HOUSE OF THE DRAGON

[Glóin the Dark 1,274]

2 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Maybe they could use the time before filming on S3 starts to convince Miguel Sapochnik to come back?

 

That would be the ideal, certainly!

[Edmilson 8,491]

Btw, isn't a bit sad to see HBO, once known for innovative acclaimed shows like Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, and more recently Succession, The White Lotus, etc, basically prioritizing Game of Thrones spin-offs, shows based on DC Comics and videogames over the last few years?

 

It's not that these shows are bad or anything (I like HotD and TLoU), but HBO was usually known for airing bold shows based on original ideas and now has become as focused on existing IP as the rest of Hollywood. Seems like not even them were safe from their corporate overlords turning atention to all the famed IPs at their disposition.

[Mr. Who 957]

3 minutes ago, Glóin the Dark said:

 

That would be the ideal, certainly!

Sapochnik is brilliant so I'm all for this but I think Alan Taylor did an amazing job with episodes 1 and 4 this season. I do however think that Miguel as a co show runner is ideal so maybe he comes back in future seasons.

 

I am unsure about the whole restructuring thing because I read that 3-4 seasons was the original plan but that nothing had been set in stone. Martin himself write on his blog in 2022 that he thought 40 episodes would do the story justice. I don't know if 4 seasons means that it's shorter than originally planned. I just hope that the seasons don't take quite so long to make but I guess this is how it is. In retrospect it's crazy how the creators of GOT managed to write most of the scripts and plan, produce and release one season per year (until the last one which took longer).

 

I am a bit disappointed that HOTD will end with the end of the dance though as I had hoped that HOTD would become sort of an anthology show where they could do a time skip to another time period during the Targaryen dynasty, either forwards in time like Blackfyre rebellions, or backwards in time. It seems that HBO might be making separate Tag shows instead as Aegon's Conquest is apparently in the works as a separate show so maybe we don't loose anything as an audience and the shows will just have different names instead of all going under the HOTD banner.

[Jay 38,745]

17 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Btw, isn't a bit sad to see HBO, once known for innovative acclaimed shows like Sopranos, Six Feet Under, The Wire, and more recently Succession, The White Lotus, etc, basically prioritizing Game of Thrones spin-offs, shows based on DC Comics and videogames over the last few years?

 

1 - GOT was a 'bold choice" as you said, so no, greenlighting spinoffs of that isn't sad in the slightest.  This is the reward you get for taking a chance on the original show.

 

2 - The shows based on DC Comics are all Max Originals, not HBO Originals.  Its different.  I know The Penguin was recently rebranded as an HBO Original instead of a Max Original, but that's probably an indicator of its quality, I would guess.  We'll see.

 

3 - And there's nothing "sad" about greenlighting shows based on video games.  Video games are not to be looked down on.  Good stories can be told in any medium.  The two Last Of Us games have amazing stories.  HBO is lucky Druckmann wanted to work with them.

[Edmilson 8,491]

8 minutes ago, Mr. Who said:

In retrospect it's crazy how the creators of GOT managed to write most of the scripts and plan, produce and release one season per year (until the last one which took longer).

Yeah, I was thinking that also. GoT had major battles or huge events (like the Red and Purple Wedding) in seasons 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 and they all came out within an year of each other. In contrast, HotD has less characters and locations but also more dragons, which is the reason I imagine they take so long?

 

Thrones started right before the streaming era though, when most network TV shows ended their seasons in May and started in September/October. Even cable shows (Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Walking Dead, etc) had at most 10-12 months between their season finales and season premieres.

 

So, complexity aside, it was expected of them to air a new season every year, and they pulled it off admirably. I really don't know, if GoT was airing right now, how they would manage to air a season with a massive battle every year religiously.

 

5 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

So three things here.

 

GOT was a 'bold choice" as you said, so no, greenlighting spinoffs of that isn't sad in the slightest.

 

The shows based on DC Comics are all Max Originals, not HBO originals.  Its different.  I know The Pengruin was recently rebranded as an HBO Original instead of a Max Original, but that's probably an indicator of its quality, I would guess.  We'll see.

 

And there's nothing "sad" about greenlighting shows based on video games.  Video games are not to be looked down on.  Good stories can be told in any medium.  The two Last Of Us games have amazing stories.  HBO is lucky Druckman wanted to work with them.

You missed the point. It's not that "comics, games and fantasy novels are below HBO level and don't deserve to be here". What I meant is that all of this stuff (GoT, DC, The Last of Us) is known IP and thus theoretically a safer bet than a brand new show.

