From the Maester’s Desk is a weekly column about the book-to-show adaptations of the characters, world and other elements from George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books. Apart from analyzing the differences between the two mediums, it offers bits of trivia, speculation and educated guesses about the future of the story in both the books and the TV show. The article contains spoilers from ASOIAF.
“I once told Bronn that if I ever saw you again I’d cut you in half.”
“It’ll take you a while with a sparring sword.”
When the Lannister brothers met in last Sunday’s episode, “Eastwatch”, I was half-expecting Tyrion to reply the way he did when Joffrey made that very same threat in the “Blackwater” episode from Season 2.
“That would make me the quarter-man. Just doesn’t have the same ring to it.”
It wasn’t a happy family reunion, to say the least, though the reasoning for these characters to be on opposing sides is quite different to the source material.
The way the TV show has been handling the Tyrion character is an ever-present topic of discussion for many book fans. Some of them argue Show!Tyrion is a whitewashed version of its book counterpart, and in a way they’re right.
It’s no accident that Tyrion became one of the most beloved characters from Game of Thrones. He’s highly quotable because of his amazing lines, he has an interesting arc and is one of the few characters who can be considered an overall “good guy”, since he has never done anything explicitly evil so to speak. Even his murder of Shae can be interpreted as self-defense, since her first reaction upon seeing him was to try and kill him with a knife.
But no matter how great a character is on the page if you don’t have a wonderful actor to bring him to life, and Peter Dinklage fulfills that role so well it’s just hard to imagine anyone else as Tyrion.
A verbatim adaptation of Book!Tyrion could’ve been a harder sell for the TV series. Not only is he decidedly less attractive, with his mismatched eyes, lack of a nose (after the Battle of Blackwater Bay) and Penguin-like walk, but his thoughts and actions make him more of a darker and viler character than the usually affable version played by Dinklage.
I see the logic behind the way Tyrion was adapted. Arguments can be made about how he lost his moral ambiguity and some of his complexity as a character, but I’d say that removing the “bad bits” didn’t make him a “lesser” character. If anything, it was an improvement.
How so? For starters, for the audience it’s nice to have a morally good character they can root for, apart from the Stark kids. And it also helps Tyrion to stand out from the lion pride, so to speak. Otherwise, the Lannister family would be entirely composed of evildoers. And sure, we can admire Cersei’s ruthlessness, Jaime’s bravery and Tywin’s shrewdness, but as Stannis would say, “a good act doesn’t wash out the bad”. Jaime going back to rescue Brienne from the bear doesn’t erase the fact that he was the one who crippled Bran Stark.
In the TV show, the sibling relationship between Tyrion and Jaime soured after the former killed their father with a crossbow. In the novels, it was because of Tyrion’s former wife, Tysha.
Considering that Tysha is a character unlikely to ever appear in the screen adaptation (or in the novels themselves for all we know), it only made sense that the show runners added more meat to the relationship with Shae and mostly axed the references of Tysha, apart from a S1 scene and a couple of mentions about Tyrion been married before.
In A Storm of Swords, after helping Tyrion escape from his cell, Jaime confesses to him that Tysha was no whore, and that she had been truly in love with him. Tywin, however, wouldn’t accept a “lowborn” girl be a part of his family, thinking she was only after the gold of Casterly Rock. So he destroyed his son’s marriage in the worst possible way, by having his soldiers gang rape her and then forcing Tyrion to rape her as well.
When confronting Tywin in the privy, Tyrion demands to know where Tysha was sent. His dad then offers one of the book series most infamous lines: “Wherever whores go”.
The whole ordeal breaks Book!Tyrion. He becomes a much more embittered, somber character, haunted by his father’s words.
His journey in A Dance with Dragons is vastly different to the TV series. Instead of traveling to Essos with Varys, he joins a small cast of new characters (none of which made it to the screen adaptation), among them Griff (Jon Connington) and Young Griff (Aegon, a character I mentioned in a previous FTMD article).
