Game Of Thrones: 10 Storylines From The Books The Show Ignored
1. The King Beyond The Wall Goes South
When Mance Rayder's host was smashed by Stannis beyond the Wall, the king of the wildlings was burned at the stake as a sacrifice to the red god R'hllor. While this is what we are led to believe in books for a time, Melisandre's sole POV chapter later tells us different.
The man burned in front of everyone at Castle Black is actually a wildling by the name of Rattleshirt, under a spell to look like the king-beyond-the-wall. Mance thereafter walks around Castle Black freely under the guise of Rattleshirt.
When Melisandre sees Arya in her flames fleeing trouble and making her way to Castle Black, she and Jon Snow decide to use Mance to go to Winterfell and smuggle the Lord Commander's sister out, and bring her to the Wall. Mance takes six spearwives south disguised as a singer named Abel and his washer women.
The women help Theon and Jeyne escape the castle walls, though in the letter Ramsay Bolton sends to Jon demanding the return of his wife, he claims to hold Mance and even knows his true identity. This will surely be key in the build up to the Battle of the Bastards when The Winds of Winter is finally released.