History AdaptationInducedPlotHole / GameOfThrones

* After leaving the major instigating question of who sent the catspaw to kill Bran unresolved since the series' second episode, the Season 7 finale reveals that it was [[spoiler: Littlefinger]], a case of NotHisSled that still leaves an example of this trope since in the book the culprit had an unrelated motive ([[spoiler: Joffrey was trying to MercyKill Bran in an honest attempt to save him from what he saw as a FateWorseThanDeath]]) and merely had to hire a thug on-site instead of somehow learning of Bran's fall, knowing evidence would implicate the Lannisters, and sending/coordinating a thug all from halfway across the continent. Granted, the timeline isn't impossible, but it is unlikely.

* After leaving the major instigating question of who sent the catspaw to kill Bran unresolved since the series' second episode, the Season 7 finale reveals that it was [[spoiler: Littlefinger]], a case of NotHisSled that still leaves an example of this trope since in the book the culprit had an unrelated motive ([[spoiler: Joffrey was trying to MercyKill Bran in an honest attempt to save him from what he saw as a FateWorseThanDeath]])and merely had to hire a thug on-site instead of somehow learning of Bran's fall, knowing evidence would implicate the Lannisters, and sending/coordinating a thug all from halfway across the continent. Granted, the timeline isn't impossible, but it is unlikely.

* Season 4 attempts a bit of AdaptationDistillation by combining Brienne's subplot from ''Literature/AFeastForCrows'' with Arya's subplot from ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'', which creates some problems with Brienne's character motivations. In the books, Brienne's search for Sansa and Arya ends with her being captured by the Brotherhood Without Banners before she manages to find either of them, while Arya ultimately leaves the Hound after he's incapacitated by a wound from a fight. In the show, Brienne ultimately finds Arya and the Hound, but Arya runs away after she tries to ''order'' her to come with her. Unfortunately, this scene raises some awkward questions about [[AndThenWhat where Brienne actually planned to take Arya after finding her]]: she can't take her back to her family, since [[spoiler: almost all of them are dead by that point]], and she has no real justification for demanding that Arya come with her, since she can see that she isn't in immediate danger. The show seems to imply that she plans to take Arya to King's Landing for her safety--which runs pretty counter to [[UndyingLoyalty Brienne's characterization]], since it's the last thing that Catelyn would have wanted for her daughter.

* After leaving the major instigating question of who sent the catspaw to kill Bran unresolved since the series' second episode, the Season 7 finale reveals that it was [[spoiler: Littlefinger]], a case of NotHisSled that still leaves an example of this trope since in the book the culprit had an unrelated motive ([[spoiler: Joffrey was trying to MercyKill Bran in an honest attempt to save him from what he saw as a FateWorseThanDeath]])and merely had to hire a thug on-site instead of somehow learning of Bran's fall, knowing evidence would implicate the Lannisters, and sending/coordinating a thug all from halfway across the continent.

* The Tyrells and Martells both apparently suffer an extreme SingleLineOfDescent in the show, as not only have their respective heirs, Willas and Arianne, been AdaptedOut, but after [[spoiler: their members are massacred in Season 6]] the rule of Highgarden and Sunspear devolves unopposed to Olenna (a Tyrell only by marriage) and Ellaria (the bastard-born paramour of a younger son) instead of any cousins. In the novels, there are multiple cousins and collateral relations of both Houses and a number of [[TheStarscream ambitious vassals]] who would [[AHouseDivided rush to fill the power vacuum]], most notably the Florents and Hightowers in the Reach and the Yronwoods and Daynes in Dorne.

* After leaving the major instigating question of who sent the catspaw to kill Bran unresolved since the series' second episode, the Season 7 finale reveals that it was [[spoiler: Littlefinger]], a case of NotHisSled that still leaves an example of this trope since in the book the culprit had an unrelated motive and merely had to hire a thug on-site instead of somehow learning of Bran's fall, knowing evidence would implicate the Lannisters, and sending/coordinating a thug all from halfway across the continent.

* In the books, Mirri Maz Duur adds "when your womb quickens again and you bear a living child" to her statement that Drogo will only return "when the sun rises in the west and sets in the east", implying that Dany is now infertile. The show omits this line but runs with the idea that Dany believes herself barren when she calls her dragons "the only children I will ever have" in Season 2 and informs Khal Moro that "I will bear no children for you, or anyone else, until the sun rises in the west and sets in the east," in "The Red Woman".

