Lord Corlys Velaryon proposes the match between his daughter and Viserys, not Grand Maester Runciter, who is absent from the show<\/strong><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
Some of the biggest changes made to the show come with the portrayals of House Velaryon which- surprisingly enough- resides on King\u2019s Landing for the moment. Well, most of everyone who is really important in the house and its patriarch, but you get our point, right? Anyway, if we were following the timeline laid down by Fire & Blood to a T, we would not have seen Lord Corlys or Princess Rhaenys at the Capital at all, considering we are already in the 9th<\/sup> year of Viserys\u2019 reign and they left before it had even begun.<\/p>\nBut apart from still being a member of the Small Council- albeit a somewhat fiery one at that- Lord Corlys also has another major difference from his Fire & Blood counterpart in that we can see his ambition in play, in real-time. As a man who has charted all the known seas of the world, filled his coffers with gold that he found through sheer grit, and built an entirely new seat of power all by himself, Lord Corlys has an air of grandeur about him that he has truly earned. But what sets apart Steve Toussaint character from his book counterpart is that he is far more direct in taking what he desires; and what he desires, clearly, is a way into the royal family.<\/p>\n
In the books, at the Great Council of 101 AC, Corlys used all his wealth and influence to try to buy as much favour as he could for his son Laenor\u2019s claim (pronounce: Lay-Naur) to no avail and ended up quitting the Small Council in protest. When King Viserys was approached with the delicate subject of marriage- following Queen Aemma\u2019s death- Grand Maester Runciter proposed a match between him and the Lady Laena Velaryon.<\/p>\n
The match made perfect sense- it would heal the rift between House Targaryen and Velaryon, bind their bloodlines closer together, and project strength to the rest of the realm at a time when the Triarchy was wreaking havoc in the Stepstones. However, Runciter is entirely absent from the events of Fire & Blood, so the onus of broaching the subject falls upon Lord Corlys himself, which is a beautiful change of pace frankly because it shows you just how cut-throat royal politics could be. The fact that Corlys offered up his 12-year-old daughter in the name of consolidating strength is all you need to know about how the medieval world used to work.<\/p>\n
It also fits perfectly with all the accounts that describe the Sea Snake as an ambitious man who isn\u2019t afraid to take what he wants, because you can see that while Corlys is thinking of the best course for the realm to take, he wants his fingerprints all over it. It just goes to show you that even the characters you love on House of the Dragon are going to be more grey than black-and-white, and we personally love it. Oh, and speaking of Lord Corlys\u2019 daughter\u2026<\/p>\n
Laena\u2019s age when the proposal is made is accurate, but everything else is not<\/strong><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
In the books, Lady Laena Velaryon was 12 years old when a match was proposed between her and King Viserys Targaryen. The show has kept this fact constant, giving us a rather awkward courting scene between the two, but other than the age, Viserys\u2019 interactions with Laena are entirely created for the purposes of the TV show. In Fire & Blood, when Laena was 12, she was living at Driftmark with her parents, not at King\u2019s Landing; and she is older than Rhaenyra by a good 5 years.<\/p>\n
The match was proposed in the second year of Viserys\u2019 kingship, not the 10th<\/sup>, and was rejected without even so much as a conversation between the two parties, or so we can assume from the ponderings of Archmaester Gyldayn (pronounce: Arch-May-Stir). By contrast, the TV show goes so far as to make the proposal in person, from the side of the parents, and even dives into the territory of child marriage, which was sadly a prominent feature of medieval society.<\/p>\nThe show opts to take a show don\u2019t tell approach with Lady Laena, because in Fire & Blood, the maester of Driftmark recounts her reaction to Viserys\u2019 rejection as being tepid at best because what the Lady was more interested in flying than boys. This is corroborated by the fact that the only conversation Viserys and Laena have with each other is about Balerion the Black Dread and the other Targaryen dragons, before Viserys coaxes the truth of the matter from Laena- her parents had already prepped her for the conversation she was supposed to be having with her prospective husband.<\/p>\n
