[BOOK SPOILERS] TV Series Improvements on the Story?

[Onna Lewyys]

Yeah, I could see that.

[Drezelle]

I liked seeing Varys and LF interact. Also seeing LF interacting in the brothel was fun!

I HATE that Melisander took Gendry...

[J. Stargaryen]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but the show improved upon "The King eats and the Hand shits" with "The King shits and the Hand wipes," imo.

[Broken Fox]

I'd like to see Jaqen being Arya's teacher instead of the old man. Jaqen rules, and Tom Wlaschiha did a great job with the part.

[Theda Baratheon]

I'm paraphrasing someone else on another thread here, but this seemed rather plausible.

1. Barristan has known Jorah was spying all along, but held off on ratting him out as he seems to now be so sincere and loyal in her service.

2. Jorah crosses the line with Danaerys (i.e., the kiss). Barristan observes or finds out, decides Jorah's intentions are less than honorable, and so rats him out after all.

3. Jorah & Barristan are in trouble, Jorah for treason, Barristan for withholding this important information from Dany. Meereen sewers (?) Dany forgives Barristan, exiles Jorah.

Yeah, I can definitely see something along those lines happening.

[MachoGrande]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but the show improved upon "The King eats and the Hand shits" with "The King shits and the Hand wipes," imo.

Isn't it "The King eats and the Hand takes the shit"? I find it equally funny because of the double meaning.

[Draco_Dracul]

While the book version has more layers to the meaning, the TV version flows better when said aloud.

[The Mountain That Posts]

While the book version has more layers to the meaning, the TV version flows better when said aloud.

Are you referring to the titles? A Song of Ice & Fire VS Game of Thrones?

[Newstar]

I HATE that Melisander took Gendry...

It almost seemed like the writers came up with that long Davos/Gendry scene in 3x10 first and then worked backwards to figure out some way to make it happen. Melisandre nabbing Gendry was part of that.

I thought making Gendry an Edric/Gendry composite worked well, although I could have done without the Gendry/Melisandre sex scene (such as it was).

[Theda Baratheon]

Yeah, I liked the Davos and Gendry scenes a lot, and also the Mel and Gendry scene on the ship was ace with the Baratheon music in the background, totally could have done without the Jesus Franco esque sex scene though.

[2fingers]

Whoever was in charge of casting nailed it with Jack Gleeson as Joffrey. I'm going to miss him. :crying: He is just so much fun to despise.

Ditto. Gleeson is verrrrrry underrated in this role. People want him dead but as soon as they get their wish I bet you everybody will be crying when they realize they will never see the best villain ever again.

[Faydra]

Eddard telling Yoren to take care of Arya was quite touching and that "what do we say to the god of death" scene was not bad either.

Daenerys being 16 instead of 13 (+ the rest of the children that are older) is also a good change.

[James Sucellus]

The show dumbs down every single established plotline or scene. The Tywin/Arya scenes in S2 were entertaining due to the excellent performances, but added absolutely nothing to the story. Introducing Roose Bolton properly should have taken priority, and it makes no sense why Arya didn't name Tywin to Jaqen if she sees him daily.

I do like some added scenes though. Namely the Littlefinger/Varys interaction and Bronn vs The Hound in 2x09.

[J. Stargaryen]

Isn't it "The King eats and the Hand takes the shit"? I find it equally funny because of the double meaning.

You might be right. I was just quoting from memory. Sometimes this is called "misquoting." ;)

While the book version has more layers to the meaning, the TV version flows better when said aloud.

Agreed.

[AryaBaratheon]

I realize I'm somewhat late to the discussion, but I'll put forward one place where I definitely think the show improved on the books.

In season 1 episode 3, when Ned arrives in Kings Landing and goes to meet with the small council he first passes through the throne room where he has a confrontation with Jaime that didn't happen in the book. Jaime and Ned have a verbal spat in which Jaime tries to justify why his killing the Mad King was the right thing to do. And it ends with Ned telling Jaime "You served while serving was safe."

That single line, IMHO, does a great deal to add depth to Ned's character.

In the book we're basically led to believe that Ned despises Jaime's act of killing Aerys is based purely on the fact that Jaime broke his oath as a kingsguard. But that one line in the show introduces us to the idea that Ned doesn't necessarily hate him simply for breaking his vow, but that he hates him because he believes that Jaime should have done something sooner.

