Differences in the status of women between books and TV series

Portrayal of the status of women in the TV series
Work in Progress - final section

The TV series has not shown women holding and wielding political power in the Seven Kingdoms as frequently as it occurs in the novels, which makes them appear to have less agency.

The TV series does present Queen Cersei Lannister as wielding political power in King's Landing, or Daenerys Targaryen becoming Queen of Meereen through conquest on the eastern continent, and the two of them do occupy a large mount of "screen time" - but as individuals, they are only exceptional and isolated cases. "Frequency" of showing women wielding political power in this context does not refer to how many chapters of the books or episodes of the TV series focus on Cersei and Daenerys's activities, but on the overall number of female characters who are presented holding political power - which reflects the overall status of women in Westeros's society.

During the course of the books' narrative, at least one woman has come to rule over one of the major vassal Houses in every region of the Seven Kingdoms. Women might not hold political power as often as men do - but they hold it frequently enough that it isn't considered unusual. It is somewhat rare for a daughter to inherit rule directly from her parents, because a lord will usually keep having more children until he has sons - but sometimes couples prove infertile, or only have daughters. It is more common for women to come to political power as widows, serving as regents for their underaged children. Widow-regents should not be simply waved aside, however, as several widow-regents in the narrative have ruled for over a decade and are considered strong political players (i.e. Barbrey Dustin). Logically there are fewer widow-regents when the narrative begins, but so many men die during the course of the War of the Five Kings that several women get widowed and become the new acting heads of their Houses. The North is the most extreme example: so many Northern lords died during the massacre at the Red Wedding that a third of the major Houses in the North are headed by a woman as of the fifth novel.

There are nine regions in "the Seven Kingdoms": when the Targaryens conquered and unified them they reformed the contested borderlands between the seven as "the Riverlands", and carved out "the Crownlands" from neighboring kingdoms for the royal dynasty to rule directly. Each of these regions has about a dozen or so major Houses as vassals, such as the Umbers or Karstarks. Each of these major vassals in turn have their own minor vassal Houses, anywhere from a few to a dozen, though they have not been described in as much detail. At least one woman heads a major vassal House in each region during the narrative, and each region currently has around 12 to 15 major vassal Houses (the number has fluctuated across the centuries) - so generally speaking, the ratio of how frequently women hold political power over the major Houses is roughly around one out of every twelve. This may not be an equal ratio (which would be half of all noble Houses), but it is far from an insignificant number.

In the real-life Middle Ages, women actually held land quite frequently in certain areas - though this varied considerably from region to region and century to century. Partially this was because not every region practiced primogeniture but often divided lands (and thus political power) among daughters as well. So many men died so frequently in endemic warfare or crusades that widow-regents were also not uncommon. In some regions of medieval France, the ratio of female handholders to male ones was as high as one out of every eight, sometimes even one out of six (higher than the roughly one out of twelve figure apparent in the Seven Kingdoms). Due to patchy surviving written records not much is known about some sub-regions, however, so there is ongoing debate how how indicative these figures are for medieval Europe as a whole, and just because they were landholders doesn't mean they were the wealthiest landholders (daughters often inherited land, but smaller shares than sons).

Interestingly, the one out of twelve ratio (sometimes one out of 14 or 15) ratio holds for the all of the "core" regions of the Seven Kingdoms, the wealthy and populous southern kingdoms that all follow the main religion of the Faith of the Seven. The "fringe" regions of the North, Dorne, and the Iron Islands don't have this ratio (the North and Iron Islands have different religions and cultures, while Dorne nominally converted to the Faith of the Seven but nonetheless has a radically different culture). Women come to power much more frequently in Dorne due to its gender-blind inheritance laws. Women also seem to come to power a bit more frequently in the North than the south: it is the only kingdom with a hostile land border and faces wildling attacks from beyond the Wall, and it gets hit hardest by winter, so it presumably has a higher death rate for male lords. This higher death rate in war and winter would mean that widow-regents are more common, or that sons would be exhausted sooner leaving only daughters behind. Indeed, at the time of the Tales of Dunk and Egg prequel novellas, House Stark was headed by the "She-wolves of Winterfell" - about five or so widows who were jockeying over who was in charge because five lords of Winterfell died in rapid succession due to various catastrophes (including a major wildling invasion led by a King-Beyond-the-Wall, ironborn attacks on the west coast, and even a revolt by the savage tribes on Skagos island to the east). Meanwhile, women hardly ever come to rule in the Iron Islands, due to their misogynistic culture.