Viserys is a genuinely good person and is clearly perturbed by the idea of marrying Laena, even though his advisors- including Mellos- tell him that it is the best possible course of action he can take; politically speaking, of course. Otto Hightower is not one of these people, understandably, but still.<\/p>\n
It appears as though Ryan and Miguel have opted to switch the ages and roles of Laena and Laenor, as he would appear to be the elder sibling and Lord Corlys\u2019 heir besides; in Fire & Blood, Laenor was the younger sibling, born 3 years before Rhaenyra\u2019s birth. All of this was done to make filming House of the Dragon a bit easier, we\u2019re assuming, but it still stands out as a big difference from the books, especially given the fact that by the time she was 12, Lady Laena was not in search of a mighty dragon for her steed; she had already found her.<\/p>\n
Laena Velaryon is not Vhagar\u2019s dragonrider in House of the Dragon; yet<\/strong><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
One of the biggest reasons for choosing Laena as a prospective bride for Viserys was not simply the fact that she was the best political choice; she was also the best traditional match for the King. After shifting to Dragonstone 12 years before the Doom of Valyria, the Targaryens grew extremely close to the other Valyrian families in the vicinity. This especially included Driftmark, with the Velaryons having a long history of marrying into the Targaryen family and vice-versa.<\/p>\n
In fact, Aegon the Conqueror\u2019s own mother was a Velaryon, and the Small Council position of Master of Ships was filled by Velaryons so often in the first century of Targaryen rule that many considered the post hereditary. So politically speaking, marrying Laena would not just have reconciled the Iron Throne with its navy, but also reconciled two Valyrian houses that had been allies for literal centuries. And from a 0traditional standpoint, Viserys\u2019 marriage to Laena would have projected immense strength to the realm, because by the time she had turned 12, the Lady Laena would take as her mount none other than the mighty Vhagar; the oldest living Targaryen dragon by this point, and also the largest.<\/p>\n
Being a dragonrider was one of the biggest reasons Laena was considered as the perfect match for Viserys, who himself had been the last rider of Balerion. Curiously enough, Laena Velaryon is not a dragonrider in the show yet. In fact, she doesn\u2019t even know where Vhagar is, which is surprising given the fact that she was known to roost at the Dragonmont when the Dragonpit became too small to hold her.<\/p>\n
It works out in our favour either way, because now it is possible that we might see her claim the mighty Vhagar in front of our very eyes, which will truly be a sight to behold. In fact, this might just be how Vhagar is introduced to House of the Dragon, but we\u2019ll have just to wait and watch for now. The reason why mention this separately is because Lady Laena\u2019s closest bond is not with her parents of her suitors, but with Vhagar.<\/p>\n
The she-dragon is an important aspect of her personality and characterization, so it was surprising to see her without Vhagar, especially given the fact that episode 2 takes place 6 months after episode 1. But, as we mentioned just a moment ago, this means we might get to see Vhagar getting claimed twice on House of the Dragon, and that is about as exciting as things can get for us.<\/p>\n
The dragon egg Daemon \u201cstole\u201d is revealed to have belonged to the late Prince Baelon Targaryen<\/strong><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
One of the most disturbing scenes in the entire Game of Thrones franchise came in the first episode of House of the Dragon, when we saw the Westerosi version of a Caesarean Section being performed on Queen Aemma Arryn in hopes of saving the prospective heir to the realm. The death of both mother and child less than a day apart is one of the greatest tragedies of King Viserys\u2019 life; he had prayed for his son Baelon\u2019s birth since before he became king, and now that he finally had a male heir, he lost him in less than a day.<\/p>\n
