Game Of Thrones: 10 Ways Season 5 Was Better Than The Books
8. Hardhome
The Battle of Hardhome made for one of the best episodes of the entire series. It was incredibly intense and suspenseful, and the show did such a great job depicting the White Walkers as this overwhelming, unstoppable force that’s coming for the seven kingdoms. At just about every moment, the episode gets across the feeling that anyone might not make it out alive, and there's something so thrilling about that.
It also was completely invented for the show. In the books, we vaguely hear about something bad having happened in Hardhome, but Jon isn’t there, and so that’s the extent of it. Basically everything in that episode, including the amazing confrontation with the Night’s King and the moment when Jon’s sword doesn’t shatter when battling a white walker, was invented by the showrunners.
Some readers have been very unsure about the showrunners’ ability to come up with content that wasn’t present in the books, but this episode was a tremendous example of how they can totally excel on their own. The battle against the White Walkers was one of the show’s greatest achievements, and it was far more satisfying than anything in George R.R. Martin’s fifth book. Given that the next season will likely be completely new material, if this is any indication of what the showrunners can crank out by themselves, viewers are in good hands.