As a reader, has the TV show changed your mind on any theories about the books?

[bent branch]

Varys is so much nicer in the show, which made me think that he's a (mostly) good guy. In the books he was this slimy freak, but in the show he's really... nice.

GRRM considers Varys to be one of the most misunderstood characters. Despite this, people insist upon seeing Varys as this super evil guy. I think he probably is really nice. :)

[SevasTra82]

At first, I didn't mind what they did differently because they were two separate entities......

.....until GRRM and the show creators came out and said that "all major plot points where be the same".

Now we know that if someone dies or does not appear in the show, than that person will not play a major role in the books and are not crucial to the overall storyline. It also makes me start looking at show plotlines in a new light (Sansa now in Winterfell again?) It doesn't neccessarily mean Sansa will end up in Winterfell, but it does make me at least start considering it.

[Grimbold]

If you've read the tWoW chapters and watched ep4 of the show, you have to wonder how they'll approach the battle of Mereen. The chances of a dead Barristan seem quite higher than a dead Greyworm.

That along with the total absence of any of the other Greyjoy players makes you wonder how that will play out. Well, if one tries to look at the trailer for clues, the conclusions are that there won't be a major battle on that side of the world on s5. There are only scenes of the pit fights.

[Annara Snow]

No. I never thought that, say, the Others were eating babies (one of Craster's wives made it clear what she thought was really going on), that Coldhands was Benjen, or that Aegon was going to end up ruling Westerns for many years, so there was nothing to shut down.

[howardh51]

AS a fan of both the books and the show - at 1st I was feeling cheated as a loyal book reader as I felt "show spoilers" were robbing me of finding out via the written word. Now it's almost opposite as the show is starting to feel rushed in a lot of ways by dropping out Euron (f)Ageon etc. etc.... And ASOIF has certainly never been a story that is rushed!

[King Viserys Targaryen IV]

Do people really still believe the theory about Jeyne being pregnant? GRRM came out and said that the hips thing was one of the few mistakes. Plus he actually wrote the episode in which Talisa told Robb she was pregnant knowing full well she would die at the RW. To me the was GRRM literally killing that theory. That last part is just my opinion. I'd think him saying the hips were a mistake would crush the theory, then again I've seen way worse ha.

It's not the hip thing.

Blackfish is super devoted to Robb, going so far as to fly the Stark banner over Riverrun long after Robb died.

Jeyne is still alive for a reason, and being sent to Casterly Rock to be watched in case she is pregnant. Even Jaime knows there is a chance.

Jeyne grandmother was Maggie the Frog, that is a hell of a coincidence right?

Blackfish has been missing since he vanished from Riverrun 3 books ago

GRRM has said the Jeyne will be in the next book.

The BWB and Lady Stoneheart are still milling around for a reason

If LSH and Jeyne are both cut out of the series, perhaps they are connected?

There is an awful lot of set up for Jeyne and Blackfish and no pay off.

Black fish protecting Jeyne (and Robb JR) and getting her to Winterfell, while also wrapping up LSH's story line makes a lot of sense.

I think Blackfish is going to rescue Jeyne, then come across LSH who wants to kill Jeyne for betraying Robb. She says she is pregnant and it will give LSH peace and she can lay down for good.

[kimim]

If you've read the tWoW chapters and watched ep4 of the show, you have to wonder how they'll approach the battle of Mereen. The chances of a dead Barristan seem quite higher than a dead Greyworm.

That along with the total absence of any of the other Greyjoy players makes you wonder how that will play out. Well, if one tries to look at the trailer for clues, the conclusions are that there won't be a major battle on that side of the world on s5. There are only scenes of the pit fights.

The show got rid of the Meereenese knot. Tyrion and Jorah are the only ones heading there, and there is no hint of a siege. I think Battle of Meereen will be Meereen urban warfare, probably involving the dragons.

The knot got replaced by the northern plot, wth a real Stark on the line, on top of Brienne and Pod, Stannis, Shireen, Davos, Jon, the Boltons, Theon.

[TheOne-EyedHound]

S5 Episodes 1-4 Spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think the show hasn't changed a single theory so far(maybe Littlefinger's but unlikely.)

I don't think The Kindly man is Jaqen H'ghar, I just think the show isn't deep enough to go into the whole great other part of the story, or the Faceless Man's true purpose. Let's say, for example, Daario was to get killed in the show like Quentyn got killed in the books it doesn't mean Daario will die at all in the books.

