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[Book Spoilers] Book deviations in this episode


teemo

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Some observations

Beyond the wall:

- a cosmetic nitpick first: We get to see our first giant. (Yay!) But it looks wrong. The books explicitly state that giants don't look like that. They basically look like Yetis. This is probably a sign of how badly the show is doing budget-wise. They couldn't even afford to give him a Chewbacca-style suit, let alone CGI. Still, I'm extremely greatfull that we get to see giants at all. I'll probably have to forget about Mamooths, though.

- the explanation given to Mance by Jon seemed to work in the trailers, not so much in the finished product. The explanation in the books was better but probably requires more setup that the showrunners coudn't be bothered with.

- there are not many scenes with Jon yet, but I have the lingering sensation that the show is keeping the trend of making Jon look like a fool. That's maybe a reaction to the "Jon is a mary sue" crowd of book fans. Well show Jon isn't a mary sue, but that's going to come back and bite the showrunners in the a$$ when they make him Lord Commander. In the books, mary sue or not, by that point it's well established that Jon is awesome. But making show-Jon lord commander will feel forced and may surprise many viewers.

- It's still early in the season but Ciran Hinds doesn't look quite right to me in the role of Mance. I get it that he's a respected actor and has many fans from that Rome show, but in my eyes he can't pull off the "poet king" look of book Mance (somthing that another actor, like Viggo Mortensen, would have done much better). This is probably why they are altering the character a bit. It makes sense for show-Mance to suit the strengths of the actor playing him.

Beyond the narrow sea:

- another "cosmetic" thing. Where are the elaborate Ghiscari hairstyles? Kraznys is basically bald.

- on Barristan's reveal. I think they could have kept his identity a secret for now. Yes the fans would have recognized him, but knowing that Dany doesn't know would have created it's own kind of dramatic tension.

Allso, in the Books Baristan's secret is revealed concomitently with Jorah's fall from grace. In the show, I expect to see Barristan spending most of the season trying to prove himself, while he and Jorah scheme against eachother, and in the finale he drops the bomb about Jorah bing the spy, as his final act of replacing Jorah as Dany's right hand.

In the seven Kingdoms

- I think Robb won't be spending much time in Harrenhall. This episode was probably just to resolve the capture of Harrenhall and put Roose in charge there (since it didn't happen in S2). We know Robb & Co. will go to Riverrun this season for Hoster's funeral

- On Quyburn's introduction: when I saw he was the only one moving among the dead, I immediately tought "infiltrator!", even before I saw the maester robes or heard the name. So I suppose this is the angle they will be working on in the show

- Salador Saan is allready jumping ship? If he bails out now, he will be a very underused character. Why even bother introducing him in the first place?

Allso, I was surprised to see Davos and Stannis reappearing so early in the season. Given that they won't have much to do, I had expected the showrunners to save their re-introduction for later

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Also, I kinda like that we didn't have Whitebeard. When I was reading the book I was wondering how they will pull that of. In the books we have that mistery of no knowing since we can't see any faces but in the show we obviously can see Barristan. He could have lie to Dany but not to us there would be no surprise (as we had it in the book), for me a lie would be a waste.

But yeah, Belwas D:

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I very much doubt that there is a secret Red Wedding alliance yet in the show. They have time to build up in that direction, and Karstark is not going to be a part of it.

As to Jon and Mance: The whole thing about Jon being a part of of Qhorin's party for 'seasoning' (straight from the book) and his story about Mormont and Craster don't add up. In the book Jon tried to keep it from Mance that the NW was out in full force. That's why he tells he has been sent to the Shadow Tower. Mance later is really pissed when they reach the Fist and find the corpses.

Why Mance would buy this story about the NW not trying to fight the Others is beyond me. Just as was the whole Jon-Mormont conversation last season. In the book Mormont suspects that Craster sacrifices his children, but no one has a clue about the fact that he actually is in contact with the Others. If that was the case - in both show and book - the NW would surely want to question Craster about his relationship to their ancient arch enemy, and use his knowledge about them. Finally, they would actually kill them if they knew for sure that the Others are out there and that he is helping them. Considering a man who worships the Others an ally in the fight against the Others is obviously contradictory. And it got worse now when Jon actually made an argument out of this whole mess.

