GOT TV Show The Reason 'Mercy' Was Released

[Mourneblade]

Polliver was the one who killed Lommy in the show (because the show merged Polliver and Raff). In the books, it was Raff the Sweetling, while Polliver just took Needle.

Also, in the book, Sandor killed Polliver and Arya killed Tickler, but in the show, Tickler was dead since season 2, since Arya used her first Jaqen kill on him. It's just a consequence of the show cutting down on the number of minor characters (in the books, Arya has Tickler, Polliver and Raff on her list, and has Jaqen kill Chyswick, but the show limited Gregor's creeps to Polliver and Tickler) and I think they dealt with it well.

Agreed.

[mushroomshirt]

Link? That would be huge if true.

I had to go back a ways, but here it is.

(plus a link to the original post / thread)

As a bonus I found the original not-a-blog post on the subject. (yes I was worried that I made this up in my own mind!)

From the link:

Yesterday, George R. R. Martin released an early excerpt of The Winds of Winter, Book 6 in his Song of Ice & Fire series. It’s a Theon Greyjoy chapter, one that George admits takes place before certain finishing chapters in A Dance With Dragons. This excerpt should appear early in The Winds of Winter.

[acosta]

The outcome of the three battles was telegraphed anyway. The only real cliffhangers are is Jon really dead and is Davos actually going to succeed in coming back with Rickon and Osha and Shaggydog?

[Illusive_Man]

GOT Season 4 Episode 1 and WOW Mercy Chapter Spoiler Warning

The show has changed around Arya's kills quite a bit.

1) Harrenhall: In the show Jaqen kills the guards for Arya so she can head out

in the book she drops the iron coin and slits the guard's throat herself.

2) Tickler: In the show Jaqen kills the tickler for her. While in the book she catches him in the tavern and turns his back into ground beef while asking him the same torture questions he asked his victims. But this means she doesnt get to do this in the show

3) TV Show coin kill: Arya spots Frey's bragging about sewing Greywinds head to Rob and uses the coin trick on them instead of the guard.

4) Raff the Sweetling: In the Mercy chapter released from WoW Arya lures Raff in and perfectly leads him into the "you'll have to carry me line" to avenge Lommy.

5) TV Show Season Premier (SPOILER) Arya avenges Lommy by killing Raff in the tavern instead of killing him in Braavos (Since the Tickler was killed off early). So the show showed a vengeance kill from a book not yet published to replace the Tickler kill from the book. This leads me to believe Martin released the Mercy chapter to beat the show to the Raff kill. This makes it the first case of a conflict where the show reveals a scene not yet published (granted the setting is different).

I am pretty sure it was Polliver she killed in the tavern in Season 4 Episode 1.

http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Polliver

[The Dragon has three heads]

Man, disappointments galore. I thought I might watch this season, but now I don't know. I hope this season doesn't overlap too much with new stuff cause I'll probably end up watching it just to see the purple wedding. I'm VERY concerned for how Oberyn and Gregor's fight is gonna turn out. The book was freaking epic.

This attitude perplexes and vexes me.

You're not cool because you don't watch the show.

Pfft.

[Talking Hodor]

In Tyrion's introduction to Oberyn in the books he thinks about how it's rumored that Oberyn hooked up with men and women, but there's never an on page confirmation. I guess HBO took the same subtlety avoiding route it did with Loras and Renly.

Jaime threatened to shove a sword into some dark place in Loras that even Renly couldn't find if he didn't stop threatening Brienne. I think the books were pretty clear about them. I don't think GRRM relishes writing graphic gay sex scenes, but he certainly mentions it. Oberyn being a, uh, pansexual (fucks anything that moves) along with his paramour is also made pretty clear in the books.

[Red Raven]

One of the Second Sons is having a ferocious makeout session with his boyfriend right before the Meereen battle but, yeah, unless it's girl-on-girl GRRM doesn't give much detail. This is why I'm thankful to the show: it gives some equal time.

Oberyn being a, uh, pansexual (fucks anything that moves) along with his paramour is also made pretty clear in the books.

Yup. Clear as a bell to me.

[Stephen Richter]

Yes, in my opinion Mercy was released because of the show. If I read the piece correctly a huge spoiler was hidden within the text, but only teased out after many rereads.

[DrunkSister]

Yes, in my opinion Mercy was released because of the show. If I read the piece correctly a huge spoiler was hidden within the text, but only teased out after many rereads.

