Differences between Fire & Blood and House of the Dragon

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This article is about the differences between the novel Fire & Blood and the television adaptation House of the Dragon.

Author George R. R. Martin has written Fire & Blood as an in-world history book by Archmaester Gyldayn. Gyldayn writes long after the events he describes happened and uses different sources—Septon Eustace, Grand Maester Munkun, and the court fool Mushroom—that are often contrary. Ryan Condal and his team of writers are therefore working with bias sources from the start when adapting this story. Condal explained in interviews the show will either favor one of those sources over the others, portray a mix of them, or disregard them completely and create a new interpretation of events.

Timeline

Note: This section will be updated as new temporal information comes forth in future episodes.

House of the Dragon was primarly filmed at the Leavesden Studios in England. Under UK filming law, a fictional character can not be portrayed having sex under the age of 16 no matter the age of the actor. This has for consequence that the younger characters have to be age-up and thus move around somewhat the timeline from the source material (it is for this same reason that Daenerys Targaryen was age-up three years from 13 to 16 years old at the start of Game of Thrones, an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire). Rhaenyra and Alicent are 14 years old in the first episode of House of the Dragon,[1] but Rhaenyra is 8 years old when her mother died in Fire & Blood.

The first episode starts with a prologue scene depicting the Great Council of 101 AC. A voice over from the actress playing the older Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) confirms the same date is used in the show. However, the year of the events portrayed in the rest of the premiere is uncertain. The prologue scene is followed by a title card that reads:

It is now the ninth year of King Viserys I Targaryen's reign.
172 years before the death of the Mad King, Aerys, and the birth of his daughter, Princess Daenerys Targaryen.[2]

Book timeline: 112 AC
In the books, the ninth year of King Viserys's reign correspond to the year 112 AC as he succeeded King Jaehaerys I Targaryen in 103 AC. That year correspond to 172 years prior to book Daenerys' birth in 284 AC. Moreover, Rhaenyra was born in 97 AC in the books, meaning she would be fourteen turning fifteen in the year 112 AC.

Game of Thrones timeline: 109 AC
Due to the age-up of characters in Game of Thrones, the TV show timeline was moved by three years compared to the books. Props from Game of Thrones establish that Season 1 takes place in 298 AC and Robert I Baratheon became king in 280 AC. As Daenerys was born in the calendar year after Robert became king, this would place 172 years before her birth in 109 AC.

Characters ages in Season 1
Episodes Prologue
101 AC
1
109 AC or 112 AC
2
? AC
3
? AC
4
? AC
5
? AC
6
? AC
7
? AC
8
? AC
9
? AC
10
? AC
Rhaenyra Targaryen / 14[1] 15[3] 17[4] 18            
Alicent Hightower / 14[1] 15 17 18            
Laena Velaryon / 11 or 12 12[3] / /            
Aegon II Targaryen       2[4] 3[5]            

Season 1

Episode 1: The Heirs of the Dragon

Appearances

  • Princess Rhaenys Targaryen was first introduced in the The Princess and the Queen novella published in 2013 where she was described as having the typical silver Targaryen hair. It was retconned in Fire & Blood published in 2018, to give her the black hair from her Baratheon mother. The show decided to depict Rhaenys with silver Targaryen hair to not confuse the more casual viewers.[6][7]
  • Mysaria has a typical Lysene appearance, with skin as pale as milk but she is portrayed by a Japanese actress and has an East Asian appearance.[8]
  • All described members of House Velaryon have fair skin but they are portrayed by blacks actors in the show.[9]

Others

Episode 2: The Rogue Prince

  • Laena Velaryon is 12 years old in both book and show when she is proposed as a new wife for King Viserys I Targaryen. As the proposition did not lead to anything, she didn't need to be age-up for the show. This means that show-Laena was born in a later year than book-Laena. In the books Laena is older than Rhaenyra but younger than Alicent, but in the show she is younger than both of them.
  • Corlys Velaryon refers to Houses Targaryen and Velaryon as the "two great surviving Valyrian Houses". In the books, House Celtigar is another Westerosi noble house with Valyrian ancestry.[20]
  • Scenes from this episode imply Houses Targaryen and Velaryon have not intermarried recently. In the books, the mothers of kings Aegon the Conqueror and Jaehaerys the Conciliator are noblewomen from House Velaryon.[21]
  • Corlys states that Rhaenyra is the first female heir to the Iron Throne. In the books, King Maegor I Targaryen named his five-year-old great-niece and stepdaughter, Princess Aerea Targaryen, as his heir in 47 AC. It is unknown if Maegor bestowed the title of Princess of Dragonstone on her or not, however. When King Jaehaerys I Targaryen took the throne the following year, he recognized Aerea as his heir until he can have children of his own but did not grant her the title of Princess of Dragonstone.[22][23]
  • In the books, Prince Daemon quits his post as Commander of the City Watch and goes to Dragonstone with Mysaria after Viserys names Rhaenyra as his heir in response to the "Heir for A Day" incident. There Daemon impregnates his paramour and gives her a dragon egg for their unborn child. Hearing of this, Viserys demands Daemon to return the egg, to send Mysaria back to Lys (her city of origin), and to return to his wife, Lady Rhea Royce of Runestone. Mysaria miscarries at sea during a storm as she is returning to Lys.[10] The show somewhat changed these events as Daemon is ordered by Viserys to go back to Runestone in the first place but defies this order by staying at Dragonstone with some of his gold cloaks. Mysaria's pregnancy is a lie concocted by Daemon to get his brother's attention and Ser Otto Hightower volunteers to go retrieve the egg from Daemon. In the end, Rhaenyra succeeds to retrieve the egg in place of Ser Otto and Daemon is not punish for his actions once again.

