Differences between books and TV series - Season 5

A list of differences that can be found between the fourth season of the TV series and, roughly, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, the fourth and fifth novels of the A Song of Ice and Fire book series. The two novels take place concurrently, with the fourth novel detailing events in the Seven Kingdoms, while the fifth novel follows events outside of them (at the Wall, Arya and Tyrion in the Free Cities, and Daenerys in Slaver's Bay). Originally the fourth and fifth novel were going to be one very long novel, but Martin had to split them apart because it had grown too large. The TV series chose to simply intercut material from the two - which, in a sense, is recreating the original effect that Martin intended.

The Wars to Come

 * Cersei was accompanied by Melara Hetherspoon and Jeyne Farman, when she went to see Maggy. It was Jeyne, who was terrified of Maggy and she even escaped when Maggy woke up. Melara was described as being even more brave than Cersei and was more than eager to meet Maggy. TV Melara is a condensation of both girs from the novels. She retains Jeyne's cowardice but still accompanies Cersei as book Melara did.
 * Maggy's prophecy has several differences in the books: Melara Hetherspoon is also interested in hearing her future so she also takes part, Maggy predicts that Robert Baratheon will have sixteen children rather than twenty and she predicts the deaths of both Cersei Lannister and Melara.
 * Maggy's physical appearance is quite different in the show. In the books she is very old, wrinkled, and has no teeth left. She is also nicknamed "Maggy the Frog".
 * Robin never did any strenuous physical activity, as the slightest physical exertion caused him to have seizures.
 * Petyr Baelish never agreed to foster Robin Arryn at Runestone. In fact, lord Royce along with other lords declarants tried to forcibly take lord Robin with them and lord Baelish managed to prevent that from happening.
 * Brienne never told Podrick to leave, she was in fact never less than polite to him.
 * White Rat was named Stalwart Shield, and he was killed after leaving the brothel. It also took 6 Sons of the Harpy to kill him, though he was able to stab one before dying. His body was also bought to the throne room for everyone to see.
 * The Sons of the Harpy did not leave a mask when they killed, they painted a Harpy in blood near the body. In fact, they were never seen in the books, and they were never described wearing masks.
 * White Rat was described as being the Sons' first victim in TV series. In the books, the Sons have already killed before, but their victims were mostly homeless people. Stalwart Shield was the first Unsullied to be killed which indicated, that the Sons have become more daring.
 * The request to open the fighting pits came from Hizdahr himself, not from Yunkish people. In fact, Hizdahr was never sent to negotiate with Yunkai.
 * Daario was not present in Meereen at that time as he was sent to negotiate with Lhazareen.
 * Cersei never thought Jaime had released Tyrion but suspected the Tyrells, because a golden coin of house Gardener was found in the possession of the missing galoer, who dissappeared the same night Tyrion did.
 * At that point in the books, Tywin's body was already in state of decomposition and a foul stench emanated from the body, so nobody wanted to come close to the body.
 * According to the TV series, this was the first time Lancel appeared in public after the Battle of Blackwater but in the books, Lancel has already appeared at Joffrey's wedding. He was also much weaker at that time, being extremely thin and with white hair. He became very devout after he recovered, but he never joined the Sparrows. In fact, Sparrows were not present in King's Landing at that time.
 * Varys never went to Pentos with Tyrion. It was Illyrio Mopatis who discussed Daenerys with Tyrion.
 * Jon never went to see Mance, and Stannis never asked him to convince him to kneel.
 * Stannis in fact never gave Mance a choice between kneeling or burning, he simply burned him.
 * Sam, Gilly, Janos Slynt, Tormund, Selyse, Shireen and Davos were not present at the execution.
 * Mance was not very calm during his execution, he was screaming and begging until his death. He was also burned in a wooden cage hanging over a pit of fire North of the Wall, in front of a thousand wildling prisoners.
 * It was not Jon himself but several archers on his orders who shot Mance.

The House of Black and White

 * Petyr and Sansa never leave the Vale, thus they never meet Brienne and Pod.
 * Arya does not knock on the door to the Temple of Black and White, she opens the door and walks right in.
 * Ellaria did not wish for war with the Lannisters to avenge Oberyn's death. Quite the contrary, she is firmly opposed to any further bloodshed.
 * Jaime never goes to Dorne to rescue Myrcella, since the Martells never send Cersei a threat.
 * Bronn does indeed marry Lolys Stokeworth, and never goes to Dorne with Jaime.
 * Kevan does deny Cersei, but not for Master of War (a title wich never exists in the books), but as Hand of the King.
 * He also refuses for a different reason. Before he died, it had been Tywin's intent that Cersei return to Casterly Rock and have no further say in the governance of the realm or Tommen's upbringing (as Tommen is 9 at this point in the books). Kevan demands Cersei name him Regent, to rule until Tommen comes of age, and that she leave King's Landing. Cersei responds by throwing her wine in his face.
 * Areo Hotah was caucasian with a large beard.
 * Daenerys never sees Drogon atop the pyramid.
 * Mossador does not kill a Son of the Harpy against Daenerys' wishes. In fact, he is killed by the Sons of the Harpy.
 * The election for Lord Commander of the Night's watch has several differences:
 * There are several elections held, as a Lord Commander is only elected when he has 2/3s of the vote or more.
 * It is at first a very close vote between Janos Slynt (Ser Alliser withdraws early on due to barely any votes), Denys Mallister and Cotter Pyke, with Janos gaining votes each time.
 * Sam lies to Denys and Cotter (who each loathe the other), convincing Denys that Stannis will force Cotter to be elected and Cotter that Stannis will force Denys to be elected. He then convinces each to support Jon instead.
 * Jon wins by a huge margin, not a single vote.

