House of the Dragon is well into its first season (with confirmation of a second season), but with time jumps, a changing cast, and so many characters; it may be difficult to follow if you’re not familiar with the Fire & Blood book.

The series takes place around 200 years before the Game of Thrones storyline and is full of political intrigue, betrayals, and a look at the Targaryen dynasty in the lead-up to the civil war known as the Dance of Dragons.

But it also introduces some less familiar houses, a slew of new characters each episode, and time jumps and cast changes that could make the narrative a bit overwhelming for newcomers.

Luckily, if you’re a bit confused, HBO has a character guide, dragon index, and map that you can check out.

House of the Dragon character guide

While HBO has a dedicated minisite for House of the Dragon, it’s easy to miss the built-in guides on the site.

Of these guides, the House of the Dragon character guide is one of the most useful. It takes the form of a family tree of the major houses (Velaryon, Targaryen, and Hightower). It also provides an overview of characters from smaller houses or other groups, such as the Kingsguard, King’s Council, and “other key players”.

Clicking on a character loads their bio, which is updated with each episode.

If you want to avoid spoilers, I recommend only visiting this site after you’ve watched the latest episode, since it is updated with character deaths and marriages.

However, it’s a useful guide, especially after an episode laden with new faces and characters.

Dragon index

One of the most exciting elements of House of the Dragon are the actual dragons. In Game of Thrones, viewers were only able to see Daenerys Targaryen’s three young dragons.

House of the Dragon is set before the major decline in dragons. As a result, there are plenty more of these magical creatures to see, of varying sizes and appearances.

But time isn’t always taken to differentiate the dragons from each other, which makes it difficult to keep track of their names and riders.

The House of the Dragon Dragon Index makes that much easier to do. The index includes dragons that have been named or appear in the series.

Like the character guide, you can click on an image or avatar of the dragon to see more information about it. Again, if you want to avoid spoilers, only check this guide after viewing the latest episode.

Map of Westeros

While House of the Dragon features familiar locations, it also includes a series of new or previously unseen places.

The Map of Westeros helps you navigate the geography of the current story. Not all locations are interactable, but glowing locations allow you to click for more information.

Hopefully, if you were feeling confused before, these guides can help you make sense of exactly what has been happening in House of the Dragon.

_{Feature image: HBO}