House of the Dragon S2 Changed Yet Another Character’s Storyline & We’re Yet to Notice
The House of Velaryon may introduce a very unexpected heir to the throne.
House of the Dragon ’s season 2 just kicked it off with its premiere episode last weekend, but the new installment already has fans outraged regarding all the blatant changes George R.R. Martin’s story went through before eventually making it to the screen.
Now that most of the viewers still keep themselves busy dwelling on how the Blood and Cheese scene was handled in the series, not many may have noticed that another, significantly shorter scene is likely to foresee bigger changes for House of the Dragon’s storyline.
The second season’s first episode features a brief encounter between Lord Corlys Velaryon and his bastard Alyn of Hull, with the latter expressing his sympathy towards Corlys regarding the loss of his heir Lucerys.
In George R.R. Martin’s novel Fire & Blood upon which House of the Dragon is supposed to be based, Alyn is actually Corlys’ grandson as he’s believed to be Laenor’s illegitimate child, and in the original book he suitably appears to be much younger than in the show. It’s now quite obvious why House of the Dragon’s Alyn is a fully grown-up man – just because his on-screen father is also much older than the one described in the novel.
Still, the showrunners’ decision to completely change the character’s storyline, while also still leaving him within the same dynasty, is something that is very likely to lead to major shifts in the Velaryons’ inheritance system.
In the book, Alyn is still doing just fine as, despite being a bastard, he eventually inherits Driftmark and becomes Lord of the Tides, with the icing on this cake of power being his marriage to Baela Targaryen, Daemon and Laena's daughter.
When it comes to House of the Dragon, only the first option appears to be possible for Alyn, as in the show, the age gap between him and Baela is just too much even for a dynasty like the Targaryens. It thus becomes clear that House of the Dragon’s Alyn has a very different perspective for his future, now that he’s Corlys Velaryon’s direct heir after Laenor and Lucerys’’s death.
The first episode’s little hint comes as proof that House of the Dragon has a lot to unveil about Alyn and his part in the upcoming full-scale war, whether he will get directly involved or will wait till the show’s third season will finally tell his own story.