Does this season of House of the Dragon contain multitudes? Does a dragonseed shit in the woods?
In Season 3, episode 1, one character joins the distinguished ranks of Westeros folk who’ve pooped onscreen. And it’s none other than Ulf the White (Tom Bennett).
Early in the episode, far from the Battle of the Gullet, we reconnect with the wild cards of Westeros. These are the three dragonriders who claimed Silverwing, Seasmoke, and Vermithor: Ulf, Addam of Hull (Clinton Liberty), and Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew), respectively, despite being born adjacent to the royal bloodline. They’ve been assigned to a creepy camp near Harrenhal, tasked by Queen Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) to await the arrival of Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell) on his enormous dragon Vhagar.
The thing is, Aemond’s late. And when you’ve gotta go, you’ve gotta go, despite the freaky visions you might encounter. And here, we’re gifted a charming shot of Ulf having a crap in the woods, with all the juicy foley effects you can imagine.
Those sound effects? Jail.
Credit: Ollie
The scene instantly brings to mind one of the opening shots of Game of Thrones prequel A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, in which we see Ser Duncan the Tall (Peter Claffey) letting loose in a very scenic location. And never forget, in Game of Thrones Season 4, Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) died on the toilet, possibly mid-poop.
When asked what it was like to join the Westeros Hall of Fame for Characters Who Hath Shat on Camera, Bennett told Mashable he relished the opportunity.
“You know what? That did go through my head. Part of me went, OK, who’s had a poo in House of the Dragon or Game of Thrones?” Bennett said.
“He’s actually also in a league of his own, because he’s at least — to my knowledge — he’s the only person that has a dragon and has pooed,” noted Liberty. “So, you’re very rarefied air.”
“Yeah, I get to poo on camera, and uh..maybe you’ll see me poo on camera again. Spoiler alert!” said Bennett.
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“On Tom’s CV, it says ‘pooed on camera in House of the Dragon,'” said Liberty.
“‘Can poo on camera,'” said Bennett.
“This is HBO,” said Bew.
All shits aside, it’s a complex start to the season for the dragonseeds, as Hugh, Addam, and Ulf’s varied personalities clash.
“We have been forced together by circumstances. We’ve all come from different places, and ultimately, we all want to get something different out of this newfound power. But we’re different human beings, so there is a chemistry test happening in real time, where we are forced to sit on the edge of a cliff for three days in the rain,” said Bennett.
“But we’re being bonded by our frustration of the information flow from our very scary bosses who don’t really instil a lot of confidence and security,” said Bew.
“No one’s ever had that initiation to be a dragonrider…being commoners,” said Liberty. “So the fear that you have to go through, I think that also pulls us together.”
“We’re being bonded by our frustration of the information flow from our very scary bosses…”
The camp where Addam, Ulf, and Hugh spend their assignment was originally filmed at a lakeside location in Wales near sprawling mountains — and it was actually too beautiful to be as creepy as the House of the Dragon team needed it to be.
“It looked like a Nordic vodka commercial,” says Bennett. “When it came to the rushes, they went, it looks like they’re having too good a time. It looks delightful. It looks like a jolly boys outing. So we had to reshoot everything in this little dank cave with water dripping, because the first time we did it, it just looked too nice.”
“I was eating lamb the whole day,” said Liberty. “Oh my god, I ate so much lamb. It was amazing, because I didn’t eat breakfast, and then we got to set, and I was just being fed lamb. I think there was a take, I forgot my lines, because I was getting lamb out of my teeth, it was class.”