The show’s writers decided to cut the fat, so to speak, and instead of introducing us to a handful of new characters, kept Varys around. Since there’s no Aegon, the Spider’s allegiance lie with Daenerys Targaryen instead. Some story elements from the novel were kept, though, such as when Tyrion gets kidnapped by Jorah in Volantis, and the attack of the Stone Men.
Connington was the one who got infected with the Greyscale after saving Book!Tyrion. It seems unlikely that he’ll recover the way Jorah did, and he’ll most likely succumb to the disease.
Yet another new character is introduced later in the novel: a dwarf woman named Penny. She and her brother were among the riders who reenacted the War of the Five Kings to entertain the guests at Joffrey’s wedding. After Cersei puts a price on Tyrion’s head, her brother is slain and she flees to Essos. Blaming Tyrion for the death of her sibling, she tries to kill him but is thwarted by Jorah.
Tyrion allows her to tag along for the ride, and they are eventually captured by slavers.
A more grotesque, morbidly obese version of Yezzan zo Qaggaz shows up here, and both dwarves, as well as Jorah, are bought by him.
Yezzan’s demise to dysentery leaves the trio joining the Second Sons sellsword company, in hopes to rejoin Daenerys.
The book’s version of the Siege of Meereen is likely to be solved in a different way than the TV adaptation, in which Dany decimated the good masters’ forces in one fell swoop. There are more pieces in the board, including Victarion Greyjoy’s fleet and Barristan Selmy, who’s still alive and kicking in this version of the story. It would certainly be interesting if Ser Barristan makes it to Westeros alive (unlike his show counterpart, who died at the hands of the Sons of the Harpy), but I think it’s likely the old knight will die during the battle.
As for Tyrion, while becoming Dany’s Hand seems like a given, I’m sensing that we’ll get a different dynamic between the two characters. Show!Tyrion is convinced by Varys that Daenerys is the best candidate for the good of the realm, but Book!Tyrion considers supporting her if he’s allowed to rape and murder Cersei as a reward. Whether or not he’s being serious about it or just fantasizing is up to you to judge.
It’s clear that Show!Tyrion still cares for his brother (as seen in “The Spoils of War”, when Jaime tried to kill Daenerys), and while he may not have a lot of love for his sister, straight up murdering her doesn’t seem to be in his wishlist. The character from the novels seems to have completely fallen out with his siblings.
Maybe serving Daenerys as Hand will help Book!Tyrion to come out from the dark place he’s currently in, wallowing in self-pity. But I’m not really certain about the approach he’ll have regarding the conquest of Westeros. All things considered, I think he’d be more inclined to go all “fire and blood” on King’s Landing than his TV counterpart. If Selmy’s still around by then, perhaps he’ll be the one urging Dany to take a less violent path so as to not be the “queen of the ashes”.
Will he tell Daenerys about Aegon? What if Archmaester Marwyn reaches Dany first? To elaborate a bit, Marwyn is an archmaester of the Citadel who, unlike Ebrose in the TV show, not only believes Sam, but immediately sets off to Meereen to inform the dragon queen of the threat beyond the Wall.
Should Dany dismiss Marwyn’s warning as a fairy tale, it’d be up to Tyrion to discuss with her what would be the best for Westeros: either focusing on the Northern threat, or the Southern one.
They could just wait for Aegon to attack King’s Landing, and then pouncing on the likely weakened victor. Maybe Dany would want to meet Aegon first, and discover if he’s really her brother’s son or a fake. Aegon being the real deal would pose a big problem to Dany, since his claim to the throne could be considered stronger. Nevertheless, he doesn’t have dragons at his disposal.
Penny’s fate is up in the air, too. If she survives the siege of Meereen, will she stick with Tyrion? Or will she meet her demise during the battle? If she makes it out alive, then maybe it’ll be at the cost of her innocence. Tyrion cares about her, and wants to protect her, but Penny isn’t made for the game of thrones and the possibilities of her becoming collateral damage are big.
