House of the Dragon boss talks about expanding Mysaria's role from the book in season 2

We're still sorting through the House of the Dragon drama of the week, with A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin openly criticizing the show for changing too much of his book Fire & Blood, and showrunner Ryan Condal explaining himself on an emergency episode of HBO's House of the Dragon podcast.

We've already talked through Condal's explanations for why he cut important characters like Nettles and Maelor Targaryen. Now, let's hit what Condal has to say about Mysaria, the information broker who becomes an important confidante for Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon season 2.

Mysaria has a much bigger role in season 2 than she does at this point in the story in Fire & Blood. In the book, she's still in King's Landing, gathering intel in the shadows. In Fire & Blood, it's Mysaria who hires Blood and Cheese, assassins who infiltrate the Red Keep and kill young Prince Jaehaerys Targaryen. On the show, she merely gives Daemon the names of two people who might be up for this dirty job, and Daemon takes it the rest of the way.

Anyway, in Fire & Blood, Mysaria and Rhaenyra don't meet until Rhaenyra comes to King's Landing later on. On House of the Dragon, they develop a close working relationship on Dragonstone, even sharing an unexpected kiss at one point. Condal doesn't address any of these specific changes, but does talk in broad strokes about expanding Mysaria's role:

"Mysaria is one of these characters who I was always fascinated by in reading the text of Fire and Blood," Condal said. "Mysaria is one of these people who's a historical figure in the book and not really a character. She's very shadowy. She kind of weaves her way in and out of the story. She comes in and disappears and you actually have the historians themselves telling you, 'we actually don't know really what her ultimate plots and motivations were and what was moving her,' which is rich dramatic ground to write with, to write on, and to craft a character, again, where you take the dotted line outline and you start connecting the dots and coloring within the lines."

"So we've tried to craft a character that honors all those events in the history. And what she's said to participate in. We know that she was Daemon's girlfriend, we know that she finds herself at the court of Rhaenyra. But how do we get there and what leads to those events happening? So we've tried to brush a lot of detail and texture into her character, but the same time follow that historical narrative and hopefully tell this multi-season arc of a character that goes through a really big change from beginning to end in terms of her standing in the world, her philosophy, her political alignment and what role she plays in the end game of all of this."

I know Condal is taking his lumps among fans right now for unduly changing things from Fire & Blood, but this is one change I enjoyed. I didn't think much of Mysaria in the first season — she was kind of an inscrutable side character with an unconvincing accent — but I thought she was nicely fleshed out in the second. I thought she brought good ideas to the table and I liked her chemistry with Rhaenyra. I didn't see their kiss coming, but I bought it and want to see more.

The lack of female agency on House of the Dragon

One thing I am looking a bit askance at is the decision to minimize Mysaria's involvement in the Blood and Cheese incident, taking her from an active participant to someone who only reluctantly pitches in under duress. I thought that worked fine in the show, but it plays into a troubling pattern on House of the Dragon where characters, especially female characters, have their agency removed.

Elsewhere in this podcast, Condal talks about his perception that, in Fire & Blood, Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower are "blamed" for the bloody civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons. I think that claim is questionable — way too much happens during the lead-up to the war to pin the blame on any two people — but it seems to have had a potentially pernicious affect on the writers, who in their zeal to avoid depicting the female characters as power-hungry or violent have gone too far in the opposite direction and turned them into passive bystanders who would never act in a way that could be considered inappropriate but for circumstances beyond their control. So Mysaria doesn't hire Blood and Cheese, she only reluctantly submits their names in exchange for her freedom. Alicent Hightower doesn't actually want to oppose Rhaenyra Targaryen's claim to the throne; she only misunderstands her royal husband's dying words, and eventually she decides to work with Rhaenyra anyway, betraying the family members who in the book she is trying to protect.

I think this approach tends to flatten the female characters on House of the Dragon. Women and men alike are capable of being avaricious and generous, selfish and selfless. By denying the female characters access to the darker parts of the human experience, they become less interesting and less believable.

Again, I don't really think this is a problem for Mysaria specifically, whom I enjoyed getting to know in season 2, but it does fit into a pattern that's becoming more clear as the show goes on. Maybe Condal will address some of these issues eventually. Until then, we'll keep looking forward to House of the Dragon season 3, which should come out on HBO and Max sometime in 2026.

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