The Game of Thrones author George RR Martin opened up about the issues he has with the changes made in the fantasy drama House of the Dragons, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Martin shared his views in his blog, mentioning that the co-creator and showrunner Ryan Condal has made significant changes in his novel Fire & Blood adaptation, which he is not happy about as he feels that the alteration in seasons two as well as three and four can cause serious problems. (Also Read | Kit Harington aka Jon Snow reveals why he can’t watch House of the Dragon)
Although his post was deleted within hours. HBO also replied to it by issuing a statement. “In the show, Aegon and Helaena have two young children (the 6-year-old twins Jaehaerys and Jaehaera). In the book, they have three — there’s an even younger brother, 2-year-old Maelor. In a sprawling show with many characters for viewers to remember, having one less child seems like a rather routine adaptive choice. But, Martin notes, this is resulting in a ‘butterfly effect’ of consequences,” as shared by The Hollywood Reporter.
There are certain changes in season two, like the Blood and Cheese scene, two persons who were hired to murder Jaehaerys in front of his mother. But in the book the sequence was presented in a different way.
George RR Martin elaborated on the same, saying, “I still believe the scene in the book is stronger. The readers have the right of that. The two killers are crueler in the book. I thought the actors who played the killers on the show were excellent… but the characters are crueler, harder, and more frightening in FIRE & BLOOD. … I would also suggest that Helaena shows more courage, more strength in the book, by offering her own own life to save her son. Offering a piece of jewellery is just not the same … As I saw it, the ‘Sophie’s Choice’ aspect was the strongest part of the sequence, the darkest, the most visceral. I hated to lose that. And judging from the comments on line, most of the fans seemed to agree.”
“I argued against it, for all these reasons,” Martin mentioned. “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. Queen Helaena could still give birth to him in season three, presumably after getting with child late in season two. That made sense to me, so I withdrew my objections and acquiesced to the change,” he added.
Martin continued, “Sometime between the initial decision to remove Maelor, a big change was made. The prince’s birth was no longer just going to be pushed back to season 3. He was never going to be born at all. The younger son of Aegon and Helaena would never appear.”
“Maybe… but I don’t see how. The butterflies would seem to prohibit it … From what I know, that seems to be what Ryan is doing here. It’s simplest, yes, and may make sense in terms of budgets and shooting schedules. But simpler is not better … 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.”
He further talked about the death of a character and how the way it was shown in the show as compared to its depiction in the book, “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 … that’s a considerable loss.”
“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…,” he added.
Later, HBO responded to the post with a statement, “There are few greater fans of George RR Martin and his book Fire & Blood than the creative team on House of the Dragon, both in production and at HBO. Commonly, when adapting a book for the screen, with its own format and limitations, the showrunner ultimately is required to make difficult choices about the characters and stories the audience will follow. 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.” Martin is a co-creator of House of the Dragons.
