Differences in adaptation/Game of Thrones: Season 8

The following is a list of differences between Game of Thrones: Season 8 and A Song of Ice and Fire. While all the plotlines in the show are ahead of the point the novels reached, there are still many differences between the episodes and the material source.

Differences by episode

"Winterfell"

• The Golden Company has not been hired by House Lannister, but by Jon Connington (aka Griff), the guardian of a new contender who has been omitted from the show - Aegon Targaryen.
• Harry Strickland is fat and cowardly.
• The Golden Company has 10,000 men, not 20,000.
• More than half of the Golden Company does not reach Westeros, due to a storm that scattered its fleet.
• The Golden Company ships the elephants, but the great cogs that carry most of them have not arrived yet.
• It is not Asha (Yara's name in the novels) who is held captive by Euron, but Aeron Greyjoy.
• Asha and Theon are currently held captive at Stannis's camp.
• Euron has no interest in Cersei (he wants to wed Daenerys), and Cersei has no intentions of forming an alliance with the ironborn, whom she disdainfully considers as "a sorry pack of squids".
• Bronn has a castle, and has not been hired by Cersei to kill Jaime and/or Tyrion for one.
• The Lannisters (Tyrion and Cersei) have fulfilled all the promises they ever made to Bronn.
• There is no mention in the books that Sansa disliked Jon when they were children, only that they were never as close as he and Arya were.
• Robett Glover has always been loyal to the Starks.
• The wights make no noises.

"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms"

• Tormund tells the story about the giant in a much earlier point in the books, while Jon travels with the wildlings' host.
• Tormund's story is different in the novels: caught in a storm, he found a sleeping giant, cut open her belly, crawled inside her, and that way she kept him warm enough. At spring, she woke up, mistook Tormund for her baby, and suckled him for three whole months before he could get away. He admits to Jon that he did not kill the female giant, or any giant in general.
• Brienne tells Lady Stoneheart that Jaime not only saved her from being gang-raped by the Brave Companions and sent her to save Sansa, but also saved her from the bear pit. She insists that Jaime had no part in the Red Wedding, but her words fall on deaf ears.
• Brienne does not claim that Jaime lost his hand because he defended her.
• There is no mention of several past three-eyed crows.
• There is no mention in the novels that Jaime participated in the Siege of Pyke, or any other stage of the Greyjoy Rebellion.
• The knighting ceremony is longer than the one Jaime performed. In the TV series, only three of the Seven gods are mentioned: the Warrior, the Father, and the Mother. In The Hedge Knight, the Maiden is also named, charging the new knight to protect all women.
• According to Barristan Selmy, Rhaegar indeed loved to sing, but there is no mention in the novels that he ever gave money to poor children.
• Daenerys does not believe that Rhaegar raped Lyanna Stark. All stories told to her about Rhaegar are by Viserys and Targaryen loyalists, who wouldn't attempt to defame him.

"The Long Night"

• Dragonglass does not hurt wights; on the other hand, fire, even very small, destroys them very quickly.
• There is no Night King in the novels. The Night's King, who is already deceased by the beginning of the first book, was a known consort to the Others, but not a central leader.
• Beric Dondarrion dies at a much earlier point, in a different way: shortly after the Red Wedding, he gives his life in order to resurrect Catelyn.

"The Last of the Starks"

• Gendry has never been referred to as "Gendry Rivers" (or "Gendry Waters") in the books.
• There is no mention in the books that King Daeron II Targaryen had a crippled relative, or that he designed a wheelchair.
• Bronn is never offered Riverrun or Highgarden.
• Scorpions cannot take down a dragon as easily as in the show. When the Dornish killed Meraxes with a scorpion, it was an extremely lucky shot through the eye. Dragon-scales act as a powerful natural armor.

"The Bells"

• The bells of King's Landing do not signify surrender.
• The population of King's Landing is 500,000, not 1,000,000.
• The Golden Company's banner has no device, but is simply a plain gold field.
• The Golden Company is not solely led by Harry Strickland, especially not in battle, as Strickland is no warrior. Instead, it is de facto led by one of its former lieutenants, Jon Connington.
• The Hound yells "Look at me!" to Sansa, not Arya, and it happens at a much earlier point. It seems this line was reused due to Rory McCann's audition performance, in which he read dialogue from the books.
• Arys Oakheart and Preston Greenfield are already deceased by the point the novels have reached; the former was killed by Areo Hotah, the latter - during the riots in King's Landing (note that these Kingsguards are only presumed to include Arys and Preston in the show).
• Ser Robert Strong, the reanimated Mountain, apparently has no skull.

"The Iron Throne"

• Jaime, not Brienne, is the one who records his defeat at the Battle of Whispering Wood in the White Book.
• Jaime does not write in the White Book who freed him from the captivity in Riverrun, what was the promise he made and to whom, just "ransomed for a promise unfulfilled". On the other hand, he does specify his following captivity by the Brave Companions and his maiming at Vargo Hoat's order.
• Arthur Dayne's father is unknown.
• Jaime was knighted at the age of fifteen, not sixteen (however, Arthur Dayne's entry in the White Book does state that he was fifteen, directly contradicting Jaime's entry in the same scene).