** After leaving the major instigating question of who sent the catspaw to kill Bran unresolved since the series' second episode, the Season 7 finale reveals that it was [[spoiler: Littlefinger]], a case of NotHisSled that still leaves an example of this trope since in the book the culprit had an unrelated motive and merely had to hire a thug on-site instead of somehow learning of Bran's fall, knowing evidence would implicate the Lannisters, and sending/coordinating a thug all from halfway across the continent.

* The show doesn't resolve who actually sent the catspaw to kill Bran in the series' second episode "The Kingsroad", leaving a major instigating event in the series unresolved whereas the books resolve it around the time of the royal wedding, which was adapted early in Season 4.
** The Season 7 finale reveals it was [[spoiler: Littlefinger]]. Which is another example of this trope, since in the book version the person responsible just had to hire a thug on-site instead of sending one half way across the continent.

* In the Season 7 premiere, Dany takes over an utterly abandoned Dragonstone with no resistance, implying not only that Stannis left no garrison but that in the two seasons since his departure the Lannisters didn't bother to occupy this massive and strategic fortress that dominates the entrance to Blackwater Bay (and therefore the sea routes to King's Landing). In the books, Stannis of course left a small garrison which, due to the castles' immense strength, tied down significant Lannister forces to blockade and besiege, culminating in a bloody assault to storm the walls.

* The books eventually reveal Varys' actual plan is to support [[spoiler: a boy he claims is Rhaegar's son and has raised to be the perfect king]], but with this character eventually AdaptedOut Varys is {{retconned}} into backing Dany from the start, even though she didn't show the mass humanitarianism he so prizes until Season 3 or even any leadership skill until the middle of Season 1, during which time Varys and Illyrio clearly supported ''[[TheCaligula Viserys]]'' (who never showed either) to the extent that Dany was just a pawn they bartered to buy him an army.

* When Davos rows Melisandre ashore in "Garden of Bones", the two of them cross the open beach to a cave containing a locked gate and act as if it's blocking the only passage to Renly's camp, even though a camp the size of Renly's must have other approaches. In the novels this scene takes place in the bowels of Storm's End after Davos pilots Melisandre beneath the walls to bypass the ancient enchantments blocking the passage of her shadow assassin.

* In the Season 7 premiere, Dany took over Dragonstone which happens to be abandoned and didn't encountered any resistance when she landed on shores of the island. In the books, Stannis left a small garrison after he headed to the North and Lord Paxter Redwyne laid a siege on the castle. However when the Ironborn began raiding on the Reach, Cersei allowed Loras to aid Redwyne so they finish the siege in no time and head to the Reach to stop the Ironborn. The castle was successfully besieged and the Redwyne fleet could now face the Ironborn but Loras stayed in Dragonstone, recovering from his grievous injuries.

** A similar event occurs in "Valar Morghulis" when a White Walker looks directly at Sam but leaves him alive for no apparent reason. In the equivalent chapter of ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'', Sam spends the majority of the battle in his tent composing an ApocalypticLog and escapes with the rest.

* In the books, the re-enactment of the War of the Five Kings at the Royal Wedding is far less vulgar and mocking of the four kings other than Joffrey than the show's version. In particular, the portrayal of Renly is far more respectful out of deference to his widow Margaery and the Tyrells. By contrast, the show re-enactment's crudely homophobic portrayal of Renly just visibly offends the bride's family for no good reason.

* A similar event occurs in "Valar Morghulis" when a White Walker looks directly at Sam but leaves him alive for no apparent reason. In the equivalent chapter of ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'', Sam spends the majority of the battle in his tent composing an ApocalypticLog and escapes with the rest.

* In Seasons 4 and 5, the Bolton's position is constantly described as precarious since the North will [[JumpedAtTheCall jump at the call]] to restore the Starks, which is explicitly why Locke stalks Jon and why Ramsay marries Sansa. Yet in Season 6, the Boltons suddenly only need the Umbers, Karstarks, and Manderlys to ensure "none could challenge us" and gain two of them (with the third staying neutral) solely by being ''anti''-Stark while Jon and Sansa are refused by nearly everyone except Lyanna Mormont (who's actually won over mostly by Davos explaining the coming ZombieApocalypse) even though Rickon, a trueborn Stark son, is in dire need of a RoaringRampageOfRescue, a fact that's dismissed by Lady Mormont and not even mentioned to Lord Glover. Contrast all this with the books where many northern nobles make impassioned speeches and work against the Boltons in a myriad of ways, including secretly looking to Rickon as the RightfulKingReturns.
* The Tyrells and Martells both apparently suffer an extreme SingleLineOfDescent in the show, as not only have their respective heirs, Willas and Arianne, been AdaptedOut, but after [[spoiler: most of their members are massacred in Season 6]] the rule of Highgarden and Sunspear devolves unopposed to Olenna (a Tyrell only by marriage) and Ellaria (the bastard-born paramour of a younger son) instead of any cousins. In the novels, there are multiple cousins and collateral relations of both Houses.

