(Book spoilers ASOS onwards) Samwell Tarly's future storyline changes

[Tormund Giant*****]

This post has incredible amounts of spoilers for A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons. So be careful yeah?

So, whilst I have been bored at work I have been pondering how future seasons of Game of Thrones would/could be portrayed in the best way to keep viewers happy, adapt it for television and to keep characters together and involved so we don’t have so many side stories all the time. I think I have figured out a cool way to do Sam’s story for the end of a Storm Of Swords and AFFC.

This will include Davos a fair bit too. Many have presumed that when Stannis gets to Castle Black that he will have Davos with him, just to make better TV, and he will stick around until perhaps the start of season 5 when he is sent to White Harbor.

I thought it would be cool if Sam and Davos started a friendship whilst they were both at Castle Black, I imagine they would both understand and sympathise with each other quite a lot. I thought they may even plot together to get Jon elected as Commander of the NW, it would give Davos something to do and I imagine that he would see Jon as the best candidate. Stannis might even order him to help Jon win as he wants Jon as commander rather than Slynt or whoever. There could be some great conspirator scenes between the two, and they might even make quite a comical pair.

I imagine at the start of Season 5 will be when both of them are sent from Castle Black. For convenience sake they will send both of them together. Pyp could replace Dareon because he does little in the remainder of the books so far, viewers will be more familiar with him and it will save casting another cast member for a small role. It will also make his abandonment of the Samwell in Braavos and the following fight more dramatic and touching.

The captain of the ship who takes them from the wall could also be Sallahdor Saan assuming that Lucian Msamati resumes his role in the next season or two. He could be ordered by Jon and Stannis to take Davos to White Harbour and then Sam to Oldtown.

So instead of a few characters leaving the wall at different times we will have Samwell, Gilly, Pyp, Aemon, Davos and Salladhor all together. There could be some scenes on the boat with all of them, perhaps even one of Aemon telling Davos that his king is not what Melisandre says he is. Also Salladhor can be openly hostile to Samwell calling him a fat wimp etc who has not bed a single woman or won a single fight.

At some point Davos and Salladhor can have their falling out, at this point he ditches Davos in a boat near White Harbour and informs Sam and the others that they have changed destination and are heading for Braavos as there is someone who owes him money there or something. Sam will protest and Salla says he is lucky not to be cast adrift like Davos and will be dropped off in Braavos where they can make their own way to Oldtown.

In Braavos we can have Aemons illness get worse and Pyp abandons them when they run out of money and he gets tempted by whores and gambling etc. Samwell can also have more interaction with Arya to give her more to do in the story, she can help him out in some way like medicine, food or money. When Sam has his confrontation with Pyp Salladhor is watching. Samwell gets angry and attacks Pyp and beats him but is thrown in the river by some of Pyps new unsavoury friends. Then Salladhor saves him, tell him he is more of a man than he thought and that perhaps he and his men can find some good pirate work around the south and Oldtown and will take Sam after all.

They set out, It is Salladhor who tells Aemon all the rumours he heard in Braavos about Danearys and her Dragons. Aemon dies en route, and after, whilst grieving Sam and Gilly make love. After this Salladhor is even more impressed with Sam the Slayer and he drops them off at Oldtown at the end of the season.

This idea is a bit wishful thinking as they might not have enough time to fully realize all of it. However, I do feel it is the best way to keep as many characters together as possible, creating interesting scenes but without changing too much from the books.

An 10 episode Season would work like this:

Ep 1 – Jon and Stannis send them on their way

Ep 2- not in

Ep 3 – some boat scenes

Ep 4 – Davos abandoned, change course.

Ep 5 – Arrive in Braavos, find somewhere to stay, try and get a boat to Oldtown, meet Arya.

Ep 6 – Pyp begins to be lured by temptation, Aemon gets worse.

Ep 7 – Pyp lured away by temptation, Sam alone, helped by Arya. Samwell attacks Pyp, Salladhor saves him and says they will go to Oldtown

Ep 8 – Salla tells of Dragons etc. Aemons revelation

Ep 9 – not in.

Ep 10 – Aemon dies, Gilly and Sam make love. Arrive in Oldtown

[The Ghost of Summerhall]

Wow, this is a really great idea! A lot of this even seems very possible, since this basically doesn't change the result of the scenes it is replacing, it just changes the scenes themselves. And Davos plotting with Sam, THAT'S something I'd like so see! :D Also, it gives the amazing aDwD pseudo-palship between Jon and Stannis a headstart, so it won't come right out of left field when they have their conversations in the actual Mid-aDwD-material. Overall, great work! :)

[ChozenOne]

Sounds great! Only thing I don't like is replacing Dareon with Pyp. I think since Sam mentioned Dareon in season 3 to Gilly that he will be included, with Pyp staying at Castle Black as a friend to Jon, considering Edd and Grenn may be dead in the show.