His open contempt for her being so dreamy and naive makes me wonder if she’ll manage to prevent him from becoming a monster consumed by his desire for vengeance, or if he’ll give up on her. She may be absent from the TV adaptation, but her presence in the book story will most likely be important for Tyrion’s arc.
Winter may have reached the screen, but we’ll have to wait for the winds to arrive on the page.
There are certain author+character combinations that others simply cannot duplicate… and GRRM+Tyrion is one of them. That is his character. No one can write Tyrion the way he can.
D&D have tried, but the magic of that character is somewhat dulled. The zingers aren’t nearly as clever, the dialogue isn’t nearly as sharp.. But I am not faulting them.
Conversely, D&D have taken ownership of Cersei in a way that has completely overshadowed her book counterpart.
Aegon not being present in the TV version is extremely telling….
It seems they basically rolled his character into Jon Snow…
I wanted to take a couple of minutes to thank y’all for enjoying and commenting my articles. I don’t always have the time to reply, but I’ve been reading the reactions to my previous FTMD pieces, and I appreciate it a lot. I’m glad to see they’ve sparked lots of discussion!
Hope you like this one too. 🙂
Tyrion is my favorite human character and I am a show watcher only. I quickly read through the article – thank you! Hope to read and comment later – so thankful that the show version is so much nicer than the book version, who has such an ugly dark side to his character. Right now, my brain is completely in another zone with the announcement of a Star Wars spin-off movie on Obi-Wan Kenobi! I can’t focus on anything else! 😀
They sanitized Show Tyrion long before we got to him killing Tywin.
In the show, he doesn’t go near Sansa. In the books, he actually feels her up for a few seconds before stopping himself. (One could argue that makes it more heroic, I suppose)
In the show, they straight up “Greedo fired first” the scene where he kills Shae. In the books, it’s much more clear Tyrion kills out of jealous rage.
And then we get to the “I’ll help you if you let me rape and murder my sister” routine…
They couldn’t have handled Book Tyrion on the show.
I agree with an above poster. Tyrion may not have translated as well, but Cersei, Jaime and Tywin came off better.
Morgoth,
Your pieces are very well done! As a book reader, it’s always enjoyable to hear an in-depth discussion of the differences that doesn’t just bitch about them!
Ever since Tyrion joined team Dany I’ve found him less interesting. I’m talking show-wise.
Oh, I remember how controversial S4 was because of Tywin’s death and Tyrion’s motivation for that. But now it seems that some people just forgot that and have that “S1-4 were perfect, everything after that is shit” attitude.
I do think that Tyrion will find a light in Dany in the books as well. I don’t think that anything else makes that much sense when it comes to rules of storytelling.
It’s a shame that GRRM will never finish his books, so we will never know. In a way, maybe that’s the best solution for him. He will preserve that superiority that book fans gave him, he will be praised for everything good that the show does and every flaw will be blamed only on D&D.
I would like too see how will GRRM write Dany and Tyrion in the books, since he never wrote a meeting of major POV characters.
I get the idea that Penny’s function is actually to give Tyrion some badly-needed perspective. For all that he’s suffered, real and imaginary, just for being a dwarf, he is still a Lannister, and there is a whole world of entitlement that goes with that, which Book!Tyrion is aware of on an intellectual level, but it’s a superficial awareness that basically means he appreciates being rich is better than being poor.
Penny, meanwhile, had a dwarf father who loved her, and, until he was murdered, a brother she looked up to and depended on who was also a dwarf, and with whom she worked as a team. But healthy family relations are the only advantage she had over Tyrion.
