Every change House of the Dragon season 2 made to Fire & Blood, and whether they were good or bad

The second season of House of the Dragon aired on HBO and Max between June 14 and August 4 of 2024. This is the first big prequel series that HBO has spun off from Game of Thrones, one of the most successful TV shows of the past couple decades, and one of the biggest fantasy series ever.

House of the Dragon is based on the book Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin, which is framed as a historical account of this period of Westerosi history, "written" by a man named Archmaester Gyldayn, who is piecing together the story from a variety of someimtes unreliable sources. The show changes a ton about the source material, so if you read the book beforehand, you may not have found it much help while watching the show. I thought it would be interesting to walk through the text and catalog what changes the show made, and give some thoughts on whether they were well-judged.

Daemon Targaryen in Harrenhal

The second season of House of the Dragon begins with Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen mourning the death of her son Lucerys, who was killed by her half-brother Aemond at the end of the first season. War was already brewing between Rhaenyra and her other half-brother King Aegon at this point, and Luke's death makes it all but inevitable.

In both the book and the show, Rhaenyra's husband Daemon leaves her stronghold of Dragonstone and makes for Harrenhal, a massive, crumbling castle in the Riverlands where he intends to establish a military toehold. However, the timing is different; in the book, Daemon leaves Dragonstone before Luke is killed, whereas on the show he leaves after. That'll be important when we discuss the Blood and Cheese incident, but for now, let's focus on what Daemon gets up to at Harrenhal.

Daemon arrives at Harrenhal on p 412 of my copy of Fire & Blood. As in the show, he meets no resistance; castellan Ser Simon Strong welcomes him openly. As for what he gets up to at Harrenhal, the show quickly diverges from the book. For instance:

• On the show, we learn that Larys Strong, technically the lord of Harrenhal, had taken much of the Strong family wealth out of the castle and stored it elsewhere. This is the opposite of what we're told in the book. From p 413: "In addition to the castle, Prince Daemon at a stroke had captured the not-inconsiderable wealth of House Strong and a dozen valuable hostages, amongst them Ser Simon and his grandsons."
• On the show, Daemon spends a lot of time with Alys Rivers, a healer living at Harrenhal. In the book, she is a wet nurse, and we learn little about her at this point other than that she didn't have much effect on Daemon. On p 413: "Whatever her powers, it would seem Daemon Targaryen was immune to them, for little is heard of this supposed sorceress whilst the prince held Harrenhal."
• On House of the Dragon, Daemon has various visions and dreams about people he wronged in his past. In the season finale, he has a vision of the wars to come. It's implied that Alys is somehow involved in these visions. The book makes no mention of any of them.
• On House of the Dragon, Daemon has a ton of trouble getting people in the Riverlands to trust and follow him, especially the high lords. In Fire & Blood, he seems to have little to no problem, especially with the smallfolk. From p 413: "When Prince Daemon sent forth his call to arms, they rose up all along the rivers, knights and men-at-arms and humble peasants who yet remembered the Realm's Delight [Rhaenyra Targaryen], so beloved of her father, and the way she smiled and charmed them as she made her progress through the riverlands in her youth. Hundreds and then thousands buckled on their swordbelts and donned their mail, or grabbed a pitchfork or a hoe and a crude wodden shield, and began to make their way to Harrenhal to fight for Viserys's little girl."
• In the third episode of House of the Dragon season 2, the same episode where Daemon Targaryen arrives at Harrenhal, we see Houses Blackwood and Bracken face off in the Battle of the Burning Mill, the first official battle of the Dance of the Dragons. In the book, this battle doesn't happen until well after Daemon arrives in the Riverlands.
• After the Battle of the Burning Mill has happened in the book, Daemon and an army of soldiers loyal to various Riverlords attack the Bracken stronghold of Stone Henge and take hostage much of Lord Humphrey Bracken's family. Rather than see them come to harm, Lord Hymphrey yields, ending any serious resistance to Daemon in the Riverlands. Something very different happens in the show: Daemon conspires with Lord Willem Blackwood to attack Bracken lands. Willem goes too far, and many of the same lords who in the book help Daemon attack the Brackens — including the leaders of Houses Piper and Mooton — chastise Daemon for bringing violence to the Riverlands. They withhold their support, whereas in the book they pledge themselves to Daemon after some little hesitation. From p 414: "The lords of the Trident, having more to lose, were not so quick to move, but soon enough they too began to throw their lots in with the queen. From the Twins rode Ser Ferrest Frey...The Mootons of Maidenpool, the Pipers of Pinkmaiden Castle, and the Vances of Wayfarer's Rest all announced their support for Rhaenyra." On the show, the lords only follow Daemon after the young Lord Oscar Tully rallies them with a speech and Daemon executes Willem. This does not happen in the book.
• On the show, Daemon is contemplating raising an army loyal to him and taking King's Landing for himself, rather than acting on behalf of his wife and queen Rhaenyra. He finally recommits to her in the season 2 finale when she visits Harrenhal, after a vision of the future has convinced him to change his attitude. In the book, it's never implied that Daemon's isn't working on Rhaenyra's behalf, and she doesn't Harrenhal.

