Differences in adaptation/Game of Thrones: 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 possible 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.
• Brienne of Tarth and Jaime Lannister do not arrive at 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; apart from anything else, she is only ten years old in the books.
  • 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 was 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

• In the books, Joffrey recklessly swings his new sword around, prompting some knights to step back. It is Ser Addam Marbrand and not Pycelle who warns Joffrey to be careful with Valyrian steel, prompting his response: "I'm no stranger to Valyrian steel". This phrase, and Joffrey's reaction when Tyrion suggests him carrying a Valyrian steel knife (the one the assassin tried to murder Bran Stark with), leads Tyrion to suspect Joffrey had arranged Bran Stark's attempted murder. He then suspects Joffrey will try to have him killed to keep the secret.
• In the books, Joffrey shows no sign of gratitude towards Tyrion's wedding present; instead, he crudely implies that Tyrion's love of books has left him impotent, as well as making another crass declaration of his intentions to bed Sansa at some point in the near future.
• Neither Joffrey nor Cersei ever spoke with Brienne.
• Joffrey arranges for only two dwarf jousters, one sitting atop a dog and the other a sow, instead of five: one mocking Robb and the other mocking Stannis. In the TV series they simply have fake mounts 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.
  • In the books, the event was meant to offend only Tyrion and Sansa, and most of the wedding guests were laughing. In TV series, several guests were disgusted including the Tyrells, Prince Oberyn, and Varys.
• Rather than Bronn, Jaime has Ilyn Payne train him to use his left hand because Payne can't speak or write.
• Jaime and Brienne didn't attend the wedding, as they returned to King's Landing after Joffrey's death.
• In the books Lord Alester Florent is the uncle and not the brother of Queen Selyse. He's also burned to death much earlier in the storyline, during Davos's 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, Lord Alester was burnt because he tried to make peace with the Lannisters by trying to send Shireen to King's Landing and arranging a wedding between her and Prince Tommen in exchange for Stannis and House Florent retaining their lands and titles. Stannis viewed such attempts at negotiation by Alester as treason.
  • In addition, Lord Guncer Sunglass was burnt for not accepting the Lord of Light. The orders were given by Selyse while Stannis was fighting in the Blackwater Bay.
• 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.
• 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 give 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 was offended that Tansy thought she was prettier than her.
• In the TV series Ramsay has a friendship with Locke over their shared sadism. In the books Ramsay never has any interactions with Vargo Hoat, Locke's book counterpart.
• In the books, Jaime's hand is made of solid gold, not of gold-plated steel like in the TV series.
• In the books, Tyrion wasn't warned about Cersei finding that Shae is a whore and his mistress. Therefore he does not arrange for her shipping away to Pentos.
• In the book, the breakfast was held in the Queen's Ballroom, not outside.
  • There were many more guests attending the breakfast in the books than in the TV series. Among them are Oberyn Martell, Ser Kevan Lannister and Ser Addam Marbrand. Ser Kevan and Ser Addam are present at the feast as well.
• The wedding feast was held in the throne room in the Red Keep, not outside.
• In the books, Joffrey and Margaery cut the pie together and they used Ser Ilyn's greatsword, not Joffrey's Valyrian sword.
  • Tyrion and Sansa don't sit with the other Lannister attendees. And Oberyn Martell is seated in a place of higher honor.
• In the books, Joffrey orders Tyrion to pour wine into the large wedding chalice that Mace Tyrell gave to him at the breakfast, but the chalice is never used at the wedding in the show.
• In the books, while Joffrey is dying, the guests panic and many flee the scene; in the TV series, they don't, but rather simply watch him die.
• In the books, Sansa had already been instructed by Ser Dontos to escape, and there was no need for Dontos to take her away.
• Margaery does not seek to donate all of the wedding's leftovers to the smallfolk; Tyrion, however, muses that the city would riot again if they saw how much food the nobles had prepared for the wedding.
• As he chokes to death, Joffrey gruesomely claws at his throat in a desperate bid to get air, leaving bloody gashes. In the TV series, he still claws at his throat briefly after falling to the ground, but it is far less violent than in the books and leaves no such gashes.

