HBO Responds to Criticism of George R.R. Martin’s HOUSE OF THE DRAGON

In a now-deleted post, George R.R. Martin shared his thoughts on House of the Dragon Season 2 and the things he wasn’t happy about. It was clear that Martin was frustrated with the way the show handled the Blood and Cheese scene and the removal of Helaena’s son.

HBO has now responded to Martin’s criticism in a statement that begins: “There are few bigger fans than George R.R. Martin and his book Fire and Blood compared to the creative team on House of the Dragonboth in production and at HBO.”

He continues: “Usually, when you adapt a book for the screen, with its format and its limitations, the showrunner is ultimately forced to make some difficult choices about the characters and the stories that 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 appreciate it.”

Now, Martin said that while the first two episodes of the new season were “well written, well directed, [and] “powerfully acted”, was not happy with the ending of the second episode.

He explained the differences between what is in his story and what we saw in the series, saying: “In my book, Aegon and Helaena have three children, not two. The twins, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, are six years old. They have a younger brother, Maelor, who is two.

“When Blood and Cheese burst in on Helaena and the children, they tell her that they are debt collectors come to avenge the death of Prince Lucerys: a son for a son. Since Helaena has two sons, however, they ask her to choose which of them should die.

“She resists and offers her life in his stead, but the assassins insist that it must be a son. If she does not name one, they will kill all three children. To save the twins’ lives, Helaena calls upon Maelor.

“But Blood kills the eldest boy, Jaehaerys, instead, while Cheese tells little Maelor that his mother wanted him dead. It is not at all certain whether the boy is old enough to understand this.”

He continued: “That’s not how it happens in the show. There’s no Maelor in House of the Dragonjust the twins… they both look younger than six, but I’m not a reliable judge of children’s ages, so I can’t be sure how old they should be.

“Blood can’t tell the twins apart, so Helaena is asked to reveal which one is male. You’d think a look under her pajamas would reveal it, without implicating her mother.)

“Instead of offering her life to save the children, Helaena offers them a necklace. Blood and Cheese are not tempted. Blood saws off Prince Jaehaerys’ head. We are spared the sight of it; a sound effect is enough.”

As you might imagine, Martin thinks his version is better, saying, “I still think the book scene is stronger. The readers are right. The two killers are crueler in the book. I thought the actors who played the killers in the series were excellent… but the characters are crueler, tougher and scarier in Fire & Blood.”

He continued: “And there are bigger, more toxic butterflies to come, if House of the Dragon goes forward with some of the changes contemplated for seasons 3 and 4.”

What do you think of the way the creative team behind the series is handling the source material?