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Recently, George R.R. Martin incurred some wrath when he paned House of the Dragon's second season for not featuring one of the major characters, Prince Maelor Targaryen. Though minor in screen time, Maelor plays a critical role in the source material, Fire & Blood, which has shaped the political and emotional landscape of the Targaryen civil war known as the Dance of the Dragons.
Martin's frustration, expressed in the now-deleted blog post, stems from how much Maelor's absence would shape the course of the series in its future seasons of House of the Dragon.
Why is Maelor Targaryen important in Fire & Blood?
Maelor is the son of Helaena Targaryen and Aegon II Targaryen in Fire & Blood. At most, a toddler now, his fate is amazingly related to significant plot developments. The most notable instance would be right after Queen Rhaenyra takes King's Landing, which results in the murder of her other son, Jaehaerys, in the infamous "Blood and Cheese" scene in House of the Dragon Season 2 episode 1.
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This brutal incident thrusts Helaena deep into grief, and her misery worsens after Maelor is killed in a chaotic mob attack. In the novel, Maelor's death is one of the most pivotal moments within the emotional and political fallout of the Dance of the Dragons.
With the people of King's Landing in love with Helaena, she pursues revenge, intended to heighten tensions between the Blacks, known as Rhaenyra's supporters, and the Greens, the faction of Aegon.
George R.R. Martin felt that this rendered the emotional arc fragile since Maelor's death was one of the most deciding factors in Helaena's eventual suicide. Barring the book audience from Maelor's story risks making light of the depth of her grief and lessening the impact of her character's tragic end.
George R.R. Martin's concerns
Writing on his blog, in a post entitled Beware the Butterflies, Martin sounded off against the decision not to include Maelor. He claimed that the small change might have devastating implications. He wrote:
"Maelor is a two-year-old toddler in Fire & Blood, but like our butterfly, he has an impact on the story all out of proportion to his size,"
Martin argued,
"Without Maelor, this is a poorer ending to Blood and Cheese: it misses what was most devastating about the actual outcome-the sufferings of Helaena and her supporters."
He even suggested that Maelor's seeming absence may color viewers' perceptions of the House of the Dragon's future seasons.
Martin emphasized that the emotional and political stakes over Helaena's suicidal impulse for having lost her children would have been undercut without Maelor. His critique seems to emanate from a place wherein he doesn't seem to believe the show can capture the minute details within the great emotional dynamics of Fire & Blood.
Ryan Condal's defense
In a recent interview, House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal answered some questions about the backlash in response to the decision to write Maelor out. Condal explained that the show's timeline was condensed on purpose: to make the aging of the characters include the Targaryen children onscreen.
He acknowledged the ripple effect of such a decision yet emphasized that the production team believed it would strengthen the story by gluing it more coherently.
Condal's explanation doesn't dampen Martin's skepticism that without Maelor, one diminishes the emotional depth brought to critical characters such as Helaena, whose tragic arc is vital to the Dance of the Dragons. Condal argued that if Maelor hadn't died, she'd have less motive to commit suicide and, with it, potentially weaken the dramatic tension in this story beat.
The implications for future seasons of House of the Dragon
Maelor Targaryen's absence raises important questions about how House of the Dragon will approach the emotional and political fallout of the Dance of the Dragons. Without Maelor's tragic death, the showrunners would have to find other means to express Helaena's grief and increase tension between the Greens and the Blacks.
Martin argues that omitting Maelor's scene creates a snowball effect on the scenes in seasons 3 and 4 that concern the cause and grievance of King Landing Commoners and some major character motivations.
Ultimately, all the criticisms George R.R. Martin levels against the adaptation show how complicated and challenging it is to transpose Fire & Blood's multi-layered drama into a small-screen format. While House of the Dragon tries to clean up the story for a better watch, Maelor's removal might affect the depth and emotional stakes of the story.
It begs the question of how these changes pan out once the future seasons of House of the Dragon get going. Will the show balance the detailed politics with the personal tragedy that makes the Targaryen Civil War great?