Were the changes to Daemon's storyline good or bad?

As you can see, House of the Dragon changed a lot about Daemon's story from Fire & Blood, I think too much. It's one thing to change something here and there and justify it by saying that Fire & Blood is told by an unreliable narrator, but when it comes to Daemon's story, the show often does the opposite of what the book says. Daemon quickly rolls over the Riverlands in the book but screws up at every turn on the show. He has little to no contact with Alys in the book but she's a huge part of his story in the show. And then there are all the additions, including the dreams, visions, and Rhaenyra's visit. I don't think these kinds of huge changes can be waved away by saying Archmaester Gyldayn was biased or didn't have all the information. House of the Dragon has basically crafted an entirely new story for Daemon.

And I wouldn't mind if that new story was a step up from what we got in the book, but I think most of the changes were for the worse. I wasn't alone in thinking that Daemon's dreams and visions got tiresome very quickly. They were mostly shallow and obvious, and there were a lot of them, so many that the novelty soon wore off. I also don't think it's dramatically satisfying to watch a character like Daemon, who in the first season was very dynamic and capable, fail at everything he tries. It resulted in a halted, skittering pace.

I don't mind changing things so Daemon is contemplating raising an army for himself; I think that creates an interesting conflict with Rhaenyra, and I enjoyed their reunion in the season finale. But I think it was a slog to get there, and I don't like the idea of pinning so much of Daemon's attitude adjustment on a magical vision rather than something internal. For me, Daemon's time at Harrenahl was the weakest part of the season.

Blood and Cheese

Let's circle back to the aftermath of Luke's death. In Fire & Blood, Daemon is already at Harrenhal when he hears of the death of his stepson. He writes to Rhaenyra promising vengeance: "An eye for an eye, a son for. a son. Lucerys shall be avenged." After that, Daemon reaches out to Mysaria, who's still living in King's Landing. Although we don't learn all the details, it's implied that she hires a pair of mercenaries known to history only as Blood and Cheese. Cheese to be a ratcatcher in the Red Keep, so he knows it well. They sneak in and kill King Aegon's young son Prince Jaehaerys in front of his mother Helaena, leaving with the prince's head.

The show keeps the broad strokes of this event, but a lot of the specifics are different. To start, Daemon is still on Dragonstone when he hears about Luke's death, and he only acts after a distraught Rhaenyra returns to the castle and says the words, "I want Aemond Targaryen." At this point, Mysaria has fled King's Landing after Larys Strong burned her manse. She is picked up by the Velaryon blockade and brought to Dragonstone. Daemon gets her to tell him about two people who might be able to sneak into the Red Keep and get revenge for Luke, and she gives him the names of Blood and Cheese.

In the show, Daemon heads to King's Landing himself to meet with Blood and Cheese rather than working through intermediaries. He asks them to kill Aemond specifically, but it's implied that if they can't find Aemond, he doesn't mind if they go off-mission. The idea that Blood and Cheese may not have been specifically gunning for Jaehaerys lines up with a line from Fire & Blood, on p 424: "Some say the quarry was the king himself, but Aegon was accompanied by the Kingsguard wherever he went." Indeed, on the show, Blood and Cheese pass through the Iron Throne room while King Aegon is on the throne, but he's way too guarded for them to make an attempt on his life even if they wanted to.

