Why Is ‘House Of The Dragon’ So Dark? Lighting Upsets Fans

House of the Dragon fans dealt with a (sadly) all-too-common issue during this week’s episode, “Driftmark.” They couldn’t even see a good chunk of the visuals, given the Game of Thrones franchise’s penchant for going too (literally) dark. After all that money spent on a massive budget, cutting corners on lighting doesn’t seem productive at all, but it’s a chronic issue. Back in 2019, the highly anticipated Battle of Winterfell left people wondering what the hell was happening because they couldn’t see the action. The Night King’s forces hunkered down upon humanity, and viewers got a headache while trying to figure out who died first. Here’s a refresher of how that evening looked.

In the latest prequel episode, one of the most exciting scenes — Aemond Targaryen taming and claiming Vhagar and then taking a joyride — also left viewers in the dark. A look at the far-above (brightened) official still reveals the same issue. One can barely see Prince Daemon’s lack of respect for his brother, given that the entire image is awash in shades of darkened grey. It’s a wonder that viewers could stay enthused. Here’s how the image looked upon HBO’s release.

With any luck, HBO will realize the gravity of the issue and double back with a fix before this prequel’s second season. They did so, three years later, for the final Game of Thrones season. Yet they’re still cranking out big-budget episodes where people can’t even see facial expressions after turning the brightness up (to full capacity) on TVs and streaming devices. The issue grew so glaring that the HBO Max Help Twitter account kept tweeting the same response to frustrated viewers: “The dimmed lighting of this scene was an intentional creative decision.”

A deluge of complaints threw more kindling on the dragon fire.

HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon’ airs on Sunday nights at 9:00pm EST.