10 Major Variations Between ‘House of the Dragon’ and ‘Fire & Blood’

While the creators of Game of Thrones had to compress George R.R. Martin’s lengthy novels into 10-episode seasons, the team behind House of the Dragon enjoys more creative freedom. The Dance of the Dragons, a pivotal event, spans only about 200 pages in Fire & Blood. Additionally, the book’s historical, third-person narrative allows the show to take bold liberties with the source material. Below, explore 10 of the most striking adaptations. Caution: Spoilers ahead!

In the book, Alicent is notably older than Rhaenyra.

In Fire & Blood, Alicent is 18 years old—nearly a decade older than Rhaenyra—when she weds King Viserys. This age gap makes their union less unsettling, as Viserys is only about 30 in the book, and it avoids the discomfort of a father marrying his daughter’s closest friend.

The series reimagines young Rhaenyra (Milly Alcock) and Alicent (Emily Carey) as childhood friends of the same age, turning their complex, deteriorating bond into the central tension of the story. While the show pits adult Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) against Alicent (Olivia Cooke), the book centers the rivalry more on Rhaenyra and Aegon II (Tom Glynn-Carney).

In Fire & Blood, Viserys is depicted as a joyful and untroubled ruler.

Described by Westerosi historians as vibrant, hopeful, and fond of lavish festivities, the Viserys in Fire & Blood starkly contrasts with his television portrayal by Paddy Considine. The TV version is elderly, ailing, and constantly burdened (except when engrossed in his Old Valyria model). While this doesn’t excuse his role in allowing the roots of civil war to grow, it at least shows he wasn’t reveling in the chaos.

In Fire & Blood, Alicent is portrayed as far more resolute and less torn by internal conflict.

With HotD focusing heavily on Alicent and Rhaenyra, it’s logical that TV Alicent is portrayed as more nuanced and relatable. The series spends considerable time showing her reluctant betrayal of Rhaenyra and her fleeting thoughts of reviving their friendship. In contrast, book Alicent’s potential remorse or lingering affection for Rhaenyra is either unknown or omitted by the historian narrator. While they shared a brief period of civility, their bond began deteriorating as early as Aegon II’s birth.

The prophecy is entirely absent from the book.

One of HotD’s most debated early choices was introducing a prophecy called “The Song of Ice and Fire,” revealed by Viserys to Rhaenyra, which foreshadows the events of Game of Thrones. While some fans criticized it as a contrived link to the original series and a painful reminder of season 8’s shortcomings, the prophecy also added depth to Rhaenyra’s claim to the throne. Alicent’s misinterpretation of the prophecy further justified the Greens’ coup.

Fire & Blood includes Mushroom, the Targaryen court jester.

Archmaester Gyladyn, the narrator of Fire & Blood, draws from several firsthand accounts, including Mushroom’s. While Mushroom’s tales are filled with outrageous sexual anecdotes and exaggerated claims, their accuracy remains ambiguous, adding to the book’s intrigue. A favorite among Rhaenyra’s supporters, Mushroom is the only major source who consistently portrays her actions favorably.

Despite Paddy Considine advocating for Mushroom’s inclusion in season 1, the character is still missing in season 2. This is unfortunate, as he is one of the most fascinating figures in the book—a dwarf who feigns foolishness while cleverly observing everyone’s actions and positioning himself as a trusted confidant.

However, there’s still hope for Mushroom enthusiasts. Many of his most captivating moments occur later in the war, during events likely to be covered in seasons 3 or 4. While HotD has missed opportunities to include this fan-favorite character, there’s still a chance to rectify this in future seasons.

In Fire & Blood, Laenor’s death is a definitive event.

Rhaenyra and Laenor Velaryon were never destined to be a happy couple, so in the TV adaptation, Rhaenyra allows Laenor (John Macmillan) to escape to Essos with his lover while she and Prince Daemon (Matt Smith) stage his death. While it’s almost a touching moment, it’s hard to overlook Rhaenys’s cries of grief or the unsettling question of whose body was used in the ruse.

