11 Reasons to Read the Books

[Stark11]

It amazes me how people will go out of their way to tear apart a scene (Jons death for example) but won't look at it from the other perspective for one second simply because (while whining like a baby)"it didn't happen in the book that way." [emoji30]

Where is ghost? Out hunting maybe, like he does in the books and show. Locked up? In the books Jon locks him up because he thinks he lashing out against the wildling (I think). The show has already shown that Jon keeps Ghost locked up (S4E9), although not all time like early in season 5 when Melisandre visits him. Simple explanation, that for some reason people can't think of.

Where's Edd or Davos? Eating in their quarters? Sleeping? Maybe Edd is on top of the wall. Maybe Davos is talking with Melisandre. Maybe their both on top of the wall. The show doesn't need to explain everything.

Why have Olly stab him, instead of political reasons? This is a bit more complicated but really once they they didn't have Sansa escape by episode 9, there was no Pink Letter moment for Jon to give a speech to go South and fight. My personal belief is that in the book and show the NW made up their minds they were gonna kill Jon as soon as he let the Wildlings through the wall. So just like in the book, the NW used another to event to cover the real reason they liked Jon.

Now the Thorne letting him through the wall is kinda dumb. I can't see what they were thinking there, other than dramatic reasons. My only thought is he didn't want Jon to possibly raise another Wildling army against him so he lets the small amount there through.

We could go on and on about the other points people have made with that scene but I don't want to start a blog.

Point being -- You use your imagination while reading the books and watching the show. Maybe you should use it once to answer your questions about all the "stupid" scene decisions Dan and Dave make.

I like the article. A couple of the points may still come up in the show, but not in depth like the book, obviously.

[Greymoon]

Good article, I agree with most of it. Especially considering the omitted characters and plot-holes.

.... don't get me wrong. I understand the arguments of time, budget and different medias. But many of the major changes in season 4 and five, could have been avoided. For example, Bran's arc beyond the wall and his unnecessary stay at Craster's keep...if introducing Coldhands was a problem, why not just have Jojen lead the way to the three eyed crow, in a much more simpler travelogue. Lay it thick on the physiological angle, on the despair, the cold and the hunger, and you have the stuff of a psycho-thriller. Mind-control and cannibalism are two recurrent themes in Bran's arc... to render that plot (sans Coldhands) more interesting, wouldn't have required a lot of money, just a great deal of good directing. They could even have added a few Others and find a way to show us the city of the undead or whatever that was, without going to Craster's keep. 

What made the stay at Craster's keep necessary for Bran's arc? What made the whole sequence of Craster's keep necessary at all?  It cost money, it required casting more actors and it served no purpose, but to add more violence and yet another failed meeting between Jon and Bran.... that's clearly the work on people pressed for time, that had to make a decision because of production schedule and went with the best suggestion they had... but it makes little sense.

Similarly, I question the decision to take the story to the vale in the first place, if that particular plot point was never going to be fully explored. That's the thing. The adaptation costs money, no one denies that. But clearly, some of the choices the show runners made have not been thought through completely. They shouldn't have bothered with the Vale if the end-goal was to have Sansa in Winterfell. Really. That's just wasting money they could have used on another character arc. You either go a completely different direction, or you follow the books. But this strange thing of doing things half and half, isn't working.

Others have already pointed out that thing with Thorne and Jon Snow.... I mean... Where are Jon's ships? Shouldn't they have landed at East-Watch? How come Jon suddenly finds himself before the gates of Castle Black and on the wrong side of the wall, no less?