Unknown
Official trailers for Season 5 have confirmed that Sansa Stark will arrive at Bolton-controlled Winterfell at some point, escorted by Arryn soldiers. This change is difficult to judge because it is a condensation with plot elements from the as-yet unreleased sixth novel.


 * In the novels, following the Red Wedding the Boltons want to solidify their claim over the North by announcing that Ramsay Bolton will marry Arya Stark at Winterfell. After the Bolton soldier Steelshanks delivers Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth back to King's Landing (after the Red Wedding, and only after Joffrey's death in the novels) they hear that Steelshanks is leaving to escort Arya Stark back to the Boltons at Winterfell. Before Brienne can mount a rescue attempt, Jaime pulls Brienne aside and explains that she actually isn't the real Arya Stark - he'd have recognized her because he saw her before at Winterfell (and when her father was Hand of the King). He deduces that his father Tywin just found some similar-looking Northern girl, and they're just passing her off as Arya so the Boltons can make some token claim to ruling the North. This occurred near the end of A Storm of Swords, the third novel, but the identity of "Fake Arya" was not yet revealed.
 * Fake Arya's real identity is later revealed in the fifth novel, A Dance with Dragons: she is actually Jeyne Poole, Sansa Stark's best friend and handmaiden, who secretly survived the massacre of Eddard Stark's household when he was arrested (during which her own father, Eddard's steward Vayon Poole, was killed). No direct hint was given that Jeyne Poole had survived during the intervening three novels. A young noblewoman from the minor House Poole in service to the Starks, Jeyne grew up at Winterfell alongside Sansa Stark and was her constant companion, as well as a member of her sewing circle with Septa Mordane. Jeyne is roughly Sansa's age so she was roughly 11 or 12 years old in the novels when she was taken prisoner (Sansa is 13 going on 14 by the end of Season 1 in the TV version, Jeyne would be of the same age). As a young girl from a minor House in service to the Starks, Jeyne was somehow spared but taken prisoner. Even so she wasn't particularly valuable as a political hostage because her family are just minor retainers for the Stark household.
 * A Dance with Dragons retroactively reveals what happened to Jeyne during the intervening three novels: the Lanninsters gave her over to Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish to hang on to, in case they had future need of her, and instead of simply imprisoning her he had the 12 year old girl sexually enslaved in one of his brothels, where she spent the next two years. She was forced to become proficient in "pleasing" men, though they made sure to keep her maidenhead (virginity) intact because that gave her more value for a forced marriage prospect. After the Boltons betray the Starks, Littlefinger presented Jeyne to the Lannisters as the perfect substitute for Arya: with classic dark Northerner features she looks reasonably like what an older Arya might look like after several years, and more importantly, as a member of the Stark household she could pass inspection tests about her identity (i.e. later a Northern lord tries to confirm her identity by asking what the name of Winterfell's blacksmith was, and she accurately answers "Mikken" because she grew up alongside Sansa and Arya). "Reek" - formerly known as Theon Greyjoy - also needs to be present for the wedding at Winterfell, because he was a Stark retainer from their household, and thus walking the fake Arya (Jeyne) down the aisle at the ceremony would be seen as confirmation that she actually was Arya (though even Reek recognized that she was actually Jeyne). The Boltons are aware that Jeyne isn't the real Arya, but agree with the Lannisters' plan to pass her off as a real Stark heir. Littlefinger also knew what kind of monster Ramsay Bolton was when he gave Jeyne away to the Boltons as part of his political schemes. The already traumatized and now 14 year old Jeyne is subsequently subjected to horrific abuse by Ramsay (he animalistically bites her on her genitals and breasts hard enough that he draws blood, and Jeyne makes comments that imply that he forced her to have sex his hunting dogs under the threat that he would cut off her feet if she didn't).
 * Even book readers have not been provided with a clear explanation of simply why Littlefinger had young Jeyne sexually enslaved in one of his brothels immediately after betraying Eddard Stark. He had no way of anticipating that the Boltons would later have need of a replacement for Arya, or even for Sansa (had Sansa not escaped after Joffrey's assassination there is some chance they would have sent her instead). Moreover, it would have been more profitable to ransom her back to her family. It is possible that he anticipated having need of a stand-in for one of the Stark girls at some point in the future, given that he hoped their rebellion would eventually fail and they would somehow be replaced as rulers of the North. Even so, sexually enslaving Jeyne seems to have served little if any clear purpose, compared to simply keeping her in gentle imprisonment as a noblewoman. One possible suggestion is