HBO’s Game of Thrones (typically, and before this current season) 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: “The Dance of Dragons” (509)
Scene: Drogon’s rescue
The opening of the fighting pits, the Sons of the Harpy’s assassination attempt on Queen Daenerys Targaryen, and her subsequent escape on the back of her missing dragon, Drogon, is a fascinating confluence of several different changes, ranging from the most minor to the most blatant. They are all also very revealing of the different storytellers’ modi operandi as we quickly approach the final stretch of George R.R. Martin’s highly dense saga.
The biggest of these alterations, by far, is the simple fact that, in A Dance with Dragons, there is no Sons of the Harpy attack on the beleaguered queen; Hizdahr zo Loraq – who does, indeed, end up marrying Daenerys in the book – proudly boasts that he’s “tamed” the Harpy, ending their guerrilla attacks once and for all (see the Anatomy of a Throne for “Kill the Boy,” episode 505, for more on this). To show that Meereen has supposedly moved into a post-insurgent period, Dany forgoes her traditional Unsullied guard on the way to Daznak’s Pit and instead brings an escort of Brazen Beasts, those Meereenese who have fully embraced the city’s new future and half of whose numbers are comprised of freedmen from all three of Slaver’s Bay’s cities (“Half of these Brazen Beasts are untried freedmen,” Ser Barristan the Bold tells Dany. She goes on to finish that thought for him: “And the other half are Meereense of doubtful loyalty.”)
(A quick-but-cogent aside: the visual look of the Beasts, which is dominated by brass masks fashioned in the shape of various animals – “boars and bulls, hawks and herons, lions and tigers and bears, fork-tongued serpents and hideous basilisks,” Martin tells us – was obviously lifted for the Sons of the Harpy, who are never directly seen in the novel, leaving them something of a looming threat rather than the stars of action set-pieces. This move serves as a tip of the hat – or, in this case, mask – to the source material while fitting the needs of the visual medium. [Ironically enough, the rationale behind both factions’ donning of disguises is the same: to hide their identities and protect their families from reprisal attacks. There is assuredly some sort of social or political commentary floating around in there.])
As it transpires, however, there is no need for either Unsullied or Brazen Beasts. The sequence on the page is more a psychological challenge for Daenerys Targaryen instead of a physical threat, an internal crisis instead of an external one. Trapped by the weight of her responsibilities to a people that she, in all likelihood, has precious little affection for, the manifestation of her constant struggles with and compromises to this foreign culture all but smother her as the blood sport plays out just feet in front of her, forcing her to shed her traditional Meereenese garb – a constant and important runner throughout her story arc, illustrating her fumblings with identity – and try to flee from the fighting pit.
The conflict here is a subtle one with her lord husband, who attempts to keep pushing her to fully embrace the city’s ways by not only allowing men to engage in the “mortal art,” but also to readmit women, animals, and, even, children. There’s also something known as the follies, “comic combats where cripples, dwarfs, and crones had at one another with cleavers, torches, and hammers (the more inept the fighters, the funnier the folly, it was thought),” which are inserted in between the main contests. Dany ultimately, reluctantly gives in on most of these – though she remains resolute in her opposition to child combatants – as the reality of governing stands in stark contrast with her black-and-white moral worldview; as Hizdahr points out with the follies, in specific, not only will her people love her more if she laughs with them, but also the cripples, dwarfs, and old women would starve without the pay that comes from the matches.
But that isn’t to say that there’s not some sort of assassination attempt going on – it’s just more subtle and indirect, as is most of Daenerys’s storyline in Dance with Dragons:
Hizdahr had stocked their box with flagons of chilled wine and sweetwater, with figs, dates, melons, and pomegranates, with pecans and peppers and a big bowl of honeyed locusts. Strong Belwas bellowed, “Locusts!” as he seized the bowl and began to crunch them by the handful.
“Those are very tasty,” advised Hizdhar. “You ought to try a few yourself, my love. They are rolled in spice before the honey, so they are sweet and hot at once.”
“That explains the way Belwas is sweating,” Dany said. “I believe I will content myself with figs and dates.”
As it transpires, the locusts are poisoned – though Strong Belwas survives his bingeing, much to the relief of book readers everywhere – and given the fact that Hizdahr zo Loraq is the one responsible for providing the royal retinue’s refreshments, as well as being the one to insist that the queen eat the tainted delicacy, it has led a number of readers to conclude that the Meereenese noble is attempting something of a coup, and that, furthermore, he is actually the Harpy, the hypothesized leader of the insurgent movement.
