12 'Game Of Thrones' Characters That Don't Match Up In The Books & The Show

When Ser Barristan shows up in Qarth at the end of A Clash Of Kings disguised as Arstan Whitebeard, he doesn’t arrive alone. He’s accompanied by a former gladiator — and eunuch — named Belwas. While his absence is understandable given that he mainly serves a disposable sidekick role, Strong Belwas’ rotund appearance and huge appetite would have brought something sorely missing from Daenerys’s storyline: a sense of humor.

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First appeared: 2x04 - “Garden Of Bones”

While Ros was a wholesale invention, most of Thrones’ other original creations are either replacements or amalgamations of book characters. The former is the case for Talisa, the Volantene healer who falls in love with Robb Stark — leading to the King in the North’s downfall after he spurns the Freys to marry her instead. In the books, Robb’s bride is named Jeyne Westerling, the daughter of a Lannister bannerman. Theirs is less an epic love story than Robb and Talisa’s; Robb sleeps with Jeyne in grief after learning of Bran and Rickon’s “deaths,” and then marries her out of obligation to preserve her honor.

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One of the underlying themes of Martin’s A Song Of Ice And Fire novels has been the rebirth of magic, precipitated by the birth of Dany’s dragons and slowly growing more and more prominent as the series goes on. The show has never been as interested in magic as Martin, and two characters from A Storm Of Swords suffered as a result. First is Coldhands, the sentient wight who guides Bran & Co. north of the Wall — the progenitor of many fan theories about his identity, including Bran’s own missing uncle Benjen and an old Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. The second is Lady Stoneheart, the vengeful resurrected corpse of Catelyn Stark — whose absence on the show has sparked much fervent debate.

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First appeared: 3x02 - “Dark Wings, Dark Words”

You know him as the man who cut off Jaime Lannister’s hand. Book readers know him as… who? There’s no character named Locke in the source material; the man who does the hand-cutting is named Zollo, a Dothraki member of a sellsword company called the Brave Companions, and the man who gives the order is their leader, Vargo Hoat, who’s described as having a slobbering lisp. Locke lasted longer than his book counterpart, heading to the Wall on a mission for Roose Bolton to find and kill Bran Stark… although he ended up dead at the hands of a warged Hodor.

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Of the five ASOIAF novels, the fourth — A Feast For Crows — is the most widely maligned for dropping several major plots (Tyrion, Jon, and Dany are all absent) and introducing even more new ones. One of those new plots that was discarded completely for the TV show revolved around the Iron Islands, as Balon Greyjoy’s three brothers — and his daughter — jockeyed for the dead king’s throne. Victarion is the eldest and rightful heir… except for the fact that the Ironborn decide kings by vote rather than heredity (at an ancient ceremony called a “kingsmoot”). The middle brother is Euron, called “Crow’s Eye,”an outcast who has recently returned home after sailing to Essos and beyond. And there’s Aeron, the youngest, referred to as “the Damphair,” who’s a priest to the Drowned God. Euron is elected King and dispatches Victarion on a quest to find and woo his new bride, Daenerys Targaryen — although Victarion is determined to claim the Mother of Dragons for himself and win back his throne from Euron.

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First appeared: 3x03 - “Walk Of Punishment”

Like Locke, Karl is an amalgamation of book characters, all rolled into one convenient package. The man who declares himself lord of Craster’s Keep after killing Lord Commander Mormont bears only a passing resemblance to the books’ Clubfoot Karl — he has more in common with another mutineer named Dirk. Either way, his role on the show was greatly expanded, as Jon Snow’s mission to kill the mutineers was a total fabrication by Benioff & Weiss.

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This is probably the absence that stings the most. As part of the fourth novel’s foray into Dorne, we’re introduced to Arianne, the daughter of Prince Doran and niece of the recently (and gruesomely) deceased Oberyn. She bristles at her father’s caution, aching to start a war with the Lannisters rather than continuing to broker peace. On the show, her role is transferred lock, stock, and barrel to Ellaria Martell, Oberyn’s lover. It makes sense, since Ellaria’s is a pre-existing face the viewers will recognize; but her words as a bastard paramour carry far less weight than they would coming from the prince’s own daughter.

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First appeared: 3x05: “Kissed By Fire”

First introduced when bedding Loras in Season 3 — and then popping up again when bedding Oberyn and Ellaria in Season 4 — this sex worker in Littlefinger’s brothel has no counterpart in Martin’s novels. In the most recent episode, the brothel was invaded by the Faith Militant, and Olyvar watched as a patron and a sex worker (both men) were executed by the zealous Sparrows for the crime of homosexuality. This original creation will have even more of a part to play, if the Season 5 trailer can be believed. In it, you can catch a glimpse of Loras lashing out at someone sitting in front of him… someone who looks very much like Olyvar. And since Loras was just arrested by the Faith Militant, it’s very possible that Olyvar will be called to testify against his former lover.

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In the books, Val is an enigmatic presence at Castle Black following the wildings’ attack on the Wall. She is the sister of Mance Rayder’s wife, Dalla, who died giving birth to Mance’s son. As the sister-in-law to the King Beyond The Wall, Stannis and the Night’s Watch consider her a princess… even if the wildlings themselves don’t recognize her as such. She’s described as a great beauty, and is a constant source of tension among the men at the Wall. Jon Snow sends her to locate Tormund Giantsbane, default leader of the free folk following Mance Rayder’s death, and she succeeds where many Rangers had failed. She’s also deathly afraid of greyscale and thinks Shireen Baratheon is an abomination who should be killed.

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First appeared: 4x03 - “Breaker Of Chains”

We met Olly has he was happily going about his day, farming with his dad, when his parents and entire village were mercilessly slaughtered by invading wildlings. He fled to Castle Black, where he killed Ygritte during the ensuing battle. (Ygritte had killed his father.) In Season 5, Jon made Olly his Steward. In the books, Jon’s steward is a former sex worker from Oldtown named Satin. In fact, Jon’s choice of a male sex worker as his personal squire is just one of many things that starts turning his Night’s Watch brothers against him.

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Although hardly a major character, Wyman is one of the un-adapted characters that book readers miss the most. This is because of the sweet, sweet vengeance that the fat lord of White Harbor carries out against the Freys. Like all Northmen, he’s fiercely loyal to the Starks, only pretending to pledge his fealty to the Boltons while actively plotting against them. He carries out the sort of bloody justice typically found in Shakespearean tragedies: When Lord Manderly arrives at Winterfell for Ramsay’s wedding, the three Freys who were sent to supervise him in White Harbor are not among his entourage. He claims the Freys rode out ahead of him and he doesn’t know where they are, and proceeds to serve Roose Bolton and Walder Frey three huge, steaming meat pies. (The implication being that the three Freys were baked into the pies, of course.) It’s exactly the kind of revenge readers had been hoping for since the Red Wedding, but the character’s absence on the show means that viewers will likely be robbed of it.

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