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The Lafayette


spikebrennan

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In HBO's "True Blood", the character of Lafayette is a fan favorite through the end of the third season, even though the character dies early in the first book.

Is it possible that HBO's "Game of Thrones" will have its own "Lafayette" character-- a character who dies in the book, yet lives on in the TV show?

I doubt that there will be any significant departures of this type in the first season. And I also doubt that, say, Renly or Tywin or Oberyn Martell will be denied their cinematic deaths in future seasons.

Some possibilities, I would think:

- The Greatjon

- Lommy Greenhands

- Ygritte

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I don't think this is likely. Different show, different producers/head writers, different source material. Alan Ball basically decided pretty early on he'd go "off book" from the source material in pretty significant ways. From all we've heard, D&D are trying to stay pretty close to their source material, though changes for better dramatic effect are being made, here and there. But over all, near as is possible to tell, they are staying pretty true to the book.

I suppose we could find some characters combined for simplification, and thus a character who dies early will continue since they are taking more than one role, but I'm hard pressed to figure out who that could be. Had they made Ser Vardis Egan into the Black Fish, then maybe we would have seen him yield in the fight to Bronn, or some such thing, but instead we've heard that Ser Vardis is partially taking the Black Fish role this season and Black Fish will instead be introduced as a new character next season, most likely.

Things could start to go farther afield in later seasons. From what even GRRM has said, it sounds like they are still not sure how to manage all of the plot in Storm of Swords in the course of the likely season block they'll get for Season 3, so there could be more significant cuts and major changes when we get there. It may look very different or be split in two (8 seasons of the show for a 7-book series, sort of like Deathly Hallows being split on screen for the Potter books). I think whatever changes are made will be more about serving the plot rather than appeasing fans of a particular character...remember what story this is, it often turns on the shocking deaths of some of the most popular characters in the books. Keeping some of these people alive because some fanboys or fangirls think they are cool kind of goes against the whole point. I think the way this show will handle such things is more like The Sopranos or The Wire, where sometimes some very popular characters get killed off, just because that serves the plot better. Characters like:

Big Pussy

in the Sopranos or

Omar

in The Wire

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Keeping some of these people alive because some fanboys or fangirls think they are cool kind of goes against the whole point.

Indeed. Popular people dieing is a major feature in the series. D&D seem to be aiming to be quite faithful and you can't avoid major character deaths if you are faithful.

Would I be right in saying that the True Blood books can be seen as more standalone, while aSoIaf are definitely very interlinked? I haven't read the former myself but if they are somewhat standalone then its a lot easier to change things.

If a character is very well liked then I can see them getting more screentime but if they die, I expect they will die. I can't see how GoT can work otherwise.

Oh...and the Greatjon is alive. :)

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  • 1 month later...

I really can't see them keeping Ygritte around for any longer than her death point. She has to die there so that Jon doesn't have something else to question his vows. It's also a really important moment for future seasons: I.e you know nothing...

I can't think of any characters that would be kept alive as opposed to dying - mainly because there is a purpose for all the death in the books. I could see characters being kept around longer, I.e Viserys, but ultimately dying the same way that they did in the books.

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Which is why I think HBO would keep her around.

I presume you mean that she escapes the battle (where she dies in the book) and crops up later on? Not impossible. But depends on what is in store for Jon. He probably will be very busy with everything else. And over the first 3 books Jon never fully committed to the Watch. Until the end. I'm not sure i'd like that indecisiveness to continue over another book.

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When I read the books, I was disappointed when Ygritte died. Jon was oh so determined he's NEVER father a bastard, I thought it might be an interesting sort of conflict if he did anyway. The way the books are written though, it's really hard to imagine how a character like that could remain alive though without affecting the plot too much, and I'm kind of at a loss as to what they'd do with Ygritte anyway.

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Which is why I think HBO would keep her around.

They are going to probably have their hands full with what Jon has to deal with going forward, they don't need to complicate it further by keeping Ygritte alive longer. We know after she dies we've got the whole struggle where he's accused of being a deserter, then his election as Lord Commander, then dealing with Stannis. We don't yet know what's beyond that, but I suspect that it's going to involve a lot more with Stannis, his hope to somehow use the Nightswatch as a political tool to get him on the Iron Throne, and then who knows what if/when Dany arrives and the fight vs. The Others.

Ygritte's death was a very large event in Jon's development as a person (as a character). It helps to finalize his break with any thoughts of leaving the Nightswatch - once she's gone (hell, once she fought against him and his brothers), there was no going back.

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