The prequel to Game of Thrones has finally arrived.
House of the Dragon will tell the story of House Targaryen at the height of their powers until an argument about who will succeed King Viserys I Targaryen (Paddy Considine) explodes.
Will Viserys choose his roguish brother Prince Daemon Targaryen (Matt Smith) or his daughter Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen (Emma D’Arcy, Milly Alcock) to sit upon the Iron Throne?
And even if he chooses one, will the realm truly back his decisions?
The House of the Dragon cast also stars Rhys Ifans as Ser Otto Hightower, Olivia Cooke and Emily Carey as Lady Alicent Hightower, Steve Toussaint as Lord Corlys Velaryon, Eve Best as Princess Rhaenys Velaryon, Fabien Frankel as Ser Criston Cole, and Sonoya Mizuno as Mysaria.
However, while Game of Thrones may be based on the book series A Song of Ice and Fire, what is House of the Dragon based on?
What book is House of the Dragon based on?
House of the Dragon is based on the fictional popular history book Fire and Blood.
The book, which was released in 2018, charts the history of House Targaryen from the arrival of King Aegon I Targaryen (AKA Aegon the Conquerer) in Westeros to the early days in the reign of King Aegon III Targaryen.
This historical account contains six volumes, available as follows:
- The Targaryen Conquest – King Aegon I Targaryen conquers the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros.
- The Peace of the Dragon – King Aegon I Targaryen rules over Westeros.
- The Sons of the Dragon – The reigns of Aegon’s sons, King Aenys I Targaryen and King Maegor I Targaryen, followed by the early reign of Aenys’s own son, King Jaehaerys I Targaryen.
- Heirs of the Dragon – The last years of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen’s lengthy reign and the succession debate that follows it.
- The Dying of the Dragons – The civil war known as ‘The Dance of Dragons’ that develops over the succession of King Viserys I Targaryen.
- Aftermath — The Boy King and His Regents – The early reign of King Aegon III Targaryen.
The television series House of the Dragon covers at least the volumes ‘Heirs of the Dragon’ and ‘The Dying of the Dragons’.
These volumes were previously partially released through two of George R R Martin’s novellas.
The Rogue Prince, released in 2014, charts the reign of King Viserys I Targaryen and the debates regarding who will eventually succeed him, with candidates including the eponymous rogue Prince Daemon Targaryen, who is played by Matt Smith in the series.
This novella chronologically precedes another novella, The Princess and the Queen, which was released in 2013.
The Princess and the Queen charts the conflict known as ‘The Dance of Dragons’ and examines the Targaryen civil war that forms out of the conflict between Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Queen Alicent Hightower.
Considering how dense these novellas and matching volumes are with events, we can likely expect them to carry on into further seasons.
What does the series House of the Dragon change from the book Fire and Blood?
Episode 1 – The Heirs of the Dragon
In the first episode, The Heirs of the Dragon, the final choice for the lords of Westeros at the Great Council deciding who will succeed King Jaehaerys I Targaryen is brought down to Viserys Targaryen and his cousin Princess Rhaenys Targaryen.
In the book, Rhaenys had already been eliminated as a potential contender due to her sex – to the anger of King Jaehaerys’s sister-wife Queen Alysanne Targaryen – but was vying for her son Laenor Velaryon to succeed due to his rights through her.
Less a change but more of an omission is that Viserys’s wife Queen Aemma (Sian Brooke) was actually from House Arryn, despite having the royal blood of House Targaryen and therefore resembling them too.
Viserys also appears older at the time of his being selected as heir to the Iron Throne, being 26 years old in the book and even being known as The Young King when he succeeds two years later.
At the time of his second marriage, Viserys is also not yet 30 years old.
While less of a change, the series has expanded on the friendship between Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Lady Alicent Hightower. This is no doubt to create greater tensions when the pair eventually fall into discord later in the series.
Alicent is also nearly 10 years older than Rhaenyra in the book, whereas here they are depicted as being similar in age. Alicent was 17 in the book, while Rhaenyra was even more of a child at seven-years-old.
The series has also so far excluded the rumoured source of Ser Otto Hightower’s hatred of Prince Daemon Targaryen – that he took the virginity of Alicent.
The book acknowledges that this could be a false rumour made up by one of the “sources” in the fictional history, Mushroom.
In the episode, Prince Daemon does suggestively ask for Alicent’s favour at the Tourney where he is defeated by Ser Criston Cole.
Could the series build on their connection in future?
The precocious Alicent had also cared for the dying King Jaehaerys in his final days by reading to him in his chambers.
Ser Criston Cole is also seen defeating Prince Daemon at the Tourney that occurs on the day Queen Aemma is due to give birth, but in the book, Cole had defeated Daemon at the Tourney for Viserys’s ascension and had already been named to the Kingsguard by the time of the events later in the episode.