Episode 3: Second of His Name

  • The main setting of this episode, the great hunt for Aegon's second nameday, was completly invented for the show. In the books King Viserys does not have a taste for hunting.[10]
  • With the three-year-timeskip between episode 2 and 3, Rhaenyra is now of age but still resides at the Red Keep in King's Landing. In the books, Rhaenyra took possession of Dragonstone as her own seat when she came of age in 113 AC.[10]
  • In the book, Vaemond Velaryon is the eldest nephew of Lord Corlys Velaryon whereas in the show he is his younger brother.[10]
  • In the book, Laenor Velaryon is not a martial man and is given his knighthood rather than earning it. He does not participate in the war for the Stepstones and he loves to ride his dragon, Seasmoke, which is his "pride and passion". In the show, Laenor is already a knight when he participate in the war. He speaks in the war council and enjoys ridding Seasmoke.[10]
  • The conflict in the Stepstones against the Crabfeeder takes two years and is financially supported by King Viserys in the books whereas it takes three years in the show and has no direct involvement from the Crown.[10]
  • The idea of betrothing Rhaenyra and Aegon is brought by Otto Hightower in the show but by Alicent in the books. Their ages when the idea is brought up are slightly different, Rhaenyra and Aegon are 17 and 2 in the show but 16 and 6 in the books.[10]
  • Rhaenyra and Alicent did not share any particular bond prior to Alicent marrying Viserys in the books as Alicent is nine years older than her. When Alicent and Viserys were 18 and 29 years old respectively when they marry. The relationship between Rhaenyra and her new step mother was amicable during the first few years of the marriage and only soured after the birth of Alicent's first two sons. In the show, Rhaenyra and Alicent are best friend prior to the marriage and their friendship is broken by it.[10]
  • During his courtship of Princess Rhaenyra, Lord Jason Lannister proposes to build a dragonpit to house dragons at Casterly Rock. While this did not happen in Fire & Blood, the idea of Lannisters seeking a dragon of their own to match the power of House Targaryen is developed in the books; Lord Lyman Lannister hosted Princess Rhaena Targaryen for a time before Rhaena realized he wanted her to marry one of his sons and wanted a dragon for House Lannister.[24]
  • In the books, Viserys proposed Prince Qoren Martell of Dorne as a potential match for Rhaenyra, this role seems to have been given to Lord Jason Lannister in the show. In both case, the idea was declined.

Episode 4: King of the Narrow Sea

  • Viserys mentions that his father, Prince Baelon Targaryen, was Hand of the King for five days. In the books, the precise amount of time Baelon served at this office is unknown but it is more than a few days as he was named in 100 AC and died the following year.[10]
  • Rhaenyra is touring the realm to find a spouse among her suitors. She visits Storm's End in this episode and is presented with suitors from the Stormlands and the riverlands there. In the books, she is known to have travelled in the Westerlands, the Reach, and the riverlands.[10]
  • During her visit at Storm's End, a duel is fought between Willem Blackwood and Jerrel Bracken with Willem killing Jerrel. In the books, Samwell Blackwood and Ser Amos Bracken also have a duel for the princess's favor but it is Bracken that wins and nobody dies.[10]

Episode 5: We Light the Way

To be added

Episode 6: The Princess and the Queen

To be added

Episode 7: Driftmark

To be added

Episode 8: The Lord of the Tides

To be added

Episode 9: The Green Council

To be added

Episode 10: The Black Queen

To be added

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Business Insider: Rhaenyra and Alicent
  2. 2.0 2.1 House of the Dragon, Season 1, "The Heirs of the Dragon".
  3. 3.0 3.1 House of the Dragon, Season 1, "The Rogue Prince".
  4. 4.0 4.1 House of the Dragon, Season 1, "Second of His Name".
  5. House of the Dragon, Season 1, "King of the Narrow Sea".
  6. Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - The Blacks and the Greens.
  7. The Princess and the Queen.
  8. Fire & Blood, The Dying of the Dragons - Rhaenyra Triumphant.
  9. A Feast for Crows, Chapter 12, Cersei III.
  10. 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 10.11 10.12 10.13 10.14 10.15 10.16 10.17 Fire & Blood, Heirs of the Dragon - A Question of Succession.
  11. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 57, Sansa V.
  12. Fire & Blood, The Year of the Three Brides - 49 AC.
  13. Official HOTD Podcast Episode 2 "The Rogue Prince"
  14. Velaryon seahorse
  15. The Lands of Ice and Fire, King's Landing.
  16. Official Guide: Criston Cole
  17. Fire & Blood, Birth, Death, and Betrayal Under King Jaehaerys I.
  18. A Game of Thrones, Chapter 25, Eddard V.
  19. Gizmodo: Big Game of Thrones Secret
  20. The World of Ice & Fire, The Reign of the Dragons: The Conquest.
  21. The World of Ice & Fire, Appendix: Targaryen Lineage.
  22. Fire & Blood, The Sons of the Dragon.
  23. Fire & Blood, Prince into King - The Ascension of Jaehaerys I.
  24. Fire & Blood, A Time of Testing - The Realm Remade.