This intense deal with Maelor being included is a bit baffling although. He mentions within the weblog submit that Maelor survives Blood & Cheese solely to be brutally torn aside by a mob afterward. I definitely don’t fault House of the Dragon writers for not essentially wanting to incorporate that, although I do perceive the place Martin is coming from. He argues that Maelor’s exclusion will seemingly trigger a Butterfly Effect, if it hasn’t already, that would imply different characters and occasions from the e-book aren’t included within the collection in any respect. According to Martin, occasions just like the Bitterbridge scene and Helaena’s loss of life by suicide wouldn’t have the identical affect or narrative energy with out Maelor. It’s not a lot that Maelor is uniquely vital as it’s that the individuals linked to him are more likely to be affected by his exclusion from the collection.
And but, Martin’s arguments can be a lot stronger if he additionally acknowledged the restrictions that House of the Dragon faces, particularly when in comparison with Game of Thrones. HBO’s mum or dad firm isn’t below the identical management it was again within the Thrones days. Under Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s tenure, the corporate is lots much less all for creating artwork for artwork’s sake than it’s making as a lot cash as potential off of present IP, as evidenced by how a lot of their very own content material they’ve primarily erased off of the web. WBD can also be struggling financially below the brand new regime, leaving much less cash to spare for epic (and costly) fantasy collection like House of the Dragon. Stock is tanking and the corporate is 38 billion {dollars} in debt in response to their most up-to-date earnings report.
Martin’s argument’s could also be legitimate, however they’re lacking the purpose of the better dialog occurring round House of the Dragon. He doesn’t keep in mind the larger image of what’s occurring behind the scenes, lacking the purpose fully.
The whole submit appears wanting to level the blame at Ryan Condal and the writers, with the final line of his submit probably the most slicing of all. He says “And there are larger and more toxic butterflies to come, if House of the Dragon goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons 3 and 4…” This immediately calls out the modifications being made within the collection in an inflammatory means, and units up hardcore followers of Martin on a possible warpath for any modifications made in House of the Dragon shifting ahead.
It’s onerous to take Martin’s complaints as extra than simply the petty grievances when he shows them as such. Martin is an government producer for the present, it’s not like he couldn’t seize lunch or espresso with Ryan Condal to air his grievances if he really wished to. The weblog submit does point out that he’s had conversations with Condal concerning the present, however Martin doesn’t say how intensive these conversations had been. He acts like Condal has merely blown off his issues, which might very nicely be true, however this nonetheless doesn’t really feel like the fitting option to deal with this example.