Ned knows that Jaime knew the Mad King was evil and had to be killed. But to Ned, Jaime didn't do anything to stop Aerys until the point in time that Jaime realized there would be no consequences for his actions.

Why did Jaime sit by while Aerys had dozens, even hundreds, of innocents burned alive? Why didn't Jaime stop Aerys when he raped his wife so many times? Why did Jaime not do anything until his father was literally on the doorstep and he knew that if he took action against Aerys he would not face any punishment?

That scene and that one line goes a long way towards making Ned a deeper and more intriguing character. And I for one am of the opinion that it was a definite improvement of the character of Ned from the books.

Great point. I never considered that before.

[AryaBaratheon]

I'm really surprised that no one has mentioned my favorite yet: Jon's explanation to Mance about why he wants to join the free folk. In the book he gives a "woe is me, they sat me at the bastard table" reason, which I guess works fine; but in the show he references his disillusionment over the Old Bear knowing that Craster was sacrificing his sons to the Others, which (1) is a much more compelling reason to begin with, and (2) has the added virtue of actually being true!

True. So very true!

[Joant9922]

Hmmm. Improvements the show has made over the books: Ned Stark as a whole. As much as I love book Ned, Sean Bean NAILED IT as TV Show Ned. He gave him a gravitas, a weariness and a toughness that I think the book did not quite achieve.

So, thanks to this we then got...

-The scene of Jaime's ambush of Ned in Season 1. It played better than in the book. And it made sense for Ned to fight the soldiers as well. I always thought it weird that Ned just "stood there" (I know he was on a horse) while his men are slaughtered. It also makes the injury he received more badass. I like the mini-duel with Jaime. And I also like the fact that TV Ned is a good enough swordsman to stand toe-to-toe with Jaime for a bit. I certainly liked Jaime's look of surprise at the fact that he was struggling with Ned more than he thought he would.

Btw there were a lot of fanboys that were all up in arms over that scene...I am not saying Ned would have won that duel or that he should have...but it does make Ned more interesting to make him a better warrior.

-Like the fact that it was Ned who told Yoren through one word and a nod to look after Arya...and the fact that Yoren got it and did it without hesitation.

-Ned's whole death scene. The way the show did it...just amazing. Better than in the books, where we saw it from Sansa's perspective. I would have like to know Ned's last thoughts at that moment.

-Ned's death. The show

[Joant9922]

Other things that I think are better in the show:

-Jorah Mormont. Not only a more handsome man, of course, but also a smarter person who seems less of a dumm puppy.

-Osha: way more charismatic & interesting.

-I like the fact that TV show Varys seems to have a real fondness and respect for Tyrion. I love how he always has his little smiles whenever Tyrion does something cool & funny. He also seems to be just as disgusted by Joffrey as others.

*I am not saying that book Varys doesn't like Tyrion...it is just not really made clear in the books.

-As cool as Bronn is in the books, the show makes him cooler. And I like the sort of closer friendship he has with Tyrion in the show than in the book.

(which, come to think about it, is going to make it harder to swallow that he wouldn't stand up for Tyrion in the Trial by Combat. I think they will prevent Bronn from helping Tyrion in some other round-about way).

[Dove]

-Like the fact that it was Ned who told Yoren through one word and a nod to look after Arya...and the fact that Yoren got it and did it without hesitation.

I definitely agree with this. Basically everything having to do with Yoren in the show was absurdly good. (even with my unsullied friends continuously confusing him with Bronn and asking "why's Tyrion's friend there???" >:I)

[Yakman]

It hasn't happened yet, but the biggest plot hole to me in the books is coming up - namely Jaime not going to see Tyrion before springing him from jail.

They'll almost certainly have interactions before the season finale, so I'm looking forward to those.

Otherwise, I think they've done some fantastic work, particularly with some of the villainous characters.

-The Balon/Theon scenes are SOOO much better in the show.

-The actor playing Walder Frey is just having such a good time, it's almost infectious.

-The Tywin/Arya scenes help build a sense of Tywin's character. He's human, despite his iron will and poor humor. I didn't really pick up on that in the books until he has his confrontation or two with Joffrey.

-They've done a good job of making Cersei a bit more interesting, particularly in season 3. In the books she's blind to Joffrey's faults, but it's apparent from her interactions with Tyrion that she's concerned, even if she tries to hide it.

-Love me some Bastard of Bolton in the show. Wriggling the sausage = priceless.