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[BOOK SPOILERS] Night's Watch Oath Abridged?!


El Hajjaj

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Watching Episode 7 last night, I was flabbergasted that they cut three clauses out of the Night's Watch oath!

"Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come."

Why the hell would they do that? It wouldn't have taken more than 10 seconds of screen time -- time that could easily have been cut out of the Littlefinger Ass-play extravaganza. I'm more confused than anything.

Anyone have any idea why the screenwriters/directors/editors made this decision? Anyone else notice this omission? "I am the horn that wakes the sleepers" is my favorite part!

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They shortened it because they couldn't figure out how to get Ros to the wall in time.

Which they would have done strictly to better the development of Jon and Sam of course.

Saying vows of celibacy has more kick when you do it in front of a naked woman. It is known.

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They shortened it because they couldn't figure out how to get Ros to the wall in time.

Which they would have done strictly to better the development of Jon and Sam of course.

Saying vows of celibacy has more kick when you do it in front of a naked woman. It is known.

Hilarious!! :laugh:

Henceforth, I declare we blame everything on Ros. And trust me, I will do my best to contribute. After all, she's become the-most-prominent-character-who-never-was. I swear, if I see Ros again in the next episode, I'll laugh out loud, no matter what allegedly tense or important stuff is going on. She's become the Fonz jumping the shark. Will Ned get out of this sticky situation? I don't know--where's Ros to let us know? Will Joff succeed as King, Jr? Quick, find Ros, she'll clue us in! Ayra and Sansa, back home safe in Winterfell, or not? Ros, where are you? We need your vital input!

I'm smirking, of course, but feel a bit ill at the same time. A thousand astonishing characters in these books, most of whom we'll never see. But we do see--again and again and again and again.....

Ros. :ack:

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They shortened it because it really doesn't matter very much, and it's an adaptation, and they knew only a handful of retentive uber-nerds are going to cry about it on a forum.

Correct. You lot should simply be glad they left it untouched for the most part.

I did hope that scene would be more epic, though. It was pretty boring. They looked bored, reciting the vow.

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I didn't feel cheated and left wanting from that scene. I felt they captured the oath-taking well enough.

That, and the sequence a few scenes before that where Mormont was giving his speech, I thought those parts were very well-adapted from the book.

The part regarding Jon's story that disappointed me was how they left out a lot of stuff regarding Jon & Sam's storyline, particularly how Jon & Co. were put into the Night's Watch ahead of schedule and Sam wasn't initially included. Then how Jon talked to Maester Aemon for Sam to be included because Sam would be abused and maligned if left behind without them to protect him.

The way they showed it in the show, one would wonder how a wuss like Sam would have made the cut.

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"I am the horn that wakes the sleepers" is one of my favorite parts too and "I am the fire that burns against the cold" will be particularly relevant when Jon and Mormont are attacked by Othor.

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They shortened it because it really doesn't matter very much, and it's an adaptation, and they knew only a handful of retentive uber-nerds are going to cry about it on a forum.

I agree that it really doesn't matter very much--which to me is an argument against randomly cutting part of it. The 2 seconds they saved hardly seems useful, and if there's not really much difference between keeping the whole oath and abridging it, why bother abridging it?

I'm not one of those people who thinks that things need to be lifted word-for-word from the book, but when it's something like a standard vow or oath, I think you'd need a good reason to change that. And I just don't see one.

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They cut out the part that I usually forget, so at first I didn't even notice. It's not that big of a deal, I even expected them to shorten it more for the TV show.

What bothered me in this scene was the monotonous way they recited it. Somehow their voices weren't sounding too good together. I really wanted something more solemn. But I guess Drogo's speech balances this out.

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I don't care if they change things for the better, only when they change things for the worse. The missing parts of the vow were a lot better than all the screentime they've wasted on Roz.

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I'm surprised people choose to rant on about this when the actual words of the vow are insignificant compared to what the vow represents, plus that there are much more significant details regarding Jon and the Watch that didn't make it. Not that people aren't entitled to think and say whatever they want but I do find myself thinking that the people that dwell primarily on the negatives deserve to be disappointed.

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I actually think the vow is significantly better in the book version, and they screwed up by messing with it. It's not insignificant. They traded 10s of screen time to make a scene worse.

Exactly. On screen, it fell flat. You can blame it on any number of reasons -- the abridgment, the lack of harmony when they spoke in unison, and how the scene felt rather blasé. There was no emotional punch, no chills running down the spine -- which is what happened when I read that scene in the book.

The problem with some of the changes is that they seem entirely unnecessary. The Littlefinger/Roz scene was a waste of like 4-5 minutes. No one needed Littlefinger's motivations clarified; people had an idea about him already -- regarding whether he was trustworthy or not -- and all it did was sap some of the surprise from his betrayal of Ned.

Some of the changes don't save them any time or money, like the design of the Eyrie (which they were going to show either way; it was a CGI image, it's not like they had to build anything), certain strange dialogue snips, et cetera. Not that I'm complaining -- I love the show and I think they're doing a fantastic job -- I'm just defending the complaint as a legitimate one. Sometimes the show delivers, but more often than not, the books are the standard to which the adaptation will be compared.

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