Fire & Blood vs House of the Dragon: Episode 3, “Second of His Name”

House of the Dragon is based on the book Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin. How does the show change the source material? Let’s dig into it! Beware SPOILERS below.

Episode 3 of House of the Dragon was different from the first two. Maybe it was the many great houses coming together, a king getting drunk, a hunt and a wild boar all in one episode, but it gave me really strong Game of Thrones season 1 vibes.

In terms of adaptation, “Second of His Name” expanded greatly on the few things Martin tells us in his book Fire & Blood. The changes we see mostly stem from things we’ve already discussed for Episode 1 and Episode 2.

For example, from Fire & Blood we know that Rhaenyra and Alicent looked to be amicable (that’s what the in-story sources say, at least) at the beginning of the Alicent-Viserys marriage and only after Alicent bore the king a son did their bad blood start. In Episode 3, we’re told that Rhaenyra has been “angry” for years, which is understandable given that her best friend married her father; she’s been betrayed by both of these people in her life.

The book tells us that King’s Landing became an endless round of feasts every time a new child was born to King Viserys and his new wife Queen Alicent. The whole first half of the episode is based on this one line in the book, so it’s hard to talk about changes. The pomp shown at the celebration for Aegon’s second name day and at the hunt is indicative of the long peace that’s ruled over the Seven Kingdoms for years. In contrast, we see the army at the Stepstones struggling for food and resources.

Adaptation in the Stepstones

In the book, we don’t know much about what this group of warriors talks about in the Stepstones. I don’t believe Laenor Velaryon is ever mentioned to even be there in the book, but it would not be that far-fetched for Lord Corlys to bring his son to war with him. The only reason we have to believe that Laenor wasn’t there in the book is that he only receives his knighthood before he marries Rhaenyra. In fact, he is knighted because of his impending marriage; he wasn’t much interested in violence.

But in “Second of His Name,” we have Laenor beoing a fine military strategist, proposing the strategy that Daemon will use later use to draw out the Crabfeeder, as well as a fierce fighter on dragonback. The flying is consistent with the book, as Laenor bonded with his dragon Seasmoke by 101 AC and rode him shortly after.

Daemon shoots the messenger

“Second of His Name” includes a couple of tiny details from Fire & Blood, like the mention of Lady Johanna Swann being captured by pirates and sold to a pillow house in Lys. This has zero consequences on the plot, but it’s cool to see that Ryan Condal and episode co-writer Gabe Fonseca paying close attention to the source text. Similarly, when Daemon receives Viserys’ letter, he takes it out on the messenger just like he does in a different instance in Fire & Blood: “In the Vale, Prince Daemon reportedly whipped the serving man who brought the news to him within an inch of his life” when he learns that Alicent would marry his brother. Different event, same reaction. Either way, Viserys is frustrating his little brother.

In this episode, Viserys makes it a point to say at various times that he won’t help Daemon in his endeavor in the Stepstones because it’s a war the Crown did not approve of, and only relents thanks to Alicent reframing the argument for him. In the book, we are told a slightly different story: “Viserys supported the war with regular infusions of gold” from the beginning, because it would keep Daemon “out of trouble” (and away from King’s Landing, to Otto Hightower’s utmost happiness).

Daemon vs the Crabfeder

It was interesting how the creators of this episode decided not to show us the final showdown between Daemon and the Crabfeeder; we only see Daemon carrying his enemy’s torn body out of the cave. In the book, we get a beautiful illustration of Daemon cutting off the Crabfeeder’s head (on page 364 of my Harper Voyager hardcover edition).

What did you think of this week’s episode and the changes?

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