Game of Thrones season 6 has only aired one episode so far, and it brought us some truly shocking developments—ones that gritted the teeth of many a book reader. While normal people still think the show is great, the Internet is awash with anger from book readers about some of the spoilers that transpired. I’m particularly talking about the coup in Dorne, which seems wildly out of character for everyone involved. But what if all the apparent changes we hate just come straight from Winds of Winter?
Could Winds Of Winter Be Bad Too?
We know that the showrunners of Game of Thrones know the arc of Winds of Winter, and are incorporating critical plot points from the upcoming book even while they do their own thing as well. They’ve said there’s no way for us to know what’s a real Winds of Winter spoiler and what’s their own invention—and I’m starting to fear they’re right. What if half or so of the dumb choices in Game of Thrones, or what if all of the choices, really do come from the books? It’s not likely, but it’s a scary thought.
The divergences from the known books began in earnest in Game of Thrones season 5, when Stannis’s quest for the throne turned monstrous. It seemed somewhat, but not entirely, out of character for Stannis to burn Shireen. It seemed even more out of character for him to get totally smoked in the Battle of Winterfell. But there it was. Then Myrcella died, and although the circumstances in the book will necessarily be different, that outcome is entirely plausible. And then, this season, Ellaria Sand and the Sand Snakes murdered Doran and Trystane Martell.
At first glance, it seems like that couldn’t possibly be from the books—and ultimately, it probably isn’t. It’s so wildly improbable, and makes so little sense, even in the show. The only person likely to shunt aside Doran in the books is Arianne Martell until he finally brought her around by revealing his true and truly cunning plans. Arianne, of course, doesn’t even exist in the show.
But some of these choices have far-reaching consequences—the death of House Martell is certainly going to lead to outright war with the Iron Throne—and that presumably makes it somewhat harder for the show to invent outlandish storylines out of whole cloth. It’s classic butterfly effect, as George R. R. Martin likes to say. But that hasn’t stopped them before—look at the Sansa storyline, which is wildly different from the books and alternates between being horrendous and actually pretty great, like when Brienne finally saved her.
The trouble is, we just don’t know what Winds of Winter could hold. The book could totally go off the rails and deliver us storylines that don’t seem to make sense for the characters. It’s not likely, but it’s not impossible either. After all, it started happening on Game of Thrones.
