Last week’s episode of Game Of Thrones, “Breaker Of Chains,” aired and shocked a lot of people. Not just because a certain king has been put in his place but it also depicted a violent scene that is nowhere to be read in the books. There are always issues with adaptations but unlike the name change (Game Of Thrones is the title of the first book in the Song Of Ice And fire series), this change has pissed off quite a few loyal readers to the George R.R. Martin epic book series.
So, I have decided it’s my nerdy duty to compile my list of the Top 5 (positive or negative) changes from the books to the TV series.
Oh, and there are spoilers. You have been warned.
1. POV
This is not really a big deal but the books are split into chapters that feature the point of view of a certain character (Tyrion, Brienne, Eddard Stark, et cetera). This third person subjective narrative conveys the thoughts, feelings, and opinions of one character at a time. Meanwhile the show juggles multiple characters at the same time. This is obviously due to the medium of television being visual, but it does change the way you see the 7 Kingdoms.
2. Everyone is Slightly Older on the Show

Source: http://www.memeslanding.com
This is a change that had to be done, in which many of the younger characters’ ages were changed for the TV series, from their younger ages in the novels to older. For example, Daenerys Targaryen appears nude and has a sex scene right in the first episode. In the original novels, Daenerys is 13 years old at the beginning. Now it’s not as creepy as it may sound when you consider that Westeros is a medieval society, where boys are considered men by age 16 and girls are ready for marriage and childbearing by the time they begin to menstruate. But obviously we can’t depict preteen girls having sex on screen. So, the writers of the show decided to raise the ages of most of the young characters. Robb Stark is now 17 instead of 15; Sansa is 13 instead of 11; Arya is 11 instead of 9; Joffrey is 16 instead of 13; and Daenerys is 16 instead of 13. Oh, and the actors who portray them are also older than their TV characters.
SEE ALSO: 25 Life Lessons Learned From Game Of Thrones
3. Joffrey is Just the Worst Human Being Ever to Exist

Source: www.hbo.com
Okay, King Joffrey Baratheon is an evil little monster in the TV series and book series. But he’s slightly less awful in the books. The books do depict him ordering the beheading of Ned Stark, the beatings of Sansa, and the countless others he ordered to be tortured and murdered. But his sadistic streak seemed to be more pointed toward the harm, maiming, and murder of little animals like cats and rabbits. Honestly, he’s more of a spoiled brat than the sadistic sociopath he is on the show. He didn’t oversee the rape, torture and murder of prostitutes and it was actually his mother, Cersei, who ordered the death of all the Baratheon bastards.
One thing that is is not different is his glorious death in book three and season 4. Yes, he was finally killed and the entire world (real one and Westeros) rejoiced.
4. The “Red Wedding” was Much More Traumatic on TV

Source: http://www.memeslanding.com
“The Rains of Castamere” is probably the most stressful episode of television anyone has ever watched. And it was stressful in the books too, but the TV counterpart played out a bit differently. I need to start off with mentioning there is no character named Talisa in the books. Robb has a wife named Jeyne but she was not at the wedding. This automatically takes away the most shocking aspect of this scene because now there isn’t a pregnant woman to stab repeatedly in the stomach, killing her and the unborn baby she was carrying. One change made that I thought was very good was the death of Catelyn Stark. In the book, she goes a little mad after Robb is killed in front of her and gouges at her own face and eyes before she’s also killed. The TV show did this brilliant slow moving shot of a blank faced Catelyn accepting her fate right before she’s killed. It’s hard to watch but it is an absolutely great shot.
5. Jaime the Rapist?

Source: www.hollywoodlife.com
I mentioned a scene in the beginning paragraph that has pissed off a lot of people. To put it simply, Jaime is no rapist. In fact, he is absolutely anti-rape in the books. Last week, we saw Jaime rape his sister/lover Cersei in front of their dead child, Joffrey. Why? Shock value. Just awful.
Consent is sexy!
Honourable mention:
Where is Strong Belwas?!