History PragmaticAdaptation / GameOfThrones

* In the books, Jon Snow's pet direwolf Ghost is called that because he's albino and is completely mute. Since in real life it is difficult to get a dog to stay quiet indefinitely, they simply had him be albino.

** Sandor Clegane's scars cover his whole face in the books; the costume designers realized a prosthesis that extensive would not only cause the actor difficulty seeing but make the audience ask how he could, so they scaled it down.
** Tyrion in the books is deformed as well as a dwarf and loses most of his nose. Peter Dinklage portrays him without the deformity and a prominent scar instead of a grotesque one.
** The criminal Rorge also lacks a nose in the books but keeps it in the show.

* Related to the cutting of the second shadowbaby, Storm's End and Penrose were cut and Stannis's bastard nephew Edric Storm was replaced by Gendry in Season 3. Stannis's family was also cut from Season 2. However, his wife and daughter were cast for Season 3. Considering that Stannis does not do much except sulk in Book 3 [[spoiler: until serving as the BigDamnHeroes for Jon at the Wall]], moving the Storm's End and Stannis's family plot to Season 3 may have been the most pragmatic way to adapt that storyline, especially since the third book was spread out over two seasons.

* The timespan of the series is expanded compared to the novels - whereas in the books the story has covered at ''most'' three years at the end of ADWD (Book 5), events are spaced out so that each Season covers a year's worth of storyline - an important aspect when the ''6th'' Season concluded Book Five's narrative, and the child actors need their growing into adulthood acknowledged in-universe to avoid DawsonCasting.

** In the books, the main colour of House Bolton is ''pink'' as opposed to black and red. While the colours of the Boltons in the show are more stereotypically evil, a faithful adaptation would probably just have resulted in them looking ridiculous on-screen, so the change is understandable. (It's still a lightish red.)

* Much of the dialogue of Davos Seaworth in the TV series does not appear in the books, since much of his character development in these is restricted to his inner thoughts; the fact that further books concerning Jon Snow's actions on The Wall are written like that as well, there will probably be changes in dialogue in further seasons of the TV series.
* In the novels, it's Ser Garlan Tyrell who [[spoiler:wears Renly Baratheon's armor at the Battle of Blackwater. Ser Loras Tyrell wanted the honor, but he was too short and too slender. On the show however Loras becomes King Renly's ghost because Gethin Anthony and Finn Jones (the actors who play Renly and Loras) are practically the same size, and it gives ''something'' of a bittersweet, posthumous conclusion for their romantic relationship]].

* Instead of as a casualty of battle, TV!Torrhen is assigned to guard Jaime during his captivity and is killed by him during an escape attempt. This makes Karstark's obsession with killing Jaime more understandable than in the books.

*** Similarly, in the books, the style in Qarth is for women to wear robes which expose one of their breasts - a style which Dany adopts during her time there. In the show, this would have been outlandish and distracting for viewers, so the clothing is changed to more conventional robes or dresses.

** In addition to this, the producers have commented of how various narratives have their chronological order changed around in some cases, both to fit the medium's narrative and because you just can't ''have'' some character's drop off-screen completely for stretches of time - Theon Greyjoy thus had a subplot created for Season 3-4 (with what happened to him off-screen shown in more detail); Bran Stark's Book 4/5 narrative is both expanded-on and yet sped-up (Bran has very few chapters from Book's 3-5, so this is inevitable); Jaime and Brienne's story is shifted to give them more to do in Season 4 (and Brienne's Book 4/5 plot begins roughly midway through Season 4); and so on.
* Numerous events are added, rearranged, or eliminated for the plot pacing of each season, making story arcs resolve at different times. This causes storylines from seperate novels to run parallel and makes certain characters present for events they aren't present for in the books.

** Notable exceptions occur in Season Five (a young Cersei and her friend meeting Maggy the Frog) and Seasons Six and Seven (Bran witnessing occurrences at Winterfell and the Tower of Joy in Dorne).

* In the books, Barristan Selmy joins Daenerys under the alias Arstan Whitebeard, which is enough to disguise him from readers since Daenerys has never seen him before. On the show, of course, the actor is easily recognizable, so he reveals his true identity right away.

** Notable exceptions occur in Season Five (a young Cersei and her friend meeting Maggy the Frog) and Season Six (Bran witnessing occurrences at Winterfell and the Tower of Joy in Dorne).

