The Lost Epilogues of Game of Thrones

[@justdirt]

I once read a theory from a fan that D&D wanted to adapt the Red Wedding and nothing else. The theory goes that D&D were massive fans of the first 3 books and knew the Red Wedding would be TV history. When watching the series through this lens, it makes a lot more sense. Why did Jayne Westerling get replaced by Talissa? So Talissa could be at the wedding and pregnant. Why was Catelyn never brought back? Because the Red Wedding would lose some shock value. They planned the TV show around the Red and Purple Weddings. The fact the show became the biggest show ever likely inflated their egos and instead of giving the show to a new show runner and writing team, they rushed through the rest of the show. Book 2 and 3 lasted 3 full seasons. Books 4 and 5 lasted a season and a half despite being a similar amount of source material. Then, obviously, at the end of season 6, their big shock value moments became the most watched and highest-rated episode of television in history. Seasons 7 and 8 was then a series of contrived events so D&D could have their fan fiction battles and scenes play out. Ending the series potentially 7 seasons early because they wanted to work on Star Wars. Seriously, D&D were done with the show by season 5 and the Dorne and Mereen plot lines show this off. They didn't care about the reach, dorne, the riverlands, or the vale. Anyone not related to the Starks, Dany, or King's Landing would've made the series longer

[@Felzorful]

When season 1 came out. In interview they literly said are one and only goal is to get the red wedding on TV. So yea now i will say season 4 is still great and that post red wedding. But after that you truly see the decline.

[@Schloetz]

I always found it strange how many problems D&D set up for themselves when they had all the info they needed. Dance was already out when the show began, yet they still did things like omit Jeyne Poole which would inevitably cause complications when they got to her plotline with Ramsay, leading to the stupidest move by Littlefinger that everyone found so dumb. It lends credence to the theory that their "long-term goals" basically amounted to really wanting to see The Red Wedding on-screen

[@Rougarou99]

They didn’t even need Dance. Jeyne’s role as fArya was known all the way back in Storm.

[@bebos1262]

Brother, they literally admitted all they wanted to do was adapt the Red Wedding because it would be good for their careers. They never cared.

[@TheJadedJames]

Omitting Poole was not a bad cut. But having Sansa be the one too marry Ramsay was terrible streamlining that demonstrated they didn’t know what the **** they were doing

[@AodhanBeag]

They were mopping the floor and mopped themselves into a corner they couldn’t get out of

[@glennross85]

​@@TheJadedJamesThat was what killed the show for me personally.

[@ashleyofnaath]

I wonder if Varys killed book Pycelle because he would've delivered Elia's baby and thus would have knowledge of identifiable features the real Aegon had that Young Griff doesn't, like a birthmark or extra toe, and said knowledge could prove Young Griff was a fraud- so Pycelle had to go. Of course it could've been as simple as killing House Lannister's chiefest lickspittle to infuriate Cersei and further inflame tensions between she and whoever Varys framed for the murders. Maybe it's a bit of both. In any case, great video and Happy Birthday!!!

[@jacksparrow9227]

Interesting

[@deathdeathington]

I think Varys killed Pycelle and Kevan because they were the most competent of her advisors. But I like your theory too.

[@ashleyofnaath]

@@deathdeathington Thanks friend. I agree with you too. There were a plethora of reasons Pycelle needed to go. My belief about Kevan builds on your thought- I think he could've been one of Doran's "friends at court" in a one-time only situation, and was the person who tipped Doran off about Cersei's intention to assassinate Trystane. And when Varys seen how far Kevan would go to preserve Tommen's peace, his fate was sealed. Varys would've killed him anyway to be sure, but maybe Kevan's gesture to Doran upped the urgency.

[@JanYaps]

Another reason he killed pycelle would be to further drive cersei to madness and convince her that tyrion was definitely the one to blame for kevan's murder because it's well known that tyrion and pycelle had a bit of a feud. If only kevan were killed she might be at least a little skeptical whether tyrion did it or if it's a trick by someone else. She would do anything to get her hands on tyrion and find out which of her enemies are working with him. Just kevan's murder is not as big to her, she'll suspect tyrion for sure but not as strongly. Pycelle's death is the nail in the coffin so to speak. Varys is playing cersei like a fiddle

[@Jonjzi]

It seems apparent that Varys is trying to implicate Tyrion for the murders, so maybe he believes people would be convinced that Tyrion wanted to get revenge on those who testified against him? I wonder if Varys is somehow motivated to sabotage Daenerys through her anticipated alliance with Tyrion. That would be a bizarre level of foresight though. He has to know the plan for Tyrion to be in Griff's company upon reaching Danny, but would he still have expected Tyrion to survive after they got separated? As far as he knows Tyrion could be dead already, but it's hard to tell how Varys knows what does or how it even reaches him.

[@monkeywizard7919]

I always hated how the show portrayed Arya as this badass killer. I love the idea that Arya is going to confront Lady Stoneheart, ultimately realizing that vengeance does not bring fulfillment. It's baffling how D&D fucked up show Varys as well. He is supposed to he this creepy mysterious master of whisperers but after season 4 he becomes as useless as show Tyrion. It wasn't necessary to adapt the entirety of asoiaf but they couldn't even hold up to their own standards, or George's vision. But anyways, great video and Happy Birthday!

[@ashleyofnaath]

Arya was portrayed that way because Benioff and Weiss felt that way about Maisie Williams. There's footage of them from 'Inside the Episode' features where they're watching her onscreen and can't stop praising her as "such a badass". So as the seasons went on, George's Arya dissipated and B&W replaced her with a caricature of Maisie; put her in contrived scenarios to show off what a badass Maisie is; etc etc...hence the Braavos chase scenes, the Frey murders, and Arya killing the Night King when it had nothing to directly do with her plot.

