The latest episode of House of the Dragon season 3 addresses one of George R.R. Martin's complaints about the show.
Spoilers for season 3, episode 4 follow. Turn back now if you're not up to date!
In the episode, Alicent discovers that Helaena is pregnant. This is quite a big problem for both green women, considering they're currently (very well treated) prisoners in the Red Keep, which is now under the control of Rhaenyra and Team Black.
In Martin's Fire and Blood, Helaena has three children – Jaehaerys, Jaehaera, and Maelor. Jaehaerys was killed during Blood and Cheese, and Jaehaera is still alive, so it would seem Helaena's pregnancy is introducing Maelor.
Maelor is present during Blood and Cheese in Martin's book, but the show cut him entirely. This was one of Martin's major complaints in his now notorious blog post railing against changes the show made to his source material.
"Will any of that appear on the show? Maybe… but I don't see how," Martin said of Maelor's story in the book, and the butterfly effect of removing him. "The butterflies would seem to prohibit it … From what I know, that seems to be what Ryan [Condal, showrunner] is doing here. It's simplest, yes, and may make sense in terms of budgets and shooting schedules. But simpler is not better … Maelor by himself means little. He is a small child, does not have a line of dialogue, does nothing of consequence but die… but where and when and how, that does matter."
While it's unlikely that Maelor will have much of a storyline, considering he hasn't even been born yet, Helaena's pregnancy does make it seem as if the child will factor into the story in some way. However, Maelor will be a threat to Rhaenyra's reign as a potential rival claimant to the throne, so the new queen might find herself in the middle of another moral quandary – like the question of what to do with young Prince Daeron, who turned out to be a fake anyway.
The show seemed to poke fun at Martin's post with a reference to poisonous butterflies earlier in the season, while another change to the source material might have accidentally erased Daenerys Targaryen from canon.
House of the Dragon continues weekly on HBO in the US and HBO Max, Sky, and NOW in the UK. Keep up to date with our House of the Dragon season 3 release schedule.
For even more, check out our House of the Dragon season 3 review or our guide to all the upcoming Game of Thrones movies and TV shows.
