Essay On In What Moments Does The HBO Series Game Of Thrones Depart From A Song Of Ice And

When you play the game of comparison and contrast, one is always better than the other. The HBO fantasy drama series Game of Thrones, based on George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, tends to leave die-hard aficionados of the epic fantasy novel series divided over the changes the second season has made to the novels. David Benioff’s and D.B. Weiss’s Game of Thrones has not been loyal to George R.R. Martin’s novel series, and to prove this the second season of the TV series must be compared to the A Clash of Kings, the second volume of the novel series.
If the book’s lead had been followed, Robb Stark (one of the titular characters) would have spent practically every episode fighting battles off screen, but the creators of the show decided to keep him front and center, and make him fall in love with the on-screen incarnation of Lady Talisa, a mysterious foreign nurse. However, she is nothing like her counterpart Lady Jeyne Westerling, who is Robb’s love interest in the novels. Keeping Robb around may have been fair for the TV series, but in the books, all kings are kept distant from the center of action, so that readers can witness the consequences of their decisions among their subjects. It is understandable that doing so would wipe off the entire Stark side off the screen; however, handling the Jeyne’s on-screen counterpart is a bit tougher, especially because of how predictable the plotline is.
Indeed, Joffrey Baratheon is as cruel a character as seen on-screen as he is in the novels. However, by the second volume, Joffrey refrains from subject other human beings to his most sadistic rampages. It is true that as in the TV series, he had Eddard Stark beheaded, his bride-to-be beaten, and countless prisoners beaten and tortured, however, Joffery seems to take sadistic violence to a whole new level on-screen. No doubt, King Joffrey is best antagonist on television because of how the series delves into his sociopathic nature. Yet, Joffrey’s character is handled like a ticking me bomb in the novels, which causes readers to keep anticipating when it might go off. On-screen, the bomb may have exploded too soon, causing viewers to hope he faces a drastic loss in the game of thrones.
The on-screen portrayal of the chemistry between Lord Tywin, the calculating, cold patriarch of the cruel, rich Lannister family, and Arya Stark, the wild-child daughter of the fallen Eddard Stark, is absolutely brilliant. However, the encounters of these two characters never occurred in the novels. Instead of serving as a cupbearer to Lord Tywin Lannister, she served as a peon for Roose Bolton, only catching the occasional glimpse at Lord Tywin Lannister. Despite the fact that the TV show makes it work because of the impressive character/actor combo, the difference remains. For the sake of giving viewers an adrenaline rush, the TV series also make the experiences of Jon Snow with the wildings, north of the Wall, much wilder than they are in the second volume of the novel series. However, this compromises of the narrative cohesion and the slow build of the story.
It is true that whenever a novel is taken from the page to the screen, things are often changed up and switched around, since they are two different mediums of storytelling. No doubt, a large number of the faithful fans of the HBO series are also fans of George R.R. Martin’s series too. While viewers who are not familiar with the novel series may not care much about the above differences, those who have read the novels would be keen to notice them. Nonetheless, despite departing from the text in various moments, including the above ones, the TV show is great in its own rank, but perhaps not better than the original novels.