Women who hold political power among the major vassal Houses of each region during the narrative of the novels include:


 * The North:
 * Maege Mormont - ruler of Bear Island, inheriting in her own right after her brother Jeor abdicated to join the Night's Watch, but then Jeor's son Jorah fled into exile in Essos rather than face punishment for selling poachers into slavery. Also a warrior and military commander, due to the strong tradition of warrior-women on Bear Island.  Maege had five daughters but no mention of a husband was ever given, or why all of her daughters still have the name "Mormont".  Her second daughter Alysane also has two small children, and never told anyone who the father was - sarcastically claiming they were fathered by a bear.  Maege's eldest daughter Dacey Mormont was also a warrior-woman and a member of Robb Stark's personal bodyguard, but she was slain at the Red Wedding.
 * Barbrey Dustin - Born Barbrey Ryswell, her husband Willam Dustin was killed during Robert's Rebellion. Lady Barbrey has ruled House Dustin ever since as his widow, and is a major political figure in the North, and appears prominently in the narrative of the fifth novel.  It is unclear if she has children or has designated an heir.  In the TV series, it has been mentioned in passing exactly once by Arya in Season 2 that there is a "Lady Dustin" but didn't mention her first name, and in context didn't even make clear that she is the head of House Dustin.
 * Lyessa Flint - head of House Flint of Widow's Watch. It isn't clear if she is a widow or inherited in her own right; her son Robin is described as the head of the separate branch of the family, House Flint of Flint's Finger, though the circumstances of how this came about are unknown.  Lyessa is mentioned in the second novel, but she does not travel to the harvest feast that Bran holds at Winterfell because she is pregnant.  She hasn't been mentioned again.
 * Jonelle Cerwyn - inherited rule in her own right after her father and brother were killed in the War of the Five Kings. Her father Medger died of wounds he took at the Battle of the Green Fork.  Her older brother Cley was then killed at the Sack of Winterfell, when the Northern forces besieging Theon's ironborn in the castle were surprised and betrayed in their own camp by the Bolton forces led by Ramsay Snow (who then betrayed the ironborn as well, flaying alive those who surrendered and torturing Theon, while burning the castle and putting many of its household to the sword).  Jonelle was thus the head of House Cerwyn as of the beginning of the third novel; she appears in the fifth novel when Northern lords assemble to grudgingly swear fealty to Roose Bolton as the new Warden of the North (at which time she is 32 years old).
 * Eddara Tallhart - inherited rule in her own right after both her father and brother were killed in the War of the Five Kings. Her father Helman was killed in the Battle of Duskendale - a suicide mission that Roose Bolton sent him on to eliminate loyal Stark supporters who would oppose his betrayal of them.  Her brother Benfred was killed when the ironborn landed on the west coast of the North; they proceeded to seize and occupy House Tallhart's seat at Torrhen's Square (as a feint to lure out Winterfell's defensive garrison), and took the young maid Eddara captive.  Despite other losses to the Boltons the ironborn still hold Torrhen's Square as of the end of the fifth novel, and Eddara remains their prisoner.
 * Donella Hornwood - and elderly woman came to rule as a widow-regent during the novels after her husband Halys Hornwood was killed at the Battle of the Green Fork, and their adult son Daryn Hornwood was killed around the same time at the Battle of the Whispering Wood. Halys's only remaining potential heir is his bastard son Larence Snow, a 13 year old boy.  As the Hornwood succession is tenuous she comes to Winterfell to ask Bran Stark and Maester Luwin for advice and they suggest several options for remarriage, as she is fearful that the Boltons on her northern border cover her lands.  On her way back from Winterfell she is attacked and captured by Ramsay Snow, who forcibly married and rapes her.  He then flayed the skin off of the elderly woman's fingers, to force her to chew them off to end the pain, then locked her in a tower cell and simply forgot about her, leaving her to starve to death.  After the Bolton takeover of the North they apparently claim direct rule over the Hornwoods, though Larence Snow later joins Stannis Baratheon's host in the west.
 * Riverlands:
 * Shella Whent - an elderly woman, ruler of Harrenhal at the time of the first novel. She apparently died "off screen" by the time of the fifth novel, after the Lannisters occupied Harrenhal, despoiled her lands, and killed off almost all of her household.  The elderly blacksmith Ben Blackthumb says that he worked at Harrenhal for Shella and her father before her, and her grandfather before him, indicating that Shella inherited rule in her own right.  Shella dies "off screen" by the time of the fifth novel, during the Lannister occupation, after which the Iron Throne considers House Whent extinct (though in fact Shella's relative Minisa Whent was Catelyn Stark's mother, and thus the Stark children have claim to Harrenhal, but the Lannister's don't acknowledge it).
 * The Vale:
 * Anya Waynwood - one of the leading political figures in the Vale, the only female member of the "Lords Declarant" who originally challenged Littlefinger's regency over Sweetrobin Arryn in the novels (though they later came to terms). Given that she is an elderly woman and has adult sons, she probably isn't a regent but inherited rule from her parents.
 * During the Dance of the Dragons, set 170 years before the main novels, the Vale was ruled by Lady Jeyne Arryn, who is explicitly stated to have inherited rule from her parents, not through marriage.
 * At the beginning of the novels, Lysa Tully rules over the Vale as the widow-regent of Lord Jon Arryn, and is expected to rule for many years due to the very young age of their frail son Sweetrobin Arryn.
 * The Reach:
 * Arwyn Oakheart - a widow, but not clearly stated if she inherited in her own right or not. She is said to have several sons, and the youngest is Ser Arys Oakheart, a member of the Kingsguard - meaning that her elder sons must already be grown men, implying that she is not a widow-regent but probably inherited in her own right from her parents.
 * The Westerlands
 * Alysanne Lefford - Leo Lefford was the head of House Lefford at the beginning of the novels, but he drowned during the Battle of the Fords (equal to the Battle of Stone Mill in the TV series), so that by the third novel Alysanne is the new ruler. It is unclear if she is his widow or inherited rule as his daughter or sister.
 * In House Lannister itself, Jaime foreswore his inheritance when he joined the Kingsguard, but after Tyrion kills their father Tywin he flees into exile, leaving Cersei as the new head of House Lannister. No one denies that (with Tyrion gone and wanted for patricide) Cersei is her father's heir.
 * The Stormlands
 * Mary Mertyns - listed in the appendix of the fifth novel as the head of House Mertyns of Mistwood, though no other information is known about her.
 * Brienne of Tarth is not the current ruler of House Tarth because her father is still alive, but all of his other children died in childhood, so Brienne has been treated as his heir-apparent for years. Her father tried to arrange good marriages for her, and this did attract suitors who wanted to gain rule of Tarth through her - but none of them lasted because they all disdained her unfeminine appearance and behavior.  Either way, in both the novels and TV series, she isn't really presented as a political figure so much as an independent warrior (she doesn't represent "House Tarth" as a political faction the way Anya Waynwood represents "House Waynwood" and all of its armies).
 * The Crownlands
 * Ermesande Hayford - a baby at the time of the second novel, but last living member of her family and thus officially the ruler of Castle Hayford and its lands, inheriting in her own right and not through marriage.
 * Tanda Stokeworth - apparently the widow of Manly Stokeworth, Commander of the City Watch killed in the Sack of King's Landing, meaning that she has been ruling House Stokeworth for the 15 years since the war. She only has two daughters, Falyse and Lollys, both of whom are above the age of majority.  Falyse has been married for ten years but is barren.  Apparently a widow-regent can sometimes hold onto power longer if she only has daughters.  Tyrion meets with her several times throughout the second novel, as without food supplies from the Riverlands or the Reach, half of the trickle of food supplies coming into King's Landing are from Stokeworth and Rosby lands.


