Baela Targaryen will do a lot more in House of the Dragon Season 2 than in the book

When you have young stars with great potential, you need to use them. It seems that’s exactly what House of the Dragon intends to do with Bethany Antonia. Baela Targaryen will get to do a lot more in the second season than she does in the book.

In the source material, Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin, Baela spends a lot of her time hiding out at Dragonstone. She doesn’t get involved in the early fight, and she certainly doesn’t ride her dragon early on in the fight. We have to remember the way Fire & Blood was written—it’s accounts from other people—but if Baela was out riding a dragon, someone would have mentioned it.

Things are changing in the series. This is likely due to the way TV shows need to utilize the main cast. It’s also potentially due to the way Antonia stood out in the first season of the series.

Baela will ride a dragon and wield a sword in House of the Dragon Season 2

The trailer for House of the Dragon Season 2 showed Baela riding her dragon Moondancer. Antonia talked to Vestal about that, sharing that her book character remains at Dragonstone for a lot of the civil war, but it was a conscious change by the show’s writers to bring the children into the fight sooner. We may get to see Baela and Jace together on their dragons. Considering they’re betrothed, it makes sense that they would go out and fight together.

Having Baela in the fight makes a lot of sense for Rhaenyra. This is a fight that can be won by dragons, and we know that Rhaenyra has the most of them. Why wouldn’t she utilize all the dragonriders in her family at this point?

What’s more surprising is when Antonia shared that she gets a sword of her own. That sword is Dark Sister, the Valyrian steel blade that currently belongs to Daemon Targaryen, Baela’s father. This is a sword that is passed down through the generations. It’s an important one to Daemon, so he wouldn’t just hand it over for the sake of it.

"Then there was a moment on set when I was presented with my character's weapon, the Valyrian steel sword Dark Sister. It was a thrilling experience and stands out as one of the coolest days I've had on set."

Is this what pulls Baela into the fight? Does Daemon realize that his daughter needs to be involved to help his wife win the Iron Throne? Will he hand over his sword to mark this occasion?

The show hasn’t had a chance to really develop Daemon and Baela’s relationship. We know that he did love Baela’s mother, Laena in some way. When he was told the only way to save the baby she was giving birth to was a c-section, he refused to do it. He couldn’t allow his wife to face certain death. In the end, she had her own dragon kill her, and it was heartbreaking to watch—all the more with Daemon watching it happen as well.

Daemon hasn’t spent a lot of time with his daughters from Laena on screen, so I’m looking forward to a moment between father and daughter if it comes to him handing over Dark Sister to her. Maybe some words about how she has the fire her mother did would be a great addition.

I don’t love all the changes from Fire & Blood, but some of them I get. Such as Leanor’s faked death—I adore that change and I can understand how it worked considering the way the book is told. I’m just hoping that a beautiful moment comes out of the changes for Baela.

House of the Dragon premieres on Sunday, June 16 on Max.