* Robert and Cersei's black-haired CanonForeigner child provides drama in the first season, but isn't fitted into other elements of the story. Cersei herself refers to the canon foreigner as "my first boy" in Season 1 but to Joffrey as her "firstborn" in Season 4, and when we hear the prophecy she received in her youth in "The Wars to Come", the writers trip in their math by leaving Cersei's offspring at three and the prophecy's tone suggesting she and Robert wouldn't have any children together.

* A major plot point in ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'' involves Mance Rayder searching for "The Horn of Winter", a legendary magical artifact that's supposedly capable of [[BrownNote bringing down entire castles with blasts of sound]]. At the climax of the book, he tries to convince Jon to let his people through the Wall by threatening to use the Horn to bring down the Wall if he doesn't cooperate--essentially giving him the ultimatum "If ''we'' can't take shelter behind the Wall, no one can." In the show, the Horn of Winter is AdaptedOut, and Mance simply intimidates the Night's Watch into letting them through the Wall by threatening to slaughter everyone in Castle Black if they don't. Of course, this raises questions about why he's so certain that the Wildlings could actually make it to Castle Black: as outnumbered as the Night's Watch are, they already beat back the Wildlings once, they're fully capable of collapsing their tunnels through the Wall, and climbing the Wall is an extremely arduous process that many Wildlings don't survive.

The show has a lot of [[AdaptationInducedPlotHole plot holes not in the source material]]:

