briantw

Well did you really expect them to resolve that in week one?

Basically how it's going to be in the books too, although obviously it'll be Victarion instead there.

That escalated quickly.

Kind of just skipped over how they survived that fall, eh?

I always found Dany horribly frustrating in the books for basically refusing to ever do anything about the masters who were obviously plotting against her. I'm totally fine with this change.

That scene wasn't remotely subtle in the books either. The Mountain crushes Oberyn's face with a couple of punches. It's brutal and violent. The show did pretty much the same thing, and it worked. The only downside in my mind was that they changed the Mountain's lines a bit at the end. I really loved how he yells "THEN I PUNCHED HER FUCKING FACE IN...LIKE THIS." I wanted to hear that.

Meh. I have no problem with this change. It just moves this storyline forward in a quicker manner.

Well, that escalated quickly.

That was even better than the giant.

That was a fantastic scene.

Pod is a little too competent on the show.

HOT PIE!!!

I don't think it's festering yet. That's just blood.

Because he's abandoning his castle that rests in the bay just outside of King's Landing. Leaving his daughter there would provide a hostage should the Lannisters take back Dragonstone.

So I guess this establishes that the Bronn marriage is important enough to include on the show.

LOL

Maybe a Lannister ship found the boat? Tywin did order the ships to close off the bay.

Littlefinger tossed it into the boat Dontos' body was in.

Have you been watching the show? Theon told Ramsay last year that the Stark boys were alive, and there was a scene this season where Theon told Roose at Ramsay's behest. Locke was in that same scene, and Roose told him there was land and a holdfast for him if he found the boys and took care of them. Ramsay also mentioned that taking out Jon as well might be beneficial. So Locke not only knows that Bran and Rickon are alive, but his exact mission is to make sure that they're not for much longer.

She's not dead, and that isn't even her last chapter. She shows up in Jaime's chapter in Dance and leads him off to save Sansa, who she says the Hound is threatening to kill if Jaime doesn't come with her and alone.

But the mutineers pretty much did, or were implied to have done, the same things in the books, so how is it really any different? Also, I wouldn't say they're remotely worse than Ramsay.

He's the acting Lord Commander right now.

There's no source. It's just speculation. Personally, I think it's more likely that D&D just asked Martin what the Others do with the babies they take from Craster and decided to show it. Of course, maybe the prologue in Winds will be Benjen. I tend to think he'll appear again at some point since people keep mentioning him. That would be as good a place as any.

I've always seen the Great Other as a god, not a physical being. Similar to R'hllor in that he/she may not exist at all, and we'll likely never get a confirmation one way or the other (much like in real life). So no, I do not think that was the Great Other. It may have been the leader of the Others, and I don't think it's ridiculous to assume that they have a leader, or a group of leaders. They're clearly an intelligent race of creatures that likely have some sort of greater motive behind their actions other than simply wiping out humanity. And yes, they are still trying to follow the books. They just decided to have Bran do something interesting, since he really doesn't do much of consequence for most of books three and five and only has a couple of chapters in five at all. It's probably safe to assume that Bran is an important character, so giving him screen time is something that the showrunners would want to do, lest we forget about him. And if they continued to show him just being dragged around, viewers would start to grow increasingly bored like they did last season. This is a solution to that problem. Not that this has anything to do with your quote above, but I also don't understand the people complaining about how this is a plot hole or a huge coincidence. The books are literally filled with ridiculous coincidences and characters improbably meeting. Cat and Tyrion. Tyrion and Jorah. Arya and Sam. Etc. It happens constantly in the books and people rarely complain. It's also hard to call it a plot hole until we see how it plays out next week.

The idea that this is a dangerous precedent is laughable. HBO owns the rights to the television adaptation of A Song of Ice & Fire. Therefore, they (and by extension, the showrunners) are free to make any changes that they deem necessary or acceptable. There is no precedent to speak of. There is simply the TV version of the story and the book version. There is no legal reason they have to be the same. And again, the Martin quote you posted is totally irrelevant because Martin himself opened this door by signing the contract for the adaptation in the first place. He gave the showrunners permission to take his work and alter it. In fact, he has had numerous interviews where he talks about the realities of adaptations, and how changes are necessary for various reasons. He himself has worked in the television industry. This is not fan fiction. This is a legally sanctioned adaptation, and more importantly, it's an adaptation with no obligations to be totally faithful to the source material. And again, that's not me saying that I agree with all the changes. It's me saying that calling changes that you don't like fan fiction is ignorant of the realities here. HBO owns the television rights to this story. Therefore, the story in the television show is whatever they say it is. You may not always agree with their changes (as I don't), but that doesn't make them fan fiction, and it doesn't set any sort of precedent.