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 approach that stunned 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 identified by readers of Fireplace and Blood—the writer’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 far more immediately 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 e book 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 deliver the viewers into the narrative as we see it having been laid out.” Within the e book, it’s an entire lot extra messy—Blood and Cheese weren’t given a selected 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 may have some type of strategic or army benefit,” Condal continued. “In fact, should you did take out Aemond, not solely would he be punished immediately for his betrayal and homicide of Luke, however it will get rid of the rider of the largest dragon on this planet, and instantly create a bonus for his or her facet.” Jaehaerys nonetheless dies in Home of the Dragon, nevertheless it’s introduced extra as resulting from Blood and Cheese’s incompetence—as an alternative of discovering Aemond, the assassins come upon his sister and spouse, Queen Helaena, in her room together with her twin youngsters.
Within the books, Helaena really provides 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 compelled as an alternative to sacrifice him to avoid wasting her daughter. “We knew it will be horrifying and brutal—we didn’t need it to be gratuitous or excessive,” Condal stated of the homicide. “The concept of that sequence was to dramatize a heist gone mistaken. 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 reducing 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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