George R.R. Martin Trashes House of the Dragon Showrunner and Criticizes Changes from the Books

[@OfficialRedTeamReview]

HBO has responded to the now deleted post by George: “There are few greater fans of George R.R. Martin and his book Fire & Blood than the creative team on House of the Dragon, both in production and at HBO. Commonly, when adapting a book for the screen, with its own format and limitations, the showrunner ultimately is required to make difficult choices about the characters and stories 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 enjoy it.” (source: The_Streamr)

[@franklyn2661]

@@OfficialRedTeamReview F*ck yea, love the dagger!

[@osheroth]

They should've thrown in "P.S, we paid you for the rights, handsomely. And you accepted it, twice. Maybe spend all this newfound writting energy with Winds. ;)" As you mentioned, there was SO MUCH he could've criticized, but he chose to hone in on a thread that can be easily solved.

[@MrVictor1227]

Lol

[@filenotfound4984]

@@franklyn2661new plot twist, the dagger gained semi sentience similar to the one ring and is now guiding its current holder to its dark master (game of thrones season 8)

[@franklyn2661]

@@filenotfound4984 HOTD actually takes place in LOTR universe, final and goat plot twist. Final season will be a big crossover with ROP.

[@champadin1755]

"If indeed he planned anything at all" 2024 DOES NOT MISS

[@marcneef795]

That was savage

[@tehbakinblack]

yeah I thought GRRM and Condal were cool. Guessing after that bitch slappin maybe not so much. Brutal shot from George.

[@maxmercer1931]

This is good

[@Wild_flower_415]

Did you plan anything for ASOIAF George?

[@EarnestTargenfyre]

That was the last nail of the coffin for me.

[@WillOnYT]

Guys we could be on the golden path: - George writes mean blog to HBO - HBO gets mad -HBO drops George’s projects - George doesn’t have other activities - we get Winds!

[@thebirdcatcher1]

Or he turns himself into a worm.

[@FargotUr]

PLease dont make me believe in meme magic again.

[@Swimmaroo]

GRRM > Gurrm > Worm. Checks out 😎

[@WillOnYT]

I WILL SHOW US THE WAY 🪱

[@eskanda3434]

or he just tells hbo to kick rocks and takes his books to another big studio

[@thedopaminestop2355]

Preston was just saying “no way George will name drop anyone or directly blame the writers”. That aged like milk lol

[@Tupadre97]

Ikr wtf was he thinking?

[@charlesgarand]

@@Tupadre97to be fair, none of us expected the level of candour with which George spoke in this post.

[@gudhaxer41343]

​@@Tupadre97Tbf nobody was expecting him to subtly diss the showrunners lol

[@tglake2894]

​@gudhaxer41343 Nothing subtle about "Condal has nothing planned and he's butchering the story" tbf haha

[@sofiafrausto723]

@@charlesgarandI did. From the previous posts. He never did that before. But I’m loving all the drama 😂

[@DamnTheBeavers]

i think making Rhaenyra the "queen that does no wrong" was the bigger problem than the budget..i mean, GOT s1 had a small budget and they knew what scenes would work offscreen, to still follow the book in a cohesive manner.. In HOTD, scenes like Rheanys in the dragon pit, or Baela chasing cole on her dragon are very expensive show only scenes, with literally no purpose or consequences...it was never about budget

[@vanessacool5355]

We really traded Maelor for a scene of Damon and his mom hooking up

[@steppecist]

We traded Maelor for alicent selling out all her sons to death

[@savii4912]

@@vanessacool5355nah keep the mom. lose the baela and cole scene in the forest

[@Male_Ficent]

​@@vanessacool5355traded Maelor for a scene of Alicent riding Cole's d

[@janellejulianajoy]

@@savii4912 Daemon and his mom is perverted as you can get. Keep Baela chasing Criston as it gives us a hint as to both characters. This is really the first time we see Criston commanding a host. This is the first time that we see that Baela is a lot like her father. Yes, she's following the rules but she's also pushing the envelope, without really thinking.

[@MrZachsh7]

I think he’s justified in his criticism of the changes to the show. ASOIAF is his baby, his story and seeing people make changes to his story probably shakes him to the core. His blog post talking about adaptations really said it all.

[@b1bbscraz3y]

he's definitely justified. the one part he's wrong about though is saying there's no "Helaena's choice" (a substitution term for "Sophie's choice). everyone kept saying after episode 1 that there was no "Sophie's choice". but there literally was. from what I know the Sophie's choice didn't include taking the opposite child. so the term "Sophie's choice" is literally just about Sophie choosing which of her children to be taken. and that was exactly what happened in 'Helaena's choice', so people who said "there's no Sophie's choice" are entirely wrong

[@urty24]

He signed up for this. George took HBO’s money even after D&D butchered the 2nd half of GOT. He had all the leverage. He could have gotten creative control if he wanted it. George knew exactly what he was signing up for. This should not have been done publicly. He is not in the right even though his criticism of the show is correct.

[@dom9041543]

The point the scene was weak compared to its source material and the changes were literally unnecessary. They could’ve gotten away with only have one action set piece in episode 4 by simply following source material and properly setting up minor characters. Everything in his post sounded way more interesting than what we got in the show. We didn’t need the Rhaenyra and Alicent scenes when the literally will be in kings landing together in season 3 and it kind feel less exciting considering they had invented meetings (that made no sense) in season 2. The show didn’t solely need to be focus on them either. Hell that knight a bitter bridge seems interesting and could’ve had a role this season like Bariston Selemy or an impactful death like Serio but instead we focus the entire show on Alicent and Rhaenyra relationship. Also, they weakened Helena’s character by getting rid of her emotions of losing her son and by them removing Maelor from makes her suicide seem pointless considering she’s doesn’t seem to really grieve anything or care about nothing but her damn bugs. I will probably not watch season 3 cause I have a feeling they will actually kill Sunfyre off and change Rhaenyra death. This isn’t an adaptation of Fire and Blood (which I was looking forward to) this is purely fanfic.

[@b1bbscraz3y]

@@urty24 I believe he made that deal with HBO before D&D made og Thrones as bad as it was in the end. didn't he sign that deal before season 7? I don't remember

[@PalpatineIsAJew]

@@AesirUnlimitedIt makes no sense like why not just go check yourself?

[@Zero_2500]

I am glad to see GRRM still cares enough to be pissed when something is obviously going wrong. He should repost the blog but black out the “objectionable” parts with a banner that reads “censored by HBO”

[@luischavezjr6047]

But the thing is, he wasn’t mean at all. He just spoke the truth on what he thought should’ve happened but that Ryan and Sara went against that. He wasn’t mean

[@ncblock87]

I saw a comment on Reddit yesterday that perfectly summarizes my main issue with the show: They were too afraid to make Alicent or Rhaenyra do anything morally questionable because it would clash with the narrative that they’re just gentle souls who were victims of their patriarchal society that made them fight one another. So instead we have Alicent looking shocked that the other members of the council were secretly plotting to install Aegon on the throne against Viserys’ clearly expressed wishes (Otto had been planting the idea in Alicent’s head that her son needed to become king ever since Aegon was a baby). She basically carries this position all throughout seasons 2, until she becomes completely disenfranchised by the men on the council and in her family who have boxed her out of decision-making because she’s not bloodthirsty enough. And Rhaenyra is doing basically the same routine, still trying to delay the conflict and find a peaceful way out. Even though people have already been murdered, including her own son and Aegon’s son. It’s ironic that the writers bending over backwards to try to maintain Alicent and Rhaenyra’s purity actually makes them worse and less popular characters. People hated Alicent for agreeing to sacrifice her own son in the finale.

