George R.R. Martin didn’t like Game Of Thrones‘ royal hunt, so House Of The Dragon went bigger

The most recent episode of HBO’s House Of The Dragon was largely centered around a big hunting expedition, with Paddy Considine’s King Viserys getting drunk and pouting while a ton of other people—some of whom it seemed like we were supposed to know even though they were never actually introduced—hung out in elaborate tents and talked about Westeros gossip or went out and did actual hunting that the king could take credit for later. It was a big spectacle, designed to emphasize the whole exhausting nature of courtly politics that all of these first few episodes have been about.

As noted by The Hollywood Reporter, though, it may have also been designed to make up for a moment in the original Game Of Thrones that George R.R. Martin once said was his “least favorite scene in the entire show.” As fans of that show will recall, a king going on a hunt was a major plot point there, with King Robert Baratheon getting fatally injured by a boar during a hunt and later setting off the War Of Five Kings when he died. However, Robert’s hunt in Game Of Thrones was much more low-key than Viserys’, with Robert’s whole party just being four dudes in the woods with a couple spears—a far cry from the tents and parties seen in House Of The Dragon.

Martin criticized the older hunting scene in the behind-the-scenes book Fire Cannot Kill A Dragon, explaining that he never wrote a hunting scene in the book because it happens off-screen, but he still pictured “a hundred guys” with “pavilions” and “huntsmen” and “dogs” and “horns blowing.” He says it shouldn’t have just been Robert “walking through the woods with three of his friends holding spears hoping to meet a boar.” Martin’s point makes even more sense when you remember that Robert’s death was somehow orchestrated by Cersei, which apparently just means that it was her idea to get him as drunk as possible, and the way it’s depicted onscreen seems a little less… involved than some of the other schemes the Lannisters enacted.

Anyway, it will be interesting to see if House Of The Dragon continues to redo things that Game Of Thrones got wrong or could’ve done better—not that we have any specific examples in mind…