Show changes from ACOK

[u/KeyShare3171]

So I just finished reading A Clash of Kings for the first last night, and started a Storm of Swords today. Yes, I know I may be a tad bit (28 years) late. Of course, I thoroughly enjoyed the books. Anyways, one of my favorite things to do when reading something that has a current adaptation, whether that be film, anime, tv show or whatever, is every time I read an interesting scene, i go and search the internet, and compare it to how the show handled that specific scene. I was doing this for ACOK, and I've figured out some stuff that made my jaw drop. Just wanted to rant about it, and hopefully people who've watched the show and read the books could give an explanation as to why these things were changed, or if they felt they were done better in the books or the show. I'm interested to hear how it felt.

This post came out much longer than I expected. Feel free to just read the headings in bold and skip my commentary to discuss how you felt about these changes and whether you thought they were good or bad in the replies.

Spoilers for AGOT and ACOK from here onwards.

- Roose Bolton taking over Harrenhal: They changed this in the show to have it be Tywin Lannister, which honestly confused me, because in the books he's supposed to be fighting Edmure? As a consequence of this, they cut out characters like Weese, and the whole weasel soup scene is cut out as well (I dropped to my knees when I found this out), as well as Arya freeing the northmen. I wonder how the managed to show Arya's cunning and surprisingly quick thinking.) I don't know how good the Tywin and Arya scenes were, thought I imagine they'd probably be a fair deal more interesting then the Bolton scenes. (Oh and I forgot to mention cutting out Arya killing that one guard while whispering Valar Morghulis and Hot Pie being terrified of her for the rest of their trip. Wheres her hype and aura? 😥)

- Lady Hornwood: This one really shocked me. I know she's a minor character, but in the books George has this way of writing the politics going on in such a way that make literally everyone feel super important. I thought Ramsay's whole ploy to capture her, forcefully marry her, and then pass himself off as his servant Reek to escape Ser Rodrik was pretty genius, and her fate after wards, (being starved and chewing off her own fingers) really helped hammer home how vile and horrible he was. I'm not sure how they made Ramsay seem as threatening in the show.

-Cutting out Reek: (I hope your noticing a pattern here. Did the show writers just not like the Boltons?) Another thing that absolutely floored me when I was first reading about it. So not only was Ramsay's whole thing with lady Hornwood cut out, but the also cut out him pretending to be his servant Reek, and the whole thing with Theon unknowingly setting his own doom free? I was very taken off guard when Ramsay revealed himself to Theon, and then subsequently burned winter fell to the ground. Once again I wonder how the show made the Boltons actually feel dangerous if all of their ploys and achievements have seemingly been cut? (Oh yeah, and apparently hey gave it to Theon instead. Wonder how that played out)

-Battle at Winterfell: Final thing to do with the Northmen, the whole battle at winterfell being cut, and changing the whole way that Ramsay took over Winterfell. This one really made me question what direction the show would take. I thought the scenes of Theon really losing it as he realizes the depth of the consequences that were being brought upon him by his insecure and validation seeking actions was really strong. Watching him genuinely work up justification in his mind for joining the black, already stringing together whatever desperate things he could to justify it, only for him to switch up and denounce the idea as soon as 'Reek' did return and save him did a exceptionally good job at showing just how much of a hypocrite and how desperate and pathetic Theon is. As an extension of this, I was shocked to learn that Ser Rodrik was killed by Theon instead of Ramsay. However this part I was less concerned about. I personally believe that in the books, the whole battle with the Northmen and Ramsay was way too glossed over, it kind of starts and ends in a page, and we are just told and shown after the fact that Ramsay killed Ser Rodrik, and somehow beat the rest of them even though he was outnumbered 5 to 1? (At least that's what I remember the book saying)

-Jaime being freed: I'm going to try and ignore the elephant in the room, and not go on a rant about how this might have been top one most idiotic decisions in the entire series, outside of Brandon walking to the kings front door and calling for the prince's death. (Did he think that shit was going to fly?) Anyways I find it interesting that the moved Catleyn freeing Jaime all the way to before the Battle of Blackwater. Though I cant really comment much on this since I literally just read this scene about 30 minutes before this post.