[@bryceking1806]

Agreed it’s like they didn’t want the women in the show to be cruel , flawed, or morally questionable they just wanted cookie cutter good guys instead of a far more interesting story

[@OfficialRedTeamReview]

We've been saying this all season too

[@ScadrianGhostblood]

Agree. It's like they completely don't understand what makes morally grey characters(that they are suppose to be) interesting. Their flaws.

[@doctorajaguar]

Exactly!!

[@alanpennie8013]

@@ncblock87 Stupid people.

[@Hero_Of_Old]

The Writer Who Cared

[@lukeskinwalker922]

But not enough to write another mainline book or be honest in 13 years.

[@filenotfound4984]

George speedruns himself into legal trouble so he has a new excuse to not write winds 😭

[@FargotUr]

at this point, i am willing to believe this

[@trashkills2802]

He better get sued, lose a lot of money, go to jail, contemplate about capitalism, snap and while in his prison cell, finishes all the books, releasing them once HBO releases him from prison, thus completing his hero arc; and instead of finding an excuse, we get a book or two.

[@VoiceInHisHead]

​@@trashkills2802goat comment

[@aneisleeper5515]

Or the opposite. New excuse to have more time, not stupid shows, to have more time for winds

[@Kristiano100]

😂😂

[@oathunderelo4723]

The difference between GOT and ROP is that the writer for one is still alive to defend his work.

[@JoseCinnamon]

ROP 😂😂😂

[@wafflingmean4477]

Given the extreme pressure on actors and writers to NEVER damage the show's promotion, if an actor or writer says contradictory positive and negative things about a film, the negative is always true. Take Mark Hamill promoting the Last Jedi for example. From memory, he started out promoting it but dropping hints that something was amiss. Then he went back to outright promoting it, then after the movie released he openly trashed it. Another scenario is Henry Cavill. It's no secret he hated the direction the showrunners took with Netflix's Witcher. But he didn't openly criticise the show once. We've learned from leaks behind the scenes how much he fought for book accuracy and against unnecessary changes, but at most all he did was drop hints like Hamill. The most damning hint was 'I'll stay so long as they stay true to the source material' then leaving and not saying why. Also remember when Gendry's actor openly laughed at the writing of later seasons of GoT (while the show was still airing if I remember right) and Grey Worm's actor said "You're brave", clearly uncomfortable. Remember Emilia Clark's "best season ever" comment. Positive feedback for a show is ALWAYS less trustworthy than negative feedback, because negative feedback goes directly against financial incentive. If a writer or actor is willing to bite the hand that feeds them, then they're making a sacrifice for their words, making those words more trustworthy.

[@marcusanark2541]

Exactly, finally someone with a rational comment to add.

[@marken816]

Exactly. And if they're willing to give out even small negative feedback, it means there's a lot more gripes that go unsaid. No one would risk their reputation in the industry or go on the verge of contract violations just to nitpick.

[@Captain_Insano_nomercy]

Preach

[@mum-your]

lets get ready for rhaenyra to not die the way she did in the books and then aegon be like "victors write the history" and then say that joeferry was wrong all along

[@beckyweiss6072]

Which will tick me off to no end

[@FargotUr]

Rhaenyra died of a broken heart when she thought alicent betrayed her and helped aegon escape KL, the heartbreak was so intense, but after fighting it for so long, she eventually died. Very sad.

[@doctorajaguar]

Yep, its coming. I have no proof, but also, no doubts haha

[@TheRAH14]

@@FargotUr the Dance of the Dragons was the friends they lost along the way. Or something like that

[@singstreetcar5881]

Criston Cole is gonna push healena down a balcony cause female characters on HOTD can't do anything by themselves, they all lack agency

[@cloudlanding8258]

From Xiran Jay Zhao, George’s author friend who wrote on this, “He's not complaining for complaining's sake. I hung out with him a few weeks ago and heard his full scope of opinions on HOTD and what he said in the post was VERY mild. Probably the least spicy storytelling critique he could've brought up. And I do believe this was on purpose and strategic. He's not going full scorched earth on HBO, but he's showing them that he COULD. He did this as a warning shot to get them to listen to him because clearly he saw some very upsetting plans for upcoming HOTD seasons. If he just wanted to complain there's way spicier shit he could've said.”

[@petebondurant58]

Yet, he deleted the criticism.

[@khfan4life365]

@@petebondurant58 because he spoiled what would happen in season three. He knew the blog post would get circulated even after deletion.

[@twiss9341]

George is absolutely right.

[@alanpennie8013]

You spelt *absolutely wrong* wrong.

[@tjdavis2006]

Might be right but considering he’s been writing a book for 10+ years and doesn’t know where to go with it, it’s hard for me to take any of his criticism of others seriously.

[@PalpatineIsAJew]

@@tjdavis2006Even though he wrote all the other books which are some of the best fantasy books, wrote Fore and Blood specifically so HotD has a story, then they start changing it. The guy is old he may die soon let him live his life instead of just writing for the rest of his life.

[@marceloyoneshima]

@@PalpatineIsAJew This. Exactly. Thank you. Sometimes, it seems people think George is their slave and he must write at their command. George does not owe them anything. If he wanted to stop at A Storm of Swords and never write any continuation to the saga it would be fine. We should be glad we got A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons since George was already struggling to write those two.

[@TK4K411]

If anyone has the right to criticize an adaption, it is the author. I feel he has every right to say how he feels about his own story.

[@hypeman1825]

No he doesn’t. Normally I would agree but I feel no sympathy for George cause I know he’s still getting dump loads of cash for this show. Like dude go finish your book before we all clock out due to old age. Been over a decade man.

[@TK4K411]

@@hypeman1825 fair point

[@marceloyoneshima]

@@hypeman1825 That’s a bullshit take. Just because he is was paid to get his work adapted into the small screen it does not mean that he must stay in silence while those who tricked him into signing a contract in which he has no real word on the adaptation process butcher his own legacy. Imagine if you discover that a school teacher is beating your children. Would you stay in silence? Furthermore, you have not paid him advanced money for The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring, have you? This means you have no right to demand for the books to be written on your time. He owes you nothing. If he is not interested in continuing the story of these characters anymore, if he decides to never finish the story, the world will not be over. It will be fine.

[@hypeman1825]

@@marceloyoneshima No it’s a valid one. He can be unhappy about it all he wants but he signed the contract. I’m sure it mentioned changes to the story or characters would likely happen. Authors understand that there’s no such thing as a one for one copy when adapting stories. At the end of the day. I don’t care and clearly many others don’t either given that we aren’t 12 and know he greenlit these projects and was more than happy with the regularly scheduled dump trucks of cash pulling up to his driveway each week lol. Doesn’t like where it’s at?.. cool. Go finish your own book and be quiet.

