Hello everyone and welcome to your English lesson with House of the Dragon (season 2). Today, I have decided to change how the lesson goes. I don't pick a particular scene from the series. Instead, I made an overview of the whole first episode, and explained some difficult vocabulary in it. Perhaps, this lesson may contain a spoiler, but I tried to avoid this. I only want to help English learners start watching TV series in English confidently.
Let's watch and learn.
The first episode begins with Jacaerys, Rhaenyra’s son, flies north of Winterfell to make an alliance with Cregan Stark at the Wall. Let's watch this conversation.
Now, we'll look closer at this clip and learn new words and phrases.
'sooner' here means 'rather than', emphasizes that Torrhen Stark would rather die than bend his knee.
Let's see how the words "would have" work in this sentence, 'Torrhen Stark would've sooner died than bent the knee'.
'would have' is a modal verb used to refer back to a time in the past from a point of view in the future.
It means that, in the past, Torrhen Stark would rather die than surrender (bend the knee). And "would have" tells us this wasn't a real choice he made, but it shows his strong character.
'would have' is a modal verb used to refer back to a time in the past from a point of view in the future.
It means that, in the past, Torrhen Stark would rather die than surrender (bend the knee). And "would have" tells us this wasn't a real choice he made, but it shows his strong character.
A "conqueror" is someone who wins a war and takes control of another land or people. This refers to the king Aegon Targaryen, who united the Seven Kingdoms through conquest.
'unity' means being together as one, like a team working well together peacefully, without arguing or fighting with each other. This shows how peaceful and stable Aegon's conquest made things.
'threatened' means in danger, or likely to stop existing.
'realm' means a country ruled by a king or queen. Here, it refers to the entire kingdom, the Seven Kingdoms.
"tear itself apart" here means to fight so much that it falls apart, or to fall into civil war, and breaks the country into two or more pieces.
'oath' means a solemn promise, especially that you will tell the truth in a law court, or, in this case, to King Viserys.
'swear' means to promise or say firmly that you are telling the truth or that you will do something or behave in a particular way.
Stay tuned for part 2!