10 Game of Thrones Characters the Show Completely Fumbled (Especially Compared to the Books)

For eight seasons, HBO’s smash hit, Game of Thrones, attempted to do George R.R. Martin’s fantasy series justice. This was a tall order for the highly popular book franchise that started in the ’90s. The television adaptation premiered in 2011 and, for the most part, was met with acclaim. The only fly in the milk of the poppy was the quickly encroaching reality that Martin would not finish the books by the time the series caught up.

Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss were confronted with the grim task of finishing a show in a satisfying way without a precise blueprint that they had for five seasons. Book readers were pretty positive that Jon Snow would be revived from the dead after the cliffhanger in the books, but other plot points didn’t have as obvious of a trajectory. The result was chaos. The ending of Game of Thrones was a divisive one and left many fan-favorite characters in the dust.

Robb Stark Comes Off Far Worse in the Television Show

By virtue of making an adaptation, some changes have to be made. Not everything in book form will translate well to a visual medium. However, some choices made for Robb Stark, the King In the North, were suspect. George R.R. Martin has always excelled at making complex characters that strike against being a cliché. But in an effort to make Robb’s story sexier in Season 2, Game of Thrones defaulted on the promise of his character.

In the book, Robb’s biggest mistake is breaking his promise to wed one of Walder Frey’s daughters in exchange for an alliance. While this happens in the show, the issue is much more meaningful in the novel. After capturing the Westerling’s home, Robb is wounded and nursed by Jeyne. While they are together, he learns of the supposed deaths of Bran and Rickon, and Jeyne comforts him, leading to poor judgment. After sleeping with her, Robb has to marry her to protect her honor. This is a perfect mirror of Ned’s dedication to honor, also being his downfall. It is also implied that the Westerlings encouraged their daughter to get Robb in a compromising position to sabotage his alliance with the Freys. It works, and Robb is ultimately betrayed during the infamous Red Wedding. Game of Thrones backtracks this poetic and sad ending by making Robb’s betrayal one of passion. He falls in love with Talisa, the equivalent of a battlefield nurse, and throws away his oath to live a life of passion with her. Instead of a character bound by duty, Robb becomes more like a teenager and the decision to make Robb break his vow on a matter of love turns the character into an idealistic failure.

Yara Falters Under the Mishandling of the Iron Born Plotline

From her first appearance in Game of Thrones, it becomes clear that Yara is not given priority over other characters. The writers changed her name to Yara from Asha in the book, afraid that it would be too similar to another character, Osha. From then on, Yara becomes a shadow of the person she is in the books. While her initial appearance of becoming Balon Greyjoy’s preferred heir is more or less in line with the source material, the show conflates her with the Sand Snake plot line when she should have remained married to the issues on the Iron Islands.

In the book, Asha jockeys for control after her father’s death since she was her father’s chosen heir. The sudden arrival of Euron Greyjoy puts her claim in jeopardy, so the Islands call for a Kingsmoot. Asha rallies for support, but even when she realizes that Euron’s cunning has her beat, she still stays true to her initial desire. She escapes and is taken captive by Stannis Baratheon who is still alive in the books. Game of Thrones changes this and instead ropes her in with the Sand Snakes and Daenerys in an eye-rolling attempt at girl power. This group of characters conceive to take control of their own territories in an outdated attempt at feminism. Yara is among many of the female characters in the series who only fall into violent or sexual characterizations with no room for nuance. The character is stripped of any agency she has in the book in a preference for her uncle, who also gets similar treatment.

Euron Greyjoy Gets Stripped of Everything That Makes Him Interesting

Euron Greyjoy’s tenure in Game of Thrones is as a lusty pirate who is the character in name only. His appearance and personality could not be different from the depiction in Game of Thrones, and it is a shame since he raises the bar for terrifying characters in A Song of Ice and Fire. In the book series, Euron is nicknamed “Crow’s Eye” because of an eyepatch that conceals a black eye underneath. He returns after many years in exile following Balon’s death and wins the Kingsmooth of the Iron Islands. His years abroad in Asshai and Essos have pushed him on the verge of sanity, but his greatest threat is the dragon horn he boasts to have.

