#I'd tag Sara too she's scriptwriter after all

[greenaswildfire]

Alright, here be some additional thoughts of mine regarding Martin's post and HBO's answer to him

Summary:

he knew the risks from the start.

he warned us he would write a post about.

Martin posted his opinion

The post was weirdly taken down, apparently by HBO's request.

Lets see now:

Martin knows from the start that HBO needs him way more than the opposite. Even more now with Warner's huge debt, they NEED these spinoffs to succeed. And do we really think that spinoffs like Aegon's Conquest and 10K ships will be successful with Warner's restrictions for budget and number of episodes? And one more thing: with these limitations, do we really think the success tends to increase from now on? Maybe for Aegon's Conquest and tko7k, but I don't see the same level of interest for shows like 10K ships, or the animations for Yi Ti and Corlys voyages. The average viewer is Targaryen simp, they won't be that interested in a show where Valyrians/Targaryens are the villains (they can't stand Rhaenyra being villain, let alone her ancestors!), or in any other show that has no valyrian/targaryen. Maybe Martin is aware of the implications in the long run and that's why he decided to finally talk, before it's too late.

A predator doesn't warn his prey when he's going to strike. But George warned us beforehand that he planned to voice his concerns about hotd. Why would he do it, when he could have simply dropped the myopinion-bomb and left? Being impredictable is an advantage in most cases and maybe HBO would have taken longer to act if they weren't aware of the fact George would write something. But he warned us. And HBO by extension. Maybe I'm overthinking, but thinking back now, his warning sounds strategical, almost like: "here, I'm telling you that I do want to write the post, but if I don't, it's because something happened and I was silenced".

He finally posts his opinion. Dunno whether or not his post was published before or after the podcast episode, and if the podcast was posted after, not even HBO believed he would indeed write about it and was forced to come up with smokes and mirrors to dissipate the chaos. It was so unexpected that HBO even answered his post. Why would you, a huge-ass company bother to answer a mere post NOW of all times? It's not the first time Martin writes about his opinions on hotd and they kept radio silent. Why now? All this "getting defensive so easily" behavior reeks of damage control, they KNOW they messed up big time.

Now what I'm really interested to know: who was the one to actually take down the post? We've got two options:

HBO: They were caught off-guard and given they're so desperate for money they def CANNOT afford ANY kind of backlash or criticism (we all know what they're doing with some youtube videos which did not bootlicked S2 :D) they sharply questi-*cof* asked him to delete the post.

Martin: well, the author himself wrote a post warning us that he would write his opinion. You can't convince me that a man who created Tywin Lannister and Doran Martell wouldn't be able to come up with such strategy (a good one, for that matter!). Martin warned us he would write it, left the post there for a bit and then deleted it because he knew that we would blame a certain big company right away, he had alerted us that he would write a post, right? And somehow the post is gone?? Our first instinct is jest about "HBO calling him and threatening him". Regardless of the options I presented, Warner ends up as the villain anyway, losing market value, Martin strikes them exactly where it hurts the most: reputation, which makes harder to get money. A risky move that could bite George in the ass, surely, but nothing that a "sorry George, I'll stick to the source material, forgive me" doesn't fix. Doran Martell level of masterplan, ladies and gents. (if my delirious thoughts are correct, that is)

And one more thing: why would they care about Martin "spreading S3 spoilers" if Condall said somewhere (an interview, iirc) that he was still writing S3? In theory nothing is set on stone yet, right? Unless Hel's death happens in the first episodes of S3, there's nothing to be spoiled about her death because there's nothing written about this part yet, right, Condall? Loose lips sink ships. Here George, use this argument in your defense if HBO tries to sue you. If HBO did force him to delet the post, it wasn't because of spoilers, it was because they were butthurt. Simple as that.

My last two cents for now:

I guess Martin chooses Helaena to talk about first because Helaena is more or less the only thing both sides sort of agree about. It would be easier to unite the fandom through Helaena in order to help him prove his point than, yk, the other women in this so-called adaptation. And it kinda worked, I don't know if it was a coincidence, but Hel's actress shared a stories of the gameofthrones page, and the first image was Helaena's and I take it as a silent gesture of hers that she agrees. Take if with a grain of salt, ofc, I'm always overanalyzing my hyperfixations, you don't need to take me seriously.

Just watch how Condal and Hess now ruin hotd on purpose. Poor Helaena, she'll be the first to fly through the moon door.

Have a nice day \o/