Littlefinger's plot is complicated, because the show is doing something totally different. I think book Littlefinger wouldn't take a chance on book Stannis.

Littlefinger want's to rise, Stannis is not a man who would give Littlefinger more than Harrenhal. I think Littlefinger's ultimate goal is to become lord of Riverrun, and liege lord of the Riverlands.

[kimim]

S5 Episodes 1-4 Spoilers!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think the show hasn't changed a single theory so far(maybe Littlefinger's but unlikely.)

I don't think The Kindly man is Jaqen H'ghar, I just think the show isn't deep enough to go into the whole great other part of the story, or the Faceless Man's true purpose. Let's say, for example, Daario was to get killed in the show like Quentyn got killed in the books it doesn't mean Daario will die at all in the books.

Littlefinger's plot is complicated, because the show is doing something totally different. I think book Littlefinger wouldn't take a chance on book Stannis.

Littlefinger want's to rise, Stannis is not a man who would give Littlefinger more than Harrenhal. I think Littlefinger's ultimate goal is to become lord of Riverrun, and liege lord of the Riverlands.

ita LF's plot is complicated, but LF always took chances. What were the odds that Ned would agree to become Hand because of Lysa's letter, or Cat would kidnap Tyrion, or Ned would warn Cersei, or Joff would break with mommy to kill Ned, or the dwarves at Joff's wedding would lead to a public quarrel between Joff and Tyrion? Who would guess that no one would listen in on Sansa's conversations with Dantos, or that the drunk ex-knight would successfully get her away from the Keep? It's in his nature to gamble, and, so far, he's won. Sansa is another gamble. If he wins, he gets the north, through her. If it doesn't work out, he'll have other plans.

[Lord Cadwan]

I don't get why everyone says the Ironborn are just there for transport. For a start Victorian only has around 50 ships-probably less after the battle. If they were going to use anything for 'just transport' it would be the 300 strong Volantene fleet crewed by Red God worshiping slaves. As well as that why would you give people needed for just transport a FREAKING DRAGONHORN that could potentially make them one of the most important players.

[Lord Cadwan]

I don't get why everyone says the Ironborn are just there for transport. For a start Victorian only has around 50 ships-probably less after the battle. If they were going to use anything for 'just transport' it would be the 300 strong Volantene fleet crewed by Red God worshiping slaves. As well as that why would you give people needed for just transport a FREAKING DRAGONHORN that could potentially make them one of the most important players.

[Walda]

In the show, the dagger Catelyn gets from the catspaw in "The Kingsroad"(1.2) is very similar to the one Xaro Xhoan Daxos invokes sumai with in "Garden of Bones"(2.4)

With these guys its hard to tell if that is because they know something about the origin and purpose of the Imp's dagger, or if it is because they are reusing last years props.

[SevasTra82]

I'll be curious to see Sansa's chapters in TWOW. Her's so far is the only plotline that has been truly modified from the books (based on running out of material). We all know that at the end of AFFC, Sansa left The Eyrie with LF (just like in the show) but we don't know what happens afterwards.

Perhaps in TWOW she'll wind up going to Winterfell just like she is doing in the show, and have a confrontation with Ramsey (maybe even being the one to kill him??) I"m very curious about what she'll be up to in TWOW and how/if it aligns with what the show is doing.

[40 Thousand Skeletons]

I'm 99% sure Shireen will be burned alive at the end of this season in a few weeks. I have thought for a long time that Shireen will be burned alive in book 6, but the show really foreshadows it heavily.

At the end of last season, Mel was like "Oh yeah, Shireen totally has to come with us to the Wall, the Lord of Light needs her." And the trailer for this season showed Stannis's wife on the ground with a really sad face, so I'm gonna just go ahead and say that split second camera shot is her reaction to her daughter dying.

[Masha]

After watching this season, I am getting more and more sure that it will end in approximately same place as the last book.

Showrunners just cut off plodding storylines and stirred things up by using characters that were on neverending walkaround/passive storyline (see Brianne, Jaime and Sansa) and had them take up more dynamic stories of relatively unknown characters.