Blood and Cheese also couldn't get into Maegor's Holdfast, where the royal family lived, or so the book tells us. Instead, they make their way to Alicent Hightower's room in the Tower of the Hand. Alicent is already there. Blood and Cheese strangle Alicent's bedmaid and bind and gag the Queen Dowager herself before settling in to wait for Queen Helaena, who they knew had a habit of bringing her children to Alicent's room every evening so they could see their grandmother before bed. Helaena does indeed arrive with her children and her guardsman, whom Blood and Cheese kill.

All of this makes Blood and Cheese seem much more intentional than they do on the show, where they ascend to the royal apartments and just kind of wander around until they run into Helaena with her children. They also don't meet any resistance in the form of guards. Finally, Alicent is not present for the confrontation with Helaena, but rather having sex with Criston Cole elsewhere, a new romantic element invented for the show.

On the show, Helaena has two children: the twins Jaehaerys and Jaehaera. Blood and Cheese are here to kill a son, so they make Helaena identify which is the boy; they're young so they look the same at a glance. While Blood and Cheese decapitate Jaehaerys, Helaena picks up Jaehaera and runs out of the room, eventually walking in on her mother and Criston Cole having sex. "They killed the boy," Helaena says.

in the book, Helaena has three children: the twins Jaehaerys and Jaehaera and a younger son named Maelor. Blood and Cheese make Helaena choose which of her sons they will kill. Tearfully, Helaena eventually chooses Maelor. Blood and Cheese then kill Jaehaerys instead. Blood and Cheese leave Helaena, Maelor, Jaehaera and the headless body of Jaehaerys in the room as they flee the castle.

In both book and show, Blood is captured and brought into the Red Keep. In the book, we're told that he confessed who had hired him after under torture and dies 13 days later. On the show, he confesses immediately and seems to die by Aegon's hand just as fast. In the book, Cheese is never found, but on the show we see his corpse hanging among the ratcatchers that Aegon has hanged from the walls of the Red Keep, something he also does in the book, although we never hear mention of his grandfather Otto Hightower chewing him out over the decision.

In the book, Queen Helaena sinks into a deep depression after witnessing the decapitation of her son. On the show, we don't really get much of an idea of how she's feeling. A couple episodes after this she'll reason that she has little reason to be upset when commonborn women lose their children all the time.

While we're talking about Helaena, we should mention that there's no hint in the book that she's a seer or has prophetic dreams; that's an element that's been added for the show. In the book, she's described as a good-natured, friendly woman who is well-liked and who is badly traumatized after witnessing her son's murder.

Were the changes to the Blood and Cheese story good or bad?

The Blood and Cheese incident was another downgrade from the book. I didn't mind the changes in the leadup to the event, although having Daemon travel to King's Landing himself rather than work through intermediaries did kick off a troubling trend where characters seemed to pass between King's Landing and Dragonstone with little to no difficulty despite these two places being at war. That started to beggar belief the deeper we got into the season.

My problems with the Blood and Cheese scene had more to do with how it was executed. The show puts a lot of emphasis on the experience of Blood and Cheese, which I liked; we spend time with them as they make their way through the castle and watch them argue about what to do next. I didn't mind that Alicent wasn't present for the main event or even that the show cut Maelor; mainly I was disappointed that we spent so little time with Helaena. We follow Blood and Cheese until they stumble upon her, rather than follow her until she is stumbled upon. I think reversing that would have helped put Helaena at the center of the scene and made it stronger.

Helaena is very placid as Blood and Cheese kill her son. It's true that Fire & Blood maintains that the queen "kept her calm," but that goes away once she realizes what these men are there to do. "Queen Helaena pleaded with the men to kill instead," the book tells us on p 425. And when she finally names Maelor, she does it "on her knees, weeping." The show has already made it hard to connect with Helaena, and I wish it had allowed her to express more emotion in these moments so we could empathize with her pain and fear.

The weirdest part of the Blood and Cheese incident on the show may be how little it seems to affect Helaena. In the book, she's a wreck to the point where Alicent has to take care of Maelor, since Helaena can't bear to look at him after choosing him to die. On the show, we never learn how the incident has affected Helaena's relationship with her surviving child Jaehaera, whom we never see again. And like I said, Helaena is already claiming she has no reason to feel sad just a couple episodes later. The idea that a parent who watched their young child get decapitated would just bounce back like this, regardless of how much worse other people have it...I'm not sure what to make of it. It doesn't seem like a very believable or human reaction, and Helaena doesn't have much of a presence in the rest of the season. I wish the show had stuck closer to the book on this score.

