Entertainment

‘House of the Dragon’ Officially Takes Its Biggest Risk With a Major ‘Fire & Blood’ Book Change

Published

4 hours ago

on

Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for House of the Dragon Season 3, Episode 6.As House of the Dragon weaves the epic story of the Dance of the Dragons, the series is unafraid to take its own path. Though George R.R. Martin‘s Fire & Blood provides an outline, the HBO series has made more than a few changes, like altering Alicent (Olivia Cooke) and Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) dynamic and, more recently, changing the timing of Helaena’s (Phia Saban) pregnancy. And as the story unfolds, there are even more examples. Season 3’s latest dramatic twist highlights House of the Dragon‘s willingness to take risks as the series pushes Corlys Velaryon’s (Steve Toussaint) story in a drastically different direction.

Throughout Season 3, Corlys’ plot has been unlike Fire & Blood. His anger at Rhaenyra and absence from King’s Landing are invented for the series, but certainly make sense for the proud character. However, Episode 6 takes this even further with the cliffhanger of Corlys getting captured by Ormund Hightower’s (James Norton) man. With no comparable storyline in the source material, it’s unclear how this will turn out for the Sea Snake, placing the character in serious danger. However, whatever happens, Corlys’ Fire & Blood story can continue, as his disappearance will allow House of the Dragon to highlight Alyn (Abubakar Salim) and Baela (Bethany Antonia). While the series has taken a major risk with Corlys, the departure from the source material could make his storyline even more compelling.

Advertisement

‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3 Gives Corlys a Storyline That Isn’t in ‘Fire & Blood’

While it’s not surprising for House of the Dragon to change a few things, Corlys’ story in Season 3 is unrecognizable from his Fire & Blood role, and Episode 6 takes that even further. While it starts with Alyn’s efforts to convince Corlys to return to help Rhaenyra, the ending takes a dark turn. Despite his lingering resentment for Rhaenyra, Corlys announces his intention to return to King’s Landing, allowing his men to reinforce the city, but his plan is interrupted when Jon Roxton (Joplin Sibtain), Ormund Hightower’s right-hand man, appears. Angered by Rhaenyra’s assassination attempt, the Hightower forces capture Corlys and attack his men in retaliation. This conflict leaves Corlys’ fate unclear, and with Ormund’s volatile nature, things don’t look good for the Sea Snake.



















Advertisement

Collider Exclusive · Game of Thrones Personality Quiz
Which Game of Thrones House Do You Belong To?
Stark · Lannister · Targaryen · Baratheon · Tyrell

Five great houses. Five completely different answers to the same question: how do you hold power in a world that will take it from you the moment you stop paying attention? Eight questions will determine where your loyalties — and your nature — truly lie.

🐺Stark

🦁Lannister

Advertisement

🐉Targaryen

🦌Baratheon

🌹Tyrell

Advertisement

01

Someone powerful is acting dishonourably and everyone knows it. What do you do?
In Westeros, the answer to this question has ended more than one great house.





Advertisement

02

What is the source of your power?
Every house endures because of something. What is it for yours?





Advertisement

03

Who do you truly fight for?
Strip away the banners and the words. The honest answer tells you everything.





Advertisement

04

How do you deal with your enemies?
A house’s method reveals its character as clearly as its words ever could.





Advertisement

05

What kind of ruler do you believe in?
Westeros is full of answers to this question. Most of them end badly.





Advertisement

06

You suffer a devastating loss. How does your house respond?
How a house handles defeat tells you more about it than how it handles victory.





Advertisement

07

Which of these truths about Westeros do you most believe?
Every house has a philosophy. This is yours.





Advertisement

08

The Iron Throne is within reach. What do you do?
The answer reveals not just your ambition — but your character.





Advertisement

The Maester Has Spoken
Your House Is…

Your answers point to the great house whose words, values, and way of surviving in Westeros match your own. Bend the knee — or don’t. That’s very much up to you.

Advertisement


Winterfell · The North

🐺 House Stark
Advertisement

Winter is Coming — and you have always known it. You prepare not out of fear but out of duty, because the people who depend on you deserve someone who takes the long view.

  • You lead with honour even when it costs you, because you understand that a reputation built on integrity is the only one worth having.
  • Your loyalty to family and people runs deep — not as sentiment but as a code that doesn’t bend when things get difficult.
  • The North endures because Starks endure — not by being the cleverest players in the game, but by being the kind of people others are willing to follow into the cold.
  • You are that kind of person. The pack survives. The lone wolf dies. You already know which one you are.


Casterly Rock · The Westerlands

🦁 House Lannister
Advertisement

You understand the game — its rules, its exceptions, and exactly when the rules become the exception. You play it without illusions and without apology.

  • You are sharper than most people realise, and you have learned to use that gap to your advantage.
  • A Lannister always pays their debts — and you always keep your word, because your word is an instrument of power, and instruments must be kept in working order.
  • You love your family with a ferocity that sometimes blinds you, and you know it, and you do it anyway.
  • The lion doesn’t concern itself with the opinion of sheep. Neither, in the end, do you.


