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canyonwalkerIn the season 4 finale of Game of Thrones Tyrion Lannister makes difficult, emotionally fraught decisions about what to do to people who've wronged him. The episode was a very satisfying season ender. Only one little thing bothered me: how did Tyrion get from location A to B to C so quickly during the suspenseful part of the show? I looked up the episode notes in an online GoT FAQ to see what detail(s) I might have missed. There in the notes I found more than I expected. Way more. In a section on differences between the books and the TV series I found there was a major omission about his motivation and state of mind for what he did.
Look, I understand TV shows have to cut out things that are in the books. Hundreds of pages of exposition about travels or battles? Has to be cut down to the few most meaningful scenes. A huge cast of minor characters? Condensed to a more manageable number. Subplots that don't advance the main narrative or crucially develop the main characters? Gone.
I wrote about these kinds of variances in my episode by episode blogs on Season 1 of the Wheel of Time streaming adaptation. There I'd read the books and could spot lots of differences. Most of the changes I felt were fine. They were disorienting at first, but soon enough they made sense per the needs outlined above. There were a few changes, though, that were so big, so fundamental to the setting or the narrative or main character development, that I called foul. And this change from the books in the Game of Thrones season 4 finale is one I think might too big.
S4E10 spoilers after the cut.
Tyrion kills his father, Tywin. He shoots him taking a shit. In the TV series continuity he has ample reason to want to kill his father. Tywin has hurt him so many times, insulted him, and professed a desire to see him dead. He's literally told Tyrion the only thing stopping him from outright murdering him is that it'd be a crime and he'd be punished. And just now, in late season 4, he's found a way to legally murder Tyrion by unjustly convicting him of a crime (the murder of King Joffrey) he knows he didn't commit. When Jaime gives Tyrion an opportunity to escape hours before being beheaded, Tyrion seeks out his father in his bed chambers and kills him before fleeing the city.
Like I said, that's ample reason for what Tyrion did. But in the books there's even more. In the books Tyrion learns from Jaime that one of the most painful episodes from his past was his father's doing.
It's mentioned a few seasons earlier in the TV continuity that when Tyrion was younger, he and his older brother came upon a young woman being attacked by 3 thugs. Jaime chased the thugs while Tyrion saw to the woman, Tysha. She fell in love with him, and Tyrion with her. She was a commoner and he a noble, so he bribed a drunk clergyman to marry them in secret. When his father found out he was furious, and it was revealed that the whole thing was a joke that went too far. Jaime had staged the whole thing. Tysha was a prostitute, paid to have sex with Tyrion, and the phony attackers weren't hurting her. Jaime's idea was that he was helping ugly and awkward Tyrion lose his virginity. The joke went too far, though, when Tyrion proposed marriage. When Tywin found out, the marriage was annulled and Tysha was punished viciously for being a prostitute trying to shake down a noble family.
In the TV continuity it's left at that: the whole thing was prank masterminded by Jaime. Tysha had never loved Tyrion; Jaime paid her to give him a pity fuck. And the things spiraled out of control.
As screwed up as that seems, the reveal in the books makes it even worse. In the dungeon while Tyrion is awaiting the headsman's axe, Jaime comes clean that the scene with Tysha and the attackers was not a setup. It was real. Jaime didn't stop the "prank" when Tysha fell in love with Tyrion because it wasn't a prank. It was real. The story that Tysha was a prostitute hired by Jaime was made up after the fact, by Tywin. Tywin hated Tyrion enough that he destroyed the legitimate love the young man had found and, worse yet, turned it into a lesson that Tyrion was unlovable, that women would only abide companionship with him as long as they were being paid.
Wow. Knowing that it makes a lot more sense that Tyrion risked his chance to escape by making a side trip to kill dear old dad. And while Tyrion still had ample motive to kill his dad even without this, this seems like a crucial enough bit of character development involving not just one but three major characters.
Look, I understand TV shows have to cut out things that are in the books. Hundreds of pages of exposition about travels or battles? Has to be cut down to the few most meaningful scenes. A huge cast of minor characters? Condensed to a more manageable number. Subplots that don't advance the main narrative or crucially develop the main characters? Gone.
I wrote about these kinds of variances in my episode by episode blogs on Season 1 of the Wheel of Time streaming adaptation. There I'd read the books and could spot lots of differences. Most of the changes I felt were fine. They were disorienting at first, but soon enough they made sense per the needs outlined above. There were a few changes, though, that were so big, so fundamental to the setting or the narrative or main character development, that I called foul. And this change from the books in the Game of Thrones season 4 finale is one I think might too big.
S4E10 spoilers after the cut.
Tyrion kills his father, Tywin. He shoots him taking a shit. In the TV series continuity he has ample reason to want to kill his father. Tywin has hurt him so many times, insulted him, and professed a desire to see him dead. He's literally told Tyrion the only thing stopping him from outright murdering him is that it'd be a crime and he'd be punished. And just now, in late season 4, he's found a way to legally murder Tyrion by unjustly convicting him of a crime (the murder of King Joffrey) he knows he didn't commit. When Jaime gives Tyrion an opportunity to escape hours before being beheaded, Tyrion seeks out his father in his bed chambers and kills him before fleeing the city.
Like I said, that's ample reason for what Tyrion did. But in the books there's even more. In the books Tyrion learns from Jaime that one of the most painful episodes from his past was his father's doing.
It's mentioned a few seasons earlier in the TV continuity that when Tyrion was younger, he and his older brother came upon a young woman being attacked by 3 thugs. Jaime chased the thugs while Tyrion saw to the woman, Tysha. She fell in love with him, and Tyrion with her. She was a commoner and he a noble, so he bribed a drunk clergyman to marry them in secret. When his father found out he was furious, and it was revealed that the whole thing was a joke that went too far. Jaime had staged the whole thing. Tysha was a prostitute, paid to have sex with Tyrion, and the phony attackers weren't hurting her. Jaime's idea was that he was helping ugly and awkward Tyrion lose his virginity. The joke went too far, though, when Tyrion proposed marriage. When Tywin found out, the marriage was annulled and Tysha was punished viciously for being a prostitute trying to shake down a noble family.
In the TV continuity it's left at that: the whole thing was prank masterminded by Jaime. Tysha had never loved Tyrion; Jaime paid her to give him a pity fuck. And the things spiraled out of control.
As screwed up as that seems, the reveal in the books makes it even worse. In the dungeon while Tyrion is awaiting the headsman's axe, Jaime comes clean that the scene with Tysha and the attackers was not a setup. It was real. Jaime didn't stop the "prank" when Tysha fell in love with Tyrion because it wasn't a prank. It was real. The story that Tysha was a prostitute hired by Jaime was made up after the fact, by Tywin. Tywin hated Tyrion enough that he destroyed the legitimate love the young man had found and, worse yet, turned it into a lesson that Tyrion was unlovable, that women would only abide companionship with him as long as they were being paid.
Wow. Knowing that it makes a lot more sense that Tyrion risked his chance to escape by making a side trip to kill dear old dad. And while Tyrion still had ample motive to kill his dad even without this, this seems like a crucial enough bit of character development involving not just one but three major characters.
