If the show was truly 'House of Rhaenyra' then...

A common critique over at the main sub is the show is more "House of Rhaenyra"- meaning they think the show focuses too much on her, and also whitewashes her/is constantly finding ways for characters to support her without justification. Interesting idea, but also blatantly untrue, given two huge things that were changed from Fire and Blood to House of the Dragon, both from Rhaenyra's supports: Jeyne Arryn, and the Riverlands.

With Jeyne Arryn, the show took the idea of having this cardboard stand in for the book character who hinges her support wholly on the idea of having a dragon to guard the vale. While it's true that the Lady Jeyne DID request a dragon within Fire and Blood, her support isn't contingent on it. In fact, the Lady Jeyne supports Rhaenyra because Rhaenyra is a woman, and she gives what I consider one of the most iconic lines within the entirety of the text: "In this world of men, we women must band together." After all, the Lady Jeyne constantly had threat from her male cousins, who also believed that a woman shouldn't rule. Never forget one of the other legendary lines she drops on Jace- "Thrice have mine own kin sought to replace me. My cousin Ser Arnold is wont to say that women are too soft to rule. I have him in one of my sky cells, if you would like to ask him." All of this was taken away from her character, and instead she was made to seem reluctant to support her own kin, and reluctant to support her fellow woman.

It's a similar story with the Riverlands. House of the Dragon makes a rather long subplot about the reluctance of the Riverlands to support Rhaenyra, and the difficulty Daemon has in convincing them. In the book, it goes like this: ' When Prince Daemon sent forth his call to arms, they rose up all along the rivers, knights and men-at-arms and humble peasants who yet remembered the Realm's Delight, so beloved of her father, and the way she smiled and charmed them as she made her progress through the riverlands in her youth. Hundreds and then thousands buckled on their swordbelts and donned their mail, or grabbed a pitchfork or a hoe and a crude wooden shield, and began to make their way to Harrenhal to fight for Viserys's little girl.'

Both these changes serve to make Rhaenyra's position look far weaker than it was in Fire and Blood, and undermine the intense loyalty that people felt towards Rhaenyra and her cause. They're also changes that don't make much sense, save for padding/adding tension where it didn't really need to exist. But truly, if the show's whole purpose was just 'let's make Rhaenyra look like an angel', why would they take away two of her most loyal supporters and make them doubters instead?