The Battle of Rook's Rest (and the aftermath)

The Battle of Rook's Rest is the big action set piece of the season, and it's very accurate to the book. The one big change involves Aegon: on the show, Aegon leaves King's Landing on his dragon Sunfyre somewhat impulsively, determined to join the battle and prove his mettle. In Fire & Blood, we don't hear anything to suggest that he wasn't involved in the planning for the battle from the beginning. Nor do we hear that Aemond took the opportunity to try and kill his brother, hoping to claim the Iron Throne for himself, which is a huge moment on the show.

Other than that, the battle plays out onscreen more or less the same as it does on the page. However, we start running into changes in the aftermath. One of the biggest is that, on the show, we're told several times that Aegon's dragon Sunfyre is dead, whereas the book makes it plain that the dragon survived and is slowly healing near Rook's Rest. Sunfyre has some major stuff left to do in the book, so I wonder if the show isn't faking us out by mentioning his death over and over. On TV, the rule is generally that if a death doesn't happen onscreen, it doesn't happen at all, and the last time we see Sunfyre he's injured but alive. More on that in season 3.

In the book as on the show, Aemond takes over for his injured brother Aegon on the Iron Throne. It happens pretty quickly on the page. From p 438: "And so one-eyed Aemond the Kinslayer took up the iron-and-ruby crown of Aegon the Conqueror. 'It looks better on me than it ever did on him,' the prince proclaimed." We don't get that line. Instead, the show adds in a wrinkle where Alicent tries to put forward her bid to rule as regent and is shut down, something we don't hear about in the book.

Meanwhile, on Dragonstone, news of Rhaenys' death at the Battle of Rook's Rest inspires consternation among Rhaenyra's advisors. In the book, Rhaenys' husband Corlys is especially angry. He and Rhaenyra have a heated argument about it, from p 439: "When word reached Dragonstone that Princess Rhaenys had fallen, angry words were exchanged between the queen and Lord Velaryon, who blamed her for his wife's death. 'It should have been you,' the Sea Snake shouted at Her Grace. 'Staunton sent to you, yet you left it to my wife to answer and forbade your sons to join her.'" Corlys is so angry that he almost leaves Rhaenyra's side and takes his fleet of ships with him, but Rhaenyra's son Jace convinces him to stay on as Rhaenyra's hand.

The show changes up most of that. There is no argument between Rhaenyra and Corlys, and it's Baela who helps convince Corlys to take up a position as Hand of the Queen, not Jace.

Were the changes to the Battle of Rook's rest (and the aftermath) good or bad?

I think the changes made to the Battle of Rook's Rest itself were the best made all season. Having Aegon enter the battle unexpectedly added to the tension, and Aemond trying to burn Aegon out of the sky was a huge emotional turning point for the brothers. These changes heightened the drama but didn't go too far afield of the source material. I liked them a lot.

I'm more split on the aftermath. I liked the scene where Alicent puts forward her name as regent only to be passed over for Aemond, but it kind of bleeds into a different scene the next episode where Aemond dismisses her from the Small Council. I feel like the show could have saved some time and combined those scenes. I would have preferred more time with Aemond or Helaena; Helaena in particular is a bit of a cipher the whole season.

But the scene I'm most upset got cut was the argument between Rhaenyra and Corlys. Corlys Velaryon had very little in the way of an arc this season, and letting him get angry in the wake of his wife's death only to calm down and return later would have been a great way to touch base with his character. I didn't mind Baela rather than Jace being the one to convince him to take the Hand of the Queen position, but I wanted more from Corlys. And who wouldn't want to watch Rhaenyra and Corlys, two of the best characters on the series played by two of the best actors on the series, hash it out? It seemed like the book was giving the show a juicy dramatic scene on a platter only to be turned down. If I could add any one cut scene from Fire & Blood back into House of the Dragon season 2, it would be this one.