Breaker of Chains

• In the books, Dontos is killed by 3 crossbow bolts to the chest, throat and belly. Ser Lothor Brune then throws a burning torch upon the body, setting fire to the rowing boat.
• Tywin never talks to Tommen about the qualities of a good King in the books.
• The first thing Jaime does upon his return to King's Landing is go to the Great Sept of Baelor, as he arrived sometime after Joffrey's death in the books.
• Both Grenn and Edd had made it back to Castle Black before Jon in the books, and it's never mentioned that they were chained up after the mutiny. This was probably done to explain the time discrepancy that resulted from expanding the third novel's storyline across two seasons. The Mutiny at Craster's Keep happened in the middle of the third novel, and both characters had returned to Castle Black by the end, but the TV series had to explain why they did not return for a full season.
  • Jon never proposes to march on Craster's Keep to deal with the mutineers, because the Free Folk and Thenns had already started to attack Castle Black.
  • Sam never sends Gilly to Mole's Town. At this point in Jon's story, Sam and Gilly were still travelling north of the Wall and the Night's Watch was recruiting able-bodied men from Mole's Town to boost their numbers.
• In the books, Oznak zo Pahl faces off against Strong Belwas, who hasn't been introduced in the show canon so far. After three successful charges, Belwas injures Oznak's mount and forces him to meet him on the ground. Belwas allows him to cut him before he decapitates the champion, and then defecates next to his corpse. The TV series changed this to urinating in the general direction of Meereen's slave-masters.
• Daenerys doesn't order the chains and collars of freed slaves to be fired over the walls of Meereen in barrels.
• Davos mentions in the episode that he has managed to get three minor Houses to support Stannis: House Peasebury, House Musgood, and House Haigh. Stannis scoffs that they don't have enough men between them to raid a pantry. In the books, House Peasebury is indeed one of the few Houses from the Stormlands that stays loyal to Stannis. House Musgood is also from the Stormlands but is not mentioned as supporting him. House Haigh, meanwhile, is actually a minor House in service to House Frey, who fought for the Freys at the Red Wedding, and who continue to march in Frey armies in service to the Lannisters. It is thus odd that the TV continuity would have them switch to supporting Stannis (when the Lannister-Frey-Bolton alliance is at its peak of success). It may still be possible to reconcile this that the Haighs may have given a token offer of support to Stannis, i.e. in exchange for ridiculously high rewards, but they never acted on it.
• In the books, Davos informs Stannis and Melisandre about Joffrey's death.
• Davos never writes to the Iron Bank requesting financial aid, nor does he suggest hiring the Golden Company. Rather, Tycho Nestoris comes to treaty with Stannis after Cersei refused to honor the debt the Crown owed to the Bank.
• Although Oberyn is known to have studied to become a Maester in his youth - successfully forging several links of his chain - he is noted to have studied the poisoner's art while travelling the Free Cities, not at the Citadel, as the show specifies.
• In the books, it was not Pod who informed Tyrion about the judges, it was Ser Kevan Lannister.

Oathkeeper

• In the books, it takes much longer for the Siege of Meereen to end. The ships that brought Dany and her followers from Qarth to Slaver's Bay are broken up and turned into catapults and battering rams.
• There is no evidence that Grey Worm learns the common tongue. 
• In the books, the bronze harpy on the top of the Great Pyramid of Mereen is completely removed after Dany's conquest. 
• The conversation between Olenna and Margaery in the gardens doesn't appear in the books. Olenna does bring up the fact she was supposed to marry an unspecified Targaryen much earlier, during her first meeting with Sansa.
• Ser Pounce was actually one of three black kittens which Margaery Tyrell gave as gifts to Tommen.
• In the books, Podrick doesn't set off from King's Landing with Brienne; but he does appear much later on, having followed her along the road, because he also wants to find Sansa so she can prove Tyrion's innocence.
• Sam never revealed to Jon that Bran was beyond the Wall.
• Bran's group never come across Craster's Keep in the books, and thus aren't captured.
  • Neither Ghost nor Summer are caught and imprisoned by the Night's Watch mutineers.

