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[Book Spoilers] Nitpick without repercussion!


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That's true, they "forgot" the obsidian daggers and arrow tips.

The chase after Ygritte was not necessary, but maybe HBO did it so that when Jon "betrays" Qorin it'll be easier to the wildlings to believe in him. Jon and Ygritte, IMO, had no connection before that in the books. Yes, Jon let her scape, but there was no such interaction as in the series. She's probably going to scape again and meet Rattleshirt.

I was unconfortable watching Tywin "smile". It will be harder to the non-readers "hate" him. But Charles Dance is doing such a great job that it's difficult to complain about it.

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As for dany, the problem is that in the 2nd book, there was little action for her other than the visions and her meeting Belwas and Barristan (that latter was part of the 2nd book, right?) so they need to create some conflict/drama for her as a. she is a main main character and b. likely a fan favorite. What bugs me about Qarth is Xaro. His character could have been uberawesome, sleazy and decadent, crying his love for her. I found the whole dismissiveness to Xaros extremely halfhearted proposal very annoying. He should have been cast as a temptation to Dany, someone rich and alluring, making it a little harder for her to say no.

And what is the big deal about her getting a ship. Her and her khalisar are what 30 people? A small trading vessel could easily accommodate the entire mob of em. SHE DOESNT HAVE AN ARMY YET!

And why is she begging for ships from the one guy. She should be begging from Xaro.

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And what is the big deal about her getting a ship. Her and her khalisar are what 30 people? A small trading vessel could easily accommodate the entire mob of em. SHE DOESNT HAVE AN ARMY YET!

I can't remember in CoK if Dany keep thinking that returning to Westeros would gain an army that would just spring out of the ground! I don't think she did.

Are D&D noticing this? I thought Bryan Cogman was story editor , and the interview I saw with him showed he had a sharp mind of continuity.

Jorah tells her the right thing about Westeros.

It's not until Jorah's tale about the Unsullied that she grasps a way to get an army.

So even if they don't follow the books with the Qarth story (which is not one of my favorites) the shows logic is getting out of whack.

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  • So now not only is Arya a thief, but she's stupid as well? What does she expect to do with that note? What does she think will happen when Tywin finds it missing?
  • And Jon Snow is being set up as a true turncloak. That's going to make his whole honor spiel even more annoying. The scene with Ygritte and Qhorin was fine until it turned into a pseudo-action foot chase. They could have just let Ygritte run off and preserved the integrity of the scene, but then BAM! And why is Jon Snow running around out there when the Halfhand just warned him about unseen dangers like crevasses?
  • Catelyn is now complicit in Robb's snubbing of the Freys. Alright then. I'm not even going to mention the impossible travel speed some characters have attained, as well as their ability to find moving camps.
  • Littlefinger, who gave what was essentially a biographical soliloquy about how well he knows people, did not recognize Arya Stark.
  • Faceless Men are brazen cutthroats and respond to impatience. Noted.
  • The mistaking of House Drommond for Marbrand was eye roll-worthy. Amory Lorch can't keep Marbrand straight from [random fake Northern house], but he doesn't for a second believe that Arya might run a note for Tywin.
  • The rape scene was gratuitous to an unsettling degree. Am I watching Game of Thrones or Irreversible? It was paired perfectly with a scene of The Hound completely eviscerating a man with only a dagger in less than an instant.
  • How did Robb's camp get word that Ser Rodrik died in the same scene that he heard about the fall of Winterfell?
  • Osha slept with Theon for literally no reason or gain. Another sensible, logical t&a scene under the show's belt. She also goes from betraying Bran to helping him escape with no explanation as to why. Bran is able to very clearly articulate Osha to the point that Asha's name change is confirmed as pointless.

I can understand removing some scenes that wouldn't translate well onto the screen or would make the actors uncomfortable, but I'm now trying to understand the point of this adaptation. Very few of the characters have the motivations they had in the books, so their actions seem even more random than usual as we touch upon only the broadest strokes of plot. It's like watching a bizarro version of ASOIAF.

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[*]And Jon Snow is being set up as a true turncloak. That's going to make his whole honor spiel even more annoying. The scene with Ygritte and Qhorin was fine until it turned into a pseudo-action foot chase. They could have just let Ygritte run off and preserved the integrity of the scene, but then BAM! And why is Jon Snow running around out there when the Halfhand just warned him about unseen dangers like crevasses?

