[BOOK SPOILERS] Changes from book to screen

[Corvinus85]

I wish they would have done the duel between Ser Waymar and the Other with emphasis on the sound the clash of blades made, different from regular steel on steel, and totally horrifying.

Still, I think they might have touched on this when the Other decapitated Gared. The sound his sword made was similar to typical Hollywood sounds made when a sword is drawn out of its scabbard. Or was it just exaggerated sound effects with no connection to the Other's magical sword?

[Orison]

My guess is that they just don't want to spoil what the Others will actually look like, and at a later date there will be a host of Others which like what we expect them to look like.

[Orison]

The major difference that I dislike is that Will tells Ned that he saw the Others. I think in the book Gared has dementia or is too shaken to give Ned any accurate description of what happened. This change, to me at least, kind of makes Ned look like someone who isn't listening to Will. I can see why they did this, it sets up immediately that Others haven't been seen for thousands of years and that no one believes they exist, but at the same time it makes Ned look a bit incompetent in my mind. This way it looks like he kills Will because he lied to Ned about what happened, instead of just because he's a deserter. That's the feeling I got at least.

Also I second the poster who thinks that they execute Will instead of Gared because Will looks like better. This especially true given this change in the storyline. It would be harder to believe from Gared that he was too frightened to return to the wall, while Will looks scared from the very beginning.

[Elrick]

I noticed Cat isn't as beautiful as I imagined nor did the kids have red hair like in the books. Ahh well I still think the cast is great and many times I've caught myself envisioning Bran with dark hair rather than red.

I like some of the changes they've made (from what little I've seen at least) it doesn't bother me because it offers a new glimpse that is unique from the book.

I would like to add that the others are also called the white walkers in the books but the most common wording is the others. I kind of wondered why this is because white walker sounds much more chilling.

[Cyclone49]

Actually, I'm pretty sure it's only Sansa and Robb that have red hair in the books - Arya, Bran and Rickon are all brown-haired like their father.

[Lady Blackfish]

Nah in the books, all trueborn Starklings but Arya have auburn hair. I didn't really get a great look at what Rickon's hair color was, but Bran's is dark enough that I can just imagine it a very dark reddish brown, which is what auburn technically is.

[Cyclone49]

Oh, really? I was sure Bran at least had brown hair. Shows what I know, I guess. :D

Rickon's looked a lightish brown, though kids that age tend to have lighter hair than when they're older anyway.

[Ran]

LB,

I think you're right about what's going on with Catelyn as far as what the writers have been doing with that line and others, which we've discussed before. Sympathetic little woman ... yeah. I think it's a very strange detour that they take, because she's more-or-less back to how she is in the books with episode 3 and on. Some nuances do remain lost, as they simplify certain events, certain relationships, but that's something that happens to just about all the characters -- they can't possibly fit that all in.

[Axon]

Yeah, I get that "slow build-up of suspense" isn't done that much on TV any more, especially for something that needs to grab a new audience. But that's another rant altogether. :rolleyes:

But I was wondering what those of us who've read the books made of this change in the Others' White Walkers' modus operandi. You say "necromancy"; do you think that we're to assume that the arrangement of the bodies was part of the process of making a wight?

One detail I did quite like was how "clean" the severing of the body parts was — that's a good way to indicate the supernatural sharpness of the Others' blades.

As cool as that idea is, I think you're reading into something that isn't intended to have any meaning...other than being friggin' creepy.

[Areo]

I agree with the ideas as to why it was Will and not Gared that survived. For me, Gared was something like an icon of the NW - old, experienced, dirty, ragged, not easily frightened. So his desertion and degradation made quite an impact on me as I was reading for the first time. I don't think the actor playing Gared could have achieved the same result. Will did enough to set the tone for the whole thing, so I approve of this change.

[Paul H]

My thoughts:

-Ser Waymar was just as cocky as he should have been though there was no reason why. Couldn't we have had at least the "my first ranging won't be a failure" line?

-Will and Gared were there. Missed Will the tree climber.

-The Others/White Walkers basically seemed like the Uruk-Hai out of the Tolkien books. They are supposed to be made of ice and snow.

-Little girl wights are scary.

-Would have been scarier in the dark

-No snow at winterfell or the beheading?

-Who is the fat man supposed to be? Not Ser Rodrick surely.

-I would have preferred the previous Cat actress.

-Bran's hair needs to be redder.

-Not enough theon.

[alguien]

I did wonder if the symbol of body parts (circle with a slash through it, looked kind of like an eye) had any significance to the books or just a detail they added to up the creepy factor. (which worked for me, btw)

[Alcarin]

My thoughts:

wrong changes in my opinion

-Change Gared to Will.......

-Let Will see beheading of Gered and still let him go.......

