Angel Eyes

Which is one of the reasons why I think Jaime is going to be hanged.

So did Daenerys.

That would make it bitter. As for the Scouring of the Shire, the show had that with Daenerys rushing north to help fight the existential threat and then going back south to fight a smaller, personal goal... and losing herself.

Did I say that? What I meant is that even if Robb should have it on his mind that Sansa is in an unsafe position, keep tabs through their go-between Cleos, and have it known that he doesn't approve of what Joffrey did to Sansa, like threaten to turn Jaime over to the Karstarks should Sansa be beaten. But he didn't have the will to do so, and not having the will to do something harsh consistently blows up in people's faces, like Ned not wanting Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen to be killed by Robert leads to the downfall of his house, or Jaime freeing Tyrion and telling him the truth about Tysha leads to Tyrion killing Tywin. Again, he might as well have cut her throat himself for all the regard he had for her.

Unless it's only a mere dream, a hope of a hope. Wouldn't put it past Martin to pull the rug out from under our feet.

Well, it isn't as if most of the characters in the books aren't trending in a darker direction.

As I said in an earlier post there was an inflection point where Viserys could have turned out better. That was if Doran Martell had decided to help him after Willem Darry died, and he had more reasons to do so than not.

Another way Benioff and Weiss took things too far.

There's plenty of ways to kill people without shedding blood. Hanging is one, drowning is another. Plus is being crowned with molten gold (the show sold itself short because the gold should have been glowing and would have created a very cool effect if pulled off).

So take me through the mind of Kraznys mo Nakhloz. You're arranging for an army of 8,000 Unsullied to be traded for a dragon (which in the real world would be the equivalent of an artillery piece or two with a few crates worth of rifles, with the soldiers knowing how to use them). Why would you give someone the means of taking back what you just gave away, when they're still close enough to do so?

Except Viserys would have known that the Dothraki only respect strength, strength he doesn't have. So the Dothraki don't respect him.

Barristan said the mad Targaryen side was somewhat present. Well, there were a couple points where actions could have been taken where he wouldn't have been such a mess. For one, Doran had this plan with Viserys as the centerpiece and could have stepped in once Willem Darry died, but he didn't for less than justifiable reasons.

Well, making Dunk and Egg is going to be impossible thanks to Daeron being adapted out.

I think Sweetrobin has some craziness from his environment.

How about lead poisoning?

Well, my thought about Benioff and Weiss is that a lot of the aspects that go off the rails in later seasons had their roots in the original books, just writ large. Euron, for example, is a walking diabolus ex machina for the last couple seasons. Daenerys losing her navy? Euron. The Unsullied getting stranded on the other half of the continent? Euron. Rhaegal getting shot down despite being high up and where the ballista would have lost height? Euron. So is Ramsay in A Clash for Kings where nobody pays any mind to him despite the fact they know he's a threat, like Donella Hornwood getting kidnapped by only Ramsay on her way home, Rodrik not realizing he didn't do a thorough job with finding him after finding "Reek" and losing an arm and his life because he didn't realize the man leading 600 Bolton soldiers could only be Ramsay, that would be like Dany forgetting about the Iron Fleet. The darker directions many characters make (Sansa, Bran, Arya, Daenerys, Cersei, to give a few)? All are on their way in the books with nothing to change their courses.

Nobody bothered to inspect the lance. It's a bit more obvious in the show but it's clearly just a pole without any sort of blunting (to contrast Ser Hugh has a metal fist at the end of his lance). My view of Loras' sin is helping Renly pimp out his own sister to Robert.

That I can believe. And then Benioff and Weiss took things to another level.

Why did Darry never train him? He had at least 5 years to work with him and what we see out of Viserys is quite pathetic.

And the worse Daenerys may look as the story unfolds since "Dragons plant no trees."

Martin tends to go light on the toilet stuff unless he's talking about Daenerys; for instance he never goes into Bran having incontinence issues due to his paralysis or Jaime having to lace himself up one-handed after using the privy.

Not to mention Karstark tried to sell his daughter to Vargo Hoat...

Men in Black by Will Smith: The Night's Watch

I think Bran might have helped himself to Cersei's wardrobe in the show; the surcoat he wears when Jon is exiled looks similar minus the metallic shoulders.

On the other hand if Ned read Wuthering Heights he might be a bit more wary.