Well you can blame that one on George. I never liked how that story played out, and considered it totally unfeasible or believable that Mance would buy that story.

Jon of course remains true to the black, but I wish George had of concocted a better story.

Now I know the Night's Watch has gone down hill, but even as a smaller group they can't find enough who will not mutiny at the drop of a pen!

Would have thought those types would have been booted out of the Crows ....

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And what is the big deal about her getting a ship. Her and her khalisar are what 30 people? A small trading vessel could easily accommodate the entire mob of em. SHE DOESNT HAVE AN ARMY YET!

This so much.

One nitpick from me - Robb sees Brienne with Catelyn yet doesn't ask about her and neither does Cat introduces her. You'd think he'd be curious who's this huge woman in an armour coming with his mother...

And why didn't Robb ask Cat what happened in the Renly camp? Far more important to talk about the hot Talisa, I guess...

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I think Littlefinger did recognize Arya

The rest of your stuff is RIGHT ON

the whole littlefinger running around Westeros is getting stupid.

Hey Lord Tywin of the horrible reputation, I just got back from seeing the Usurper Renly, how's tricks?

There are so many alternatives to what they presented that a. keep the integrity of the book and characters while maintaining the show FOR EXAMPLE

Instead of Ygritte escaping and Rob chasing her and laying with her (clearly moving towards a scene where they are captured by the Wildings-of course how will Ygritte believe Jon is a turncloak in that case), they could haev allowed her to escape and then had the NW get surrounded by Wildings. Get to the same point without additional time.

the alternative is that Jon and Ygritte meet back up with QH and then they proceed with the book's story QH orders Jon to turn his cloak, but then it is questionable whether jon turned cause of the grinding by the clearly hot ginger Ygritte.

As an aside, I guess the north cant be tooo harsh to leave a northling spearwife to look like that.

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Really don't like the change with the Ygritte situation. It completely wrecks the character development of Jon, Ygritte and Qhorin.

The rest of the stuff I can accept as standard "TV differences" or whatever.

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Basically I think HBO has two options with the Jon story, he meets back up with QH, whereby this episodes point was to have Jon develop a sexual interest in Y, thereby undermining his noble actions later OR they dont meet back up with QH and Jon decideso n his own to be a spy, which his brothers shouldnt ever believe

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One nitpick from me - Robb sees Brienne with Catelyn yet doesn't ask about her and neither does Cat introduces her. You'd think he'd be curious who's this huge woman in an armour coming with his mother...

And why didn't Robb ask Cat what happened in the Renly camp? Far more important to talk about the hot Talisa, I guess...

yeah, these two things - though in some ways I don't think they are really nitpicks, more holes left open. At least in one place (KL) we do hear that there is speculation about who did the actual killing, so it might stand to reason that other places would still have that question percolating around as well.

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I don't understand why some people are irritated by the characters in the TV series. If you read the book without reaching Dance, it makes sense. These characters are nothing like those in the latter parts of the books. I'm interested in seeing how they playout the Undying scene especially with the prophecies. I do feel that Vaes Tolorro was an important part of Dany's journey since she wasn't begging there. She was invited to go to Qarth, she didn't beg to come in. Although I think it gives a different side of Dany, it's easier to see the growth in her with the current story line.

I agree that if they didn't use the Qhorin Halfhand story line, I would be pissed but I think they won't forget it.

Oh I hate that they killed the handmaids...boo

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  • So now not only is Arya a thief, but she's stupid as well? What does she expect to do with that note? What does she think will happen when Tywin finds it missing?
  • And Jon Snow is being set up as a true turncloak. That's going to make his whole honor spiel even more annoying. The scene with Ygritte and Qhorin was fine until it turned into a pseudo-action foot chase. They could have just let Ygritte run off and preserved the integrity of the scene, but then BAM! And why is Jon Snow running around out there when the Halfhand just warned him about unseen dangers like crevasses?
  • Catelyn is now complicit in Robb's snubbing of the Freys. Alright then. I'm not even going to mention the impossible travel speed some characters have attained, as well as their ability to find moving camps.
  • Littlefinger, who gave what was essentially a biographical soliloquy about how well he knows people, did not recognize Arya Stark.
  • Faceless Men are brazen cutthroats and respond to impatience. Noted.
  • The mistaking of House Drommond for Marbrand was eye roll-worthy. Amory Lorch can't keep Marbrand straight from [random fake Northern house], but he doesn't for a second believe that Arya might run a note for Tywin.
  • The rape scene was gratuitous to an unsettling degree. Am I watching Game of Thrones or Irreversible? It was paired perfectly with a scene of The Hound completely eviscerating a man with only a dagger in less than an instant.
  • How did Robb's camp get word that Ser Rodrik died in the same scene that he heard about the fall of Winterfell?
  • Osha slept with Theon for literally no reason or gain. Another sensible, logical t&a scene under the show's belt. She also goes from betraying Bran to helping him escape with no explanation as to why. Bran is able to very clearly articulate Osha to the point that Asha's name change is confirmed as pointless.

