Game of Thrones fans were relieved to hear that George R.R. Martin would be personally running the House of the Dragon store and advising the crew on the scripts, if not writing them himself. But alas, it seems that even the hit prequel series, which debuted the day before yesterday with its pilot episode, isn’t completely faithful to its source novel, Fire & Blood.
When it comes to worldbuilding elements, character lore, and plot details, House of the Dragon doesn’t deviate much from Martin’s established canon, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the show is going to be a 1:1 take on the tentative history of the Targaryen dynasty.
Even beyond that, there are certain things the show crew must change for the sake of their medium, like visual cues to help the audiences grasp the narrative and its prominent players without resorting to too much exposition. One such departure has managed to ruffle a few feathers in the gatekeeping fandom of A Song of Ice and Fire, and that is Rhaenys’ hair color.
That’s right; it looks as though some fans don’t understand why the producers changed the Queen Who Never Was in such a fundamental and character-breaking way. Despite its great production values, House of the Dragon is generally lackluster when it comes to character wigs, so why not allow the actress to use extensions on her own brunette locks?
Well, for one thing, maybe it’s just easier to recognize her as a Targaryen if she is as silver-haired as all the rest of them.
Then again, it might also have to do with Rhaenys’ age, though the withered look of one’s fifties hardly makes such a seamless flock of silvery strands.
If we’re inclined to get particularly nitpicky, there will definitely be a ton of stuff in future episodes to stand out in comparison to Fire & Blood. So, I guess when all is said and done, we can only hope that the producers have gotten the core beats of the story and its characters right.