* The timespan of the series is expanded compared to the novels - whereas in the books the story has covered at ''most'' three years at the end of ADWD (Book 5), events are spaced out so that each Season covers a year's worth of storyline - an important aspect when the ''6th'' Season will conclude Book Five's narrative, and the child actors need their growing into adulthood acknowledged in-universe to avoid DawsonCasting.

* In the book Gregor is screaming murder as the manticore poison is eating him up, in the show since it would kind of ruin every scenes in King's Landing (the books made it clear his screams can be heard everywhere in the Red Keep) they just have him passed out from the pain.

* In the books, the eponymous Iron Throne is vaguely throne-shaped collection of swords hammered together into a colossal, twisted, asymmetrical mess that towers some 40 feet into the air, in a throne room roughly the size of St. Peter's Basilica. George R.R. Martin acknowledges how this would be incredibly impractical for a TV production, and so the throne in the show is much more reasonably sized and fairly symmetrical throne shape in a likewise more reasonably sized but still very large room. This is all alluded to in a conversation between Varys and Littlefinger, in which the latter despondently says the throne has less than two hundred swords instead of the thousand or so that many people embellish it as having.

* In the books, all POV Stark children whose direwolves are still alive (meaning Jon Snow, Arya and Bran) are shown warging into them when sleeping. In the series, only Bran's dreams are kept, because they are essential to his StoryArc, while Jon's and Arya's stories can work without them.

** In addition to this, the producers have commented of how various narratives have their chronological order changed around in some cases, both to fit the medium's narrative and because you just can't ''have'' some character's drop off-screen completely for stretches of time - Theon Greyjoy thus had a subplot created for Season 3-4 (with what happened to him off-screen shown in more detail); Bran Stark's Book 4/5 narrative is both expanded-on and yet sped-up (Bran has very few chapters from Book's 3-5, so this is inevitable); Jaime & Brienne's story is shifted to give them more to do in Season 4 (and Brienne's Book 4/5 plot begins roughly midway through Season 4); and so on.

* Loras is older than Margaery in the novels, but writer Bryan Cogman has [[http://www.westeros.org/GoT/Features/Entry/Season_3_Interview_Bryan_Cogman stated]] that the opposite is true on the show, no doubt because Finn Jones is six years younger than Natalie Dormer. The older Tyrell brothers Willas and Garlan are also AdaptedOut completely, with their important roles grafted onto Loras or Margaery.

The series contains large amounts of {{pragmatic adaptation}} due to the transition from a series of {{doorstopper}} novels with a rotating third-person limited POV structure complete with inner monologue to a televised ensemble piece with only 10 episodes per season:

* In the books, Jon Snows pet direwolf Ghost is called that because he's albino and is completely mute. Since in real life it is difficult to get a dog to stay quiet indefinitely, they simply had him be albino.

* The timespan of the series is expanded compared to the novels - whereas in the books the story has covered at ''most'' three years at the end of ADWD (Book 5), events are spaced out so that each Season covers a year's worth of storyline - an important aspect when the ''6th'' Season will conclude Book Five's narrative, and the child actor's need their growing into adulthood acknowledged in-universe to avoid DawsonCasting. In addition to this, the producers have commented of how various narratives have their chronological order changed around in some cases, both to fit the medium's narrative and because you just can't ''have'' some character's drop off-screen completely for stretches of time - Theon Greyjoy thus had a subplot created for Season 3-4 (with what happened to him off-screen shown in more detail); Bran Stark's Book 4/5 narrative is both expanded-on and yet sped-up (Bran has very few chapters from Book's 3-5, so this is inevitable); Jaime & Brienne's story is shifted to give them more to do in Season 4 (and Brienne's Book 4/5 plot begins roughly midway through Season 4); and so on.

** In Braavos, the upper class wear dark, severe-looking outfits while the lower class dress in gaudy, brightly-colored outfits. Since this cultural element would have be explained, the shows instead simplifies the class distinction by making it work the way it does in Westeros: nobility in rich, colorful fabrics and peasants in rough, plain, brown and grey fabrics.

* The timespan of the series is expanded compared to the novels. Whereas the books cover at most three years by the end of the [[Literature/ADanceWithDragons fifth book]], each 10-episode season is framed as a year.

The series contains large amounts of pragmatic adaptation due to the transition from a series of {{doorstopper}} novels with a rotating third-person limited POV structure complete with inner monologue to a televised ensemble piece with only 10 episodes per season: