House of the Dragon vs Fire And Blood: Book changes in Episode 206, "Smallfolk"

Episode 2x06 of House of the Dragon finally gets the characters out of the impasse they’ve been in for most of the season. The armies we’ve heard about for so long are making headway, the hungry smallfolk are getting angry, and the knot in the Riverlands is starting to detangle. This episode, entitled "Smallfolk," does a much better job than "Regent" of taking the story forward, something that is desperately needed with only two more episodes left in the season.

"Smallfolk" changes many things from the source material, Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin, but thankfully some of them do succeed in making the story more compelling. Let’s take a look at what they are and how they impact the plot.

The Greens

Aemond tasks Tyland Lannister with making an alliance with the Triarchy in order to break the Velaryon blockade on King's Landing and sink Corlys Velaryon's fleet. In the book, Otto Hightower sends ravens to the Triarchy long before this moment, right after Daemon takes Harrenhal. Every audience member is aware of Otto’s forbearance and ability as a strategist; making the Triarchy alliance Aemond’s idea in the show demonstrates that the Prince Regent also has a keen military mind.

Aemond sends Criston Cole ahead to Harrenhal and promises to meet him there when the time is ripe. In the book, he accompanies the host on Vhagar directly. The reason for the change is clear: Aemond wishes to rule unquestioned, and he doesn’t want his council nagging him over his every decision, so he sends Criston to battle and demotes the Queen Dowager. Removing Alicent from the council is a sad affair, and she herself understands how dire the situation is if her moderating voice is no longer welcome. On the other hand, Aemond does call Otto back to King’s Landing to once again serve as Hand, and Otto is also known for caution. However, unless Otto uses the magic wormholes available to characters on Game of Thrones, he may not get there before the end of the season.

Alicent dearly misses her father and actively worries at not hearing from him. Could it be that Otto is not where he said he would be? Alicent expects him in the Reach, possibly counseling his brother Lord Ormund Hightower or mentoring his youngest nephew Prince Daeron, rider to the Blue Queen Tessarion. But given his silence, he could be elsewhere. Secretly brokering alliances despite being demoted? Could he have gone to Essos to treat with the Triarchy himself? It’s a long shot, but too big a deal is made of this absence this episode; even Gwayne mentions that his father will be heard from once there is good news to be had.

Larys Strong, duplicitous as ever, does not speak anything but praise for Aemond’s plans, yet promises secret allegiance to Aegon against his brother. He even goes so far as to draw parallels between the king and himself, both crippled, and urges Aegon to think of his mind as his strongest suit now. We can safely assume that he was playing both brothers in Fire & Blood as well.

The Blacks

After the foreseeable death in dragonfire of her leal knight Ser Steffon Darklyn (which also happens in the book), Rhaenyra may think she’s worse off than she was before. Apart from his tragic death and the loss of a good Queensguard, things are going much better for her than she realizes. The plan the Queen and Mysaria have hatched to get the people of King’s Landing on her side has borne fruit. This plotline is largely made up for the show, but it works.

The plan of finding new dragonriders is going slower than in the book, where Jace makes a public call for anyone (noble-born or otherwise) to try and claim a dragon. In fact, there are many more dead in the book than just dear Ser Steffon:

"Not all those who came forward in answer to the prince’s call were seeds, nor even the sons or grandsons of seeds. A score of the queen’s own household knights offered themselves as dragonriders, amongst them the Lord Commander of her Queensguard, Ser Steffon Darklyn, along with squires, scullions, sailors, men-at-arms, mummers, and two maids. “The Sowing of the Seeds,” Munkun names the triumphs and tragedies that ensued (crediting the notion to Jacaerys himself, not Mushroom). Others prefer “the Red Sowing.” (…) Steffon Darklyn was burned to death whilst attempting to mount the dragon Seasmoke. Lord Gormon Massey suffered the same fate when approaching Vermithor. A man called Silver Denys, whose hair and eyes lent credence to his claim to be descended from a bastard son of Maegor the Cruel, had an arm torn off by Sheepstealer."