That Daenerys’s lord husband is stabbed and killed in the Sons of the Harpy attack in “The Dance of Dragons” is a tremendously surprising development, and not just because of his status as suspect number one for many – it’s also yet another instance of a character perishing in the series while still lingering in the novels (the same as Barristan the Bold, who dies in “Sons of the Harpy” [504], and, before him, Mance Rayder, who shuffles off the television coil in “The Wars to Come” [501]). Still, showrunners Dan Weiss and David Benioff may be teasing the audience with his supposed underworld connections in the form of his late arrival to the Great Pit of Daznak (“Where have you been?” Daenerys asks; “Just making sure everything is in order,” he replies). Furthermore, even if Hizdahr is, indeed, exonerated on Game of Thrones, he may very well still be guilty in A Song of Ice and Fire; it’s not like Benioff and Weiss haven’t switched characters’ motivations or plot functions before (hello, Xaro Xhoan Daxos!).
But back to the point at hand. Although there is no physical threat to disrupt, Drogon still arrives in the nick of time, as Dany attempts to leave her “abbatoir” while Hizdahr zo Loraq tries to convince her to stay (“Sweet lady, no. Stay only a while longer. For the folly, and one last match. Close your eyes – no one will see.”). And much like how Daenerys herself causes a great deal of complications and strife around her simply by being in a foreign city inhabited by a foreign people, Drogon ends up causing the physical confrontation that threatens to kill him just by arriving at the pit and devouring a boar and the day’s sole female contender after their fight is already over. Aghast at the monstrously large dragon consuming the human corpse along with the animal’s – though the boar itself was feasting on the remains before being killed by dragonfire – a lone spearman takes it upon himself to fell the abnormal creature and, in the process, be a hero.
He darted forward, his boar spear in his hands. Red sand kicked up beneath his heels, and shouts rang out from the seats. Drogon raised his head, blood dripping from his teeth. The hero leapt onto his back and drove the iron spearpoint down at the base of the dragon’s long scaled neck.
Dany and Drogon screamed as one.
It is, of course, only a matter of seconds before the dragon knocks the would-be slayer from his back and kills him, but the man’s death is a turning point. “‘Kill it,’ Hizdahr zo Loraq shouted to the other spearmen. ‘Kill the beast!’” It is full carnage from there, not quite to the level depicted in the series – obviously, given that there are literally hundreds of combatants in “The Dance of Dragons” and just a dozen or so spearmen on the page – but it is still a bloodbath, nonetheless. It is only Dany who can stop him, as she finally mounts his back and the two of them take to the sky together.
In this way, Drogon is still rescuing his “mother,” though it is from the existential malaise she is suffering from – and the society around her that is threatening to stifle her in it – instead of the imminent danger of assassination. (Also worth noting: Drogon’s arrival is completely arbitrary in Martin’s telling, whereas there is some room for interpretation in Weiss and Benioff’s version whether there might be some sort of mystical connection between mother and dragon.) It is a permutation in keeping with the series’s overall trend, for better or worse, of externalizing the internal, of making the subtle blatant.
There is one last salient point to make in regards to this long-awaited encounter. Unlike in the episode, where Drogon and Dany share something of a tender moment amidst the hail of spears, the dragon is savage and untamed in Dance with Dragons, nearly snapping her in half and then spitting fire at her. It’s only through the queen’s quick feet that she manages to survive, and only through her heavy reliance on a whip that she finds discarded in the sudden battle that she manages to regain control over her wild child.
Dany hit him. “No,” she screamed, swinging the lash with all the strength that she had in her. The dragon jerked his head back. “No,” she screamed again. “NO!” The barbs raked along his snout. Drogon rose, his wings covering her in shadow. Dany swung the lash at his scaled belly, back and forth until her arm began to ache. His long serpentine neck bent like an archer’s bow. With a hisssssss, he spat black fire down at her. Dany darted underneath the flames, swinging the whip and shouting, “No, no, no. Get DOWN!” His answering roar was full of fear and fury, full of pain. His wings beat once, twice…
…and folded. The dragon gave one last hiss and stretched out flat upon his belly. Black blood was flowing from the wound where the spear had pierced him, smoking where it dripped onto the scorched sands. He is fire made flesh, she thought, and so am I.
