Fans debate change to Rhaenyra and Alicent in House of the Dragon

With House of the Dragon season 3 soon back on our screens, fans of the Game of Thrones prequel have reopened the debate over one of the show's biggest changes to George R.R. Martin's source material. On Reddit, one fan asked how people feel about the change to the relationship between Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower: in the book, Alicent is Rhaenyra's older stepmother, but, in the show, the duo are the same age and childhood best friends.

While fans are generally positive on the change, they mostly agree on one thing — the friendship should be over by now. "It should've been buried after Alicent wore the green dress to Laenor's and Rhaenyra's wedding. It's now goddamn annoying," says one person.

"I think it was a good change. (I would've preferred Alicent have an older sister relationship tho). My problem with Alicent and Rhaenyra's relationship is the u turn the writers took with them in S1E8, and they've only doubled down on it every episode since," says someone else.

rhaenyra, alicent, targaryen, hightower, grrm, season 3, reddit, friendship, stepmother, green dress