** The sole survivor of the prologue to the first book, ''Literature/AGameOfThrones'', is Gared, who stays with the horses and flees when the Others attack. In the series, we see the survivor, Will, come face-to-face with the White Walkers, but how or why he survived is never explained.
** A similar event occurs in "Valar Morghulis" when a White Walker looks directly at Sam but leaves him alive for no apparent reason. In the equivalent chapter of ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'', Sam spends the majority of the battle in his tent composing an ApocalypticLog and escapes with the rest.
** "Winter is Coming" has a small one that only becomes clear when it's revealed Lysa's letter was actually a ploy. In the books, Catelyn's reaction is to urge Ned to go, which plays perfectly into the schemer's expectation of the only person they know at Winterfell. In the show, she staunchly opposes it, meaning the schemer was just shooting in the dark.
** The show doesn't resolve who actually sent the catspaw to kill Bran in the series' second episode "The Kingsroad", leaving a major instigating event in the series unresolved whereas the books resolve it around the time of the royal wedding, which was adapted early in Season 4.
** Despite nearly dying as a result, Tyrion seemingly forgets he was framed for trying to kill Bran since he never once probes into who framed him or why, even as he systematically removes his other opponents like Janos Slynt and Pycelle. In the books, Tyrion easily tracks the lie back but defers retaliation because Littlefinger is too useful and controls too many essential city officials, something that isn't true in the show where Littlefinger's power explicitly amounts to owning a brothel and borrowing from the Iron Bank.
** In the books, Mirri Maz Duur adds "when your womb quickens again and you bear a living child" to her statement that Drogo will only return "when the sun rises in the west and sets in the east", implying that Dany is now infertile. The show omits this line but runs with the idea that Dany believes herself barren when she calls her dragons "the only children I will ever have" in Season 2 and informs Khal Moro that "I will bear no children for you, or anyone else, until the sun rises in the west and sets in the east," in "The Red Woman".
** During their parley, Stannis declares his conflict with Renly will be settled at dawn, yet his fleet is still far out to sea the next day, meaning Stannis sailed in for the parley and back out without bringing his forces in close enough for battle the next morning as he implied or even to catch anyone who might flee after [[spoiler: Renly's murder]], which he was clearly planning. In the books, the parley takes place between the two armies and Stannis only fails to capture those who flee because he lacks the cavalry to catch them.
** When Davos rows Melisandre ashore in "Garden of Bones", the two of them cross the open beach to a cave containing a locked gate and act as if it's blocking the only passage to Renly's camp, even though a camp the size of Renly's must have other approaches. In the novels this scene takes place in the bowels of Storm's End after Davos pilots Melisandre beneath the walls to bypass the ancient enchantments blocking the passage of her shadow assassin.
** Matthos (who is easily in his twenties) argues the Lord of Light's power by bringing up his answered childhood prayers for his father's safety, yet Melisandre and her red god are obviously a new influence at Stannis' court in "The North Remembers" judging by Maester Cressen's protests against her. In the books, Davos' twelve-year-old son Devan is a new convert to the Lord of Light, but his older boys still hold to the Seven.
** In the books, Summer and Shaggydog cannot protect Bran and Rickon when [[spoiler: Theon]] storms Winterfell because they've been locked in the godswood ever since Shaggy bit Little Walder for roughhousing with Rickon. In the series, they're absent without explanation.
** Rodrik Cassel takes two hundred men to follow Theon's bait to Torrhen Square but is then captured alone without explanation and his two hundred men (who outnumber Theon's 10:1) are never mentioned again, so other forces must be summoned to deal with Theon. In the books, rather than be captured, Rodrik defeats Theon's diversion and returns with even more men to besiege Theon in Winterfell until Ramsay arrives.
** In the books, Theon wakes to find Osha has killed some guards and escaped with Bran and Rickon. This happens in the show too, but the night before Osha also presents herself sexually to Theon, a {{Fanservice}} add-on that actually only complicates the plan by forcing her to first sneak out of Theon's bed without waking him or alerting his bodyguards. Worse, it's ultimately used against her in "Oathbreaker", [[spoiler: resulting in her death]].
** Tyrion's clansmen are unseen during the Battle of Blackwater without explanation. In the books, they've been sent out to harry Stannis' advance through the Kingswood and are later credited with killing enough scouts to allow TheCavalry to surprise Stannis. This would be merely AdaptationExplanationExtrication, except that in the show Stannis' army arrives entirely by sea, removing any opportunity to harry him.
** During the show's Qarth arc, Daenerys goes from obviously on the run from the city's most powerful man to [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs waltzing armed men into his bedchamber]] after barely killing the other half of the BigBadDuumvirate. Then she simply leaves, having annihilated the city's leadership. In the books, she's run out of the city by the warlocks after Xaro withdraws his patronage.
** After his break with them, Robb declares that the Karstark forces have marched "''home''", totally disregarding that the Greyjoys hold the border fortress of Moat Cailin, making it totally impossible for ''any'' northerners to march home. Retaking the Moat even becomes the main Bolton plotline in Season 4. In the novels, the Karstarks set off south and east to pillage the Riverlands in search of the Kingslayer instead. This crops up again in Season 5 when Brienne and Pod treat circumventing the castle as a minor inconvenience that's solved off-screen.
** Robb decides to besiege Casterly Rock to raise morale and make the Lannisters engage him as if it's a brilliant new idea in Season 3, but judging from Robb going to the Crag and Jaime's guise as a thief from Ashemark, that's exactly where he ''was'' campaigning in Season 2. Assuming Oxcross is in the same place, Robb could probably have ''seen'' the Rock from the battlefield. In the books, this was Robb's initial plan but it was foiled by Balon's refusal to blockade the Rock by sea and Edmure's unexpected victory over Tywin at the Battle of the Fords, so his new plan is to restore his prestige by retaking the North.
