#i love hotd in general the cast was phenomenal but writers made lots of bad choices

[sophiemariepl]

Although I did very much enjoy House of the Dragon season 1, I have to admit that I really hate how much of the original Fire and Blood material was squeezed by the writers, so that the build-up for the Dance of Dragons could happen in just one season.

Like, so many important and interesting plotlines and character archs were lost as a result of this! Ser Harwin Strong, Laena Velaryon, Laenor did not have it much better… and don’t get me started on Larys Strong. This guy literally seems to be just a psychopath for being a psychopath. As a character, he does not stand next to either lord Varys or Petyr Baelish a.k.a. the Littlefinger.

And I have one theory about the circumstances that led to this state of the final product we got. It consists of two major points:

1) Large part of the budget went into the animation of the dragons, so they simply did not have the money to focus on nuancing and developing the storylines,

2) HBO had a survey made regarding the attention span of modern audiences and found out that it largely decreased in the past 10-15 years, so they chose to fit this new “criteria”.

The problem is, that one of the major assets of the original Game of Thrones is the fact that the storyline develops gradually, and in a relatively slower pace. This way we get the time to understand the political game of Westeros and we get attached to the characters we’re watching (regardless of whether it is a positive or a negative attachment). And this way, once a particular stage of the political game comes to it's conclusion and one of the characters dies, we feel the whole emotional baggage that comes with it. No matter if it is the sadness about heartbreaking death of Shireen Baratheon or the satisfaction of seeking Joffrey getting poisoned at his own wedding, it has it's own emotional baggage.

Meanwhile, many deaths of key characters in HotD just don’t have this baggage.

Ser Harwin Strong? He had such a cute relationship with Rhaenyra. Shame that he ended smoked on a grill, he was a hot baby daddy. Next.

Laena Velaryon, who appears so little that in each of her scenes she is played by a different actress? Oh no, she’s dead. Another point from the book behind us. Next.

Vaemond Velaryon? That guy who argued with Corlys in some of the earlier episodes? To paraphrase a text of a typical Polish grandma: I don’t know the man.

And I could count on and on…

#house of the dragon #hotd #hotd comment #hotd commentary #asoiaf #pre asoiaf #house targaryen #house velaryon #house strong #house hightower #rhaenyra targaryen #alicent hightower #hbo #harwin strong #laena velaryon #vaemond velaryon #larys strong #rushed storylines #I love hotd in general the cast was phenomenal but writers made lots of bad choices

[sophiemariepl]

Another problem with the rushed narrative in HotD is that the series is in many ways not understandable to a viewer who is not already familiar with the source material. And that is a bad sign. Because the point of a good adaptation is that it conveys the story in a way understandable to a viewer who meets this story for the first time.

Like, sorry for anegdotic example, but I realized that when I watched HotD for the first time - with my mom. Her whole experience with Martin’s universe is reading “A Game of Thrones” 10 years ago when GoT season 1 aired. She stopped reading the book in around 25% due to lack of time. She continued to watch the show tho, and she understood the plot well.

Meanwhile, when we watched HotD, I literally had to explain the plot to her so many times, I think that at some point we had to pause every 5-15 minutes so that I could explain to her what other part of crucial information was cut out from the series.

And of course, this is the fault of cuts made due to the budget being eaten mostly by CGI for dragons, which in turn is a by-product of David and Dan’s failure with GoT season 8, which left HBO not being as willing to fund this universe as much as before.

Now think how great HotD could be if David and Dan did not f**k up GoT.

#house of the dragon #hotd commentary #i love hotd in general the cast was phenomenal but writers made lots of bad choices #hotd #asoiaf #pre asoiaf #george rr martin #hbo #David and Dan screw you #got season 8 #game of thrones season 8