According to House of the Dragon, Rhaena was trusted with guarding Daenerys’ dragon eggs from Game of Thrones as she fled to Pentos. This is a significant change from the source material.
In Season 2 Episode 3, Rhaenyra tasks Rhaena with a big sacrifice: instead of fighting in the Dance of the Dragons, she asks her daughter to shepherd Aegon and Viserys to the Vale, before going even further to safety in Pentos.
That’s not all: in addition to Tyraxes and Stormcloud, she’s also given four dragon eggs…and three of them (one gold, one green, and the other dark red) look rather familiar.
As confirmed by Episode 3 director Geeta Vasant Patel, these are the same eggs Daenerys receives from Illyrio Mopatis in the opening episode of Game of Thrones.
“Those are Daenerys’ eggs. All of us who work on this show are big Game of Thrones fans, so it was very exciting to shoot that scene,” she told Mashable.
Here’s the thing: those being Dany’s Game of Thrones dragon eggs isn’t a big problem, considering that’s exactly where they end up in George R.R. Martin’s Fire & Blood, the book House of the Dragon is based on.
It’s the journey that’s the issue, as their route to Essos is far more interesting in the book. While never explicitly confirmed (but heavily implied), it’s believed that they were taken by Elissa Farman, a noblewoman during the reign of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen.
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In her adult life, Elissa longed for a life on the Western seas. In 54 AC, Princess Rhaena eventually allowed her to leave – and before she departed, she stole three dragon eggs.
She headed to Braavos to meet the city’s Sealord, to whom she sold all three eggs. Later, Jaehaerys sent his Hand, Septon Barth, to investigate to the missing eggs, but the Sealord denied having them.
It’s unclear what happened next, but Jaehaerys also suspected the eggs would end up with a Pentoshi spicemonger – a fair descriptor for Illyrio Mopatis.
For the record, Martin has been careful never to fully back this theory. “There are a few bits and scenes and suggestions in the text from which one can extrapolate certain things and concoct theories… but in the case of things like Valyria and the dragon eggs, it is all possible answers, not meant to be definitive,” he earlier wrote to a fan.
Also, from Martin’s perspective, the books and TV shows have separate continuities. “We have two canons. We have the show canon, the Game of Thrones canon. And we have the Song of Ice and Fire canon,” he told History of Westeros.
Make sure to keep up to date with the House of the Dragon Season 2 release schedule. We’ve also got guides on Aemond Targaryen’s death in the books, Alys Rivers, and Milly Alcock’s Rhaenyra cameo, and check out other new TV shows streaming this month.