Euron claims that he can use the dragon horn to bind a dragon to him and is intent on taking Daenerys to be his wife. He views himself as a god, set on world domination. The book implies that he will become some kind of Eldritch horror, sitting on the Iron Throne with a Kraken for a face. Game of Thrones fails his character by not committing to the weirdness of him present in the books. His only interest is in bedding Cersei in the series, when the man in the source material is far above such earthly desires.

Varys Didn’t Deserve His Ending

If there was one character who deserved to get out of Game of Thrones alive, it was Varys. The Master of Whisperers in the days of Robert Baratheon, Varys always had the most noble of pursuits. He only ever wanted a good leader to rule the realm, and for a time, believed that it was Daenerys. Later years proved that Dany was unstable and Varys was within his rights to consider her dangerous. But thanks to his long-time friend, Tyrion, Daenerys finds out about the plot and executes him by dragonfire.

Varys is also a Targaryen loyalist in the books and has far more influence. He claims that during the sacking of King’s Landing during Robert’s Rebellion, he switched Rhaegar’s son Aegon with a substitute and spirited him away from King’s Landing. If this is true, Young Griff is actually Prince Aegon and has a claim to the throne. Varys has plans to wed Aegon and Daenerys, returning the throne to the Targaryens, an improvement from Cersei’s chaotic leadership. Varys is cunning and by all rights should be on the winning side. Being betrayed by Tyrion and given an excruciating death is the last thing that the spider deserved.

Game of Thrones Undid Years of Jaime’s Character Development

Jaime’s development as a character is set up from his first appearance. Vain and talented, he never has any cause for struggle. His incestuous relationship with his twin sister Cersei is his ultimate weakness, and all these attributes are turned on their head by Season 3. Jaime’s world is turned upside down when a sworn Bolton man chops his sword hand off. He is confronted with his weaknesses and has an existential crisis of sorts. During this time, his continual exposure to Brienne and acknowledgment that he killed the Mad King for noble reasons reveals a man of worth underneath.

Jaime becomes the hero of his own story, risking his own neck for Brienne and vowing to reunite the Stark girls with their mother. These plans go awry, but Jaime continues to stick to his path of redemption until the final episodes of Game of Thrones. Jaime’s sweeping change of heart is destroyed in an instant when he returns to Cersei, the woman who represents his worst instincts. Despite all of her crimes, he dies with her in the collapse of King’s Landing, which is portrayed as supposedly romantic. This contrasts to Jaime’s dismissal of Cersei in A Feast For Crows when she beckons him in her darkest hour. At this point, Jaime understands how toxic his sister is and sets her aside. The series instead opts to romanticize Jaime and Cersei for some reason and kill Jaime’s purpose. While this may seem poetic, considering Cersei’s promise that she and Jaime would die together, it doesn’t accurately represent Jaime’s character in the book.

The Martells Were Severely Diminished in Game of Thrones

One of the biggest missed opportunities in Game of Thrones is the Dornish plot that comes about in A Feast For Crows. After the death of the Red Viper, Oberyn Martell, his bastard daughters known as the Sand Snakes, call for vengeance. The Lannisters get away with yet another death of the Martell clan, but when the Sand Snakes rise to action, they are a shell of what they are in the books. Obara, Tyene, and Nymeria are practically interchangeable with their personalities in the series. The only way to tell them apart are their differing weapons of choice. The books show the differing perspectives of the sisters and how they would go about getting their respective revenge.