 

These days HBO would prefer doing a crime drama based on a known property like DC characters than a new Sopranos-like mafia show with original characters and an original idea.

 

Of course, who can blame them? While HotD, LOU and potentially Penguin have the whole attention from the public and the press, HBO tried to pull off an original show like The Idol and it was an embarrassing fail for them.

 

It's something affecting Hollywood for quite a while now, but HBO somehow seemed "safe"... Not anymore, as it seems.

[Jay 38,745]

In this trailer that played last night before the HOTD finale:

 

 

 

I count 4 new shows based on existing IP (The Penguin, Dune Prophecy, Welcome to Derry, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms)

 

And 3 new shows not based on existing IP (Duster, The Pitt, The Franchise)

 

Seems balanced enough to me

[Nick1Ø66 5,544]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Fuck you, Zaslav!

 

‘House of the Dragon’ to End With Season 4, Season 3 to Begin Production in Early 2025

 

Good. Apparently Zaslav's been reading my posts here and finally realised there's not enough material for 5 seasons.

 

I still wonder why we have to wait so long between seasons. We got a new season of GOT every year...and most of those were ten episodes.

[Glóin the Dark 1,274]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Fuck you, Zaslav!

 

I didn't know this guy's name at the beginning of the day and now he's high on my List of People I Really Don't Like Much at All.

 

Should probably reserve judgment, not knowing such things as how many episodes there will be, how long they will be, and what the showrunners plans are for structuring the remaining story. Nonetheless, it does seem that there's an awful lot to fit into two seasons.

 

 

7 minutes ago, Mr. Who said:

...I think Alan Taylor did an amazing job with episodes 1 and 4 this season.

 

I thought the battle in Episode 4 was okay but nothing special. The underlying story and script was solid enough that Taylor's pedestrian film-making was adequate for it - in contrast to his "Beyond the Wall" episode of Game of Thrones, an atrocity for which criminal charges probably should have been brought.

 

 

39 minutes ago, Mr. Who said:

I am a bit disappointed that HOTD will end with the end of the dance though as I had hoped that HOTD would become sort of an anthology show...

 

I'd be happy to see dramatisations of other periods during the dynasty, but I'd prefer them to be packaged as different series than House of the Dragon. The alternative seems kind of messy. It would also be a sure-fire way to have people damn it for going downhill, since the later seasons would inevitably be nowhere near as spectacular or sensational as the early ones.

 

 

39 minutes ago, Mr. Who said:

...it's crazy how the creators of GOT managed to write most of the scripts and plan, produce and release one season per year...

 

I've always thought that this must have been a major factor contributing to the sloppiness of the plotting in Game of Thrones, particularly once they passed the published material. After finishing production on one season, the writers had a matter of weeks (not very many of them!) to outline all of the storylines for next season.

 

 

6 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

...there's not enough material for 5 seasons.

 

Given where they've got to after two seasons, there's easily enough material remaining for three - especially if it turns out that they are seasons of the shorter variety!

[Mr. Who 957]

25 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

Yeah, I was thinking that also. GoT had major battles or huge events (like the Red and Purple Wedding) in seasons 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 and they all came out within an year of each other. In contrast, HotD has less characters and locations but also more dragons, which is the reason I imagine they take so long?

 

Thrones started right before the streaming era though, when most network TV shows ended their seasons in May and started in September/October. Even cable shows (Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Walking Dead, etc) had at most 10-12 months between their season finales and season premieres.

 

So, complexity aside, it was expected of them to air a new season every year, and they pulled it off admirably. I really don't know, if GoT was airing right now, how they would manage to air a season with a massive battle every year religiously.

Hopefully they can speed up the writing process a bit for S3! The wait is really long after that incredible final montage in the finale. Loved how the different scenes worked together with the different themes in the cue. Finally we got a proper House Stark Battle variation, or at least a tease! 

 

Overall I loved the final episode and don't really feel disappointed, as I gather a lot of people are feeling because of the absence of the next big battle. I thought they did a great job and it actually reminds me a bit of the last part of the 5th GOT book, where Martin basically wrote himself into a position where the climaxes of books 4 and 5 will appear in the first part of the 6th book. The wait will be long but I think this season will be viewed really positively when S3 is airing because it does a lot of heavy lifting with the characters and storylines.

