Just as he did for Game of Thrones, Ramin Djawadi delivers once again in the soundtrack department for House of the Dragon.
Season 1
- "The Heirs of the Dragon
" in the prologue is about the day King Jaehaerys I and the Lords of Westeros chose the royal heir, accompanying Emma D'Arcy's narration. It's a solemn reprise of Daenerys Targaryen's theme befitting her wise ancestor, instantly turning it into that of her family as a whole and bringing the viewer back to Westeros. It ends on a note of danger auguring the division of House Targaryen and Succession Crisis to come. - The ever so epic theme of Game of Thrones is back for the openings starting with the second episode. By this point it's become as iconic to the franchise and as inseparable from it as the Star Wars theme for its own.
- "Reign of the Targaryens" kicks off the story with Syrax and the young Rhaenyra in flight, with the skyline of King's Landing below them. The piece itself invokes a number of notes from Daenerys Targaryen's own leitmotif, essentially making her theme tune the Bootstrapped Leitmotif of the entire Targaryen line.
- "Rhaenyra's Welcome" is a jaunty yet triumphant tune that conveys how peaceful and prosperous the rule of the Targaryens is at this point as Alicent and Rhaenyra stride through a castle teeming with activity.
- The ominously titled "The Prince That Was Promised", the first of many piano-and-cello pieces for this series' soundtrack, highlights not only the monumental change in Rhaenyra's life of being named heir, but also The Reveal of the Conqueror's Dream. This ties it to the downhill slope of the Long Night seen in Game of Thrones and casting what would have been Rhaenyra's ascent with the pallor of Doomed by Canon.
- Rhaenyra in the first half of the season gets backed by this resounding leitmotif when she returns from Dragonstone after confronting Daemon, brings her kill back to the royal hunt's camp, and embarks into King's Landing disguised as a page for adventure.
- House Velaryon's theme is a unique track employing woodwinds and percussions, with notes evoking the martial naval theme that in the previous show would be reminiscent of House Greyjoy's "What is Dead May Never Die." The key difference, of course, would be its more Asian- and Pacific Island-sounding tempo, which appropriately invokes the Old Valyrian heritage of the house. It is also invoked whenever Corlys is about to do something awesome.
- The Velaryon leitmotif is married together with the notes of "Reign of the Targaryens" and the notes of the main Game of Thrones theme in "True Meaning of Loyalty". The moment it plays in just happened to be Corlys's He's Back! moment, when he and Rhaenys affirms their alliance with Rhaenyra and reveals their now-total control over the Narrow Sea, allowing the Blacks to blockade King's Landing. It is also in this moment that Jace and Luke volunteer themselves to become the Blacks' emissaries on dragonback, fully rising to their roles as heirs of both their Targaryen and Velaryon heritage.
- "Fate of the Kingdoms" is an appropriately sinister piano piece that first features in Alicent's grand entrance at Rhaenyra's wedding banquet, the start of her metaphorical fall into the embittered and determined enemy of her former friend. The notes continue to reappear as a Leitmotif whenever Alicent is involved in shady dealings—especially with the enigmatic and creepy Larys Strong nearby (particularly in the burning of Harrenhal, as shown in Passing Judgment). It is even blended into Aegon II's coronation.
- Daemon and Laena's performative flight on Caraxes and Vhagar has an epic yet playful piece all their own.
- "Laena's Funeral" is a beautifully haunting and sombre piece that captures the sadness of the scene in which it plays.
- Rhaenyra and Daemon's beach love shack theme encapsulates all the longing of their final union and is remixed for the Valyrian wedding in the same episode.
- Aemond mounting and trying to claim Vhagar as the track goes from the boy being at the ancient she-dragon's mercy, to him learning the ropes and finally flying her with complete control.
- The entrance of King Viserys in Episode 8 brings a new kind of awesome to Djawadi's usual chords for the franchise, highlighting both the poignancy and power of the moment where the old and dying King Viserys steps in one last time to sit the Iron Throne, help his daughter and try to resolve the rift in the family before it comes to war and familicide and the kingdom bleeding over their mistakes. The title of the score? "Protector of The Realm".
- The theme that plays during the gathering of the Velaryons and Targaryens at the Red Keep (aptly named by some as the Targaryen Dinner Party) is a beautiful score that embodies Viserys' final moments with his family. Surrounded by everyone he's ever loved, he looks around with his old and withered eyes, seeing their smiling and laughing faces and the quietly merry ambience at the dinner table, a look of pure peace and joy on his face as he believes his family are a complete unit once more. The music sounds as though it were taken straight from Viserys' very emotions and it's perfectly symmetrical to the scene.
- Aegon II's Coronation has a slow-build up with dark undertones, symbolizing the usurpation of the Iron Throne and Aegon's reluctance to take it. But as it goes on, the score becomes more bold and confident, tying with Aegon accepting the crown as he realizes that being king gives him the one thing he's ever wanted: love and acceptance.