 * Dorne is exceptional due to its gender-blind inheritance system, so that female rulers are even more frequent there (older daughters inherit ahead of younger sons):
 * Larra Blackmont - ruler of House Blackmont, inherited rule in her own right from her parents. Her eldest child and therefore heir under Dornish law is her daughter Jynessa Blackmont.  Larra is part of Oberyn Martell's embassy of Dornish lords to King's Landing.
 * Nymella Toland - ruler of House Toland in her own right. Her eldest daughter Valena is apparently also her eldest child and heir.  Nymella first appears in a preview chapter from the sixth novel, well ahead of the TV storyline as of the end of Season 5.
 * Delonne Allyrion - ruler of House Allyrion in her own right. Grandmother of Daemon Sand.
 * House Jordayne - the current ruler is a man, but his heir apparent is his daughter and eldest child Myria Jordayne.
 * House Yronwood - the current ruler is a man, but his heir apparent is his daughter and eldest child Ynys Yronwood.
 * Lady Alyse Ladybright serves as the "lord treasurer" in Sunspear of House Martell. This is an important court position, though it isn't clear if Alyse is head of her House, and otherwise House Ladybright hasn't been significantly mentioned in the novels so it might not be a "major" House.

There are currently about 15 or so major Houses in Dorne (assuming that House Dalt and House Ladybright can be called "major", though this is unclear). While the other southern kingdoms in Westeros also have around 12 to 15 major vassal Houses each, but on average only have one of those vassal Houses headed by a woman (in peacetime), three times as many major Houses are headed by women in Dorne. For that matter, sometimes the women who come to rule in the other kingdoms do so as widow-regents, gaining power through their husbands (i.e. Alysanne Lefford). In contrast, all of the current female heads of noble Houses in Dorne are not widows, but inherited rule in their own right from their parents. Multiple Dornish Houses also have heirs apparent who are older daughters inheriting ahead of younger sons.