[@marceloyoneshima]

@@hypeman1825 As we all know now, George was promised the minimum respect regarding his own work and legacy, and was lied to by a bad actor in Condal. And, in fact, he was pretty graceful about changes on his own work when they were made for better - e.g. Viserys I characterization in Season 1 which he deemed better than the character written in his own book. Unfortunately, for all involved, everything else was changed for worse. Much worse, if you ask me, as Condal in an incompetent writer. If you do not care about George’s opinion why are you relentlessly commenting about it online? If found at least 5 different comments of yours in 5 different threads in this video alone condemning George for having an opinion about the adaptation of his own work and demanding him to finish his books as he owes you anything. I guess you are 12 after all.

[@jeffersonadams8711]

"[In the book] Helaena was beloved by the smallfolk. Rhaenyra was not." My dude is _definitely_ throwing shade at HBO's writers trying to whitewash Rhaenyra's character. This is George R.R. Martin, after all; every sentence he writes is carefully chosen. You know he resents HBO's heavy-handed attempts at painting Team Black as the good guys. In the novel, neither side was "good"--hence why the actor who plays Otto said we should enjoy watching them all kill each other. But HBO just _had_ to dumb it down into "good vs. evil", huh?

[@EmilieMiko]

Dude, George is clearly upset about the whole show direction. This is not only about Maelor. I cannot believe people and you as ASOIAF content creator miss this.

[@marceloyoneshima]

Carmine was already ready to defend the show and dismiss the valid criticisms. Now that Martin himself is criticizing it, he is backtracking his own words.

[@hypeman1825]

@@marceloyoneshimaTell George to be quiet and finish his book already.

[@marceloyoneshima]

@@hypeman1825 George lost interest in finishing the saga. The story spiraled out of his control: too many characters, too many interwoven plots, too many details to consider. To be fair, he has been struggling with the main saga even since he finished A Storm of Swords. We should be glad we got A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons and stop putting more pressure on him. He owe us nothing. I would rather have him writing stories he is excited to tell, about other characters and timelines within the world of Westeros.

[@Truffle_Pup]

It's almost like showrunners and TV writers have no idea what they're doing.

[@alanpennie8013]

It's not in the least like that. Rather it's like GRRM has lost his marbles.

[@aabbccdd4710]

Imagine winds of winter written by D&D & Condall 😂

[@NoSympathyGiven]

Insane thing to say

[@Truffle_Pup]

Come on, you must have some part of you that is fully aware that these famous works of literature are all being altered in their adaptations to the extent that they are no longer faithful. When you alter characters because "we want fans to think they are good", especially in the works of GRRM, you've lost the plot. The core theme of ASOIAF was that everyone is flawed, everyone if capable of evil, and love, and great deeds... Everyone is human. These new writers... They're just pushing their agenda and losing the narrative, the story. We the people, the fans, just want the story as it is. Raw, beautiful, terrible, and truthful. Like how real life is.

[@unc54]

@@alanpennie8013 I'd lose my marbles too if I handed someone a completed story and then they misled me on how they would adapt it.

[@LsElite4210]

I rly hate the budget excuse especially when you have random scenes of Alicent doing nonsense

[@cosmin_budda]

or Daemon with his mom xD

[@justinpachi3707]

Bro all but nuked HBO and the show runners from orbit. It’s no wonder they forced him to take down the post lmao 🤣

[@destinitaylor4360]

People were so sure George was completely on board with what was going on. I feel kinda bad for them now that this is clearly not the case 😭

[@Truffle_Pup]

Mad how media can spin yarns, eh?

[@marcneef795]

He can focus on the books now. The TV guys have never been his friends.

[@datguy3581]

He still seems to be fine with some choices and changes. He just takes issue with certain decisions.

[@alanpennie8013]

@@beige_projection No need to feel bad for me. I just think GRRM has behaved like a douche

[@Nina-uy1eo]

Showplebs can now eat their words!!! Show aint cannon at all.

[@yaketysaks]

I only ask: why now? In GoT, the ‘toxic butterfly’ effect also equally applied. Cutting Young Griff meant that the Varys and Tyrion story immediately fell apart, which meant that Cersai had to be given unrealistic plot armour, which culminated in Dany ‘turning crazy’ arc falling completely flat and ruined the whole show

[@carter9449]

He wouldn't blog about it because it would spoil unreleased books, he probably said that to D&D

[@unc54]

Because it reflects terribly on him if he commented on a show whose narrative issues largely stemmed from his inability to finish the books. D&D should have included a lot of those plotpoints but I can see why they hesitated to include new characters and plotlines when GRRM himself hasn't wrapped them up himself yet.

[@Tupadre97]

Because asoiaf isn't finished while fire and blood is. Also because he let them slide the first time and look how badly it turned out. Why would he be quiet now with how bad it turned out when he didn't say anything back with GoT?

[@marcusanark2541]

​@@Tupadre97This guy gets it! I bet that's 100% what's on George's mind.

[@PalpatineIsAJew]

@@unc54But they didn’t even try and adapt Feast and Dance, and if they did adapt them they could’ve still came up with a great ending.

[@FC-yj1wd]

Helaena and the rest of her family already seem to have forgotten that Rhaenyra's husband and king consort had her infant son killed, so Helaena being driven to suicide by another child dying wouldn't make sense.

[@themisheika]

Exactly. Now that show canon had Helaena getting desensitized to and normalizing her children being murdered with that flippant "babes die all the time", how can another child being murdered trigger her into offing herself? Would have been completely different if Helaena had been built into a gradual decline into grief stricken insanity instead of completely forgetting the trauma, having apologists explaining it away as "neurodivergence lol" as if neurodivergence = bran the emotionless 3ER (and also make it completely illogical that she would then suddenly off herself, unless it's for some brain dead reason as "I saw that me dying would restore Aegon to the throne, tis for The Greater Good"), and then ending S2 with Helaena telling Aemond to fuck off. Condal played himself honestly.

[@bookiebelle]

@@themisheika ""I saw that me dying would restore Aegon to the throne, tis for The Greater Good" Which would certainly be more lazy and crap writing. Anyone paying attention knows she has not at any point we've seen support Aegon II being on the throne, or consider him any kind of greater good. Helaena is the most honest and aware of all the greens. She's more Targ then green actually. And she knows exactly what her family is.

[@Hoover67895]

I could see it as she had a vision that her daughter would live. But after getting a false report of Jaehera's death, she can't trust her dreams anymore and lost all her kids and possibly will to live. But that's the only way I see it happening

[@guerreiroazul3230]

​@@bookiebelle the greens are Targs, dude, what are you talking about?

[@rektz2457]

Helaena is probably going to get murdered instead.

[@ИльяЧолак-ш1п]

Remember when HBO was considered a mark of quality shows, well, not anymore

[@OfficialRedTeamReview]

eh.....hard to disagree

[@singstreetcar5881]

I'm surprised they cut the budget for this show.

