5 crazy parts of George RR Martin’s House of the Dragon hit piece

George R.R. Martin promised a blog post detailing everything that had gone wrong with House of the Dragon , and he didn’t disappoint.

Almost a week after revealing he was working on the post, Martin dropped a bomb on the Game of Thrones fandom with a hit piece on House of the Dragon and its showrunner, Ryan Condal, titled Beware the Butterflies. Martin quickly deleted the post, but you can still read it here. Be aware, though, it contains some shocking spoilers for the future of House of the Dragon , including the planned death of one of the show’s best characters next season. HBO has also released a statement responding to Martin’s complaints.

It’s easy to get lost in Martin’s complaints amidst the mountain of Game of Thrones lore you need to know to understand large parts of it. The main issue Martin discusses in the post is the unintended consequences of leaving out a semi-minor book character, Maelor, the son of Aegon and Helaena. So, we’ve rounded up the most important details to help you digest the new George R.R. Martin vs. HBO feud. The most spoilery details from Martin’s blog post are at the end of the article beneath a spoiler tag, so look out for that if you want to avoid learning about who dies next season.

1 The Blood and Cheese storyline is the starting point

Small changes can have further-reaching consequences

If you haven’t been following the online drama behind the series as House of the Dragon’s second season aired, you might have missed book readers being quite upset by a change the show made from the books. Martin apparently agrees with that criticism, as his entire blog post is really just about the unintended consequences of a few small changes the show made to the Blood and Cheese storyline.

The gist of the drama comes from the House of the Dragon episode Son for a Son, where Helaena’s son Jaehaerys is murdered in front of her. It’s horrible, but not as horrible as in the books, where Helaena also has another son, Maelor. The killers force Helaena to choose which son dies, and when she finally chooses, they kill the opposite son while telling the surviving child that his mother wanted him dead.

It’s one of the more brutal things Game of Thrones has done, so I understand Condal wanting to lessen the mental trauma inflicted on the audience. But Martin is absolutely right that the changes made to the story made it worse — without even getting into the further-reaching consequences the changes could have later in the series. Also, if you’re watching House of the Dragon, you probably watched Game of Thrones, a show that was filled with this type of content. It’s hard to imagine anything being worse than the Red Wedding, so Condal’s concerns might be misplaced.

2 There’s conflict between Ryan Condal and Martin

Much like Rhaenyra and Daemon were, the two are no longer on speaking terms

HBO

Reading Martin’s blog post, it’s hard not to get the feeling that the author has lost faith in Ryan Condal’s adaptation of his source material. In the blog, Martin makes a few subtle reveals that could indicate the two are no longer on speaking terms. At one point, he says, “I have no idea what Ryan has planned — if indeed he has planned anything.” Yes, you’re upset George, but I’m pretty sure the showrunner has plans for the next season.

Another part that hints at their strained relationship is when Martin discusses the process that led to Aegon and Helaena’s younger son being cut from the show. Initially, Martin mentions how Ryan Condal assured him that Maelor wasn’t being cut entirely, just moved back. Then Martin adds, “Sometime between the initial decision to remove Maelor, a big change was made. The prince’s birth was no longer just going to be pushed back to season 3. He was never going to be born at all.”

To me, that reads as if Condal and Martin might have stopped communicating entirely at some point during season two’s development.

3 The budget is an issue

Just give them a blank check already

HBO

Another problem brought up is something George and Ryan Condal seem to agree on: HBO’s budget constraints are hurting the show. Condal held an impromptu press conference after season two ended, where he stated that budget constraints led to some major battle sequences being pushed into season three.

Martin has now revealed that HBO’s budget was also part of the reasoning for leaving Maelor out of the show. He mentions that Condal pointed out the challenges of working with child actors, who tend to blow up filming budgets, before Martin writes, “Budget was already an issue on House of the Dragon; it made sense to save money wherever we could.”

It’s hard not to look back at the mess House of the Dragon’s second season has become and wonder what might have been different if HBO had given the creators the budget they needed.

Spoiler Alert

4 Martin reveals an important death in season three

The author makes his point, but burns some bridges

HBO

Probably the most inflammatory detail from Beware the Butterflies is George’s criticism of details from Ryan Condal’s season three outline for House of the Dragon. Toward the end of the post, he writes, “In Ryan’s outline for season 3, Helaena still kills herself… for no particular reason.” Revealing these details is probably going to make it pretty hard for George to return to an HBO writer’s room anytime soon, but it effectively makes his point about how the loss of Maelor is hurting other more important characters.

Helaena’s death in season three shouldn’t surprise book readers, and Martin says as much in his post. However, his reason for highlighting it drives home his point about the unintended consequences of altering the source material to save money. The inciting event for Helaena’s suicide is Maelor’s death while trying to flee King’s Landing after Rhaenyra’s arrival. When Helaena hears of this, she throws herself from the Red Keep.

It seems Condal made an understandable change from the Fire and Blood source material. The entire Blood and Cheese sequence might have been too dark for television audiences. Forcing a young mother to choose between her children, then killing the opposite one, is a shocking thing to put on TV. But these changes have unintended consequences that cheapen the arc of one of the show’s breakout characters.

5 Larger, more toxic ‘butterflies’ to come

George warns of more changes, but what are they?

HBO

The final line in George R.R. Martin’s blog post is quite ominous: “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 comes as Martin has left the writer’s room for House of the Dragon’s third season, where he was presumably one of the strongest voices for staying faithful to the Fire and Blood book. So it’s safe to say we’re probably getting these “toxic butterflies” in the next two seasons. What are some changes from the books that could suit what Martin’s talking about?

Two events from the book come to mind. The first is Jacaerys’ death during the Battle of the Gullet, which should open season three. Jacaerys’ death is an inciting event for Rhaenyra to take a more extreme approach towards the Greens. However, the conflict in Jacaerys and Rhaenyra’s relationship was one of the few bright spots in season two. Will they really toss that out in the first or second episode of season three?

The other potential change involves Rhaenyra’s death. When HBO first announced House of the Dragon, it was hard to imagine how they would portray two particularly brutal but crucial events from Fire and Blood. The first was the Blood and Cheese storyline that ends with Jaehaerys’ death, which led to Martin writing his blog post. The other is when Rhaenyra is caught by Aegon and fed to his dragon in front of her two youngest children.

This would be difficult to watch, and the showrunners might be pivoting away from it by implying Aegon’s dragon died after the fighting at Rook’s Rest. But this would be a monumental change in Westeros history. Rhaenyra’s son, Aegon, eventually becomes king after the Dance of the Dragons, and he’s traumatized by his mother’s death and terrified of dragons. During his reign, the last dragons die out, and it’s even implied he may have had a hand in it. None of that makes sense, though, if he doesn’t watch Sunfyre eat his mother. So the entire Game of Thrones lore could change over budget concerns and fears that an audience that endured the Red Wedding might suddenly be unable to handle the source material.