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House of the Dragon boss explains why he cut Maelor Targaryen, which George R.R. Martin is upset about

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House of the Dragon boss explains why he cut Maelor Targaryen, which George R.R. Martin is upset about

As a dedicated fan with over two decades of following George R.R. Martin’s world, I must say that the recent events surrounding the adaptation of “Fire & Blood” into “House of the Dragon” have left me feeling like a dragon on a hot day – restless and disgruntled!

This week, author George R.R. Martin expressed concerns in a blog post about the HBO prequel series “House of the Dragon,” based on his book “Fire & Blood.” Specifically, he criticized showrunner Ryan Condal for removing the character Maelor Targaryen, a decision Martin believes may cause problems later in the series. It seems he had other complaints about how Condal and the team have adapted his work, but we’re not sure if these will be revealed; shortly after posting, Martin removed the blog entry.

It appears we suspect there might have been some back-and-forth with HBO regarding certain decisions, but this is just our assumption. Simultaneously, HBO released an urgent episode of their “House of the Dragon” podcast featuring Condal, who explained the reasons behind his modifications to “Fire & Blood.” This conversation included a detailed discussion on why he eliminated Maelor Targaryen, the change that caused Martin such distress.

In the book “Fire & Blood”, Maelor Targaryen is the third and youngest offspring of King Aegon and Queen Helaena Targaryen. King Aegon’s adversary, Daemon Targaryen, dispatches assassins into the Red Keep, where the royal family resides. These assassins, infamously referred to as Blood and Cheese in history, come across Queen Helaena along with her three children: Maelor and his elder siblings Jaehaerys and Jaehaera. The assassins demand that Helaena select one of her sons, either Jaehaerys or Maelor, for them to take the life of. In desperation, she chooses Maelor; however, Blood and Cheese end up slaying Jaehaerys instead.

In the TV series “House of the Dragon,” the character Maelor is not featured, leading to a distinctly different portrayal of events. To begin with, the children are sleeping instead of awake and fearful throughout the incident. Alicent, Helaena’s mother, is absent in this version as she appears in the book. Unlike in the original story, Helaena does not volunteer her children to spare them from harm. Instead, Blood and Cheese ask Helaena to identify which of her twins is her son, to which she correctly identifies Jaehaerys. In response, Blood and Cheese behead him while Helaena grabs Jaehaera and flees the scene.

In a similar vein to Martin, I found that the scene, overall, was acceptable within the series; however, I believe the book’s rendition packs a greater punch. During the podcast discussion, Condal explained the reasons behind certain alterations, particularly delving into the reasons Maelor was omitted.

Condal clarified the reason behind the difference in portraying sleepiness between the show and the books. In simpler terms, he explained that the kids in the story were too young to fully comprehend and act out the complex narrative as described in the book. He has extensive experience working with young performers and finds it unrealistic to expect 4-year-olds to perform such intricate drama. Additionally, there are practical concerns regarding exposing young children to certain elements on a film set.

I believe that argument seems valid. It’s quite different to discuss tragic murders of children in writing compared to employing child actors to portray such scenes. I find myself less persuaded by Condal’s rationale behind excluding Maelor from the narrative.

And Maelor…who’s a little older in the book, would have been an infant because of the age of Jaehaerys and Jaehaera. And this goes back to our first season, trying to adapt a story that takes place over 20 years of history instead of a story that takes place over 30 years of history. And we had to make some compromises in rendering that story so that we didn’t have to recast the whole cast multiple times and really just frankly lose people. I mean, we were walking right up against the line with it in season 1, and I think we did a really great job and I think the response to season 1 extols that. But the casualty in that was that our young children in this show are very, very young because we compress that timeline. So those people could only have children of a certain age and have it be believable where it didn’t feel like we weren’t hewing to the realities of the passage of time and the growth of children in any real way.

Essentially, Condal explains that the character Maelor was omitted from the series due to a condensed timeline in the storyline. In season 1, there were frequent leaps forward in time between episodes, sometimes spanning as much as ten years. Specifically, an eight-year gap exists between Episodes 7 and 8. Before this time jump, Aegon and Helaena had not yet wed. However, post the time leap, they are married with two young children named Jaehaerys and Jaehaera. Notably, Maelor is absent from their lives during this period.

In order to make the story more plausible, let’s adjust the timeline so that 10 years have passed between Episodes 7 and 8 instead of just eight. This means that Aegon and Helaena had their children earlier during that original eight-year jump. Consequently, Maelor could be born at a time when sufficient time has elapsed, making the storyline more realistic.

It appears that Condal and his team have encountered challenges when it comes to long-term story planning. In his blog post, Martin mentioned that initially, Condal intended to introduce Maelor later in the narrative, with Helaena getting pregnant and giving birth near the end of season 2, implying Maelor’s presence and involvement in a significant future event. However, it seems that at some stage, Condal and his team opted to eliminate Maelor’s character altogether.

You have the liberty to decide whether or not you want to invest in Condal’s explanations based on your judgment. As for “House of the Dragon” season 3, its path is uncertain at the moment, but it’s expected to air on HBO and Max around the year 2026.

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2024-09-06 21:41

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