anoptimisticwonderland:

GAHHH

Okay, I had some feelings about this scene. It was great in general, very well done, especially Tyrion’s threat to Joffrey. But I had a problem with this part. I’m generally chill with when they deviate from the book (though I can’t say I liked Ros much, I thought she was kind of pointless), but when they were following it so closely I was really upset that they changed his last line. In the show it was something along the line of “and now my watch begins”, implying that he will simply remain celibate and is willing to be faithful. Now, we know in the show he has Shae, and so even if he is lying to Sansa, it is almost partially redeemed because he’s being faithful to his lady and still letting Sansa be a virgin. It’s still a lie, yeah, but it’s not quite so bad.

Now, in the book, as is demonstrated above, Sansa hurts him with that question. She hurt him with that question in the show, just as innocently (at least, by my interpretation) as she did in the book. However, in the book, he hurt her back. He offended her with his profanity, and she was uncomfortable with the concept. I felt like his return line was meant as an insult, a return slap in the face. When I read it, I actually went “ouchhhh”. Both characters are forced into a marriage they absolutely do not want, and Sansa is too young (and Tyrion has done too good a job concealing his help) to understand that Tyrion isn’t like the rest of the Lannisters. It’s painful, in the book. So, why do I care about this?

The fact that he didn’t return with that line and instead returned with something that would make her more comfortable and respect him indicates a bigger problem to me, that I didn’t notice until I started rereading the books (went back to check this, because it struck me as off). In my opinion, they are making Tyrion too nice in the show. DO NOT GET ME WRONG: I love Tyrion. He is my absolute favourite character, both in the show and in the books. I have never once put the books down on a Tyrion chapter, unless I knew I couldn’t finish it if I started it. I love him because of how complex he is, and because at the end of the day I think he’s a good guy. 

We only see his ‘at the end of the day’ stuff on the show. He’s still complex, he still has some of my favourite story arcs (I do like his relationship with Shae). We don’t see that he can be petty, and cruel, to people around him. He’s funny and self mocking and responds to insults with humor, but we don’t see a lot of his pain in the show. He’s crass, but given the rest of the show, we don’t see that as off. The hallmark of this series is that every single character has good things and bad things about them, and I could get into a screaming argument over Tyrion’s qualities and have both sides of the argument be correct. It’s what makes this series amazing—what sins do you find unforgivable? What actions mean redemption in your eyes? Except for Joffrey. Joffrey is a shit.

Tyrion fucks up, in the books. Just like everyone else. In the show, he needs to fuck up more. I know the audience likes a character they can rally behind (possibly why Robb is getting more attention in the show, whereas he doesn’t have chapters in the books and we see his stuff through Catelyn), but Tyrion needs more of his flaws emphasized along with his positive sides. I want the complex, love-and-hate worthy character from the books. I know we can’t see his internal thought processes, which are what drew me to him in the books, but we can see more of both sides of him I think.

TL;DR: Tyrion is too nice on the show, and the above alteration is an example of that. 

(Source: nimues)