House of the Dragon vs Fire & Blood: Book changes in Episode 208, "The Queen Who Ever Was"

Content warning: this article contains spoilers for Episode 208 and for future events narrated in Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin. Read at your discretion.

House of the Dragon delivered a finale that surpassed expectations. Those of book readers, for sure. Episode 208 is titled "The Queen Who Ever Was," a twist on the title given to Princess Rhaenys, after whom Corlys now names his warship. The episode differs greatly from the source material, Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin, and never in my wildest dreams would I have thought the story could be taken in this direction. Some changes were set in motion since the very first episode of the first season, others are newer developments. At any rate, it’s safe to say that the finale changes things in a way that the writers can never come back from: who the war is being fought by, and what for. Let’s take a look.

Team Green

We can start right at the end: in a scene that mirrors the one in Episode 203, where Rhaenyra infiltrated King’s Landing in the hopes of brokering peace with Alicent, the Queen Dowager reaches Dragonstone to plead with Rhaenyra for her freedom, Helaena’s and little Jaehaera’s. Sick of the schemes she herself has set in motion that she can no longer control and horrified at Aemond’s ruthlessness, Alicent wishes to erase herself from the narrative and wash her hands of all consequences. She wants out, she craves safety for the innocents in her family, which Rhaenyra grants, scoffing. On one point they disagree: Rhaenyra cannot let Aegon live, no matter how broken he may be. The season premiere is recalled as Rhaenyra mutters, “A son for a son.” Alicent regretfully consents (is this what Helaena was forgiving her for, a couple of episodes back?), and convinces Rhaenyra to fly to the capital in three days’ time, when Aemond will be off to the Riverlands. Alicent will see that the Red Keep surrenders to Rhaenyra without bloodshed and will then allow Rhaenyra to execute her son Aegon.

Did any of this happen in Fire & Blood? No, because if Alicent had shown up at Dragonstone – or Rhaenyra at King’s Landing – the other would have imprisoned her. On the show, the two meet under the symbolic peace banner that is their former friendship and the memory of the late Viserys, who doted on them both. This I can understand, in the show-verse. However, in making this Alicent’s plan, they take away one of Rhaenyra’s strategic victories: the capture of King’s Landing, which is perfectly timed and orchestrated in concert with Daemon. Daemon lures Aemond out towards Harrenhal and sneaks away unseen, meeting Rhaenyra above King’s Landing, the capital left unguarded and ripe for the taking. “Prince Aemond and Ser Criston had denuded King’s Landing of defenders when they set forth to retake Harrenhal...” When Alicent, the last authority left in the capital orders that messages be sent to their allies, the Gold Cloaks rebel and rise up to welcome their legendary commander: “for the rank and file of the City Watch still loved Daemon Targaryen, the Prince of the City who had commanded them of old.” It’s here that the iconic line is spoken: “Daemon gave us these cloaks,” he said, “and they’re gold no matter how you turn them.”

All this has no reason to take place if Alicent keeps her word. And if she doesn’t and has yet another change of heart, it might be even worse, the writers treating her like a puppet to serve whichever scheme they need in any given episode. Alicent does plead with Rhaenyra in the book, but only after the latter has taken King’s Landing and to spare her own life. She suggests to call a Great Council to decide who should rule, and when she is refused, then surrenders the city to Rhaenyra.

Criston Cole too admits to having regrets now that he sees the full scale of this war. He knew, theoretically, that dragons would be involved, but he hadn’t seen them in action before Rook’s Rest, and the destruction they bring about is too much for him. Obviously, thousands of people still die and would have still died in this war without the intervention of dragons, but Cole seems to be fine with that. In the book, there is one moment later in the story when he considers striking Aegon’s banner and surrendering, but only when he sees the enemy has a stronger army. I wonder if Cole’s guilt on the show will lead anywhere new, or if he will just continue living as he has, full of regret and hate for his own actions and choices.

Like in the book, Aegon has disappeared and so has Larys, though it’s unclear whether they fled together – I like the show’s version where it’s clear they did – and, in the Fire & Blood, Aegon’s son Maegor (who hasn’t been born on the show) and daughter Jaehaera have also disappeared. The show mentioned that Sunfyre, Aegon’s dragon, is dead. The dragon survives in the book, and still has an important part to play. We shall see if he turns up alive on the show, although it’s surprising that Aegon wouldn’t feel his dragon through their bond.

On the show, Aemond demands and then requests that Helaena join him on dragonback to fight Daemon. Refusing, Helaena lets Aemond know how he will die: swallowed in the God’s Eye. That is canon-compliant, and it would stand to reason that she’d seen it in a prophetic dream. On another note, I’m curious why Helaena appeared in Daemon’s weirwood vision. I almost hope for an interaction between them; that Helaena might mount Dreamfyre to confront her uncle, but not on Aemond’s terms. It's not in her nature to exact revenge for the murder of her son Jaehaerys, and at this point, she can’t tell Daemon anything that Alys hasn’t already told him, but I would have appreciated an exchange between them. For Helaena to reveal his fate. It’s idle thinking now; they cannot fight, and I do not want to see Helaena die at Daemon’s hand, any more than I want to see her commit suidice like in the book.