I don't watch the show, what was the spoiler?

[YouKnowNothingJonSnow]

The outcome of the three battles was telegraphed anyway. The only real cliffhangers are is Jon really dead and is Davos actually going to succeed in coming back with Rickon and Osha and Shaggydog?

True enough. Though I am still ticked about Dance not having a propoer ending to any of the arcs, when the whole reason for the split was supposedly so those arcs could have their own book SO THEIR ARCS COULD BE COMPLETED!

Agree 100% the GRRM realized the backlash (which was entriely justifiable) and released a flurry of chapters to try and make up for it. Which it did, a little. But certainly not completely.

The Battle of Fire, the Battle of Winterfell, and Jon's fate at the Wall should have all been in Dance.

[Mourneblade]

True enough. Though I am still ticked about Dance not having a propoer ending to any of the arcs, when the whole reason for the split was supposedly so those arcs could have their own book SO THEIR ARCS COULD BE COMPLETED!

Agree 100% the GRRM realized the backlash (which was entriely justifiable) and released a flurry of chapters to try and make up for it. Which it did, a little. But certainly not completely.

The Battle of Fire, the Battle of Winterfell, and Jon's fate at the Wall should have all been in Dance.

I personally hate cliffhangers but Jon's was perfect. All the fan speculation etc, has been awesome.

[Humbler_than_anyone]

I kind of had the feeling he did it to show who still does it better. At least I came to the

conclusion after watching the scene in the first episode. It was a good enough scene and should show a powerful moment for the character but there was no comparison to

the Mercy chapter imo. I got a ton more emotions out of that chapter than I did from the scene.

And on the matter who came up first with the idea....I mean GRRM said he wrote that chapter a decade ago. i tend to believe him and don't think he needs the show to writehis dialogues.

[mimsy187]

I'm not sure what to think, because we don't know where the Mercy chapter is at in the books. In a 1500 page book , if Mercy is towards the end, then hell yeah, maybe she's on her own now! =) I asked myself the same thing after reading it, and was kinda hoping she was on her own somehow.

[Arry Lannister]

I'm kinda surprised that no one's mentioning the abundance of cock touching in the Mercy chapter and Arya french-kissing a grown man. Kinky chapter indeed :cool4:

[Talking Hodor]

I'm kinda surprised that no one's mentioning the abundance of cock touching in the Mercy chapter and Arya french-kissing a grown man. Kinky chapter indeed :cool4:

Well, she's gotta whip it out in order to slice it off (or skewer it). There are a whole lot of arteries down there. The kinkiness was a side effect. No grown man is gonna let just anybody mess around with his junk, after all.

[Vespaer]

No grown man is gonna let just anybody mess around with his junk, after all.

There's a "Nobody" joke in here somewhere...

[Sandy Clegg]

So we think GRRM has let the show writers read all that he's written up till now for TWOW? Is that it?

[Mourneblade]

So we think GRRM has let the show writers read all that he's written up till now for TWOW? Is that it?

I'm sure they have read all his notes as well.

[Baelor Swyft]

I'm curious what this may mean for future releases. If Winds still isn't out at the end of S5 and they're dipping into Winds material, will George be releasing chapters to stay ahead? Heck, he can release the entire book one chapter at a time. Set up a monthly fee like Netflix. Make a whole lot more money that way.

Yes. My question is - did D&D come up with that kill and getting Polliver to say the "you'll have to carry me" and GRRM liked it so he used it in the Mercy chapter - or did GRRM write the Mercy chapter and tell them about it (probably in brainstorming how to replace her kill of the Tickler in the inn) so they decided to use it on the show?

My money is on the former, but wouldn't be surprised either way.

When George released the Mercy chapter, he explained on his blog that it was an extremely old chapter. He first drafted it 10 years ago as Arya's first post-5 year gap chapter, then it was slated for Feast, then Dance, then finally they pushed it to WInds. So it's highly unlikely D&D came up with the kill. Besides, that wouldn't make a whole lot of sense for D&D to have come up with it. Sure George can be a troll, but I don't think he's anywhere near huge enough of a dick to be like "Hey, you guys came up with a really cool scene. I'm going to steal it and release it before you so everyone thinks I came up with it!" That'd be psychotic,

[Heir to Winterfell]

I think this bodes well for GRRM not allowing the show to overtake the books if he can help it. He wants his version out before the show and this strenghtens my resolve in beleiving WoW will be out before S5.