The second season of House of the Dragon is currently underway and, as is typical for the world of Westeros, the war is not only fought on the battlefield. One of the most fearsome characters is Aemond Targaryen. This is not surprising when you know his inspiration.
Aemond Targaryen is most easily recognized by his eyepatch and his menacing presence. He is played by Ewan Mitchell in the series. He was also seen last year in the Amazon hit Saltburn.
In an interview with Games Radar, the actor talked about his inspirations and that he hasn’t seen a single episode of Game of Thrones yet. He did this deliberately so that it wouldn’t influence his role. But he has four other sources of inspiration.
Aemond is also a gifted fighter, as you can see in this list: House of the Dragon: The 10 best swordsmen of Westeros in the power ranking
You can see a trailer here:
House of the Dragon – English trailer for the prequel series to “Game of Thrones”
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This idea of inevitability
In the interview, the actor explains his sources of inspiration for the character. His main focus was to portray a character who exists beyond the world and for this he had four sources of inspiration. He mentions David from Prometheus, played by Michael Fassbender, and Kirk Douglas from the 1958 film The Vikings. Here you can also see the inspiration for the eye patch. Peter O’Toole in Lawrence of Arabia from 1962 was also an important source of inspiration.
His latest inspiration sounds rather inappropriate at first, namely Michael Myers from the Halloween series. But this is less about the character and more about the presence and idea behind the character, as Mitchell explains in the interview.
The idea that Michael Myers, no matter how slow he runs, will always catch up with Jamie Lee Curtis: this idea of inevitability […] And it’s almost like the image they convey is larger than life. It’s like a different energy, and I thought that was something very fascinating to explore.
Ewan Mitchell and how Michael Myers inspired him (Source: Games Radar)
Michael Myers, as a silent horror villain, is scary primarily because of his presence. His almost robotic movements and the idea that he could be anywhere are the aspects that make him scary.
Despite the initially bizarre choice, Michael Myers also fits into his argument for his sources of inspiration. As the name of the series suggests, it is not only about people, but also about dragons. You can find the strongest dragons in the series here: House of the Dragon: The 10 most powerful dragons in the power ranking