  • Arya isn't stupid. She's a child who is trying to stay alive in extraordinary circumstances. She's also pretty sure she's just been recognized by Littlefinger. She took it so she could read it. I don't think she had a plan after that. Oh and, she's a CHILD.
  • I don't see them setting up Jon to be a turncloak, and it's a little early to presume that. Remember, the biggest enemy of the series is lack of TIME. Letting her go adds time. I think they're going to skip Orell and his eagle (too hard to shoot, and I don't think they want to mess up Kit's face.) So they're going to have to run back into Qhorin another way.
  • What??? She tells him to his face, "You're promised to another", how is that being complicit? As for travel speed - large moving camps of thousands of soldiers and all their stuff move a lot slower and leave a giant trackable path compared to one dude on a fast horse. (hey it's not as bad as 24.) I think it's also a way to help tell, "time passes."
  • You definitely need to rewatch the episode. The only reason they wrote him into that scene was to recognize Arya, there is no other reason for him to be there. (And staring at her nonstop from the moment Tywin said, "girl", and not looking at Tywin while he was talking to him, almost to the point of hammering us over the head with OMG I KNOW WHO THAT IS, helped to clinch it for those actually watching the screen.)
  • Jaqen owes her. Period. If you make light of that, her third "death" owed becomes laughable. This way, you see he is a man of his word, and establishes his commitment to paying his debt to her.
  • Lorch can't read, and a child can. She's already made him look bad. he wants to known what it says, and he can't ask anyone since that would make him look even worse. It made the setup to the change of her second "death" being Lorch instead of Weese (since he's apparently been cut, and would have added tons more time to the series.)
  • The rape scene was perfect considering they had to change the entire scene to be on foot, since shooting that with live horses is pretty much impossible without harming someone or an animal. They still had to give the Hound his 'Go Back For The Big Rescue Of Sansa" moment. It was just different.
  • It happens on the same day in the series, so I'm assuming from the same note brought by one raven.
  • Osha slept with Theon to set up that [it would seem] she was a turncloak [to Theon's men], and would be viewed by all his men as a "friendly" instead of an enemy. That was her plan from the start, so she could get them all the hell out of Winterfell, and it worked. The explanation was in the action happening on the screen. Many Americans have hearing problems when it comes to "foreign" dialects, even when everyone speaks English. Sad fact, but true. I totally understand the change, especially since most everyone from Winterfell northward speaks with a Yorkshire-northern dialect (which I love.)

I want to know where the heck the Reeds are. They seemed pretty important in the books, especially Jojen.

Yeah - this really bugs me too.

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Littlefinger appearing in Harrenhal. It was a great scene because all of the actors were absolutely amazing but the moment LF walked in I literally shouted at the tv "how the hell did you get there so fast?!". It's like LF just keeps teleporting all over Westeros.

The royal family FOOT procession. I get why they did it. Having a great procession with horses and everything was probably too difficult, expensive and dangerous, and the whole scene actually work out quite well. But it still seem kind of moronic that the royal family would just walk around through narrow streets filled with commoners.

The Ygritte deviation. I'm still waiting to see how the whole story plays out but I was worried. If they have Jon go with the wildlings without Qhorin's orders I'll be seriously pissed. I don't think they'll do that because it would completely change Jon's motivations and personality but I just don't get why didn't he just let her go.

Talissa or Jeyne or whoever she is. I I still don't get what they are getting at with her. Why does Robb keeps flirting with a girl that is obviously lying to him? doesn't he suspect her or anything? it's making him look even more stupid than in the book.

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Probably practical concerns (i.e. horses would likely spook during the riot scene and it'd be really dangerous for both horses and actors, if not outright impossible to film)

Well, I know it's for budget and practicality reasons, but it still looks ridiculous to me.

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