She is constantly trying to impress upon him that he needs to make “big people” laugh, win at cyvasse, get the last word…whatever will make them feel even bigger, because she is operating on the assumption that her life isn’t worth as much as theirs–which is less about her being a dwarf than it is about her being small folk. She is so small that she can’t even get her head around the fact that Tyrion is actually a very high ranking nobleman (setting aside the unfortunate circumstances of his current status as an escaped regicide/patricide), and although his father might have preferred more demonstrable respect from his son (or better yet, an excusable but respectable death), he certainly never raised Tyrion to forget he was a Lannister, never mind to play along with anyone else’s ideas of superiority so they wouldn’t get mad at him.
I think sooner or later, instead of just getting annoyed with her, Tyrion is meant to stop taking the misery and devastation inflicted on the smallfolk “when the nobles play their game of thrones” for granted as an outcome of his relationship with Penny–and this is something that a few other characters are learning as well, particularly Arya, Brienne, and Jon. Jorah, too, but in his case, it’s specifically slavery he’s being forced to really understand.
Eep, super long. Sorry! It’s a fascinating subject–thanks, Morgoth!
If I remember correctly book Tyrion’s rage at Jamie was starting to crack. There were times traveling Essos he wanted to talk to Jamie about what he sites saw. He was starting to admit to himself that he missed Jamie. Cersei, on the other hand, that hatred was intense whereas show Tyrion seems much more wounded by her rejection.
Good analysis once again.
I think that one of the best things the show did in adapting the books was to cut out the Aegon (or fAegon as looks like will be the case). That story did have some charm in spots but it always read to me like a side story at best and filler at worse.
And I agree that Tyrion has been whitewashed a bit from the book. But I think he was always a sympathetic character. It’s just that books and the show have a different standard of what makes one a sympathetic character. The former allows for a lot more shades of gray.
mau,
Not entirely true. Both Caitlyn and Ned were major POVs, and they both interacted in the first book
mau,
Season 5 isn’t perfect but Season 5 is definitely not shit!!! that’s season 6 😀
I like season 5 … A LOT!!!!
I think all of GRRM ASOIAF books will be finished…
maybe the final one won’t be finished by GRRM but it could be finished by somebody someday.
I read half of the first book… Tyrion seems more easy going, clever and spontaneous in the first book. Show Jon Snow is exactly like Jon Snow is in book 1.
Martin is a great writer for many reasons, and one if those is he wants to challenge his readership. He likes to wrong foot them, get them to question their values and to impress upon them a moral ambiguity and he wants to write a ‘gritty’ high fantasy saga which is devoid of all the genre cliches and crowd pleasing moments that many of the greatest fantasy novels have.
In the beginning, this instinct led to remarkably interesting characters, some really gutsy writing (for the e.g., the red wedding) and something that was both at times hard to read but wonderfully engaging.
He got the balance because he had a clear and engaging series of plot threads that maintained a momentum where the reader felt they would endure with the characters with the intention of sharing their eventual redemption, reunions, avenges, and so on.
But Martin cannot help but want to avoid giving his readership anything they want or expect. Any time he senses a story going in a way which he thinks will be predictable for the audience, he mistakes this for the audience sharing his lack of enthusiasm for that and diverts away from it.
Which means the story has lost all focus now. The characters we loved are either dead or full of self loathing, bitterness, loss, and confusion. This isn’t enjoyable reading anymore – it’s just the written equivalent of a dirge or Requiem – with no foreseeable end, lots of naval gazing and nothing to actually enjoy and give the audience some idea of the direction we’re going and the possibility of some actual relief moments. I don’t think Martin is interested in the final act of the story he has written because he can’t help but make it predictable now in some way. Moreover, he’s gone so far out of the way trying to avoid this conclusion, that he doesn’t actually know how to bring the threads together in a way that could maintain the pace of the story.
