[BOOK SPOILERS] So what is Robb's military plan?

[Werthead]

In the books, Robb splits his army in two, sending one south down the Kingsroad to fall on the Lannister army east of the Green Fork and sending the other across at the Twins to march on Riverrun from the north.

In the TV series, the strategy appears to be different. Robb says they need to cross the Twins regardless of if they march against Tywin or Jaime (or both, which is not mentioned as a possibility, presumably to maintain the surprise for Episode 9). This indicates Tywin's army is in a different position. In the books Tywin's army crosses the Trident (presumably at the ruby ford) and rests at the Crossroads Inn, where Tyrion rejoins them. In the TV series, Tyrion rejoins the army in the field. This is clearly a deliberate decision since the TV show hasn't been shy about reusing the Crossroads Inn set multiple times to reduce costs, so it's odd they don't use it here, where it actually appears in the book.

So in the TV series it looks like Tywin's army is west of the Green Fork (though it could still be on the river; if it isn't the battle will presumably have a different name to the books) and the need for Robb to split his forces is even greater: he needs to pin the Lannister host long enough for his own force to slip past overland to the west and steal a large enough march on the Lannisters so he can defeat Jaime. This seems confirmed from the maps in the TV series, which show a Lannister symbol on Riverrun and one to the north on the western side of the Green Fork.

It's an interesting change, one I'm not too sure about. It means that Tyrion and the mountain clans had to effectively cross a lot more of the hostile Riverlands than they do in the book, and it puts the armies very close together. In the book, by the time that the Battle of the Green Fork is over, Robb is a clear 300-odd miles away, with abolutely no chance of Tywin being able to intercept him or attack his cavalry before the matter is decided. In the TV series, it looks like there is nothing stopping Tywin turning round and marching swiftly after Robb, not to mention the complications it raises about how Tywin gets from the battlefield to Harrenhal, since the Red Fork is between them.

Interesting to see how this plays out next week. Otherwise I can't really work out the reason for the change. If they wanted to keep Robb's strategy more of a surprise, they could have simply waited until after the negotiations with the Freys, then have Robb saying he's splitting the army then.

[Gaston de Foix]

Here's my question: where's Lord Bolton?

[jellydonut]

Here's my question: where's Lord Bolton?

In the second season, awaiting awesome casting instead of being an extra this season.

Just a guess.

[Gaston de Foix]

In the second season, awaiting awesome casting instead of being an extra this season.

Just a guess.

I'm sure you are right about that. It bothers me though because giving command of half his army to Bolton was Robb's big mistake- you can trace a line all the way through from that decision to his murder by Bolton. By only emphasising the Greatjon in particular among the Northmen, HBO haven't set up Bolton properly.

[Werthead]

I'm sure you are right about that. It bothers me though because giving command of half his army to Bolton was Robb's big mistake- you can trace a line all the way through from that decision to his murder by Bolton. By only emphasising the Greatjon in particular among the Northmen, HBO haven't set up Bolton properly.

I don't think it was just that. Bolton was a seasoned battle-commander who Robb knew would stick to the plan and do nothing more (the Greatjon and probably a few of the others would have lost more men). Also, by giving him a position of authority, Robb was no doubt also thinking that this might bind him more to Robb on the loyalty front. These are not unreasonable assumptions, and indeed we saw that Bolton kept his army intact and withdrew from the battle in good order with only reasonable losses (though I'd love to know if Lord Hornwood's death was really just chance or if Bolton put him in the most dangerous part of the line, with a view to him dying and Bolton being able to seize his lands), allowing it to continue to play an active part in the war.

What screwed everything up was the withdrawal of Robb's troops from the Twins, allowing Walder Frey to hatch plans unhindered, and Robb's cheesing off of the Freys, not to mention the Lannisters defeating Stannis and securing the alliance with the Tyrells, a sequence of events that no-one was expecting. If those things had not happened, then Roose Bolton would have likely remained a relatively loyal bannerman (and if the Hornwood gambit had failed, he could pass it off as the acts of a rebellious bastard son; he already plants the seed of that in Robb's mind in ASoS). The Red Wedding was opportunistic, not planned right from the start.

[The Anti-Targ]

Yeah I thought that line was odd about having to cross at the Twins whether facing Tywin or Jaime. But GRRM himself wrote that script...

Could be that they're placing Tywin somewhere between the Green and Blue Fork rivers some way south of The Twins. So Robb has to split his forces the smaller force to slow Tywin's advance the larger to squeeze past Tywin and head down to engage Jaime west of the Blue Fork. Doing that still puts a river between Robb and Tywin thus giving Robb the needed time to take out Jaime. The Blue Fork is still a substantial River for Tywin to cross. But strategically finding yourself between the Blue and Green Forks is really dumb so it would be a stupid place for Tywin to put himself.

[FatCatOberyn]

I just hope they don't make it so that Robb defeats Tywin... because that would be a major deviation from the books, and it would make Robb seem overpowered.

[Nihilist]

I think they will keep it the same as in the books.

I just REALLY hope they show Jaime cut his way through Robb's army to almost kill him. I think a lot of people understate how close Robb came to death in the Whispering Wood.