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All of Sara Hess's controversies and bad writing decisions, explained
Sara Hess is currently one of the most controversial writers working on House of the Dragon right now. Some people have been wondering why this is the case, so I have summarized all the reasons why a significant number of fans dislike her writing.
Hess admitted she doesn't care about following the source material
During an interview with IGN, Sara Hess revealed that she had never watched the original Game of Thrones series. She also insisted that her lack of familiarity with the GoT universe was actually a good thing, and that she didn't "feel loyalty to the story" anyways:
Hess's fixation on shipping Rhaenyra and Alicent
In the book, Alicent and Rhaenyra were never romantically involved with one another. They were characterized as mortal enemies waging a brutal war of succession. However, the TV adaptation has completely altered their relationship, portraying the two women as being madly in love. While this could've been an interesting dynamic, it fell flat in Season 2 - the final episode had Alicent literally agreeing to betray her entire family and have her own son murdered so she could pursue her crush on Rhaenyra. That episode was written by Sara Hess.
Sara Hess has been pushing the Rhaenicent romance narrative since Season 1. On her Twitter account, she's shared and praised articles about how Queen Alicent and Queen Rhaenyra "would rather co-rule Westeros".
Hess has also leapt at the opportunity to characterize the Alicent/Rhaenyra relationship as one of queer lovers:
Hess also happens to be queer in real life so that may explain her fixation on this unrequited love story fanfic and also including a random kissing scene with Mysaria.
Hess has an overwhelming fixation on the Rhaenyra/Alicent relationship, to the point where it negatively impacts the development and screen time that other characters receive. The Dance of the Dragons was written as a war between Rhaenyra and Aegon II, with Alicent's character diminishing in importance after Viserys dies. At this point in the story, the key players in the war should be the younger generation, such as Aemond, Aegon, and Jacaerys. Despite this, Hess insists that the story should continue to revolve around the Rhaenyra/Alicent relationship instead of the literal civil war going on. She says this during the S2E8 BTS at 10:55:
The dragonpit scene with Rhaenys in S1E9 was Hess's idea
Season 1 of HoTD was mostly well-written, with a few exceptions. One notable weak spot came at the conclusion of Episode 9, when Rhaenys interrupted Aegon's coronation by bursting through the floor on her dragon. This scene a TV-only invention as it never happened in book canon, and many viewers felt that it was only added in for the sake of spectacle. However, Sara Hess proudly took credit for it, saying it was her idea to add in an "awesome" dragon scene:
Fans disliked it because much of it was illogical - Rhaenys literally had the opportunity to kill all of the Greens and end the war right then, especially considering that Alicent had just imprisoned her. Fans also disliked how the show framed the scene as glorious and empowering, but Rhaenys had brutally massacred hundreds of innocent peasants during her grand entrance. Worst of all, Sara Hess laughed off the deaths of the smallfolk as completely insignificant during an interview:
Using characters as stand-ins for modern politicians
Speaking of Rhaenys, Sara Hess literally stated that she wrote the character as a representation of Hillary Clinton (lmao). In an interview with the LA Times, actress Eve Best revealed that Hess approached her and told her about this during her first day on set:
Weird comments about women who die in childbirth
Episode 6 of Season 1 (written by Sara Hess) includes yet another instance where the show refuses to follow what GRRM wrote in the book. In book canon, Laena Velaryon dies in childbirth, but Sara Hess and the showrunners insisted on changing that because it wasn't "badass" enough. They add in their own contrived scene where a heavily pregnant Laena walks off the birthing bed and commits suicide by dragon. In the post-episode interview at 3:55, Sara Hess literally explains that they didn't want Laena to die in childbirth because she was "a warrior" who couldn't "go out that way", implying that women who die in childbirth aren't strong, interesting, or badass:
Weird comments about women who gain weight after pregnancy
In the book, Rhaenyra is described as a plus-size woman. Other characters with larger body types include Viserys, Helaena, and Aegon II. However, Sara Hess specifically takes issue with the book description of Rhaenyra as having gained weight after pregnancy, implying that it was a lie made up by misogynistic historians:
Why is it so unbelievable to Sara Hess that Rhaenyra might gain weight after birthing five children and going through six pregnancies?
The PhilosophyTube Transgender cameo and Sharako Lohar
The final episode of Season 2 (again, which was written by Sara Hess) was subject to immense amounts of criticism. One of the most disliked parts of the episode was the introduction of Admiral Sharako Lohar - in a season finale that already featured no important battles or plot developments, a third of the episode runtime was spent on this new character that nobody was emotionally invested in. Even worse, the character's actress was a literal YouTuber with unconvincing acting skills that just got cast because she was transgender.
Well, Sara Hess had no idea that the audience would overwhelmingly dislike all of the Admiral Lohar stuff, and she seriously thought we we would love it. In an Episode 8 behind-the-scenes interview at 1:34, she talks about how she literally thinks it would be a "highlight" of the season and a "welcome bit of fun". This is how out-of-touch her writing is with regard to what fans actually want to see:
