhile, House of the Dragon is on course for an explosive second season getting us into the meat of Dance of Dragons. In any case, I enjoyed both series. It just so happens that House of Dragon was better.

Agree with me? Disagree with me? Give me a comment. I’m off to the next adventure.

My Top Ten Spring Anime of 2022

It’s that time of the year again when I count down the top ten anime of the spring season. Take note once again that these are anime that I watch, and have by now reached around six or seven episodes. Whether they remain high on my year-end list remains to be seen. But, that’s a story for another day. Here we go…

I’m Quitting Heroing

At number ten is “I’m Quitting Heroing’. This is a fantasy anime with an op character in Leo who defeats the forces of Demon Queen Echidna. Later, Leo decides to join the forces of Echidna to fight the humans that he once protected. It’s entertaining enough to be on my list though the storytelling pace is a bit slow. Still, there is a mystery behind Leo as to why he IS that powerful. That plus his sincerity to help Echidna, and her forces who are in fact not-so-bad keeps me interested. Moving on.

Kyoukai Senki

At number nine we have “Kyoukai Senki”. The only mecha anime on my list is cour two of the first season. Cour one came out last year, and this second cour is actually better than the first. There are parallels to Code Geass here, but that’s to be expected with Sunrise (the animator of Code Geass). The mecha also looks a little Gundam-like. Regardless, the story brings to the table something new to the mecha genre, and that is the existence of AIs that help pilot the robots here. The icons for these AI are cutesy to mask just how deadly they are in battle. This is the second best mecha anime of the year so far. So, if mecha is your genre, give this a shot.

The Rising of the Shield Hero

At number eight we have “The Rising of the Shield Hero”. I’ll be honest. I was expecting this to be higher on my list with the return of Naofumi after three years. However, the storytelling has slowed down, and the animation from Kinema Citrus is not as up-to-par as the first season. Makes me wonder if they are saving all that energy (and animation) for “Made in Abyss” which is coming this summer. People say that it follows the story in the written material. That shouldn’t be an excuse for this anime to be in my lower ten for the season. Good enough to be on my list. Sad that it’s not any higher.

Skeleton Knight in Another World

At number seven we have “Skeleton Knight in Another World”. This is the better of the the two fantasy isekai on my list, and it is entertaining as Arc. The animation tapered off from the first episode, but the entertainment value did not. If it had maintained it’s animation, it would be higher on my list. Arc is an op Paladin-like character who got transported in a fantasy world in a skeleton body. It’s the reason why he keeps that armor on. Arc is overpowered because he is a paladin with mage/sorcery skills. I mean, come on guys, when you give a paladin (in D&D) access to teleportatin spells ASIDE from cleric healing spells…THAT IS YOUR DEFINITION OF OVERPOWERED. However, this is part of what makes this anime so entertaining. Ponta is a cute spirit creature too so that helps.

Love After World Domination

At number six we have “Love After World Domination”. This reminds me of another Super Sentai parody that came about last year with a different approach. The intro song reminds me of “Miss Kuroitsu and the Monster Development Department”, and rightfully so because it’s upbeat and funny. Unlike “Miss Kuroitsu”, here we have Red Gelato aka Fudou who falls in love with Desumi, the Reaper Princess. Both characters are on opposite sides in the Super Sentai war of good vs. evil. As a result, they hide their romance from their co-workers which leads to all sorts of hilarious situations. Poor Desumi. If only she came out in a different anime year she would have a chance for best girl of the year. That’s almost impossible considering the current competition. More on that some other time.

Summertime Render

Starting our top five is “Summertime Render”. One of two OLM studios entries on my top ten list (more on that later), this follows the reincarnation trope that has become popular in anime. Reminds me a lot of “Re:Zero“, but a lot drearier, and “Summertime Render” is set in modern times. Unlike Subaru, Shinpei Ajiro has a limited number of reincarnations so he is forced to make his decisions with a little more sense of urgency. I mean, if he doesn’t then the world gets engulfed by these mysterious shadow creatures. Talk about pressure. This spring anime has beautiful visuals to accompany its mystery thriller story. Watch it to find out what the mystery is all about.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes

At number four is “Legend of the Galactic Heroes”. I really hate it when Production IG scheduled this anime. They put it near the end of the winter season, and thus this is one of the first anime ending in the spring. It has done this before in “Fena: Pirate Princess“. Having said that, this is one fine space opera that follows in the footsteps of its origninal run. There are lots of intrigue, dogfights, misidrections, and on top of all that beautiful visuals that Production IG has worked on so well. No mecha here, guys. Just ships, and power suits. You don’t get a lot of great space opera anime around nowadays, and this should be one of those you should be watching.

