Game of Thrones may thrill millions every week, but a small proportion of die-hard fans, buffs of George R.R. Martin’s original novels, blanch every time the HBO series dares to make a change to the sacred text.
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the differences are larger and more common than might be expected. even before the show reached the books, it had diverged in several important respects.
1. talisa / jeyne meets a grim fate
in the most infamous scene in game of thrones, the red wedding, perhaps the most viscerally horrific moment came when robb’s young wife, talisa (jeyne westerling in the books), was stabbed to death through her very pregnant belly.
You are reading: Differences between game of thrones show and books
In the books, robb makes the sensible decision not to take jeyne to the wedding, and she survives, but the show’s talisa wasn’t so lucky. even in this most brutal moment, talisa’s graphic fate was perhaps the most shocking.
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2. lady heart of stone
Despite fans’ certainty that Lady Stoneheart would appear several times throughout the series, the show has thus far abandoned this particular theme.
In the books, the mysterious Lady Stoneheart takes charge of the band of outlaws once led by Beric Dondarrion, eventually revealed to be none other than a resurrected and vengeful Catelyn Stark.
it would be great to have michelle fairley back on the show (even in heavy makeup, since she’s supposed to have had her throat slit and her eyes gouged out with claws upon seeing her son’s murder), but she looks like a lady stoneheart remains only on the page for now.
3. Jaime is taken to Dorne
one of the big changes in season five was sending jaime and bronn to dorne, in an act of streamlining that allowed the series to avoid introducing a host of new characters without having established figures to anchor them.
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It didn’t work out so well, as the Dornish scenes were by far the most disappointing aspect of the season, and the show may have been better off sticking with introducing Arianne Martell as a major new actor.
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Arianne’s omission also means we’ll miss out on the fearsome Darkstar warrior and a Dornish plot to crown Myrcella, leading to her taking a sword to the face and losing an ear.
The series may have taken a different route, but it still didn’t end well for Jaime’s offspring, as he suffered a poison kiss from Ellaria’s sand.
4. sansa suffers the fate of jeyne poole
One of the most controversial changes the series made was merging Sansa’s story with Jeyne Poole’s.
In the books, Jeyne was Sansa’s childhood friend from Winterfell, and she’s the one forced to marry and put up with Ramsay Bolton after her scheming father Roose convinces the kingdom that she’s actually Arya. stark, in an effort to legitimize the rule of the northern boltons.
Combining stories to bring more characters together isn’t a bad idea on principle, but by also transferring Jeyne’s rape and abuse to Sansa, the show not only transformed Sansa’s story into something drastically different from the books, but which also provided more ammunition. for those who feel the show relies too heavily on rape as a plot element.
5. mance rayder dies – like, really
mance rayder’s death in the series is exactly like in the books, except in the books, he doesn’t actually die…
Having been burned at the stake and put out of his misery by the mercy of Jon Snow’s arrow, it later emerges in the books that the victim was not Mance at all, but rather the savage General Rattleshirt, whom Melisandre had used disguise magic.
mance (himself hidden as rattlesnake shirt) is then instrumental in theon’s escape from the boltons at winterfell. But even if you look at the burning scene very closely, there’s absolutely no indication of such deception on the show, and Mance appears to be one of several characters to bite the dust before on television.
6. being a barristan bites the dust
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another character whose demise is anticipated in the show is the old gentleman ser barristan selmy, who was killed by the sons of the harpy in season five.
barristan is still alive and well as far as published books go, and in fact, after danaerys disappears on the back of drogon, barristan becomes one of the leading figures in meereen, pretty much running the town in absence of the queen.
Barristan is perhaps unlikely to survive the book series anyway, and unless george rr martin has something drastic planned for him in the winds of winter, his untimely death on the show shouldn’t be much of a deterrent, and it certainly gave book readers a rare surprise to enjoy.
7. jojen reed kicks the bucket
another early disappearance is somewhat more problematic. jojen reed met his end in the season four finale, but given his importance to bran in the books (his prophetic dreams drive much of this story line and likely will continue to do so), it seemed like an odd decision to kill him. >
This was the first major kill the show achieved that wasn’t in the books, and at least that divergence made it a lot easier for fans to see the two different versions of this story: books and TV. series – as completely separate.
8. aegon targaryen lives
One of the most surprising developments in book five, 2011’s A Dance With Dragons, was the revelation that Prince Aegon Targaryen was alive.
Reportedly thrown against a wall down the mountain as a baby, Aegon was, at least apparently, taken in secret by Varys and placed in the hands of several trusted allies to educate him in the ways of the world and to prepare him to recover the throne of house targaryen.
the presence of another targaryen not only further muddies the line of succession to the iron throne (dany may not be too pleased), but also gives us a proper answer as to what varies and his plans have been in aid of all this time.
However, it appears that may have been too far along in development for the show, as there is no indication that the series will cover it.
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