The Dance Of The Dragons Vs HOTD: Compare & Contrast

[Meredith Quill]

Discuss the differences between the story 'The Dance of the Dragons' as told in Fire & Blood, The Rogue Prince and The Princess and the Queen and the TV Show adaptation in here.

[Black Knight]

Obviously, it's super early!

It of course helps a lot that GRRM wrote the entire story for this already (and what a great read it is).

I'm sure there will be some changes, because there always are, but I think they'll be largely in the beginning, having to do with how much the show decides to cover before beginning the Dance. There really isn't much reason to change what comes after, unless there are actor availability issues, since the story was written as a novella and doesn't include the sort of filler and plot sprawl that the most recent GoT books have. It's an excellent outline for any TV show.

I think things like the start of Rhaenyra and Criston Cole's complicated relationship can be handled via flashback, and the fact they've cast a young Rhaenyra along with present-day Rhaenyra points to that. (BTW, Criston is probably the one character I hate in this. Of course it's never quite clear in the novella what exactly happened between Rhaenrya and Criston, but the dude obviously felt spurned at some point, and when I look at the number of people who died as a result of the Dance, I can only say he should have grown the fuck up and done his duty in respecting Viserys's wishes, instead of throwing a tantrum.) Maybe that'll be the main difference between the show and the novella, getting answers in the show that the novella left ambiguous. (I suppose it's too far on from the time of Aegon, Rhaenys and Visenya to learn what was in that letter to Aegon...)

[magdalene]

On 10/5/2021 at 11:54 PM, Black Knight said:

I think things like the start of Rhaenyra and Criston Cole's complicated relationship can be handled via flashback, and the fact they've cast a young Rhaenyra along with present-day Rhaenyra points to that. (BTW, Criston is probably the one character I hate in this. Of course it's never quite clear in the novella what exactly happened between Rhaenrya and Criston, but the dude obviously felt spurned at some point, and when I look at the number of people who died as a result of the Dance, I can only say he should have grown the fuck up and done his duty in respecting Viserys's wishes, instead of throwing a tantrum.) Maybe that'll be the main difference between the show and the novella, getting answers in the show that the novella left ambiguous. (I suppose it's too far on from the time of Aegon, Rhaenys and Visenya to learn what was in that letter to Aegon...)

I haven't read the novella but was told that this story's Cersei connives to put her son on the throne against the king's orders and wishes?  I was also told that Matt Smith's character is GRRM favorite Targaryan?

[Black Knight]

17 hours ago, magdalene said:

I haven't read the novella but was told that this story's Cersei connives to put her son on the throne against the king's orders and wishes?  I was also told that Matt Smith's character is GRRM favorite Targaryan?

Yes, that is how the Dance starts in a nutshell. It's a really good role for Olivia Cooke and a departure from the nice-girl characters she's previously played, so I'm curious to see how that goes. I don't hate Alicent the way I do Criston though, because she suffers the consequences of her actions in spades while I don't feel Criston does really.

I don't remember who GRRM has said is his favorite Targaryen, but I could certainly see it being Daemon, who's a complex man.