‘House Of The Dragon’ Completely Botched Its Season 3 Finale Battle

House of the Dragon

Credit: HBO

House of the Dragon is 1 of those peculiar shows that I almost ever person mixed feelings about. It’s thing I look guardant to watching each week, and thing that I ever locomotion distant from astatine slightest mildly dissatisfied. All the prestige play is location successful spades: Talented actors, lavish costumes and sets, terrific cinematography and 1 of the astir enrapturing philharmonic scores connected TV acknowledgment to the magical compositions of Ramin Djawadi.

But it’s the penning wherever House of the Dragon becomes wobbly, and it’s not ever obvious. Showrunner Ryan Condal and his squad of writers are evidently talented. There’s thing peculiarly bad successful the dialogue, for instance, and astatine times it’s excellent. There are nary glaring plot-holes. It’s the small things that are missing, aliases the ways that the writers of the TV bid person made unusual and unnecessary changes to the book that commencement to heap up and make what ought to beryllium a top-tier prestige imagination thing simply wearing the costume of a top-tier prestige fantasy. It looks for illustration a duck and it walks for illustration a duck, but it is not a duck.

Nothing illustrates this amended than the Battle of Tumbleton, the centerpiece of the Season 3 finale; a series that plays retired successful a beautiful symphony of unit and bloodshed and occurrence but, connected person inspection, runs the book almost precisely backwards.

If A Butterfly Flaps Its Wings Near Harrenhal . . .

First, though, the smaller cuts.

One of the astir important changes from the matter (the show is inspired alternatively loosely astatine this constituent by a conception of George R.R. Martin’s fictional history of the Targaryen dynasty, Fire & Blood) is the adjacent relationship betwixt Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy) and Alicent (Olivia Cooke). In the book, this was ne'er a friends aliases affectionate relationship, but successful the show they’ve taken a alternatively different approach, and 1 that seemed reasonable astatine first. In Season 1, the writers decided to make these 2 characters the aforesaid property (rather than person Alicent beryllium the elder) and champion friends (or “BFFs” arsenic they were known successful Westeros successful those days of Viserys I’s rule).

In the first season, this worked remarkably well. Alicent marrying Rhaenyra’s begetter was a betrayal that created existent play and tension. It ought to person built into a genuinely friends-to-enemies benignant of rancor, which would person slotted into the root worldly alternatively perfectly, pinch conscionable a spot of other backstory and an other dagger successful the back. Instead, the show hemmed and hawed, dragging retired their relationship done each mode of bitter feuds until, successful Season 3, Alicent has been reduced to a specified pawn for Rhaenyra, sent disconnected to assassinate her ain boy – thing book Alicent would ne'er do.

By pulling its punches pinch these women, the show has diminished each of them successful turn. Rhaenyra’s move toward ruthlessness is abrupt and abrupt, and she remains weepier than the rigid, wrathful queen of the book. All her softness should person been sanded down by the extremity of Season 2. Alicent, alternatively than face Rhaenyra astir the “bastardy” of her children, heads disconnected to poison her ain – and fails, and is truthful not moreover successful King’s Landing erstwhile her intelligibly troubled daughter, Helaena (Phia Saban) needs her most. Tragedy ensues (though moreover here, the show differs radically from the root material, if not successful result past successful execution).

The prophecy is different invention, and 1 I’ll person to reside separately arsenic it deserves its ain post, but its persistence arsenic a cardinal communicative constituent produced my slightest favourite infinitesimal successful the Season 3 finale, which I mostly thought was rather excellent.

Forbes‘House Of The Dragon’ Season 3, Episode 8 Recap And Review: A Season Finale Rivaling The Best Of ‘Game Of Thrones’By Erik Kain

The Backwards Battle Of Tumbleton

Which brings maine backmost to Tumbleton. The much I thought astir the battle, the much thing felt disconnected astir the full thing. As entertaining arsenic it was, did it really make sense? I knew that the show had fundamentally condensed elements of 2 different battles astatine Tumbleton into one, but really overmuch was changed exactly? It had been immoderate clip since I’d publication the book, truthful I went backmost and checked.

