House of the Dragon season 3 faced a challenge that previous seasons — and even Game of Thrones — never faced: heavy criticism from author George R.R. Martin himself. Martin was relatively diplomatic when HBO's Game of Thrones drastically altered the story from his books A Song of Ice and Fire, and he did not join in on the all-out dogpile over the series' rushed ending. That made it especially strange when he wrote a lengthy blog post condemning House of the Dragon season 2 in September of 2024, shortly after the finale aired. Martin's post was titled "Beware the Butterflies," and it warned of the "butterfly effect" that could be caused by small changes to the story. House of the Dragon season 3 featured butterflies prominently in a few key scenes, so it's easy to speculate that these were intentional references. If so, they left plausible deniability.
Martin deleted his "Beware the Butterflies" blog post shortly after posting it, though it is still available online through several archive sites. It's a long post, and Martin framed it as the first of several, intending to pick apart his biggest issues with House of the Dragon season 2 one at a time. It appears he abandoned that project, leaving us with just one complaint: the show's handling of Helaena, Jaehaerys, and "Blood and Cheese." The post is all about the removal of one of Helaena and Aegon's children, Maelor, and the butterfly effects it will cause down the line. Coincidentally, Helaena's fascination with insects put her in close proximity with butterflies several times in season 3. It might be a coincidence, but some fans speculate it was intentional on the part of Martin and/or the show's crew, including showrunner Ryan Condal.
Helaena and her butterflies
Butterfly wings first graced King's Landing in season 3, episode 2, "Queen's Landing." We found Helaena in the Godswood of the Red Keep, studying bugs with a book open at her side. The book featured an illustration of the venomous "butterflies of Naath," with text big enough to read. Muttering to herself, Helaena said: "That's odd, it isn't the season."
This could have been a tangential reference to an obscure but beloved bit of worldbuilding from Martin's books. The island of Naath is inhabited by venomous butterflies, and only the native population is immune. Any outsiders who linger there more than a day or so will inevitably die of "butterfly fever." However, it wasn't long before some fans speculated that this was also a subtle reference to Martin's blog post. He even used the phrase "toxic butterflies" at the time.
YouTubers Alt Schwift X and Glidus remarked on this in their commentary video after the episode aired. They theorized that Helaena's line about the seasons might also be a double entendre about HBO's changes to season 2. The season was cut down from 10 episodes to eight after the writing was complete, with a writers' strike brewing in Hollywood. That meant there was no time to re-orient the season, and two episodes were essentially cut off the end. They entertained the idea that season 3, episode 2 was originally meant to be season 2, episode 10 — though they acknowledged that is probably an oversimplification. Still, the writers could have been having a little fun by having Helaena break the fourth wall to remark on the true ending of season 2 and the true beginning of season 3.
Butterflies in the season finale
That wasn't the last we saw of butterflies in House of the Dragon season 3. In the season finale, Helaena died tragically at the Red Keep, while her mother Alicent was away on a mission for Rhaenyra. Alicent still hadn't made it back to King's Landing at the time, yet we did see her encamped in the woods. Hundreds of butterflies rose from the surrounding shrubbery and flew away, indicating that on some intuitive level, Alicent knew what had happened to her daughter.
This image got some mixed responses from fans — not least of all because this would have been a great time to show Helaena's dragon Dreamfyre crying out in mourning. For those that believe this is a veiled reference to Martin's blog post, the case may be even stronger than the earlier butterfly cameo. Martin's gripe in the blog post was specifically with Helaena's arc, as he argued that her death would feel meaningless with the changes the show had made. Martin even went so far as to spoil the show's plans, which may be the reason the post was deleted.
We'll likely never know what has happened behind the scenes, including any intentional double meaning to the butterflies in this season. However, it's worth noting that Martin intended to write more blog posts about other issues he had with season 2, and those might have been more pressing. The author clearly dislikes the show's changes to Rhaena Targaryen and the dragon Sheepstealer, who has a different rider in the book. He made another blog post in July of 2024 titled "Here There Be Dragons," explaining why the dragons in his series are not nomadic, and would not be caught roosting in, say, the Vale.
Hopefully Martin and his colleagues have made peace by this point, especially as the world of Westeros continues to grow on screen. House of the Dragon is expected to conclude with one more season, while A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms season 2 is due out next year. Condal and others continue to work on the franchise, with varying levels of collaboration with Martin. Previous seasons of both shows are streaming now on HBO Max, along with Game of Thrones. The A Song of Ice and Fire book series is available now in print, digital, and audiobook formats.
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