{"id":467733,"date":"2026-05-04T10:16:17","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T10:16:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/467733\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T10:16:17","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T10:16:17","slug":"6-major-house-of-the-dragon-season-3-book-changes-we-already-know-about-including-its-targaryen-recast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/467733\/","title":{"rendered":"6 Major House of the Dragon Season 3 Book Changes We Already Know About (Including Its Targaryen Recast)"},"content":{"rendered":"

House of the Dragon<\/a> 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\u2019s book, Fire & Blood. The show has deviated considerably from the source material through its first two seasons, and Martin\u2019s critiques of House of the Dragon<\/a> and the breakdown of his relationship with showrunner Ryan Condal<\/a> have become a huge talking point in their own right. Now, the focus will shift back to what\u2019s on the screen, but that will inevitably include how it differs from what\u2019s on the page.<\/p>\n

In fairness to Condal and his team, Fire & Blood is not a straightforward book to adapt. It isn\u2019t a novel in the traditional sense, but written as an in-universe tome on House Targaryen\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

Some make more sense than others, of course, and that\u2019s something continuing in the upcoming episodes, as evidenced by the House of the Dragon Season 3 trailer<\/a>, the setup from Season 2, and an intriguing casting report (though, for these purposes, we\u2019re looking at what\u2019s 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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

6) Rhaena & Baela Targaryen Replacing Nettles<\/p>\n

\"SheepstealerImages via HBO<\/p>\n

In Fire & Blood, Nettles is one of the dragonseeds<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

As well as that, Rhaena\u2019s sister, Baela, also looks like she\u2019s taking on part of Nettles\u2019 story. At the Battle of the Gullet<\/a> \u2013 the huge sea conflict between the Velaryon fleet and the Triarchy, which is set to open Season 3 \u2013 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\u2019s no sign of Sheepstealer\u2019s involvement, we have seen Baela on Moondancer<\/a> involved in the conflict instead thanks to the trailers.<\/p>\n

5) Daemon Targaryen Fighting In Multiple Battles<\/p>\n

\"DaemonImage via HBO<\/p>\n

The omission of Nettles doesn\u2019t 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\u2019s Landing, he\u2019s 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\u2019s growing paranoia.<\/p>\n

That isn\u2019t going to happen in the show, it would seem, especially given it\u2019s Daemon\u2019s daughters who are taking on parts of Nettles\u2019 story (though there\u2019s not yet any sign of Rhaena or Baela in the Riverlands with him). Instead, what we\u2019re getting is Daemon as a commander of armies, as we see him with bannermen of houses Tully and Stark. <\/p>\n

They fight in several key battles through the portion of Fire & Blood that Season 3 will adapt, including Fishfeed and Butcher\u2019s Ball, but Daemon is not present on the page. There\u2019s even a meeting between them and the Hightower host, led by Lord Ormund, as we glimpse in the trailer, which again is invention.<\/p>\n

4) How Rhaenyra Takes King\u2019s Landing<\/p>\n

\"RhaenyraImage via HBO<\/p>\n

This is something that was set up by House of the Dragon Season 2\u2019s ending<\/a>, though it\u2019s 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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

What we don\u2019t know, however, is whether Alicent does keep her word. It\u2019s 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\u2019ll be playing out somewhat differently to the book, where no such meeting or deal with Alicent and Rhaenyra took place.<\/p>\n

Instead, she and Daemon fly over the city on their dragons, but it\u2019s soldiers from Team Black on the ground who take control of Westeros\u2019 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.<\/p>\n

3) Aegon Wanting Revenge On Aemond<\/p>\n

\"LarysImage via HBO<\/p>\n

House of the Dragon Season 2 made a major change during the Battle at Rook\u2019s 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, \u201cI\u2019m going to kill my brother, or die in the attempt.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

This does broadly align with the show\u2019s characterization of Aegon, who never wanted to be king to begin with, and, given a certain part of his body exploded \u201clike a sausage on a spit\u201d because of Aemond\u2019s actions, you can understand his motivations, but it\u2019s unclear where exactly this can go or how far they can take it, since his and Aemond\u2019s stories may not allow for much conflict between them.<\/p>\n

2) The Second Jaehaera Targaryen<\/p>\n

\"JaehaeraImage via HBO<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t something yet shown in footage, but is from a fascinating casting report: there will be two actresses playing Jaehaera Targaryen<\/a>, the daughter of Aegon and Helaena. There\u2019ll 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\u2019s unclear if this means there\u2019ll 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.<\/p>\n

The alternative is that Jaehaera appears in a vision\/dream sequence of Helaena\u2019s. Jaehaera takes her own life when she\u2019s around 10 in the book, and I think it\u2019s quite possible that what we\u2019ll 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\u2019s blog post about the changes did say her death was in the original scripts he\u2019d seen for the third season.<\/p>\n

1) Helaena Targaryen Seemingly Giving Birth<\/p>\n

\"HelaenaImage via HBO<\/p>\n

In the book, a key part of Helaena\u2019s death was the murder Prince Maelor Targaryen, who has been cut from the show\u2026 or has he? Based on Fire & Blood, he should already exist: he\u2019s a major part of the Blood and Cheese scene, where Helaena is forced to choose between him and Jaehaerys. When he wasn\u2019t 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<\/a>, so could it be Maelor?<\/p>\n

If it is indeed, the prince, that would suggest he\u2019s 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\u2019d mean the king does have an heir). This could instead be the show including another miscarriage, another of Helaena\u2019s 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\u2019s to be seen how it all plays out.<\/p>\n

House of the Dragon Season 3 premieres on June 21st, 2026.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"House of the Dragon will return for Season 3 next month and, in a move that will have…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[265],"tags":[18,117,1440,20511,19,17,5796,128],"class_list":{"0":"post-467733","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-eire","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-game-of-thrones","11":"tag-house-of-the-dragon","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-list-feature","15":"tag-tv"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116515792433373987","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=467733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}