As to Roose's presence on screen:

Now we pay the price for all those Arya-Tywin scenes in season 2. They were unnecessary. If Roose had taken Harrenhal last season, we would have seen much more of him, and could actually judge his character somewhat.

Qyburn most likely is going to treat Jaime's stump only after Locke has brought him to Harrenhal. That should work. And since he'll accompany Brienne and Jaime later on, we have time enough to learn something about his past.

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  • It looks like Bronn is here to stay longer instead of being Cersei's new pet. They kind of got themselves into this by having Tyrion make him a knight last season, so Cersei can't really offer him that, I guess. It gives us more time to see Bronn, which is nice. Because everyone loves Bronn. But isn't Bronn pretty much done with Tyrion at this point?

Bronn cares about being a knight? He cares about money and women. She can still offer him a position/woman that provides those things.

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Some observations

Beyond the wall:

- a cosmetic nitpick first: We get to see our first giant. (Yay!) But it looks wrong. The books explicitly state that giants don't look like that. They basically look like Yetis. This is probably a sign of how badly the show is doing budget-wise. They couldn't even afford to give him a Chewbacca-style suit, let alone CGI. Still, I'm extremely greatfull that we get to see giants at all. I'll probably have to forget about Mamooths, though.

I actually thought the Giant looked great. That was probably my second or third favourite scene this episode (the others being the Unsullied and Tywin/Tyrion.). He wasn't as described in the books but he looked sufficiently inhuman for me anyway. I think the look was an artistic decision rather than a budget one.

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Beyond the narrow sea:

- another "cosmetic" thing. Where are the elaborate Ghiscari hairstyles? Kraznys is basically bald.

Wasn't Illyrio supposed to have a yellow-beard and be about 4 times as fat? I don't think they will be doing many of the ridiculous hairstyles.

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I actually thought the Giant looked great. That was probably my second or third favourite scene this episode (the others being the Unsullied and Tywin/Tyrion.). He wasn't as described in the books but he looked sufficiently inhuman for me anyway. I think the look was an artistic decision rather than a budget one.

I liked how the giant looked, even though it wasn't how I pictured them.

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Bronn cares about being a knight? He cares about money and women. She can still offer him a position/woman that provides those things.

sorry, you're right. i just kind of meant that along with knighthood cersei gave him lollys and land. it didn't really make sense in a technical way for tyrion to knight bronn, but it happened and it worked out alright...but yeah, you're right - cersei can still offer him more. i'm an idiot.

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Qyburn most likely is going to treat Jaime's stump only after Locke has brought him to Harrenhal. That should work. And since he'll accompany Brienne and Jaime later on, we have time enough to learn something about his past.

Yeah, I think Qyburn will stay at Harrenhal where he will serve Roose. Eventually Jamie and Brienne will make their way there, where Qyburn will treat Jamie's hand, and eventually make his way to Kings Landing.

Does anyone know if The Goat was cast for the season?

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Does anyone know if The Goat was cast for the season?

There is no Vargo Hoat. There is a character named Locke, played by Noah Taylor, who will be taking over the role of Vargo Hoat. He's one of the Bolton bannermen. Roose alluded to him in 3x01: "My best hunter's after [the Kingslayer]." There's been lots of praise in 3x01-3x04 reviews for Locke, so it should be good. "Thapphireth" is out, though.

- another "cosmetic" thing. Where are the elaborate Ghiscari hairstyles? Kraznys is basically bald.

I suspect the Ghiscari hairstyles went the way of Daario's blue hair and Dany's Qartheen breast-exposing gowns: things that would look dumb or eyeroll-inducing on TV.

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There is no Vargo Hoat. There is a character named Locke, played by Noah Taylor, who will be taking over the role of Vargo Hoat. He's one of the Bolton bannermen. Roose alluded to him in 3x01: "My best hunter's after [the Kingslayer]." There's been lots of praise in 3x01-3x04 reviews for Locke, so it should be good. "Thapphireth" is out, though.

