It's giving pod racing.
By
Shannon Connellan
Senior Editor
Shannon Connellan is Mashable's Senior Editor, General Assignments, based in London. She has been Mashable's UK Editor (and still manages the illustrious UK team) and Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives searching for Exit 8. A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about entertainment, tech, social good, science, culture, and Australian horror, and loves to nerd out with movie stars, filmmakers, and TV creators.
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Abubakar Salim and Steve Toussaint in "House of the Dragon." Credit: Ollie Upton / HBO
There's a moment in House of the Dragon Season 3, episode 1, when I wanted the cutscene to end so I could take the helm.
Right in the middle of the long-awaited Ballet of the Gullet, we see the mighty Lord Corlys Velaryon (Steve Toussaint) in full evasive maneuvering mode. Here, the Sea Snake's skills are on full display. And it's absolutely made to be a video game level.
In the third act of the episode, as one of the most important battles in the Dance of the Dragons rages on, the vengeful Triarchy admiral, Sharako Lohar (Abigail Thorn), spots her prey in the Velaryon leader. To minimise losses and evade Lohar's rogue assault, Corlys commands his ship into Dragonstone Pass, a narrow, perilous marine path where one millimetre could mean the difference between sailing and sinking.
"In a way I've been waiting to show that side of him," Toussaint told Mashable. "Because, of course, other than the Battle of the Stepstones in Season 1, we've not always seen him in action. Most of Season 2 is like, 'My wife's dead and my son doesn't love me.'
"So it was nice to show, 'Oh yes, that's right, that's what he's good at.' This is why he runs away to sea whenever there's a problem, because he's good at it, and he feels comfortable there. So, doing those scenes, putting yourself in that position where you're the guy, was joyous."
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Watching Corlys command his crew to "ease the sheets and pull out the oars," then gently take the helm to navigate these treacherous waters like a pro is the stuff of gaming dreams — the steering mechanism even looks like a wooden joystick in this scene. It's spatial awareness competency porn, and I love it.
Corlys' Dragonstone Pass prowess brings to mind notorious moments in racing games like 1999's Star Wars Episode I: Racer and the dastardly move needed to complete the Boonta Training Course on Tattoine. Remember?! For the most part, if you didn't flip that pod right through the crack you'd never make it into the Hutt Flats. It's giving Mario Kart's Rainbow Road shortcut, Gran Turismo's hairpins, even the ever-present Corkscrew, which turns up everywhere.
It's not the only video game-like moment in the Battle of the Gullet, either, especially when it comes to Lohar. The admiral's "Stay the course and f***ing row!" moment, ramming her ship right into Corlys', is a maritime move worthy of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, while her dragon-hunting ballista skills are right out of Dragon's Dogma 2.
There are, in fact, plenty of video games set in the world of Westeros, from the microtransaction-plagued Game of Thrones: Kingsroad to the upcoming real-time strategy game Game of Thrones: War for Westeros. But there are none that allow me to traverse the Dragonstone Pass. Let me be the Sea Snake.
Shannon Connellan is Mashable's Senior Editor, General Assignments, based in London. She has been Mashable's UK Editor (and still manages the illustrious UK team) and Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives searching for Exit 8. A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about entertainment, tech, social good, science, culture, and Australian horror, and loves to nerd out with movie stars, filmmakers, and TV creators.