The show has a totally different attitude. The creators are clearly in awe of the source material but they know that what they’re writing is a story to entertain and engage an audience. That means pace, clarity, and yes, some actual sweet to dilute the bitter brew of the first act. They know what Martin doesn’t – you can only challenge your audience so much AMD sometimes things are predictable because they work. That means they are prepared to do things which the author won’t and cannot. They will defy logic, scrap unnecessary plot diversions, and cut threads that aren’t working, to get the story to a conclusion. They have an idea of where Martin wants things to be in the end but where as he struggles on to find a way to reach that end, the show has just taken a plunge into the unbelievable. It has faith that the audience is invested enough and willing to sacrifice disbelief enough in order to see some rewarding moments and feel like the story is moving somewhere.
For all of Martin’s genius and beautiful writing, I have more respect for the show now.
A northerner never forgets,
Hes probably talking about the meeting of two major protagonists who have been in completely separate storylines.
Though Jon and Tyrion would qualify for that,
Wikipedia lists episode 6 as “Death is the Enemy”, yet IMDB has no title , at this late date there is on name?
Violator,
Yes.But the question remains is you work really great if you are just not able to write the resolution? You then just bite off more than you can chew, you overestimated youself.
Martin’s writing methods are just not for the story of this scale. Gardening style just desn’t work if you are writing an epic tale of this size.
HelloThere,
Fair point
HelloThere,
fair point. My aim in pointing that out was partially to give Mau a possible place to look for clues as to what a book Tyrion pic -Danny pov interaction would look like. Another part of me really did just want to be a bit like Show Stannis and be overly precise.
HelloThere,
That was beggining of the story. I mean in the books even Davos and Jon didn’t meet.
mau,
Yes, but gardeners don’t just plant stuff and let them grow. I have a garden and I sat down and planned it out. I knew which flowers were going in what part of the border and why, and what trees I wanted and how close to the house to plant them. Gardening is all about planning and control. I have to prune plants to make sure they grow in the way I want them to, cut buds off to encourage more flowers to grow.
Martin isn’t a gardener. If he is, then he’s not a very good one because he’s let everything go wild and now it looks a mess.
Enjoyed the contrast analysis, especially the surprising Penny mention. I agree she has no obvious place in ASoI&F, which makes her presence all that more intriguing. The fact that Tyrion tolerates her naivete during his west-to-east adventure indicates he may face a difficult choice involving her or other “broken things” in TWoW’s near future as he and Jorah move toward Dany’s inner circle. I wish we could further contrast GoT and ASoI&F wrt to this and Selmy…but, patience is a bitch.
Varys said something about “supporting the common folk” earlier this season that made me think about Penny’s situation. While she may become “collateral damage,” I hope she matters to Tyrion in the adventures to come, especially if he does indeed become an adviser to Dany. There’s a bit of Penny in all of us.
what character would that be? :p
I actually think that Tyrion’s pain and conflict WRT his family and Daenerys’ invasion would be quite similar in the books. Despite Tysha, he still loves Jaime. He thinks about Tywin and Cersei with murderous hate in his heart, but when it comes to Jaime or Shae… he can’t. He changes his train of thought to something else, or drinks. Tyrion will probably still try to figure out how to take KL without endangering Jaime. However, I suspect he will be less of the humanist he has been this season and more ruthless than Dany, not less. In many ways I think their roles would be reversed. Tyrion might plan something more like… Use a feint with the Unsullied (Casterly Rock perhaps?) to draw Jaime and the Lannister army out, then have the dragons fly in and melt the Red Keep with Cersei inside (so like ancient Harrenhal).
Penny is basically a morality pet. I’m fine with it. If there’s anyone who needed a morality pet, it was Tyrion in book 5. Some of her role was given to Missandei and grey worm, and the other former slaves, who point out how clueless he is about the lives of the underclasses. Despite what people might say about season 6 Tyrion’s arc, I believe that he did learn some much needed humility just as he at least began to in his book 5 arc. I think he will turn back to a version of himself again in the future books, should they be written.