 

Also I was really surprised to see the Bran vision with the heartree. Did not expect to see Daenerys or white walkers, but it was a cool scene. And I liked how the Greener/Three Eyed Raven Vision motif was used in the score as Daemon approaches the tree. Very nice thematic callback! The musical and thematic tapestry is so vast and it's going to be so cool to hear Djawadi expand upon it in future seasons of HOTD and in A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms!

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Fuck you, Zaslav!

 

‘House of the Dragon’ to End With Season 4, Season 3 to Begin Production in Early 2025

I hated Zaslav already for canceling Westworld! This guy is the absolute worst!

[Nick1Ø66 5,544]

5 hours ago, Luke Skywalker said:

i will be 50 yo more or less when it ends. Who knows where i will be then….

 

...which will be about the time The Winds of Winter finally gets published. 2074 should be a banner year for Westeros fans!

[Jay 38,745]

35 minutes ago, Mr. Who said:

Also I was really surprised to see the Bran vision with the heartree. Did not expect to see Daenerys or white walkers, but it was a cool scene.

 

It also showed that red meteor from season 2 of GOT.  Though I've already forgotten what the significance of that was...

 

BTW we didn't see Bran in the vision right?  Just the original 3-eyed raven that he replaced?

[Edmilson 8,491]

34 minutes ago, Nick1Ø66 said:

...which will be about the time The Winds of Winter finally gets published. 2074 should be a banner year for Westeros fans!

Also the same year that the John Williams Complete Star Wars Collection, with 25 CDs produced by Mike Matessino, will be released!

[Mr. Who 957]

44 minutes ago, Jay said:

 

It also showed that red meteor from season 2 of GOT.  Though I've already forgotten what the significance of that was...

 

BTW we didn't see Bran in the vision right?  Just the original 3-eyed raven that he replaced?

Yes I meant to write bran type vision 😬

 

The red meteor was signifying the birth of the dragons, you could see it in Winterfell kings landing and the red waste etc.

 

Daenerys” theme was also briefly used in the unreleased vision cue!

[Jay 38,745]

but wasn't the meteor in season 2, and the dragons were born in season 1?

[Mr. Who 957]

Just now, Jay said:

but wasn't the meteor in season 2, and the dragons were born in season 1?

Yes the meteor was seen in S2E1. The dragons were born in the final scene of S1E10

[Jay 38,745]

Ahhhh ok that makes sense thank you

[Mr. Who 957]

I also really liked the cinematography of the scenes with Rhaena in the hills of the Vale. Those scenes really felt like GOT! The episode looked great visually and was as usual very well scored.

[Jay 38,745]

The whole season has looked phenomenal.  The only wonky CGi in this episode was all the boats in the water.

[Glóin the Dark 1,274]

5 minutes ago, Mr. Who said:

The red meteor was signifying the birth of the dragons...

Can you be sure of that?

[Edmilson 8,491]

IIRC the second book also said that the meteors were because of Dany's dragons hatching (which is both the final scene of season 1 and book 1)... But I'm not sure.

[A. A. Ron 1,839]

Ok, I gotta be that guy. It was a red comet that could be seen from all over the known world. Various characters interpreted its significance differently.

[Glóin the Dark 1,274]

Just now, Edmilson said:

IIRC the second book also said that the meteors were because of Dany's dragons hatching

But the book is narrated by PoV characters, so all we can infer from that is that some people think that the comet (not a meteor, by the way!) heralds the birth of the dragons.
 

I think I recall other people associating it with other contemporaneous events: e.g., Ned’s beheading, Joffrey’s ascension, Azor Ahai’s second coming (in the form of Stannis), and possibly the Northern declaration of independence. 
 

I don’t dispute that the birth of the dragons is by far the most significant of these events, and the most likely to be associated with the comet, but it’s all speculative.

[Mr. Who 957]

16 minutes ago, Glóin the Dark said:

But the book is narrated by PoV characters, so all we can infer from that is that some people think that the comet (not a meteor, by the way!) heralds the birth of the dragons.
 

I think I recall other people associating it with other contemporaneous events: e.g., Ned’s beheading, Joffrey’s ascension, Azor Ahai’s second coming (in the form of Stannis), and possibly the Northern declaration of independence. 
 

I don’t dispute that the birth of the dragons is by far the most significant of these events, and the most likely to be associated with the comet, but it’s all speculative.

You’re right. Different characters react differently to the comet. For instance Osha has a different interpretation. I did my latest re-read last year, maybe it’s time for another.

[Glóin the Dark 1,274]

3 minutes ago, A. A. Ron said:

Ok, I gotta be that guy.

Making me that guy’s less concise imitator...

