10 Moments From ‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 4 That Infuriated Book Readers

With ‘Game of Thrones” HBO has achieved the Holy Grail of novel adaptations. Somehow (my guess is sacrifices to the Red God) they”ve managed to take one of the densest low fantasy fiction series in the English language and lovingly translate it to the small screen mostly intact. The key word here is mostly.

No matter how stringently they adhere to the source material, some things are going to change. Characters will be cut, or story arcs altered, or timelines shuffled to squeeze a coherent narrative into ten episodes per year. But even though fans of George R.R. Martin”s books intellectually know this, emotionally any changes elicit a visceral reaction akin to complete and utter betrayal. 

In Season 4, the blows came slow at first before snowballing into a parallel universe where we now – like Jon Snow – know nothing. Without these 10 key moments, how are we supposed to give a smug knowing smile when show watchers try to guess where the plot is going?! Won”t someone think of our tenuous superiority complex?

WARNING: Spoilers below for both Season 4 of ‘Game of Thrones” and possible spoilers for future seasons. After all, just because these plot points haven”t come up yet, doesn”t mean they won”t.

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