Dragonstone · The Iron Throne

🐉 House Targaryen
Advertisement

You carry a sense of destiny that is difficult to explain and impossible to ignore — the feeling that you are not simply participating in the world but meant to reshape it.

  • You are capable of extraordinary things, and you know it, and that knowledge is both your greatest strength and your most dangerous quality.
  • Fire and blood are not just words to you — they are a philosophy about what change requires and what it costs.
  • The Targaryens at their best were transformative rulers who broke chains and defied the limits of what anyone thought possible.
  • At your best, so are you. The dragon has three heads. You are one of them.


Storm’s End · The Stormlands

🦌 House Baratheon
Advertisement

You are a force — direct, powerful, and difficult to ignore when you enter a room or a conflict. You do not negotiate with challenges. You meet them.

  • Ours is the fury — and yours is a kind of intensity that commands attention, respect, and occasionally fear from those who underestimate what’s behind it.
  • You value strength and straight dealing. You’d rather know where you stand in a fight than navigate a web of courtly whispers.
  • The Baratheons built their house on the back of one of the greatest military victories in Westerosi history — and then struggled with what came after.
  • The lesson of your house is that winning is not the end of the story. Governing is. You are learning that too.


Highgarden · The Reach

🌹 House Tyrell
Advertisement

You understand that power does not always announce itself — that sometimes it arrives with flowers, good wine, and a smile that doesn’t quite reach the eyes.

  • Growing strong is your house’s motto, and you live it: patiently, strategically, always investing in the relationships and resources that will matter most when it counts.
  • You are charming by choice and calculating by nature — a combination that makes you one of the most effective players in any room you enter.
  • The Tyrells fed King’s Landing and shaped its politics without ever sitting on the Iron Throne — and they were arguably more powerful for it.
  • You know that the person who controls the food controls the kingdom. And you always know where the food is.

Advertisement

Not only is this a tense cliffhanger, but even those who read Fire & Blood have no idea what might happen to Corlys next. The differences in Corlys’ storyline started small, initially only extending his appeal for Alyn and Addam (Clinton Liberty) to be legitimized and creating a rift between him and Rhaenyra over the subject. But with Episode 6’s twist, House of the Dragon has moved even further from the source material. Instead of hunting the Triarchy in Westeros, the novel shows him staying in King’s Landing and advising Rhaenyra. Corlys spends much of the war trying to curb her more vicious impulses as he argues for calm, rational action, but his advice is often ignored. Their relationship eventually falls apart when Rhaenyra sends her people after the dragonseed, including Addam, despite Corlys’ protests. He warns Addam, allowing the dragonrider to flee to safety, but Corlys is named a traitor for it. Rather than taking the character down this path, House of the Dragon has interrupted the story with Corlys’ capture, placing him in the middle of the conflict with Ormund with this shocking twist.

‘House of the Dragon’ Season 3 Can Highlight Baela and Alyn in Corlys’ Place

Corlys’ story may not follow his Fire & Blood trajectory, but this change has already provided one benefit because it allows the show to highlight another member of his family. Alyn has begun to take over Corlys’ King’s Landing storyline as he sits on the small council and advises patience and restraint. Already he is gaining her trust and earning his place as Corlys’ heir, though Rhaenyra has yet to grant it. Especially with Corlys missing, Alyn can take over his role, leading House Velaryon and advising Rhaenyra. This will give him a more significant role than in Fire & Blood, where he stays with the Velaryon fleet that has already played its part.

Yet, Alyn isn’t the only one able to step up in Corlys’ absence. Baela remains an important part of Rhaenyra’s forces, being one of her dragonriders. Though Fire & Blood gives her little to do at this point in the story, House of the Dragon‘s twist allows her a new challenge. Not only does Corlys’ disappearance leave a void, but it is a reason for both Alyn and Baela to fight. They both care for Corlys, with Alyn finally getting to know his father and Baela having lost most of her family already, potentially making rescuing him a priority. Already, House of the Dragon has begun exploring a romance between them, and now Baela and Alyn will be thrown together even more as they fear for Corlys and lead the Velaryon House in his absence. While whatever happens to Corlys while Ormund has him is sure to be terrible (this is Westeros, after all), at least he has two capable descendants to continue his work in King’s Landing.

Advertisement

House of the Dragon Season 3 is streaming on HBO Max with new episodes on Sundays.


Advertisement


Release Date
Advertisement

August 21, 2022

Network

HBO

Advertisement

Showrunner

George R.R. Martin

Directors
Advertisement

Clare Kilner, Geeta Patel

Writers

Gabe Fonseca

Advertisement

Advertisement

  • Fabien Frankel

    Ser Criston Cole

    Advertisement

Advertisement


Advertisement

Source link

Related Topics:

You must be logged in to post a comment Login

Leave a Reply

Cancel reply

Trending

Exit mobile version