[Edmilson 8,491]

6 minutes ago, Glóin the Dark said:

Azor Ahai’s second coming (in the form of Stannis the Mannis)

Fixed 

[Edmilson 8,491]

This guy on Reddit did some calculations and estimates that the two seasons of House of the Dragon have covered only 38.8% of the Dance of the Dragons (the Targaryen civil war that is the subject matter of the show).

 

Seems that, if seasons 1 and 2 were somewhat "slow" (not my personal opinion, but still), 3 and 4 will have to rush and have more battles and bombastic events.

 

If you're not a book reader and want to be as spoiler free as possible, do not click on the Reddit thread or you'll see massive spoilers.

 

 

[Nick1Ø66 5,544]

1 hour ago, Mr. Who said:

I also really liked the cinematography of the scenes with Rhaena in the hills of the Vale. Those scenes really felt like GOT!

 

While I don't agree the scenes looked like GOT, I did notice the cinematography of those shots and agree they were spectacular. Really captured the mood.

 

 

8 hours ago, Jay said:

In retrospect, I think this season would be viewed better by the masses if it stopped after episode 7.  That final shot of Rhaenyra with 3 dragons behind her felt more like a season finale than the ending montage of episode 8.

 

I actually quite liked the montage. And it's something that GOT did several times in a season finale, as I recall. 

 

[Jay 38,745]

[Docteur Qui 1,571]

I thought that was a solid season. Very clearly not what the writers had intended in its entirety, but I thought they did a good job considering. I'd much rather a slower pace with fluff scenes than the hyper-speed and illogical pace of latter GOT.

 

Highlights were definitely Rook's Rest and the two Allicent/Rhaenyra conversations. Regarding the latter, I've seen some truly bizarre criticism that the show is spending too much time on their relationship. Their relationship is the show. Given that the source material is a series of facts and rumours presented by multiple unreliable narrators, of course they needed to ground the show in a real human relationship, and I'm glad that's the one they chose. You don't cast powerhouses like Emma D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke and not have them play off one another.

 

I may be in the minority but I really liked Daemon's Harrenhall ayahuasca sabbatical. Add in the pure delight of Ser Simon Strong and Alys Rivers and you've got a great cocktail of scenes and characters playing off one another. This is an example of a pace of writing that needed to be exactly as long as it was; any shorter and Daemon's kneel at the end of the season would've fallen as flat as King Bran. What the season lacked in many areas (and it did lack, don't get me wrong), I was completely sold on the work they did depicting the self-reflection of Daemon, Allicent, Rahenyra and Criston. In fact I think the greatest achievement the show made was making me empathise with Criston Cole, arguably one of the most despicable main characters since Joffrey.

 

It was also more than welcome to see Rhaenyra's religious fervour/god-complex begin to flourish. Her expressions while presiding over the Red Sowing were disturbing, and it makes perfect sense for the character. Ending the season flipping the devoutness and impulsivity of Rhenyra and Allicent was very smart. I just wish we got to see the battles they'd very clearly planned to depict.

 

Oh and I really liked Djawadi's work this season. He continues to mature as a composer and the Classical flourishes in the music this season were very on point. I also really like the new theme he introduced (featured heavily in Rook's Rest and the finale montage). It's been stuck in my head for days.

[Knight of Ren 938]

Agree! It hasn't been a perfect season but calling it a disaster as I've seen some people claim on social media is just bonkers. It was slow paced and it definitely feels that the cutdown episodes should have been included here, but I really liked the season as it is. It' one of the best looking shows right now, beautifully shot and with a stellar cast! Emma D'Arcy has been an absolute highlight with their subtle performance, and I particularly liked their shared scenes with Matt Smith, that final scene in Harrenhal showcasing their chemistry and charisma to great effect. And the Harrenhal storyline was one of my favorite bits this season. I'm a big fan of the weird/magical aspects of this universe so watching all these scenes with Daemon's visions and his interactions with Alys were great.

 

And while Alicent and Rhaenyra's scenes might not make a lot of logical sense in how they come to be, they are in itself a perfect encapsulation of how they've changed as a character since s1, and both interpreters are brilliant! And I agree that the show's main focus is on them as much as on the war and the conflict. Since s1 they've been at the center of attention and it's their developing relationship what partially moves the characters to act.

 

And Djawadi's music once more is a highlight when he's allowed the spotlight. I love how he expands on his themes from s1, brings back many themes from Game of Thrones, making it a vastly connected musical universe, constantly growing, also thanks to the new material he incorporated this season. My favorite bits were definitely all his variations on the war/lament theme, daemon's new theme, and the dragonseeds theme.

