House of the Dragon finally delivered one of its biggest and most anticipated moments. In its season 3 premiere, titled “Sea and Salt, Fire and Blood,” the series gave us The Battle of the Gullet, a moment that’s been discussed by fans ever since the show was first announced. The battle, originally depicted in George R.R. Martin’s Fire and Blood, is one of the most devastating in Westeros history. While it’s ultimately considered a win for Queen Rhaenyra and the Blacks, the Battle of the Gullet also resulted in the loss of a large part of her navy and some of the key figures in the saga. It’s remembered as the bloodiest naval battle in the Dance of the Dragons.
According to episode director Loni Peristere, the sequence was inspired by one of the best examples of onscreen naval warfare: Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.
Master and Commander
The 2003 epic, directed by Peter Weir, draws inspiration from various Patrick O’Brian novels. The movie follows Royal Navy captain Aubrey (Russell Crowe), the ship’s surgeon, Dr. Stephen Maturin (Paul Bettany), and the crew aboard the HMS Surprise in the midst of the Napoleonic Wars. The film remains beloved two decades later due to its story and impressive staging of naval battles, with these sequences shot aboard replica ships shot in the open sea and in studio water tanks. It earned 10 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director, and won two: Best Cinematography and Best Sound Editing.
In an Instagram post, Peristere called it a cornerstone of the Battle of the Gullet. He also referenced the painting The Battle of Trafalgar, by J.M. Turner, sharing that he, cinematographer PJ Dillon, and some of the House of the Dragon crew spent a day looking at the painting and attending a 35mm screening of Master and Commander to be fully prepped to shoot the episode.
“These two works of art became the cornerstones of building Battle of the Gullet,” Peristere wrote in his Instagram caption. “Turner turned the English court and the art world upside down with this masterpiece, blending time and space of key events in the famous battle. He also fearlessly depicted the dead, drowning, and burning bodies of helpless sailors. The rich layers in the work elicit all of the elements of a Naval battle, much of which Peter Weir leaned into in his film.”
The House of the Dragon director also revealed that over 1,000 artists were involved in the series’ opening episode and had a hand in the making of the 25-minute naval battle.
Bringing the Battle of the Gullet to life
In an interview with Variety, Peristere shared why he wanted to show the film to his crew.
“We need to go back to what epic means for battles at sea,” he said. The epic helped them all create the “living, breathing life of a ship.”
While Master and Commander is praised for its action, large parts of the film are spent focusing on the everyday life of the sailors, showing the toll of their physical labor. The film was critically acclaimed upon its release, but many audience members were surprised by its tone and pace, especially following the success of Crowe’s previous blockbuster, Gladiator.
“There was a really big desire from all of us, despite being surrounded by blue screens, to put it all on the deck. Even though we’ve got land, sea and air, we wanted everything that was on the deck to be legitimate and real and present,” Peristere continued. “So when you’re with Sharako and she calls the order, ‘Take the ship!’ it’s like we are with her, and we do that uninterrupted cut [with a] little seamless stitch that you don’t even see.”
The attention to detail was necessary. The Battle of the Gullet pits Lord Corlys Velaryon’s fleet against the Triarchy armada recruited by the Greens in season 2. It also features three dragons and their riders, taking the audience through the perspective of many of the characters involved in the fight. It’s a sequence that series showrunner Ryan Condal says has haunted him ever since he first pitched the show.
“This has been haunting [designer] Jim [Clay] and I for the better part of four years now,” Condal said at a preview event in early June (via Variety). “This sequence, I will confidently say, is unlike anything that’s ever been done on television before.”
Condal added: “Certainly, the amount of construction that you guys [Clay and his team] did for just for one episode is kind of crazy and frankly irresponsible. But it was necessary to tell the story. I mean, this is such a seminal moment in the show.”
While it took two years of painful set up, The Battle of the Gullet is finally here. Nothing will ever be the same for the show’s characters, and the entire thing owes a great debt to Russell Crowe and Peter Weir.
House of the Dragon airs Sundays at 9 p.m. Eastern on HBO. Episode 1 is available on HBO Max