** Describing Qhorin as "my brother once" and Castle Black as "my home for many years" establishes Mance Rayder as a Night's Watch deserter, so he and his captains should have a healthy knowledge of the Watch's long decline, yet Jon successfully bluffs that there are more men at Castle Black than in the ''entire'' Watch and insists on dealing with Karl's mutineers because, "Mance has all he needs to crush us, he just doesn't know it yet." In the books, Jon knows "too blatant a lie would betray him" even to experienced raiders and Mance is considered dangerous ''specifically'' because of his inside knowledge.
** Arya says Rorge can't be on her kill list because she doesn't know his name, never mind that her list has already memorably included "the Tickler", "the Mountain", "the Hound", and "the Red Woman". In the books proper names are never particularly important to her and she never targets Rorge even though she knows his name.
** In the books, Littlefinger uses Lysa's despised singer Marillion as his patsy for [[spoiler: Lysa's murder]]. Unfortunately, the show already amputated Marillion's tongue in place of a random singer in "Fire and Blood" and neglected to furnish a replacement, making Littlefinger's plan quite uncharacteristically amateurish in order for Sansa to step up to save him.
** In the books, Jaime makes a very important confession while freeing Tyrion from the black cells that puts Tyrion in a ''very'' dark state-of-mind, leading him to [[RevengeBeforeReason risk seeking out]] [[spoiler: Tywin]] with murder and a DrivingQuestion on his mind and [[spoiler: Shae]] is just collateral damage. Without Jaime's confession, in the show [[spoiler: Shae]] becomes Tyrion's motive, but only after he's already in the room where he expected to find Tywin.
** Robert and Cersei's black-haired CanonForeigner child provides drama in the first season, but isn't fitted into other elements of the story. Cersei herself refers to the canon foreigner as "my first boy" in Season 1 but to Joffrey as her "firstborn" in Season 4, and when we hear the prophecy she received in her youth in "The Wars to Come", the writers trip in their math by leaving Cersei's offspring at three and the prophecy's tone suggesting she and Robert wouldn't have any children together.
** In "Mother's Mercy", Jon is branded a traitor by Thorne and others for letting wildlings through the Wall, even though Thorne himself opened the gate for them in the previous episode and removing Jon now only ''worsens'' the odds of controlling them. Thorne's MotiveRant in ''The Red Woman" also makes no mention of fears of Bolton reprisals for Jon supporting Stannis, disproving a common fan explanation. In the books, Jon himself orders the gate opened after imposing strict conditions on the wildlings and, despite repeated arguments with dissident officers, the Watch still defers to his authority until he arguably breaks neutrality by convincing the wildlings to aid him in confronting Ramsay after receiving his threatening letter.
** Sansa and Theon leap from Winterfell's high walls as their {{Cliffhanger}} in "Mother's Mercy", but--like Will and Sam's confrontations with the White Walkers--the next we see they're already on the run a good distance away with no explanation for their survival beyond a light skiff of snow on the ground. In the books, the snow is half the height of the walls and even then some bones are broken.
*** Similarly, in the novels their escape is masked by a snowstorm and they only need to make it a few hundred yards to the safety of Stannis' siege lines (it's actually Mors Umber, but nevermind), while in the show there's no storm and Ramsay has just slaughtered Stannis' army, leaving no force large enough to protect them... and Ramsay ''loves'' [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunting]] but for some reason sends just six men on this very important mission.
** In prior seasons, Theon's claim to be "heir to Pyke and the Iron Islands" is only ever challenged by the implication his father might overrule HeirClubForMen in favour of Yara, and Balon even threatens to disinherit Yara just before his death, yet when Yara tries to assert her rights, suddenly "the law is clear" the next ruler must be elected by the [[DiabolusExMachina previously unmentioned]] kingsmoot. In the books, rather than suddenly always being the law of the land, the kingsmoot is a long-derelict tradition dredged up in an attempt to oust Euron after he's already [[TheUsurper seized the throne]].
** In the books, [[spoiler: Balon]] is the victim of a [[MurderInc Faceless Man]], whom Arya's plotline proves have [[VoluntaryShapeshifter supernatural means]] of infiltration and escape. In the show, Euron does it himself with no explanation of how he got on or off that bridge in the very heart of his victim's stronghold.
** In Seasons 4 and 5, the Bolton's position is constantly described as precarious since the North will [[JumpedAtTheCall jump at the call]] to restore the Starks, which is explicitly why Locke stalks Jon and why Ramsay marries Sansa. Yet in Season 6, the Boltons suddenly only need the Umbers, Karstarks, and Manderlys to ensure "none could challenge us" and gain two of them (with the third staying neutral) solely by being ''anti''-Stark while Jon and Sansa are refused by nearly everyone except Lyanna Mormont (who's actually won over mostly by Davos explaining the coming ZombieApocalypse) even though Rickon, a trueborn Stark son, is in dire need of a RoaringRampageOfRescue, a fact that's dismissed by Lady Mormont and not even mentioned to Lord Glover. Contrast all this with the books where many northern nobles make impassioned speeches and work against the Boltons in a myriad of ways, including secretly looking to Rickon as the RightfulKingReturns.
** The Tyrells and Martells both apparently suffer an extreme SingleLineOfDescent in the show, as not only have their respective heirs, Willas and Arianne, been AdaptedOut, but after [[spoiler: most of their members are massacred in Season 6]] the rule of Highgarden and Sunspear devolves unopposed to Olenna (a Tyrell only by marriage) and Ellaria (the bastard-born paramour of a younger son) instead of any cousins. In the novels, there are multiple cousins and collateral relations of both Houses.
** Trystane Martell is described as Prince Doran's "youngest son" when Tyrion arranges his betrothal to Myrcella in "What Is Dead May Never Die", but Doran's other children are never mentioned again and Trystane is his only heir in Season 5. In the novels, Trystane is the third child behind his sister Arianne and his brother Quentyn.
** The books eventually reveal Varys' actual plan is to support [[spoiler: a boy he claims is Rhaegar's son and has raised to be the perfect king]], but with this character eventually AdaptedOut Varys is {{retconned}} into backing Dany from the start, even though she didn't show the mass humanitarianism he so prizes until Season 3 or even any leadership skill until the middle of Season 1, during which time Varys and Illyrio clearly supported ''[[TheCaligula Viserys]]'' (who never showed either) to the extent that Dany was just a pawn they bartered to buy him an army.