[@primedegea]

George did say he needed to make multiple posts about the issues he had with this season. Since the premiere of season 2, he said that he would write a blog post about Maelor and how that whole scene played out. This is definitely him circling back to that. I’m going to assume he was going to write additional posts about the stuff that happened in the latter half the season (let’s be real, Maelor not existing isn’t nearly as bad as some of the other stuff they decided to go with) but since this post got taken down, that’s probably not going to happen.

[@1992zorro]

I wonder why it has been taken down...

[@primedegea]

@@1992zorro HBO or his lawyers probably told him to. He sold the writes to his books to Warner Brothers to make GoT so there’s probably NDA in their contracts or some other legal matter. I mean he did spoil something that would happen in season 3

[@ZegetaX1]

No the show runners deserve this and more

[@salemsaleh9577]

George's world is carrying the whole network. He has the right to say whatever he wants. People coming to Ryan and HBO's defense are the same people that allowed D&D to do what they did.

[@marceloyoneshima]

@@salemsaleh9577 This. Hope Carmine reads this.

[@giofugazz]

Im sorry but its increasingly more obvious that you are not genuine in your commentary. You keep bashing people who (rightly) pointed out that this season was thrash. This coming from the guy whose every season 8 episode review was positive until the backlash got too big is kinda funny. I get it, you need the show to do well bc it reflects on your channel, by all means go get that bag... Just dont think of the audience as idiots.

[@marceloyoneshima]

Agreed.

[@danarm88]

It's his shit, he should be the first to criticize anything HBO puts out that he doesn't agree with

[@hypeman1825]

Not anymore lol. He signed whatever contracts permitted them to adapt it that brought in the dump trucks of cash to his doorstep. Tell him to stop whining and finish his book so hopefully it can be released before the PlayStation 7 comes out.

[@marceloyoneshima]

@@hypeman1825 What about you stop whining about him finishing the books? He owes you nothing.

[@DSRJoker]

Helaena death in season 3. She's in the tower, we zoom in, she taps the 4th wall and says "this is my part in the story" and jumps from window, stone cold face.

[@franklyn2661]

Wow, he was so quick to write this blog post after the announcement! With this new found speed Winds are weeks away...

[@superfamilyallosauridae6505]

minutes away!

[@franklyn2661]

@@superfamilyallosauridae6505 seconds bro...

[@OfficialRedTeamReview]

@@franklyn2661 came out yesterday

[@franklyn2661]

@@OfficialRedTeamReview Spring next week?

[@Dr.Yakub22]

Ours is the Cope

[@OneOnOne1162]

17:40 - This is actually EXACTLY what I predicted before he posted the blog. I didn't know exactly what he was going to post and I didn't expect him to take aim at Ryan so much, I thought he'd take aim at HBO a lot more, but I am not at all surprised that he focused on a specific detail. This is the man who said his least favourite change in season 1 of "Game of Thrones" was that the Robert hunting scene was too small scale, and who was annoyed at the dragon banners having dragons with four legs. George is extremely detail-oriented. I'm a little disappointed that he basically didn't directly mention any of the other, larger changes, but not necessarily that surprised.

[@magicdee]

The Red Wedding was impactful due to the carefully planted stepping stones that lead us there. It wasn't shock for shock sake, we watched it unfold and understood, however awful, why it was happening. Remove the bread crumbs, and the whole plot doesn't makes sense. It's WHY we hated season 8 and why some have issues with HOTD. Period.

[@tornado4708]

Listening to the newest GoT podcast (the official one lol), Condal is the guest and he mentions that GRRM would give suggestions and they’d get into disagreements. I genuinely think that GRRM and Condal have a beef, I’d recommend listening to the podcast (at least the parts about George) to see Condal’s view on the situation so you know I’m not crazy with that take. It feels like Condal wants to do things his own way rather than what George would like.

[@alanpennie8013]

@@tornado4708 I'd say this is pretty much certain. GRRM's post was incredibly nasty.

[@b1bbscraz3y]

yeah Condal thinks he's a better writer when he isn't

[@AstaraBrightwing]

@@alanpennie8013 Hey! You're here too. No, George's post was not nasty. George's post was extremely polite compared with what it could've been. In fact, butchering a man's work and trying to gaslight the audience into pretending it's because of "practical concerns" and "Green propaganda" is much nastier. The corruption of artwork and the slavish adherence to mainstream media and opinions is far "nastier" than an old man justifiably upset, and mostly polite, about his issues with the show.

[@assassinscreedforlife9413]

@@alanpennie8013“ pointless civil” it’s his story his legacy and they think they could do it better and they don’t we all know they don’t end yet to hear you are complaining why George is standing up for his story and his fans

[@Zhohan-]

The author of the source material gives suggestions and you disagree? Who is this fucking clown?

[@KomodoDojo]

George doesn’t just read the comments he down votes Preston’s videos with his burner account.

[@aabbccdd4710]

00:20 D&D at least had the excuse of basically writing fanfiction past a certain point. All the HOTD showrunners had to do is bring the scenes onto the screens, at most favoring the perspective of Mushroom or Eustace. Not adding stuff neither mentioned, or at least not without consulting George since the Viserys potrayal was good in spite of it's fan-ficy nature. Just my two cents.

[@jordanford9320]

Stop no they didn't D&D removed so many plotlines, they didn't adapt AFFC AT ALL. If they included anything from feast it was arya and they still managed to botch that too😅😅

[@Phoenix_of_Sun]

You haven't actually read Fire & Blood have you? There aren't really scenes, just events. Yeah some events mention some dialogue but that's about it.

[@assassinscreedforlife9413]

@@Phoenix_of_Sun I read the book and your opinion is actually pointless yes there is no dialogue or not a lot of dialogue in the book but they are changing events which we know how they happened. We know the order of and we know where they lead the problem is not what they did and the results now it’s about how they will affect events in the future. How could you not understand this? Oh wait, you probably didn’t read the bookor you didn’t really really read it.

[@aabbccdd4710]

​@@jordanford9320You're right, but it's not like those plotlines really have gone anywhere by then. I wouldn't trust D&D to write a conclusion to a bedtime story, let alone something like JonCon and Aegon taking over KL

[@aabbccdd4710]

​@@Phoenix_of_SunYes, and people make historical films too, without knowing what the exact dialogue between people was, and only going off of historical sources. Going against history is worse overall I'd say, but then again you might need to to make the plot work. The HotD showrunners already had what amounted to a good historical setting with characters to boot.

[@Mako2401]

On Preston's video Preston belittled George, said several times that he doesn't understand his own books, and that Preston had " a deeper knowledge" of the world than GRRM. There's arrogance and then there's Preston.

[@ilbb7055]

Telling the writer that he is not right about his own world.....Interesting, so that’s what it’s like to have an underdeveloped frontal lobe.

[@SorceressWitch]

Sounds like he wants to take over the books so that The Winds of Winter is released lol.

[@iamthewizardwhoknocks2845]

*Do not recommend channel* I made the right decision 2 years ago.

[@marceloyoneshima]

@@Mako2401 We all know Preston is really arrogant. He makes no effort to hide his arrogance. In fact, he is proud of it.

[@alanpennie]

What else were we to make of that ridiculous post from GRRM?

[@dawncolorful]

'budget' the usual copout bullshit. come on man, is the budget really the problem with s2? the script is horrendous, it butchers Alicent and Rhaenyra, it's ridiculous.

