‘House of The Dragon’s Change To Jacaerys’ Arc Actually Has Great Payoff

Now that we are familiar with its game, we know House of The Dragon isn’t one to play by the book. The show has taken creative liberties with characters, their arcs, and motivations, and not all of them have worked. But the change in Jacaerys Velaryon’s (Harry Collett) arc might just have had a great payoff.

Spoilers ahead for HOTD and Fire & Blood!

In the show, Jacaerys Velaryon is the architect of the dragonseed plan that leads to the Red Sowing and lowborn Targaryen bastards like Hugh Hammer (Kieran Bew) and Ulf the White (Tom Bennett) claiming dragons. So when season 2 episode 7, “The Red Sowing” arrived, some fans were confused as to why Jace would take issue with these men claiming his family’s dragons. There were memes that mocked Jace for dissing his own plan and projecting his insecurities on his mother, Rhaenyra (Emma D’Arcy).

And at first glance, it might seem like a valid argument to call Jace out for his behavior, because it makes him look not just insecure but also an elitist who is fine with lords and knights claiming the dragons but not smallfolk.

This problem was altogether avoided in Fire & Blood, which took a much simpler route. In the book, it is recorded that the court fool Mushroom was the one who suggested to Jacaerys Velaryon the very line we see Mysaria (Sonoya Mizuno) say to Rhaenyra in the episode, about looking “under the sheets and in the woodpiles” for Targaryen blood.

It was then Prince Jace’s idea to send word out not just to dragonseed but to any man who could claim a dragon, for there awaited many riches, noble titles, and estates for the ones who were successful. This is why several knights for the Black army, including Ser Steffon Darklyn (Anthony Flanagan), attempted the feat. So, in the books, Jace was well and truly the architect of the Sowing, and did not care that a lowborn would have the same claim to the throne as he did if they had a dragon.

Why the small change in Jacaerys’ arc makes things interesting

Of course, this change has pissed off some book fans who think this takes away from Jacaerys’ arc one of the most important strategic decisions that he made in service of his mother’s cause. More so, because the sowing has major repercussions on the war.

However, this change in Jace’s arc has actually had a great payoff already—and will have an even bigger emotional impact in season 3.

For starters, I love the way that this shift was played, with Rhaenyra being the one to decide that her dragonrider army would be made up of bastards who were considered illegitimate and unworthy. In the scene with Mysaria, she explains that this would be a tight slap in the faces of those who called her elder three sons bastards and tried to dismiss their claims to their rightful inheritances like the Iron Throne and the Driftwood Throne. Her saying, “Let us raise an army of bastards,” makes for an iconic moment.

It was ironic then, that Jacaerys did not see this as vindication for being called a bastard all his life, but as a direct insult to him and the very claim he has to the throne. We’ve always seen Jacaerys play the older brother, allaying the doubts and misgivings of his younger brother Lucerys about who their father was. But for the first time ever, we see him let his feelings out and speak to his mother about her illegitimate relationship with their biological father, Ser Harwin Strong (Ryan Corr).

The scene carries great emotional depth, as Jace asks if his mother ever considered that he might have his father’s black hair and not the silver tresses that are the mark of Targaryen lineage. And it’s not that after Jace, Rhaenyra stopped. She had two more sons with Harwin Strong, all of whom had the same black hair and features. With the dragonseed having the Targaryen silver hair and now a dragon, they looked more fitting as Targaryen heirs (just like his cousins Aegon, Aemond, and Helaena) than Jacaerys did.

In the season 2 finale trailer, Rhaenyra is shown sitting at a feast with all her new dragon riders, including Jace and Baela (Bethany Antonia). This scene might just tell us more about the relationship that all of them will share. We also know that the Battle of the Gullet, in which Jacaerys Velaryon and the dragonseed play a crucial part, won’t happen until season 3. That means that any friction between Jace and his mother over her decision to let Hugh and Ulf claim dragons would carry over into the new season. 

And so, when finally the Battle of the Gullet happens, its outcome will have an even bigger emotional impact on Rhaenyra. In addition, the betrayal at the hands of the dragonseed that is in Rhaenyra’s future will also hit harder.

House of The Dragon might be getting criticized for some changes to the book storyline, but this one little change could actually give us a much more emotionally rich payoff in the seasons to come.