Game Of Thrones Prequel: Everything You Need To Know About Fire And Blood
1. The Family Tree Is Not What You Think
One final point to help avoid any confusion when House of The Dragon releases is that the Targaryen family tree differs in Blood and Fire from Martin’s world-building book, A World of Ice and Fire, which was released to coincide with A Song of Ice and Fire. There are several differences between these two accounts, so we’ll aim to list as many as possible below.
These changes mostly relate to Jaehearys I and Alysanne Targaryen’s thirteen child offspring. Prince Valerion, originally Jaehaerys's and Alysanne's ninth child, and Princess Saera, their twelfth-born child, have been switched in birth order.
Princess Alyssa was changed from the second-born to the fifth-born, Princess Daella subsequently changing from fifth-born to eighth-born. Finally, Prince Aeryn, originally the sixth-born, has been exchanged for Princess Daenerys, who has become the second-born child.
Make sense? Don’t worry; these massive bloodlines rarely do.
Seeing as Blood and Fire will be used as the source material for House of The Dragon, it’s likely that this will be the family structure used in the show.
However, Game of Thrones made a number of character changes for the TV adaptation, so learning all of this could be a wasted effort. At least the knowledge gives you something to be smug about amongst your non-reading friends.