- Fire And Blood

On the show, Rhaenyra asks Ser Steffon to try and claim Seasmoke based on a relation between the Darklyns and Targaryens six generations ago, claiming that Steffon’s grandmother’s grandmother was Princess Aeriana Targaryen. This is never mentioned in the books, where Steffon attempts to mount Seasmoe out of bravery/recklessness and desire to serve his queen. The relation sounds unlikely; if we go back six generations back in Rhaenyra’s line, we have Rhaenyra-Viserys-Baelon-Jaehaerys-Aenys-Aegon; we know of all Targaryens at the time of Aegon I and after him. If the marriage had taken place before the Aegon's Conquest and this Aeriana Targaryen had been some aunt of Aegon, then the title of Princess mentioned by Rhaenyra would be incorrect.

This is just a slight incoherence, but I believe the show is trying to cement the idea that only those of Valyrian blood should try to claim dragons. Will it contradict itself later? We’ll see. I do have a theory about this… more on that in a few paragraphs.

All in all, things are looking better for the Queen than they seem. After burning the noble-born Ser Steffon, Seasmoke goes looking for his next mount, picking up where he left off in Episode 202.

As for Rhaenyra’s own relationships, it’s clear that Jace is losing patience at not being included in her plans. He loves his mother dearly and supports her fiercely but is growing bitter over being left out of her strategic decisionmaking; this episode, she doesn’t tell him about sending food to the capital and later rushes out on dragonback without sharing where she is going. I fear this move will be mirrored by Jace later when he can no longer sit by and watch tragedy befall their family.

It’s especially telling that Rhaenyra only ever receives Mysaria alone; it’s one thing to keep her away from official council meetings, but not including her eldest son in her plans is something else. But then again, this episode shows that the nature of Mysaria and Rhaenyra’s partnership is much more complex than that of a queen and her mistress of whisperers. Mysaria doesn’t only provide intel and spies; she grounds Rhaenyra, she listens to her frustrations and counters them with wise counsel. Lastly, she gives her trust — something not many on Dragonstone have done recently — and understanding, even in the most thorny matter of Daemon, whom both women know well. When Rhaenyra and Mysaria hug for a moment too long and their embrace turns into a desperate kiss, it’s something we should've seen coming. While no explicit statement on the nature of their relationship is ever made in Fire & Blood, there are many readers — myself included — who always interpreted their relationship as transcending that of queen and counseler. For those who are interested, I am dedicating a whole article to analyzing the relationship between Rhaenyra and Mysaria.

Daemon Targaryen at Harrenhal

But it seems that the Queen and her consort are slowly healing their rift. Up until this episode, Daemon and Rhaenyra couldn’t stand hearing the other’s name, while now they both speak it themselves out loud and process their differences. The episode starts out with both of them daring to voice their deepest fear: that their spouse might be conspiring against them. “Or is it Rhaenyra herself?” Daemon asks Ser Simon Strong. To me it’s absurd how Daemon accused Ser Simon and even Rhaenyra of messing with his mind, but not Alys, from whom he has literally drunk a magical concoction. That he confides in her instead of being wary is beyond me. In the book, it's said that Daemon seemed immune to whatever charms Alys possesses. I am even developing the fear that the show will make Alys Daemon’s supposed lover (given that the show is likely writing Nettles out) instead of Aemond at this point, with everything we’ve seen so far. For now, let’s put this possibility aside.

“She never even wanted it, the crown. She spared it no thought” is Daemon’s way of justifying his tantrum on the show, while Rhaenyra looks at both sides: “He was everything I wanted to be. Carefree, dangerous… a man. And I was what he wanted. Cherished by my father, made my father’s heir. We were halves of a whole.” Despite everything, they must come together if they want to succeed. Their reunion is perhaps the most anticipated scene in the season and I pray to R’hllor that it’s written properly.

Daemon also finally faces his last, perhaps biggest, regret: not being there for Viserys when he needed him the most. Through two visions that honor us with a cameo from the impeccable Paddy Considine, Daemon understands and processes his mistake.

