George R.R. Martin has the same problem with ‘House of The Dragon’ season 2 that most of us did
GRRM is so punctual in delivering critiques!
George R.R. Martin may have gone back on his promise to deliver The Winds of Winter to us soon. But the author made sure the post that was promised on his blog about what went wrong with House of The Dragon season 2 arrived post-haste.
On August 31, 2024, on his Not A Blog, the Fire & Blood author wrote a blog post about his recent travels and a few other things, but also hinted that there were some blog posts that he did not look forward to writing, and one of them was about what he thinks went wrong with Ryan Condal’s adaptation of Fire & Blood, which wrapped its season 2 on HBO in early August.
Now here’s where things get interesting. GRRM has already deleted this blog post which he titled “Beware the Butterflies,” and quickly after it was published, an HBO spokesperson had already issued an official response to his comments! Okay, that was fast!
But don’t worry, the Internet is faster, and we already know that GRRM’s issues with House of The Dragon season 2 pretty much echoed those of many fans who discussed it after the season 2 premiere, “A Son for a Son.”
What did George R.R. Martin dislike about House of The Dragon season 2?
Spoilers ahead for HOTD season 2 and Fire and Blood!
Martin’s biggest critique was around how Blood and Cheese played out in HOTD season 2 episode 1. In case you need a refresher, after Aemond and Vhagar kill Lucerys Velaryon and his dragon Arrax on the way back from Storm’s End in season 1, season 2 has Daemon Targaryen planning a revenge ploy with the help of Mysaria. He sends in one of the city gold cloaks loyal to him, nicknamed Blood, and a ratcatcher in the employment of the castle, nicknamed Cheese, to kill Aemond. However, when they can’t find him, they end up beheading the two-year-old Prince Jaehaerys, son of King Aegon II and Queen Helaena Targaryen.
Blood and Cheese was brutal and tragic, and Phia Saban’s performance was praised by everyone, including GRRM himself. However, many fans didn’t like that this one change to the storyline reduced the intensity of this tragedy from what it was in the book. This is something Martin addresses in his blog post.
“When Ryan Condal first told me what he meant to do, ages ago (back in 2022, might be) I argued against it, for all these reasons. I did not argue long, or with much heat, however. The change weakened the sequence, I felt, but only a bit. And Ryan had what seemed to be practical reasons for it. They did not want to deal with casting another child, especially a two-year old toddler. Kids that young will inevitably slow down production, and there would be budget implications. Budget was already an issue on HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, it made sense to save money wherever we could. Moreover, Ryan assured me that we were not losing Prince Maelor, simply postponing him.”
You see, in the books, Aegon and Helaena’s twins—Jaehaerys and Jaehaera—are older, almost six years old. And they have a third son, two-year-old Prince Maelor. When Helaena is asked which of her two sons should be killed, she points at the two-year-old Maelor. In keeping with Fire & Blood’s narrative style, it is not clear what her reasoning was. It could either be that she wanted to protect her older son and the king’s heir. Or because she thought that Maelor was too young to understand what was happening. However, Cheese tells Maelor that his mother wants him dead, and then proceeds to behead Jaehaerys instead.
Fans disliked that not having Maelor in the show lessened the jeopardy that Helaena faces when she has to choose between her two sons. But even as Martin agrees about the scene becoming weaker, he still likes the episode a lot.
“I still love the episode, and the Blood and Cheese sequence overall. Losing the ‘Helaena’s Choice’ beat did weaken the scene, but not to any great degree. Only the book readers would even notice its absence; viewers who had never read FIRE & BLOOD would still find the scenes heart-rending. Maelor did not actually DO anything in the scene, after all. How could he? He was only two years old. There is another aspect to the removal of the young princeling, however.”
Many fans had pointed out another issue with this change. Helaena racks up a lot of guilt over this choice that she has to make, and it haunts her for the rest of her life. Furthermore, Maelor may be too young to understand, but Princess Jaehaera is older and witnessing this incident permanently scars her. The mother-daughter meet a tragic end later in the story, and Blood and Cheese has a huge part to play in that. And now George R.R. Martin has also brought this up in his post as the cause of a butterfly effect on the future events in the story.
He writes in his now-deleted blog post:
“Maelor by himself means little… He is a small child, does not have a line of dialogue, does nothing of consequence but die… but where and when and how, that does matter. Losing Maelor weakened the end of the Blood and Cheese sequence, but it also cost us the Bitterbridge scene with all its horror and heroism, it undercut the motivation for Helaena’s suicide, and that in turn sent thousands into the streets and alleys, screaming for justice for their ‘murdered’ queen. None of that is essential, I suppose… but all of it does serve a purpose, it all helps to tie the story lines together, so one thing follows another in a logical and convincing manner.”
What does HBO have to say about GRRM’s critique?
As reported by Variety, an HBO spokesperson had something to say about George R.R. Martin’s criticism against House of The Dragon. They issued that the creative team of the show and HBO were the biggest fans of the author’s book; however, in the course of an adaptation, there are limitations that require making some difficult choices. However, he assured that they were going to still churn out their best work in the coming seasons.
“We believe that Ryan Condal and his team have done an extraordinary job and the millions of fans the series has amassed over the first two seasons will continue to enjoy it.”
George R.R. Martin’s ominous predictions for House of The Dragon seasons 3 and 4
GRRM ended his blog post stating his concerns regarding a few other changes from the book that showrunner Ryan Condal is planning to introduce to the show. He warned of the butterfly effect that these changes would have on future events if some of these changes are enacted.
“And there are larger and more toxic butterflies to come, if HOUSE OF THE DRAGON goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons 3 and 4…”
It’s rather telling that the A Song of Ice and Fire series author has deleted his blog post, which could only have been in response to the above statement from HBO. His concerns seem valid; however, clearly, despite being involved in the show, the ball is no longer in his court.
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