History AdaptationalVillainy / GameOfThrones

* Robb doesn't place his mother in house arrest like in the books. In addition, Robb in the show is a much more selfish character than his book counterpart, marrying Talisa/Jeyne out of love instead of preserving honour. Book!Robb at least felt guilt over breaking his pact to the Freys, which he seemed to feel shameless about in the show. Even his bannerman acknowledged this incredibly self-centred act.

* In the books, Robb doesn't place his mother in house arrest like in the show. In addition, Robb in the show is a much more selfish character than his book counterpart, marrying Talisa/Jeyne out of love instead of preserving honour. Book!Robb at least felt guilt over breaking his pact to the Freys, which he seemed to feel shameless about in the show. Even his bannerman acknowledged this incredibly self-centred act.

-->''Sansa'': “Yes, they turned their backs on Jon when it was time to retake Winterfell, and then they named him their King, and now they're ready to turn their backs on him again. How far would you trust men like that? They're all bloody wind vanes.”

** In the books, he owes his success to appearing as a harmless, witty {{Trickster}} rather than the show's ObviouslyEvil DevilInPlainSight who openly feuds with TheSpymaster.

* Balon Greyjoy is unequivocally nasty to Theon in the show, where in the books, he's fairly impressed that Theon stands up to him and gives him eight ships instead of just one (making his mission less [[YouGetMeCoffee embarrassingly unimportant]]).[[note]]In the books, Dagmer tells Theon outright that the only one who feels sidelined is Theon.[[/note]] The show also declines to establish that as lord of perhaps the most misogynist region of Westeros, Balon is ''extraordinarily'' comfortable with the idea of his daughter succeeding him.

* Selyse is a haughty and narrow-minded GrandeDame whose complete faith in the Lord of Light leads her to urge radical action in the books, but the show emphasizes her fanaticism to the level of a MadWomanInTheAttic who keeps her stillborns in PeopleJars and despises her own daughter as sinful rather than barely mentioning her stillbirths and verging on MyBelovedSmother in her protection of Shireen.

** He only relents from executing Davos and answers the call of the Night's Watch when Melisandre abruptly changes her mind on these issues, whereas in the books he makes these decisions himself after Davos appeals to his sense of duty to the realm. Even after this, he frequently threatens Davos like a BadBoss in the show, while in the books, Davos is his OnlyFriend and held in the highest regard.

** A key instance that is AdaptedOut is his CharacterDevelopment. Book!Stannis is intended to be a little unsympathetic at first, but eventually proves himself to be, as per WordOfGod, "a just man" when he saves the Night's Watch for altruistic reasons. In the show, his visit to save the Wall comes because Melisandre shows him a vision of him fighting in the snow, and this ends up removing the selfless nature of this action.

** While Human Sacrifice is part of R'hllor worship, Stannis never burns anyone purely for the sake of fanaticism, rather he punishes rapists, cannibals or in the case of his former Hand, outright betrayal and conspiring with the Lannisters. Likewise, the men he burns simply for refusing his religious commandment in "The Lion and the Rose" were traitors who conspired to sell him out and [[PapaWolf surrender his daughter]] in the books.

* Stannis gets a lot of this, despite being far from a paragon in the novels:

** He's much less reluctant to practice HumanSacrifice, needing only one victim of the leech curse to be wholly convinced to sacrifice his nephew even though the expected benefit is much more ambiguous than the ''dragon'' promised in the novels.
*** Likewise, the men he burns simply for refusing his religious commandment in "The Lion and the Rose" were traitors who conspired to sell him out and [[PapaWolf surrender his daughter]] in the books.

** He burns [[spoiler: his only child, Shireen,]] alive in "The Dance of Dragons" to end the blizzard afflicting his army. While the burning may indeed happen in future novels, at the equivalent point in the books he refuses to burn anyone (not even captives or unbelievers) except as punishment for cannibalism and dispatches Ser Justin Massey with specific instructions to [[spoiler: press Shireen's claim to the throne]] should he die in the coming battle.
*** Not to mention if said burning does happen it is quite possible if not likely that it would not be committed by Stannis himself.

