House of the Dragon will return for Season 3 next month and, in a move that will have George R.R. Martin fighting the urge to fire up his Not A Blog page, there are already several changes to the author’s book, Fire & Blood. The show has deviated considerably from the source material through its first two seasons, and Martin’s critiques of House of the Dragon and the breakdown of his relationship with showrunner Ryan Condal have become a huge talking point in their own right. Now, the focus will shift back to what’s on the screen, but that will inevitably include how it differs from what’s on the page.
In fairness to Condal and his team, Fire & Blood is not a straightforward book to adapt. It isn’t a novel in the traditional sense, but written as an in-universe tome on House Targaryen’s history, with a Maester drawing on several (usually conflicting) accounts. Because of this, then the show has had to decide on its own interpretation of events, as well as fleshing out characters and storylines a lot more.
Some make more sense than others, of course, and that’s something continuing in the upcoming episodes, as evidenced by the House of the Dragon Season 3 trailer, the setup from Season 2, and an intriguing casting report (though, for these purposes, we’re looking at what’s been in footage or reported rather than leaks from set photos/videos). There are lots of changes big and small, but these ones will have a real impact on things. Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Fire & Blood.
6) Rhaena & Baela Targaryen Replacing Nettles
Images via HBO
In Fire & Blood, Nettles is one of the dragonseeds, who claims the wild dragon Sheepstealer. It had long seemed like her role was being cut, and that was all but confirmed by the House of the Dragon Season 2 finale, in which Rhaena Targaryen comes across the dragon instead. The Season 3 trailer shows a continuation of this and suggests that she does indeed bond with the dragon, as we see shots of Sheepstealer flying around the Mountains of the Moon in the Vale.
As well as that, Rhaena’s sister, Baela, also looks like she’s taking on part of Nettles’ story. At the Battle of the Gullet – the huge sea conflict between the Velaryon fleet and the Triarchy, which is set to open Season 3 – Nettles is among the dragonriders who flies into action, alongside Jacaerys Velaryon on Vermax, Hugh Hammer on Vermithor, and Ulf White on Silverwing. In the show, while there’s no sign of Sheepstealer’s involvement, we have seen Baela on Moondancer involved in the conflict instead thanks to the trailers.
5) Daemon Targaryen Fighting In Multiple Battles
Image via HBO
The omission of Nettles doesn’t just affect Rhaena and Baela, but even more so their father, Daemon. Much of his story at this point in the timeline is spent with Nettles, as, after he helps Rhaenyra take King’s Landing, he’s sent to search the Riverlands for Aemond Targaryen. He forms an extremely strong bond with Nettles, which some book sources say is fatherly and that he dotes on her, others that they were lovers, and it plays a part in Rhaenyra’s growing paranoia.
That isn’t going to happen in the show, it would seem, especially given it’s Daemon’s daughters who are taking on parts of Nettles’ story (though there’s not yet any sign of Rhaena or Baela in the Riverlands with him). Instead, what we’re getting is Daemon as a commander of armies, as we see him with bannermen of houses Tully and Stark.
They fight in several key battles through the portion of Fire & Blood that Season 3 will adapt, including Fishfeed and Butcher’s Ball, but Daemon is not present on the page. There’s even a meeting between them and the Hightower host, led by Lord Ormund, as we glimpse in the trailer, which again is invention.
4) How Rhaenyra Takes King’s Landing
Image via HBO
This is something that was set up by House of the Dragon Season 2’s ending, though it’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out. That finale had Alicent Hightower visiting Rhaenyra on Dragonstone, where she agreed to open the gates to King’s Landing for her to take the Iron Throne. The Season 3 marketing has made it clear that Rhaenyra still believes this agreement is in place, and has also teased her being in the Red Keep, meaning that she will be taking the city at some point.
What we don’t know, however, is whether Alicent does keep her word. It’s possible she has a change of heart or, more likely, that Aemond discovers her plan and makes his own moves instead. Whichever way that goes down, it means it’ll be playing out somewhat differently to the book, where no such meeting or deal with Alicent and Rhaenyra took place.
Instead, she and Daemon fly over the city on their dragons, but it’s soldiers from Team Black on the ground who take control of Westeros’ capital. The context of how it goes down, who is in the city when it happens, and the fallout with Alicent could all be very different from the book and change the story going forward.
3) Aegon Wanting Revenge On Aemond
Image via HBO
House of the Dragon Season 2 made a major change during the Battle at Rook’s Rest, with Aemond and his dragon, Vhagar, deliberately targeting and gravely injuring King Aegon II Targaryen and his own dragon, Sunfyre. This has ramifications continuing on into Season 3 as, in the trailer, Aegon makes clear he wants revenge on Aemond more than anything, saying, “I’m going to kill my brother, or die in the attempt.”
This is a brand-new plot line, and it recolors the Dance of the Dragons quite significantly. He should be focused on defeating Rhaenyra, based on the source material, but this makes it clear that he cares more about vengeance on his brother, who he sees as being the one to take everything from him.
This does broadly align with the show’s characterization of Aegon, who never wanted to be king to begin with, and, given a certain part of his body exploded “like a sausage on a spit” because of Aemond’s actions, you can understand his motivations, but it’s unclear where exactly this can go or how far they can take it, since his and Aemond’s stories may not allow for much conflict between them.
2) The Second Jaehaera Targaryen
Image via HBO
This isn’t something yet shown in footage, but is from a fascinating casting report: there will be two actresses playing Jaehaera Targaryen, the daughter of Aegon and Helaena. There’ll be a toddler version (played by Lulu Barker in the sophomore outing), which fits with Season 2 picking up where Season 3 left off, but also a 10-year-old version, played by newcomer Pearl Clark. It’s unclear if this means there’ll be a significant time jump at some point, but it seems unlikely since that would surely be too big a change even for this show.
The alternative is that Jaehaera appears in a vision/dream sequence of Helaena’s. Jaehaera takes her own life when she’s around 10 in the book, and I think it’s quite possible that what we’ll get in the show is Helaena seeing that, perhaps as something that factors into her own suicide. That might happen in Season 4 instead, but Martin’s blog post about the changes did say her death was in the original scripts he’d seen for the third season.
1) Helaena Targaryen Seemingly Giving Birth
Image via HBO
In the book, a key part of Helaena’s death was the murder Prince Maelor Targaryen, who has been cut from the show… or has he? Based on Fire & Blood, he should already exist: he’s a major part of the Blood and Cheese scene, where Helaena is forced to choose between him and Jaehaerys. When he wasn’t born before then, it seemed like there was no way to include him in the series, but the House of the Dragon Season 3 trailer teases Helaena giving birth, so could it be Maelor?
If it is indeed, the prince, that would suggest he’s born just so the show can then quickly kill him off, but it would add more drama to the Aegon/Aemond story as well (since it’d mean the king does have an heir). This could instead be the show including another miscarriage, another of Helaena’s visions, or even a vision from someone else (like Alys Rivers showing Aemond a vision of Helaena having his child), but none of those options are from the book, and it’s to be seen how it all plays out.
House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres on June 21st, 2026.
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