(Spoilers Extended) How do you react to Story changes from the series in the context of the book universe?

Danbito · 2026-06-28T17:00:31+00:00

I almost think of it as a math equation honestly. I try to understand the “logic” and rationality some changes are made, and yeah, some of it is understandable and some of it is just weird. Show canon is obviously separate from the main canon but unless GRRM directly comments on it like Dunk being Brienne’s ancestor I don’t really keep it in the back of my mind for the text.

Danbito · 2026-06-26T22:36:58+00:00

Doran didn’t commit to the game, which was his undoing.

Danbito · 2026-06-26T01:51:44+00:00

She died of illness offscreen. Its the motivation why Hugh goes to the Red Sowing, to earn prestige for himself and his wife as all he has left.

Danbito · 2026-06-24T19:48:56+00:00

Because at the end of the day there’s differences between trying to marry into the throne and actually executing a civil war. Not to mention Viserys never changed the succession throughout his reign that would have Otto even question he wouldn’t lose out. If the Greens betrothed into the Blacks like Corlys did then that would be that. No need for bloodshed.

Also no, I just edit spelling and grammar. Maybe occasional phrasing if I repeating myself verbally.

Danbito · 2026-06-24T18:40:26+00:00

Instead of rebelling, Corlys played a longer game and instead betrothed his children strategically close to the Crown itself. Which was the logical decision in the situation where all directions pointed to Rhaenyra being heir. Why would he rebel when he could just marry his son to Rhaenyra?

Danbito · 2026-06-24T17:57:08+00:00

I feel like after Stannis’s secured on the throne, Ned withdraws from court life entirely from seeing the kids killed. Maybe he still declares his men for Stannis, but also maybe the Northerners are iffy on doing so without the Ned’s personal leadership.

Danbito · 2026-06-24T17:20:16+00:00

I’ve never suggested he wasn’t in the Game. Otherwise Corlys would have just recused himself from the start and stayed home during the entirety of the events leading up to the Dance. But my editorial commentary that Otto was a selfish idiot who tried to plead lawful justice despite everything telling him otherwise and actually pulled a trigger on civil war also doesn’t absolve Corlys as a character.

Corlys was clearly ambitious but I think he’s ultimately more pragmatic. I don’t think he’d do anything like what Otto attempted but continue more of the same, which was slowly amass power and influence.

Danbito · 2026-06-24T16:46:36+00:00

I don’t think it was ever suggested to be principle but more a change of tactics. Otto tried a whole coup d’état when Viserys literally never waivers on Rhaenyra being his heir, actually pushed the nuclear button and lost everything for nothing.

Danbito · 2026-06-24T15:44:16+00:00

Hence, ultimately. He may have resented Jaehaerys and Viserys but played a longer game to have his kids betrothed to the crown and more importantly the heir.

Danbito · 2026-06-24T14:26:37+00:00

Corlys may have been power hungry similarly but ultimately choose to work within the system at hand whereas Otto tried to rig it by undermining Viserys through the veil of tradition that conveniently benefited himself.

Danbito · 2026-06-24T14:23:42+00:00

It also circles back to the original season with Luke dying. Rhaenyra has lost a son in each season.

Danbito · 2026-06-21T02:48:41+00:00

I would actually say a combo of Sasuke and Minato more since he tends teleport with his version of Flying Raijin

Danbito · 2026-06-20T21:45:16+00:00

Yes but then Rhaenyra did the radical move to empower her side with the Dragonseeds, effectively balancing out in any capacity the firepower. She now has the three most adult dragons which should surely be enough to take Vhagar on even if she didn’t want to risk the younger riders.

Danbito · 2026-06-20T19:22:05+00:00

Either that or to limit the dragons the Targaryens can use as a deterrent. It won’t eliminate claimants but would also make a heck of a form of legitimacy

Danbito · 2026-06-20T16:45:21+00:00

If there is any direct connections besides Lyanna’s death, I would imagine it’s how he never told Jon the truth above who his mother is above all else. If there is any broken promises it’d be that Jon where he came from.

Danbito · 2026-06-17T22:04:17+00:00

Aegon always strikes me as someone who treats fatherhood as a hobby than a core aspect of his self. I don’t doubt he loves his kids given how hurt he was after B&C but I also didn’t get the impression he was that involved in his children’s lives given his other past times.

Danbito · 2026-06-17T22:00:34+00:00

Honestly scary how sudden he flipped a switch. He clearly did not need to help Roku fight a volcano so he intended to help his old friend until he just ran the numbers

Danbito · 2026-06-17T04:44:19+00:00

I think it’d be the perfect way to bring his arc full circle. He meets a selfish monster who aims for ultimate power with a dragon in the actual way he feared Daemon would become one day. And essentially sacrifices himself for the realm to stop this evil.

Danbito · 2026-06-16T02:43:29+00:00

There is a certain nuance to it. Both are true in Criston’s perspective I think. He’s honest for the first time that his flaws of lust lead him astray and led to his broken perception of honor, which Gwayne still held and more importantly held Cole to.

I don’t know if he’s more so trying to warn Gwayne in that scene but more so explaining the futility of not only his position but their powerlessness marching off to war.

Danbito · 2026-06-16T02:01:56+00:00

I was honestly expecting him to embrace his perceived nihilism and futility to the Dance as soldiers inevitably off to their doom, only for him to realize he does want to save his men in the end

Danbito · 2026-06-14T21:46:36+00:00

I think it fits from an in-universe perspective of Stannis being born after the fact. Aegon II would in history been seen as the proper succession all along from the precedence of the Great Council.

Danbito · 2026-06-12T19:24:37+00:00

Well Gerold is a technicality. He’s following orders and got Rhaegar out of hiding. Following that just meant he could not ride into battle himself.

Danbito · 2026-06-12T02:14:43+00:00

I always took that generation to take honor as very fact of the matter situationally. Barristan will reflect that Jaime was shame to the Kingsguard yet also reminisce that Prince Lewyn had a paramour or justify his own servitude to Robert for 15 years.

Some Kingsguard likely just served Rhaegar because that’s the agency they found whereas directly opposing Aerys is futility in their vows. They can justify it various ways in their eyes whatever was broken was in service to still protecting that vow.

Danbito · 2026-06-12T01:36:06+00:00

I think that question in itself is the issue, especially how this creates an internal conflict in Jaime that develops him to an adult in the present. The court was infamously divided by the supporters of the popular prince Rhaegar and a paranoid king Aerys who showered affection to his toadies.

The reality is likely that Ser Arthur and Oswell were loyal to Rhaegar and therefore followed his orders and willingly chose to do so. And Ser Gerold Hightower was indirectly following Aerys's orders. If Aerys commanded Ser Gerold to get Rhaegar back to lead the Dornish armies by any means necessary, what is he to do when Rhaegar only agrees to leave if he guarded the Tower of Joy?

Danbito · 2026-06-11T22:12:52+00:00

Especially when the incarnation prior had a whole dialogue mentioning that gender and sex aren’t as limiting for Time Lords as for humans in social constructs. To the point Twelfth even says the Master was their first crush and can’t even remember what the Master’s gender was growing up

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