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House of the Dragon Season 2: All Major Changes From the Book Explained
S2 of House of the Dragon diverges from George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, with Alicent's secret meeting at Dragonstone setting Rhaenyra's attack on King's Landing in motion, leading to an epic S3!
Disclaimer! This article contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 2
Season 2 of House of the Dragon ended with a major battle from George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood, setting up Season 3 for a violent start. In a departure from the book, Alicent (Olivia Cooke) became the final pawn that set Rhaenyra's (Emma D'Arcy) impending attack on King's Landing in motion. Once again, they met in secret, this time at Dragonstone, where Alicent begged Rhaenyra to take King's Landing and end the war she started.
Rhaenyra's tide had already shifted, as Daemon (Matt Smith) had raised an army in the Riverlands, she had found three new dragonriders for Seasmoke, Vermithor, and Silverwing, and Corlys' fleet was ready to attack.
House of the Dragon Season 2 brewed the next major events of the Targaryen civil war, setting the stage for the major conflict next season. During the process, many changes were made to the book plot. Listed below are some of them in detail.
Criston Cole and Queen Dowager Alicent in 'Fire & Blood'
There is no secret affair between Ser Criston Cole (Fabien Frankel) and Queen Dowager Alicent after Viserys' (Paddy Considine) death in the book. Rhaenyra and Criston's romance in Season 1 is also not explicitly described in the book. However, it does mention that they had a falling out. The reason for this is unknown. It may have been a result of heartbreak but who can say for sure? The novel, however, does not provide anything similar for Alicent and Criston.
Daemon's harrenhal visions
Daemon did raise an army at Harrenhal after great effort but his visions aren't recorded in Westeros history books. It makes sense for the series to take creative liberties since it's about defining Targaryen history through personal stories. However, Fire & Blood does not mention these visions. It was quite a fun interpretation of the books saying Harrenhal is cursed. It also provided an excuse to bring back Milly Alcock, Nanna Blondell, and Considine, as well as introduce Daemon and Viserys' mother, Alyssa (Emeline Lambert).
His vision of the Song of Ice and Fire from Aegon the Conqueror's dream, featuring the three-eyed raven, the white walker Night King, and Daenerys Targaryen when her dragons are born, also never happened. Even so, it was nice to have the Game of Thrones connection.
Daemon's relationship with Alys Rivers
Unlike in the show, Daemon doesn't have a significant relationship with Alys (Gayle Rankin) in the book. When Helaena appears at the end of the Song of Ice and Fire vision, she emphasizes the importance of their time together in Season 2. Alys seems to have been introduced this season in part to show another person with the same abilities as Helaena, even though Helaena's abilities aren't really explained.
Rhaenys' death at the Battle of Rook's Rest
As far as departures from the source material go this season, this and Blood and Cheese are the biggest. There is a dragon battle at Rook's Rest between Aegon and Sunfyre, Rhaenys and Meleys, and Aemond and Vhagar in the book, but it is the brothers against Rhaenys. Here, Aemond betrays Aegon, watering down Rhaenys' final stand.
A clash between the three riders and their dragons results in all three crashing to the ground. Rhaenys and Meleys are killed, Aegon and Sunfyre are brutally injured and Aemond and Vhagar survive. As in the show, Aegon's body is horrifically damaged in this fight. In both the book and the show, Rhaenys knew this fight would end her life, but she drags Aegon down with her. After Rhaenys had Meleys bite down on Sunfyre's neck, Vhagar plunged down on her from above in defense, causing all three to fall.
Rhaena's quest for a wild dragon
It is Rhaena's (Phoebe Campbell's) mission to find a wild dragon that consumes all of Season 2's finale. Following the charred bodies of sheep, it seems she will encounter the important dragon from the book, Sheepstealer. In the novel, Rhaena does get a dragon, but it's not this one. Sheepstealer's rider is called Nettles, and Morning's is named Morning.
Whether Nettles will appear in House of the Dragon is yet to be determined, and it is unclear if he will be introduced at all. Some fans are concerned they're nixing Nettles and giving Rhaena her dragon if the dragon she found in the finale is Sheepstealer. Rhaena didn't try to claim this dragon in Episode 8, she just found it. In that case, she might be rejected by the dragon next season.
Aegon's shocking revelation
Aegon says his dragon is dead in the finale, another massive book change. He is presumed to be right since no one corrects him. However, we haven't seen Sunfyre since Rook's Rest, meaning we haven't seen his dead body. Sunfyre is involved in one of the most pivotal events of the book that the show's plot has yet to reach, so we hope Aegon is wrong. The story should not be revealed here, as non-book readers shouldn't be spoiled. Let us just say that Sunfyre dying would be a colossal change.
Alicent's secret deal with Rhaenyra
There was another secret meeting between Rhaenyra and Alicent in the last scene of the season, which did not occur in Fire & Blood. Again, these secret meetings would not be known to history, so this change is acceptable. In exchange for helping Rhaenyra take King's Landing, Alicent consents to Rhaenyra killing Aegon.
Alicent was trying to set things right after her actions started this civil war. She wants to fade into obscurity with Helaena and Jaehaera. As the book states, Aegon was smuggled out of King's Landing by Larys (Matthew Needham), but his daughter wasn't with him. Alicent will instead try to get her girls out of King's Landing before Rhaenyra's forces attack.
ALSO READ: House of the Dragon: Did it succeed as a prequel to Game of Thrones?
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