Game of Thrones season 5 is a political fantasy drama show on HBO that is not based on anything in particular. The first four seasons were based on books—but the fifth season, not so much. The show has officially become unrecognizable compared to its source material. And you know what? It’s actually sort of freeing, and it solves the spoiler problem we were facing with this season.
Game of Thrones Season 5 Review: Not Based On Books But That’s OK
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Game Of Thrones Season 5 Episode Leaks: Five Reasons To Watch The Episodes Even If You Saw The Leaks
Game Of Thrones Season 5 Leaked Episodes: Why I Should Never Have Watched Them
Winds Of Winter Spoilers: Does Game Of Thrones Season 5 Prove Young Griff Is The Mummer’s Dragon?
Game of Thrones season 5, in its first four episodes, has diverged from the books in several significant ways. Spoilers for the first four episodes start…. Right now. First off, Sansa has a totally new plotline that she doesn’t have in the books. Jaime’s plotline is changed dramatically. And Mance Rayder, of course. Cersei’s is basically the same, but has enough excised that it… makes no sense anymore (In the books, she actually has a reason for reinstating the Faith’s power—not a great reason, but a reason). And Daenerys… well, I won’t say too much about it, but it changes a lot too. You’ll see.
The thing is, the huge divergence from the books means that Game of Thrones season 5 presents less of a risk of spoiling Winds of Winter. That’s because, as storylines start to move ahead of where the equivalent storylines are at the end of Dance With Dragons, it’s less clear what events actually come from the books—and which ones are wholesale inventions of the show. At first, Sansa’s storyline looked like a new innovation. Then it became clear that it was another change.
Sure, if you keep watching Game of Thrones season 5, you will indeed get some Winds of Winter spoilers. But you won’t be sure which ones are book spoilers. It’ll leave at least some mystery behind. Flimsy justification? Sure. But it’s the best I can do to allow myself to keep watching Game of Thrones.