Jace, Baela and Rhaena

Rhaenyra's son Jace and her step-daughters Baela and Rhaena came more to the fore in House of the Dragon season 2, and they all had pretty good showings. The series left a bunch out, though, and added in a fair bit of new stuff.

Jace's journey begins right at the top of the season when he visits the Wall to treat with Lord Cregan Stark. In Fire & Blood, we hear about how Jace and Cregan bonded at Winterfell, going hunting and hawking together. We even hear a rumor about Jace falling in love with and marrying a Northern girl named Sara Snow, although even the book dismisses this as gossip. On the show, all we get is one scene Jace and Cregan discussing the war on the Wall, without much to indicate that they're grown close.

In the book, Jace stops by the Vale before he heads to the North. There, he convinces Lady Jeyne Arryn to support Rhaenyra. This happens on the show, too, but we don't see it. We first meet Lady Jeyne when Rhaenyra sends Rhaena Targaryen to the Vale. Rhaenyra reasons that, with war afoot, Rhaena will be safer in the Vale. Rhaenyra also sends her younger sons Joffrey, Viseris II and Aegon III with Rhaena, together with some dragon eggs. Much the same thing happens in the book, only it's Jace who comes up with the idea to send his younger brothers and step-sister away, not Rhaenyra.

On the show, there's a scene where Jace defies his mother's orders not to fly afield on his dragon Vermax; he visits the Freys in the Riverlands, where he gets them to bend the knee to Rhaenyra and convincies them to allow Cregan Stark's army of Northmen to cross the bridge at the Twins when they march south. This visit is invented for the show. In the book, the Freys align themselves with Daemon, as does every Riverlands house other than the Brackens.

In the show as in the book, Jace and Baela are engaged. The book gives us some more information on their relationship, from p 440: "Long betrothed to Prince Jacaerys, [Baela] refused to leave him, insisting that she would fight beside him on her own dragon...though Moondancer was too small to bear her weight. Though Baela also announced her intenet to marry Jace at once, no wedding was ever held. Munken says the prince did not wish to wed until the war was over, whilst Mushroom claims Jacaerys was already married to Sara Snow, the mysterious bastard girl from Winterfell."

As mentioned, in the book, Baela's dragon Moondancer is too small for her to ride at this point in the story. On the show, Moondancer is bigger. Baela flies around quite a bit in season 2, going on ranging missions for Rhaenyra and ferrying messages between Dragonstone and Driftmark. Baela's best scene of the season is probably when she spots Criston Cole and Gwayne Hightower on the march from King's Landing and very nearly dive-bombs them. That scene is added for the show.

Are the changes made to Jace, Baela and Rhaena's stories good or bad?

I don't have many problems with the show switching things around a bit for Jace, Baela and Rhaena. As I said, I think Baela's scene where she dive-bombs Criston Cole is her best showing all season, and that was invented for TV.

I wish we could have seen more of Jace's time in the North, but I imagine the writers didn't feel they could afford to spend too much time away from the main action further south. I also enjoyed Jace's visit to the Twins and didn't mind them having Rhaenyra come up with the idea to send Rhaena away, rather than Jace. I do wish we could have seen Jace visit Lady Jeyne in the Vale, mainly because Lady Jeyne gives this great little speech, from p 415:

"Thrice have mine own kin sought to replace me...My cousin Ser Arnold is wont to say that women are too soft to rule. I have him in one of my sky cells, if you would like to ask him. Your Prince Daemon used his first wife most cruelly, it is true...but notwithstanding your mother's poor taste in consorts, she remains our rightful queen, and mine own blood besides, an Arryn on her mother's side. In this world of men, we women must band together. The Vale and its knights shall stand with her...if Her Grace will grant me one request."

That request, as we learn from Jace, is a dragon, which Rhaenyra kinda-sorta honors by sending a few teeny-tiny dragons to help defend the Vale from whatever might descend on it from above. And if we didn't get this speech from Lady Jeyne when Jace visited, I hoped we would get it when Rhaena arrived in the Vale. Maybe they'll rework it for season 3. It's a good speech!

Finally, I wish the show gave us a better idea of what Jace and Baela mean to each other. They're engaged, but do they see the engagement as purely political, or do they actually have romantic feelings for each other? Adapting that bit from the book where Baela wants to get married immediately but Jace wants to wait until after the war could have helped answer that question.

