George RR Martin Details Problems With House Of The Dragon 2: 'More Toxic Butterflies To Come'

House of the Dragon, the prequel series to the celebrated Game of Thrones, recently arrived with its much-awaited second season, focusing on the ongoing fight for the Iron Throne of Westeros. However, its abrupt and uneventful conclusion left a major section of viewers disappointed, leaving them waiting for a better third season. Amid the mixed reviews, GOT creator and author George RR Martin has also voiced his criticism toward Season 2. In his now-deleted blog post, Martin called out a few changes that co-creator Ryan Condal made to the show, comparing it to his original work, Fire & Blood.

Mentioning that he is not happy about the changes, the author also emphasised that such things can cause serious problems. “In Ryan’s outline for season 3, Helaena still kills herself… for no particular reason. There is no fresh horror, no triggering event to overwhelm the fragile young queen. And the final butterfly follows soon thereafter,” he wrote. Martin also pointed out the elimination of Aegon and Helaena’s youngest son, Prince Maelor, from the story, leaving the couple with just the twins.

“When Ryan Condal first told me what he meant to do, ages ago (back in 2022, might be), I argued against it, for all these reasons. I did not argue long, or with much heat, however. The change weakened the sequence, I felt but only a bit. Moreover, Ryan assured me that we were not losing Prince Maelor, simply postponing him. I still love the episode, and the Blood and Cheese sequence overall. Losing the ‘Helaena’s Choice’ beat did weaken the scene, but not to any great degree. Only the book readers would even notice its absence; viewers who had never read FIRE & BLOOD would still find the scenes heart-rending. Maelor did not actually DO anything in the scene, after all. How could he? He was only two years old,” he added.

Martin clearly focused much of his criticism on the show’s rendition of an infamous event known as Blood and Cheese. He even stated if similar changes are contemplated for Season 3 and 4, there would be more “toxic butterflies.”

Even though the post went viral instantly, grabbing a lot of reactions from fans, the blog was later deleted. HBO also issued a statement explaining the changes. Clearly revealing that Aegon and Helaena actually had three kids in the book, including Maelor, HBO explained that the younger one was eliminated from the show because “having one less child seems like a rather routine adaptive choice,” as quoted by The Hollywood Reporter.