[@guerreiroazul3230]

This is HBO's biggest show, there's no way they couldn't petition for more budget.

[@jeffbachman2949]

@@dawncolorful GOT season 2 budget was 6 million an episode and managed more characters, locations, and plotlines than HOTD with around a 200 million budget for 8 episodes

[@singstreetcar5881]

Remember when rheneys burst out from the ground with her dragon in season 1,killing innocent folks in the dragon pit? This was the moment i knew the show was gonna turn to shit

[@WatchParty1]

Same here.

[@marceloyoneshima]

@@singstreetcar5881 True. The moment the show “jumped the shark”.

[@Yue_Jin]

Remember when they butchered house velaryon before the first episode even came out? This was the moment i knew the show was gonna be shit.

[@atiblink]

@@Yue_Jinhow

[@Yue_Jin]

@@atiblink They're not a summer islander house, duh.

[@diegorojas8959]

GRRM signing the spin off show's contracts with HBO. GRRM: And I want to be able to shit talk whatever i want, i aint waiting for non NDA to expire. 😅😅😅

[@HOTD108_]

All the NDA's in the world could expire and Winds still wouldn't be out.

[@Thor12233]

George being based as always

[@Tupadre97]

Facts

[@TheKdmccaskill]

One of George's favorite characters is Nettles........ he's going to war with HBO

[@janellejulianajoy]

Yes! He has already mentioned being annoyed at Sheepstealer being in the Vale in the first place. The only reason he probably won't go completely in is because at this time we don't know if she's included or not. Rhaena didn't claim Sheepstealer, she merely found him. If she is cut, prepare for that blow up later on. I am waiting on his response to the treament of Daemon at this point. Who is hands down his favorite.

[@chambirla]

I feel like he's been just fed up with these adaptations for a while but season two just pushed him over the edge

[@bshaddo]

Not so fed up that he didn’t take the money.

[@b_de_silva]

Honestly i loved it, the past few days people have been saying that george was on board, that the show was the true story, and that the writers understand george. Now i can say i was right

[@MrFredstt]

Let's go I'm so happy George is calling them out. I especially love how he is upset about Maelor and Helaena in particular. The show isn't good and I'm tired of people saying the show made Helaena better when they actually made her worse

[@juliusfishman7222]

They had one job in blood and cheese scene and they failed horribly. Helena could have gotten an oscar if they did that scene right.

[@spazthespasticcolonel1054]

Well, Meryl Streep already got the Oscar for that scene... Even Martin calls it a Sophie's Choice, so, it's really not his finest work, imho.

[@juliusfishman7222]

@spazthespasticcolonel1054 Yeah, it's a Sophie choice duhhh, that's what it's supposed to be, not the clown stuff they did in the show.

[@spazthespasticcolonel1054]

@@juliusfishman7222 duhh is fair. I just don't get why fans were so disappointed that a scene Martin lifted from a better writer and one of the best actresses ever wasn't repeated in a pale imitation that would have provoked more laughter than respect. I admit I don't get why people would think it would work.

[@juliusfishman7222]

@spazthespasticcolonel1054 keep your opinions to yourself . The scene in the books was amazing whether inspired by another movie or writer or not. The fact that you think the travesty they showed in the series is better shows your lack of taste.

[@spazthespasticcolonel1054]

@@juliusfishman7222 Wow! I'm allowed to keep my opinions to myself... Thanks so much. All because Martin relies on the gullibility of his readers, who can't accept that he's a hack, and don't appear to know that Sophie's Choice was plagiarized from William Styron. I guess it makes a change from his sleazy rewrites of Tolkien. But please do enjoy the adaptations, cause that's all Martin has for you...

[@Backdyre]

9:26 and THAT right there is why I don’t like this show anymore. Not only because of the bad writing but what you just said, your description on how they made show rhaenyra is on point. The bias rooted in this shows core has been slowly becoming a problem and it’s bubbled into season 2. Season 3 will just have more of this.

[@OfficialRedTeamReview]

fair

[@alanpennie8013]

@@OfficialRedTeamReview Pfui!

[@anti5061]

They need to follow the book canon. It’s not about alicent and Rhaenyra it’s about aegon vs Rhaenyra and that whole scene with Alicent selling out her own sons Daeron doesn’t deserve that at all specially after her brother told her how good he was I had to go back and read the fire and blood book just cause this second season sucked and not painting Rhaenyra as a villain let’s be honest it’s aegon vs everyone and it’s sad I already know they probably going find away to ruin daeron Targaryen character just how they doing every other green members 🤷🏽‍♂️

[@atiblink]

She don’t sell anything buy yourself a brain

[@atiblink]

I just love how those blackcell decided everything was canon when they told dany eggs came from syrax

[@baitbait65]

I hope this is a sign that he is realizing that he can't leave his work in other people's hands and moves to complete Ice and Fire the way he wants.

[@robstewartstewart98]

The next time Preston goes live…..gonna have some interesting reactions

[@acs7167]

He was right as always

[@Droxal]

@@acs7167 Nope, Preston said George would just talk about HBO cutting down the number of episodes and the writing strike.

[@acs7167]

@@Droxal i meant that sarcastically

[@alanpennie8013]

@@Droxal Preston expected a sane post from GRRM. So did I, though I didn't think there was any call for him to be posting about *what is wrong with the season*.

[@Droxal]

@@acs7167 Ok your comment is pretty funny. Preston is usually pretty confident and also wrong.

[@SpaceTravel1776]

George wants to distance himself from a trainwreck that started with how this season ended. He knows too much about where it's going.

[@ellisj98]

The signs for the decline of the series was pretty obvious by the middle of the series. Also stuff like a kiss being in the series because Emma Darcy is queer shows they really don’t care about following George’s vision and are just doing their own thing.

[@AstrodeBastro]

“Stuff like a kiss being in the series because Emma Darcy is queer” Right, because Game of Thrones never had kissing or queer actors before Emma Darcy. Smh, yall just as clueless as the writers

[@Hana9916]

But in George's vision, Rhaenyra's rumoured to be boinking Laena. Functionally, this fulfills the same plot beat, so why not?

[@steppecist]

It’s a wasted plot beat compared to important things like maelor, nettles etc

[@AstaraBrightwing]

@@AstrodeBastro Your argument is that because Game of Thrones has queer characters kiss, that this suddenly and automatically justifies Rhaenyra kissing Mysaria and nothing coming of it whatsoever? That's absurd. Get out of your delusion chamber.

[@AstrodeBastro]

@@AstaraBrightwing I never said or implied that. Work on ur reading comprehension

[@OneOnOne1162]

18:50 - As for my overall opinion: I'm glad he made this post. I don't care if people in Hollywood think it's "unprofessional." Fuck professionalism, I want honesty. These "professional" rules are only there because executives don't want to lose money and showrunners don't want to be criticized for bad decisions. Honesty all the way. Though I am a bit disappointed George didn't go more in depth, especially on some of the other bad changes. Though I'm not necessarily surprised by that either.

[@jmanjman2685]

I’d be annoyed too when its so clear they make mistakes that could be easily avoided.