In a torn-up camp green, it’s clear that Aemond is the only one who still wishes to fight this war. Aegon lets Larys convince him to flee to save his life and wait out the civil war. Green armies march from King’s Landing, Casterly Rock, and Old Town, ready to converge in the Riverlands. Tyland Lannister is successful in his mission to hire mercenaries in Essos, a task that Otto Hightower had seen to in the book via raven… speaking of, who is Otto a prisoner of? Another difference from the book is that the commander of the Triarchy’s fleet Sharako Lohar is a woman in the TV adaptation. A woman who wants to have children by Tyland… through her wives. I hope it’s not something we have to witness, because if they show us that, but not a scene of Rhaenyra and Daemon having a conversation, I’m afraid there will be riots in the streets.

Camp Black

After being accused of being too relenting for not wanting to use her dragons, Rhaenyra finally plans an attack… only to be questioned. Baela convinces Jace to stop pouting and support his mother, just for her to question Rhaenyra’s plan in front of the dragonseeds when Rhaenyra mentions flying to battle, which Baela had seemed adamant to do. This, I fear, is inconsistent; Baela has proven to be loyal to Rhaenyra through and through, and understanding of the importance of showing a united front. Baela questioning Rhaenyra (with other people present, too) is a way for the writers to express that the Queen is going too far… but is she, really?

She is not ordering to rain fire on the smallfolk, but to seize the power of their adversaries; already the parallels are being drawn with Daenerys (like in this interview with GQ, where the words "murderous turn" are used in the title, and talk of "religious fanatism" appears throughout). People are edging closer and closer to calling Rhaenyra a "mad queen" like they did Daenerys for daring to want to seize what should be hers. They are not being as eloquent when it comes to Aemond, though, because a man can burn cities and kill innocents on a whim and just be ruthless, a woman who sends her dragons to fight after much internal debate must be mad.

It's interesting how Mysaria, champion of the smallfolk, now counsels Rhaenyra that a few losses are inevitable and expendable, given that Rhaenyra is just. I’m surprised by these words; is it out of character, or is Mysaria up to something this early in the story? On the other hand, I’m afraid this is how Rhaenyra will lose Hugh, who for now does not seem the type to become a turncloak out of greed. Unlike Ulf, who clearly does not care about their mission or morals.

We watch Rhaena track down Sheepstealer in the Vale for what seem to be days – no one in her party seems to be looking for her – but we are denied seeing her claim the dragon when she finds it. This season, many of us have assumed that Rhaena would claim Sheepstealer, a change from the book, when it's done by a new characters named Nettles. We will see what season 3 brings when it comes to Rhaena and Nettles, if she exists in the show universe.

In Harrenhal, Rhaenyra’s emissary and councilor Ser Alfred Broome whispers to Daemon of treason, suggesting that he declare himself king to win against the usurpers. But Alys gives Daemon a vision from the heart tree (and I cannot wait for “lore keeper” Ryan Condal to explain the instant wi-fi-like connection of a Valyrian with no First Men blood to a tree sacred to the Old Gods). Daemon sees the future, the Others, and Daenerys Stormborn hatching her three dragons. Daenerys is shown from behind – I wonder if Emilia Clarke refused a (nude) cameo or if the show did not even ask her, perhaps because the anonymity allows Daemon to believe that this Targaryen woman could be Rhaenyra herself, or their future child, perhaps. Of course, his change of heart regarding the throne is also brought about by the many nightmares which replayed all his gravest mistakes, but his resolution is now final. It’s ironic that Viserys had not wanted to trust Daemon with the prophecy, and neither had Rhaenyra, but visions of the two of them plus the prophecy convinced Daemon to believe.

When Rhaenyra shows up at Harrenhal, Daemon kneels to her without hesitation. Their exchange is short and far too public for them to discuss: the whereabouts of their young children, the new dragonriders, the state of the war, etc. We should have seen a deeper conversation between them, but the writers must have deemed it more expendable than Tyland Lannister having his name mispronounced three times by a mercenary, funny as that was to watch.

Corlys Velaryon does not confront his illegitimate sons about their relation, by Alyn does, tired of tiptoeing around the fact and having to accept his lord father’s favors when he and his brother grew up without his support all their lives. It’s a good scene. We are used to seeing Corlys as all-knowing, wise and infallible, and his speechlessness makes for a good change. In the book, Corlys claims the boys as his family the moment Addam claims Seasmoke, under the (probably false) pretense that they are Laenor’s bastards, not his, and he makes Addam his heir. As said, I have a feeling that the show switched Addam and Alyn’s ages around; it would make sense for Alyn to be older with the way he behaves, and for Corlys to make him his heir since he’s the one he spends more time with, while Addam has already been graced with a dragon and the promise of knighthood.

This episode was an unusual finale. It reaped the consequences of all choiced made by the writers before now, the culmination of an oddly-paced season. The season 1 finale promised war was coming… and the season 2 finale ends with armies finally on the march, with the same promise of war coming. Perhaps the writers thought to excite the audience this episode with a vision of Daenerys, the Others, and Daemon Targaryen uttering the words “winter is coming” (a bit on the nose, coming from him), but they already pulled these tricks last season, and fans need new material to be excited about rather than reliving the hype of the parent show. I believe, with a couple of exceptions, that they suffered from a case of second season dip. The third season will hopefully prove more exciting, with a lot of material to cover.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and Twitter account, sign up for our exclusive newsletter and check out our YouTube channel.