When Game of Thrones debuted in 2011, it quickly earned a reputation as one of television’s most ambitious and influential dramas. Among its sprawling cast of houses, the Targaryens loomed especially large — a once-exiled royal family that had ruled Westeros for nearly three centuries before the events of the series.

"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms," a "Thrones" prequel that premiered tonight on HBO, is a smaller, gentler, more comedic tale set roughly 100 years after "House of the Dragon."