Why Home of the Dragon Modified One of many Most Ugly Moments From the Ebook

Final night time’s second season premiere of Recreation of Thrones’ spinoff Home of the Dragon tackled one in every of George R.R. Martin’s most notorious deaths—in a brand new method that shocked the fandom.

In an interview with Variety, showrunner Ryan Condal defined the reasoning for the Max present’s departure from Martin’s authentic recollection of an occasion recognized by readers of Fireplace and Blood—the creator’s historic rationalization of Targaryen historical past in Westeros— as “Blood and Cheese,” named for 2 assassins who’re accountable for the homicide of Jaehaerys Targayren. In “A Son for a Son” Blood and Cheese take heart stage, employed by Daemon (Matt Smith) to retaliate for the death of Rhaenyra’s (Emma D’Arcy) son Lucerys at the end of last season. We decide up on the duo’s journey to do the dastardly deed which, within the present, is way more straight orchestrated than in Fireplace & Blood, having Rhaenyra name for Aemond’s (Ewan Mitchell) dying. 

“One of many issues that’s difficult about adapting Fireplace & Blood is that there’s this deliberately conflicting narrative within the ebook the place there are sometimes these three completely different viewpoints on the historical past that don’t line up with each other,” Condal defined, “so it’s our job as adapters to attempt to discover the target line by means of this to carry the viewers into the narrative as we see it having been laid out.” Within the ebook, it’s a complete lot extra messy—Blood and Cheese weren’t given a particular goal, simply Daemon’s orders for “an eye fixed for an eye fixed, a son for a son,” and so attempt to kill the primary boy they discover.

“It felt like Rhaenyra, regardless of being in grief, she’s in search of vengeance, however she would select a goal that will have some form of strategic or army benefit,” Condal continued. “After all, should you did take out Aemond, not solely would he be punished straight for his betrayal and homicide of Luke, however it might eradicate the rider of the largest dragon on the planet, and instantly create a bonus for his or her facet.” Jaehaerys nonetheless dies in Home of the Dragon, nevertheless it’s offered extra as resulting from Blood and Cheese’s incompetence—as a substitute of discovering Aemond, the assassins encounter his sister and spouse, Queen Helaena, in her room together with her twin youngsters.

Within the books, Helaena truly gives up her youngest son, Maelor (who isn’t included in Home of the Dragon resulting from how the present has condensed the timeline of Fireplace and Blood), just for Jaehaerys to be killed by Blood and Cheese anyway—however within the present, Helaena is pressured as a substitute to sacrifice him to save lots of her daughter. “We knew it might be horrifying and brutal—we didn’t need it to be gratuitous or excessive,” Condal stated of the homicide. “The thought of that sequence was to dramatize a heist gone incorrect. So we transfer off the middle narrative of Daemon, Rhaenyra, Alicent and Aegon’s world, and abruptly, we’re following these two characters that we’ve simply met in an alley in Flea Backside. Daemon’s given them an project to go in and discover Aemond Targaryen, and we’re following them, and we’re following them, and we’re not chopping away and we’re not going again to the opposite narratives—‘oh, God, what’s going to occur?’”

Home of the Dragon airs Sundays on HBO and Max.

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