History AdaptationInducedPlotHole / GameOfThrones

* In "The Mountain and the Viper" Sandor and Arya arrive to the Bloody Gates of the Vale, only to learn that her aunt Lysa Arryn (to whom Sandor was planning to ransom her) has recently passed away. Arya breaks into a fit of hysterical laughter over the tragic absurdity of the situation, and then they both just turn around and leave. Except that Lysa's death, while tragic, shouldn't have mattered much to them, since it means Arya's cousin and Lysa's son, Robyn Arryn (who is TheCaligula, but loves his family), would be in charge. So Sandor and Arya could still seek shelter with the Vale, and the guards would've certainly escorted them to him after learning who Sandor's companion was. Sure, Robyn had appointed [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Littlefinger]] as his regent, which would've complicated matters, but Arya didn't know that. In the book Sandor and Arya never went to the Vale, because the road leading there became far too dangerous due to the increased activity of raiding mountain clans, whose presence the show quietly but completely forgets about.

* In "The Mountain and the Viper" Sandor and Arya arrive to the Bloody Gates of the Vale, only to learn that her aunt Lysa Arryn (to whom Sandar was planning to ransom her) has recently passed away. Arya breaks into a fit of hysterical laughter over the tragic absurdity of the situation, and then they both just turn around and leave. Except that Lysa's death, while tragic, shouldn't have mattered much to them, since it means Arya's cousin and Lysa's son, Robyn Arryn (who is TheCaligula, but loves his family), would be in charge. So Sandor and Arya could still seek shelter with the Vale, and the guards would've certainly escorted them to him after learning who Sandor's companion was. Sure, Robyn had appointed [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Littlefinger]] as his regent, which would've complicated matters, but Arya didn't know that. In the book Sandor and Arya never went to the Vale, because the road leading there became far too dangerous due to the increased activity of raiding mountain clans, whose presence the show quietly but completely forgets about.

* In "The Mountain and the Viper" Sandor and Arya arrive to the Bloody Gates of the Vale, only to learn that Lysa Arryn has recently passed away. Arya breaks into a fit of hysterical laughter over the tragical absurdity of the situation, and then they both just turn around and leave. Except that Lysa's death, while tragic, shouldn't have mattered much to them, since it means Arya's cousin and Lysa's son, Robyn Arryn (who is TheCaligula, but loves his family), would be in charge. So Sandor and Arya could still seek shelter with the Vale, and the guards would've certainly escorted them to him after learning who Sandor's companion was. Sure, Robyn had appointed [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Littlefinger]] as his regent, which would've complicated matters, but Arya didn't know that. In the book Sandor and Arya never went to the Vale, because the road leading there became far too dangerous due to the increased activity of raiding mountain clans, whose presence the show quietly but completely forgets about.

*** To make matters worse, Jaime focuses solely on the value of Casterly Rock, but since the whole Lannister army had marched on the Reach, he, essentially, surrendered ''the entire Westerlands'' to the enemy, cutting off his supply lines and mobilization reserve, not to mention the huge morale blow he dealt to his soldiers by making them abandon their homeland indefinitely. It's a miracle he didn't face mass desertion, if not an outright mutiny. He also claims that because they've emptied Rock's larders, the Unsullied wouldn't be able to hold the castle for long, as if there were no settlements around it to pillage, starting with the ''the huge trade city of Lannisport'' that the Rock sits over. Of course, on any of the shots of Casterly Rock, Lannisport is nowhere to be seen, and apparently the castle is simply sitting in the middle of nowhere. And even besides that, Dany's army now has a small continent worth of land with no doubt countless farms (yes, the Westerlands aren't primary food producers like The Reach, but are also far from barren) that they can use to feed soldiers at the castle.

* While Sam's position at the end of the books is still unknown, the show ends with him serving in King's Landing as Grand Maester of the Seven Kingdoms. This ignores the fact that Sam swore his life to the Night's Watch, and was sent to the Citadel specifically to become a maester in service to the Watch, succeeding the deceased Maester Aemon. Taking the position of Grand Maester requires him to abandon his lifetime obligation to the Watch, something that is taken ''very'' seriously in Westeros; even just going by the show, the only other character to get out of his service to the Watch is Jon, who has to invoke some serious LoopholeAbuse (he leaves after [[BackFromTheDead dying and being magically resurrected]], meaning that he technically ''did'' [[ExactWords serve the Watch until his death]]). But in the show, no comment is made, presumably because Sam was the only important character with any sort of maester training (even though it was never finished) to fill the Grand Maester role because TheMainCharactersDoEverything. Also, it looks like Bran and/or Tyrion chose Sam because they knew him; in the books, the Grand Maester is appointed by the council of archmaesters of the Citadel, who are unlikely to send a runaway novice as their representative.