Off topic, but mis mejores deseos y condolencias a los Watchers y todos los ciudadanos de Barcelona.
I’ve always loved Tyrion on the show, and I consider Peter Dinklage’s portrayal of him to be virtually note-perfect. It may be true that some of the character’s moral complexity has been removed in his translation to television, but I genuinely don’t see that as a bad thing. Quite the opposite in fact.
I loved Book Tyrion through ASOS, but I’m sad to say that ADWD poisoned me on that version of the character. He was already starting to slide in my estimation, but in Tyrion VI – specifically the moment right before Jorah captures him, when he visits the brothel in Selhorys and basically starts abusing the prostitute – the character ceased to slide and started to fall, right off a very steep cliff and into the abyss. The woman in question is described as scarred, silent, and dead-eyed. When Tyrion’s done with her, he thinks to himself “What a wretched creature I’ve become.” That was my precise feeling as well. When the chapter ended, I was keen to leave Tyrion behind and go literally anywhere else.
On an intellectual level, I get what George was trying to do in delving into Tyrion’s dark and fucked-up mental state after killing Tywin and Shae. But in my view, he took it too far, and the game wasn’t worth the candle. Moral complexity isn’t worth much if the character is no longer interesting, and at that point, Tyrion wasn’t anymore. The rest of the book suffered for it.
By then, I was just riding out Tyrion’s journey until he made it to Meereen in the hopes that he would meet Dany and perhaps finally start to climb out of that deep, dark hole. When the book ended without that meeting happening, my feelings on his entire arc were soured even further. The lone exception was the Sorrows chapter, which I love in spite of Tyrion and the irksome presence of fAegon, because it’s just a beautiful piece of writing in and of itself.
TL;DR – the show was wise to speed up Tyrion’s journey through the heart of darkness, get him to Dany, and set him on a new path. In my personal opinion, GRRM has some serious rehab to do on the character if he ever wants me to care about him again. Time will tell if he can pull it off.
I though I read it is “beyond the wall”?
Wasn’t there even some nagging about this title not being symbolic enough or whatever?
Agreed; he does seem a rather difficult character in the books, and such complicated characters do not translate well on tv, it is so hard to picture inner struggles, motivations, and the like. Thanks so much to Morgoth, for such a vivid portrait for us non readers.
My only complaint is that show!Tyrion has been a tad neutralized as a character of late, meaning that he is going from a lead character to a supporting one. Then again, this is a song of ice and fire, so I guess it is Jon and Daenerys time as we approach the end.
Now, about this Star wars film??
mau
Brienne and Jamie was a strongpoint for GRRM but it is a smaller scale than Tyrion and Daeny or Jon and Daeny.
I will not defend Quentyn or Penny’s inclusion or the sheer amount of pages they got. I thought Tyrion taking Q’s plot in the show was about as perfect an adaptation as I could hope for (with Jon going to Hardhome a close second).
Jared,
Very good analysis. I feel the same.
I really liked this article, it was a very objective and informative book/show-comparison written with a lot of insight.
I love Tyrion in the books (at least in books 1 to 3) and in the show. And I absolutely adore Peter Dinklage’s portrayal of Tyrion.
Tyrion in the books is more morally ambigious and I love his sarcastic thoughts, but I did not like some parts of his plot. I prefer the show’s version of the relationship with Shae over the portrayal in the books. And I absolutely HATE Tyrion’s journey in Essos in the books and the character of Penny. Sorry, in my opinion GRRM had completely lost control over Tyrion’s plot since his arrival in Essos. And if I ever have to read “Where do whores go” again, I will probably start to swear. So, in the books I could not enjoy Tyrion as a charakter as much as I did before his arrival in Essos. And I also did not like the fall-out between his brother and him in the books, I hated that Tyrion lied to his brother and told him that he had killed Joffrey. I liked the show version, in which they parted on good terms, much more. They do have some problems but I see some potential that their relationship will heal.
