Last week, the unthinkable happened as Game of Thrones creator George R.R. Martin openly criticized HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon on his blog, dinging it for not just changing too much of his book Fire & Blood, but changing things for the worse. We'd never seen that much open tension between Martin and the creators of the shows based on his work, so it was surprising. Martin sounded like he had a lot more to say, but he removed the blog post shortly thereafter, we imagine because HBO asked. I wouldn't hold out hope to to hear more of his thoughts, as curious as I am.
But the damage, at least for now, had been done. HBO released a special episode of its House of the Dragon podcast focused on book changes. Showrunner Ryan Condal talks through what he and his team were thinking when adding, subtracting and changing material from Fire & Blood. That podcast has already yielded some interesting insights. Today, we're going to focus on what most fans think is the the best episode of House of the Dragon season 2: "The Red Dragon and the Gold," the one where Aegon, Aemond and Rhaenys mount their dragons and fight in the skies about the castle of Rook's Rest. The discussion of Rook's Rest starts around 24:30 below:
As Condal admits, of all the big sequences in the second season of House of the Dragon, the Battle of Rook's Rest sticks closest to the book (hint hint, writers). The Greens attack the castle of Rook's Rest, which is ruled by an ally of Rhaenyra Targaryen, Lord Staunton. Rhaenyra dispatches Rhaenys Targaryen to help out with her dragon Meleys, but Aemond Targaryen is waiting for her with his bigger dragon Vhagar. Also joining the fight is King Aegon Targaryen on his dragon Sunfyre. Sunfyre goes down, but King Aegon survives. Rhaenys and Meleys are killed. The only ones to emerge from the battle completely unscathed are Aemond and Vhagar.
That's pretty much what happens in "The Red Dragon and the Gold," which is a thrilling battle episode. The stuff on the ground is terrific, too, with Ser Criston Cole just trying to stay alive as the dragons tear up the battlefield. The one big change that House of the Dragon throws in is that, on the show, Aemond seems to purposefully belch fire at both Rhaenys and his brother Aegon, the implication being that Aemond made an attempt on his brother's life in the hopes that he, rather than Aegon, could be king. There's no mention of that in Fire & Blood, which is written in the form of a history book cobbled together by a historian years after the fact. Why this addition?
"I mean, isn't it more interesting if you have something kind of complicated happen in the midst of this crazy battle, that's very well documented in the book?" Condal asks on the podcast. "And this is a great example of something that...that is one of our most faithful-to-the-page adaptations of the story. But the show has other layers to it that would have escaped the historians. Nobody was up there with them, nobody knew what happened. But the Aemond character that we know certainly from our story, who's unimpressed with Aegon and his performance as king to date and was bullied by him as a child...The Aemond from the book, frankly, thinks he's better and more suited. You can tell even in the historical account of him, the court record of him, he kind of looks down at his brother."
"We know that three dragons went into that sky and two fell out, and one fell while fighting Meleys when Vhagar came and entered the chat, so to speak. So we just thought that instead of doing something that was cut and dry, one way or the other, it was interesting to throw in an element that was set up completely over the course of the 13 prior episodes of the show. And that would have a ripple effect from there forward. It doesn't change anything about how the history unfolds. It just makes Aemond and then sort of by action and consequence, Aegon, more complicated characters."
Why the changes to the Battle of Rook's Rest worked (and other changes didn't)
Most fans agree that this was one of the most successful book changes in the second season of the show. And I think that comes down to it still being in line with what we learn about Aemond and Aegon in the book. Condal is right: in Fire & Blood, Aemond does seem like he looks down on his older brother. And in both versions of the story, Aemond is very ambitious and willing to be violent. So even though the book doesn't mention Aemond literally trying to kill his brother in this moment, it's not hard for fans to believe.
This is in contrast with some other, much more controversial changes which seem to cut directly against what the book says. In Fire & Blood, we're told that Daemon Targaryen has no trouble raising an army in the Riverlands. On the show, he fails at every turn. In Fire & Blood, Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower are working against each other. On the show, they're working together. Both of these storylines went over far more poorly with viewers, and I don't think it's a coincidence that they're both instances of the show doing the opposite of what the book says. The change with Aemond and Aegon and the Battle of Rook's Rest is still consistent with the source material. It adds spice to the soup. Some of the other changes switch out the soup for salad. They don't fit.
Listening to Condal, I get the idea that he thinks that as long as he and his team depict the main events of Fire & Blood more or less accurately, they can do whatever they like with the characters, who they don't consider set in stone. But I think that's wrong. The characters in Fire & Blood may not be as exactingly drawn as they would be in a proper novel, but they still have basic motivations and personalities that should be carried over in a screen adaptation. Everyone knows that changes will be made in the transition from book to screen, but when you're doing the opposite of what the source material says, you're doing a bad job of adapting it.
The third season of House of the Dragon is on the way; it should be out by 2026. I hope the writers take Martin's criticisms on board and stick a bit closer to the book in season 3.
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