[Nick1Ø66 5,544]

It wasn't a "disaster", but other than some truly stand out moments, it wasn't great. As it is I don't think the best episode of season 2 was a good as the worst episode of Game of Thrones, including season 8. Setting aside the pacing, which isn't good, and the writing, which is soft, the characters just aren't as compelling, except perhaps Daemon (who they ruined), and that's not something I'm sure the show, which is more than 50% done, can fix at this point.

 

It's not a bad show, and I've got no issue with people who loved the season, de gustibus non est disputandum. But I was expecting more.

 

 

[Edmilson 8,491]

What I like about HotD is that it's a character-focused show. I even liked the more talk-y moments because of that. The characters are great and I like their trajectories and how they shape the world and the narrative.

 

By seasons 7 and 8 GoT became just another action/adventure show. The focus wasn't so much on the characters and their arcs anymore. It was kinda like a CW superhero show but with a (much) bigger budget.

[Nick1Ø66 5,544]

22 minutes ago, Edmilson said:

What I like about HotD is that it's a character-focused show.

 

Character driven shows are my favourite as well, and invariably the most rewatchable. 

 

The problem with HotD is, IMO, the characters just aren't as compelling, at least in comparison to GOT. That's not a slam on the actors, who are (mostly) fine, but again it's about the writing.  And while yes, the last season of GOT focused more on action and less character, I still found them more watchable than any of those in HotD.  

[Edmilson 8,491]

The HotD character might not be as memorable as Tyrion, Jaime, Cersei, Arya, Jon Snow, Dany, etc., but to be honest the final seasons (in plural, S8 isn't the only guilty) of GoT ruined them for me to the point I didn't even care anymore.

 

And while HotD has its problems IMHO it hasn't produced an episode as horrible as the "Suicide Squad: Mission North of the Wall" ep from S7. That one had nice direction and special effects but CW-level writing.

 

I guess in the end it all depends on your taste. I thought GoT had ruined my love for the GRRM universe but HotD reminded me of why I fell in love with the books and the first season of Thrones (and it sure wasn't because of the battles). 

 

The sad part is that House of the Dragon made me want to read the final two books of ASOIF even more... An itch that will take years to scratch 

[Docteur Qui 1,571]

I always scratch my head reading a lot of the criticism about the book vs. show characters in HotD. Particularly - and this is important - there are no characters in Fire and Blood. It's just series of historic figures, written by a fictional maester, centuries after and from the accounts of several biased sources. I haven't observed it here mind you, just on the larger internet. I keep reading things like "Allicent/Daemon/Rhaenyra would never say that", but a recurring element of the text is that there is no knowing what those people were really like, as the sources cited are frequently contradictory.

 

It's completely fair to not like the show's depiction of said characters, but I find the argument that they're "wrong" very flimsy. 

[Nick1Ø66 5,544]

2 hours ago, Docteur Qui said:

I always scratch my head reading a lot of the criticism about the book vs. show characters in HotD. Particularly - and this is important - there are no characters in Fire and Blood. It's just series of historic figures, written by a fictional maester, centuries after and from the accounts of several biased sources.

 

Well...yes. Herein, like Rings of Power, lies part of the problem. Since the shows aren't based on proper novels, just broadly written histories, we're at the mercy of TV writers of varying quality to create compelling characters and plot. Whereas with Game of Thrones, that work as already done by Martin.

 

That said, I agree that complaints comparing the characters in HotD to those referenced in Fire & Blood are specious, since as you correctly point out there really aren't any characters in a meaningful sense to compare them to.

 

 

 

 

[Knight of Ren 938]

Yeah, that's why I think the show is doing a great job of translating what's written on the book into a compelling story with interesting and complex characters. I agree that perhaps some of this characters cannot compete with the complexity and charisma of some of the characters from Game of Thrones like Tywin, Littlefinger, Varys or Tyrion to name a few, but then again who can? I feel that at least all the main characters in HotD are interesting, well-written and layered characters, whether you like or despise them. Some of the secondary characters haven't been as developed so far, like Rhaena or Addam to name a couple, and that's where some of the problems may lie, but I hope that can be fixed in upcoming seasons.

[Docteur Qui 1,571]

It's also why the show will nearly always compare unfavourably to early Thrones; those character depictions had the benefit of nearly two decades and 5 books of Martin's writing to draw from, whereas the showrunners and actors of HotD are pretty much crafting it themselves, presumably with GRRM's blessing.

