George R. R. Martin, writer Game of Thrones novels and Fire and Blood spin-off based on which HBO series House of the Dragon is based, had a lot to say about the substantial change made to the program. September 4th Martin he published a post on his blog titled “Beware of Butterflies”, in which he details his concerns about a certain scene from the second season HotD. However, shortly after the post was published, Martin deleted it completely.
Based on the post, which in the archived version can be read hereMartin had solemn reservations about the way House of the Dragon the creators of the series changed a moment known to fans Fire and Blood as “Blood and Cheese”. In the programQueen Helaena is accosted in her castle by two intruders who demand that she identify which of her two teenage children is a boy, ostensibly so they can assassinate the heir to the Iron Throne. She hesitantly offers them her necklace, but when they insist, she points to Jaehaerys, her son, whom the intruder quickly kills.
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In the novel, Helaena has three children: Jaehaerys, Jaehaera, and Maelor (Maelor does not appear in the series, although Martin claims in a now-deleted blog post that he was told he would appear in season three). When Blood and Cheese (as they are known in the novel) break in, Helaena first gives up her life, then reluctantly points Maelor out to the killers, who is the youngest. However, the intruders realize that she is avoiding pointing out Jaehaerys, the next in line for the throne, and kill him anyway, with Cheese whispering to Maelor that his mother has chosen him to die before he leaves the castle.
He then refers to the “Butterfly Effect,” the philosophical idea that a very compact thing, as compact as the flutter of a butterfly’s wings, can over time have huge implications for seemingly unrelated things. Martin then warns readers of spoilers, writing, “If you’ve never read Fire and Blood maybe it doesn’t matter because everything I “spoil” here is stuff that happens in the book that could NEVER happen on the show.” I’m warning you about spoilers, because now the main themes of the novel appear.
IN Fire and BloodHelaena commits suicide shortly after Prince Maelor’s death. Because she is beloved by the smallfolk, when rumors spread that Queen Rhaenyra had killed her (since Rhaenyra had taken over King’s Landing by this point), instead of Helaena jumping out of a window in the Red Keep, the people of King’s Landing flood the streets, demanding justice for their beloved ruler. “This is the beginning of the end of Rhaenyra’s rule over the city, ultimately leading to the storming of Dragonpit and the uprising of the Shepherd mob that forces Rhaenyra to flee the city and return to Dragonstone… and her death,” Martin writes.
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He continues: “Maelor himself is not very important. He is a small child, has no lines of dialogue, does nothing of importance except die… but where, when and how, that is does matter. The loss of Maelor weakened the ending of the Blood and Cheese sequence…undermined the motivation for Helaena’s suicide, and that in turn sent thousands of people into the streets and alleys screaming for justice for their “murdered” queen. None of this is necessary, I suppose…but it all serves a purpose, all helps to connect the plot threads, so one thing follows another in a logical and compelling way.”
Martin ends his post with an ominous warning that “if larger and more toxic butterflies appear, House of the Dragon is moving forward with some changes planned for Seasons 3 and 4…”
It’s funny to me that Martin has never publicly expressed such an angry reaction to the ending. Game of Throneswhich not only deviated from the source material, but also created entirely new plots since he hadn’t finished the main novels yet. And I find it even funnier that he published such a devastating critique a series that I think is an adaptation in an appropriate way. But maybe Martin did what many of us who are in terminal online mode do, and tweeted and deleted after he enlightened himself a bit. We’ll see.
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