George R.R. Martin to Explain Issues With HBO Adaptation

George R.R. Martin is still not finishing The Winds of Winter.

Instead, after a trip to Belfast, Amsterdam, London, Oxford, and Glasgow, he’s back on his blog to signal an upcoming war of words about HBO’s House of the Dragon, a show where he serves as executive producer.

Discussing the backlog of emails and tasks awaiting him, Martin mentioned, “I do not look forward to other posts I need to write, about everything that’s gone wrong with HOUSE OF THE DRAGON… but I need to do that too, and I will.

“Not today, though,” he added, noting that his focus is currently on the Burning of Zozobra festivities in Santa Fe, N.M.

Before his recent travels, Martin had indicated certain dissatisfaction, particularly with how the House of the Dragon prequel, based on his novel Fire & Blood, handled the Blood & Cheese storyline. This plot was executed differently on screen compared to the original text.

“Well, there’s a lot to be said about that, but this is not the place for me to say it. The issues are too complicated,” he remarked in a July 5 blog post. GRRM promised to eventually write about “all the issues raised” by the storyline and the character of Maelor Targaryen, a significant figure in Fire & Blood who has yet to appear in the show. “There’s a lot to say.”

In that same July 5 post, Martin did commend a change made in Season 2 of the TV series to his original content.

“I am… ahem… not usually a fan of screenwriters adding characters to the source material when adapting a story. Especially not when the source material is mine,” he expressed. “But that dog was brilliant. I was prepared to hate Cheese, but I hated him even more when he kicked that dog.”

Martin referred to an event from the Season 2 premiere, “A Son for a Son,” where Daemon hires a thug, known as “Blood”, and a ratcatcher, “Cheese”, to infiltrate the Red Keep and murder Aemond Targaryen. As they make their way to the royal family’s private quarters, they grow impatient and kick the loyal dog that had been by Cheese’s side throughout the episode. Cheese gets captured and is hanged in Episode 2, with our final glimpse of the dog staring at its owner’s swinging body.

“That damn near broke my heart,” Martin wrote. “Such a little thing… such a little dog… but his presence, the few short moments he was on screen, gave the ratcatcher so much humanity…. I wish I’d thought of that dog. I didn’t, but someone else did. I am glad of that.”

Source: Multiple news sources