that Littlefinger saw it as an extension of his overall "revenge" against the Starks and Tullys after they shunned him from marrying Catelyn, and Eddard's older brother Brandon nearly killed him in a duel years ago - even though House Poole are only minor servants of the Starks, were utterly uninvolved with these events, and Jeyne Poole wasn't even alive when any of this happened to him, making her a very tangential target. The other possibility is that House Poole's connection to the Starks had nothing to do with Littlefinger's treatment of Jeyne - that he simply subjected her to torment with no more thought than he would give to squashing a fly. Considering that Littlefinger is actually the secret instigator of the entire War of the Five Kings, in which thousands of people have died, and a major reason for starting the war was simply what he perceived as petty personal revenge against the Starks and Tullys, this would not be out of keeping with his sociopathic behavior in the past. Unlike Varys, Littlefinger doesn't just do the things that he does to obtain more power - he outright enjoys being needlessly cruel to innocent people because it makes him feel powerful.
 * Jeyne Poole does exist within the TV continuity, but was never identified by name, nor had any speaking lines. In the first episode of Season 1, the girl sitting next to Sansa Stark during the feast at Winterfell is supposed to be her best friend Jeyne Poole, which the writers confirmed in the Blu-ray commentary. She only briefly appeared for a few seconds, was not identified at the time, and has not been referred to at all ever since.
 * Meanwhile, Sansa Stark's storyline nearly caught up with its current material from the books by the end of Season 4. After Littlefinger kills Lysa at the end of the third novel, Littlefinger spends much of the fourth novel A Feast for Crows solidifying his control over the Vale lords, with his alleged bastard daughter "Alayne Stone" by his side - secretly, Sansa Stark (in the TV version he claimed that "Alayne" was his niece). Littlefinger's position is at first somewhat tentative but over time he gradually manages to wear down the opposing lords, through a combination of adroit diplomacy, bribery, and tacitly promising the younger brothers of current lords that he won't intervene if they assassinate their brothers. Sansa doesn't appear in the fifth novel. Only by the end of the fourth novel does Littlefinger reveal something of his future plans to Sansa: he intends for her to marry Harrold Hardying, the son of one of old Jon Arryn's nieces (and currently living as a ward of Anya Waynwood). While he is the first cousin once removed of the current lord, Jon's son "Sweetrobin Arryn", through a series of random tragedies over the years and deaths in battle, he is Sweetrobin's closest living relative (leading to him being nicknamed "Harry the Heir"). The Vale's armies are still at full strength because Littlefinger and Lysa made sure to keep them out of the war, while all of the armies in the rest of Westeros have been half-exhausted. Littlefinger's long-term plan is to have "Alayne" marry Harry in a major ceremony of assembled Vale lords, at which she will publicly reveal her identity wearing a gown with a large Stark direwolf sigil on it, and make a stirring plea for them to help her retake the North (given that the Valemen once followed her father during Robert's Rebellion and greatly respect his memory). While Littlefinger helped the Lannisters defeat the Starks, he is now turning on them to set himself up in power, as seen when he helped assassinate Joffrey. Littlefinger's complete long-term plans are unclear, but he intends to use the Vale's armies to defeat the Lannister-backed Boltons, making him the functional ruler of both the Vale and the North (through his "alliance" with Sansa). He also does not expect the sickly young Sweetrobin Arryn to live much longer, due to the boy's frequent seizures.
 * The TV series already seems to have addressed at least some of this in condensed form by the end of Season 4, when Sansa actually reveals her true identity to three major Vale lords (Yohn Royce, Anya Waynwood, and Vance Corbray), though she then swears them to secrecy. Littlefinger in the TV version is still laying the groundwork for his future plans and hasn't revealed Sansa's true identity to all of the Vale lords.
 * Therefore, the last published novel intimated that in the as-yet-unpublished The Winds of Winter, at Littlefinger's behest Sansa is going to enter into a marriage-alliance to get the lords of the Vale to retake the North from the Boltons. Much is still not known about Season 5, but it seems that in some fashion, a condensation of this will occur in which Vale armies are received at Winterfell but later turn on the Boltons. While this seems like a drastic condensation compared to the events which occurred in the fifth novel at Winterfell, we have no way of comparing them with Sansa's storyline from the unpublished sixth novel - meaning it is very difficult to judge how "accurate" of a condensation it is, or if it is still fundamentally "in the spirit of" Sansa's storyline. Sansa Stark has simply reached the point long-feared by viewers, when her plotlines are outright going beyond where her current book material ended.