Pitting House Of The Dragon against The Rings Of Power

Comparisons between HBO’s House Of The Dragon and Amazon’s The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power – both new epic fantasies, both prequel series, both with huge budgets and fan bases – were probably inevitable. And, indeed, the Internet has already been more than happy to oblige.

But should people compare them? Possibly not.

Thrones author George R.R. Martin – whose work was heavily influenced by the original Rings author, J.R.R. Tolkien – wants only peace in the realm. “It’s not a death match or anything,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “We don’t have to be bracketed together.”

Still, few seem able to resist the urge. But instead of comparing industry stats – ratings, budgets and so on – take a look at where the two shows overlap. Which one has the best dragons? The most formidable heroine? Granted, initial observations are based on only the first few episodes. But people have seen enough to get the discussion started. Warning: Some spoilers ahead.

1 Pop culture cred

It is not entirely fair to compare Englishman Tolkien with Martin, who is often referred to as “the American Tolkien”. The two authors are not in competition.

Martin takes inspiration from much of what Tolkien did, especially in the areas of magic and world-building, but he has also expanded on Tolkien’s achievements. Tolkien has sold more books than Martin (they have both sold tens of millions), but Tolkien’s have been around much longer.

A better comparison might be the adaptations of their work: HBO’s Game Of Thrones (2011 to 2019), to which Dragon is a prequel, versus Peter Jackson’s film versions of The Lord Of The Rings (2001 to 2003) and The Hobbit (2012 to 2014).