There are, of course, a whole score of ancillary changes, as well, mostly revolving around the presence of characters that either aren’t there in the series (Barristan Selmy, as already noted, is not only still alive in the novels, he’s now a major character) or aren’t in the book (both Jorah Mormont and Tyrion Lannister are still slaves at this point, although the latter actually gets the chance to glimpse the mythical queen in her box as he’s forced to perform in one of the follies [he considers revealing himself for a brief moment, but he decides against it, given his fear that Barristan the Bold would prejudice Dany against him]). But these are comparatively minor, given the fact that they don’t affect either the direction or the tenor of the narrative.
A domesticated-but-turning-increasingly-wild Daenerys Targaryen, with her feral-but-increasingly-tamed dragon, however, certainly do.
Hodor
I thought most book readers thought the Green Grace was the Harpy, not Hizdahr?
Anyway the only change I missed was Dany whipping him into shape, it was the coolest thing about the scene
Hizdahr is Lionel Ritchie’s lovechild. It is known.
Mormont,
Agreed, I was really looking forward to the whip. I can see why it was cut for time and such but I still thought it was important that she tamed him. Especially as Mormont kept telling her they can never be tamed. Swapping that for Dany fearing for Drogon’s life and playing the concerned mother worked as well, however. I think the overall theme of the scene still is in accordance with the books, too. Dany’s loss of identity and control while being in Mereen that is rectified when she mounts Drogon. I still think they’ll reveal that Hizdahr was behind the Sons next episode but we shall see.
I think most of the changes were done because of GCI reasons too. For instance someone standing on top of Drogon would have looked weird (see Daenerys) I think the same might be the case for the whip.
Another possibility is that they thought the whip was too dangerous in that enviroment/it would take too much time getting Emilia Clarke to work with it/A stuntdouble doing it wouldn’t have looked well in that particiular scene.
So all in all, I don’t think it’s always the urge to change something but sometimes it just has to do with logistics and what is or isn’t possible.
It’ll be interesting how much dragon action we get next episode then, as all three could be in ep 10
I haven’t read the books and reading here about how it went in the books, I am so, so happy that we got the show scene instead. The book stuff seems weird and not very exciting. The show scene seemed to be a climactic moment. Blatant perhaps, but way too subtle and indecisive in the books, I think. I am also very thankful for the lack of the whip scene. Ugh!
Kay,
Having read the books, I must say I prefer the show version as well.
Oh the book scene was very exciting, read it over and over again. While I missed the whip, I was very pleased with the changes D&D made and how it looked on the screen (tho the CGI of Dany flying off wasn’t as good as I wished, it was still amazing to watch one of my favorite parts of the series come to life!)
Marc, as usual, excellent post! Hope you have one more to do after Sunday!
Nice writeup, as always, Marc. Like the season as a whole (pre-ep10), I am both hot-and-cold with the Drogon scene, perhaps because I hold it in such high regard in my head. The visual and sound FX were fun and it was moderately effective but it didn’t wow me. Honestly, I didn’t understand or appreciate his entrance. A halo of fire…why? Was he going the speed of sound, which caused the fire halo? It was jarring. I would have much preferred him first perching on top of the stadium’s rim, casting an ominous shadow below before he landed in the pit.
It was such a Superman saving Lois, Tarzan saving Jane, Spidey saving MJ moment. Although the affect he had on the harpy attack and his fire hazing was cool viewing, I think the show missed the opportunity of showing Dany growing from half-measures to full-measure in that scene. In ADwD, Dany, in her sub-par tepid, alienated state of existence, made up her mind in that crazy scene to confront the dragon and become more, her Targ destiny. Drogon could have destroyed her but as we discovered, even dragons respect an alpha beast and Dany became more in that book scene.
Instead, we got a similar “mama reaching out to pet her wild child” moment as in ep2, in a perfect dress, with hair and makeup intact. At least Dany didn’t wilt when Drogon breathed on her. The spear removal was cool and it came closer to my hopes for the scene, but from that point on it was about saving, inherent bonding and urgent escape rather than character growth.
I thought it was rather cool that the SotH didn’t completely flee the young dragon’s presence in the Pit. They maintained their anti-dragon/anti-Dany stance enough to throw spears in his direction. The balls of those fuckers, whereas in ADwD it was a single slaver/trainer who was trying to be a hero (and failing).
I’m glad we hit this vastly-anticipated plotpoint, but never before has it been so evident that the show has greatly simplified things for the viewer.
We need D&D and the director of episodes 7 & 8 on every episode next season. Let us start a rally and all agree to give them back massages when the season is over.
Ditto that for me. The book version was fine for the books, and it probably worked as well as a written version of the show’s scene would have done. That sort of thing never works as well on page as it does on screen, as writers simply cannot communicate that much motion and action: it would take pages and pages. (That in turn would completely kill the book scene, too!) However, the show’s scene was much more effective on screen than re-enacting the book scene would have been.
