House Of The Dragon Season 3 Officially Rewrites George R.R. Martin's Rhaenyra

Warning! Spoilers for House of the Dragon season 3, episode 3, ahead!

House of the Dragon season 3, episode 3, further commits to the HBO series’ determination to change George R.R. Martin’s Rhaenyra Targaryen. So far, after just a few episodes, this installment of the Game of Thrones prequel series has marked a significant turning point for Rhaenyra. Not only is House of the Dragon officially past its halfway point, but this memorable Targaryen queen has finally sat upon the Iron Throne. It’s something Daenerys Targaryen was denied, but we knew that wouldn’t be the case for Rhaenyra since George R.R. Martin wrote it that way.

Martin’s Fire & Blood details the devastation of the Dance of the Dragons, outlining how the conflict began, when Rhaenyra Targaryen reclaimed the throne from her brother, Aegon, and how she spent her unfortunately limited time ruling from the Red Keep. House of the Dragon has stayed faithful to many of Rhaenyra’s troubles, including the ever-increasing desperation among the smallfolk and the crown’s empty coffers. However, something brand new introduced in season 3, episode 3, is the idea that Rhaenyra set herself against the nobles.

In this episode of House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra learns that the nobles of King’s Landing have been hoarding excess resources in their houses. This put significant pressure on the poor, since there wasn’t enough to go around to begin with. To teach the nobles a lesson, Rhaenyra invites them to a banquet, where she shocks the room by revealing that their meal is some grotesquely cooked rats. The whole thing was a ruse—a distraction while soldiers reclaimed the nobles’ hoards to redistributed them to the poor.

House Of The Dragon Continues To Make Rhaenyra Its New Daenerys

Rhaenyra sitting at a banquet table with King's Landing's lower nobles

Rhaenyra’s banquet was a wonderfully clever scheme, and it achieved precisely what she wanted. When she brought the retrieved food and resources to the poor themselves, the queen was hailed a hero—a liberator. It’s precisely the sort of move that Daenerys Targaryen would have made in Game of Thrones. On her journey toward King’s Landing, Daenerys came to be known as “mother,” not just to her dragons, but to the poor and enslaved as well. When she burned the masters in Astapor and freed the slaves in Meereen, it was clear Daenerys was a different sort of ruler.

The trouble with placing Rhaenyra in a similar category is that it simply wasn’t how Martin wrote her. As a young princess, Rhaenyra was called the Realm’s Delight. However, when she took the throne of King’s Landing as an adult, the queen was considered a tyrant. She imposed harsh taxes and carried out endless executions without trials. Rhaenyra was known to be paranoid and greedy, an enemy of the smallfolk rather than King’s Landing’s wealthy crowd.

By giving Rhaenyra a crusade against the nobles, House of the Dragon has doubled down on its determination to make this a sympathetic character. The idea is that the way Rhaenyra is remembered over the next almost 200 years is false, and rumors and lies have obscured the truths of her goodness. It certainly keeps things interesting, but considering Daenerys’ controversial death, House of the Dragon‘s approach could prove troublesome for Rhaenyra’s ending.

What Rhaenyra’s Rat Feast Will Mean For Her House Of the Dragon Ending

Rhaenyra looking uncertain in House of the Dragon season 3

Warning! Major Spoilers for Martin’s Fire & Blood ahead!

Rhaenyra taking from the rich to give to the poor will certainly make her popular amongst the small folk of King’s Landing for a time. However, according to Martin’s Fire & Blood, it’s these common people who will be the queen’s undoing. When her taxes cripple them, the smallfolk rise against Rhaenyra, forcing her to flee King’s Landing. This leads her right into Aegon Targaryen’s hands, and the queen is ultimately executed.

It was the higher lords that turned on Daenerys, though she ultimately turned on the small folk herself. In House of the Dragon, it appears that the smallfolk will turn on Rhaenyra as she attempts to put the nobles in their place. It’s an odd sort of twist and turn that will, more than likely, come to the same conclusion. As likable as Rhaenyra is in House of the Dragon, a version of her story that doesn’t align with canon is sure to cause frustration and controversy. After all, that’s precisely what happened with Daenerys.