George RR Martin furious at 'toxic' House of the Dragon plot changes

George RR Martin, the author of Game of Thrones and the book behind hit spin-off series House of the Dragon, is furious at "toxic" tweaks made in recent TV adaptations of his work and is worried about what's to come.

Martin, 75, was at his most outspoken yet in a blog post which has since disappeared but not before it was copied and reshared on X / Twitter.

It's unclear if Martin deleted the post or not but soon after it was shared, an error message appeared when trying to access it.

Fire & Blood is the book HBO's hit spin-off House of the Dragon is based on and Martin is not best pleased at changes made during the second season, blasting some as "toxic", and is concerned about what these alterations might mean for future seasons.

George RR Martin is not happy at some 'toxic' changes to the source material for hit HBO series House of the Dragon / Jon Kopaloff, Getty Images & HBO

In the post, Martin said: "Sometime between the initial decision to remove Maelor a big change was made. The prince’s birth was no longer just going to be pushed back to season three. He was never going to be born at all. The younger son of Aegon and Helaena would never appear.

"Most of you know about the Butterfly Effect, I assume...The lesson being that change begets change, and even small and seemingly insignificant alterations to a timeline - or a story - can have a profound effect on all that follows.

"Maelor is a two-year-old toddler in Fire & Blood but like our butterfly he has an impact on the story all out of proportion to his size."

He goes on to list events from the book before asking: "Will any of that appear on the show? Maybe... But I don't see how. The butterflies would seem to prohibit it.

"I have no idea what Ryan has planned - if indeed he has planned anything - but given Maelor's absence from episode two...The simplest way to proceed would be just to drop him entirely.

"From what I know, that seems to be what Ryan is doing here. It's simplest, yes, and may make sense in terms of budgets and shooting schedules. But simpler is not better."

Martin goes on to explain how Maelor's absence could mean future events in House of the Dragon would not align with events in Fire & Blood.

He said: "What will we offer the fans instead, once we've killed these butterflies? I have no idea. I do not recall that Ryan and I ever discussed this.

"And there are larger and more toxic butterflies to come, if House of the Dragon goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons three and four."

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