George R.R. Martin slams ‘House of the Dragon’ changes

“Game of Thrones” creator George R. R. Martin has opened up on changes made by HBO in “House of the Dragon” season 2.

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In a now-deleted blog post titled, “Beware the Butterflies,” Martin called out specific changes from his original “Fire & Blood,” and what the showrunner Ryan Condal has adapted for the screen.

“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,” Martin wrote. “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.

According to the ‘Game of Thrones’ creator, HBO took the measure as they thought that kids would inevitably slow down production, and there would be budget implications.

It is to be noted here that ‘House of the Dragon’ has eliminated Aegon and Helaena Targaryen’s youngest son, Prince Maelor, from the story.

However, George R.R. Martin believed that the move would have larger repercussions for the show as it moves into Seasons 3 and 4.

He wrote, “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. I still love the episode, and the Blood and Cheese sequence overall.”

The prominent writer then asserted that the elimination of Maelor could ultimately affect plans for the final two seasons of HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon.’

“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,” George R.R. Martin opined.

The author ended this blog post by hinting at more issues for ‘House of the Dragon’ moving forward. “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…”