Will House of the Dragon Change Fire & Blood's Ending?

Game of Thrones taught George Martin ’s fans to be wary of his books’ adaptations, but House of the Dragon has been overall far more faithful to its source material so far. The prequel show seemingly has no reason to divert from Fire & Blood’s story: the source material has long been finished, so there’s no need to improvise.

However, there have been several prominent changes in Season 2 that had many fans wondering whether House of the Dragon will go down a different path than George Martin’s original book. Let’s take a look at those changes.

HotD Changed Significant Fire & Blood Details

It all began in Season 2. The notorious Blood and Cheese scene opened this series, but there was someone important missing: Maelor, Aegon and Helaena’s third child.

In the book, the assassins make Helaena choose whether they kill Maelor or Jaehaerys then kill the latter anyway; but the TV show made it look like Maelor didn’t even exist and Jaehaerys was Aegon’s sole heir, making his death a tougher blow.

Another seemingly insignificant change with far-going implications was the size of Stormcloud, young Aegon’s dragon. In the latest episode, we saw the dragon being effectively bunny-sizes, but according to Fire & Blood, he’s supposed to carry Aegon away from the Gullet and save him in just two weeks’ in-world time! Stormcloud’s tiny size could prevent him from doing that, again changing the course of the narrative.

HotD Must Conclude Similarly Despite Changes

There have been many other subtle changes that could mean a great deal in the future, too, like Daeron Targaryen’s non-existence in House of the Dragon. Altogether, these small things might accumulate into a slightly or significantly different narrative with even major plot points varying between the show and the book.

However, there’s one thing House of the Dragon can’t afford to change, and it’s the ending. Unlike Game of Thrones, HotD doesn’t have the luxury of an open ending: there are events that are certain to transpire in the following years and centuries, so the Dance of Dragons has to conclude just like it does in Martin’s Fire & Blood.

We’re yet to see whether House of the Dragon showrunners truly decided to spice things up by diverting from the author’s story, but if they did, it’s a risky route. The last attempt at shaping George Martin’s novels into something better didn’t receive the most positive feedback from the fans, so they have to be careful with that.