House of the Dragon finally gives a tour of Harrenhal, Westeros’ most haunted castle

polygon.com:

[Ed. note: This story contains spoilers for House of the Dragon season 2 episodes 3 and 4.]

House of the Dragon is no stranger to the supernatural. Not only does the HBO fantasy drama series boast plenty of low-key magic — not to mention, y’know, dragons — but it’s also the prequel to Game of Thrones, a show loaded with snow zombies and smoke monster babies. Clearly, this is a universe where otherworldly forces are at play. Even so, Daemon Targaryen’s (Matt Smith) unsettling stopover at Harrenhal in season 2 arguably marks House of the Dragon’s most overtly supernatural subplot to date.

Everyone’s favorite sassy sadboy prince sets up shop at the supposedly cursed castle in episode 3, and strange goings-on start stacking up soon after. It certainly seems like he’s caught up in Westeros’ answer to Ghost Hunters, but is he (and everyone else) just jumping at shadows? Just how cursed is House of the Dragon’s Harrenhal, really?

One of the few things Westeros’ high- and lowborn folk seemingly agree on is that there’s been a curse upon Harrenhal since its foundations were laid. Why? George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Firebooks, House of the Dragon, and Game of Thrones chalk up Harrenhal’s dubious reputation to two main factors.

The first is the Olympic-level arrogance of Harrenhal’s founder, King Harren Hoare, in the lead-up to the castle’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. Harren made a big deal of how invincible his generations-in-the-making fortress was going to be — and, on paper, his boasting made sense. Harrenhal is almost comically supersized, and its battlements (allegedly made from mortar mixed with Harren’s blood) can theoretically shrug off any conventional attack.

The bad news for ol’ Harren was that dragons are decidedly unconventional. King Aegon I Targaryen and his sisters swooped into Westeros literally the day Harren moved into Harrenhal and promptly torched the joint. The Targaryens’ dragons barbequed Harren and his sons during the assault, and Harrenhal