Jerome Flynn (Bronn) did a little interview. Apparently there was a scene with him and Tyrion but they decided not to include it.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/game-thrones-eastwatch-jerome-flynn-bronn-whats-next-1029810
Seems HBO now lists it as Beyond the Wall (tho apparently TV Guide has listed it as Death is the Enemy).
Wonder why that took so long?
Yeah that is kind of bland.
At SXSW (2017) David Benioff and D.B. Weiss mention that Bryan Cogman and Dave Hill wrote two episodes and they wrote the rest, so they should be the writers of episodes 6 and 7?
IMHO the point of book-Tyrion’s character arc is:
children who think they are different from their parents and in the end but grow up to be just like them.
While book-Tyrion really gets really dark after his escape from Kingslanding, there are signs of him getting gradually “grayer” already before that:
– when book-Tyrion became Hand of the King he had noble ideas.
He said, he wanted bring justice to Kingslanding.
– he didn’t kill Janos Slynt, he sent him to the wall, but later he already regretted the decision to keep Slynt alive.
– later before the purple wedding, a bard blackmailed Tyrion.
When the bard got to greedy, Tyrion sent Bronn to kill him.
That’s already something Tywin would do.
Actually , looking, HBO has DEATH IS THE ENEMY in one place but also label the preview as BEYOND THE WALL.
HBO has been sloppy with their WEB site from the beginning , the cast list has always been incomplete.
Worse their IT department must be still the low bidders! They are still being hacked , what a mess.
Jared,
Thank you for the excellent comment. You hit on every point that turned my feelings also.
Jessica,
“Tyrion in the books is more morally ambigious and I love his sarcastic thoughts, but I did not like some parts of his plot. I prefer the show’s version of the relationship with Shae over the portrayal in the books. And I absolutely HATE Tyrion’s journey in Essos in the books and the character of Penny. Sorry, in my opinion GRRM had completely lost control over Tyrion’s plot since his arrival in Essos. And if I ever have to read “Where do whores go” again, I will probably start to swear.”
I agree with this though I didn’t hate Penny. For my part, I didn’t like the Griffs either, though I guess they were part of the plan from the start since the “Mummer’s Dragon” is mentioned in ACOK in book Dany’s House of the Undying visions. I know the show has been taken to task sometimes for upping the rexy-sexy factor but I found book Tyrion’s watching Septa Wotzerface swimming in the nuddy mildly pornographic. I can get that some device was needed to show that Wotzerface (I don’t miss her in the show either) had stretch marks but it could have been done better (well in my opinion anyway).
The show motivated me to go to the books but I heard/read something that Dany will be travelling with the Dothraki for most of book 6 and my heart just sank.
Good remark, Roberta. I recently found a YouTube channel called “Lost in Adaptation” which addresses the adaptation of ASOIAF to the small screen (though it’s only done the first three episodes season 1 of GoT as yet). I think Preston Jacobs does something similar but his videos are REALLY long. It must be very difficult to adapt an unfinished work where the author is still living (as opposed to Dickens’ “The Mystery of Edwin Drood” for example).
As an older person myself I can understand GRRM perhaps wanting to enjoy semi-retirement and do his hobbies and he does seem to use his wealth for funding good causes (a wolf charity for example).
Unless I’m reading it wrong, it sounds as though that scene was never shot, but there is another Bronn/Tyrion scene which may appear later. I hope so!
“We don’t see [Bronn] interact much with Tyrion. Is there a scene between them on the editing room floor somewhere?”
Jerome Flynn: “Originally, I heard there was going to be one. They decided not to go for it. There’s something, I hope, that’s still to come, where Bronn and Tyrion might have a little bit of time for an exchange together, and shoot the breeze, as it were. Hopefully there will be some old Bronn and Tyrion dynamics coming up again. But it was a lovely scene.”
