Game of Thrones season 5 is a weird animal. The first four seasons of the show where closely based on the books in the Song of Ice and Fire series, and although Game of Thrones always changed up plot and characters as necessary, the alterations were relatively minimal. As anyone who’s watching Game of Thrones season 5 knows, that’s no longer the case. Not by a long shot. This season is totally different, and may as well not be based anything at all. For a long time, this made me very, very upset, but I’ve—slowly—started to come around. You can too.
How Book Lovers Can Learn To Like Game Of Thrones Again
Game of Thrones season 5 has dramatically changed nearly every storyline compared to the books. Sansa, Daenerys, Jon Snow, Jaime, and Tyrion have all seen varying levels of changes; only Cersei and Stannis still stand on the straight and narrow path taught to us by A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons. All else has changed. The seminal battle at Hardhome, one of the climaxes of the season, isn’t in the books at all.
Have you ever been deeply invested in a relationship, but slowly grown apart—and remained friends? That’s what Game of Thrones season 5 is like. Once, Game of Thrones was a show I loved. My favorite show—the only show I loved. But this season, it broke my heart. It changed so much that it seemed nearly unrecognizable. I started to pull away.
I don’t love Game of Thrones anymore. I doubt I ever will again. My first love is the book series, and that will endure. That’s why so many book readers feel betrayed by the show: That’s natural, and it isn’t wrong, especially considering the relative fidelity of the first four seasons. But I think we’ll all get over it, eventually. As the show ventures off in its own direction and becomes something else, we no longer have to fear. It has become so different that it can hardly even spoil the books anymore. So much happens that hasn’t been in the books and won’t be.
George R. R. Martin has known this for years. He has always said the show is its own thing, and the books are their own other thing, and that’s that. For a long time, they were so similar that they were hard to separate. No longer. Now Game of Thrones is like any other adaptation. It’s a loose reflection of its own source material, more ‘inspired by’ than ‘based on.’ And somehow that makes it easier to watch, because I have no expecations anymore.
