Game Of Thrones: 10 Moments The Show Could Have Done Better
3. The Red Wedding
The now infamous Red Wedding is the single most emotionally devastating moment so far in both the books and the show. In one sweeping moment, all hopes for Stark victory and vengeance for the death of our beloved Ned Stark are crushed. It was bloody, brutal, and hard to watch for many people. It was a sucker punch to any viewers who started to get complacent. However, as wonderfully shocking as the Red Wedding was, those who have only experienced it in the show have no idea how much worse it is in the books. The most significant detail missing from the show is the tone. While the show keeps the atmosphere of the wedding light and happy in order to make the turn more shocking, the book sets the scene with mounting dread and ratchets up the tension. Something is off and you dont know what that means. Also missing are the supporting characters to Robbs cause. Characters like Dacey Mormont and Greatjon Umber are completely missing in the show; replaced with faceless nobodies. Had they been retained the event would have been even more tragic. The show throws the tragedy at you all at once and glosses over the details. What is told in pages of agonizing brutality is told in one long shot. An understandable difference given the demands of translation, but tragic none the less. These changes add up to an adaptation of a moment that is the same in broad strokes but different in significant ways. The Red Wedding did the job it was supposed to do (shock viewers), but had it attempted to achieve the depressing heights of the source material it could have been so much better.
