Gallery: What Game of Thrones Season 3 Did Better — And Worse — Than the Book
HELENSLOAN01Game of Thrones
The third season of *Game of Thrones* is over, and looking back over the last ten episode, it wasn't just the strongest season of the show so far; it was a season that managed to take the impressive source material of the novels and actually improve upon it. Yes, George R. R. Martin is the J. R. R. Tolkien of our age, a deft, a once-in-a-generation fantasy writer with spectacular world-building skill. But he and his stories aren’t without their blind spots, and while translating complex narratives between media is tricky business – and something is almost always lost in translation – *Game of Thrones* is one of the rare instances where the adaptation has not only faithfully maintained the spirit of the original, but turned many of its weaknesses into strengths.
HELENSLOAN02Talisa
Talisa ------ __How The Show Was Better__: Well, for starters, Talisa isn’t even in the novels; Book Robb marries a girl named Jeyne Westerling, daughter of a Lannister bannerman whose castle he raids during his campaign in The Crag. While described as gentle and pretty, Jeyne is still very much a girl in the book, eager to please Robb – particularly with an heir – and never included in any serious conversations about the war. Talisa, however, is not just a noble woman, but a self-sufficient one. As a healer with a predilection for tending to soldiers after battles, she’s the Westeros equivalent of a career woman – and one in a brutal, bloody business, at that. There’s a reason that Robb speaks to her as an advisor, and it’s because he doesn’t just consider her his queen, but his partner and equal. Robb and Jeyne were cute, in the way that teenage couples that deface public property with magic marker declarations of their love are cute, but it wasn’t a mature relationship between two adults--which made the sacrifice of his oath, his war, and ultimately his life seem even more like tragic, juvenile folly. Talisa’s strength as a character and a true partner for Robb made their love story even more powerful, consequently and the events of the Red Wedding even more shattering (no small feat). __What We Missed__: Arguably, nothing. Yes, Jeyne did not attend the wedding and therefore lives on, but she remains far less interesting and relevant in life than Talisa was in death.
DAMIEN ELLIOTT03Margaery Tyrell
Margaery Tyrell --------------- __How The Show Was Better__: Margaery isn't a point-of-view character in the books, which unfortunately means that our time with her is largely limited to girlish chats with Sansa. No more! Actress Natalie Dormer – who also had an all-star turn as Irene Adler on <strike>*Sherlock*</strike> *Elementary* this season -- has transformed the once and future queen of Westeros into a political powerhouse, and a true player of the game. Thanks to her new scenes with Sansa and Cersei – and her spectacular, deft manipulation of Joffrey's sociopathic fetishes early in the season – she's quickly established herself as a force to reckoned with behind that pretty face. As much as Cersei wants to see herself as some sort of female Littlefinger, that title rightly belongs to Margaery, who has both the political mind, the charm, and the patience to wrap King's Landing around her little finger, if we give her a season or two. Although Cersei's reaction is as brutally obtuse as ever, it's a lot easier to understand why she's running scared. __What We Missed From the Books__: Nothing.
04Ros and Shae
Ros and Shae ------------ __What the Show Did Better__: In a show where naked women tend to get tossed out to the audience like some sort of reverse Mardi Gras beads, it was nice to see two female characters this season who were both prostitutes and fully developed humans with ideas and talents of their own. TV Shae legitimately seems to love both Tyrion and Sansa, a depth of feeling I didn't quite get from the flighty, more immature book version of her (whom I also think would have been a bit more loathe to turn down those diamonds from Varys). But the real gem is Ros, who started out as a bit part and became a vibrant addition to (and creation of) the show, ascending from Winterfell prostitute to the right hand woman of Littlefinger himself. Even Varys recognized her virtuosity at court intrigue, and I was truly excited to see what the future held in store for her – until the show decided to kill her off-screen and end her story with a quick glimpse of her arrow-riddled corpse strung up in Joffrey's bedroom. It was an abrupt and disappointing end for a surprising character that not only deserved better, but seemed like she had more surprises in store. __What We Missed From the Book:__ George R. R. Martin has talked about working a Ros cameo into a future book, so I guess there's that.