* In the first book, Robert confides that the only reason he doesn't sail away to Essos to become a mercenary is because he knows that Joffrey is a monster who should not be on the throne; despite his multiple failings, his misery is driven by the fact that he's martyring himself to keep a tenuous peace while his wife manipulates "their" son into destroying it. In the show, he comes across as much more of a drunk toddler, railing constantly about the things he can't have and shirking his responsibilities at every turn solely because of petulance.
** Also, due to Cersei's Adaptational Heroism, the abuse in their marriage of convenience comes across as more one-sided, while in the books, Cersei is portrayed as cruel and vindictive from the get-go, such as when Robert suggests bringing his beloved bastard daughter Mya Stone to court and Cersei implies she'll have the girl killed (it's also implied this wouldn't be the first time she's done away with one of Robert's bastard children).

* In the books, [[spoiler: Doreah]] is simply a dutiful servant who dies of illness CrossingTheDesert. The show gives her a more selfish personality and a fascination with dragons (who can fly where they please and kill those in their way), eventually leading to an abrupt FaceHeelTurn, and in a deleted scene she [[KickTheDog kicks the dog]] by personally [[spoiler: strangling Irri]].

** Cersei's motivation for empowering the High Sparrow also changes in the show. In the book, she makes him the High Septon in order to have the protection of the Faith Militant. She didn't try to have them to target the Tyrells until after she became suspicious that they were in cahoots with Tyrion. In the show, she empowers the High Sparrow and his followers solely to get back at Margaery.

** [[spoiler: Alliser Thorne]] is not present for the mutiny in the books as he is far away on an assignment.

** She also lacks her (admittedly few) PetTheDog moments like helping to protect Devan Seaworth and Alys Karstark, and the omission of Abel the Bard removes perhaps her greatest PetTheDog moment in favour of more HumanSacrifice.
* Joffrey is a horrific, power-crazed psychopath in the books as well, but the show makes him ''even worse'' by giving him two of Cersei's KickTheDog moments - he is the one who orders both the massacre of Robert's bastards and the assassination attempt on Tyrion during the battle of the Blackwater. He also treats Cersei horribly and has a taste for sexualized violence, having Ros beat another prostitute, that's at best an [[AgeLift age-based]] extrapolation of his sadistic streak, culminating in him coldly murdering a [[NominalImportance named character]] by hogtying her to a bedpost and riddling her with crossbow bolts just to see how it feels to murder someone yourself.

* The Night's Watch mutineers in "Mother's Mercy" are motivated solely by xenophobia in the show instead of their more multi-faceted reasons from the books. In the books, Jon likewise works to save the wildlings, which some of his officers ''really'' don't like, but Jon ''also'' ends up involving himself in the affairs of the realm as a result of ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight -- compromising the Watch's stance on neutrality. As described by the [[https://meereeneseblot.wordpress.com/2013/10/22/others-wars-part-iv-people-wanting-help/ Meereenese blog essays]], Jon's Achille's heel as a leader of a traditional and neutral system is his hero's instinct to save innocents in danger and fix injustices -- which ends up posing potential risks to the Watch because it compromises the Watch's neutrality. Meanwhile, Bowen Marsh and the other mutineers view Jon is breaking his oaths as they fear the help he has given Stannis will invite the Iron Throne's wrath against them and they strongly disagree with Jon's efforts to ally with and save the wildlings. When Jon announces his intention to march south and confront Ramsay Bolton after receiving Ramsay's threatening letter to him, thereby publicly breaking his neutrality as Lord Commander, the mutineers act to assassinate him. Bowen Marsh is crying as he stabs Jon, visibly upset as he feels he has no choice. In the books, the situation is a difficult one while in the show, it is made more clear-cut between right and wrong.