* In both book and show Davos Seaworth takes Melisandre to a cave under the castle of Storm's End, where she gives birth to a shadowy assassin which then goes through the portcullis and after its mark. Problem is, in that book that target was the castellan of the castle, and the reason why Mel had to be smuggled in was that (according to her) the walls of Storm's End were magically warded, and the assassin couldn't have passed them from the outside - a problem she hadn't had when she'd previously used a similar assassin to kill Renly Baratheon in his camp. The show cut out the castellan and merged the two assassinations together, meaning that Mel undertook the dangerous trip to the cave, created the assassin there ''and then sent it back outside'', for no internal reason whatsoever.

* The whole business of Myrcella's marriage pact is treated by Cersei as something she vehemently abhors but is powerless to prevent, and she only impotently rages at Tyrion. This makes no sense given that Cersei is ''the Queen Regent'', the de-jure leader of the state, and she most definitely has the final say in the matter of her daughter's fate. Book Tyrion understands that and makes sure to get her consent and convince her that this is the right decision.

* In both book and show Davos Seaworth takes Mellisandre to a cave under the castle of Storm's End, where she gives birth to a shadowy assassin which then goes through the portcullis and after its mark. Problem is, in that book that target was the castellan of the castle, and the reason why Mell had to be smuggled in was that (according to her) the walls of Storm's End were magically warded, and the assassin couldn't have passed them from the outside - a problem she hadn't had when she'd previously used a similar assassin to kill Renly Baratheon in his camp. The show cut out the castellan and merged the two assassinations together, meaning that Mell undertook the dangerous trip to the cave, created the assassin there ''and then sent it back outside'', for no internal reason whatsoever.

*** To make matters worse, Jaime focuses solely on the value of Casterly Rock, but since the whole Lannister army had marched on the Reach, he, essentially, surrendered ''the entire Westerlands'' to the enemy, cutting off his supply lines and mobilization reserve, not to mention the huge morale blow he dealt to his soldiers. It's a miracle he didn't face mass desertion, if not an outright mutiny. He also claims that because they've emptied Rock's larders, the Unsullied wouldn't be able to hold the castle for long, as if there were no settlements around it to pillage, starting with the ''the huge trade city of Lannisport'' that the Rock sits over.

*** Jaime also claims that because they've emptied Rock's larders, the Unsullied will not be able to hold the castle for long, forgetting that the Rock lords over ''the huge trade city of Lannisport'', unless the retreating Lannister soldiers had sacked and put it to the torch. Of course, on any of the shots of Casterly Rock, Lannisport is nowhere to be seen, and apparently the castle is simply sitting in the middle of nowhere.

** The scene also makes Jaime's reputation as the [[WorldsBestWarrior greatest swordsman in Westeros]] a serious case of InformedAbility, since Ned duels him blow for blow and [[WordOfStPaul according to the screenwriter,]] Ned would have won if the duel continued, yet no one seems surprised by this. Making this even less explicable is a scene in season 6 where Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven observe the man who trained Jamie, Ser Arthur Dayne, fight Ned at the tail-end of Robert’s Rebellion, and both Bran and the Raven remark that Ser Arthur is “far better” a fighter than a young, in-his-prime Ned Stark. In the books, in addition to there being no duel between Jaime and Ned, Ned is explicitly a strategist with little physical prowess.

** The scene also makes Jamie's reputation as the [[WorldsBestWarrior greatest swordsman in Westeros]] a serious case of InformedAbility, since Ned duels him blow for blow and [[WordOfStPaul according to the screenwriter,]] Ned would have won if the duel continued, yet no one seems surprised by this. Making this even less explicable is a scene in season 6 where Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven observe the man who trained Jamie, Ser Arthur Dayne, fight Ned at the tail-end of Robert’s Rebellion, and both Bran and the Raven remark that Ser Arthur is “far better” a fighter than a young, in-his-prime Ned Stark. In the books, in addition to there being no duel between Jamie and Ned, Ned is explicitly a strategist with little physical prowess.

** The scene also makes Jamie's reputation as the [[WorldsBestWarrior greatest swordsman in Westeros]] a serious case of InformedAbility, since Ned duels him blow for blow and [[WordOfStPaul according to the screenwriter,]] Ned would have won if the duel continued, yet no one seems surprised by this. Making this even less explicable is a scene in season 6 where Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven observe the man who trained Jamie, Sir Arthur Dayne, fight Ned at the tail-end of Robert’s Rebellion, and both Bran and the Raven remark that Ser Arthur is “far better” a fighter than a young, in-his-prime Ned Stark. In the books, in addition to there being no duel between Jamie and Ned, Ned is explicitly a strategist with little physical prowess.

