George R.R. Martin may be the father of Westeros and all its drama, but he’s become an empty nester. The author has been working on his next book in the Song of Ice and Fire series, The Winds of Winter, for more than a decade now, but meanwhile, his saga took on a life of its own as source material for Game of Thrones, the HBO series that dominated pop culture for eight years.
The world has since moved on to the prequel, House of the Dragon, based on Martin’s in-universe history book Fire & Blood. But Martin, despite contributing to the series, had some choice words about how it’s gone so far, and where it’s heading in the future. Future spoilers ahead.
In a now-deleted blog post, Martin revealed his biggest issue with House of the Dragon Season 2 wasn’t the compositing of Nettles the dragonseed and Rhaena Targaryen, nor Daemon’s interminable Harrenhal dream sequences. Instead, he took umbrage with the removal of Prince Maelor, the youngest daughter of Aegon and Helaena Targaryen. In the books, Maelor was present for the brutal murder of his older brother, Jaehaerys, which we saw in the first episode of Season 2. In the series, only Jaehaerys’ twin sister, little Jaehaera, was there.
While Martin concedes that House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal assured him Maelor would be written into the series later, the character’s erasure had greater implications. Maelor may be a minor character, Martin argues, but his future actions set the stage for one of the most heartbreaking moments of The Dance of Dragons: Helaena’s suicide.
“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 wrote. “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.”
Martin is certainly entitled to his opinion, but it’s inevitable that stories change when adapted to television. In its last seasons, Game of Thrones was accused of pulling big changes out of thin air, but both it and House of the Dragon also made smart cuts and tweaks that kept Martin’s massive story moving along at a brisk pace.
In the case of Prince Maelor, Martin explained that the cut helped save money; all the rules and regulations for younger actors slow down production, making shoots more expensive. Maelor just isn’t important enough to the story to justify the cost.
House of the Dragon will always be different than Fire & Blood. The book will always be there if you want to experience its story, but the act of adapting books for television fundamentally alters them. Even George R.R. Martin will have to accept that. Unlike Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon’s source material is complete, so the prequel can keep an eye on what needs to happen in the future. It’s understandable that Martin is passionate about his work, but missing one toddler in one scene won’t ruin the show. Let’s just hope creative in-fighting doesn’t either.
