One of the challenges of adapting Fire & Blood is that the Game of Thrones prequel is more history book than novel, lacking much of the quirky character moments and meta fantasy jokes that are sprinkled throughout the A Song of Ice and Fire series. Thankfully, George R.R. Martin still finds ways to weave joyful surprises into the book’s detailed Targaryen history lessons.
There’s one particular tidbit from Fire & Blood that I’ve been dying to see make it to screen all season, and in House of the Dragon episode 6, it finally did. But if you weren’t already aware of this potential Easter egg and obsessively looking out for it, then you probably missed the fact that House of the Dragon just made a Muppets reference.
[Ed. note: The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon and minor spoilers for Fire & Blood.]
During the council meeting, Ser Lyonel Strong brings up a border dispute between two riverlands houses, Blackwood and Bracken. Alicent asks why this issue isn’t being addressed by Lord Grover Tully, to which Lyonel explains that Grover’s unnamed son is unofficially ruling over the riverlands now.
The council quickly moves on to other matters, but my mind remained stuck on this small back-and-forth because the moment I had been waiting for had at long last come: the mention of Lord Grover.
The name Grover on its own is not unique enough to count as a Muppets reference, of course. In fact, the name Grover Tully feels rather in line with other Westeros names like Aegon, Larys, or Viserys. (If anything, it’s characters named Jason that immediately stand out.) But while we’ve only gotten a Grover reference so far, this is just the first step towards introducing an entire Sesame Street-themed family tree.
In Fire &
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