Note from the author: this Anatomy of a Throne for “Mhysa” was intended to be exclusive to the ebook re-release of my work, which would have been called It Is Known: An Analysis of Thrones, Vol. III (just as the second season finale, “Valar Morghulis,” is only available in Vol. II). Unfortunately, real life got in the way, and that long-awaited (by two people) installment has yet to materialize – and may never.
So, considering that bleak little prognostication and the little fact that the Watchers on the Wall community has been nothing short of amazingly supportive and appreciate of my work here, I decided to go ahead and have that potential selling point be an exclusive to the site. Please enjoy, and offer your three or four dollars to the God of Tits and Wine instead.
HBO’s Game of Thrones brandishes a consistent and high degree of fidelity to the nearly 5,000-page-long source material of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, but there still, of course, are differences. While most of these gaps from the page to the screen are small and detail-oriented, it is nonetheless the case that the most subtle discrepancies often hold the biggest insight into the adaptation process, into the demands of filmmaking, and into the rigors of the literary narrative.
This, then, is the anatomy of a key scene of Thrones – not because of its dramatic importance or visual effects whizbangery, but because of the telling nature of its realization.
Episode: “Mhysa” (310)
Scene: The Nightfort
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In a long overdue move, HBO is expanding its weekly coverage of Game of Thrones with a 
