“” returned to HBO after an almost two-year break. The series adaptation of George RR Martin’s two-part chronicle has so far been roughly faithful to the book original – there were minor distortions and inaccuracies, but they were not that glaring. One scene from the second season of the show was enough to make fans who had read the books throw up their hands. The creators try to explain why the events in the episode “Son for Syn” turned out completely differently than the author imagined.
“Dragonline” ruined one of the key scenes in the book
They had a ready-made, 1,100-page script from the master of complicated and bloody stories. However, they decided to trust their own intuitions and changed the tone of one of the most important scenes in the book into a structure full of absurdities and disappointment. How did this happen? And aren’t there people who really don’t want to read about spoilers from the first episode?
Of course, this is about the scene with the murder committed by Jucha and Twarog. The book version of the story was hideous, filled with death and drama. After this series, viewers can only shrug their shoulders at the fate of the “greens”. So many things are missing – the murderers accidentally end up in a chamber that happens to be the queen’s chamber and accidentally decide to complete the job in a way that is contrary to the employer’s instructions. By chance, there is not a single (!!) guard in the corridors near the royal (!) chambers, where the future (!) king sleeps. The assassins tell the queen to point out her son, which she does very quickly. Preoccupied with the bloodbath, they do not notice that Helaena takes one of the children and leaves the chamber, undisturbed by anyone.
Meanwhile, the book presented the course of events in a completely different way. The ratcatchers got into Queen Alicent’s chamber and gagged her, killing the servants present. They deliberately waited for the second queen, who had a habit of coming to the mother with her children. When this happened, they killed her guards and threatened Helaena herself with rape of her daughter if she did not choose one of her sons to kill. The king’s wife offered her own life in exchange for the lives of her children, but Jucha and Twaróg were stubborn – they told her to choose. Helaena chose the younger child, but the murderers showed even greater cruelty, killing the older one and telling the younger son that his mother “wants you to die.” This was one of the reasons for Helaena’s subsequent madness, which has been signaled in the series since the first season of the show.
The creators explain what happened
What do the creators say about this? It turns out they knew what they were doing and are defending those decisions. Ryan Condal, the showrunner of the series, explains that the book contains several equivalent descriptions of the same events, which sometimes contradict each other. “We had to choose something and adapt the story into an objective framework. That’s what we came up with,” he says. The problem is that this particular scene in the book is presented completely one-sidedly and is actually a ready-made script to be used. Condal claims that due to minor corrections in earlier episodes, Aegon and Helaena’s children are much younger than those in the book – the words “mommy wants you to die” would not be remembered by a toddler of about two years old, and that’s it in the series little Maelor looks like. They also said that Helaena’s lack of calculation and immediate selection of the eldest child was “more shocking.” This is how the actress playing the role of a mother faced with an impossible choice explains it:
The mere fact that she has named a child who is about to die will weigh heavily on her. But she really felt that she had no other option, that so much depended on what she did – most of her entire life. When one of them tells her “tell me which one is older or I will do terrible things to your children”, she believes him. She feels she has to be completely honest. And I think what’s even more shocking is that in the end she’s actually honest,” says Phia Saban.
Bloodline of the Dragon / HBO Photo HBO
I’ve watched this scene a hundred times, and what I see in Helaena’s eyes still pierces me, says Ryan Condal.
Well, one can only regret that they did not decide to use the ready-made material, which actually did not require any corrections. Let’s get ready, because the first episode is just a preview of the changes that will come in this season of the series.
Source: Gazeta
Bruce is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment . He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
