❝ If there was ever two people who deserved a happy ending, it would have been us. ❞
The Fates were against Malkym Thorne and Rhaenrya Targaryen from the start. No matter what decisions they made, or paths they took, it all lead to the same end. But...
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Hi guys!
Normally, I am not the type of writer to put author's notes at the end of my books, or even include these types of things cause it's not my style in the slightest, but I felt like I should come on here and explain some things and just clear up some questions that I have been getting.
As many of you know, I actually have only just finished Donna, and I have been super excited for you guys to read and see what I had planned for this. However, I've been getting a lot of questions on some of my decisions, so much so that I felt that I had to explain a couple of things so that it's a bit more clear than it is in the actual book.
Firstly, the reason that you do not know who Malkym's killer is, is simply because you are getting it from his POV. He dies before he sees his killer, and no one else is around. The reason I did this was actually because there could have been multiple people responsible for Malkym's death. As much as it's not acknowledge, Malkym has made a lot of enemies for himself. Not only is he married to the crown princess and set to be the king consort, a position which is highly coveted in its own right, he is also someone who has never once shied away from speaking his mind or getting into fights, something which he does quite often. That being the case, and Malkym having so many enemies, is the reason that his killer is left unknown. It's to show that it could have been anyone, it could have been someone he trusted or hated, he will never know nor will Rhaenyra, which will haunt her. It also allows for people to make their own inference into who might have killed him, and it sets up some points for Angela.
This leads onto my next point, why did Malkym die?
As I've just laid out, Malkym made a lot of enemies. He might have been good and kind, especially with Rhaenyra, but let's not forget that he's openly said, in front of court, that Alicent and Otto are spreading rumours about Rhaenyra, accused them of the highest of treasons, almost killed a King's Guard member on three separate occasions, married the Crown Princess, told the once heir (in summary) to go fuck himself, constantly got into fights, and that was all the things we saw him do. Malkym might have been good and kind, but at the end of the day, he was a liability to everyone but Rhaenyra and his family. If he were to live into the actual Dance of the Dragon, then he controls one of the most effective military houses in Westeros, has connections to the North through his mother and is also an incredibly talented fighter, who probably would have beaten Daemon at age 17, so imagine the carnage he would reap at age 30.
Malkym was always going to die, his death was written before I even published this book which is why in the blurb it talks about how they should have got a happy ending, how the Fates were against them and how they were always going to die.
The sum total of why is because even if he is good and kind to the people he loved, he was a loose cannon. It does not matter how kind you are, this show is about political struggles just as much as it is about the dragons and the wars. In a political sense, it was a perfectly good idea to get rid of Malkym. No matter how much we, as the readers and writer, loved him, he was never going to get a happy ending because of all of the reasons that were stated above. Quite frankly, he should probably have been cut down the moment he accused the queen of treason (which is most likely treason in itself). The queen and everyone else got away with all of their crimes because they were the queen and the hand of the king etc., Malkym never had that kind of respect or safety.
Honestly, I loved Malkym a lot, his character and his family were so much fun to write, but his actions have consequences, and these were the consequences.
The other thing to also note that this book is not one that follows the show directly. This is a prequel/prologue to an actual large series I'm writing which is a massive au from Game of Thrones. One of the books follows Coren Thorne, Makym's great, great nephew or something, so as much as I'm writing for a House of the Dragon fanfic, I'm also having to think about how this will tie in 130 ish years later down the line with the Game of Thrones fanfics, this book is connected to. As there is one of those already written, and the rest in a state of being written, I did need to change and manipulate some things to make it fit with that. Malkym's death was one of those, because he could not have lived for the other book to go ahead. That is the reason the epilogue starts to set up Coren, because Malkym had to die for Coren to live. Simple as that.
I'm really glad so many of you enjoyed the book, and loved Malkym as much as I did. He's such a lovely character, and his and Rhae's relationship is one that is very dear to me. There is a spin off book to this one, Dragons Dynasties, which has both Malkym and Rhae alive, and follows the 'what if they had a daughter?' question, and if I decide to write bonus chapters they will go up in Felix Felicis, which is the bonus chapters book. As mentioned previously, this book is part of my bigger Game of Thrones series which is Queen of Eternity, and Malkym's distant future relation is Coren Thorne in Angela.
I know that people are sad about his death, just know that I am too and as much as I would like to pay for your therapy bills, I've got my own to pay for and I'm also broke, because I'm a college student.
Hopefully, this clears everything up on the why the last two chapters were the way they were and if you have any more questions about plot choices that I made, please ask me :)