Ah, many thanks. I was looking forward to a little lisp action this season.

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There is no Vargo Hoat. There is a character named Locke, played by Noah Taylor, who will be taking over the role of Vargo Hoat. He's one of the Bolton bannermen. Roose alluded to him in 3x01: "My best hunter's after [the Kingslayer]." There's been lots of praise in 3x01-3x04 reviews for Locke, so it should be good. "Thapphireth" is out, though.

I suspect the Ghiscari hairstyles went the way of Daario's blue hair and Dany's Qartheen breast-exposing gowns: things that would look dumb or eyeroll-inducing on TV.

I am a tad disappointed that we didn't get at least toned down versions of these things. I think Qartheen gowns would have worked very well on television ;) and at least some styled red hair could have made an appearance in Astapor. It's just a nitpick though really, because I thought Astapor was great.

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I liked most of the changes really. I loved the added scenes with Margaery. I liked the reason Jon gave to Mance, it actually made a lot of sense to me. Barristan's appearance was great, the Artsan Whitebeard thing wouldn't have worked on TV. Robb comes to Harrenhall, Talisa saves Qyburn, they leave the place to Roose, Locke somehow brings Jaime and Brienne there..I think that can work.

I really hope Sam does get to be a slayer though. It's a big part of his character. If he doesn't in a future episode that would really suck.

What I really don't like is the LF "helping" Sansa upfront. That was such an awesome reveal in the books that I personally think could have worked on TV as well.

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Essentially......

Margaery change plus dinner scene- No problem with this really. I think that the writers kind of have to factor in that despite Cersei's internal monologues and complete distrust of the Tyrells seeming paranoid, it's not entirely so. Having the Tyrells in the background so much ala the books wouldn't work so well IMO. So no prob with this.

Robb/Catelyn et al. It is what it is now. The Catelyn we know and love is lost I fear.

Jon's story change was quite annoying, although I think that the whole "Mance saw Jon at the Feast" thing could be brought back at another point. Could work well in a later scene.

Sam and Ghost- Very annoying. Sam didn't get the ravens off? Well no shit, that's probably because he was on patrol and not tending the ravens. I'm glad that Ghost's presence has been cleared up now. It's good to know that instead of using him to promote the Jon/Qhorin story he was involved in saving Sam for reasons I don't really know.

I still have no clue why they got rid of Dontos. They are murdering my favourite Lord Protector.

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I still have no clue why they got rid of Dontos. They are murdering my favourite Lord Protector.

To give Aidan Gillen something to do in Season 3? LF lies pretty low during the first half of ASOS, so giving LF more direct involvement in Sansa's escape plot gives him more scenes. It also seems that the TV show is spelling out certain things which weren't immediately apparent in the books--Margaery is savvy and power-hungry, for one--so showing more of LF plotting to get Sansa out of KL is in line with that.

It sounds as if the showrunners were planning to do more with Dontos--scenes were filmed that were cut--but scrapped it, for whatever reason. Some speculate it's because Dontos' actor's acting wasn't up to snuff, but I think it had more to do with giving Dontos' role to Shae and LF.

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I liked most of the changes really. I loved the added scenes with Margaery. I liked the reason Jon gave to Mance, it actually made a lot of sense to me. Barristan's appearance was great, the Artsan Whitebeard thing wouldn't have worked on TV. Robb comes to Harrenhall, Talisa saves Qyburn, they leave the place to Roose, Locke somehow brings Jaime and Brienne there..I think that can work.

I really hope Sam does get to be a slayer though. It's a big part of his character. If he doesn't in a future episode that would really suck.

What I really don't like is the LF "helping" Sansa upfront. That was such an awesome reveal in the books that I personally think could have worked on TV as well.

Ugh, I hated the reason Jon gave Mance. The books explanation was so much better. The whole exchange last night felt very rushed and incomplete to me.

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