Those reading and watching fantasy drama Game of Thrones in tandem got a nasty shock when the latest episode, Oathkeeper, bucked the trend by going (gasp!) off-book. Those who have already read George RR Martin's cult book series A Song of Ice and Fire were confounded at the second half of this week's episode, where the deeply unexciting Bran Stark is unexpectedly interrupted by a band of mutineers on the longest nature hike ever committed to film.
By writing new events that never happened in print into a genre-defying TV series, Game of Thrones has provided a rude awakening to a particular subsection of viewers that had yet to be shocked by the adaptation: people who had already read the books and believed they knew what was going to happen.
The HBO series is well-known for frequently killing off much-loved characters and subjecting the viewers to nudity and brutal acts of rape, murder and eating without cutlery or napkins. Until now, those who read the books could at least find solace in knowing which favourite character was going to meet a sticky end by having molten gold poured over his head.
The one thing that has been consistent in the unwieldy merry-go-round of inventive deaths, meandering quests and elective appendage removal is that the viewer could have a sense (albeit tenuous) of security about the future. On all levels, Game of Thrones is a sprawling behemoth of a book adaptation. It was a comfort to expect that the events on screen would mirror the books.
It is ironic that this episode was called Oathkeeper. Instead, we would like to suggest Promisebreaker. We now know we can't trust showrunners David Benioff and DB Weiss any more than we would trust one of the characters in the show when it comes to the next act of deviancy.
After Oathkeeper, nothing is sacred. But then again, that's one of the reasons why so many people watch it.