The Iron Islands have a very misogynistic culture, and there is no mention of any woman coming to power there - the ironborn value strength and have a history of elective kingship, so even on the level of vassal Houses they seem to have a tendency to prefer a more distant relative if he is a strong ruler. Even then, however, during the timeframe of the narrative Yara Greyjoy (Asha in the novels) is a very exceptional female ironborn warrior, raised as a surrogate son by her father Balon after two of his sons died and the last (Theon) was sent away to be a hostage of the Starks. She captains her own ship and has commanded ironborn forces in war attacking the North. Balon himself has actually remarked in the novels that he wants his daughter to rule after him; while most ironborn oppose the idea that she may come to rule, simply because she is a woman, the Drowned Men priests are disconcerted that a surprisingly large minority of vassal Houses are so impressed with her that they are openly in favor of her ruling.

The TV series has barely presented women heading any of the major vassal Houses at all, even as cameos. Even throwaway dialogue that mentions vassal Houses in passing has changed the gender of the current ruler from female to male - apparently thinking that mention of a woman ruling a major House would require a lengthy explanation out of proportion to the brief lines of dialogue.

Of the 16 women who at one point or another during the narrative of the novels rule one of the major vassal Houses, not all are prominent characters or even have speaking lines - given that so many male rulers of major Houses were also cut for time (i.e. House Manderly), it is unsurprising and even expected that not all of them would appear even as cameos in the TV series. Such minor characters who are "named" in the novels but don't really enter the narrative, sometimes just appearing in a list in the appendices, include Arwyn Oakheart, Alysanne Lefford, Mary Mertyns, Lyessa Flint, Eddara Tallhart, and Ermesande Hayford (Ermesande is just a baby and her entire subplot with Tyrion's cousin Tyrek was cut for time anyway). In Dorne, Jonelle Allyrion and Nymella Toland have similarly only been mentioned in the novels so far (Nymella only appears in a preview chapter from the upcoming sixth novel). Donella Hornwood doesn't exist in the TV series but the entire subplot involving her being captured and killed by Ramsay Snow was also omitted - because Ramsay's introduction was pushed back to Season 3.

The TV series did mention Shella Whent as the current ruler of Harrenhal in Season 1, when Catelyn calls upon the men at the Crossroads Inn to arrest Tyrion, citing that each of them serve vassals of the Tullys. She isn't mentioned again, though as in the novels she apparently died "off screen" during the Lannister occupation of Harrenhal between Seasons 1 and 2. Barbrey Dustin is a prominent character in the fifth novel and presented as a strong political leader of House Dustin, having conversations with both Roose Bolton and Reek/Theon. The TV series only vaguely referred to her exactly once, in Season 2 when Arya pretends to be a commoner and claims "My mother served Lady Dustin for many years, my lord" - yet even this line doesn't give her first name, or really clearly establish that "Lady Dustin" is in fact the ruler of House Dustin at all. Arya could have just been claiming that her mother was a handmaiden to the wife of the current Lord Dustin. In the cases of both Shella Whent and Barbrey Dustin, however, only sharp-eyed viewers who already read the novels would even pick up on these mentions, each made only once and very briefly, so that TV-first viewers might not have even noticed them as examples of women holding political power.

Maege Mormont is one of the most prominent female rulers in the novels of a major vassal House: she inherited rule in her own right after her brother and nephew abdicated, she is a warrior-woman in her own right, and one of Robb Stark's major military commanders in battle (not to mention a grandmother). She is also one of only a few of Robb's lieutenants who weren't killed at the Red Wedding, because she was away on a mission to meet with the Crannogmen in the Neck to prepare to retake Moat Cailin. The TV series, however, reduced Maege Mormont to a non-speaking cameo, appearing only in the background of three episodes in late Season 1 when Robb's bannermen assemble. She simply vanishes after that and isn't even in crowd shots from Season 2 onwards. Her fate in the TV series is also a mystery. While book-readers could tell that this was Maege Mormont (as she is an older woman wearing full chainmail) the TV series never gave her speaking lines nor did any other characters ever mention in dialogue that the current head of House Mormont is a woman. Nor has it been prominently explained that Bear Island has a strong tradition of having women-warriors due to constant attacks by wildlings and ironborn across the seas. TV-first viewers would have no way of knowing that House Mormont is currently ruled by a woman, or that its armies are led into battle by a woman. In both the novels and TV series, much later in the story when Stannis Baratheon arrives at the Wall he sends letters to the Northern lords asking that they acknowledge his rule, but he gets a rejection letter from Lyanna Stark - one of Maege's younger daughters. In the novels, Jon thinks to himself that Maege has older surviving daughters and wonders why she left Lyanna as acting ruler of Bear Island, and wonders if her sisters let her write the rejection letter to insult Stannis (given that Lyanna is only a ten year old girl). The TV series didn't clearly explain the current status of the Mormont family at all, however: Lyanna Mormont is simply said to be Jeor's nephew, that she is "Lady of Bear Island" - but not mentioning what happened to Maege, or if she Lyanna is the current or acting ruler of House Mormont.