Even more disrespectful, however, are the deaths of the women in the show. The fascinating Dornish narrative of the books is erased haphazardly when the Sand Snakes are dispatched one by one. In A Song of Ice and Fire, not only are they still alive, but each are carrying out a secret plot from the hand of Prince Doran to wipe the Lannisters out. Doran is also changed. In the show, he is characterized by his weaknesses, but in the book, this is all for show. He is slow with his revenge, but his plan is decades in the making. The books leave the Martells embarking on their respective missions, a plot point that is never realized in the series.

Sansa Gets Conflated With a Little Seen Character

Sansa endures vicious trauma throughout her life, but none so brutal as her marriage to Ramsay Bolton. This is a disappointing turn for Sansa, who has a much different fate in the books. By the time A Dance With Dragons ends, Sansa is still at the Eyrie, under the assumed name of Alayne Stone as to hide from the Lannisters. She learns politics and manipulation from Littlefinger, setting her up to be a real player in the game of thrones.

In the series, this plotline was supposed to be designated for Jeyne Poole, the daughter of Winterfell’s steward. Since Arya cannot be found, the Boltons pass Jeyne off as Sansa’s younger sister in order to seize control of Winterfell. The series switches this to Sansa, where she is subjected to inhumane torture. For Sansa to survive Joffrey’s abuse and have another repetitive storyline in the same vein doesn’t serve her character. The sexual assault in her portion of the show is another tired trope that Game of Thrones continues to use against its female characters.

Daenerys Is Still a Source of Contention

Since George R.R. Martin has not finished A Song of Ice and Fire yet, the conclusion of Daenerys’ story is still hotly contested. Many believe that viewers are seeing a villain origin story as Dany rises from a fugitive outside of Westeros to the Mother of Dragons who wages war against King’s Landing. The biggest issue with this narrative is how quickly Dany turns from someone with compassion to a tyrant burning innocents in the street. For this story to work, she would have required a slow burn to turn into Mad King Aerys.

Habitual incest has turned many Targaryens insane, but that isn’t the most interesting end to Daenerys’ story. It seems more likely that she will successfully use her dragons to beat back the Long Night and ultimately not claim the Iron Throne. Dany is the exception that proves the Targaryen rule, but it was easier for Game of Thrones to quickly turn her into her father and take her out of the running. This is a tragedy considering she is one of the few characters that actually wanted to rule to make the world a better place.

Game of Thrones Was Afraid to Commit to Tyrion’s Character Arc

While it remains unclear if Daenerys was meant to become a villain in the books, Tyrion Lannister is another story. Portrayed by the affable Peter Dinklage in the series, it is admittedly difficult to get someone so likable on the track to true villainy. But that is the story that George R.R. Martin is weaving in his book series. Tyrion in the books has all the smarts and wits as the television version, but is far darker.

Tyrion harbors resentments and grudges, which only get worse as the books go on. Though still one of the kinder Lannisters, that isn’t a high bar to clear. He treats Sansa with more decency than Cersei, but still resents her for not falling in love with him. His character gets even more complicated after he murders Tywin and escapes across the Narrow Sea. Tyrion in the show has no feasible character arc to speak of. He continues down a heroic path which is not what the source material intended. The series loses the plot in Tyrion’s character in the later seasons, forgetting all of his cunning.

Jon’s Lineage Didn’t Matter In the End

Fans had been waiting years for the anticipated reveal of Jon Snow’s heritage. It is the worst-kept secret that, in George R.R. Martin’s books, Jon is not Ned Stark’s son, but the result of a union between Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. The series follows this track but eventually does nothing with it. Jon being a Targaryen does not impact the story whatsoever. He claims the title of “King In the North” by right of Ned’s son, and no one of importance comes to learn that he is the rightful heir to the throne.

Jon eventually tells Daenerys of is lineage, but she doesn’t do much with this information. By the end of Game of Thrones, Jon betrays Dany, which gets him exiled back to The Night’s Watch in another show of repetitive storytelling. Jon remains the same as he always has, never earning his full potential. He joins the long list of characters whose narrative threads were dropped in a rush ending to a fan-favorite series.