[@BantzFerdinand]

George acknowledged the existence of the one good Aston Kutcher movie and leaked from the writers room in a messy blog post. This is so fun

[@alexor081]

He touched on something small, made a throughline why this thing has greater consequences and then warns us of more like this to come. He showed a bit restraint because he aimed for the blog to stay up. He'll meet these people again, he wanted to phrase is in a way that won't upset too many people.

[@aabbccdd4710]

If George isn't putting much work into WoW anyway (assumption), then I wouldn't mind him being the showrunner for one of these shows. He's worked on TV before, both on episodes of GoT (the very good ones) and others. Imagine if the Dunk and Egg show consistently matched early GoT in quality with George at the helm. I'd imagine it'd get some people off his back about the 14 year old book in the waiting

[@holyfreakinshit]

No need to assume anything. Martin has spent more time writing his blog than Winds of Winter and continues to blames things for it's delay that actively have no bearing on it's completion (he's blamed Trump, the Russia/Ukraine war, and fascism for it's delay. I wish I was joking).

[@JoseCinnamon]

He 75... he be writing no books and he be running no shows either

[@orcocan]

i'm fully supportive of grrm attempt to rescue his vision and legacy i really hope he realises the best way to do so is to finish asoiaf... :-)

[@BubblegumCrash332]

It's been an exciting day in the ASOIF community

[@alanpennie8013]

@@BubblegumCrash332 That's one way of putting it. Another is *disastrous*.

[@JoseCinnamon]

Savage

[@guichogf5636]

Maybe this blog post was less than professional, but it's clear he is dealing with people who are less than professional. They didn't learn their lesson, they are starting to disregard George's input on his own story. We know how GOT ended because of that. I agree that the changes he refers to and the way it alters the story in the future are petty compared to many others. IMO he actually used restraint. HBO's response is copium. It just shows that they didn't learn anything from the dumpster fire that was GOT later seasons. We were given lots of scenes that we didn't need at the expense of others that should have been there. We didn't need so much Mysaria. we didn't need the girl kiss scene, we didn't need the mud wrestling, we didn't need Rhaeyna to abandon the task her Queen entrusted her with, accompanying and protecting her sons. Leaving out Nettles means more butterflies in the future. In this time of DEI, it's weird that they would write out that character. We didn't need to see Alicent going camping. The two scenes where Alicent and Rhaeneyra meet were stretched beyond believability and really added nothing to the story. We didn't need to have so many visions in Harrenhal. After the first few, we got the point. I think they did it because Matt Smith is a fan favorite and they needed to give him something to do. HBO clearly doesn't understand the excellence of the source material. They can't use the stupid excuse that the story isn't finished like they did with GOT (which was a crock of BS),. This is by far the best performing show on HBO, yet they cut episodes. Most everything on that service is crap not worth watching. If they needed to save money, there were lots of other projects that could have been cut or cancelled and would not have been missed by anyone. I honestly don't blame George for writing the post and publishing it. Even if it got taken down, it's going to cause a flurry of fan comments. HBO didn't listen in season 5 GOT when fans were starting to point out red flags. If they had listened to the fan base when seasons 5 and 6 aired they might have saved themselves from ruining the whole show in seasons 7 and 8. But it seems they will never learn. I hope they don't change Dunk and Egg into something it shouldn't be, but I am not holding out too much hope.

[@rick3269]

To be fair, GRRM did put a spoiler warning before he talked about those parts. So anyone who got spoiled did so knowingly

[@sisassaraiva3420]

I agree with George entirely. Removing Maelor from the show does have a significant impact..., when I read fire and blood, after his cruel death, I simpathyse instantly for the green's

[@jasongupo3859]

Here's the thing. Blood and Cheese is the first moment of Season 2 where the changes cannot be ignored. He chose to wrote that as an example of "everything that’s gone wrong" = VERBATIM. I'm sure he has an issue with how they portrayed Alicent, Rhaena and Nettles merging, but those would have been other topics for other days, eg: "larger and more toxic butterflies" What makes the Maelor mistake stick out for him is that Ryan Condal, the showrunnner he picked himself, broke his trust by saying that Maelor would exist in Season 3, then backtracking just because of budget. Why were Aegon and Viserys possible to be toddlers, while Maelor was not? Ryan's excuse doesn't hold up, and if he keeps up with these changes "without a plan" seemingly to replace them with something that makes sense, then GRRM's disappointment is very justfied

[@atiblink]

Why maelor was not ? I guess it’s because thé black are show favorite 🤡🤡

[@hectorguzmanvillalvazo396]

I think it's the lying that got to him. He was never as mean to D&D even as they ran GOT through the ground. Condall told George they would bring back Maelor somehow later in the show only to then erase him completely once George had given his approval for the Blood and Cheese change and there was no going back.

[@Zhohan-]

I think you're right on the money

[@gudhaxer41343]

DnD actually followed the path when they had the passion. Condal on the otherhand wants rhaenicent fanfic.

[@StannisBaratheonOTK]

Where was George to punish D&D's crimes against my character?

[@alanpennie8013]

@@StannisBaratheonOTK It appears he loves a toddler more than he loves you. Very sad, very sad!

[@assassinscreedforlife9413]

He’s trying to prevent it now from happening again I think but the other guy in the comments probably having an affair with Ryan or really spiteful of George😅

[@talisa222]

Even before seeing your name i just had a feeling this comment was from a stannis fan

[@tglake2894]

"He'll save a toddler before he'd save me" is ace-tier Stannis grudge holding and the kind of slight I could see him taking to heart forever, A+ roleplay

[@dreamfyres]

George loves D&D not Condal

[@jham7411]

George’s issues with the show is small potatoes compared to the real issue. The real issue is that goddamn Song of Ice and Fire prophecy. It should not been factored into anything at all, left to rot in the ruins of GoT Season 8. We don’t need that pointless fucking prophecy anymore, let it go. Another major issue I have with the show is how much they have changed Rhaenyra’s character, so much so that they’ve truly set up a “good guys vs. bad guys” situation for this show when it was always meant to be much more complicated than that. We should have had a situation that truly split the fandom into two sides because both sides in the books seemed to be morally grey, capable of both great heroism and really fucked up villainous decisions. Instead, thanks to the showrunners, the only people that are ‘Team Green’ are real life assholes. They are villains, and Rhaenyra is simply Jesus fucking Christ walking on water.

[@murphydaquan]

George really seemed annoyed. Can't really blame him. Seems like he's tryna blow up the show😂 also... He did say spoiler warning 🤷‍♂️

[@assassinscreedforlife9413]

Or he’s trying to save it before it goes to worst

[@victorc8855]

oh my god what a wasted opportunity to have Larys kill Helaena for the subversion effect against Rhaenyra

[@alanpennie]

Maybe they'll decide to do that now. I live in hope.

[@drknvr]

i think the reason george never criticised D&D or the latter seasons of GoT is because he never finished the books and david and dan made him as famous as J.K rowling and tolkien, he probably feels a little indebted to them. where as it seems ryan straight up lied to him and is writing complete fanfiction

[@riderofvhagar986]

In no way did George trash the show. He offered very mild and run of the mill criticism. The rest of his post was mostly him praising it. Criticizing something isn’t hating on it. Considering all the bad choices Ryan made, George took it incredibly easy on him. He could’ve say far worse considering all the changes.

