14 Game of Thrones characters who were better in the books
10. Daenerys Targaryen
Deep breath so I don’t lose my cool the way Dany did when the writers decided to scrap her character arc and turn her into a Mad Queen.
In A Song of Ice and Fire we get a vivid, first-hand account of Daenerys Targaryen’s thoughts and emotions. Unlike in the show, where we can only interpret her feelings from her actions, many chapters in the books are told from her point of view, meaning we really get to know her inside and out. We’re right there with her as she deals with the moral issues of ruling, the loneliness that comes with power, and the relentless weight of her family’s legendary history. She’s not just a queen with dragons, but a young woman trying to navigate a cruel and unforgiving world.
Daenerys’ rich character development isn’t fully captured on screen. Or rather, it is, until it’s completely unmade.
Game of Thrones, while groundbreaking in many ways, shrinks Daenerys’s complexities into brief moments of reflection or impassioned speeches in other languages. Though Emilia Clarke’s portrayal adds depth and purpose to the character, the show doesn’t allow us to get as intimate a look into Daenerys’ inner world. We miss out on the balance she tries to maintain between mercy and ruthlessness, self-doubt and resolve, empathy and ambition. Without the internal monologue that the books provide, some of her struggles — especially over what type of ruler she wants to be — never appear on screen.
And of course, the show’s decision to scrap all of her hard work to break the cycle just for the sake of shocking audiences at the end of the story makes me want to ride a dragon and set things on fire.
11. Brienne of Tarth
In the books, Brienne’s journey is so much more than a quest to find Sansa Stark or become an honorable bodyguard. She deals with chivalry, honor, and moral choices that make you pause and think.
Take her encounter with Lady Stoneheart, for example, a character cut from the TV show. This meeting pushing Brienne to near-despair as she’s torn between her oath to Catelyn Stark and Stoneheart’s demand that she kill Jaime Lannister. In the books, Brienne is constantly having to recalibrate her moral compass.
Again, don’t get me wrong, the show did an excellent job in making us fall head over heels for Brienne. While it did capture most of her essence as a fierce warrior with a strong sense of duty, it didn’t get into her bigger dilemmas. We did get to see her amazing battle skills and earn her knighthood, but we missed out on some compelling shades of her character. We get the flirting between her and Jaime Lannister that takes place in both the books and the show, but her internal dialogue, her questions about what honor really means, and the way she deals with near-impossible choices are mostly cut out.