While everyone was sitting at home wondering “who tf is Daeron Targaryen” or “When will Nettles appear?” George R.R. Martin was prepping a blog post about a completely different character. Today, in a since-deleted post to his Not a Blog blog, Martin slammed House of the Dragon showrunner Ryan Condal for leaving out a crucial member of the Targaryen household. As folks will remember during the sophomore season, two ruthless murderers named Blood (Sam C. Wilson) and Cheese (Mark Stobbart) went to the chambers of Queen Helaena (Phia Saban) and killed Prince Jahaerys.
In the books, the same fate befalls Jahaerys, but Helaena is given the choice between her THREE children. That’s right, there are three kids, not two. House of the Dragon’s creative team cut out Maelor, who was the youngest of the trio, and the name that Helaena gave them after Blood and Cheese threatened to slay all of them if she didn’t pick one. Down the line, Maelor faces a gruesome fate, with Martin explaining that this is the final straw that leads to Helaena’s suicide back at King’s Landing. Without this missing piece, Martin thinks that Helaena’s upcoming death in Season 3 will mean nothing and be an insignificant piece of an otherwise complex puzzle, writing,
“In the book, when word of Prince Maelor’s death and the grisly manner of his passing (pp. 505) reaches the Red Keep, that proves to be the thing that drives Queen Helaena to suicide. She could barely stand to look at Maelor, knowing that she chose him to die in the “Sophie’s Choice” scene… and now he is dead in truth, her words having come true. The grief and guilt are too much for her to bear.
In Ryan’s outline for season 3, Helaena still kills herself… for no particular reason. There is no fresh horror, no triggering event to overwhelm the fragile young queen.”
The Further Fallout Of Helaena’s Death
As Martin goes on to explain, there’s even more to come from Maelor’s absence. Following the death of Helaena, the smallfolk quickly turn on Queen Rhaenyra, which leads to her own demise and the storming of the dragon pit. Breaking down that piece, Martin wrote,
“Queen Helaena, a sweet and gentle soul, is much beloved by the smallfolk of King’s Landing. Rhaenyra was not, so when rumors began to arise that Helaena did not kill herself, but rather was murdered at Rhaenyra’s command, the commons are quick to believe them. “That night King’s Landing rose in bloody riot,” I wrote on p. 506 of FIRE & BLOOD. It is the beginning of the end for Rhaenyra’s rule over the city, ultimately leading to the Storming of the Dragonpit and the rise of the Shepherd’s mob that drives Rhaenyra to flee the city and return to Dragonstone… and her death.”
While in the grand scheme of things, Maelor being out of the picture may not seem like a lot, there will be a bit of writing and storytelling gymnastics that Condal will need to pull off in order to still deliver on these important plot points, according to Martin.
House of the Dragon Season 2 is now streaming on Max.
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