*cracks fingers*
Oh boy, let's relive some old frustrations shall we.
As a book reader I believe when anyone adapts a big story, they should follow the story rather than create their own stuff. So when plots are omitted from an adaptation it's annoying to me. But when that means new changes result in completely different characters in that adaptation a screw-up has been made. And that's what happened in season 5. The Dorne plot was incredibly stupid. Dorne plays a big role in the original story, to condense that like the show did is frustrating.
Important characters from Dorne were not in the show. Dornish characters want to crown Myrcella queen of the Seven Kingdoms, so of course the show has Dornish characters kill Myrcella.
Tyrion turned in the dumbest character in the show. Excluding characters he travels with, most notably Young Griff, a Targaryen pretender, was dumb. Griff claims he's young Aegon, son of Rhaegar and therefore the true heir to the Targaryen throne. He's someone to make Daenerys' claim futile as he has the better claim. That will result in friction for Dany, which (is theorised) will be the impetus for Dany to blow up King's Landing. None of that road rage after hearing bells (that suddenly changed meaning in the story too).
Lady Stoneheart being excluded. I mean, whatever. When Catelyn Stark is killed she's revived as Lady Stoneheart, a cruel undead who seeks vengeance against those responsible for the Red Wedding. I really like her arc. In life she's always hated Jon Snow and one possible direction for her story to go is she gives up her life to resurrect Jon Snow. But she causes carnage and it's a fun character for it.
Stannis got assassinated in the show. Feckin' stupid. Book Stannis is great, the show never did him right. Stannis will probably win the battle against the Boltons in the Battle of Ice (
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), as he's been preparing for it by drilling holes in a same way Nevsky won the
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.
But 'somehow' Jon receives a letter from an unknown sender with questionable sealing wax telling him Stannis lost. That's when Jon decided to gather Night's Watch forces to march on Winterfell. Which goes directly against his oath, as it's very much political. It's why Jon gets killed.
The coup Jon commits to become the leader of the Night's Watch is also not included in the show. Jon is not a good man, though she show depicts him as one. The influence Aemonds crow has over the election process is also ignored in the show. The crow is warged by Brynden Rivers, the Bloodraven, who has an agenda to put Jon in power. But he uses a form of magic so the show omitted him largely.
Mance Rayder doesn't die in the book. Jon uses magic to make someone else look like Mance, who is killed. So Mance still wanders freely in the book GRRM will probably never finish. But he's still very much a player.
These are just a few of my problems with season 5. The later seasons built up on these issues in a butterfly effect. The whole "but season 8 ended according to Georges bullet points as submitted at the end of season 4" defense of the show doesn't work for me. If you and I both go to Sri Lanka for our holidays and we end up there for a 10-day stay, but I go by cargo transport in a shipping container without climate control whereas you go by an enjoyable cruise ship and have a relaxing ride there we won't have the same experience at the end of our vacation. That's what the showrunners took away from us. "But Bran ends up king, so don't criticise us for the way we've depicted him as king". Feck off. Bran isn't Bran anymore, in the same way the Bloodraven isn't Brynden Rivers anymore. They're an embodiment of the weirwood trees. Humanity will lose in the end. The weirwood tree, essentially a giant fungus, will win.
The books are amazing, which makes it all the more frustrating they probably won't be finished. Mannis preparing for the Battle of Ice is subtly spread throughout a full book and it will be glorious. There are other plot points in the book that will hopefully pay off, should the books ever be released. The show dumbed things down while also removing all forms of magic, even though it plays a significant part in the story. Euron Greyjoy is all about magic, the Faceless Men are about magic and have their own plans. They probably have a dragon egg and infiltrated the Citadel to look for information about how to hatch it.
But those stupid showrunners wanted to adapt a fantasy story with magic, only to
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. That stuff still gets my blood boiling.
Either way, the books are great. It's just a shame we'll never get an ending to them. YouTube has plenty theories on how they will end so you may as well pick one and pretend it's canon. That's what I've done and I still enjoy my re-reads.