In the book, Laenor meets his end at a public fair, making a faked death far more implausible. Fire & Blood leaves the circumstances of his death ambiguous, though Mushroom heavily implies that Daemon orchestrated it.

In the book, Rhaenys never escapes the Dragonpit during Aegon II’s coronation.

The penultimate episode of Season 1, “The Green Council,” concludes with Princess Rhaenys (Eve Best) freeing herself and her dragon Meleys, disrupting Aegon II’s coronation. While it’s a powerful moment for Rhaenys, it raises the obvious question of why she doesn’t eliminate the usurpers on the spot, preventing the impending war.

Fire & Blood offers no explanation for why Rhaenys would spare her enemies, as the book version of Rhaenys isn’t present in King’s Landing during Aegon’s coronation, which proceeds smoothly.

In Fire & Blood, there’s no suggestion that Lucerys’s death was accidental.

Since Fire & Blood is recounted by historians long after the events, many details of the Dance of the Dragons come from secondhand sources. The book states that Aemond, Alicent’s son, harbored resentment toward Lucerys, Rhaenyra’s son, for blinding him in their youth. When Aemond and his dragon Vhagar kill Lucerys and Arrax near Storm’s End, Aemond boasts about the act, leading historians to assume the murder was intentional.

The show, however, took book readers by surprise by revealing that Vhagar devours Lucerys (Elliot Grihault) and Arrax against Aemond’s (Ewan Mitchell) commands. While some criticized this portrayal for making Aemond seem inept rather than menacing, others praised how it reinforced the recurring theme of Targaryen arrogance leading to their downfall: Aemond’s pride in controlling the largest dragon backfires when he realizes he can’t fully command it.

The Blood and Cheese incident was far more gruesome in the book.

Viewers of the show were stunned by the season 2 premiere’s climax, where Princess Helaena (Phia Saban) is coerced into selecting her son, Jaehaerys, for execution by the assassins. As they begin beheading her child, she seizes her daughter, Jaehaera, and escapes to her mother’s chambers, interrupting Alicent in bed with Ser Criston Cole. (Fortunately for Alicent, Helaena appears entirely indifferent to her affair with Cole.)

However, book readers were disappointed by the scene, as much of its psychological terror was removed—along with key characters.

In Fire & Blood, the assassins, Blood and Cheese, head to Alicent’s rooms, knowing Helaena brings her three children—the twins Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, and the youngest, Maelor—there nightly. After killing the guards, they restrain Alicent, lock the door, and force Helaena to choose which of her two sons will die. She selects Maelor, thinking he’s too young to understand. Cheese mocks her, telling Maelor his mother wants him dead, and Blood kills Jaehaerys instead.

They escape with the boy’s head, and Helaena is later discovered holding Jaehaerys’s corpse. The event leaves Helaena deeply scarred, not only from witnessing the murder but also from the guilt she feels every time she sees the child she condemned.

In Fire & Blood, there’s no romantic involvement between Alicent and Ser Criston Cole.

Season 2’s shocking twist reveals that Alicent and Cole have been secretly involved since Viserys’s death. This adds layers of guilt following the Blood & Cheese tragedy—Jaehaerys might have survived if Cole had been on duty instead of with her. Their relationship reflects their psychological states: Cole remains bitter over Rhaenyra’s rejection, while Alicent is consumed by her fixation on Rhaenyra’s actions. Their bond is rooted not in affection but in shared resentment, using each other as replacements for their unfulfilled obsessions.

While Fire & Blood touches on Rhaenyra and Cole’s dynamic (with conflicting accounts of who rejected whom), it never mentions Alicent having any affairs after her marriage. If such an affair occurred, the narrator either overlooked it or deemed it insignificant. This highlights the show’s expanded focus on Alicent, elevating her to co-protagonist status, whereas the book treats her as a peripheral figure.