[@theteachers1]

0:51 spoiler everyone dies. Everyone.

[@cg8442]

Do you feel cool now?

[@theteachers1]

@@cg8442 you do know the show takes place 150 years before Thrones?

[@JayneTheory]

16:08 This is the same problem many fans are having.. Just because George doesn't feel as strongly about it, doesn't mean the fans are wrong to or are hateful for it.

[@jamesdrake3651]

You are not really going to know the entirety of what this guy thinks until he's completely done dealing with HBO and Hollywood.

[@VeniVidiVici100]

Can’t wait to see how the show simps will defend this 😂

[@LordKeram]

You are right that writing out Maelor isn't necessarily bad in it self, but George is right that the butterfly effect is real and more butterflies are coming. The main issue with the show is simply that it is not faithful to the soul of the story. You can write out Maelor, but then how will you make us believe the mob of Kings Landing turning on Rhaenyra? Sure you could write her as she was in the book with actual unlikable qualities. But no. They want all the female characters to the be paragons of virtue (well except for when they murder dozens or hundreds of extras, but those don't count), while the big bad men are power hungry savages.

[@Mustang_Dan]

Wait a second, how is anyone gonna say he spoiled a death that will happen in season 3? The guy wrote the book and is discussing his story. It’s not his fault the people adapting it didn’t include what they were supposed to when they were supposed to. Also if you don’t want spoilers for the show, don’t listen to the author when he’s discussing his books and the show made from them. That’s like watching a review to find out if you wanna go see a movie and then being upset that you already know stuff now.

[@janellejulianajoy]

He spoiled Helaena and on the show Helaena partially spoiled the God's Eye battle and tells Aemond how he dies. This was payback.

[@FreezVy]

Sunfyre death is also a catastrophic change

[@assassinscreedforlife9413]

Is he actually dead in the show? I mean, I watched the whole season. But I really didn’t took much notice. That would be insane to do.

[@bshaddo]

How? I don’t think the exact manner of the death he participates in are exactly the bedrock on which history was written.

[@bananaforscale1283]

He's not dead.

[@pacemaker9483]

It was said Sunfyre is at death''s door but it might be one of those surprise reveals later that he's actually not dead, just maimed like it's master

[@alanpennie]

​@@bananaforscale1283 A lot of fans are definitely brain-dead though.

[@TheSpookiestCourtney]

Never have i clicked a new video so fast 🙏

[@OfficialRedTeamReview]

I still await SassyCourtney for his response

[@TheSpookiestCourtney]

18:34 the sass of it being taken down 👀 ​@@OfficialRedTeamReview

[@TheSpookiestCourtney]

​@@OfficialRedTeamReviewmaybe he's scared to speak up. I mean whether he was told to delete the post or he just did it himself, that's pretty telling. I think he has every right to speak his mind, he made the story and it seems like he was sort of lied to 🤷

[@princeprocrastinate6485]

If they're not going to have Maelor, perhaps it makes sense to have Helaena be escorted from KL by Ser Ricard. Have her slain near Bitterbridge after Ricard fails to defend her and that's what sets off the riots in KL. If they have the Gullet beforehand and Jace's death, that, plus Aegon being gome, could worry Alicent and have her take actions to whisk away Jaehaera and Helaena before a vengeful Rhaenyra comes to take the capital.

[@masha22092000r]

I don't think these writers are capable of writing Rhaenyra as vengeful. She'll get over Jace as quickly as she did over Luke.

[@blacksunday4231]

I don't think Blood and Cheese made much of an impact, even on the "casual fans". When all the fans can talk about is a dog being kicked and Alicent riding tf outta Criston Cole, did the scene really make an impact?

[@janellejulianajoy]

No, and i knew it wouldn't. That's the writers fault. They chose not to develop these characters, therefore there is no true connection to them.

[@alexass8987]

He's a good for speaking out, but I was expecting a real rout. Inadequate Alicent, who gives her children to Rhaenyra because of Condal and Hess's fanservice, hallucinating Daemon, who spent the entire season sitting in the castle under the influence of local mushrooms, Aemond, who burned his brother, Jace, who was hysterical about his origins, Rhaenyra - a septa in the enemy camp (she could sleep in her brother's bedroom and sit on the throne, no one would recognize her anyway, lol), a mass escape of scoundrels from the capital, although Aemond ordered that no one be released, boats with food, although the city is under siege...WHAT IS THIS?! Whose sick fantasies are these? Although I have already written two cherished names above.

[@Male_Ficent]

I think he did mention somewhere that he plans on making a series of blogs talking about the stuff that went wrong in hotd so there's still a chance. But, considering he took this one down we might mot get it.

[@maggierhee0]

@@Male_Ficent do you know why he took down?

[@marceloyoneshima]

@@maggierhee0 He was probably contacted by Warner Bros. Discovery’s lawyers who “asked” him to immediately shut it down.

[@maggierhee0]

@@marceloyoneshima but why cant he have a opinion?

[@marceloyoneshima]

@@maggierhee0 I wonder the same. Warner Bros. Discovery probably got scared thinking that the author of the books fairly criticizing their show is bad for business. It is a shame. George should be allowed to express his dissatisfaction if that how he feels about how the adapters are treating his work.

[@ImpressionBlend]

I think George planned to make multiple posts, as he mentioned here: "I do not look forward to *other posts* I need to write, about everything that’s gone wrong with HOUSE OF THE DRAGON… but I need to do that too, and I will." I think the idea was to eventually address more changes and what went on behind the scenes. Will he now? After the blog post was taken down? I doubt it. But my interpretation was that this is the post he promised back in July, in "Blood, Cheese, and Grief", since he specifically called out "all the issues raised by Blood and Cheese… and Maelor the Missing", not the end of his issues with season 2. I also doubt it was his choice to take down the post. I'm glad he wrote it though, and the same logic can be applied to bigger changes - if he's this pressed about Maelor, I can only imagine how he feels about what they've done with Alicent or excluding Nettles. In my eyes he's absolutely justified in his criticism.

[@marceloyoneshima]

@@ImpressionBlend Exactly!

[@paulbarry3400]

I’m an obsessive book reader, and I enjoyed season 2. Yeah, it finished oddly, but that was HBO cost saving. It was good television, well-made and even though I know what’s coming, it kept me interested. Nearly every change could be justified in the basis of unreliable narrators in the book, or the Law of Character Conservation. I didn’t think any were as bad as Qarth, Dorne, the short Long Night, Stannis, the Wight Hunt, Benjen, losing Coldhands, Quentyn, Meribold, Young Griff… None of that prompted George to criticism. Honestly, I don’t get it.

