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House of the Dragon is the latest addition to HBO's Game of Thrones TV universe and takes place almost 200 years before the events of the original hit show. We have already seen the usage of Valyrian language in the original series, particularly in Daenerys Targaryen's story arc. Of course, with House of the Dragon focusing on House Targaryen's dynastic reign in Westeros, it appears the language is back and used more than ever.
We hear Valyrian being used particularly between Prince Daemon (played by Matt Smith) and Princess Rhaenyra (played by Milly Alcock and Emma D'Arcy). The language has interesting origins, dating all the way back to George R.R. Martin's novels, on which both Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon are based. What's more, Valyrian was developed further, specifically for the show in an intricate way. Here is how the language was created.
What is the History of Valyrian?
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Valyrian dates back to the Valyrian Freehold in the continent of Essos, where High Valyrian originated. The Valyrians spread and conquered, forcing others to speak their tongue, however, the Doom of Valyria, which involved the volcanoes of the 14 fires erupting, meant that Old Valyria was destroyed, and High Valyrian was lost among the common people. That said, low Valyrian lives on in areas, such as Slaver's Bay, which is an adapted version of the original language. High Valyrian meanwhile lives on through songs and scrolls, which were written in this language, and we, in fact, see many characters pray in High Valyrian throughout Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon. We also see dragon riders communicate with dragons in High Valyrian.
Valyrian in George R.R. Martin’s Books
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In his novels, Martin introduces the Valyrian language, however, only fragments of the language were developed and have been adapted on screen. Martin introduced the concept of the language, but it was not fully fleshed as this would require the talents of a linguistic professional. Indeed, per Rolling Stone, professionals would be consulted later when the Game of Thrones HBO series was commissioned in order to fully construct the language. Nonetheless, Valyrian was officially first introduced in the books, and we can trace the history of the language through Martin’s writing.
How Was Valyrian Created?
Valyrian, as we know it, was created for the TV screen by language creator David J. Peterson, who created the High Valyrian language, as well as the derivative languages Astapori and Meereenese Valyrian, based on fragments from the novels. They have been described as some of the most convincing constructed languages to ever appear on-screen. Elsewhere, Peterson created languages for other franchises, such as Elvish for Lord of the Rings and Wookie in Star Wars. It’s a very impressive feat and the language sounds entirely convincing on-screen. It’s no easy task to create and entire language, and characters who spoke in this dialect had to study the language in order to achieve a naturalistic performance.
Valyrian Spoken On-Screen
Valyrian has been adapted on-screen and was spoken throughout Game of Thrones, particularly by Daenerys in the first season. We saw her command her dragons and speak to the free people in the constructed language, being entirely convincing and impressive when she did so. Peterson stated that he worked on more High Valyrian for the first season of House of the Dragon than he did for any season of Game of Thrones. This is likely because the series features a lot more characters who speak the original language, and we will see much more of the dialogue in upcoming episodes.