Many secondary characters from vassal Houses below the main Great Houses, both men and women, were removed from the TV series simply due to time constraints, so all of the above examples can be attributed to the general wave of condensations made in adapting a lengthy novel series. Nonetheless, by not even mentioning female rulers in minor dialogue, the TV series hasn't presented female rule as the unexceptional phenomenon in Westeros it is in the novels. Yet other changes were made regarding female rulers in the TV series that went beyond simple omission from the novels:

While the TV series didn't have time to introduce all of these secondary and tertiary characters, at times - when the head of a House is only mentioned in passing or only makes a cameo appearance - the TV series has changed the gender of the heads of several Houses from female to male, possibly out of fear that audiences would get confused if a woman was presented as a political leader in Westeros, without also providing a lengthy explanation of how she came to that position. In contrast, in the novels there are several female heads of major Houses who have really only been mentioned in passing (essentially as "cameos"), but George R.R. Martin never felt the need to stop the narrative and spend a full page introducing a convoluted explanation of how a woman could, implausibly, come to lead a major House - instead, he typically presented it without explanation, because it happens frequently enough in their society that it isn't worth commenting on. Female rule is not considered very rare and unusual in the books, and thus doesn't really require an explanation: several Houses just happen to be headed by women, either because they inherited it due to having no surviving brothers, or as widows who serve as regents for their children.

As of the end of Season 5, female rulers have been changed to male ones on four occasions (five if the Martells are counted twice):


 * In Season 4 episode 7 "Mockingbird", when Oberyn Martell met with Tyrion in his prison cell, he mentioned in passing that he accompanied his "father" on a trip to Casterly Rock, where he saw the newborn Tyrion. In the novels, it was actually Oberyn's mother who took him on an official visit to Casterly Rock, because she was the ruler of Dorne at the time.  She inherited rule in her own right from her parents, ahead of her younger brother Lewyn Martell due to Dornish inheritance law (Lewyn subsequently joined the Kingsguard).  Rule later passed to her son and eldest child Doran upon her death.  While the name of Doran and Oberyn's mother hasn't been established yet, she was fairly active in the backstory:  she was a handmaiden to Queen Rhaella Targaryen (the Mad King's sister-wife) along with Joanna Lannister, where the two became close friends.  She was therefore actually traveling from Dorne to Casterly Rock to visit her friend Joanna, whose unborn child was due then, but when they arrived they learned that Joanna had died in childbirth.  Why the TV series went out of its way to change a reference from Oberyn's "mother" to his "father" is unknown - but it removed the implication that Oberyn's mother was the previous ruler of Dorne.
 * In the same episode, Season 4's "Mockinbird", Bronn also visited Tyrion in his cell, and discussed how Cersei just bribed off Bronn with a betrothal to the noblewoman Lollys Stokeworth. Tyrion points out that Lollys isn't the heir to House Stokeworth, her older sister Falyse is, and Bronn acknowledges he is aware of that (but hopes to get rid of Falyse soon).  In this exchange, Tyrion says that as heir, Falyse will inherit Castle Stokeworth instead of Lollys when their "father" dies.  In the novels, the head of House Stokeworth is the widow Tanda Stokeworth, whose husband has been dead for many years.  In the novels, Tyrion even meets with her extensively to negotiate food shipments to the capital city.  The result was that within the same episode, two separate instances of female political leaders of major noble Houses (one of them even a Great House) were changed to be men.  The dialogue could have just as easily referred to Oberyn's "mother", and Lollys's "mother" without further explanation, but the scriptwriters went out of their way to change each line to "father".
 * In the Season 4 premiere, "Two Swords", Tyrion greets the embassy of Dornish lords as they arrive at King's Landing, only to find that Oberyn rode ahead of them and is already in the city. In the novels, Oberyn didn't ride ahead but was with the embassy, yet either way Tyrion was expecting his brother Doran and was disconcerted that his more hotheaded younger brother came instead.  In the novels, one of the Dornish nobles that accompanies Oberyn is Lady Larra Blackmont, the current ruler of House Blackmont, which she holds through inheritance in her own right.  She doesn't have significant dialogue, but it is a visual indication of the different inheritance laws in Dorne that result in women holding political power more frequently.  In the TV version, the head of House Blackmont who was in the embassy was genderswapped to be a man instead of a woman, credited as "Lord Blackmont".  In fact, this Lord Blackmont is the leader of the Dornish embassy who actually has speaking lines when he talks with Tyrion (and informs him Oberyn isn't there).  Thus the TV series could have not only shown a female Dornish ruler as one of the background lords in this scene, but could have made Larra Blackmont the noble who actually has speaking lines with Tyrion.  Instead Larra Blackmont was simply omitted and apparently doesn't exist in the TV continuity.  Combined with Oberyn's reference seven episodes later in Season 4 to his "father", not his mother, taking him on a visit to Casterly Rock, this removed any hint from the TV series that Dorne practices gender-blind inheritance, unlike the rest of Westeros which practices male-preference inheritance.
 * When Doran Martell was introduced in Season 5, only his son Trystane Martell was introduced (given that his betrothal to Myrcella Baratheon is a plot point), while avoiding any mention of his older two children from the novels: his son Quentyn, and his eldest child and heir, his daughter Arianne Martell.  In the novels, Arianne is the only woman who is the heir-apparent to one of the Great Houses, and in fact been raised from birth expecting to lead a Great House (Cersei was never expected to lead House Lannister because she had two brothers ahead of her in the line of succession).  On the other hand, the TV series never clearly stated that Trystane was Doran's only son - indeed, back in Season 2 when Myrcella's marriage proposal was first introduced, Tyrion said that he was arranging a marriage-alliance with House Martell, between Myrcella and their "youngest son" - implying that Doran has other children.  This is a tactic the TV series has used before, when the producers aren't sure if a character can ever appear due to time constraints but they are reluctant to officially give up on ever including them in later seasons:  in Season 2, dialogue was carefully phrased to say that Stannis Baratheon has "no sons" to leave the option open to later include his daughter Shireen, and in fact they later were able to introduce her in Season 3.  Nonetheless, as of the end of Season 5, Arianne Martell has been omitted from the TV continuity and may never appear at all.  Her absence, combined with referring to Oberyn's "father" instead of his mother, and genderswapping the head of House Blackmont to be a man instead of a woman, removed any indication that Dorne practices gender-blind inheritance in the TV continuity.
 * In Season 5's "High Sparrow", Ramsay Bolton explains to his father that he flayed "Lord Cerwyn" alive because when Ramsay came to collect taxes from him, he defiantly refused to acknowledge Bolton rule, much less pay him. Ramsay goes on to say that he not only flayed Lord Cerwyn but also his wife and brother, while forcing his "son" to watch.  Ramsay proudly says that the new Lord Cerwyn paid his taxes as a result.  In the novels, Ramsay did kill a Cerwyn, but in different circumstances:  Lord Medger Cerwyn died from wounds he took at the Battle of the Green Fork, and then Ramsay killed his son Cley Cerwyn during his betrayal of the other Northern forces at the Sack of Winterfell.  The new head of House Cerwyn after this was Medger's 31 year old daughter Jonelle Cerwyn, not another son.  Jonelle was even later shown in the books among the assembled lords who grudgingly swear fealty to Roose, showing her capacity as the new political leader of House Cerwyn, but Jonelle has simply been omitted entirely from the TV series.  No actors were actually present playing Cerwyns in the episode "High Sparrow", these were simply passing descriptions in dialogue that Ramsay gave, so it is unclear why the TV series had a great need to change the reference from a son to a daughter as the new head of House Cerwyn.  Possibly the rationale the writers used was that because neither Medger nor Cley were described as dying in the TV continuity the way they did in the novels, Cley is logically still alive.  On the other hand, the dialogue never actually gave names for any of these Cerwyns - they are never actually referred to as "Medger" or "Cley" - in which case the TV series isn't really beholden to the family's composition in the novels, and could just as easily have had Ramsay said "I made Lord Cerwyn's daughter Jonelle watch as I flayed him, and now that she's head of House Cerwyn, she paid her taxes."

Both the mention of Oberyn's "father" and Lollys's "father", however, were subsequently addressed by other material. In the Season 4 Blu-ray set's "Histories & Lore" animated featurette for "Robert's Rebellion - House Martell", Oberyn (in voiceover) indicates that his mother was in fact the previous ruler of Dorne, as she worked hard to secure a match between his sister Elia and Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. Oberyn also outright states in this video that the inheritance system in Dorne is gender-blind and thus there has been a Princess of Dorne as often as a Prince of Dorne. Moreover, when Lollys Stokeworth actually first appeared on screen in Season 5's "The House of Black and White", she directly stated that her mother is the current head of House Stokeworth, not her father. No explanation is given for why Tyrion said her father was still alive back in Season 4's "Mockingbird" (and Bronn didn't correct him at the time), though in-universe this could probably be waved away with the explanation that Tyrion simply misspoke at the time.

It has never been mentioned in the main live-action TV episodes that women are legally equal to men in Dorne, that they practice gender-blind inheritance unlike the rest of Westeros, and that women come to rule there as often as men do. For that matter, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss - who specifically wrote both "Two Swords" and "Mockingbird" and decided not to include Arianne Martell in the series - don't actually write or oversee the "Histories & Lore" video bonus materials. Bryan Cogman started writing them in Season 1, and afterwards (including for Season 4) they were written by Dave Hill, though Cogman still oversees and reviews his finished work. Therefore there might have been a miscommunication between Benioff and Weiss on one hand, removing references to female rulers and not including any mention of Dorne's equal inheritance law from the main series, and on the other hand Cogman and Hill, who included mention of Dorne's equal inheritance law in the animated bonus videos. It isn't clear if Cogman and Hill were simply working based on the novels and weren't aware that Benioff and Weiss enacted a pattern of not mentioning Dorne's equal inheritance laws in the main TV series, or if they were aware that Benioff and Weiss were removing mention of it, but basically sneaked mention of it into the wider "TV continuity" by including it in bonus materials. Nonetheless, viewers who only watch the main live-action TV series and don't pay attention to the bonus features such as the animated featurettes would still, as of the end of Season 5, be totally unaware that the legal status of women is different in Dorne.

In Season 4, Lady Anya Waynwood actually does appear quite prominently when Sansa and Littlefinger meet with the lords of the Vale, and she is presented as a strong political figure, weighing along with her colleague Lord Royce whether they should commit their armies (which have so far remained neutral) to the War of the Five Kings. Lady Waynwood's appearance in Season 4 was really the only time in the first five seasons of the TV series that a woman appeared on-screen and with actual lines of dialogue as the current head of a major vassal House. Unfortunately, Lady Waynwood has an even more prominent role in the novels, as Sansa (pretending to be Littlefinger's bastard daughter) is preparing to marry her ward Harrold Hardyng, Sweetrobin Arryn's cousin and closest heir, as a step towards taking control of the Vale itself after the sickly Sweetrobin dies. This entire subplot was cut from the TV series, so that Sansa instead marries Ramsay Bolton at Winterfell, who badly mistreats her (Sansa never even met the Boltons in the novels). The result of this major condensation is that Anya Waynwood only appeared in a single episode, 4.8 "The Mountain and the Viper", and did not reappear in Season 5 at all because Sansa was sent off to the Boltons.

In summary, the presentation of women heading major vassals Houses in the TV series has been:


 * The North
 * Maege Mormont - a non-speaking cameo appearing in the background in Season 1, who then disappeared without explanation form Season 2 onwards. Never referred to by name.
 * "Lady Dustin" - mentionied exactly once and only in passing, not making clear if she is actually the head of House Dustin.
 * The Riverlands
 * Lady Whent - mentioned exactly once and only in passing
 * The Vale
 * Anya Waynwood - the only female head of a major vassal House to appear in the TV series with speaking lines. Only appears in one episode in Season 4, though within that episode she does appear quite prominently.
 * The Reach
 * (None)
 * The Westerlands
 * (None)
 * The Stormlands
 * (None)
 * The Crownlands
 * Lady Stokeworth - Season 4 implied that Tanda Stokeworth had been omitted entirely, as references were changed to Lollys's "father" and not her mother. However, in Season 5 Lollys clearly said that her "mother" is the current head of House Stokeworth (though her first name isn't given).
 * Iron Islands
 * (None - as in the novels)
 * Dorne
 * (None)
 * While female rulers are actually more common in Dorne in the novels, the TV series itself has never mentioned women holding political power in Dorne at all - nor has it mentioned that Dorne practices gender-blind inheritance. Doran's heir apparent Arianne Martell from the novels was also cut.  Only one of the animated bonus videos for Season 4 mentioned that Dorne follows gender-blind inheritance and that the previous ruler was Doran's mother.

Put another way, in the first five seasons of the TV series there was only one female head of a major vassal House who had speaking lines, another one who briefly appeared in background shots as a non-speaking cameo, and another three who were only mentioned in passing, each exactly once (not even giving their first names), as blink-or-you'll-miss references which TV-first viewers probably wouldn't have even noticed.

Beyond the Seven Kingdoms, other societies have not been presented as having women who hold political power as often as they did in the novels. No female magisters are mentioned in the Free Cities or Qarth, nor have any female members been shown of the Iron Bank of Braavos - though there aren't really female magisters who were prominent characters in the novels, so their absence is understandable. In the novels, one of the major informal leaders of the vast slave population in Volantis is an old woman known as the "widow of the waterfront" - she was a former pleasure slave who was married by a Triarch of the city, who owned piers, storehouses, lent money, and sold insurance to ship owners. After her husband died she took over his business assets, and by the time of the novels despite not being an aristocrat she is one of the wealthier people in the city. She enters into Tyrion's storyline when he passes through Volantis, and urges Jorah that if Daenerys comes west the slaves of the city will follow her lead in supporting the Dragon Queen. The widow of the waterfront was cut from the TV series entirely. The Dothraki are presented much as they were in the novels: women do not rule, but their priesthood is female. Yet in Slaver's Bay, several of the major aristocratic slaver-families are headed by women. One of the most powerful families in Meereen is the House of Pahl, now stated to be ruled by bitter women after the male heads of the family all died when Daenerys conquered it. The priesthood of Slaver's Bay is also apparently all-female, the Graces, and the high priestess (known as a "Green Grace") of Meereen, Galazza Galare, wields considerable influence within the city. The House of Gelare is also another one of the major aristocratic families in the city. Galazza is therefore a fairly significant character and speaking role in Daenerys's narrative in the books. The TV series heavily condensed the internal political struggles of Meereen that Daenerys faces in Seasons 4 and 5, so no mention is made of any women ruling the major aristocratic families, it has barely been mentioned that they actually have an all-female priesthood (though "Graces" at the temples have been referred to in passing), and major political figure Galazza Galare has been cut entirely.

The "Free Folk" (wildlings) that live beyond the Wall actually have a strong tradition of having women warriors, and several of their clans in the novels are headed by women. The vanguard of Mance Rayder's army is even commanded by the cruel Harma Dogshead, so-called because she as a war-banner she uses a totem with a dog's head impaled on it (killing a new dog every fortnight to supply a new head). Harma is killed in the Battle of Castle Black by Stannis's forces. Another wildling chieftainess is Morna White Mask, so-called because she wears a mask made of white weirwood and never takes it off. After Mance's defeat, Morna is one of the wildling leaders that swears fealty and good behavior to Jon Snow in exchange for her and her followers to be allowed to pass to the south side of the Wall. In the novels, Mance Rayder has a wife named Dalla who dies in childbirth during the Battle of Castle Black itself, though she is survived by her sister Val. Following Mance's defeat and execution, his sister-in-law Val becomes a sort of informal leader/spokesperson for many of the wildlings who followed him. Men in the Seven Kingdoms, from both Stannis's army and the Boltons, are impressed with Val's capability and call her the "wildling princess" - though Val herself points out she has no formal position, she's just Mance's sister-in-law.

The TV series has barely presented any women as leaders among the wildlings. Mance's sister-in-law Val, a major speaking role in the novels, was cut entirely. Harma Dogshead, one of Mance's main lieutenants, was also cut entirely. Ygritte does appear as a major character in the TV series but she's just an individual warrior - not presented as a "leader" of the wildlings at all, commanding other warriors. The one female wildling leader to appear in the TV series was the invented character Karsi in Season 5's "Hardhome]" - who could loosely be seen as the TV-version of Morna White Mask, given that like Morna she accepts Jon's terms to head south of the Wall (though she then gets killed in the same episode). Even Karsi, however, was not really intended by the producers to be an example of a capable female leader exercising political power:  the part was originally written as a man.

Speaking in an interview with The New York Times, actress Birgitte Hjort Sørensen (Karsi) responded to a comment about how "maternal" Karsi was to her children, by saying how delighted she was that her character wasn't written in a patronizing way or downplayed as a leader because she was female:


 * "You say 'maternal' and certainly she was in that moment. But I was quite pleasantly surprised that this was a role where gender really didn’t matter. I didn’t feel I was 'the woman chieftain.' I felt like we were all on the same team together. That was a fun experience for me because it’s rare."

As it turns out, however, director Miguel Sapochnik explained in a separate interview with MTV.com that the reason for this is that Karsi was originally written to be a man, and only recast with a female actress late in production:


 * "She was a guy originally, and then somewhere in the process we thought it might be cool if she were a mother, and show her sending off her own kids to make that moment with the corpse children really resonate emotionally. As the sequence was refined, she emerged as this clear representative of all the wildlings, which was organic, and it made us care. Then we started casting and saw Birgitte’s work and she got the part."

In the novels, one of Tormund's sons died and was later raised as a wight, and he actually killed the wight himself. Regardless of being a man, Tormund was still distraught about it as a father:


 * "Had to see to him m’self. That was hard, Jon." Tears shone in his eyes. "He wasn't much of a man, truth be told, but he'd been me little boy once, and I loved him." (A Storm of Swords, Jon X)

Thus Karsi is only presented as co-equal to all of the other wildling leaders because the part was written as a man, and wasn't changed to be a woman to establish a more equal gender ratio among their leaders, but to play into the stereotype that women are more "nurturing" than men are towards children (a plot point actually taken away from Tormund, a father, in the novels).