Concerning Hizdahr, I think that B&W and GRRM are keeping the same implied position: Hizdahr is “in on it” but betrayed by the other Harpies. He is, after all, “sleeping with the enemy” (literally and/or figuratively).
Well, I’m personally glad that scene stayed on the page.
That she could do that so calmly in the midst of battle was pretty huge! This season’s story has been “Kill the boy (girl) and let the man (woman) be born”: but this particular take was more “Kill the young woman and let the goddess arise.” Indeed, this is another place where facial acting can say so much. What really added the extra “oomph” to the scene was Tyrion’s expression. OK, Missandei or Jorah look that awestruck at Daeny wasn’t that big of a shift. Even Daario is pretty smitten by her, and although looking almost worshipful is a bigger shift, it’s not such a huge stretch.
But, going back to season 1, could you ever have imagined Tyrion Lannister with that expression on his face? It was very much a “the scales have fallen from my eyes” sort of moment!
Wimsey,
It looked to me like he had to poop, but if thinking that makes you enjoy the scene more, huzzah.
My biggest gripe was the music during that scene. I felt it was borderline cheesy horror flick when the Harpies were revealed, and the end was anti climatic.
If you never have had a look of “I’m in the presence of divinity” when having a good bowel movement, then you have been badly stopped up your whole life!
😀
Wimsey,
One of the things I’ve liked about Tyrion in S5 is that they brought him back to that intellectually curious person he was in S1 when he decided to visit the Wall. They kind of dropped that the following seasons except for the beetle story, and it was refreshing to see it return.
Hodor’s Bastard,
Actually theyve been doing that since day one. Given how much was in those 1000+ page doorstoppers, I don’t blame them one bit. Yet I don’t think its simple; I think viewers realize the complexity of the story on the screen.
Wimsey,
Ha!
Yeah, Tyrion is back to being Tyrion (which he most emphatically was not at the outset of the year, in part because of the things you mention and in part from killing daddy), but he now might be something a bit more, too. He now is Daeny’s de facto Hand (his height from his sojourn into respectable life) and he now has (it seems) a “cause.”
It is subtle, but (I think that) it has worked.
Yeah, I enjoyed that shot almost as much as when his jaw dropped in Valyria a few episodes prior, before the Stone Men atacked. I was actually more worried that Tyrion and Co would get speared by the SotH, who probably would/should have taken advantage of the distraction!
This season, Anatomy of a Throne & Sue’s Post-Mortem have become my favorite features to read on this site. Thank you for elevating the discussion, Marc.
Awkward debate between mixed company this past week: Could someone inform me how Dany rode Drogon without a saddle? The visual of her in her perfect dress and hair was not convincing. He had an awfully thorny (horny?) backside that would seem to chafe and/or ….(stimulate?) her inner thigh area if she didn’t ride “side-saddle.” Even for a man, it would be most uncomfortable…(or not), but for a woman, it must be a most intensely bonding experience!
Hodor’s Bastard,
My guess is that a lot of them would have been doing the same thing (albeit thinking “demon” rather than “goddess”). Also, given that Daeny was probably the target, both objects of attention would have been in the air.
But, yes, you are right: we did get that before from Tyrion in Valyria. It is almost as if they want us to think that dragons impress Tyrion. I haved rued that we did not get Jaime’s elevation above his goal that the book provides: but getting this in Tyrion more thsn makes up for that given how much more important a character he is than Big Bro is.
Hodor’s Bastard,
Lol…. Perhaps the spines are flexible, so if you sit in the properly they bend down. They would almost have to be on a flying animal. Spines often are so that predators impaling themselves on spines rip their flesh rather thsn the spines from the preys flesh: either that, or the spines come off and are replaced. Still, they probably did nit spend a lot of time worrying about the functional biology!
Didn’t Drogons horny scales scrape Daeny up in the books quite a bit, too?
Yes! Maybe it is like the way the Targs designed the iron throne. You must know how to mount/ascend it, sit upon it, and be at full attention when sitting, else it will bite and scratch the undeserving!