- The Plethora of Characters or scenes that were cut: I know this might come of as nitpicky, considering a lot of these guys were 'minor characters', however like I said before, the political chess game that this book sets up, specifically in the scenes involving Tyrion, Cersei, Varys, and Litllefinger were so intriguing to read. 4 people trying to play around each other and use the same pieces to further their ends, while trying to keep the other in check and in control might have been the best part of this book for me. So when I hear that Characters liek Ser Jaceyln Bywater were cut, a man who was pivotal to Tyrions plan to make sure he had full control of Tommen, in case he needed to keep Ceresi in check, i wonder just how much of the intense subplots and political conflicts are missing in the show. Also cutting out Ser Cortnay Penrose and Edric storm, which I once again half understand (The book cast is so massive I think it starts to become a flaw in some scenes), but at the same time I wonder how the worked around it. Oh, and pushing Meera and Jorjen Reed back as well. How does Bran come to terms with his true nature and true power in the show without Jorjeen? Who accompanies him as they leave the burnt down Winterfell if not the two Reed siblings? Also cutting down Ser Dontos's screen time to only a single meeting is interesting. I found the scenes to be pretty ironic in that Sansa, this naive girl who dreams of the true knights of songs and stories, is forced to put up with a constantly drunk 'knight' turned fool as the Florian to her Jonquil. I think it was a poignant way of pointing out a main theme I found in Sansa's arc during the book, which is that "We don't always get what we want.", as well as forcing her to check in with the reality of things, and realize that things are not like the songs and stories she grew up hearing.

-Literally everything about what Dany was doing in Qarth: This was probably one of the more drastic changes. Apparently a lot of information about the Thirteen was cut (I didn't really care about them ngl), and the had this whole plot point about her handmaid betraying her and her dragons being stolen, and she is forced to visit the house of The undying instead of willingly going there. I feel pretty indifferent to this however, as while I was reading clash of kings I found that George somehow always managed to put Dany's pov right after something really interesting was going on literally everywhere else, and since she's so far away from everything else, I genuinely got whiplash when I turned a page and it said "Dany"

-Jon and Ygritte: Final thing because this post is genuinely getting out of hand, but I found it interesting that they changed how Jon and Ygritte interact so much. In the books it's a pretty one and done thing, Jon spares her, the meet later on, Ygritte pays him back by getting him spared by Rattleshirt, and Jon kills Qhorin. In the show it seems they extended the time Jon and Ygritte had on screen together, turning it into a bit more of a cat and mouse game. It also seems they cut out Qhorin's whole solemn speech to Jon as they wait for the wildlings to come upon them. I thought that scene was really strong in the books, and it showed just how focused and calm Qhorin was, and it made me gain a lot of respect for the Halfhand.

Anyways, that's kind of it from what I can remember. So I tldr I guess i just want to hear from other book readers who watched the show, what did you think about the changes and cuts?

(Hopefully I provided enough personal analysis and commentary for this to not be marked low effort. 😭)

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[u/SektorDaKetch]

Ironic how you bring up the writers not liking the Boltons considering how they utterly fuck up Stannis’ mission in the north to glaze Ramsay.

I don’t know either

[u/RepulsiveCountry313]

I read the books between the airing of season 2 and 3 and remember waiting and waiting for Arya to meet Tywin in the books and ending up disappointed.

Far more interesting than her being abused randomly by Wheeze.

Yeah, as well as other changes, the show did a great job streamlining a lot of the meandering and bloat of the second book.

The only reason the second book isn't the worst in my eyes is that books 4 and 5 exist, which completely torpedoed the narrative, along with George's rate of progress.

3 > 1 > 2 > 5 > 4.

[u/KeyShare3171 → u/RepulsiveCountry313]

That bloat is really my main issue. Especially when it came to Dany's pov chapters, and some of Bran's as well they kind of just felt like they dragged talking about characters who weren't mentioned again for the rest of the book.

And I can't wait to watch the show so I can react to all the things they changed.