David Benioff, Troy

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In the FS, Henry Creel is not just a monster. He is a deeply tragic, traumatized, and complex boy. You feel for him, you understand his pain, and you see the pure psychological horror of his mind. Then comes the second half of Season 5, and the show completely guts his character. They turned Henry - my favourite character- into a one-dimensional, monologuing Marvel villain standing in front of a green screen. The psychological horror was completely repleaced by cheap superhero tropes and forced comedic relief. There is zero horror tension. What hurts the most is that the main characters never learn about Henry's tragic past. They never try to save or redeem him. It's and insulted, wasted emotional arc.

Think about how insane and and dehumanized the show became by the end. In the series finale, Joyce Byers - who was Henry's hoght school classmate in the stage play - ends up brutally hacking him apart with an axe. She delievers 11 brutal axe strikes, completely decapitating him. Can you imagine actually sitting through and watching that level of cold, violence being treated like triumphant moment? Hnery's demise isn't treated like a tragedy; it's treated like a checklist item. Compare this to how GoT Season 8 handled Daenerys Targaryen. Daenerys committted unspeakable horrors and slaughtered millions of innocents people in King's Landing. Yet, when she met her end, tje story treated her death as a massive, devastating human tragedy. The framing, the music, and the weight of her fall remained true of the grim drama of the universe. ST, however, completely stripped Henry of his humanity and reduced his death to a gory, unfeeling spectacle.

In Season 2 and the stage play, the Mind Flayer was terrifying because it was a Lovecraftian, cosmic horror entity. It was an omnipresent mind, a dark entity that possessed and broke its victims from the inside out. You couldn't just punch it or shoot it. By the end of Season 5, they turned this brilliant, megabrain cosmic threat into a physical, giant CGI Kaiju monster that you can fight with flamethrowers and bombs. It destroyed the entire lore. They traded haunting psychological atmosphere for an unearned Avengers-style final fight.

This is why I literally cannot bring myself to watch the second half of Season 5. It feels like an insult to the characters and the tone set by the FS and Season 4. As fot The Lost Sister (2x07), I skip it for completely different reasons - it's just bizarre, useless, poorly written punk-cliché detour that has absolutely no place Hawkins mythos. I have never rewatched it and I never will.

I don't think I can critique George RR Martin's writing, he does a good job engaging the reader and writing complex characters with flaws and strengths and real reactions that vary. His world building is amazing and he isn't afraid of twisting the characters and making them hurt. I don't think I can say what he should or shouldn't have done and I like the things he has done, some more than others. And I love that he mixes it up. The difference from the Main Story to the historical style of Fire and Blood to the straightforward nature of Dunk and Egg, are very different ways of telling a story.

I'm not saying you're wrong or implying there's anything wrong with critiquing him! Analyzing writing is a whole class in schools at varying levels and I think it brings an appreciation for the writer and writing, I'm just not particularly good or interested in it. I can say what I don't like, usually his endings and I can agree he's a yapper, but I'm sure there's people who disagree, and thats kinda where I start feeling bad. When it comes to writing itself I feel bad critiquing it because not only am I a bad writer, I think there's someone who'll like it and someone who'll hate it.

I can't say whether he's against rewrites or revisions, I don't know him, but I have heard of the Original Draft(s) of the Main Story, you know where Jaime was gonna be King and Sansa was gonna have Joffrey's baby and Daenerys finds her eggs instead of is given them as gifts, and I have heard he didn't plan on including dragons coming back but was urged by his editor(?), I also know he collaborates with people on his writing, in things like "The World of Ice and Fire". None of that sounds like someone who doesn't like editing or revising or critiques. But I don't know him!

In reference to his works being adapted, I don't think there's anything wrong with being heavily involved, a good adaptation includes people who love the source material and want to speak with the writer/creator! With GRRM you have D&D, you have Ryan Condal and you have Ira Parker I believe? Of these, I wasn't around for the Game of Thrones Rise and Fall, as I was a teen who thought it was soooo nerdy and cringe, but from what I know he was giving them clues to his own plans and wasn't against the changes, such as Hodor and Shireen's burning, and the only things I've heard him say negatively, is saying Littlefinger would NEVER give Sansa to the Boltons. Though I've never looked for interviews intentionally. But if he were upset with the ending, I mean... its similar to House of the Dragon, with Ryan Condal, he is there and in I believe the blog post, you know the one, he mentions that when they brought up concerns, he had no problem making changes, like the armour for the DragonKeepers being too expensive. The problem read as more personal; he mentioned he's too old to fight and argue and I can't fault the guy, the changes to Fire and Blood are massive and unnecessary. The story is written in full, either you want to adapt it or you want to write your own story. It must feel disrespectful to give something you made and give grace, only for them to write you off as unimportant. The opposite is A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which he seems immensely proud of and may have even inspired him to write! I read he gave them more material to adapt for later seasons, whether this means he had unreleased short stories or he wrote more because of how good everything was I don't know but I hope its the latter, I hope he's refound the joy of writing that he seemed to have lost. Of course, I don't know if he has or hasn't been writing. Maybe he has and has just hated it!