First of His Name

• The Bloody Gate is much farther away from the Eyrie in the books.
• Cersei never offers Tommen to marry Margaery in the books. It is rather the Tyrells who do, and Cersei is insulted by the offer due to its proximity to the date of Joffrey's death. Cersei also never speaks about Joffrey with any contempt with Margaery, but rather puts him on even more of a pedestal after his death.
• Petyr has Sansa pose as his bastard daughter, not his niece.
• Petyr has Sansa dye her hair brown to hide her identity.
• Lysa married Petyr at his ancestral keep on the Fingers, not at the Eyrie.
• Lysa only reveals she was the one to kill Jon Arryn much later in the books, and Sansa was actually present when it happened.
• Lysa was much less joyful with Sansa in the books, seeing her mere presence as a threat to Robin.
• Robin never refers to Petyr as "uncle".
• Robin was never aware that Sansa was his cousin.
• The gold mines of the Westerlands had not run dry in the books, they were as prosperous as ever.
  • The crown's debt was also mostly to House Lannister, not the Iron Bank.
• Arya never included Walder Frey, Melisandre, Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr in her death prayer. She considered adding the Freys after the Red Wedding, but she didn't know the individual names of the perpetrators. Gendry also stayed with Beric and Thoros after Arya ran away, and she never met Melisandre, thus had no reason to want them dead.
• The character Locke is based on from the books, Vargo Hoat, was not killed at Craster's Keep, but at Harrenhal by Gregor Clegane.
• Ghost came back to Jon much later in the books, and did not kill Rast.

The Laws of Gods and Men

• Stannis never went to Braavos, though he did meet with a representative from the Iron Bank much later in the series.
  • The Iron Bank agreed to fund Stannis for a different reason in the books, because the Lannisters (specifically Cersei) refused to pay the Iron Bank back the gold they were owed.
• Davos never met up with Salladhor Saan in a Braavosi bathhouse.
• Greyjoy forces never attacked the Dreadfort to free Theon.
• In the books, it was Ser Boros Blount who spoke up about being threatened. Ser Balon Swann was also the witness who recounted Tyrion's threat to Cersei.
• In the books, it is Kevan Lannister, not Jaime, who approaches Tyrion with the offer to join the Night's Watch in exchange for a plea for mercy.
• Jaime never agrees to leave the Kingsguard and marry in order to have Tyrion spared. Jaime and Tywin never speak to each other again after Jaime decides to stay in the Kingsguard, as Tywin disowns him afterwards.
• Shae's surprise testimony does occur in the books, but the motivations are changed. In the books, the character is more cynical and did not care about Tyrion, and her motive for testifying against him in the trial was financial, Cersei having bribed her for her testimony. In the show, her motives seem more based on revenge, and hatred for being rejected.
• In the books, the Strangler is not among the poisons in Pycelle's collection. This fact is brought to attention during the trial.

Mockingbird

• In the books, Rorge is killed by Brienne, not Arya.
• Brienne and Podrick never met Hot Pie on their travels, and his fate remains unclear after he leaves Arya and Gendry.
• Oberyn told Tyrion the story of when he visited Casterly Rock on the approach to King's Landing, not in the dungeons.
• In the books, when Sansa's working on her snow castle, Petyr helps her with the details. Robin also uses his doll to break it down, causing Sansa to rip it up and send him into a "shaking spell".
• In the books, when Lysa drags Sansa to the Moon Door, the bard Marillion is ordered to sing at the top of his voice to drown out Sansa's screams. He later gets blamed for Lysa's murder. In the series Marillion was mutilated by Joffrey at the end of Season 1, and his whereabouts are unknown.
• When Littlefinger talks to calm Lysa down in the books, he says "only Cat" before pushing her out the Moon Door, and not "your sister".
• Lysa doesn't scream when she falls through the Moon Door.  

The Mountain and the Viper

• In the books, the singer Marillion was present when Petyr pushed Lysa out the Moon Door. Through torture, Petyr made him confess that Marillion pushed her out instead. This was aided by the fact the Marillion was hated by all the Lords of the Vale as he mocked them constantly, so they had no trouble believing he was guilty.
• Sansa never reveals her identity to the Lords of the Vale.
• Grey Worm ne​ver shows any affection for Missandei, as she is a girl of 9-10 years old in the books.
• Ser Barristan reveals Jorah's secret much earlier, before they even conquer Mereen. Additionally, he knew Jorah was a spy not because of a letter from Varys, but because he was at the Small Council meeting where Varys brings them Jorah's news of Daenerys' pregnancy.
• Arya and the Hound ne​ver go to the Bloody Gate, though they do go the Vale and learn of Lysa's death.
• ​Oberyn's death is somewhat different. Gregor punches him repeatedly until his skull caves in.

See also

• Differences between books and TV series - Season 1
• Differences between books and TV series - Season 2
• Differences between books and TV series - Season 3