Who sword fights better: House of the Dragon or The Rings of Power?
Perhaps you have noticed that two of the biggest television shows airing (or streaming) right now are both fantasy epics based on popular novels exploring the time period before a popular previous adaptation. While it would be reductive to call HBO’s House of the Dragon and Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power the same kind of show — they extremely are not — occasionally, in ways big and small, they do some of the same things. Like last weekend, when the latest episodes of each show both engaged in the classic trope of having an experienced sword fighter school some young whippersnappers in the best way to study the blade.
[Ed. note: This episode discusses the plots through episode 5 of The Rings of Power and episode 6 of House of the Dragon; these moments might be considered spoilers, if you care about that sort of thing.]
A brief summary for those who only watch one show, or neither: In “Partings,” the fifth episode of The Rings of Power, the elven warrior Galadriel (Morfydd Clark) has finally garnered support from the uppity human island nation of Númenor to mount an expedition to the mainland of Middle-earth in an effort to thwart dark forces that may herald the return of Sauron. Because this expedition needs volunteers, all manner of inexperienced youths are volunteering and therefore being put through their paces in swordsmanship. In this, Galadriel, uninvited, challenges a few of them to take her on at the same time, and she takes them to school.
Airing a few days later, House of the Dragon’s “The Princess and the Queen” features a big time jump and a new status quo. As part of its tour of the way things are now, the episode pauses to show the youngest additions to the cast being coached in
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