Warning! Spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3 ahead!It used to look like HBO’s House of the Dragon was setting out to carve out a canon figure, and Season 3 has officially followed through. This Game of Thrones the spinoff series has a reputation for such changes to canon, and it has gotten it into some trouble. A song of ice and fire author George RR Martin has been rather critical of how House of the Dragon has dealt with its history. The problems come when a change has larger implications as it ripples out through the narrative. House of the Dragon Season 3’s nettle change is a good example.
At Martin’s Fire & BloodNettles is a lowborn dragonspawn, like Ulf White and Hugh Hammer, who wins over and claims the wild dragon Sheepstealer. House of the Dragon season 2 introduced sheep’s stilts, but there were no nettles to be seen. Instead, it was suggested that Daemon Targaryen’s daughter, Rhaena Targaryen, would claim the wild dragon. House of the Dragon season 3 has officially moved forward with that storyline as Rhaena replaces Nettles by claiming Sheepstealer in the premiere and riding him into the battle of Gullet.
Nettles has never been a central character in A Dance of Dragons, but that doesn’t mean cutting her and replacing her with Rhaena comes without consequences, especially since House of the Dragon changing their roles further. In Martin’s version of the Battle of the Gullet, nettles and sheep’s stilts successfully participated in the battle. In HBO’s version, Rhaena’s lack of control over her wild dragon directly causes the death of Prince Jacaeyrs Velaryon and his dragon, Vermax. That’s a pretty massive shift, all said and done.
Cutting nettles completely changes Daemon & Rhaenyra’s future dynamic
Even though Nettles was a much different problem than Rhaena will be now, she was still a problem. IN Fire & BloodNettles engages in what is widely believed to be an affair with Daemon Targaryen. Rhaenyra learns of this from her master of whispers, Lady Mysaria, and becomes enraged and distrustful of Nettles. The queen concludes that this bastard girl used witchcraft to claim the sheep stealer and demands her head. Fortunately, Daemon learns of Rhaenyra’s plan and helps Nettles escape on her dragon, never to be seen again.
Admittedly, it’s hard to imagine this story playing out between the versions of characters we see in House of the Dragon. Season 2 spent a lot of time building Daemon’s loyalty to Rhaenyra, and the TV version of this queen hasn’t traditionally been someone so jealous that they’d demand someone’s head just for an affair.
This shift in how these characters behave surely has everything to do with why Nettles was replaced with Rhaena. The Targaryens don’t mind incest, but it’s highly unlikely that Daemon will have an affair with his daughter in House of the Dragon. The show has also now given Rhaenyra a more legitimate reason to hate the Sheepstealer’s rider than pure jealousy. HBO has maintained what will surely be a conflict between Rhaenyra and Daemon, but the context is completely and utterly different.
Rhaena and the sheep styler killing Jace is far worse than the Canon story
Instead of having Rhaenyra and Daemon disagree about an affair, House of the Dragon is sure to cause conflict as the queen’s master tries to protect his daughter. It’s a far more sympathetic situation all around. If Rhaenyra learns Rhaena was responsible for Jace’s deathwe could hardly blame her for being furious and devastated. We also can’t blame Daemon for opposing her to protect Rhaena. Overall, it would be a terrible, heartbreaking situation for any of these characters to be in – far worse than Daemon simply taking another lover.
Although it makes some sense House of the Dragon wanted to skip over Daemon and Nettles’ affair, it’s a little strange that the show bothers to replace that arc with anything at all. Jace’s death will be a tragic motivator for Rhaenyra regardless. To provide the queen with another enemy within her own family is excessive. It all feels like another way to drag the main character through one Game of Thrones-style Mad Queen decline. It wasn’t a popular choice with Daenerys, so it certainly won’t work any better with Rhaenyra.
- Publication date
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21 August 2022
- Network
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HBO
- Directors
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Clare Kilner, Geeta Patel
- Authors
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Gabe Fonseca
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Fabian Frankel
See Criston Cole
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