House of the Dragon Season 3 is continuing to make major changes to the book, with ramifications for the entire story. Since the beginning, the show has deviated away from George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood on several occasions. Some of this was necessary: the book is written as an in-universe tome on Targrayen history, with various sources, so there’s a lot of missing details and characters who aren’t fleshed out. Some of the changes also simply work better for the screen, while others have been controversial, with Martin himself critical of House of the Dragon Season 2.
There have been changes big and small, but in terms of the Iron Throne and the battle between King Aegon II Targaryen and Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen on a very direct level, while you could throw in others, I think there are three that are particularly pivotal. The first is the introduction of Aegon the Conqueror’s dream into the Dance of the Dragons, with Alicent Hightower misunderstanding King Viserys’ dying words, changing the entire setup for the civil war.
Then there’s Aemond Targaryen deliberately targeting Aegon during the Battle at Rook’s Rest: while Aegon is injured there in the book, this changed the dynamics of the Greens considerably. Then there’s the continued relationship between Rhaenyra and Alicent, with them seeing each other in King’s Landing and later at Dragonstone, and Alicent agreeing to open the gates to her former friend (though whether she keeps her word remains to be seen).
Now, the trailer for House of the Dragon Season 3 adds another wrinkle, building on the stuff with Aemond and Aegon from Season 2: the king wants his revenge. In the footage, we see the heavily scarred Aegon say, “I’m going to kill my brother, or die in the attempt.”
The premise of House of the Dragon, at its core, is Team Green vs. Team Black. Yes, there are lots of machinations within that, from family feuds to political rivalries to switches of allegiance, but the basic idea of the story is that it’s a war fought for the Iron Throne between Aegon and Rhaenyra. He wants the crown, she wants the crown, and they have to eliminate the other’s claim. That’s still broadly being followed, except by Aegon himself.
That line about killing his brother is the only thing we hear Aegon say in the House of the Dragon Season 3 trailer. The implication, given it is something he’s willing to die for, is that he cares about revenge on Aemond more than anything else, including ensuring Rhaenyra does not take (and hold) the Iron Throne. It completely shifts his focus away from the Greens vs. Blacks, and into, well, Green vs. Green. And given Alicent herself may also be allowing Rhaenyra to take King’s Landing, then it really changes the presentation of the civil war, with Aemond now the de facto main opposition against Rhaenyra.
Again, there’s perhaps an element of necessary invention here: Aegon doesn’t have a whole lot to do between leaving King’s Landing and getting to his next destination, which can’t happen too early in Season 3 as there’s a need for several other pieces to fall into place, and yet you also don’t want one of the main characters just MIA or not having a clear drive for several episodes. It also adds some unpredictability, since the rivalry between Aemond and Aegon is largely created for the show, rather than taken from the book, and it’s understandable why he’d want revenge.
At the same time, it’s unclear how this is really going to work. We know where their stories are supposed to go, and, well, it isn’t meant to include this. What’s Aegon going to do, turn around and go back to King’s Landing to kill his brother? There are only eight episodes in the third season, so can it do this story justice, when the overarching narrative, and Game of Thrones history, demands the king’s focus is on his half-sister, not his brother?
Hopefully, it can. I do think a lot of the show’s changes have actually worked, and the performance of Tom Glynn-Carney has been so great that he’s already elevated Aegon as a character compared to what’s on the page. There’s a long way to go and it remains to be seen how it all plays out, but it is a strange inclusion to me, and certainly a big question to be answered when House of the Dragon Season 3 arrives on June 21st, 2026.
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