It turns retired the full point is upside down.

The writers made a awesome prime successful giving Lord Ormund (James Norton) a larger domiciled this play than he has successful the book, wherever he’s often conscionable referred to arsenic a commandant of the immense Hightower army. In the show he’s a schemer and a plotter, planting seeds of chaos successful King’s Landing and convincing Ulf the White (Tom Bennett) to move overgarment and subordinate the Greens. That was a marvelous choice, giving Ulf the last nudge. The betrayal has constituent it lacked successful the book, and the show has its villain for Season 3. What makes little consciousness is having the Greens inhabit Tumbleton and Rhaenyra hellbent connected taking it back.

In the book, Tumbleton is simply a mini fortified municipality that stands betwixt Oldtown and King’s Landing. In different words, it’s a bully spot for Rhaenyra’s forces to hunker down and support the invading service from reaching the capital. They are outnumbered 2 to one, but they person Ulf the White connected Silverwing and Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) connected Vermithor — 2 mighty dragons against Daeron's overmuch smaller Tessarion.

The Blacks clasp Tumbleton, and moreover though the cunning Lord Ormund has slipped his ain men secretly into their midst, pinch 2 dragons connected their broadside it seems that moreover the overwhelming forces of the Greens will not prevail. Then Ulf and Hugh move connected their own, betraying Rhaenyra and engulfing her service and the municipality successful flames. Almost cipher escapes. Those who surrender are beheaded. All mode of atrocities travel arsenic the municipality is burned and pillaged. The only existent similarity astatine this constituent is that the awesome berserker of the North, Roddy the Ruin (Tommy Flanagan), kills Lord Ormund and is himself killed successful 1 of the astir aggravated and breathtaking moments successful the full episode. Roddy’s limb is moreover lopped off, conscionable for illustration successful the book, earlier the brace of them are consumed by dragonfire (not successful the book!)

And successful the book, Daemon (Matt Smith) is galore leagues away, flying Caraxes alongside Nettles connected Sheepstealer, hunting Aemond and Vhagar. The show has told this conflict backwards, and much puzzlingly still, it has Ulf not simply turning overgarment but going rogue and turning connected the Greens arsenic well.

This makes consciousness successful the discourse of the show – Ormund hit and humiliated him worse than Daemon aliases Rhaenyra ever did, and did it only moments earlier putting the hungover “knight” connected his dragon – but it has immense implications for Season 4 and wherever Ulf and Hugh some will travel down, since neither seems to person recovered a location connected either broadside of this civilian war.

Adaptations Have Consequences

Beyond that, it besides leaves maine asking: why? What was the constituent of Daemon and these armies marching connected Tumbleton and mounting an violative astatine all? There was nary near-term strategical advantage to taking the municipality back. A siege could person starved Ormund out. They could person fortified King's Landing and forced Ormund to travel to them. They could person taken dragons southbound and burned Ormund's holdings, aliases told Ulf and Hugh to spell return the Hightower for themselves. Any number of options were unfastened to Rhaenyra and Daemon different than a frontal battle connected Tumbleton.

The problem pinch changing this benignant of root worldly is that George R.R. Martin is simply a student of medieval history, medieval subject strategies and medieval politics, and astir TV writers are not. Changes made to service a play of tv commencement to make the larger communicative of dynastic succession ace astatine the seams. A mini alteration present cracks and widens into a elephantine crevasse a play aliases 2 later. That’s a shame, because this conflict could person played retired precisely arsenic it does successful the book and it would person been moreover much epic and devastating. Better still, it would person made sense. If you're funny astir really it each goes down connected the page, and want much connected the changes, check retired my latest video below:

What did you deliberation of House of the Dragon Season 3? Let maine cognize connected Twitter, Instagram, aliases Facebook.