Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin blasts House of the Dragon TV show

Unless it’s finishing Winds of Winter, George R.R. Martin keeps his promises.

The author of the Game of Thrones books earlier this week posted on his personal blog that he would go into what he thought went “wrong” with House of the Dragon, and he has followed through.

The prolific blogger went into great detail on his beef with the latest season of the GoT spin-off, which had underwhelmed fans with its lack of momentum and battles.

Over a 2051-word post titled Beware the Butterflies, which he has since deleted, Martin sounded off on what he considered to be a crucial omission from the TV version: Maelor.

Spoilers ahead.

The character of Maelor is a young prince in his book, Fire & Blood, the youngest son of Aegon and Helaena Targaryen, who are also parents to twin toddlers, a boy and a girl. In the series, Maelor doesn’t exist.

That choice seems to really stick in Martin’s craw for two reasons. The first is that he felt it undercut the power of the infamous “Blood and Cheese” scene which was adapted in the second episode of the most recent season.

The book scene involves two ruthless assassins who force Helaena to choose which of her two sons die, and she offers her own life in exchange. In the TV series, the assassins force her to choose between the twins and she tries to buy them off with a necklace.

“Offering a piece of jewellery is just not the same,” Martin intoned. He went on to write that most of the comments online in response to the episode seemed to agree with him but conceded that viewers who hadn’t read the book didn’t have a problem with it.

The other reason for his objection to excising Maelor out of the TV series is that the child will later be in a pivotal scene in which (last spoiler warning) he is violently killed, which drives Helaena to suicide.

“In (showrunner) Ryan (Condal’s) outline for season three, Helaena still kills herself, for no particular reason. There is no fresh horror, no triggering event to overwhelm the fragile young queen,” he said. Martin explained Helaena’s death then sets off a bloody riot in King’s Landing which leads to other momentous events.

The fact Martin’s missive disappeared from his blog hours after he made it public must have set off alarm bells at the network, HBO. Especially when you consider Martin is working with HBO on another GoT spin-off, A Knight of the Seven Kingdom, on which he is an executive producer.

Perhaps the revelation of details from the third season outline violated a non-disclosure agreement or confidentiality clause, which is common practice for anyone involved in a TV production.

But he has made his feelings known. “Simpler is not better,” Martin declared.

Martin’s comments prompted HBO to respond. The network said in a statement, “There are few greater fans of George R.R. 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 character 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.”

Earlier in the year, on the official Game of Thrones podcast, Condal had been asked what it was like to work with Martin generally. He said everything on the production, from the art department presentations to casting tapes, was made available to Martin.

“I’ve always taken aboard his feedback wherever possible,” Condal said. “There are, of course, places where we have not agreed and departed. And some of those things are a specific condition in the show. Telling a subjective story, not telling the objective history.”

He added: “A lot of what my job is, is figuring out how to pivot and move and think laterally. And we can’t do that thing, but we can do this thing or this thing, because this is not a book. It’s a television show.”