Elimeny

Such an excellent point! And as someone else stated before, it's good to keep in mind that Martin is working with everyone as well, so he must give some sort of approval for each change. It helps that he has experience writing TV, so he knows the sacrifices that must be made. But aside from that, I mentioned earlier that I think the TV adaptation is a great opportunity for Martin to show different sides of his characters. I first noticed this in season 1, with the way Cersei was portrayed. I found myself unable to hate her - suddenly there was more story to her, and she was a much more interesting character. This episode gave me the same perspective on Tywin. There's a part of me that truly believes every time some seemingly strange changes are made to characters that Martin wanted to give us a different perspective on them. Though I doubt very few loved Tywin, I definitely had a certain level of respect for him. The books made it too easy to hate him, and I really feel like the TV renditions are changing him. Martin's characters have always been complex and rendered in shades of gray instead of black and white. But the show is doing an even better job of furthering those shades. I'm a lover of character development, and the folks at HBO have done an incredible job at this. I don't particularly mind the added scenes because they provide more depth to the character - such as the Joff/Ros scene. Joff was a bit young in the books for us to see just how his cruelty would develop. I feel they did a good job of taking advantage of the fact that he's aged up in the series - so we can see what the book!Joff would have been like had he been just a few years older. Besides, I always wondered what would have happened if Tyrion had gotten around to sending a few whores over for Joff. I thought it would be a great idea. That scene helped me answer one of the great imaginative "what ifs" I had while reading the book.

Honestly, the strongest "vitriol" I've seen in this thread has been towards people expressing disappointment over some of the changes - not from the people expressing disappointment themselves. I'm actually pleasantly surprised by how understanding most people are being about the necessary deviations. My TV does have an "off" button, this is true - but your browser also has a close button. Let's be honest - one of the best parts about watching the shows after reading the books is pointing out the deviations. It's a lot of fun. It's like we get to enjoy the story the show presents us, as well as relive and remember the book version as well. It does help to think of them as two separate but similar story lines, yet at the same time, the major plot points should at least try and stay the same. Every time they make a change that could have serious butterfly effects, I raise an eyebrow and think "Oh, it will sure be fun to see how they fix THAT." Thanks to all the folks who mentioned that Jaken states that "the red god must have his due" in the books, because I had forgotten that. I suppose next week we will see more clearly what they are doing and it can be discussed more then. What I found interesting about the non-peach Renley/Stannis scene, is that I actually felt Renley seemed more stressed than Stannis. Perhaps when I read the books, I perceived Stannis as an even harder man. This really bothered me at first, and then I shrugged and decided it was just a different take, and that's okay too.

In regards to the comments about people complaining about how the show does not match up with the book, and how they should essentially STFU, let me say this. I usually tell my friends that it is better to see the movie on which a book is based before reading the book. The book is always better than the movie; Imagination has no budget. The movie doesn't ruin the book, it's rather the other way around. I have no problem with them combining various scenes and characters where needed in order to make the show work. I also don't particularly mind them adding scenes in order to give more background to characters. I sometimes wonder if Martin is particularly complicit in them, thinking that perhaps the reaction to some of his characters was not as he had expected, and therefore wants them to add scenes to give a different take on a character (i.e. Cersei, season 1). However, what concerns me are butterfly effects. Let us take, for example, the shadowbaby birthing scene. I don't mind necessarily that they are combining the deaths of renley and the steward (? can't remember the name) of Storms' End - except, was it made clear that they were AT Storms' End? Because if so, I missed that. And that's important, because Melisandre had to be smuggled into the gates of Storms' End due to "old protective enchantments" on Storms' End, similar to those at the Wall, both perhaps built by Bran the Builder. And I think this may become important later on down the line in the series. In the episode, Melisandre didn't even explain about the enchantments, and that concerns me. In the previous episode, they cut out Shireen entirely, and I think she will also become more important later in the series, due to her greyscale. The fact that they appear to be making Arya the cupbearer for Tywin would be okay, except that I'm wondering how they are going to handle the three deaths she is granted? If she doesn't serve under Weese, if there's no weasel soup... again, I'm just thinking about the butterfly effects. I am particularly concerned about next week's episode due to the preview. In the preview, Jaken H'quar states that he is a servant of Rhilor. Either they are changing the story line, or they are actually telling us something that hasn't been disclosed in the book series yet (or he's just outright lying).

Thank you so much for all the information you compile. Half the joy in reading these books comes from exploring the citadel and wiki and forums to get more information. Were it not for these resources, I probably would have given up on this series out of pure confusion! (I started with audiobooks, an it's very difficult to go back an reference things when confused, and there's no appendix!) Great job.