We want the complexities and the grey moralities, not white-washed narratives

House of the Dragon is one of the most popular shows currently and gaining more popularity with every new episode. Most fans love the story and performances, praising the cast and crew for a job well done after each episode. The fourth episode was The Red Dragon and The Gold, which currently has a 9.6 IMDb rating – the highest for the show so far.

House of the Dragon Season 2, Episode 5. Photograph by Liam Daniel/HBO.
But the show is not only gaining good reviews, as there have been some complaints along the way as well. Especially keeping in mind the inconsistencies with the book, as they have skipped quite a few important bits in the show, as well as incorporated a few plot points that are not part of the book.

One Rhaenyra Targaryen Scene From House of the Dragon That Did Not Sit Well With The Fans

In Season 2 Episode 3, the scene where Rhaenyra goes to Kings Landing to meet Alicent at the Sept was not from the book. It was just a plot point introduced by the showwriters to make Rhaenyra a woman who is vying for peace, completely undermining her personality from the books. Even Alicent, who alongside her father Otto Hightower, were two of the most cunning members of the Green Council, is made into a mere puppet in the show, confused and convoluted about the happenings around her.

House of the Dragon | HBO
In a subreddit post for r/HouseOfTheDragon, user RedMeleys very aptly describes the whole thing and how the difference in characters in the show from the book is making fans like them less instead of more.

Fans are angry with the fact that the show is trying to whitewash the women characters. Where her dominance and power should have shined through from the grief she experiences, the show is more concerned with showing her as someone who doesn’t want bloodshed, trying to acquit her from any guilt from every negative incident.

Rhaenyra Targaryen From The Books Was Equally Hungry For Fire and Blood

Rhaenyra Targaryen in the show is a mere shell of what she had been written into – a strong and complex character, who did not shy away from blood and violence. Instead, the show is trying to push a Rhaenyra who is more concerned about a prophecy instead of her ambition. In retrospect, Milly Alcock’s version of Rhaenyra in Season 1 had more ambition for the throne than Emma D’Arcy’s grown-up version. Here, the queen is thinking more about trying to keep the peace rather than taking what is hers, by any means necessary.
Emma D’Arcy as Rhaenyra Targaryen in House of the Dragon | HBO
Rhaenyra never considered making peace in the books, as she is shown to have done on the show. After Visenya dies during childbirth, Rhaenyra is angry. She herself forms the Black Council and argues for the use of dragons to take back Kings Landing (via Fire and Blood by George R. R. Martin).

They stole my crown and murdered my daughter, and they shall answer for it. 

When the Green Council sends their envoy to Dragonstone after Aegon’s crowning, Rhaenyra does not ask for time to give them an answer and instead says:

Tell my half-brother I will have my throne or I will have his head.

This is a far cry from the Rhaenyra that we saw conversing with the Green envoy. Instead, the show has given all that violence and rage to Daemon, and made him, the Black Council, as well as the Green Council (except Alicent, who is again shown as a confused and weak woman), the token of men who want war. Instead of making it a political commentary, had the show kept the originality and the complexities from the book, fans would have been much happier.

House of the Dragon is now streaming on HBO.