Originally published on Joe.ie here.
When a popular novel or series gets adapted for the screen, the best and worst kind of fan is someone who has already read the book.
These fans can be better than a raven delivering good news, since they can help fans of the show gather a bit more context from the story. Jon Snow would definitely learn something from these.
Some stuff has to go
There’s always a number of things that get left out in page-to-screen adaptations – inner monologue, details about those far away lands or details that just didn’t make the final cut.
On the other hand, these fans of the book can be worse than a member of House Bolton at the Red Wedding , because they’ll probably point out every little thing that didn’t happen quite like it did in the books.
Surely these people should know that adapting the ‘A Song of Fire and Ice’ series into a television show is a challenge that’s bigger than The Wall itself.
The showrunners/maesters David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have already proven that they’re capable of adapting the books to the screen – but they have taken a few liberties along the way.
Entire characters have been cut from the show, while others see their storylines going in completely unexpected directions.
Not Hodor though. Hodor, Hodor, Hodor.
Here are some of the biggest changes that the writers have made to date – all the way up to the most recent episode.
Ageing up the Children
Of all the changes that the show has made, adding a few years to the ages of the younger characters makes the most sense.
Then again, seeing your old man decapitated and siblings murdered might make you look a few years older also.
In the first novel, ‘A Game of Thrones’, Robb Stark and Jon Snow are 14, Sansa Stark is 11, Arya is 9 and Bran is 7.
It’s not just in Winterfell where changes have been made. Joffrey Baratheon is 13, Myrcella Baratheon is 8, and Danenerys Targaryen is 13. Each one of these characters was aged up by around 5 years for the television show.
Plus, keeping these ages intact might have made that Daenerys and Khal Drogo’s wedding a bit weird.
The actors in the show are all older then their literary counterparts – something which, given the content of the show, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Strong Belwas
We do love all the violence and death in Game of Thrones but the show is also notable for it’s dark humour and funny one-liners.
The Hound and Arya were a great pairing, Podrick has this unexplained gift with women, while Tyrion deserves his own stand-up show.
The only exception has been Dany’s very serious journey so far. The poor girl seems like she has the weight of Meereen on her shoulders and dragons breathing fire down her neck. Oh wait.
In the books there’s a character who ignites Daenery’s life with a bit of humour – a gladiator named Strong Belwas, who joins Dany at the end of the second book.
Belwas is gruff, large and ruled primarily by his appetite – he’s essentially a medieval Homer Simpson.
It seems that the showrunners decided to cut him out because most of his big moments could easily be done by other characters.
Shame.
King Joffrey Baratheon
King Joffrey is pretty much a hateful d**k in both the show and the books.
The main difference though, is that in the book, Joffrey usually limits his most sadistic moments to any adorable creatures that come within his crossbow range.
Unlike other characters in the book, the most hated man in Westeros wasn’t a point-of-view character in the books, therefore, readers were not directly subjected to his horrible ways.
We really loved what Jack Gleeson did with the character in the show, he was sadistic, cruel and cowardly. You loved to hate him.
Naturally, we loved watching him choke to death as he resembled a smurf that was being strangled.
Jaime Lannister wasn’t at the Purple Wedding
Jaime’s early return to King’s Landing at the end of Season 3 confirmed one thing for book-readers: he was definitely going to be at the Purple Wedding.
We wonder if he sent a raven with this RSVP card?
While it was incredibly disturbing to the Westeros’ most unusual brother and sister couple ‘reuniting’ at their son’s wedding, this didn’t happened in the book.
Instead of seeing more of the Kingslayer’s adventures with Brienne, TV viewers were treated to a few extra episodes of Jaime sulking about King’s Landing while Cersei cringed at his golden hand.
In the books, Jaime and Cersei didn’t reunite until after Joffrey’s death and Cersei blamed him, in part, for not protecting their son.
Poor lad, looses his hand and now his sanity.
The Night’s King
Midway through Season 4, Game of Thrones had its first non-book scene. For fans, the reactions were mixed – people either loved it or hated it.
It was finally something new for book readers, and it confirmed what the White Walkers did with all those baby boys that were left outside of Craster’s Keep.
Others hated it because it wasn’t straight from the books, making it a very likely spoiler to a big plot point.
The scene served as a timely reminder that winter is coming because the Wights and White Walkers are still out there.
They’re getting even closer to the Wall.
The House of the Black and White
During her journey to Braavos, Arya befriended the whole crew of the ship that she was travelling on.
A girl is popular.
The House of the Black and White, the temple she arrives at, is open to everyone.
In the books, a man with a yellow skull for a face and a worm crawling out of his eye welcomes her to the temple.
In the show, she finds someone completely different.
The second episode of Season 5 saw the return of Jaqen H’ghar, the face-shifting fan favourite last seen in season 2.
As of A Feast for Crows, Jaqen H’ghar is in a completely different place (Oldtown in the Reach), so it was a little surprising to see him in Braavos – even if it was only for a minute.
A man is talented.
Sansa and Ramsay
In the later books of the Song of Ice and Fire series, Ramsay Snow marries an Arya Stark impersonator – making him the heir to Winterfell.
This storyline has changed in the latest episode of season five.
Littlefinger and his ever-changing Irish accent has decided that Sansa is going to marry Ramsay Snow, the cruellest bastard in the Seven Kingdoms.
Instead of protecting Sansa, Littlefinger plans on marrying the poor girl off to a man that chopped off her step-brother’s testicles.
Christmas dinner should be interesting.
Carcetti, John Boy, Lord Baelish claims that this move will allow Sansa to be in a position to finally avenge her family, though she doesn’t seem to be too convinced.
While Ramsay seems delighted at the idea of the marriage, Sansa doesn’t seem to think that it’s hunky dorey.
Whether or not they go through with the wedding still remains to be seen, but it’s looking increasingly likely.
The two characters, Ramsay and Sansa, never actually encounter each other in the books because Sansa remains in the Vale with Littlefinger.
Sansa will love living in the Dreadfort because it’s such a scenic place.
Jaime Goes to Dorne
Early on in Season 5, Cersei cracks the whip on her ‘brother-lover ‘ Jamie and asks him to go to Dorne to rescue his daughter Myrcella.
House Martell might tell us that they’re ‘unbowed, unbent, unbroken’ but Prince Oberyn got his eyes gouged out and his ass kicked by The Mountain. They want revenge.
Believing that his daughter Myrcella might meet the sharp end of a sword, he picks up a travel partner before he goes, the lovably gruff Bronn.
While his and Bronn’s first moments in Dorne don’t go according to plan, it has set up a storyline for him this season that is way more interesting then their book-counterparts; especially with the introduction of the Sandsnakes.
In the books, Jamie still gets sent away from King’s Landing but it’s far less interesting.
Like all angry sisters/girfriends, Cersei can’t stand the sight of him, so she arranges for him to be sent off on a peacekeeping mission.
He spends the majority of the fourth and fifth books trying to break the siege of Riverrun and maintaining the peace in the surrounding area.
Lady Stoneheart
One of the biggest differences between the show and the books occurred at the end of the third book, A Clash of Kings, when the Brotherhood without Banners stumble across the body of Catelyn Stark.
Beric Dondarion, the leader of the Brotherhood, sacrificed his life so Thoros of Myr could resurrect the matriarch of Winterfell.
After her resurrection, Catelyn took on the name Lady Stoneheart and made it her mission to get revenge on those she thought were responsible for the Red Wedding (namely to the Boltons and the Freys).
Imagine a pissed off and zombified version of The Bride meets Sarah Connor and you’re close to what’s going on.
Some fans felt that the end of Season 3 would be too early to introduce Lady Stoneheart.
She was only murdered one episode previously at the Red Wedding and her return might have taken away from her death.
Season 4 came around, and there was still no Stoneheart.
Ah shucks.
There was a lot of speculation that she would be appearing in Season 5, especially after Michelle Fairley was credited for a late-Season 5 episode on IMDB but the showrunners have since confirmed that Lady Stoneheart won’t be appearing in the show.