These Two Major House Of The Dragon Scenes Actually Weren't In The Book
Spoiler alert for "The Green Council," the ninth episode of season 1 of "House of the Dragon," ahead.
For anyone who read "Fire & Blood," the extensive history of the Targaryen family and their civil war written by George R.R. Martin, they might have been surprised by two huge scenes from the adaptation's latest episode — neither of which ever happened in the book.
Certainly, not every single adaptation needs to stick exclusively to its source material, but for the most part, "House of the Dragon" has been pretty faithful. Things happen during the process that moves a story from the book to the screen; in some projects, like "Lord of the Rings," characters like Tom Bombadil are removed for time constraints, while the "Harry Potter" films made the choice to add scenes (notably, the Burrow burning down, which never happens in the books and also doesn't make any sense). When it comes to "House of the Dragon," season 1 showrunners Ryan Condal and Miguel Sapochnik made the choice to throw two curveballs into "The Green Council" — here's the deal with these scenes that weren't in the original book.
Larys Strong feels strongly about feet
The first — and significantly more unsettling — new scene in "The Green Council" comes courtesy of Larys Strong (Matthew Needham), a conniving, powerful lackey to Queen Alicent Hightower (Olivia Cooke) who has been doing nefarious favors for her throughout the series. Before this episode, it wasn't entirely clear why Larys was so intent on serving Alicent, aside from the obvious proximity to power, but in "The Green Council," he puts it all on the table — or, rather, Alicent does.
As the two talk, Alicent removes her shoes and then her stockings, making sure that Larys has a full view of her feet as he promises to fix some "problems" for her (commit arson again, as it turns out) and gives her all the information he has about a spy in her midst. When Alicent is finished listening, she props her feet up and turns away so Larys can take in the view while he has some... well, some special time to himself. So, as it turns out, Larys is a weird little foot freak! This was definitely not in the book, and Larys taking advantage of the queen to satisfy his specific fetish — especially when you consider that his nickname is "Clubfoot" thanks to a disability he's had since birth — was definitely unexpected, probably especially for anyone who read "Fire & Blood."
Rhaenys' last stand
On the other end of the spectrum, rather than objectifying a woman for a man's pleasure, the second new moment from "The Green Council" focuses on "The Queen Who Never Was," Princess Rhaenys Targaryen (Eve Best). As Alicent works to crown her horrible son Aegon II Targaryen as the new King of the Seven Kingdoms before his half-sister Rhaenyra (Emma D'Arcy) can come home and claim her promised throne, Rhaenys is stuck in King's Landing, trying to escape after being locked up by Alicent earlier in the episode. Hooded and cloaked in the coronation room, Rhaenys slips out of a side door... only to reappear shortly afterwards through the floor on top of her enormous dragon Meleys.
Presumably killing at least a few common folk who start desperately trying to escape, Rhaenys parallel parks Meleys right in front of Alicent and Aegon, but elects not to kill them, soaring away on Meleys instead (and, one can safely assume, heading to Rhaenyra to join her side). Rhaenys has been an incredibly powerful character since the show's first episode, but she hasn't had a lot to do up until this point, making her stand against the "Greens" utterly and totally satisfying to watch.
To see what happens with Rhaenys, Larys, and the forthcoming Targaryen civil war, tune into the season finale of "House of the Dragon" on Sunday, October 23 at 9PM on HBO and HBO Max.