It's tough out there for a "Game of Thrones" fan. Your favorite characters are always dying, your friends keep changing their HBO Go passwords and now the show is deviating from the books more than ever.
We're talking Littlefinger is returning to King's Landing, Barristan the Bold has died and, oh yeah, Sansa is marrying Ramsay! May the Seven help us all ...
To top it all off, now George R.R. Martin is saying the show has become so different that shocking twists he has planned for the book just won't be able to happen on HBO.
In honor of all the twists fans of the show will never see, here are seven major theories that likely would only happen in the books:
Breaking a marriage pact is definitely not the smartest move, but flaunting your new wife in front of the family you disgraced is just straight up dumb. That's why in Martin's novel, A Storm of Swords, the Starks never bring Robb's wife to the Red Wedding. She stays at Riverrun, where the Lannisters and Freys eventually put the castle under siege.
After the castle is surrendered in the book, Jaime Lannister notes that the girl has "narrow hips" and is "not a girl to lose a kingdom for," which is in contrast to an earlier Catelyn Stark chapter:
She was pretty, undeniably, with her chestnut curls and heart-shaped face, and that shy smile. Slender, but with good hips, Catelyn noted. She should have no trouble bearing children at least.
This has led to the belief that Robb's wife may have been switched out before the castle was surrendered and may even be pregnant with the King in the North's heir.
Why it can't happen in the show:
Robb's wife is pretty dead at this point. The character from the books, Jeyne Westerling, was replaced by Talisa Maegyr in the show. In the books, Jeyne is reportedly appearing in the prologue to Martin's The Winds of Winter, but Talisa was murdered in the show at the Red Wedding.
The North remembers ...
From Reddit to A Forum of Ice and Fire, it's widely accepted that Oberyn had already poisoned Tywin before Tyrion finished the job. A number of clues support this: Oberyn was a poison expert; Martin specifically has Pycelle mention a poison called "Widow's Blood" during Tyrion's trial, which "shuts down a man's bladder and bowels, until he drowns in his own poisons"; and, of course, Tyrion found Tywin on the toilet, where he seems to have been for a while.
Why it can't happen in the show:
Perhaps the strongest piece of evidence that Tywin was poisoned is the disgusting stench his body gives off, which isn't mentioned in the show. His body, for whatever reason, is decaying so poorly and smells so bad that it even makes Tommen cry. The fact that the stench and other gross details were left out of the show makes it appear that this possible storyline was cut.
Tyrion was actually married one time before Sansa, but, in "Game of Thrones" style, it ended tragically. Tywin thought she was a commoner after money, so he had Jaime convince Tyrion that her love wasn't real and then made Tyrion watch as Lannister guards raped her. (Holy crap! Maybe Tyrion should've loaded that crossbow a couple more times.) Her name was Tysha, and as user nekrohsis explains on A Forum of Ice and Fire, we may not have seen the last of her:
There's a theory that the Sailor's Wife, a prostitute in Braavos, is actually Tysha, as evidenced by her trick of wedding the men who bed her, her fluency in the Common Tongue, and her daughter, the golden-haired Lanna (for Lannister?) who is the right age to be Tyrion's daughter.
Why it can't happen in the show:
In the HBO version, Tyrion kills Tywin after he keeps calling Shae a whore, but in the books Tywin is actually calling Tysha a whore. Shae seems to have replaced Tysha in the show as Tyrion's true love. Because of that, it's doubtful she'll be included.
On his journey to the Three-Eyed Crow (or Raven, whichever you prefer), Bran meets someone dressed like a man from the Night's Watch. This dude's hands are black, he wears a scarf to cover his face and he also doesn't breathe. In the books, this guy is known as Coldhands, and a popular theory was that his true identity is Benjen Stark. Unfortunately, Martin seems to have shot that down in an early book draft, so now a leading theory is that Coldhands is actually the Night's King.
Why it can't happen in the show:
Coldhands should've shown up when Bran first started his journey beyond the Wall, so he was clearly cut from the HBO show. Plus, we've already seen the Night's King turning babies into ice people, so this theory is just for the books.
In A Dance with Dragons, you meet a character named Young Griff, whose secret identity is supposedly Aegon Targaryen, Rhaegar's son. He was one of the kids Oberyn accused the Mountain of killing. The story goes that Varys switched babies before the Mountain got to them and smuggled Aegon out of King's Landing to safety. There are various theories as to if he's a true Targaryen or not.
Why it can't happen in the show:
As Vanity Fair explains, the part of Aegon hasn't been announced for this season, and the show has already gone past the point where the character comes in. It appears Dany may be the last Targaryen after the throne after all.
In the books, Brienne discovers Catelyn Stark has become a zombified version of herself after she received the gift of life from Beric Dondarrion. Zombie Catelyn is known as Lady Stoneheart and is hellbent on revenge against those who wronged her family. Brienne's storyline is left on a cliffhanger in A Feast for Crows, and you're led to believe she was hanged by Stoneheart's men for not promising to kill Jaime Lannister.
The theory says she was in fact hanged and possibly brought back to life by Lady Stoneheart in the same way Stoneheart was brought back by Dondarrion. In A Dance with Dragons, Jaime's thoughts on Brienne's appearance supports the theory that she didn't escape the noose:
Gods be good, she looks ten years older than when I saw her last. And what’s happened to her face?
Why it can't happen in the show:
It's already been reported that there aren't official plans to have Lady Stoneheart in the show, so this whole storyline appears to have been cut.
After arriving at the Three-Eyed Crow, Bran is given paste that makes him feel ill at first and looks like blood. It's theorized that this contains Jojen Reed's blood and that he was sacrificed so his greendreams could help enhance Bran's abilities.
In addition to the paste, Jojen, who supposedly knows the day he will die, gets increasingly depressed on the journey; Bran can't find Meera and Jogen after eating the paste; and there are ominous clues leading up to the paste moment, such as this one about Jojen's somber mood:
“I’d hoped that when we found your three-eyed crow … now I wonder why we ever came.”
For me, Bran thought. “His greendreams,” he said. “His greendreams.” Meera’s voice was bitter.
Why it can't happen in the show:
Jojen Reed was killed by a wight in the Season 4 finale, and then he was blown to pieces by a giant fireball for good measure. Also, Bran reportedly won't be appearing in Season 5. Still, Meera should probably sleep with one eye open.
All images HBO unless noted otherwise.
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