The dragonseeds

In the back half of the season, Rhaenyra sets out on a quest to recruit new dragonriders. She and Jace get the idea to try and find riders for the riderless dragons living on Dragonstone. At first they approach Ser Steffon Darklyn, a member of Rhaenyra's Queenguard, but he is burned to death trying to mount the dragon Seasmoke.

That's pretty much exactly as it's described in Fire & Blood. The difference is that, in the book, Rhaenyra and Jace first approach only noble-born people, whereas in the book they put out a call for anyone — noble, peasant or bastard — to try their hands at riding dragons. There's no suggestion in the book that Rhaenyra pitches the idea to Steffon directly, just that he's one of many people who try to mount a dragon and die trying.

On the show, Rhaenyra has a breakthrough when her counselor Mysaria suggests recruiting lowborn Targaryen bastards, a suggestion that the fool Mushroom (who does not appear in the show at all) makes to Jace in the book. Mysaria recruits these potential dragonriders from King's Landing, where they live in the shadow of the Red Keep. In the book, all of the potential dragon-riders are recruited directly from Dragonstone, where the Targaryens have been laying with locals and producing bastard children for centuries, so there's no need to smuggle them out of the city.

We don't get a ton of detail on the Red Sowing in the book, but I get the idea that it happened on an ad hoc basis, with peasants trying their hands to mount various dragons where and when they could. On the show, Rhaenyra corrals all the potential dragonriders, called dragonseeds, into a room at once, summons the dragon Vermithor, and lets the chips fall where they may. In the end, Hugh Hammer mounts Vermithor and Ulf White mounts Silverwing. Meanwhile, the dragon Seasmoke seeks out Addam of Hull, the bastard half-brother of Seasmoke's former rider Laenor Velaryon. It's at once more and less involved than the quick description we get in Fire & Blood of how these men got paired up with their dragons, from p 442:

"Vermithor, the Old King's dragon, bent his neck to a blacksmith's bastard, a towering man called Hugh the Hammer or Hard Hugh, whilst a pale-haired man-at-arms named Ulf the White (for his hair) or Ulf the Sot (for his drinking) mounted Silverwing, beloved of Good Queen Alysanne. And Seasmoke, who had once borne Lanor Velaryon, took onto his back a boy of ten-and-five known as Addam of Hull."

Throughout the season, we're parceled out hints that Addam of Hull and his brother Alyn are actually the bastard children of Corlys Velaryon, which is eventually confirmed. In the book, Corlys brings Addam and Alyn to Dragonstone personally not long after Rhaenys has died, and petitions Rhaenyra to remove the taint of bastardy from them, which she does. Jace is an enthusitic supporter of this idea in the book, whereas on the show he's against it, since he thinks allowing bastards to ride dragons calls attention to his own bastardy. Addam and Alyn haven't been legitimized on the show yet, although they may be later. In the book, Alyn also tries to mount a dragon but fails, whereas on the show it's only Addam who's interested in becoming a dragonrider.

In Fire & Blood, there's one more successful dragonseed: a young girl from Dragonstone named Nettles who gets the wild dragon Sheepstealer to trust her by bringing it a sheep to eat everyday. Nettles flies in Rhaenyra's air force alongside Hugh, Addam and Ulf. It looks like Nettles has been cut completely from House of the Dragon. Instead, the show has added in a new plotline where Rhaena Targaryen encounters a wild dragon in the Vale. Although the season ends before we find out what happens next, my guess is that this is the dragon is Sheepstealer and that Rhaena will ride it, eliminating the need for Nettles.

Are the changes made to the Dragonseeds story good or bad?

The show makes two big changes to the book regarding the dragonseeds. First, they change the nature of the Red Sowing. In the book, it's a person-by-person montage where many people try to mount a dragon and a few succeed. On the show, it's a big set piece where all the potentials are tested at once. This is very different, but pretty fun either way. I enjoyed the scale of the Red Sowing scene, and I liked Ulf White joyfully careening through the skies above King's Landing afterward, something that isn't mentioned in the book.

