10 Things Already Wrong With Game of Thrones Season 6

Over the decades, there have been hundreds of television shows, but of all those shows, there have only been a small few that have truly garnered enough critical acclaim or popularity to be considered a mega-hit. Shows such as M.A.S.H, Seinfeld, Friends, The Sopranos and The Walking Dead, are a few of these mega-hit shows, and HBO’s epic fantasy drama series Game of Thrones is among them as well. Game of Thrones is based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire book series, and it has become the most popular show on the planet. The book series, as well as the television series, both possess everything that is needed for an intellectual property to be successful; an enticing story, a grand and detailed setting, and astounding characters who you can both love and hate.
All that being said though, whenever a book series is made into another medium, there are always changes made in order to make it work on screen, and sometimes the changes work, but most of the time they do not. Whether the changes are in fact good or bad, makes no difference though, as any type of change is a divergence away from the canon source material. With the show’s sixth season now reaching its midway point, it has come time to point out some of the things that the show has done wrong in comparison to the books. Here is a list of 10 things already wrong with Game of Thrones season six.

10. Sansa At Castle Black

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Many of us got emotional when we saw Sansa and Jon finally reunite at Castle Black over a week ago, and who can blame us? After five seasons of terrible things happening to the Stark family, something good finally happened. That being said though, in the books, Sansa is not supposed to go to Castle Black or reunite with Jon (at least not yet). Sansa, in fact, was not even supposed to return to the North yet, and her marriage to Ramsey and Brienne becoming her protector were things created for the show. In the books, Sansa is still in the Eyrie with Baelish and her lord cousin Robin, where she goes by the name Alayne Stone and pretends to be Baelish’s bastard daughter. Her story there revolves around her learning from Baelish who also introduces Sansa to a squire named Harrold Hardyng. There is a reason behind this introduction, as Baelish tells Sansa that if her cousin Robin were to “unexpectedly” die, Harrold would be next in line to rule the Eyrie. With Sansa’s consent, Baelish plans to have her marry Harrold, so they could later reveal her true identity, and then take the armies of the Vale to take back Winterfell in her name.

9. Stannis Actually Being Dead

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When Brienne brought her sword down on Stannis in the season five finale, it was left unclear whether or not she had actually killed him as the screen cut to black. It was later revealed by the finale’s director, that Stannis was in fact killed by Brienne, and that would be all fine and well, if it were not for the fact that Stannis is still very much alive in the books. As of now, Stannis is still marching towards Winterfell with his army, in hopes of taking the North from the Boltons. The battle (more like slaughter really) that took place at Winterfell, has not even happened yet, and he had many more soldiers with him in the book than he did in the show; he also does not sacrifice his daughter in order to make the snow melt. What really makes his death on the show really problematic, is the fact that Brienne is the one who killed him. Now granted, if anyone deserved to deliver Stannis’ killing blow, it is Brienne, but in the books, she is nowhere near Stannis or the North while he is heading towards Winterfell.

8. Tyrion In Charge Of Meereen

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It is worth pointing out that Tyrion meeting Daenerys the way he did and then being left in charge of Meereen after she flies off with Drogon, were actually good moves; that being said though, only about half of Tyrion’s story away from Westeros is correct. In the books, before being abducted by Jorah, he is travelling with a boy who claims to be Aegon Targaryan (the presumed murdered nephew Daenerys). When he is abducted, he is taken along with a female dwarf whom he had previously met at King’s Landing, and who he slowly develops feelings for. Like in the show, the group is captured by slavers, but in the books they are then sold into slavery and forced to fight in Meereen’s fighting pits. So yes, Tyrion does reach Meereen but as of yet, he still has not even actually met with Daenerys, and instead of being placed in charge of her city, he resides outside of Meereen’s walls, where he is trying to buy the services of one of the mercenary groups laying siege to the city on behalf of the slave masters.

7. Theon In The Iron Islands

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Theon went through the ringer with Ramsey, and whether or not you believed he deserved what he got for betraying the Starks, you have to admit his punishment was indeed brutal. At the end of season five, Theon decides to finally do the right thing and throw away the mantle of Reek assigned to him by Ramsey in order to help Sansa escape Winterfell. He does so too in the books, but it is not Sansa who he saves, the girl he saves is Sansa’s friend Jeyne, who is forced into pretending to be Arya. After escaping from Winterfell, he and Jeyne are captured by a senior member of House Umber who send them both to meet with Stannis and his army, and it is there that he reunites with his sister who was taken prisoner by Stannis. Unlike in the show, Theon is not supposed to return to the Iron Islands, at least not yet, and he is not supposed to be present at nor participate in any way with the kingsmoot.