[@alexsnewhandle]

This post was a terrible decision. It's George having a hissy fit about adaptational changes which are a necessity given he wrote a 700-page long Wikipedia synopsis rather than a novel. Plus he got paid big money to not be more involved. Bc the reality of him being involved would be impossible. Being part of the show would mean he'd have to churn out outlines and scripts and edits and rewrites. He's shown he's not capable of that with GoT, he's made his bed and now refuses to lay in it. It'd be one thing to make a blog post about how the season really suffered bc of 2 episodes being cut and how it effectively gave us aDwD part 2, electric bugaloo, and the butterfly effect from having to cram Battle of the Gullet into season 3 and having less time, etc. But going after Condal? man that's punching down. That last line is the killer line. He's effectively threatening to leak more stuff unless he gets his way, it's blackmail, it's extortion. It's saying he'll go scorched earth with people's livelyhoods. George doesn't like the consequences of his own actions and now hundreds of people might be out of a job bc less people are gonna tune in for season 3 and whatnot. One is nothing if not the sum of our own actions, and George's actions were those of a punk-ass bitch!

[@scottmartin3816]

George is gonna turn that anger into fuel. Writing fuel. Winds by this weekend at the latest.

[@OaktownGirl]

I'm really happy George said something real instead of just vacuous fluff propping up the network and the showrunner. Thank you for sharing the details of the blog post with us. 🙏

[@csabagalambos1461]

On a side note: where do movies get their kid actors? Especially babies and toddlers? If they are supposed to film a scene of an infant crying, but the kid happens to be in a good mood, do they sit patiently until the baby gets upset enough, or do they pinch them, lol?

[@mrwumbo]

12:58 Do you think they were trying to hint at that when Blood & Cheese were trying to figure out which one was the boy and Blood says something like "she's lying" and Cheese freezes and stares into her eyes for like 5+ full seconds like he's in a trance then says no she's telling the truth.

[@fagittarius555]

The show supporters who are saying George is just upset the show hasn’t been gory enough and he’s pissed off about Maelor are on big compium right now. George is in unprecedented waters with his hbo partnership right now. I can’t say watching his plans for a cinematic universe go up in smoke is satisfying, but this blog post illustrates he has been fighting a battle with the Hollywood beast over the rights to his work. He could be putting out fires every day with how shitty HBO has been after the merge.

[@cg-lu4tw]

With peace and love, and fully accepting by clicking this video I ran the risk of spoilers. I clicked ahead when you said spoiler warning. But then in the part that was "spoiler free " you revealed that there was a suicide. Given the events you said had been removed from the show compared to the book, and my knowledge of the characters from the show, i think i have a pretty good guess at which character commits suicide now. Just for future reference I do consider both the character and the event that happens to be spoilers as you can figure out which character an event is most likely to happen to. But apart from that great video really well explained 👏

[@singstreetcar5881]

The writer are trying their hardest to protect rhaenyra image. They don't want to paint her as a bad person.

[@Orphoid]

He should invite the writers to a wedding in the riverlands. Just to talk.

[@jsull81]

This read like the first of multiple blog post to me. Maybe not now that HBO or someone said something to him to take it down (albeit temporarily), but didn't George say in the previous blog post that he wasn't looking forward to "posts" he had to write? As in more than one?

[@liyue993]

This all can actually be fixed easily by the show-runners, all they have to do is make the last two episodes of season 2 to make it a complete 10 episodes for that season and fix the Maelor problem - here's a outline of those two episode's *Episode 9*: 1. Alicent arrives back in KL to secretly take Helaena and Jaeheara into hiding. 2. Aemond who somehow finds out about his mother's plan about selling them out to Rhaenyra and making a run for it. goes to confront Alicent, and finds them already gone. 3. Aemond decides not to act rashly this time, and proceeds to come up with a plan by having a meeting with the council of lords on the next course of action. 4. All the while Alicent is having a hard time transporting Helaena and Jaeheara because, for them to escape they couldn’t take any guards or courage's just some horses and so for some reason Helaena is having a hard time riding and walking for a long period of time. Which is slowing them down. 5. As the council meeting is underway Aemond is asking for guidance on what to do next about Rhaenyra, Daemon, Aegon’s and Larys, and Alicent’s treachery, Helaena, and Jaeheara’s disappearance. While he alone is KL’s only line of defense, during the meeting the master maester informs Aemond that princess Helaena is with child. 6. Aemond, after hearing this, proceeds to ride Vhagar to find his mother, Heleana and Jaeheara. When he does find them he confronts Alicent about her meeting with Rhaenyra, and finally her plan of abandonment. He proceeds to say she is under house arrest at a tower in KL for going AWOL, and making off with the future heir to the throne. Making Alicent look at Helaena in shock. Maelor fixed *Episode 10*: (*Extend the Dance - Time-Skip two or three years have passed*) (*Maelor’s age fixed*) 1. Alicent is let go from house arrest but has more problems with Aemond cause he stripped her of the power she had left. 2. Helaena is slowly becoming a shell of herself which is affecting Jeaheara and Maelor. She loves Maelor but it is worse for her to be around him because at times he looks more like Jaehaerys. Which is making her slowly lose her mind. 3. Aemond finding out about Jaehaera and Maelor’s neglect, confont’s Helaena about how he’s starting to think she doesn’t love them. And when Helaena here’s this she says to Aemond that it wasn’t true and all Aemond was doing was pushing his insecurity on Maelor because Alicent didn’t pay him as much love as he should have gotten. In a condescending way. (We know Aemond does not like feeling he’s being made fun of, from Lucerys and Aegon.) 4. So Aemond, after hearing this, smiles meanly and picks up Maelor. Then looks to Helana and says. “ Let’s be honest dear sister, you wish Maelor was Jaehaerys, just be honest.” 5. Helaena shakes her head harshly and realizes that Aemond is standing where Cheese once was. Which then proceeds through this interaction of her mind flashing from Aemond to Cheese as Aemond is questioning her. 6. Aemond while holding Maelor smiling asks her. “Which one your grace would you choose to save, you can’t save them all. Just speak the truth, your grace. ” As he sees Helaena silently crying. 7. Helaena who’s under the impression she’s back with Blood and Cheese points at Maelor. 8. Aemond seeing this says. “So much for a mothers love.” which breaks Helaena out of hallucination she starts to cry and says “No.. no…. I- I didn’t mean-” Which Aemond cuts her off with. “You just showed how you would trade Maelors life for Jeahaery’s.” Then Aemond lifts Maelor to face him and while smiling says. “Did you hear that Maelor, your mommy wants you dead.” There, please HBO use this and fix everything.

[@Spadzz98]

Get their asses George,this dumpster fire of a show deserves to get all the heat Oh and before I forget,here's my obligatory fuck HBO

[@PixelatedEpiphany]

This is what George was willing to say publicly knowing who would see it and did it anyway. He likely hates damn near all of it.

[@Walkth15way]

It sounds like GRRM is mad about the Nettles change, he clearly likes that character. With this and his other blog post about dragon movements, that's the biggest thing I can think of that would be a toxic butterfly for S3 and S4. I honestly think GRRM was right to be angry if that is the case.

[@EvenStevenChannel]

It's amazing that George "loves" the B&C scene from the TV show, when we all know it totally ruined the amazing book scene

[@twelve11]

Good because the season was ABSOLUTE GARBAGE with all these 2024 gender and identity politics invading the story, ignoring all the source material, having decisions made that aren't in keeping with the characters, poor military tactics, illogical travel, the entire thing is a mess top to bottom