House of the Dragon Season 3 Alters Jace's Death, With Major Repercussions

Season 3 opened with the Battle of the Gullet, the bloodiest sea battle in Westeros, and heavy losses for both Team Black and Team Green. In George R.R. Martin's Fire & Blood the clash was a tactical win for Team Green but a strategic victory for Team Black, and the death of Jacaerys Velaryon hardened Rhaenyra, burning away her fears and leaving anger and hatred.

The series departs from that account in how Jace dies. In the book a grapnel from a Myrish galley struck Vermax, the dragon crashed into a burning ship, and Jacaerys leapt free and clung to wreckage until Myrish crossbowmen riddled him—"finally, one quarrel took him through the neck, and Jace was swallowed by the sea." On screen, Rhaena and the wild dragon Sheepstealer are given a role that in the book belonged to a rider named Nettles, who claimed Sheepstealer during the Red Sowing.

house, dragon, season 3, jacaerys velaryon, jace, rhaenyra, team black, team green, sheepstealer, nettles