[Darryk]

Great idea, actually the kind of thing I wish happened in the books. So many potentially great character pairings, particularly Davos-Jon and Davos-Aemon.

[Ser Luke.]

I like the beginning of your prediction, where Davos helps Sam conspire to elect Jon, but the rest I don't see happening. It's a good idea, and it would help keep the characters together, but it just seems kinda off to me.

[~DarkHorse~]

I actually like the idea of Pyp replacing Dareon- it's great character development for Arya. Arya killing the 'oathbreaker' will have much more of an impact on the viewers as pyp was one of Jon Snows buddies and not just some random Nights Watch guy. It will highlight Arya becoming darker and having lost her innocence much better- most viewers just see her as a badass.

However, her killing a character we're familiar with... :crying:

[Frey-A-La-Mode]

OP, very well thought out, absolutely love the idea of them all leaving The Wall together, especially because it gives us more time with Davos/Sallador (he's such a scoundrel and played so well on the show). I think in Season 4 they are probably going to combine the Yara/Ramsay/Theon stuff, possibly even with Rickon/Osha, so going forward it makes more sense to combine storylines so that the Unsullied get less confused.

Sounds great! Only thing I don't like is replacing Dareon with Pyp. I think since Sam mentioned Dareon in season 3 to Gilly that he will be included, with Pyp staying at Castle Black as a friend to Jon, considering Edd and Grenn may be dead in the show.

I really really really hope that Edd is not gone from the show, nor Grenn (though I would be way sadder about Edd) That block is not going to fetch itself ;-)

I actually like the idea of Pyp replacing Dareon- it's great character development for Arya. Arya killing the 'oathbreaker' will have much more of an impact on the viewers as pyp was one of Jon Snows buddies and not just some random Nights Watch guy. It will highlight Arya becoming darker and having lost her innocence much better- most viewers just see her as a badass.

However, her killing a character we're familiar with... :crying:

As long as it's made clear that she's killing him because he's an oathbreaker, and that this leads to the Kindly Man chastising her in some way (please keep in the part with the Eyes!) then I'm all for it. I still don't want to see Pyp killed, but in the long run Arya's arc is way more important.

[protar]

I do like the idea of Pyp replacing Dareon, as he's expressed some bitterness at being sent to the Wall unfairly. It would require some clever writing though so he doesn't do a complete 180 in terms of personality.

As for the rest of the idea I think it more likely that we'll see Davos at Whiteharbour in S4, being sent by Stannis whilst they're en route to The Wall. That'll give Davos something to do without creating filler scenes.

[BlackestFish]

I don't think, that we will see Sallador Saan again. Though I really like the actor, it sounded like he would leave Dragonstone and Stannis after the Battle of Blackwater. Didn't he tell Davos, that this would be "no place for pirates and smugglers"?

[Janicia]

I want Davos to spend time with the Manderlays in S4, but I do like the idea of Sam, Aemon, and Gilly traveling with Sallador Saan. I agree that the abandonment and death of the night's watchman would resonate more if it was Pyp rather than a new character, but I wouldn't count too heavily on that subplot surviving.

[Qhorin Fivehands]

You're going to have to find some way to send this to D&D because its unreal.

[Harry Lime]

The only thing I don't believe is Pyp turning into an asshole (especially to Sam). I don't think it would cost them too much to hire a throwaway actor to play a singer for a few episodes.

Also, if Salladhor is the ship captain who tells them about the dragons (I can't remember if he is in the books or not) does that mean he'll have to intersect with Dany's storyline next season? That should be interesting. And seeing the damage being done in Slaver's Bay and the economic collapse may convince him to go back to Westeros for season 5.

[YouSnowNothing]

I don't see Pyp, Grenn or Edd replacing Dareon. It would take more screentime and effort to convincingly show one of them changing their mind and turning against Jon, Sam and the NW than it would to just introduce a new character.

I'd like to see a Sam/Davos friendship at the Wall (if Davos does go to the Wall - it's either that or go through his ADWD material in S4 as far as I can see), it'd be great since they're more or less the only genuinely nice people in Westeros. But I can't see their storylines intersecting greatly after that, just doesn't seem right to me for some reason.

[Father of Dragons]

You're going to have to find some way to send this to D&D because its unreal.

:agree: