Differences between books and TV series - Season 4

The following is a list of differences between Season 4  of the television show Game of Thrones and the second half of the third novel of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Storm of Swords.

Two Swords

 * Tywin never sends for a smith from Volantis to re-forge Ice, and it's never said that one of only three smiths able to work with Valyrian steel is from there. The deed is performed by Tobho Mott (Gendry's former master), who is from Qohor. Qohor is famous for having the only blacksmiths who can reforge Valyrian steel, and there are more than three of them. It is possile that the actor who played Tobho Mott was simply unavailable.
 * Tywin first unveils the sword which will be gifted to Joffrey on his wedding day in the small council chamber, and Tyrion is the first person he shows it to. This happens well before the Red Wedding, around the time that Jaime was still in the Riverlands.
 * Sansa meets with Ser Dontos a few days after the tourney during Joffrey's name day.
 * The Thenns are not cannibals in the books. This is basically combining them with another wildling tribe, the Ice-river clans, who are cannibals. The Thenns are actually the most civilized of the wildlings, living under their own lords who enforce their own laws.
 * In the books, Jon acknowledges that he was a better sword than Robb. In the show, Jon says Robb was better than him.
 * The interrogation of Jon takes place later in the novels. When Jon arrived at Castle Black, both Ser Alliser and Lord Janos were not present as they were both at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. The position of Acting Lord Commander was held by Bowen Marsh, then by the smith Donal Noye and finally by Janos Slynt, not by Ser Alliser. By the time ser Alliser and Lord Janos were interrogating Jon, Maester Aemon was already satisfied by his explanation.
 * Dontos gives Sansa a hairnet in the book A Clash of Kings, not a necklace. Also, the gems are purple not blue.
 * Brienne of Tarth and Jaime Lannister do not arrive King's Landing in time for the royal wedding in the books. Some of Jaime's scenes are from the books but occur much later, after his return. Jaime's scene in the White Sword Tower with Joffrey, however, has no counterpart in the books.
 * This does mark the first time that Ser Preston Greenfield has been mentioned by name as a member of the Kingsguard; before this his name was known only from the books. It also confirms Preston survived the Riot in Kings Landing.
 * Oberyn's host arrives at Kings Landing before the Red Wedding. When Tyrion meets them he is accompanied by Lord Gyles, Jalabhar Xho and Ser Addam as well as Bronn. Furthermore Oberyn meets Tyrion here rather than in a brothel.
 * Oberyn does mention when he meets Tyrion that he wants to avail himself of the city's brothels, and that Ellaria is interested in joining him. It also established that Ellaria is sexually interested in women as well, because he said she had never been with a blonde woman before. Thus this scene was implied within the books, but happened "off screen".
 * Lord Blackmont reveals that Doran Martell's health has confined him to Sunspear. In the novels, however, Prince Doran has not set foot in the Dornish capital for two years, preferring the peace and isolation of the Water Gardens; his summer seat.
 * It is never stated that Grey Worm has any attraction to Missandei.
 * The books do later point out that just because the Unsullied do not have a man's parts does not mean they do not have a man's heart, and they can still develop emotional attachments to people, more so now that Daenerys has freed them from their utterly regimented slavery.
 * Grey Worm and Daario Naharis never gambled with each other.
 * There is no scene from the books in which Daario gives Daenerys Targaryen flowers. The books do have Daenerys recall that, "off screen", Daario has gotten into the habit of giving her flowers at his daily reports, ostensibly to show her with the country and its people are like: the TV show turned this into an actual scene.
 * The TV series has made no mention of Ser Arthur Dayne before, and in some respects combined his legendary status with Ser Barristan Selmy - though Ser Barristan wa a Kingsguard alongside Ser Arthur and a living legend in his own right. Season 4 has reversed this trend by explaining who Ser Arthur was.
 * Arya Stark killing Polliver mixes elements from three separate deaths in the books. In the books, three of Ser Gregor Clegane's men are on her revenge list: Polliver took Needle, but it was Raff who killed Lommy (by driving a spear through his neck), while the Tickler was the head torturer at Harrenhal. The Tickler was killed by Jaqen H'ghar in the TV series, but in the books she had him kill another guard named Chiswyk. In the books, Arya does encounter both Polliver and the Tickler at the Inn at the Crossroads (in the TV series it was a different inn). Also, they fought only three men (Polliver, the Tickler and their squire) not five.  It was Sandor, not Arya, who killed Polliver, but Arya killed the Tickler. She killed him in a frenzy by stabbing him repeatedly, sarcastically shouting the questions he interrogated innocent prisoners with as he tortured them: "Is there any gold hidden in the village?! Silver?! Gems?! Where is Lord Beric?!" - the Tickler's great cruelty being that he knew there was no gold but tortured people anyway. Arya continues stabbing him until Sandor has to physically pull her off of his corpse. Sandor was also hideously wounded in the fight. In a separate scene, Arya kills Raff, the man who killed Lommy in the books, by forcing him into the same position Lommy was when he brutally killed the injured boy: she stabs Raff in his leg, making him beg her to carry her to a healer, then she sarcastically quotes the cruel taunt he made to Lommy when he died ("'Carry me' he says? Think so?") and then stabs him through the throat. Because Raff's role was condensed with Polliver in the TV series, Polliver was given Raff's death at Arya's hands from the books.

The Lion and the Rose

 * Joffrey never spoke with Brienne.
 * ​Joffrey arranges for only two dwarf jousters, one sitting atop a dog and the other a sow.
 * Jaime has Ilyn Payne to train him to use his left hand because Payne can't speak or write.
 * Jaime and Brienne didn't attend the wedding, they were first back in King's Landing after Joffrey's death.
 * In the books Lord Alester Florent is the father and not the brother of Queen Selyse. He's also burned much earlier in the storyline, during Davos' arrest.
 * Meanwhile, Ser Axell Florent is not burned alive as he has converted to the Lord of Light and is nearly as fanatic as Selyse.
 * In the books Roose Bolton doesn't "smuggle" himself into the North to reach the Dreadfort. He remained with his main army, which marched north from the Twins but could not bypass the natural choke point at Moat Cailin. In the TV series, Roose must have circumvented the Neck by taking a boat across the Bite, then riding north to the Dreadfort.
 * In the books, there are only two dwarfs instead of five - one mocking Robb and the other mocking Stannis - and one rides a dog while the other rides a pig, while in the TV series they simply have fake horses attached to their costumes. Benioff and Weiss explained that they actually wanted to use the pigs, but when they inquired, were told that this would be considered animal cruelty and thus they legally could not do it.
 * Ramsay's hunt of a girl in the woods in the opening scene is actually significantly toned down from the books. Typically, Ramsay rapes the women he recaptures in his hunts: subsequently, he will given them a quick death if they gave him "good sport", and if not, he will flay them alive. This may well be what Ramsay normally does in the TV series, though, as his dialogue with Myranda implies that this was an unusual request she made because she thought the girl was annoying.
 * In the books, Jaime hand is made of solid gold, not of gold-plated steel like in the TV series.