I’m inclined to think the drogon whipping was dropped because of anticipated protests along the lines of the rape scenes, and perceived uneven racial character casting etc. We can have flaming harpysons, horses and a lovable princess burned to a crisp, but not acceptable for a mother to whip her son/pet! I always find it amusing that in a great show like this filled with all sorts of violence, cruelty and injustices that a few examples of these are picked out of the great sack. The whole pit scene was very good, but was Dany’s eye roll and closure a dragon communication like during her chaining in the house of the undying, or just closing her eyes awaiting death as many commentators think? Also did Drogon run out of fire at the rear end of the fight? I think most of the SOTH spears should have bounced off the dragons scales, as it is known that dragons are very well armoured, but theirs were penetrating the bugger like he was a domestic pig!.
I watched season 2 again this week just to refresh it and if this season
Finale
Isn’t one of
best episodes they ever did , it’s widely gonna be considered the worst season of the 5. Season 2 – thobaw could of been done better , but the rest is pretty tightly written. Season 5 almost anyone that watches it ( sullied or unsullied ) can find some
Kind of problem in it. The show runners is trying to simplify stuff and there litterly wasti very precious thrones time. By telling us the same thing ( all 3 sand snakes ( I am obara sand , I am obara sand , pain humiliation pain humiliation , most beautiful girl in world most beautiful girl in world , meryn trant being a pedo) its simplified story telling , and it completely goes against what asoiaf is as a story . At this
Point after 9
Episodes – I gotta say it’s the worst season so far . Than the other stuff that feels rushed ( Tyron meeting khallesi , etc ) really comes in question, . Thrones is still my favorite show on tv , just feel like they could of did things so much better than they did . At best this is a 6.7 out of 10 season
paul,
They cut the whip stuff because it would’ve made her look like a moronic lion tamer. And Drogon isn’t a full grown dragon (Google what one looks like in scale to a human and you’ll see how small he is), so that’s why he didn’t have as much fire or armor.
Thank you. As I was reading the post above with the description of the whip scene in the book, that’s exactly the image that came to my mind. Yeah, do away with all magic, silent communication, etc., and do a whipping a dragon into submission cheesiest of cheese. I honestly can’t even see the logic in a DRAGON (albeit a baby dragon) suddenly decide to be tamed due to the Power of the Whip!
paul,
paul,
The spears were getting stuck in Drogons scales. Daeny could not have just yanked one out of him if the spear had penetrated into muscle. Basically, those were the equivalent of stings, not stabs.
Grand maester giz,
And yet this season os getting the highest audience marks yet. What you call”rushed” is called “good pacing” by most people.
Wimsey,
The haters can’t seem to decide whether the seasons “too slow” or “rushed”. Or both???
Ravyn,
Hey, every bell curve has individuals X standard deviations to the left and X standard deviations to the right. This does suggest that the mean is where it should be.
I thought most book readers thought the Shavepate was the Harpy.
There is no consensus among the readers. Hizdahr, the Green Grace, the Shavepate and the Seneschal (whatever his name is) all have lots of support.
Oh, and Euron….. 😀
Great analysis. Your posts are some of the best on this excellent site.
I prefer the show version as well.
Wimsey,
How is it that Hizdar doesn’t have a nickname like every other one of these suspects (yes even Daario “Crowseye”)? Actually I think he’s the only Meereenese local that I know the real name of.
I for one agree with all the points of one of the above posters. I would have loved to see Daenerys force Drogon into sense and his previous unhingement because of the blood and mess and noise in the arena. It would have also made more sense then for Dany to mount him. In the show version, she is leaving behind her trusted friends and advisors in a blood bath – very nice. In the books, she is accepting her Targaryen heritage and reining in Drogon but also saving him because HE is the biggest threat, there to remind her that there is more than this city, more than the struggles she endures with the insurgents etc.
Show version scene looked more like a scene fron The CW and less like a show from premium cable. The dumb down part, I mean. All subteltly gone. But catering to the mass audience I guess it’s a survival decission. Cool show, but could have been up there with the greatest.
pau,
LET’S WHIP THE ANIMAL. So subtle! So impressive! In my opinion, the special relationship between Daenerys and Drogon is portrayed in a much more fascinating way in the show. This not only includes his arrival at Daznak’s Pit but also when he visited her at the top of the Great Pyramid. It’s much better that Drogon comes to the rescue yet she is the one who ends up saving him (instead of Drogon apparently appearing because of… the noise and the blood.) They’re saving each other. I think that’s more interesting, more emotional and more meaningful than the book version. Certainly not shallower or dumber.
What was “dumbed down”, exactly? Please explain it to me. Is it the Harpy attack? Why is poisoning a tertiary character at best more narratively satisfying than staging an actual terrorist attack?
Thanks for the several replies re. my post on drogon whipping and spearing, all made sense and have cleared it up for me.
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