Komi Can’t Communicate

At number three we have “Komi Can’t Communicate”. The second entry from OLM studios on my list is a slice of life anime that is better than its first season. Why do I say that? Because, Komi is actually putting some effort in communicating here. It was so frustrating during the first season seeing her get into situations where she just shuts down. In the second season, she has shown how much she has grown, and how willing she is to overcome her communication difficulty. Communication disorder is a real problem, guys. “Komi Can’t Communicate” shows us how it can be overcome with a certain degree of effort, and help from the people around us.

Ya Boy Kongming!

At number two is “Ya Boy Kongming!”. I love this anime from P. A. Works. This blindsided me, and since I starting watching, it didn’t disappoint. Combining tropes from both isekai, and idol anime, “Ya Boy Kongming!” just has such a beautiful message to it. Through Kongming, we see that this is an anime about believing in yourself, and what you can do. In the case of Eiko, the other main protagonist, she is the one who is holding her musical dreams down, and Kongming is helping her realize just how special she is. And, how many times have you NOT succeeded because YOU are the biggest obstacle to your own success? I think many people can relate to this. Heck, other characters in this anime can relate to this. The animation matches the mood while the memorable soundtrack is so good that it’s making waves around social media. I am loving the message of “Ya Boy Kongming!”, and I’m not alone in loving this spring anime hit. Still, that is not enough to make it to my number one spot.

Spy x Family

At the number one spot on my list is “Spy x Family”. This is one of those anime that a lot of people had high expectations for including me. This anime has a beautiful, and well-loved manga that carries the burden of doing good in its anime adaptation or else. In that regard, Cloverworkds, and Wit Studio have shown us how two juggernaut studios can come up with arguably the best anime of the year (Yes I’m saying that now!). Did they crumble under the pressure? No. Did the anime look like it was made by two separate studios? No. Did they do justice to the “Spy x Family” manga? That is a big YES. Think about it guys. These are the studios that came up with “Ousama Ranking”, AND “My Dress-up Darling”. Think of Bojji (Anya), and Marin (Yor) in the same anime. Then you have the dashing, and suave Loid to hold it all together. It’s unfair actually if you look at it. Though, with two high profile anime studios, you’d think that there would be a lot of egos flying around to ruin the material. That is not the case here. The transition from one studio’s production to another is so flawless that you can’t even tell which anime is responsible for each episode. “Spy x Family” was a concerted effort, and it shows.

Add to that the message of the anime itself, and I’m not forgetting about that. “Spy x Family” focuses on family. Family does not just mean blood relations. Family will help you out in times of trouble. Family will be there in your ups, and downs. Put that theme on family with the entertaining story, and gorgeous animation; and you have “Spy x Family” as my number one anime of the spring season.

Dragonlance Set for New Trilogy from Hickman and Weis

In October of 2020, authors Tracy Hickman and Margaret Weis filed a lawsuit against Wizards of the Coast for breach of contract in the creation of a new Dragonlance trilogy of novels. Later in December 2020, Hickman and Weis dismissed their suit against Dungeons and Dragons, however the resolution to the court action wasn’t clear.

Fast forward to 2021, and we have Margaret Weis announcing on social media that there will be a special announcement made, and many, including myself, were anticipating it had something to do with the beloved Dragonlance franchise. Lo and behold, Weis dropped this bombshell to the delight of many fans.

This was followed up by Tracy Hickman on his own Facebook account with this image.

So, it looks like we now see the results of the dispute, and this is excellent news for fans of Dragonlance, and Dungeons and Dragons in general. The last Dragonlance trilogy we had from Hickman and Weiss was in the early 2000s with their New York Times best selling novels ‘The War of the Souls’. It would be a breath of fresh air for the franchise which has been one of the best high fantasy books in the 80s, and also an excellent campaign setting for the Dungeons and Dragons RPG. Of note in the announcement is the word ‘classic’ which could indicate the story taking place before any of the events in the Fifth Age or ‘War of the Souls’ take place.

This leads us back to Tanis and his merry group of adventurers. Could this mean that the story of the new trilogy takes place during this time period or earlier? Don’t get me wrong, ‘War of the Souls’ had some excellent writing, but it didn’t have the appeal of the ‘Chronicles’ characters nor the in-depth world building that the original trilogy had. I for one would like to see these characters come to life again, though Tasslehoff might always be around to cause trouble. Maybe a rescue attempt for Raistlin in the Abyss after the results of ‘Legends’? And maybe, since we’re talking about ‘classic’ Dragonlance, we might get some Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley, and Clyde Caldwell art? I can only hope and dream. The possibilities are endless. Whatever the case, I’m looking forward to this new trilogy of Hickman and Weis who put the Dragons at front and center of Dungeons and Dragons. What do you guys, think? Let me know in the comments.