House of the Dragon’s Key Storyline Is Nothing Like Its Book Version

House of the Dragon ’s season 2 is only a few weeks away from finally arriving at Max, bringing in a highly anticipated full-scale war between House of Targaryen’s divided members.

Since the very beginning of the show that was launched in 2022, the storyline has been keeping fans on the edge of their seats, wondering if the friendship between Rhaenyra and Alicent will ever get another chance to be revived.

Though House of the Dragon’s creators surely added something of their own instead of sticking to George R.R. Martin’s story (just like the same happened to Game of Thrones back in the day), this time things are radically different, and the book series’ lovers already know why.

In season 1, House of the Dragon makes it pretty clear that Rhaenyra and Alicent have been close friends since a very young age, though Alicent’s father’s decision to trade his daughter for wealth by forcing her to marry Rhaenyra’s father, King Viserys I Targaryen, completely sets them apart.

Their relationships are entirely ruined when the King passes away making everyone decide who will become his rightful heir. With both sides eager to take the Iron Throne over, Rhaenyra and Alicent turn into fiercest enemies for each other.

It may come as an utter shock for those who felt like the show would be enough and never got to read George R.R. Martin’s books, but things seem to be much less dramatical for both leading characters in the original novel.

In Fire & Blood, Rhaenyra has no close relationship with Alicent at all, as the former appears to be around ten years younger than the latter by the time Alicent shows up as a potential wife for Rhaenyra’s father.

It thus becomes quite clear that George R.R. Martin’s idea was to pit two almost complete strangers against each other. House of the Dragon chose a different path and opted for a much more disheartening plot twist by turning Rhaenyra and Alicent into former best friends who, on top of that, were also about the same age.

Despite being a somewhat audacious choice, the creators’ decision to bring the characters closer to each other is actually what seems to be working better when it comes to modern epic shows. House of the Dragon would never make it to such a high dramatical point if it were just another show about a war between two people that never cared for each other.

Meanwhile, Rhaenyra and Alicent’s ruined friendship, which in the upcoming season may get yet another peak moment, is something that makes this whole approaching war another reason for a will-they-won’t-they plot twist. After all, the battle may indeed be epic, but the reconciliation of these two is what most fans are still waiting for.