Jaime takes Dorne storyline. I am betting that Sand Snakes and Ellaria end up imprisoned by Doran, and Targ conspiracy is revealed at the end with Trystane taking place of fAegon

Jaime has agreement with a calming Doran and leaves Marcella in Dorne. Then he either returns to KL or just goes straight to Riverlands at the end of season. His Riverlands storyline will be in 6th season and is more succinct

Sansa takes fArya storyline, and ends up in Stannis' hands after escaping with Theon, Brianne/Pod from Boltons

Brianne takes Mance's storyline. The TV Mance was way too dignified and boring to be a believable minstrel (even less so than Brianne who can dress up and pretend to be a regular man)

Tyrion and Jorah go on boat thru the Sorrows - with Stone man and end up captured by slavers and sold to the arena

Jon/Arya/Dany's storylines more or less the same with little sidetrips (Jon to Hardshome, Dany NOT marrying and escalating conflict to Rebellion/Civil War taking place of battle of Maureen)

The only storylines omitted is Greyjoys - but I'll bet it will big part of next season.

Bran storyline is already finished up to TWOW.

The spoilers will be more or less minimal - like killing off characters that will die in TWOW and/or omitting others that make no impact at the end (by dying /failing) and giving hints like a glimse of Land of Always Winter in the previous season.

[Blind Beth the Cat Lady]

The main thing in the show that has made me wonder about the books (and future of the show) is Blue Dany. Ever since S3 she's been strongly associated with blue, through her costumes, Jorah's blue neck-scarf, and now that Dany is in white Missandei is wearing blue. At first I thought this was just because Dany in red would echo Cercei too much (though they do mirror each other a bit this season, with Dany in white and Cercei in black)--but then the Tyrell's are also in blue, so unique color palettes doesn't seem to be the issue. On a re-watch of S4, Daario giving Dany a blue rose to win her favor really stood out to me, echoing Rhaegar giving Lyanna blue roses at Harrenhall.

Putting all this together has made me think harder about the possibility of Lyanna being Dany's mother as well as Jon's. I know the logistics of that would be weird and complicated (the child born on Dragonstone would have to have died and later been swapped for Jon's twin sister, and this would raise all kinds of questions and complications), but Blue Dany is probably the main the thing in the show that makes me look at the books a bit differently.

Also--The fact that Jon and Dany's plot-lines mirror each other so strongly in the show as well as the books--even down to Dany causing a beheading in the show, which did not happen in the books--and it's looking a lot like Dany's Meereen show-plot will revolve around her being betrayed by those she sees as her own people, just as Jon is betrayed by the Night's Watch in the books. So if anything show Dany and Jon mirror each other even more strongly than their book counterparts. Such strong parallelism really makes me wonder if they aren't meant to be twins rather than vaguely incestuous fated lovers.

Edit - Actually Dany has been blue since S2; I just remembered her Qarth gown was also blue. So, other than the book-specified purple gown and Dothraki garb in S1 she has been associated with blue throughout the show.

[ThinMintMafia]

I believe D & D have said from the start that they would try to stay as faithful to the books as the could, but that it was inevitable that they would have to not only cut things but diverge from the books at some point. I think everyone can see that they have had to seriously simplify the story. So the show hasn't really changed my mind on theories I have about the books, especially since most of my theories revolve around prophecies and visions, which aren't in the show.

If the show is still on course to be seven seasons, that means that at this point there are only 26 episodes left. And if you break it down by location rather than character, there are currently 9 storylines being followed: Bran beyond the wall, the Wall, Winterfell, Kings Landing, Dorne, Braavos, Meereen, Brianne and Pod in transit, and Tyrion and Jorah in transit. It looks like Brianne will get to Winterfell and Tyrion will get to Meereen in the next couple episodes, bringing the storylines down to 7. That's a lot to cram into episodes. I think we're going to see even more merging of storylines by the end of this season.

I also wouldn't put it past GRRM to have written things in, or out, of the show to throw the book readers off their theories. He just strikes me as the sort of fellow who would get a chuckle out of that.

[Unbent_Unbroken]

It's definitely influenced my thoughts on the big theories, (R+L=J, (f)Aegon, Jeyne Westerling being pregnant) and in terms of who is going to be relevant for the endgame, but I also see the show as being a separate entity from the books, so I don't take it as gospel for the more supplemental stuff.

[Morienthar]

The show and books are primarily different entities. But most of the decent theories have been confirmed or foreshadowed on the show.

[TerrorVoid]

Actually, after watching S5E1, I have really bad feeling that Euron=Daario theory is true.

Btw, isn't unCat present in new season?