10 bits from Fire & Blood they should have kept in House of the Dragon

6. Criston Cole convinces Aegon Targaryen to take the crown

Episode 9 has some issues, most of which could be cleared up by sticking closer to the book. The episode is about a plot to crown Aegon king, but we get to spend precious little time with Aegon himself. And when we do finally see him, he’s screaming in the streets about not wanting to be king while members of the Kingsguard fight over whether he’s going to talk to his mother or his grandfather first. It’s all very weird.

In the book, after King Viserys has died, there’s a scene where Criston Cole finds Aegon with his mistress and convinces him that he must take the throne, however much he doesn’t want to. Aegon protests that a brother should not steal his sister’s throne, but Criston argues that if he doesn’t assume power, Rhaenrya will have him killed once she takes it herself. Only then does Aegon buck up and do what he thinks he has to.

I would have liked to see this conversation. I wanted Aegon to really work through his feelings about becoming the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, rather than scream that he’s unqualified in a scene that’s really about something else. A scene like this could have helped deepen Criston’s character, as well.

7. Alicent Hightower crowns her daughter Helaena as queen

Let’s move forward to Aegon’s coronation as king. Criston Cole crowns Aegon, on the show as in the book. But Aegon won’t be ruling alone. He’s married to his sister Helaena (ew, I know), which means that she’ll also rule as his queen. In the book, there’s a beat where Alicent places a crown on her daughter’s head and then kneels before her. The show leaves this out. It’s not a huge moment, but I think it would have been nice to include it.

8. Aegon rides his dragon Sunfyre after being crowned

On the show, after Aegon is crowned, Rhaenys Targaryen interrupts the ceremony by bursting through the floor on her dragon Meraxes. She stares down the greens for a moment, takes off and flies away, and the episode ends.

None of this happens in Fire & Blood. In the book, after Aegon is crowned, he gets on his dragon Sunfyre and does a few triumphant laps around the Dragonpit.

There are a lot of things I didn’t like about the final sequence in Episode 9, and I would have much preferred HBO stick with the book version. Rhaenys interruption felt forced, and took the spotlight away from a moment that should have been about the greens making their first big move in the Dance of the Dragons, for good or ill.