House of the Dragon gives Alys Rivers a tragic backstory that isnt in the book

For two seasons now, Alys Rivers (Gayle Rankin) has been House of the Dragon‘s most mysterious ensemble character. As the de facto keeper of Harrenhal, she’s guided troubled Targaryen men through vision quests, guarded dragon eggs, and even proclaimed herself to be a witch.

Through it all, her own history has remained largely nebulous. Yes, she wants Harrenhal, as well as dragons to protect it. But why? Why is she so attached to this wretched stronghold?

House of the Dragon‘s Season 3 finale lays it all bare, revealing a tragic backstory for Alys that is nowhere to be found in George R.R. Martin’s Fire and Blood.

What is Alys Rivers’ backstory?

In a vulnerable scene with Aemond Targaryen (Ewan Mitchell), Alys tells him a story that dates all the way back to the time of Aegon the Conqueror. During his conquest of Westeros, Aegon faced opposition from the tyrannical Harren Hoare, King of the Isles and the Rivers. Also known as Harren the Black, he holed himself up in his castle of Harrenhal, believing he could withstand any attacks from Aegon. However, he didn’t account for dragonfire, which he realized too late when Aegon’s dragon Balerion the Black Dread laid waste to Harrenhal, barbecuing Harren and his sons inside.

The burning of Harrenhal is thought to mark the end of Harren’s line, but as Alys tells Aemond, one boy survived. He was badly burned, and his mother did everything she could to save him. First, she called on maesters from across the realm. When that didn’t work, she turned to “older cures.” Magic, incantations, treating him with things that lived in the forest. (Perhaps even the Green Men?)

These cures proved to be no help, and when Harren’s last son died, his mother realized she couldn’t join him in death. Instead, her dabbling in magic had left her cursed to live on for centuries within the bounds of the territory of the old River Kings. That mother is none other than Alys, now centuries old, unable to leave Harrenhal, and doomed to serve those who now rule its decrepit halls.

While Alys never explicitly says she was Harren the Black’s wife, she does say she was stripped of a title, name, and castle, which suggests she was a member of the nobility. That explains why she asks Daemon (Matt Smith) for Harrenhal itself. After all these years, she could return to the status she once knew.

Alys’s tragic story also explains her fascination with the Targaryens and Dreamfyre’s eggs. Her entire life was shattered by the actions of Aegon I Targaryen. His conquest took her sons from her and sent her to seek out magic that eventually cursed her. Perhaps, in getting an opportunity to join forces with a Targaryen and maybe rear some dragons of her own, she could find a way to break free from the spell that has bound her for centuries.

Alys Rivers’s backstory is a show-only invention.

You won’t find any of Alys’s tale in Fire and Blood. Martin’s fictional Targaryen history simply refers to her as a “wet nurse,” one with witchy abilities who’s believed to be a bastard of Lord Lyonel Strong (Gavin Spokes). Beyond that, we don’t get any further hints at her backstory, nor do we truly listen in on any of her heart-to-hearts with Aemond.

Fire and Blood also doesn’t give Harren the Black a named wife or a son who survives the initial dragon blast. However, it does introduce a rebel who calls himself Harren the Red and claims to be Harren the Black’s grandson, suggesting his line might not have entirely ended in the fire. Martin does leave Harren the Red’s legitimacy ambiguous, though.

By tying Alys into the dark history of Harrenhal, House of the Dragon is playing within the empty spaces of Fire and Blood. While Martin doesn’t write about Harren the Black’s wife, that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have had one. It just means that hers may not have been a story the historians of Westeros had truly studied, or at least deemed fit to include in this Targaryen history. Like the reveal that Dreamfyre laid five eggs at Harrenhal, it’s a plausible story that fits somewhat within the bounds of lore Martin has established, even if it’s not outright canon in the book.

House of the Dragon Season 3 is now streaming on HBO Max.

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