But what makes this loss even more hurtful are the actions that Viserys\u2019 brother Daemon takes in the wake of his nephew\u2019s death. In episode 1, we are shown that though Daemon did grieve for Aemma and Baelon, he styled his late nephew \u201cheir for a day\u201d, which is a grievously insulting thing to say about the recently-deceased, let alone your own blood. Though we did not hear him say it, it is heavily implied that he did speak the words that led to his banishment from the capital.<\/p>\n
Towards the end of Heirs of the Dragon, we saw Daemon take his lover Mysaria somewhere on Caraxes\u2019 back, and in The Rogue Prince, his destination was revealed to have been Dragonstone. However, it appears as though Daemon didn\u2019t just take his harlot with him, he also took a dragon\u2019s egg; specifically that of the said heir for a day, Prince Baelon. See, after squatting at Dragonstone for 6 months with no response from Viserys, Daemon decided to elicit one by returning to King\u2019s Landing and taking the egg Rhaenyra had picked out for her late brother.<\/p>\n
This is important expositional detail because in the books, it is made to seem as if Viserys lost his cool because his brother tried to replicate Targaryen custom with a commoner. Fire & Blood tells us that Viserys was enraged when he learned that Daemon had impregnated his lover, who was now pregnant, and intended to give her a dragon egg to place in the child\u2019s cradle. We are never told the explicit details of the brothers\u2019 quarrels, or where the egg came from; for all we know, Daemon could have just taken it from a lair in the Dragonmont.<\/p>\n
House of the Dragon builds on that speculative nugget of information by adding the detail of the egg having belonged to Prince Baelon, which drives the nail deeper into the coffin of Viserys and Daemon\u2019s dying relationship. It also provides a good emotional explanation for Viserys\u2019 reaction, because we are told from both Fire & Blood and House of the Dragon that he does not desire confrontation until he cannot avoid it.<\/p>\n
Viserys was fine with allowing Daemon to use Dragonstone as his base- the seat that rightfully belonged to Rhaenyra- until he crossed the line and used Baelon\u2019s memory in his twisted games. It\u2019s a wonderful psychological layer that reveals the tumultuous relationship between the brothers and also gives weightage to the inevitable breakdown in relations that the Weeks Ahead trailer showed us glimpses of. Oh, and while we\u2019re on the subject of the egg, let\u2019s also address the prospective mother in question.<\/p>\n
Mysaria isn\u2019t actually pregnant in House of the Dragon, whereas she was in Fire & Blood<\/strong><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
The other reason that Viserys sends Otto to Dragonstone to deal with Daemon is Mysaria herself. So far, what we\u2019ve seen of her tells us that she is a Ros-type figure; someone who is very good at running things for high lords and does not lack for ambition. What she does lack is a fertile reproductive system, which is one of the biggest changes from book-to-show because in Fire & Blood, Mysaria actually does get pregnant with Daemon\u2019s child.<\/p>\n
It is said that after the Rogue Prince takes over Dragonstone for his own seat, he impregnated his lover and got her with child, which is why he wanted to present her with a dragon\u2019s egg. King Viserys, however disapproves of everything about this situation and commands Daemon not only to return the egg he took, but to send Mysaria away, which he does, putting her on a ship bound for her homeland of Lys. But during her journey, Mysaria loses the babe due to a storm, which causes Daemon\u2019s demeanour to \u201charden\u201d more than it already was.<\/p>\n
This is in stark contrast with what happens in Episode 2 because, for starts, Mysaria is not pregnant. In fact, she can\u2019t get pregnant, and the entire ploy of marrying her in accordance with Valyrian custom and presenting her a dragon\u2019s egg in accordance with Targaryen custom was Daemon\u2019s way to get his brother off his butt and into the field of action for once. He was doing pretty well at picking apart Otto Hightower\u2019s haughty air of arrogance, until Rhaenyra arrived and demanded Daemon return her brother\u2019s egg.<\/p>\n
It is only after the people who arrived from King\u2019s Landing depart that we learn Mysaria has \u201ctaken steps\u201d to ensure she never gets pregnant even by mistake. Daemon viewed this entire scenario as an amusing prank, to put it very simply, but for everyone else involved, it was not nearly as funny. And yes, there is still the possibility that Mysaria might actually just be pregnant, because we are repeatedly told that the blood of the dragon is special, and simple logic dictates that this uniqueness extends to all other bodily fluids as well.<\/p>\n