* In "Breaker Of Chains" when Daenerys chooses a champion to fight against the Meerenese champion, she muses that it has to be somebody capable but, preferably, expendable, since the fight is largerly symbolic. For this reason she dismisses Jorah and Barristan (as her chief bodyguards and advisors) and Grey Worm (as the commander of her Unsullied), and settles on Daario Naharis. Except that Daario was by no mean expendable - he commanded the mercenary company that accounted for 20% of her forces and only followed her because he did. In the book she chose her bodyguard Strong Belwas, who '''was''' expendable, as he had only recently joined her, commanded no forces and hadn't yet proven himself to be particularly useful.

* In "The Mountain and the Viper" Sandor and Arya arrive to the Bloody Gates of the Vale, only to learn that Lysa Arryn has recently passed away. Arya breaks into a fit of hysterical laughter over the tragical absurdity of the situation, and then they both just turn around and leave. Except that Lysa's death shouldn't have mattered at all, since her son and heir, Robyn Arryn, was alive and... well he was alive, so Sandor and Arya would've certainly been escorted to him, or rather to his regent. Sure, that regent being Littlefinger would've complicated matters, but the important part is that there's no way the guards would've simply let them go like this, especially not after Sandor has announced who his companion was. In the book Sandor and Arya never went to the Vale, because the road leading there became far too dangerous due to the increased activity of raiding mountain clans, whose presence the show quietly forgets about completely.

** Leading from this is a scene in season 6 where Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven observe Ned’s duel with [[WorldsBestWarrior Ser Arthur Dayne, Sword of the Morning]] back at the tail-end of Robert’s Rebellion. Both Bran and the Raven remark that Ser Arthur is “far better” a fighter than a young, in-his-prime Ned Stark, and this made sense in the books, where Ned was explicitly a strategist with little physical prowess compared to his late older brother, Brandon. In the show, however, Ned is an AdaptationalBadass described as a “superior physical specimen to [Brandon]” by Littlefinger, who had previously fought the late Stark brother, and duels [[MasterSwordsman Jaime]] in the above scene blow-for-blow. According to the [[WordOfStPaul screenwriter]] for the fight between Jaime and Ned, Ned would have won if not for his injury, indicating that he was a superior fighter to Jaime, who was Ser Arthur’s squire and considered the best swordsman of his time.

* In the books Catelyn Stark helps Jaime Lannister escape from the dungeons of Riverrun - her home castle, where she knows the layout well and has some authority as the daughter of the local Lord - while the garrison is away at war. In the series Jaime is being held in a stockade in the middle of a busy war camp, and yet Cat somehow leads him out off-screen.

** The CanonForeigner child also [[WritersCannotDoMath doesn't even fit into the show's own timeline]]. Robert and Cersei's marriage is solidly dated to 17 years before Season 1 when Joffrey is 16.[[note]]Tyrion calls him 17 several episodes after his Season 2 name-day.[[/note]] Even a child [[WeddingEnhancedFertility conceived on their wedding day]] could only match these criteria for a three-month period, and a second-born Joffrey could only be born 18+ months into the marriage and thus couldn't turn 16 until at least six months after Robert and Cersei's ''19th'' anniversary. The only way the black-haired baby could exist is in a case of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superfecundation heteropaternal superfecundation]], being Joffrey's fraternal ''twin,'' but with different fathers.

* In the start of season 7, the only reason given for why Daenerys doesn't sail right to King's Landing and take it with the help of her dragons is that "tens of thousands will die in firestorms", and later Jon echoes this statement by saying it wouldn't be nice if Dany goes around "burning cities and melting castles". Although still weirdly ultra-humanitarian for the brutal medieval-esque setting, this concern would've been at least somewhat valid ''in the books'', where Dany's inability to control or train her dragons was a major hurdle for her. Even by the end of "Dance" she only barely starts to assert dominance over Drogon, to say nothing of the other two, so using them in warfare would probably indeed look like "point them in the general direction of the enemy, say "dracarys" and hope that enough infrastructure will be left standing to rule over after they're done". But in the show it was clearly demonstrated that she controls her dragons perfectly, on a level more befitting RC drones than war animals, making all this angst about collateral damage downright meaningless. To add insult to injury, when she does storm King's Landing in season 8, she swiftly demolishes city walls, gates and defences with surgical precision and zero civilian casualties. Granted, she still burns the city down afterwards, but there were ''a lot'' of exacebrating circumstances which were nowhere near in sight at the start of her campaign.

** Jaime also claims that because they've emptied Rock's larders, the Unsullied will not be able to hold the castle for long, forgetting that the Rock lords over ''the huge trade city of Lannisport'', unless the retreating Lannister soldiers had sacked and put it to the torch. Of course, on any of the shots of Casterly Rock, Lannisport is nowhere to be seen, and apparently the castle is simply sitting in the middle of nowhere.