I wish the show hit the gas on the Alyn and Addam subplot a bit. It was starting to feel like they and Corlys were having the same scene on that one dock on Driftmark over and over. At the end of the season, very few people know about Addam and Alyn's true parentage. I'm sure that will change in season 3, but let's get a move on. As for Jace objecting to recruiting bastard dragon-riders rather than supporting it, I found his dilemma pretty compelling, so I'm okay with it.

The second big change is that House of the Dragon has cut Nettles. This one upset me because Nettles may be my favorite character from the book. I liked how directly she challenged the idea that one needed Targaryen blood to ride a dragon, since there's little hint in the book that she's anything other than an ordinary peasant girl. There's a tendency in fantasy to equate lineage and blood with importance and destiny; e.g. Aragorn being installed as king in The Lord of the Rings because his great-great-etc-grandfather was king, or Luke Skywalker in Star Wars being the main powerful Force guy because his father was the last main powerful Force guy. I liked that Nettles was able to fly a dragon just by being resourceful, pushing against that narrative. But on the show we have Rhaena, a member of the royal family, taking her place.

To be fair, the show may yet do something interesting with Rhaena and the dragon I assume is Sheepstealer, but we'll have to wait for season 3 to see.

Alicent and Rhaenyra

In Fire & Blood, Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower do not see each other for a long while after the death of Rhaenyra's father King Viserys Targaryen. In House of the Dragon, they meet twice during this span: once in Episode 203, when Rhaenyra sneaks into King's Landing to see Alicent; and once in the season 2 finale, when Alicent sneaks into Dragonstone to see Rhaenyra.

That second meeting ends with Alicent inviting Rhaenyra to take over the city of King's Landing when Aemond is away, saying she'll exercise her influence to make sure there is no resistance. Alicent does this knowing Rhaenyra will have to execute Alicent's son King Aegon, who was gravely injured after the Battle of Rook's Rest. The hope, it's implied, is that Rhaenyra taking the Iron Throne will help end the war.

In the book, Rhaenyra does eventually take over King's Landing and there is no reisitance, but that's because the City Watch is still loyal to Daemon Targaryen, not because of Alicent's influence. By and large, none of this happens in Fire & Blood, nor is it implied to have happened. In the book, Alicent and Rhaenyra fight on different sides of the war for its duration.

Are the changes made to Alicent and Rhaenyra's stories good or bad?

I did not like these additions. To start, Rhaenyra and Alicent crossing from King's Landing to Dragonstone and back so easily made it seem like there was no danger in infiltrating the enemy stronghold. Daemon sneaks into King's Landing in the season 2 premiere, Arryk Cargyll sneaks into Dragonstone in Episode 2, Rhaenyra sneaks into King's Landing in Episode 3, Elinda Massey slips into the city in Episode 5, the dragonseeds are shipped to Dragonstone in Episode 7, and Alicent sneaks to Dragonstone in the finale...The only one of those things to happen in the book is Arryk Cargyll sneaking into Dragonstone. And to be fair to Elinda Massey, at least no one was looking out for her. Otherwise, this parade of major characters (or in the case of the dragonseeds, a huge group of minor ones) crossing back and forth across this war zone started to feel very silly as the season went on. They tried to provide cover for Rhaenyra's visit by making her disguise herself as a nun, but that's pretty silly in and of itself. If the show wanted to make these immersion-breaking trips worth it, the payoffs had to be huge.

And in the case of Rhaenyra and Alicent, I don't think they were. For their Episode 3 meeting to work dramatically, we have to believe that Rhaenyra would be willing to infiltrate an enemy city because she thought there was hope of hammering out a peace deal with Alicent. But Alicent doesn't have that kind of authority, so it seemed hopelessly ill-judged. And later, we have to believe that Alicent would sacrifice her son and give up on her war effort in the hope that Rhaenyra taking the Iron Throne would put an end to the war, despite the fact that her son Aemond was still out there with a giant dragon and a lot of supporters. Also, it wasn't that long ago that Rhaenyra's husband took out a hit on Alicent's own grandson, who was decapitated in front of Alicent's daughter, the boy's mother. This is not mentioned during their conversation, possibly because it would be even harder to believe that Alicent would cross the aisle if it were. But ignoring it doesn't mean it isn't there. It's just another barrier to believing in this scene.

I simply didn't believe either of these turns. The writers of House of the Dragon seem invested in the idea that the relationship between Alicent and Rhaenyra is the emotional hinge on which the story turns, but every attempt to push them into the center feels forced. I didn't like how season 2 seemed to make it out like Rhaenyra's position was the reasonable, prudent one — remember that Daemon literally has a divine vision telling him Rhaenyra is the rightful queen — whereas the best the greens can muster is Aemond, who burns the town of Sharp Point and its people in anger, something he does not do in the book. Fire & Blood presents the actions of people on both sides of the conflict and lets readers come to their own conclusion, whereas House of the Dragon seems to have designated Rhaenyra as the morally correct choice. Even her old enemy Alicent is crossing over to help her.

I think there are good reasons to not want Rhaenyra on the throne. There's her baby-murdering husband, already mentioned. There's the frightening fanaticism of someone who believes they are destined to sit the Iron Throne according to prophecy. I wished the show would have dug into these issues rather than stacking the moral deck in Rhaenyra's favor, and I wish Rhaenyra and Alicent had remained in conflict. I think this development flattens both of their characters and makes them less rich and interesting.

Other Stuff

House of the Dragon season 2 made a lot of changes to Fire & Blood and not all of them slot neatly into categories. Let's hit a few more in bullet point form:

• In Fire & Blood, we meet Addam and Alyn's mother Marilda of Hull, who we learn on p 443 was "a canny trader and daring captain." She's not around on House of the Dragon, so I'm assuming she's dead in the world of the show. I liked the character in the book and would have liked to see her onscreen.
• While Rhaenyra, Aegon and Aemond fight in the Crownlands and Riverlands, there's a conflict brewing in the Reach between the Hightowers, who are obviously loyal to Aegon and his greens, and other noble houses loyal to Rhaenyra and her blacks. We hear about these conflicts on the show but don't see them up close. Perhaps House of the Dragon is saving that for season 3. At any rate, it sounds like they're planning to introduce Alicent's youngest son Daeron, who was sent away at a young age to be fostered in the city of Oldtown in the Reach. By the end of the season, Daeron's dragon Tessarion has taken to the sky. In the book, he can already fly her by this point in the story.
• In Fire & Blood, it's Otto Hightower who comes up with the plan to reach out to the Triarchy, an alliance between trio of cities on Essos that fought against Daemon and Corlys in season 1, to try and bring them into the war on the green side. On House of the Dragon, Aemond comes up with this idea. As for the Triarchy itself, it's pretty much as the book describes, right down to an envoy needing to mud wrestle a pirate caption to win their approval. There are a couple of differences, though. For one, on the show we learn that Tyland Lannister is sent as the envoy, whereas in the book they aren't identified. Also, the character of Racallio Ryndoon, a Triarchy leader, is merged into Sharako Lohar, another Triarchy bigwig, simplifying things a bit.
• Circling back to Otto Hightower, in the book he stays in King's Landing for the duration of the war. On the show, he leaves the city for parts unknown after the second episode. At the end of the season we see he's in prison somewhere. The show is well off the beaten path here, so I have no idea where he could be.
• In Fire & Blood, the information broker Mysaria helps Daemon facilitate the Blood and Cheese plot and then remains in King's Landing helping Rhaenyra with her war effort from the shadows. On House of the Dragon, Mysaria flees King's Landing and ends up on Dragonstone, where she establishes a personal relationship with Rhaenyra much earlier than in the book. In Episode 206, they even share an unexpected kiss. I thought Mysaria provided an interesting sounding board for Rhaenyra and liked the chemistry between the characters, so I was cool with this change.
• In that same episode, Rhaenyra and Mysaria conspire to take advantage of the starvation conditions in King's Landing (precipitated by Rhaenyra's own blockade of the city) and start a riot. They send food to King's Landing, knowing that the citizens will fight over the limited resources. This riot is invented for the show, but it's a clever plan and an exciting scene, so I was all for it.

Although there were plenty of changes I liked, overall I think the second season of House of the Dragon strayed too far from the source material, which was surprising after the first season stayed more or less true, with some deviations. This time around, the ratio of smart changes to foolhardy ones wasn't to my liking. I hope the show corrects course a bit in season 3, which is due out on HBO and Max in 2026.

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