[Bilbo 3,746]

On 5/8/2024 at 9:12 PM, Glóin the Dark said:

 

That would be the ideal, certainly!

He won’t be back. He left because they wouldn’t let his wife (who has zero experience) be a producer on the show so he walked. 

[tomsmoviemadness 3,417]

I'm sorry. What is this man doing?

This feels very unnecessary

 

 

[Glóin the Dark 1,274]

1 hour ago, JNHFan2000 said:

What is this man doing?

Procrastinating.

[Luke Skywalker 1,925]

Indeed 😅

[Nick1Ø66 5,544]

On 30/8/2024 at 9:12 AM, JNHFan2000 said:

I'm sorry. What is this man doing?

This feels very unnecessary

 

 

 

Hmmmm. Mixed feelings.

 

On one hand, he's been hinting that he has serious issues with the show this season (as do I). And as the creator, he has as much, if not more, right to speak out about what they're doing with his baby than anyone else.  So this isn't surprising, especially in light of his recent comments about screenwriters thinking they know better than the original authors in making adaptations. Given that he's an Executive Producer on the show, I can only conclude that he's already taken his issues to the show runners and been ignored.

 

That said, he IS after all an Executive Producer on the show, and as a TV writer himself, knows all the compromises that come along with adapting a book. So it seems sort of inappropriate for him to take all this publicly, and he must be very frustrated to do so. Maybe he's trying to get their attention? Or simply separate himself from what he considers a poor product? He wouldn't be the first author to do so.

 

Either way, I wish he'd stop worrying about all these other distractions and just finish his damn book. 

 

[Edmilson 8,491]

Here's the full post on his blog:

 

https://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2024/08/30/burn-him-burn-him/

 

The important part of it is:

 

Quote

This has not been a good year for anyone, with war everywhere and fascism on the rise… and on a more personal level, I have had a pretty wretched year as well, one full of stress, anger, conflict, and defeat.

I need to talk about some of that, and I will, I will… I was away from my computer traveling from July 15 to August 15, so a lot of things that needed saying did not get said.   I am glad I took that trip, though.   My stress levels beforehand were off the charts, so much so that I was seriously considering cancelling my plans and staying at home.  I am glad I didn’t, though.   It was so so good to get away for a little, to put all the conflict aside for a time.   I began to feel better the moment the plane set down in Belfast, and we all headed off to Ashford Meadow to see the tournament.   We had five great days in Belfast and environs, and that made me feel so much better.   The rest of the trip was fun as well, a splendid combination of business and pleasure that included visits to Belfast, Amsterdam, London, Oxford, and Glasgow.   I look forward to telling you all about our adventures… though it may take a while.   I had a thousand emails waiting for me on my return, and then I went and brought a case of covid back with me from worldcon, so I am way way behind.

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.  TODAY is Zozobra’s day, when we turn away from gloom.

[Nick1Ø66 5,544]

Martin put his post up regarding his complaints about HotD, and then...it was, perhaps unsurprisingly, taken down. However, here's the archived version (SPOILERS).

 

Short version...he's not happy, and from what's hinted at here, he's not in regular communication with the show runners. Or if he is, they're not listening to him.

[Jay 38,745]

Wow that's crazy that it was taken down

 

WARNING TO SHOW WATCHERS WHO HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK:  IT CONTAINS A MASSIVE SPOILER

 

(luckily I learned this before reading it myself!)

[Nick1Ø66 5,544]

1 hour ago, Jay said:

Wow that's crazy that it was taken down

 

Possibly on the advice of his lawyers, since his post may come close to infringing on any NDA/non-disparagement clause his contract with HBO surely has. Though the cat's already sort of out of the bag, given there have already been multiple news reports about it (SPOILERS).

 

1 hour ago, Jay said:

WARNING TO SHOW WATCHERS WHO HAVE NOT READ THE BOOK:  IT CONTAINS A MASSIVE SPOILER

 

(luckily I learned this before reading it myself!)

 

Well I did say "spoilers" in both posts (as does GRRM in his blog). 

[Jay 38,745]

Nothing wrong with putting up extra warnings!  I want to learn what happens via watching the show and don't want to be accidentally spoiled and I think there are others on JWFan in the same boat

[Nick1Ø66 5,544]

The first part of Martin's post just goes over some disagreements he's had with stuff that's already aired, and some ways those scenes (mostly from Blood & Cheese) deviate from the book. Before he gets into spoilers he gives a warning. 

[Jay 38,745]

Oooh, nice!