Its so quiet around here lately
Dee Stark,
I think the leaked episode has everyone running for the hills.
Grandmaester Flash,
Oops, sorry I read it wrong.
Precisely. Though I more or less trust the fellow Watchers. However, I have stayed away from facebook, twitter etc since Tuesday!
(but I have still been a tad spoiled by a collegue who does not watch GOT, he read something -a leak- and thought it was a good idea to share with the show watchers)
Mr Derp,
true trueeeeee
ahhh man
Well weekend is almost here so I never come by anyway
Greywind,
I so agree, but that has more to do with the lack of GMMRs writing than anything Dinklage could do.
I was so glad that Penny didn’t appear in the show. Really hated her in the book, tho perhaps you are right that she softens book Tyrion a bit. Also glad that they changed him to a less dark character – tho I would argue that he is still pretty dark even in the show. Not in an evil way, but in an emotional one
Excellent article again!
I agree with this, and think its why he just can’t finish the book. And while I love the show, and agree that its made the story more streamlined and watchable, I still love what Martin has done here, and really do miss his writing.
Dee Stark,
Hell yea! It’s Friday!! Hopefully you’ll stick around for a little while though. If not, your presence will be missed Dee.
Mr Derp,
YES!
Thank you, youre sweet… ill be here today and then S U N D A Y night
For quite a time, I haven’t seen any comments from GRRM regarding HBO’s GoT ? He used to attend the red carpet event at the premieres or along with members of the cast at photo sessions or on the panel with them at Comic-Cons, but he hasn’t attended those either in recent years?
I get the impression he lost interest when GoT surpassed the books (perhaps initially thinking that would never be the case) and has accepted that D&D will finish his story? I also have to wonder how much influence he has these days with the show runners? I presume they still have meetings with GRRM to get his input regarding characters and their arcs and the way GoT will progress to its conclusion at the end of S8?
Whatever, I would hope for the benefit of the book readers (which I am not) the TV show and the ASOIAF novels will arrive to the same end… Albeit a bittersweet one which George has stated from the beginning?
Gardening style my ass. Who told him you don’t plan gardens?.
He must have never seen a japanese garden. He ended up strangling himself with the vines.
“Book!Tyrion considers supporting her if he’s allowed to rape and murder Cersei as a reward. Whether or not he’s being serious about it or just fantasizing is up to you to judge.”
The amount of people who take that quote at face value just amazes me.
Mr Derp,
It was basically ruined for me as soon as I logged on to YouTube. Some of the video titles were pretty specific.
Since he killed his father and descended into brooding hell, most everything that Tyrion has thought, imbibed and participated in has been tainted and influenced by his cursed and warped feelings for Tysha. We know the oft-repeated/beloved phrase and thoughts throughout ADwD. I agree that the dark hyperbole is extreme, but he swims in a sea of family malcontent, malevolence and is surrounded by more brooding (Jorah), victimization/naivete (Penny) and stunning violence, which makes it even more intriguing how he is even able to care again (Dany/Penny). Yes, it is overextended and mind-numbing, but his dance with dragons and inner demons ain’t pretty and will not be easily/quickly resolved.
Well, I don’t think Martin would take it that far, tbh! But it’s still something Show!Tyrion wouldn’t think or say. If I had to guess, Book!Tyrion most likely wouldn’t rape his sister, but I think murdering her isn’t out of the question.
Violator,
That is an excellent comment.
I, too, have read all the books currently out and share the view that the plot lines, while many meticulously-written, are tangential just for the sake of it. And the constant morbid surprises are hard to take again and again. Reading the books I considered tantamount to work. (and I’ve read a lot of Tolkien, even stuff like the Silmarillion). And I am enjoying the show (however, pet peeve: what exactly is a “show runner” … like we’re all hollywood types, now.) In any event, I’m somewhat relieved to find someone of a similar view.
Cheers!
Violator,
Slow clap….your thoughts are everything. Thank you