The seventh episode of House of the Dragon, “Driftmark,” has perhaps the simplest structure of any installment so far: all the characters converge in one place, and everything happens in a limited amount of time, with the exception of the epilogue.
The episode revolves around the events following Laena Velaryon’s death and funeral, and is more character driven than plot driven. Only a few (terribly important) things happen, while much of the episode focuses on giving us deeper perspectives on many of the characters, their motives, aspirations, and dynamics. The episode doesn’t do much to change the source material — Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin — but it does expand on it.
And there are some proper changes as well, including one big one at the end. Let’s get into it.
Aemond Targaryen claims Vhagar, complete with consequences
In the book, Aemond Targaryen claims Vhagar at Laenor’s funeral, not Laena’s, so slightly later than on the show. The brawl between the children goes down a little differently on the page. In the book, Prince Joffrey, aged 3, sees Aemond approaching Vhagar and tries to stop him, but Aemond pushes him into a pile of dragon dung and moves on. While Aemond is riding Vhagar, Joffrey gets his older brothers: Jacaerys, aged 6, and Lucerys, aged 5, to back him up. They confront Aemond when he lands and out comes the eye.
On the show, it’s Baela and Rhaena Targaryen, Laena and Daemon’s twin daughters, who see Vhagar rise into the sky and wake up their cousins. The four kids fight Aemond together. Joffrey, who is still a baby on the show, doesn’t take part.
After the horrible ordeal, the children’s mothers quarrel. In the book it’s limited to words, but in House of the Dragon things get physical when Alicent grabs a dagger and tries to stab stab of Luke’s eye herself. While much of the dialogue in this scene is pulled from the book, Alicent and Rhaenyra’s knifepoint exchange is new, violent and visceral. They finally speak to each other plainly, letting out all the frustration after 10 years of cold war.
Alicent physically attacks Rhaenyra, cutting her wrist open. Fire & Blood doesn’t speak of any of this. In the book, Viserys commands that Alicent and Rhaenyra “kiss and exchange vows of love and affection.” The two pretend for the old king’s sake to put the past and their differences behind them.
Another change is that, in the book, Lord Lyonel and Ser Harwin Strong are both still alive. Also, in the book, Otto Hightower hasn’t yet been reinstated as Hand of the King.
Laenor Velaryon gets the happy ending he deserves
In the book, Laenor has died by the time the big “Eye for an Eye” scene happens. As mentioned, it goes down at his funeral. On the show, Laenor’s death the final twist instead of its inciting incident. And of course, on the show, Laenor doesn’t die at all, but only appears to.
The way the show re-wrote (or revealed?) Laenor’s fate brought me incredible joy. In the book, Qarl Correy, Laenor’s lover, kills him at a fair in Spicetown. Many believe he had been hired by Daemon to betray and assassinate Laenor, so Daemon could be free to marry Rhaenyra, and this has always made perfect logical sense to readers. House of the Dragon went with the official version, and then provided a concealed truth: that, in agreement with Rhaenyra, Daemon paid Qarl to only pretend to kill Laenor, and then arranged for them to run away together. Seeing Laenor — his head shaved of his Valyrian white hair — laugh in the boat with Qarl was the best way to see him for the last time.
This turn solves one of the issues I’ve always had with the book: Rhaenyra would of course understand that Daemon was involved in Laenor’s death, she knows him too well. It never sat right with me that she would simply forgive Daemon for ordering Laenor’s assassination, so the new spin makes things much more credible for me. Rhaenyra chose to free Laenor of the shackles of their marriage, of having to deny his identity to perform his duty to society. She granted him freedom and let him go. To a life of adventure, of liberty, of possibility. In turn, she got to marry Daemon, her twin flame, her equal. I like this scenario much more, knowing that the story let at least one queer character be happy.
There is only one thing that still makes me sad, but it constitutes a spoiler for next season, so skip on if you haven’t read Fire & Blood: Laenor will still die young, in the next decade, because Rhaenyra and Daemon might fool their children and Laenor’s parents, but they can’t fool Seasmoke. A bond between a dragon and his rider transcends distance, and Seasmoke would not, could not, accept another rider while Laenor is in this world.
In the book, Laenor’s dragon Seasmoke is eventually claimed by Addam of Hull. If they play by the rules of dragon-rider succession from the books, Laenor will have to have been dead by this point, because only then would Seasmoke accept another rider. When that happens, Rhaenyra will realize that Laenor is truly gone, and I hope the show can spare a few seconds to dedicate to Rhaenyra’s grief for her first husband, who was a loyal friend and ally. Hopefully Laenor will have died happy, free, perhaps in battle, reaching the adrenaline and glory he longed for in the decade he spent trapped in a lie in King’s Landing.
What did you think of “Driftmark”? Did you notice any other differences from Fire And Blood?
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