In his first vision, Daemon again finds himself in the throne room in the Red Keep, with a still healthy Viserys sitting on the Iron Throne. The confrontation is a repeat of their dialogue from the series premiere about the “heir for a day” stunt Daemon pulled. Viserys’ words are the same, yet Daemon’s reactions are different. Had Daemon behaved differently that night, would Viserys have leaned on him instead of exiling him? Would he have not given in to Otto and married Alicent, avoiding civil war? Viserys sounds more tired in this recreation, perhaps because Daemon knows what’s to come. Viserys cries, yet Daemon wishes to leave the room rather than comfort his brother… but he can’t, the doors won’t bulge.

The next time Daemon has a vision, he embraces Viserys and comforts him through his tears, and it’s sincere. I think that Daemon is now finally ready to say farewell to his demons and move on.

The Dragonseeds

This season hasn’t lacked foreshadowing when it comes to the Hulls, and I appreciated the transition of Seasmoke burning Ser Steffon and the next scene opening with Addam. Once again, we are shown how Addam is more restless, less content with his modest life, dreaming of adventure, while Alyn is more grounded, even going so far as trying to refuse Corlys’ offer to become his first mate. I’ve said it before, but it sounds like they’ve switched their personalities from the book and made Alyn the elder instead of Addam.

On the show, Alyn covers and shaves his head constantly so that the white hairs don’t reveal his true parentage. In the book, there is no hiding their features, and their silver hair and purple eyes are on display for everyone to see. With Addam claiming Seasmoke at the end of the episode, any pretense might be short-lived. A big difference from the book is that Addam did not seek out Seasmoke; on the show, it's the other way around. In Fire & Blood, both boys participate in the Sowing of the Seeds. And it looks like their mother, the legendary sea captain Marilda of Hull, might not be in the show, or she would have been mentioned already.

In King’s Landing, Ulf White continues to be too daring in what he shouts for everyone to hear, as I pointed out a couple of episodes ago… the fact that he feels that he can shout at Targaryen/Hightower guards about the royal family made me wonder... could the show be making him a spy for Larys? Being on the payroll for the Master of Whispers would justify Ulf not fearing repercussions. Plus, this scene transitions to Larys. It would justify why Ulf is starting out in King’s Landing and not on Dragonstone, like in the book. I genuinely believe Ulf is lying about being a bastard son to the late Prince Baelon, but that doesn’t mean he may not be a dragonseed, descended from a bastard sired by another Targaryen.

In the Vale, Rhaena finds traces of a dragon. I think it’s safe to assume it’s Sheepstealer, which gets us closer to confirming the speculation that the character of Nettles — who claims Sheepstealer in the book — will not be in House of the Dragon. Rhaena could try claiming Sheepstealer herself and be given Nettles' storyline; it would be consistent given her repeated discontent at being dragonless and feeling powerless. We hear multiple times that she’s tried to claim other dragons and has failed… perhaps this time it will work. I’d be happy for the change in Rhaena’s story, but sad if the cost is losing Nettles, a character who is beloved be fans. We shall see.

Other Thoughts

Where was Baela this episode? I hope a deleted scene is sitting somewhere, because they should have at least mentioned that she was out scouting if they were going to erase her from the episode entirely.

One change I will happily get behind: Rhaena is referred to as "Princess Rhaena", while in the book, she and Baela hold the title of "Lady."

When Mysaria said, "If I may, Your Grace... this becomes you" and Rhaenyra smiled a little smile and then shyly looked away and set the sword aside, I screamed. Loved that small interaction.

I'm so happy we got to see Paddy Considine again. Let's get him nominated for Best Cameo so he can finally win the Emmy he deserves for his stellar performance as King Viserys Targaryen. Let's get this campaign started, shall we?

It's interesting how, during the Viserys and Daemon scene, Viserys' lines were almost identical to the ones in the series premiere, but this line is missing something: "Instead of being at my side and Rhaenyra's, you chose to celebrate your own rise." In the new episode he didn't mention Rhaenyra; it's like Daemon can only unpack one broken relationship/trauma at a time.

The seeds are sown, all the pieces are on the chessboard for another confrontation. We eagerly await the last two episodes in the season.

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