The exact circumstances of Queen Aemma giving birth to her baby Baelon, and both of their subsequent deaths, are depicted in less graphic detail in the book too, noting the Queen’s death while giving birth and baby Baelon dying a day later.
In the show, we see Viserys agree to a caesarian section being performed on a conscious and resistant Aemma in an attempt to save the baby’s life and she dies on a bed of blood. However, baby Baelon dies shortly afterwards.
Aside from these choices – often for streamlining or more dramatic purposes – the episode is largely in keeping with what is written in George R R Martin’s Fire and Blood.
Episode 2 – The Rogue Prince
There have been a number of adaptational changes in the second episode of the series, The Rogue Prince.
In the book, Mysaria was actually pregnant in the book and after King Viserys intervened, Prince Daemon sent her back across the Narrow Sea to Lys but she miscarried on the way due to a storm, causing Daemon’s heart to harden even further with Viserys. Prince Daemon also then returned to the Vale of Arryn and to his estranged wife, Lady Rhea Royce.
In the book, Princess Rhaenyra was also not noted to have been responsible for Prince Daemon standing down and returning the egg. The series has given her more involvement in this story.
Additionally, Princess Rhaenyra and King Viserys remain older in the show than in the books. Rhaenyra was still a young girl in the book, while Viserys was still considered ‘The Young King’, not yet 30!
The series has certainly fleshed out the discord over the dragon egg but kept much of the detail of how King Viserys passed over a chance to mend bridges with House Velaryon to instead marry Lady Alicent.
The impact of King Viserys’ engagement to Lady Alicent and the shock and horror of Princess Rhaenyra is original to the show as the two young women have been brought closer in age and with a deeper friendship with the series adaptation.
Finally, in the book, Ser Criston rose to his post among the Kingsguard before the death of Queen Aemma.
Episode 3 – Second Of His Name
In the third episode, Second Of His Name, the timeline of events has slightly shifted when compared to the book Fire and Blood.
In the book, Queen Alicent gives birth to Prince Aegon after Prince Daemon defeats the Crabfeeder.
In the book, the war with the Crabfeeder is regularly financed by the Crown despite its being considered a private war and the series instead fleshes out the events of the war and what happens with King Viserys’ support of Prince Daemon. Prince Daemon does indeed slaughter the Crabfeeder himself. No mention is made of Ser Laenor or Ser Vaemond’s roles in the war, however.
Ser Vaemond Velaryon is Lord Corlys’ nephew in the book, but here he is his younger brother and doubts the tactics of Prince Dameon.
Meanwhile, Queen Alicent’s issues with Prince Aegon supplanting Princess Rhaenyra are new for the series and add greater complexity to her character who is endlessly encouraged by her father Ser Otto here. In the book, Queen Alicent is always out for securing her son’s advancement.
Elsewhere, Princess Rhaenyra is shown to be upset at the marriage of Alicent to King Viserys here due to her own feelings for her former best friend but in the book, she initially is at peace with the marriage – until later.
Finally, the age changes for King Viserys, Princess Rhaenyra and Queen Alicent remain.
Episode 4 – King of the Narrow Sea
There were a number of changes in the fourth episode of House of the Dragon when adapting Fire and Blood.
By this point in the book, Alicent had already begun pushing Viserys to name Aegon as his heir and Ser Otto joined her, prompting his dismissal as Hand as Viserys would not change his mind. This occurred before the Daemon-Rhaenyra scandal.
Alicent and Rhaenyra had also already fallen out and factions began to form around them.
The series also gives a definitive version of events surrounding Rhaenyra’s virginity as the fictional history of Fire & Blood gives multiple accounts to explain what happened between Daemon and Rhaenyra and why Viserys fell out with his brother once again.
In one version, Rhaenyra and Daemon were caught in bed together and she wanted to marry him but Viserys refused. Another, which is closer to the series, saw Daemon smuggle Rhaenyra out of the city to show her how to pleasure a man, watching prostitutes and also practising for a time with him. This was all done so she could seduce Ser Criston but, in this version, she approaches Criston and he is horrified by her attempts to seduce him with what she has learned.
Additionally, Daemon is also exiled from the Seven Kingdoms entirely and not sent to the Vale in the book, so he returns to continue battling in the Stepstones.
It is after the scandal in the book that Rhaenyra’s betrothal becomes a hot topic and it is Alicent that pushes for her to be married to Aegon but Viserys puts this down to her ambitions. Rhaenyra also has taken up her seat at Dragonstone before it is settled.
The King and the Small Council also agree that the best strategic marriage would be for Rhaenyra to marry Ser Laenor Velaryon, the son of Lord Corlys Velaryon and Princess Rhaenys Targaryen, so this is accurate to the book.
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