*should add a sign in style of ''Winterfell'' ''X days later'' when they show scene after Wall to establish fact they are far away

good changes

-Starting scene on departure from Wall(looked impressive and added to atmosphere

-The girl was creepy

[nevermore]

In the book prologue everything was a lot scarier because it was in the dark, it grabbed your attention slowly, i think the 15 minutes would've been better off getting the exact dialogue and scenes right rather than rushing off for winterfell. also i believe it was a bit of a mistake to show the wall straight away before people had even talked about it, it is gonna lose some of it's mystique when Jon is going over there. anyway even with what i think are errors, it is good work, but i'm worried if they will lose some more detail down scaling the book because the whole prologue bit felt way rushed in the TV series. maybe i'm becoming one of those people who i hate who nitpick over everything :|.

[Lady Blackfish]

Some nuances do remain lost, as they simplify certain events, certain relationships, but that's something that happens to just about all the characters -- they can't possibly fit that all in.

Oh yeah, I understand that. Actually on that note I'm kind of pleased, in the books she never had interactions with Sansa and Bran, but HBO is giving us those, and that's something I've complained about before in w.r.t. the books. I just feel like there's a lot you can do even without giving a character more screentime to remain faithful to the personalities, if you're going to bother to show them at all. I'm pretty open to changes, even simplifications of the plot, but characterization is probably going to be my bugbear. I don't really mind if a character gets more nuanced, as they perhaps seem to be doing with Cersei, but less nuanced is not a direction I like. I'm glad to hear she gets more like herself later on though, but I do wish they could've established how she behaves with her family (especially her husband) and around her natural setting in "normal" times.

Just to add, I really enjoyed Michelle Fairley's performance and thought she looked lovely.

-Who is the fat man supposed to be? Not Ser Rodrick surely.

Yeah that's Rodrik, he did seem a bit out of shape for a master-at-arms, but I suppose just because he trains men doesn't really mean he's fit himself.

Personally I couldn't care less that Gared and Will changed places, the only thing that concerns me about the prologue are the things that relate to the mechanisms of how the Others operate.

[Alcarin]

In the book prologue everything was a lot scarier because it was in the dark, it grabbed your attention slowly, i think the 15 minutes would've been better off getting the exact dialogue and scenes right rather than rushing off for winterfell. also i believe it was a bit of a mistake to show the wall straight away before people had even talked about it, it is gonna lose some of it's mystique when Jon is going over there. anyway even with what i think are errors, it is good work, but i'm worried if they will lose some more detail down scaling the book because the whole prologue bit felt way rushed in the TV series. maybe i'm becoming one of those people who i hate who nitpick over everything :|.

I dont think you are becoming one of them really. You gave perfectly valid opinions as did i... Problem is some people just go against anyone who will say some critiques over the book adaptation.

Im sure we will both enjoy the show nontheless.

[Tywin's bastard]

In the book prologue everything was a lot scarier because it was in the dark, it grabbed your attention slowly, i think the 15 minutes would've been better off getting the exact dialogue and scenes right rather than rushing off for winterfell. also i believe it was a bit of a mistake to show the wall straight away before people had even talked about it, it is gonna lose some of it's mystique when Jon is going over there. anyway even with what i think are errors, it is good work, but i'm worried if they will lose some more detail down scaling the book because the whole prologue bit felt way rushed in the TV series. maybe i'm becoming one of those people who i hate who nitpick over everything :|.

The prologue's function is basically just to show that there is a threat behind the wall, even if no one believes it anymore. Compared to establishing the important characters and the actual plot of the first season (of which very little has to do with the Others) I don't think that's all that important to spend a lot of time on and I think that they managed to establish the goal with the time they used. If they did an entire 15 minutes of that they would have spent 2-3 times as much time on that as it's done in the books and the reported very high pace in introducing characters and story elements in the first episodes would have have to been rushed even further.

As for your worries, I'm quite sure there will be more significant details lost in the series than what was cut the prologue. 10 hours (unfortunately it's probably closer to 9 though) is not that much time to retell an almost 700 pages long book that's full of information gained from characters thoughts.

I should add that I don't think you're nitpicking, I just think it's inevitable that things like that are lost.

[nevermore]

The prologue's function is basically just to show that there is a threat behind the wall, even if no one believes it anymore. Compared to establishing the important characters and the actual plot of the first season (of which very little has to do with the Others) I don't think that's all that important to spend a lot of time on and I think that they managed to establish the goal with the time they used. If they did an entire 15 minutes of that they would have spent 2-3 times as much time on that as it's done in the books and the reported very high pace in introducing characters and story elements in the first episodes would have have to been rushed even further.

As for your worries, I'm quite sure there will be more significant details lost in the series than what was cut the prologue. 10 hours (unfortunately it's probably closer to 9 though) is not that much time to retell an almost 700 pages long book that's full of information gained from characters thoughts.

I should add that I don't think you're nitpicking, I just think it's inevitable that things like that are lost.

ty and your probably right, it does do what it's supposed to by establishing a threat so the preview does really well. anyway i'll probably get used to it once i get engrossed into the series anyway.

[Snow White]

Yeah that's Rodrik, he did seem a bit out of shape for a master-at-arms, but I suppose just because he trains men doesn't really mean he's fit himself.

Agreed. Take a look at most (American) football coaches.

[Lady Blackfish]

Agreed. Take a look at most (American) football coaches.

Right, muscle becomes fat in disuse, so it's not that hard to imagine that he was rather fit once back in the day.