HOUSE OF THE DRAGON botched George RR Martin’s most shocking moment

Dragon HouseThe season two premiere of ended with a violent scene from George R.R. Martin’s readers fire and blood I desperately waited to see. It was the iconic and infamous event known as “Blood and Cheese,” arguably the most shocking, cruel, and heartbreaking moment in Westeros history. And Dragon House completely botched it by unnecessarily delivering a vastly inferior version.

I love every book and short story that George RR Martin has written about Westeros. Yet I also know that books are not TV shows and TV shows are not books. Adaptations, even the most faithful ones, must make significant changes if they are to succeed. The written word, no matter how good it is, simply doesn’t always translate to the screen. In its first season, Dragon House I made a lot of incredible changes, the majority of which I supported and celebrated. From the revelation of Aegon’s Dream to an infinitely more dynamic King Viserys, he brought many fantastical new aspects to Martin’s story.

Of course, the series also made some terrible changes. This undermined major character storylines and created great shows free of logic. These kinds of edits are frustrating (to be polite), but it’s part of the process. I understand that. I really do.

But some scenes don’t need any changes because they not only look perfect on the page, they’re already perfect for the screen. And—more than at any other time in all history fire and bloodand maybe in everything A song of ice and fire-no scene has ever been more TV-ready than “Blood and Cheese.”

The Murder of Prince Jaehaerys Dragon House almost certainly shocked and disturbed those who had no idea what was coming. The violent murder of a child, even in Westeros, remains inherently stunning. The problem is that those who knew what was coming, the people most excited and invested in this scene, know that this version is monumental and maddening worse. George RR Martin’s version is much more powerful, creative and gruesome than Dragon House‘s. It’s also more logical and much more meaningful to the story.

In fire and blood Alicent Hightower, scheming, angry and worried, is the chief architect of Aegon usurping his half-sister’s throne. Dragon House took away some of his free will by making him believe that Viserys had changed his mind on his deathbed regarding succession. Luckily, the season two premiere gave Alicent some of that back by showing that she knows the only way forward is now violence. She accepts that blood must be shed and she played a role in this fate. This scene with her father (with the rat catcher walking beside her earlier in the episode) also seemed to set up the horror that awaited her at the end by making her naively believe that a war for the Iron Throne would be free of “wonton”. violence. The series did a fantastic job of foreshadowing the worst moment of Alicent’s life, a moment that would truly make her face the consequences of her choices.

Then she didn’t experience it.

In fire and blood, Daemon’s two hired assassins don’t go around without a plan. They are much more capable, focused and evil. The Rat Catcher is chosen specifically because he knows how to get around the secret tunnels of the Red Keep (including where the royals live) like few others do. This even includes those who actually live there. Cheese, as he eventually becomes known, knows all the hidden passages in and out of bedrooms and offices. His intimate knowledge also partly explains why they targeted Haelena’s young son rather than Aegon or Aemond in the first place.

Book Alicent resides in an accessible part of the castle, the Tower of the Hand. The highly protected king and his family sleep in Maegor’s Fort, which has no secret entrance. King Maegor had the secret tunnels of the Red Keep installed, but wisely he did not want a place where he lived and slept. The subtext of Martin’s story reveals that no one at the royal court cared about where Alicent, Helaena, and the children were going anyway, because they clearly weren’t targets. It is a war between Rhaenyra and Daemon against Aegon and Aemond. Even the murder of Lucerys Targaryen wouldn’t make someone believe that little prince Jaehaerys was in danger. He’s a real child. But that’s one of the major points of the whole scene, which isn’t about Jaehaerys or Helaena at all. They are just victims. The scene is really about Alicent and how she made targets of those close to her.

In Martin’s book, Blood and Cheese hide in Alicent’s room because that’s how they can get what Daemon wants, “a son for a son”. The spies informed Daemon (not yet on Dragonstone at this point) and Mysaria (still in King’s Landing and willingly involved in this project) of the Queen’s activities. Every evening, Helaena takes her three children – six-year-old twins Jaehaerys and Jaehara and two-year-old son Maelor – to their grandmother’s room to say goodnight.

On that fateful evening, Blood and Cheese had already bound and gagged Alicent and strangled her maid. Then they waited, as Alice looked on, helpless and terrified, not knowing exactly what they had planned. When Helaena entered with the three children holding Maelor’s hand, Blood “barred the door and killed the queen’s guard, while Cheese appeared to catch Maelor.” After promising to kill them all unless Helaena remained calm and quiet, they also vowed to only harm one son. Only, in one of the most horrific decisions ever made by anyone in Westeros, Helaena would have to choose which son died.

The queen begged them to take her instead, but they threatened to attack her daughter if she did not want them. Finally, “on her knees, weeping, Helaena named her youngest, Maelor.” Why him? Some think because he was too young to understand, others because Jaehaerys was the king’s heir. It doesn’t matter what motivated his choice. Cheese whispered to little Maelor, who must have been so confused and scared, “Do you hear that, little boy?” Your mom wants you dead. Cheese then smiled at Blood, who hit Jaehaerys’ head with a single blow.

Yeah. Yeah.

On the page, this gruesome, shocking, heartbreaking scene – a true testament to Martin’s gift as a writer – reads like a short play in just a few moments. fire and blood TO DO. Everything is here. There is no sense of action, tension and dialogue. There are no mysteries to be solved. There is also no way to improve it. It’s perfect, as is the purpose it serves in this story of two women fighting for the Iron Thrones. That’s what really matters.

This is the moment where Alicent literally has to face what she has set in motion. For all her talk about protecting her family from Rhaenyra, she was the one who put them all in mortal danger. She started this war. His anger and ambition helped make such a moment of evil possible.

And for all the Greens’ arrogance about righteousness, they must now spend the rest of the war knowing that none of them, not even the youngest and most innocent, are safe. It’s a fight to the death, no one will win even if they survive. Helaena, Alicent, Jaehaera and Maelor leave Blood and Cheese with their lives, but each life is destroyed in its own way.

For indefensible and incomprehensible reasons, Dragon House decided not to have Alicent present for all of this. Nor does it make Helaena agonize over an impossible decision to end up with a son who knows she named him to death. Instead, Alicent only had to hear about what happened while Helaena immediately abandoned her son. (Which in itself was an illogical moment of non-tension. Blood and Cheese could have easily looked under the kids’ pajamas to identify Jaehaerys.)

For what Dragon House take such a good and loved scene, one of the most awaited by everyone. Game Of Thrones history and make it inferior? Why did this diminish the emotional impact, horror and meaning of the story? It’s not like these changes are about reducing violence. The show actually amplified the physical brutality of the moment. The killing of little Jaehaerys was worse because Blood was slowly cutting off his head rather than cutting it off in one fell swoop. Why amp up the physical horror but tone down the emotional aspect when that’s the whole reason for the scene in the first place?

Ultimately, the reasons for the series don’t matter, at least not to book readers who know what they’ve been missing. The only thing that matters is that Dragon House missed a rare opportunity. He had the chance to adapt an already perfect book moment to the screen in every way.

Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist. You can follow it Twitter and Bluesky at @burgermike. And also wherever someone ranks the Targaryen kings. (Or complain about how House of the Dragon went out of its way and screwed up “Cheese and Blood.”))