* Book!Dany often shows a softer side that is sometimes missing from the show, the most notable being the absence of her horrified despair when Viserys draws steel in Vaes Dothrak, knowing that her brother has sentenced himself to death and the lack of how she pleads for a reconciliation. In the moments she reminisces on her recently-departed sibling, it is without a hint of fondness and is instead dripping with scorn or derision, while in the book she acknowledged his effect on her formative years and how he loved, educated and protected her until the stresses of responsibility for his little sister, coupled with the humiliation of exile snapped his sanity in twain, which she forgives him for. She also has at least a couple of innocent Meereenese nobles executed at random on the grounds of "justice", either with crucifixion or dragon-fire, while when the city submits in the books, Dany lets the nobility choose who they will hand over to her to pay for the child slaves being nailed to posts.

** He only relents from executing Davos and answers the call of the Night's Watch when Melisandre abruptly changes her mind on these issues, whereas in the books he makes these decisions himself after Davos appeals to his sense of duty to the realm. Even after this, he frequently threatens Davos like a BadBoss in the show, while in the books Davos is his OnlyFriend and held in the highest regard.

** In the books, he owes his success to seeming like a harmless, witty {{Trickster}} rather than the show's ObviouslyEvil DevilInPlainSight who openly feuds with TheSpymaster.
** Similarly, though he's certainly responsible for making Jeyne Poole a SexSlave, brothels are only one of his many investments and he isn't involved in anything quite so vile as regularly serving up prostitutes to necrophiliacs and serial killers in the books.

** However evil Littlefinger maybe in the books, he's not enough to atleast serve up Sansa on a spoon to Ramsey. Littlefinger in fact takes a level in kindness in 'Alayne' s' presence.
** [[spoiler: Season 7 finale reveals it was ''he'' who ordered Bran's assassination, rather than Joffrey, just to further fan the flames between the Starks and the Lannisters.]]

* The Night's Watch mutineers in "Mother's Mercy" are motivated solely by xenophobia instead of their more multi-faceted reasons from the books, particularly Jon's secret interference at Winterfell and his decision to attack the Boltons after Jon receives a threatening letter signed by Ramsay Bolton, which they justifiably see as a breach of their vows (though Jon makes the case that since ItsPersonal, he has the right to defend himself and confront the threat).
** Furthermore, they [[IShallTauntYou taunt him]] with a "traitor" sign and only Olly seems upset, rather than them ''all'' expressing remorse because they believe their hands have been forced.
** [[spoiler: Alliser Thorne]] in particular is also far away and completely uninvolved in the coup in the novels.

* Book!Dany often shows a softer side that is sometimes missing from the show, the most notable being the absence of her horrified despair when Viserys draws steel in Vaes Dothrak, knowing that her brother has sentenced himself to death and the lack of how she pleads for a reconciliation. In the moments she reminisces on her recently-departed sibling, it is without a hint of fondness and is instead dripping with scorn or derision, while in the book she acknowledged his effect on her formative years and how he loved, educated and protected her until the stresses of responsibility for his little sister, coupled with the humiliation of exile snapped his sanity in twain, which she forgives him for. She also has at least a couple of innocent Meereenese nobles executed at random on the grounds of "justice", either with crucifixion or dragon-fire. While when the city submits in the books, Dany lets the nobility choose who they will hand over to her to pay for the child slaves being nailed to posts.

* Joffrey is a horrific, power-crazed psychopath in the books as well, but the show makes him ''even worse'' by giving him two of Cersei's KickTheDog moments - he is the one who orders both the massacre of Robert's bastards and the assassination attempt on Tyrion during the battle of the Blackwater. He also treats Cersei horribly and has a taste for sexualized violence, having Ros beat another prostiture, that's at best an [[AgeLift age-based]] extrapolation of his sadistic streak, culminating in him coldly murdering a [[NominalImportance named character]] by hogtying her to a bedpost and riddling her with crossbow bolts just to see how it feels to murder someone yourself.

* Joffrey is a horrific, power-crazed psychopath in the books as well, but the show makes him ''even worse'' by giving him two of Cersei's KickTheDog moments and a taste for sexualized violence that's at best an [[AgeLift age-based]] extrapolation of his sadistic streak, culminating in him coldly murdering a [[NominalImportance named character]] just to see how it feels.