There are many differences between House of the Dragon and its source material Fire and Blood. The series deviates from the book on several occasions. While some differences are purely due to time constraints, others are creative choices made by the showrunners. After all House of the Dragon will be covering 28 years in season 1 itself. So it isn’t possible to stick to the events of the book the entire time. But we are here to give you a list of all the important differences between House of the Dragon and Fire and Blood.

1. Mysaria was actually pregnant with Daemon’s child

In House of the Dragon episode 2, when Daemon claims that Mysaria is pregnant with his child it was actually just a ruse to anger Viserys and steal a dragon egg. However, in Fire and Blood, Mysaria is actually pregnant. Viserys however, commands that she return to Lys and Daemon give back the dragon egg. Mysaria loses her child in a miscarriage during her journey to Lys. Moreover, Rhaenyra never negotiates with Daemon for the egg. But it’s understandable that the show took that route to flesh out Daemon and Rhaenyra’s relationship.

2. Rhaenyra and Alicent were never best friends

This may come as a surprise to those who have not read the books. Before Alicent married Viserys, she was never actually friends with Rhaenyra. In fact, Alicent is actually 9 years older than Rhaenyra. However, the decision to give them a bond of friendship has definitely added a lot of emotional weight to the story.

3. Daemon did not kill Rhea Royce

In the books, Rhea’s death was truly an accident where she fell of her horse and hit her head on a rock. She then passed away a few days later. This all happened when Daemon was in Dragonstone. But once more, we stand by the decision to make Daemon kill his wife. It shows how ruthless Daemon is and how he can go to any lengths to get what he wants.

4. The tourney celebrating Laenor and Rhaenyra’s marriage never took place in House of the Dragon

With Rhaenyra and Laenor’s wedding confirmed, a tourney was held as celebration. This tourney was mentioned in House of the Dragon but did not occur due to the incident of Criston Cole killing Joffrey Lonmouth. In the books, Cole actually killed Ser Joffrey during the tourney itself. Ser Harwin Strong, who bore Rhaenyra’s favour in the tourney, also came face to face with Cole and ended up with a shattered elbow and broken collarbone.

5. Laenor dies in Fire and Blood

House of the Dragon chose to keep Laenor Velaryon alive and instead sent him to Essos to live a happy life with Ser Qarl Correy. In the books however, Qarl kills Laenor in Spicetown, and there is no story involving Laenor faking his death.

6. Laena’s death was different in House of the Dragon 

In Fire and Blood, Laena gave birth to a child who died an hour later. With her health deteriorating fast, she wanted to ride Vhagar one last time but passed out on the way and died. House of the Dragon’s decision to have Laena kill herself by ordering Vhagar to breathe dragonfire was actually a great deviation from the book. The scene was an extremely powerful one with raw emotion from both Laena and Vhagar. Vhagar’s hesitation and Laena’s desperation in her voice made it my favourite scene in the show.

7. Queen Aemma’s horrific death was created for House of the Dragon

Technically, Aemma’s death was not an entirely new concept. The way her death was shown in House of the Dragon was actually inspired by the death of her grandmother Queen Alyssa Velaryon who also died during childbirth.

8. Rhaena and Baela were not involved in the fight with Aemond

When Aemond lost his eye, all 4 kids of Rhaenyra and Daemon were present. However, in the books the fight only took place between Aemond and the three sons of Rhaenyra. House of the Dragon probably deviates from the book to clearly divide the greens and the blacks while also creating a bond between the girls and the boys.