Do you guys not recall the conspiracy theories that were running rampant about Dany being able to bear children again thanks to Jon\u2019s magic seeds before Season 8 ruined everything or is it just us? But putting all that aside, it is very telling that Daemon taunted his brother with a seditious without even informing his unwitting accomplice what he was doing. One wonders just how much you can trust this dashing Rogue Prince after all.<\/p>\n
Lord Corlys Velaryon quits the Small Council because Viserys rejects the match with Laena<\/strong><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
In just 2 episodes, House of the Dragon has given us a very clear portrait of King Viserys Targaryen; he is a kind man, an honest man, a good man, but he is not fit to be a ruler and is ruled more by emotional than an iron will to rule. His Hand, Otto Hightower, knows this and expertly manipulates him into choosing Alicent as his new bride. While all the other members of Viserys\u2019 Small Council- including Lyonel Strong – suggest that the King marry Laena as he must fulfil his duty to the realm, Otto says that when his own wife had passed, he couldn\u2019t even think of remarrying out of duty, thus planting the seed of Viserys marrying Alicent in his King\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n
The Hightowers are shown to use such subtle, empathetic manipulation on all the important Targaryen royals so far, and it seems to work as well, because at the end of the episode, Viserys chooses not to marry out of duty, but- as Fire & Blood puts it- \u201cfor love\u201d.<\/p>\n
And it is this decision- not the Great Council passing over Rhaenys or Viserys putting off the trouble in the Stepstones- that causes Lord Corlys Velaryon to leave his seat on the Small Council. This event was bound to happen sooner or later, given the fact that the episode has just set up a major conflict that we will see unfold in episode 3, but the manner in which it happened is very different from the books. In Fire & Blood, Corlys resigns even before Viserys\u2019 reign begins, and well before he gets into the 10th<\/sup> year of his reign.<\/p>\nHe does not broach the subject of marriage with Viserys, and neither does he directly pressure the Crown to take care of the Triarchy and their crabfeeder; he is simply not involved. By contrast, House of the Dragon has kept him right in the middle of political intrigue in the Seven Kingdoms, which is actually an improvement in our opinion because it makes a lot more sense. Having said that, with Lord Corlys finally taking his leave, the action is going to ramp up, and so will the drama, because\u2026<\/p>\n
The cracks in Rhaenyra and Alicent\u2019s relationship are appearing already<\/strong><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
One of the biggest changes from Fire & Blood to House of the Dragon continues to be the dramatic gift that keeps on giving because it appears as though relations between Rhaenyra and Alicent are about to break down before Viserys is even wedded to the latter. In Fire & Blood, the relationship between the Realm\u2019s Delight and her new stepmother is completely different to what it is shown to be in House of the Dragon.<\/p>\n
There, Rhaenyra and Alicent are mentioned as having been on amiable terms at best, and cultivating a real relationship only after Alicent married Viserys. Alicent is also 9 years older than Rhaenyra there, so it makes sense that the young queen-to-be, who was 9 or 10 years old when Viserys re-married, would be okay with her new step-mother kissing her and naming her daughter on her wedding day.<\/p>\n
That particular scene is going to be much more awkward and skin-crawling in House of the Dragon because of the equation that Ryan and Miguel have given Rhaenyra and Alicent. The two ladies are shown to be constant companions at court, with the implication being that they practically grew up with each other. However, we know that Otto Hightower desires to tie his family to the royal lineage, and so he places Alicent in a precarious position; he basically asks her to seduce Viserys, which is only mentioned as speculation in Fire & Blood according to the many sources that Gyldayn referred to.<\/p>\n
