George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novel series is huge, even huger than the incredibly popular TV show, Game of Thrones. As such, it makes sense that the showrunners would have to miss out details from the novel so that the show would work timewise, so we wouldn't have to follow dozens of extra characters. However, there are some plot points seriously important to the novel that the show either began to introduce then abandoned, or simply ignored all together. Here are some of the biggest ones…
QUIZ: Can you remember how these Game of Thrones characters died?
Tyrion's wife, Tysha
The subplot involving Tyrion's wife Tysha is an important one for the books, and it seemed for a while that the TV show was planning to introduce it to Peter Dinklage's storyline. In season one, the Lannister explains how he married a woman when he was a young teenager, only to find out that she was a prostitute her older brother had paid off. That was more or less the last we heard of it in the show, but in the books there is so much more.
When helping him to escape King's Landing in the novels, Jaime admits that Tysha wasn't really a prostitute, and that their father forced him to tell Tyrion that, leaving his little brother devastated that he had abandoned her. He also becomes obsessed with finding her again when he finds himself in Essos. In the show, they decided to skip it all and brought Tyrion to Daenerys' side much quicker, boo!
Lady Stoneheart
This is one plenty of fans were disappointed about – though we can see why the showrunners decided to omit her! Lady Stoneheart is the resurrected Catelyn Stark, who was brought back from the dead after the Red Wedding by the Brotherhood without Banners. However, her throat was cut so badly that she couldn't speak, and they waited so long that it wasn't the Cat we all knew.
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Instead, she was only after vengeance for all who had betrayed her family over the years, travelling with the Brotherhood to point out traitors. Although it was awesome in the novels, chances are showrunners decided against resurrecting her so that Jon Snow's revival would have more of a dramatic impact. Otherwise they'll just be bringing anyone back from the dead!
Myrcella Baratheon and the Dornish
The storyline involving Myrcella Baratheon began and ended quite quickly in season five. She was betrothed to Tristane Martell when Jaime comes to collect her from the city, and is eventually poisoned and killed by the Allara Sand. However, in the novels there is an entire Dornish plot to put Mrycella on the Iron Throne which ends with Cersei's daughter being horribly disfigured. Never mind Myrcella's storyline, it appears that the showrunners cut the whole Dornish storyline short after their portrayal in season five was panned by critics.
Young Griff
In the novels, there is another Targaryen contenders to the Throne – not just Daenerys and Jon/Aegon. In fact, there is another Aegon Targaryen entirely. Young Griff claims to be the older son of Rhaegar Targaryen, who was thought to have been killed by the Mountain when the Mad King was unseated. However, it is purported that Aegon was smuggled out of the country and swapped with another child – meaning that he would have a higher claim to the throne than either Jon or Dany. Although the book has yet to reveal Young Griff's fate, the showrunners entirely omitted it from the storyline – perhaps two Targaryens were enough!
Jaime finds out Cersei was unfaithful
This is entirely, almost bizarrely brushed over in the series, and we want to know why! In the novels, Jaime discovers that Cersei has been unfaithful to him with their cousin, Lancel Lannister and Osmund Kettleblack. In the show, although she is on trial for adultery and incest – but denies the charges despite Lancel claiming they're true. However, Jaime never even reacts to the charges, and instead is distanced from her after she breaks the treaty with Jon and Dany.