House of the Dragon: 4 Doylist Out-of-Universe Reasons Blood & Cheese was Changed from Book

I honestly liked the show version. Sure, Helaena doesn't have to live with choosing one of them to die, but she does have to live with pointing out Jaehaerys. Whether she had no choice wouldn't matter when it comes to guilt, guilt isn't rational. So making it slightly less traumatic means shes not catatonic, and they can still explore her character dealing with that guilt. Id prefer that to her staring at a wall till the show ends.

Non book reading boyfriend was pretty horrified by this scene when he realized that Jaehaerys that going to die. After episode 1, I had him listen to the Histories and Lore part of it (Michelle Fairley does an awesome, creepy reading of it). He admitted that the book version was way more traumatic and intense. A few days later, I mentioned something about the show runners saying that it would have been difficult to do the scene with child actors. “That makes sense.” I don’t think he had the attachment to the scene that many of the book readers did, so I think for a lot of normies, they’re ready to watch the rest of the season I also liked that in episode 2, there was some of the blame game going around with the Kingsguard. “Where were you?” “I was sleeping. Why weren’t YOU near the bed chambers?” “His Grace likes to hang out in the throne room. Why doesn’t the Queen have a personal guard?”

Your explanation and summary of the blood and cheese incident, makes me feel better.

My friend who I watched with was a none reader and he was absolutely horrified by the sounds and scenario alone. Also spoilers for episode 2 but Helena is very obviously deeply traumatized by the experience and grieving differently than her book counterpart.

Good thing you are pointing this out. I read about it yesterday and i think most people did not think about stuff like this. Its easy to write this stuff down but not as easy to film it especially with kids. There could have been a better plot about how they get to Helaena but other then that i think it was done great. Edit: Also didn`t like the fact that Alicent was "indisposed".

A woman screaming & throwing up is easy to do. But the brutally real, emotionally twisted human reaction Phia managed using only her eyes is more impactful. Instead of screams & thrashes you could feel the utter pain, terror & despair just by looking through her eyes without needing to see what's happening in front of her. Helaena's freeze frame reaction was on point with her cassandra coded character & it was absolutely devastating. The total silence surrounding b&c & its aftermath made it even more jarring. Ofc Helaena called Jaehaerys “the boy”. She was traumatized & mimicking the speech of b&c as we do in moments of high stress. Her "cold" reaction was her mind detaching as coping mechanism, not that she didn’t love her son. Her offering the necklace was actually brilliantly upsetting & endearing cause it hadn't yet registered with her that these ppl are for real. She's too innocent & sheltered. We saw how common ratcatchers are in the palace. No one pays them any attention, royals treat them as wallpaper. So one would assume Cheese has been inside royal quarters & has routinely seen Helaena's odd behavior & nervousness. That's how he knew she's incapable of being duplicitous. You could pinpoint the exact moment when something in Helaena switches. It's like she has this moment of realization about what she prolly already foresaw & knew she couldn’t prevent. A look of quiet panic & resignation sets in. You can clearly see Helaena dissociating. She didn't even realize that she got down the stairs. When she did, the first place the little girl in her thought of was her mother's room to find comfort. Loved the camera staying anchored to her as if she couldn't perceive emotionally what's happening even as it was happening. The whole scene was filmed as if it was Helaena's nightmare, only to realize there's no waking up from this nightmare.

Your point about the taunting thing is moot. George fucked it up in the book. He is a toddler of about 2. He has no concept of death nor his mother's choice. He could likely not even talk well yet. For him it is the same as if he were an infant. Helaena might still feel a lot of guilt over it, but not because Maelor would have understood the remark or anything else. They could have had Maelor there, they just didn't want to.

I was not looking forward to blood and cheese. I am looking forward to see where they take Helaena. I actually went and read the books after a video you made talking about the sansa rape and im glad i did. Dan and dave did the show dirty. Now im just like everyone else waiting for winds but loving Hot D

I just want to know where were all the guards? Did Larys make this happen?

The book version was far more impactful than the show's neutered depection.

I haven't read fire and blood but i found the scene hard to watch, especially with the sawing noise as they pan away it was pretty horrifying without needing to go quite as hard as the book.

We can still get "Katatic Ophilia" Helaena after Bitterbridge!

I did not hear about the showrunner's interviews, but when they changed it, I thought it must have come down to two things. One: laws regarding child actors as I know they are very strict when it comes to any violence. Because of the laws, I wondered if the show would have done blood and cheese off-scene or maybe from a guard's point of view for the other side of the door. and Two: the scene as written in the books was horrific. In my opinion, more horrific than The Red Wedding and I could see how a casual viewer would stop watching the show do to it.

I was so grateful they didn’t do it like in the books. One of my favourite reactors almost quit. Although I’m not sure if he’s going to make it through the season, lol. Poor guy. People are different. My favourite reactor was really affected by the C section in Episode 1 last season and while horrified, BC was just another day in Westeros for her. But I get all of your points, very thorough explanations. Thank you

I had already left a comment about this on your other video, so it's cool to know we were thinking similar things! I'm disappointed in the backlash over this scene, and think the upset fans who wanted it to be more brutal are completely wack. Also, I'm really impressed with Phia Saban's performance based solely on those scenes and am stoked to see more of her in this role, so am glad she won't * literally stop speaking. * It would be interesting if another character (another channel thinks it might be Larys?!) finally notices Helaena's vulnerability, steps into that vacuum, and encourages her towards even further madness. That would be profoundly interesting, even moreso than a purely internal Ophelia spiral. Watching more of your video has me thinking: maybe Aegon also ... perpetrates an unwanted act ... on Helaena in order to create Maegor as well, and that would be profoundly traumatic. As soon as I started typing that ^, you said it. I should probably hit that Subscribe button already, huh?

Thank you for addressing my biggest question I have still does Maelor exist? Regarding Jaehaerys’ death it seems strange Ser Otto the boy’s great grandfather refers to him as a grandson messing up the generational gap between the two and blames Rhaenyra for Daemon’s actions. Alicent overplays the grief to the point it seems fake maybe because of guilt due to alicole. Aegon’s emotionally lashes out to the point I actually start to like him as a character. Helaena is grief probably doubting if she did the right thing saving Jaehaera instead of Jaehaerys and everything else she doesn’t understand because the one’s who understand her paternal legacy and might understand her gift/curse are on the other team. Rhaenyra is genuinely shocked that her sister is now going through the same thing as she is. And then we have Daemon silently gleeful he gets his a son for a son moment.

I'm anticipating the long-deserved "Reasons D&D Changed Some Stuff To Make GOT A Better Show."

I mean, I get where you’re coming from about the book version being too impactful for your taste. It is a bit much for most people. I personally would’ve preferred the book version or something closer to it because I appreciate the more visceral darkness that comes from GRRM’a mind, maybe that’s just the sadist in me, who knows, but I completely understand the change from a logistical/technical standpoint and I don’t fault Condal or any of the other writers for making the change. I think it does a good job of accomplishing what was intended for the show in a way that is logically consistent and coherent from a show fan’s perspective.

SOME changes are okay, but not the MOST from the book…. I will judge at the end though. ( my fav scenes are Daemon & Rhaenyra, and Addam and Alyn in ep 2!)

Im hoping that it’s something like Halaena was already pregnant and not make us watch a drunk/unhinged Aegon attacking her