In the books, the conflict between princess and good mother start cropping up when the latter starts producing male children that can definitely displace Rhaenyra as the heir to the Iron Throne. In the show, that distant has already started appearing, as Viserys has been firmly entranced by Alicent\u2019s beauty and \u201cconsiderate nature\u201d, to the point he even asks her to keep their meetings from Rhaenyra.<\/p>\n
Viserys can see Corlys\u2019 ambition plainly but is blind to Otto\u2019s, and that is what is going to tear apart the Targaryen family during the course of House of the Dragon. The way that Rhaenyra fled from the Small Council chamber at the end of the episode is all you need to see to know that these two friends are never going to be the same again. And honestly, if you were in Rhaenyra\u2019s shoes, wouldn\u2019t you feel the same way? Exactly. Moving on to our last major difference from book to show, it revolves around the character after whom the episode was titled.<\/p>\n
Daemon and Corlys will launch their War for the Stepstones around 110-111 AC; the same time in which Daemon relinquishes control of \u201chis kingdom\u201d in the books<\/strong><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
The House of the Dragon timeline, as we\u2019d mentioned in our previous differences video, is a bit all over the place, so it makes sense that an entire conflict will most likely begin and end in the same year that it was \u201cformally concluded\u201d in the books. In Fire & Blood, after Viserys finds out about Daemon and Mysaria\u2019s dragon egg-involving shenanigans, he commands his brother to return to his lady wife Rhea Royce in the Vale but instead, Daemon strikes up a partnership with the spurned Lord Corlys Velaryon and launches a private war for the Stepstones.<\/p>\n
For nearly 2 years Daemon burnt the holdings of the Triarchy in the Stepstones while the Sea Snake\u2019s fleets reclaimed the Narrow Sea for Driftmark, with his coronation occurring in 108 AC. He would rule his \u201ckingdom\u201d for some 3 odd years before growing bored of it and leaving it behind to fall into squalor. Since House of the Dragon follows a much more truncated timeline, they\u2019re going to begin the War in the 10th<\/sup> year of Viserys\u2019 reign, which is closer to when Daemon leaves ruling the Stepstones to other sellswords.<\/p>\nFrom this, we can also infer that the TV version of the War for the Stepstones is going to be much shorter, possibly lasting less than a year all things said. This might not seem like a major difference to you, but it is a far more intimidating fact that Daemon and Corlys will be able to conquer islands held by 3 ruling powers in less than a year then the 2 years it took them to get it all done in the books as it will prove Daemon\u2019s prowess as a commander, a warrior-king, and a true dragon. Episode 3 is most likely going to focus on this very conflict that we have described, and it will be very intriguing to see how they handle the War and Daemon\u2019s consequent kingship, short-lived as it will be.<\/p>\n
Marvelous Verdict<\/strong><\/h2>\n <\/p>\n
The Rogue Prince continues the trend of adaptive perfection that House of the Dragon has slipped itself into. While the story changes were numerous, and in some cases significant, as always, Ryan and Miguel have managed to make it work without sacrificing the essence of George R. R. Martin\u2019s world. Yes, it was a relief to find out that Mysaria will potentially not have a miscarriage in a ship and equally annoying that we still haven\u2019t gotten to see Vhagar yet, but that\u2019s just how storytelling works, you guys, and we\u2019re not here to complain about any of it; on the contrary, for the first time in like 3 years, we can finally say we are very much looking forward to the next episode of something Game of Thrones related; and that is a good feeling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Only a few episodes into House of the Dragon, and already so much has happened. Thanks to Ryan and Miguel spoiling us, we have seen a lot more dragon action than we did in Game of Thrones, but what really keeps us hooked on the show is the political intrigue that threatens to implode Westeros’ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50594,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7430],"tags":[20613],"class_list":{"0":"post-50582","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-list","8":"tag-insane-differences-between-fire-blood-book-and-house-of-the-dragon-episode-2"},"yoast_head":"\n
10 Insane Differences Between Fire & Blood Book And House of the Dragon Episode 2 - Explored - Marvelous Videos<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n