05Cersei Lannister
Cersei Lannister ---------------- __What the Show Did Better__: Oh, Cersei. You're a really terrible person, but somehow this show has managed to make you human nonetheless, partly because Lena Headey has a way of making you look both sharp and fragile at the same time, and partly thanks to the added scenes that flesh you out as something other than a vindictive harpy. Cersei's moments with Tywin show us the political power she's lost; her moments with Joffrey show us that she's losing her son as well, and her moments with Margaery show us exactly who she blames for her fading relevance. Although Cersei has point-of-view chapters in others books, she doesn't in *Storm of Swords*, which only contributes to the sense that she's being silenced and sidelined. TV Cersei also has more moments of fleeting kindness, or at least neutrality; compared to her unrelenting campaign of dickery in the books, the scene where she and Tyrion commiserate about their terrible arranged marriages (which are totally her fault) is a bit shocking, especially when Cersei acknowledges that Tyrion did actually save them all at the Battle of the Blackwater– and tacitly admits that Joffrey was the one tried to have him killed. Even though TV Cersei somehow manages to make even more mistakes than her book counterpart, it's a lot easier to like her – or at least understand her. __What We Missed From the Book:__ Nothing.
HELENSLOAN06Melisandre
__How The Show Was Better__: Like Margaery, Melisandre isn't a point-of-view character in *Storm of Swords*, so we only get to see her from the perspective of Davos... who spends most of the book in dungeon. While I could have done without some of HBO's innovations -- like gratuitous penis leeching, and the even more gratuitous nudity leading up to it – Melisandre got to do a lot more than just lurk around Dragonstone demanding the blood of innocents this season. Her journey to meet Thoros (and kidnap Gendry) not only gave us more insight into her backstory and childhood as a slave -- information that wasn't revealed in the books until much later -- and also briefly united the two most significant followers of R'hllor in a way the books never did and gave us a revealing look into their faith... and its power. __What We Missed From the Books__: Melisandre visits Davos in his cell and gives him a rather eerie speech about the war between the Red God R'hllor and his evil counterpart, the Great Other. She also makes some enigmatic claims about "waking the stone dragon" with king's blood, which remains a mystery.
HELENSLOAN07The Red Wedding
The Red Wedding --------------- __How The Show Was Better__: The HBO Red Wedding was even more devastating than the book version, and at least part of that was purely the horror of having to see a visual depiction. After all, it's one thing to *hear* that they cut off Robb's head and replaced it with Grey Wind's and another to actually have to look at it. (Nightmares, nightmares for weeks.) The suspense, which had been building all season at every mention of the Freys, hit a fever pitch the moment that "The Rains of Castemere" started playing, and Catelyn turned, every so slowly, full of a terror that she desperately hoped was paranoia. But the addition of Talisa to the Red Wedding was what really kicked it up to a whole other level of tragic, ending not only the lives of Robb and Catelyn, the Northern rebellion and their chance at revenge, but also the most heartfelt love story on the show. In fairy tale terms, it's like if Prince Charming and Cinderella finally made it to the ball, only to suddenly get mowed down by a bunch of gangsters with uzis who subsequently cut off her head, replaced it with a pumpkin, and paraded it around the city as a hilaaaarious joke, while turning her little mice friends into finger-puppets and making them pretend to talk to her corpse. Grimm ain't got nothing on GRRM. __What We Missed From the Book__ : More sadness! More death! There's also more foreshadowing before the main event as well: the musicians are terrible (because half of them are actually archers); the bride cries and acts weird the whole time; people mysteriously aren't at the wedding that Robb had expected. When the bloodletting begins, Smalljon Umber straight up flips a table to defend Robb, and Dacey Mormont, a delightful, highborn warrior woman, takes a longaxe to the stomach. We also missed Catelyn's final, tragic thoughts when someone grabbed her scalp before slitting her throat: "No don't, don't cut my hair. Ned loves my hair."
08Theon
Theon/Reek: ----------- __How The Show Was Better__: It's a weird thing to say about a season-long torture subplot, but the Zero Dark Theon scenes this season were excellent, and revelatory for both book purists and TV fans. None of it appeared in the Season 3 source novel, *Storm of Swords*; rather, we found out about it later in flashback--after Theon had become Reek. The show's willingness to pull in a storyline from another book was the biggest structural innovation of the season, and leaves me wondering what other creative rearrangements we might see in Season 4. While it was shocking for book readers to encounter Theon later as a broken, changed man, watching the process slowly unfold as his tormentor took him apart, piece by piece -- literally -- was both painful and fascinating. Theon's castration had always been implied in the books, but never confirmed. It was also interesting to finally see sexual violence directed at a man after so many scenes involving women, not only because it acknowledges the taboo fact that sexual violence happens to men too, but also because it affirms for the millionth time how terrible life is in Westeros. For *everyone*. __What We Missed From the Book__ : Knowing the name of Theon's torturer. The “mystery” is, frankly, a bit tedious at this point. I know that mixing lies and truth is all a part of his very special reindeer game, but enough already. *What did you like better in the show than in the books? What do you wish the TV series had included?*