6. Jaime In King’s Landing

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Jaime’s story is one of redemption in both the show and the books, but in season six, he appears to be slowly venturing back towards his murderous former self, what with his threatening the High Sparrow’s life, and plotting with his sister to destroy the religious sect and possibly even the Tyrells. In the books he spends little to no time in king’s landing, and takes very little issue with what the sparrows are doing; he even burns a letter sent to him by Cersei where she begs him to return to help her deal with them (their relationship becomes quite strained in the books). Jaime’s journey takes him to the Riverlands where he ends the Frey’s siege of Riverrun, and then ends a siege at Raventree Hall which held the last of Robb Stark’s supporters. After the second siege is done, Jaime plans to return to Riverrun, but Brienne appears unexpectedly, and tells him that she’s done what she promised him she would and found Sansa; but she needs his help, and his alone, in order to secure her safety. Jaime agrees to go with her, but what he is unaware of, is that Brienne is being forced to lead him into a deadly ambush.

5. Varys In Meereen

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The interplay between Varys and Tyrion is some of the best in the entire series, but as good as the two are together, they are never both at Meereen, and Varys is more concerned with helping another Targaryan besides Daenerys from claiming the Iron Throne. It is true that Varys helps Tyrion to escape King’s Landing after he kills Tywin, but that is basically the last time they see each other, as Varys remains in Westeros in hiding, in the books. The show has Varys trying to work things out for Daenerys in order to speed up her return voyage to Westeros, but in the books, he has been planning for years to have Aegon Targaryan (as mentioned earlier) become king. In the show, Kevan Lannister and Grand Maester Pycelle try to council King Tommen in order to restore peace to the realm, in the books they do the same thing, except Varys puts an end to their influence by murdering them both. He does this in order to allow Cersei to continue antagonizing her perceived enemies (the Tyrells), so that she can plunge the realm into even more chaos so that it would be easier for Aegon to take over.

4. Ramsay Killing His Family

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Ramsay is a terrible human being in both the show and the books, and even though this season we have witnessed him cold-bloodedly murder his step-mother and newborn step-brother in a truly despicable way using his hunting dogs, he is still actually far more vile in the books. In the show, Ramsay murders his father right after learning that he has just had a new legitimately born son, which would make sense if it were not for the fact that in the books, he is currently preparing to battle Stannis and his oncoming army at Winterfell with the help of his father. In the books, Roose does allude that Ramsay would likely kill his step-mother and any child she gives birth to, but as such a birth has not happened yet, he has killed neither.

3. No Victarion Greyjoy

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Victarion is one of Balon Greyjoy’s brothers and Theon’s uncle, and he is quite possibly the most popular and most liked of all the Greyjoys. He is the supreme commander of the Iron Islands’ Iron fleet (which consists of over 90 ships), and is considered to be one of the greatest and most fearsome naval strategists and commanders in all of Westeros. As of now, the show has completely removed Victarion from the story, which is strange considering he is supposed to be present at the kingsmoot, where he does attempt to become the new lord of the Iron Islands. In the books, he loses to his other brother Euron (he was the one who threw Balon off the bridge), and is sent by him to sail to Meereen to find Daenerys and bring her back to Westeros so that Euron can make her his bride. Victarion though, decides to betray his brother mid-voyage, and vows to take Daenerys for himself, and sails into Meereen’s besieged bay with his fleet to help liberate her city.

2. House Umber’s Betrayal

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For those who read the books, the betrayal of House Umber this season, is not only a complete divergence from the books, but it is also unnecessary. Rickon Stark and the wildling Osha are not even supposed to seek refuge with the Umbers, they are supposed to be on the island of Skagos off the Northern mainland. The Lord who delivers the pair to Ramsey in the show, is known as Jon Umber (or the Smalljon), which makes little sense as he was proudly loyal to house Stark until his death at the Red Wedding; he also states that his father, the Greatjon (he was the guy who got his fingers bitten off by Robb’s wolf in season 1) was dead, but in the books he is still very much alive as a prisoner of the Freys. What really makes this betrayal so incomprehensible, is the fact that House Umber down right hates the Boltons for what they did at the Red Wedding, and in the books, a portion of their strength is even marching with Stannis to remove them from power in the North.

1. The Dorne Storyline

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Everyone who read the books, unanimously agrees, that the show has completely ruined the entire Dorne storyline; and as bad as the story unfolded last season, it was made even worse in the very first episode of season six. For starters, Myrcella is not supposed to have died, she was never even supposed to be in any danger as no one outwardly wanted revenge on her for Oberyn being killed by The Mountain. Jaime and Bronn never went to Dorne, the Sand Snakes’ mother is not supposed to be so obsessed with vengeance, there was supposed to be a Dornish princess, and another prince who have their own stories which are actually interesting, and Doran Martell was not supposed to be a useless ruler. Season six saw even more divergence from the books as the Sand Snakes and their mother murder both Doran and his son Trystane for being weak. In the books Doran may still be confined to a chair due to illness, but he is far from weak as he is secretly planning to destroy the Lannisters and return the Targaryans to power; a plan that everyone in his family becomes aware of. Trystane gets murdered by his Sand Snake cousins who were actually supposed to be in charge of protecting him, and when Doran is killed, it is made to appear as though every single house in Dorne is okay with the fact that their Lord was just murdered and that they are simply supposed to loyally follow his murderers.