Oldtown is the coolest city in Westeros. This is not a controversial point. Alas, it seems like one of Westeros’s largest cities shall never appear in Game of Thrones, certainly not in season 5. The show has—understandably enough—rewritten its plot in such a way that will likely exclude the great southwestern city, at least for the foreseeable future. Unlike other changes, I don’t blame them for this one—but it’s still a shame, because Oldtown is sweet, yo.
Game Of Thrones Cuts Oldtown
Oldtown is, probably not shockingly based on its name, the oldest city in Westeros. It was founded by the First Men before the Andals invaded, meaning that the city is several thousand years old, possibly as many as four thousand. The Hightower, the great tower fortress, has stood for nearly as long, and is home to House Hightower, one of the oldest Houses in Westeros. Of course, Oldtown is also home to the Citadel, the home of the maesters. It’s a pretty cool place.
In the books, we see Oldtown firsthand for the first time in A Feast For Crows. The book has two separate storylines there: a short one where a Faceless Man (possibly even Jaqen H’ghar) infiltrates the Citadel for purposes unknown, and a longer one, where a certain Samwell Tarly of the Night’s Watch shows up to join the Citadel. Yea, that’s right: Maester Aemon doesn’t have much time left in him (very little indeed), and the Night’s Watch will need another maester. That’ll be Sam, so he heads down to Oldtown for a few whiles, by way of Braavos. It’s not the most interesting storyline, but it does give us a glimpse of a super awesome city.
Sadly, it’s getting the axe in Game of Thrones, at least for now. Instead of Sam going to Braavos on the way to Oldtown, where he would run into Arya Stark, it looks like that job will go to Ser Meryn Trant and Mace Tyrell. Maester Aemon may or may not last much longer, but the show isn’t opening up the world even more and introducing Oldtown just to send Sam there for training. No, it’s accelerated the timeline: It doesn’t have time for that sort of thing.
I’m not even saying this is a bad call on the show’s part. They have budget limitations, same as everybody else. I’m not criticizing their call. Unlike some other things, the Oldtown story is totally consolidatable and cuttable. But I’m still sad about it, that’s for damn sure.
