New House Of The Dragon Survey Reveals How Fans Really Feel About Major Changes To Fire & Blood
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House of the Dragon's most recent season was arguably its most controversial yet, introducing some major changes to George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood that have given Game of Thrones fans a lot to talk about.
There's been an ongoing debate among longtime A Song of Ice and Fire readers about whether the diversions from Martin's source material in House of the Dragon are actually paying off, especially after his infamous "Beware the Butterflies" blog post that warned of potential plot issues resulting from the show-runners' decisions.
Some of those changes have been much easier to defend than others, with the series occasionally using its episodic format to give supporting characters more depth or clarify relationships that Fire & Blood only sketches in broad strokes. The result is an adaptation that can frustrate book readers in one scene and still make a genuinely compelling case for rewriting Martin's version in the next.
However, according to a recent survey among fans on Reddit, many of the changes in House of the Dragon are far from disastrous, and in fact, there are quite a few that most readers agree are an improvement from Martin's original telling.
House Of The Dragon Survey Sheds Light On Fire & Blood Changes
The Reddit survey polled roughly 450 fans for their opinions regarding book-to-series changes from Fire & Blood in House of the Dragon, focusing on dozens of specific examples that readers could rank on a scale of 1 to 5, with the following specific parameters for each rating:
- This was a bad change, and either made no sense or made the story worse.
- I don’t think it was the right change.
- I have no strong thoughts one way or the other.
- I’m fine with the change.
- I love the change and think it elevates the story.
The results include quite a few surprises (as well as a handful of predictable ones), and provide an overall sense of where fan sentiment lands regarding the biggest changes to the franchise after three seasons of House of the Dragon.
The Best Changes To Fire & Blood In HOTD, According To Fans
The fans have spoken when it comes to the changes to Fire & Blood that paid off most handsomely, with one clear and predictable vote at the top of the list: Viserys Targaryen's drawn-out disease that gradually wore him down over the course of the first season. 72% of readers who participated in the survey agreed that this was far and away a top-tier change that took the story to another level.
It's not entirely surprising given Paddy Considine's stunning performance over the course of the first season, which transformed Viserys from a relatively minor historical figure in Martin's book into one of House of the Dragon's most tragic and memorable characters. Stretching his physical decline across years also gave the succession crisis a much deeper foundation and emotional immediacy, making his final attempts to hold his fractured family together hit way harder than they do on the page.
From there, fans' favorite moments largely come down to giving key characters more to do and keeping them involved in major events rather than sidelining them as Fire & Blood sometimes does. Gwayne Hightower, for example, gets an expanded role alongside Criston Cole and Ormund Hightower, all of which were especially well received.
Unsurprisingly, Aegon remaining closer to the action at Rook's Rest was a top pick, giving fan-favorite Tom Glynn-Carney more screentime and allowing viewers to experience his epic reunion with Sunfyre. Fans also seem broadly supportive of changes that make the central relationships more personal and interconnected, such as aging Alicent down and making her Rhaenyra's childhood best friend completely reshaping their rivalry.
Likewise, involving Corlys Velaryon and his family more directly in the Battle of the Gullet gives House Velaryon a stronger presence in one of the war's defining clashes and makes the consequences feel more immediate for characters the audience already knows well.
Surprising House Of The Dragon Changes Fans Actually Liked
Some of the survey's most interesting results come from changes that have generated plenty of debate online but still landed surprisingly well with readers. Rhaenyra personally executing Otto Hightower is one of the clearest examples, giving her a much more direct role in his fate than she has in Fire & Blood.
Similarly, Daemon murdering Rhea Royce outright is another major departure that could have easily alienated book readers, yet fans were more or less fine with it, suggesting that the show's willingness to make Daemon more explicitly culpable has worked better for many viewers than the discourse around the character might suggest.
The same is true of Daemon and Corlys being present for the events at Tumbleton, another substantial restructuring of the source material that nevertheless earned a relatively positive response. Perhaps most surprising is Alicent and Criston Cole's sexual relationship, which has been one of the more contentious additions among viewers online.
Overall, the survey suggests that even some of House of the Dragon's most heavily debated changes are not necessarily viewed as failures by longtime readers, and that the loudest criticism online does not always reflect the broader fan response.
Fans Largely Agree On The Absolute Worst Changes To Fire & Blood
The bottom of the survey is considerably less surprising, as several of House of the Dragon's most heavily criticized deviations from Fire & Blood landed exactly where longtime readers might expect. The five lowest-rated changes were:
- Alicent sabotages King's Landing's defenses for Rhaenyra
- Helaena identifies Jaehaerys during Blood and Cheese
- Rhaenys crashes Aegon's coronation on Meleys
- Rhaenyra secretly enters King's Landing to meet Alicent
- Rhaenyra convinces Alicent to help kill Aemond
All five received average scores of roughly 2.0 or lower, with the latter three sitting comfortably at the very bottom of the rankings. It's hardly shocking given that most of these changes either significantly alter beloved moments from the book or revolve around keeping Rhaenyra and Alicent's relationship central long after the Dance has turned openly violent.
The Blood and Cheese change was already controversial for removing Helaena's agonizing choice involving Maelor, while Rhaenys' coronation escape has been hotly debated since Season 1. Most tellingly, three of the bottom five involve Rhaenyra and Alicent making increasingly drastic decisions for the sake of their continued relationship, suggesting that this particular departure from Martin's story remains one of the adaptation's biggest sticking points.
Ultimately, the survey suggests that Fire & Blood fans are far more willing to embrace bold changes when they deepen House of the Dragon's story, but much less forgiving when those changes undermine the logic and stake-building that make Martin's prose so compelling.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.