[@Nyahuma-tv1cl]

Arya is a badass killer. That's what she was trained to do. The problem was her having no self-reflection after she gained the skills she longed for and seeing that they didn't solve the problem of her beloved being dead or prevent anyone else from dying. Her revenge was sweet when it should have been deeply unsatisfying. Lady Stoneheart wasn't necessary for her to confront that reality. Both Jon and Sansa would have been horrified had she confessed to killing all of the Frey men.

[@cherylbaxter8986]

​​@@ashleyofnaaththank you your Spot On , her Sansa ,Brann an Tyrion were D & D's favourite's that's why they got everything

[@cherylbaxter8986]

​@@Nyahuma-tv1clJon would yes I suppose sansa would also as not even in the show did that come out what she did ,as brann would've seen it an said nothing

[@ACinemafanatic]

@@Nyahuma-tv1clshe is but the way they changed her it’s almost like she became black widow or something the faceless men training wasn’t meant to train her physically but she’s trained to be on some espionage stuff.

[@zack3429]

So much was lost. I'm still not over the exclusion of Arianne and Quentyn Martell and like a deeper look into their rivalry.

[@QuinnTheGM]

That’s a really interesting idea for a video, I was already leaning towards Dorne for my next analysis.

[@jolinefields3460]

They made Dorne a joke and unpopular with the focus on the wrong characters and not believing the audience was smart enough to keep track of the recurring poignant characters that were fine but became the bad joke of their writing and as a woman could have had better things to do… but you know the lost potential ther and how it undermined the long laid plans and character significance to the women (Who have some of the most power in their respective country kingdom more than most women, and just reinforced any doubts on why it is a good thing to have both men and women with minds to rule the kingdom even if they can’t see the entire endgame that may be was being played out, but we didn’t get to see that in the show either just one batch to another a daughter for a daughter keep rolling those revenge scenes over and over and over till the cows come home or don’t… But this is an animal farm either nice reference😊)

[@luminousignesia372]

Ong when they left out Arianne I was so mad. Idc about leaving out Quentyn that much even though I like his story but Arianne will be a huge character in winds like she's gonna be young Griff's queen man we need her. But they didn't add young Griff either so I guess I'm just mad about everything past season 6

[@msherif428]

*insert random nameless martell in the 'who has a better story' scene*

[@thebrowncasanova1017]

@@QuinnTheGMplease do

[@BlasphometicHermetic]

It amazes me that D&D were even capable of working out the identity of Jon Snows mother when pitching the show to George.

[@Slickford_IV]

They didn't. They went with the biggest fan theory.

[@dee-taylor]

I was a poster on some OG vBulletin forums of ASOIAF in the early 2000s. Even back then, the R+L=J theory was widely accepted as fact.

[@mmmahh9056]

Probably just googled it

[@jackmckeown616]

At this point I'm sure they used a SparkNotes summary

[@stfnknbb]

They probably googled it lol

[@sheagaming]

I just can’t wrap my head around why they didn’t step down as showrunners after the red wedding. It’s clear they were bored of the show and books after that point and it’s not like they still wouldn’t be getting paid. Bringing on a new show runner to adapt the rest of book 3 and properly adapt books 4&5 would’ve been the smart move on their end. No ruined reputation and no ruined show, the best of both worlds

[@QuinnTheGM]

My main thought is that the show got so incredibly popular that they really didn’t want to step away from the fame.

[@cherylbaxter8986]

​@@QuinnTheGMTotally true an all the $$$ as writers, an producer's they would've been getting , not that they are qualified or accredited writers or producers No Qualifications

[@fantasyhaven1]

Qyburn on his way to rip off the ADWD epilogue for no fucking reason

[@justingraves1291]

Pycells deleted scene with Tywin is probably the greatest thing GoT did.

[@QuinnTheGM]

It’s a strong contender for my favorite show-only scene. Doesn’t clear Bobby and Cersei though.

[@JanYaps]

1. Tywin and Pycelle scene 2. King Robert talking to Cersei 3. Chaos is a ladder 4. Hardhome 5. Arya and Tywin scene "anyone can be killed"

[@mappingshaman5280]

The best show original scene for me Is stannis and shireen's moment at castle black. Its too bad they ruined it 5 episodes later. I also like tywin talking to joffrey in the throne rooiim, davos and stannis visiting the iron bank.

[@mappingshaman5280]

The best show original scene for me Is stannis and shireen's moment at castle black. Its too bad they ruined it 5 episodes later. I also like tywin talking to joffrey in the throne rooiim, davos and stannis visiting the iron bank.

[@blackop013]

I suppose old Walder gets away with so much because the Seven, in all their wisdom, pass all his bad charma down to Merrett. The guys whole life was a totally bogus journey.

[@SamanthaBoooooooo]

"Still better than Game of Thrones season 8" has become a phrase in my circles

[@warlordofbritannia]

Skipping Stoneheart was a red flag, but at the time you could see that they would plausibly write around that omission. Removing the Tysha confession was a fatal, malingering wound that caused the show to slowly bleed out. The finale of season 4 was the last episode I watched as it released. No Young Griff was inexplicable and caused immediate derailing.

[@SoCalSon395]

Happy Birthday! As a huge ASOIAF fan who got to the series late and a recent ed studies grad who's hoping to start teaching high school pretty soon, I love your content and I really like the references to your teaching you frequently toss in. It's cool to see that someone can transition into a career of teaching and still leave time to love fantasy whether that's DnD or ASOIAF. Keep up the good work, I know I'll be watching.

[@Inkspeckle]

Omitting Arianne is probably one of the most baffling choices for me. She isn't just someone vaguely relevant to the Dorne chapters, she is the MAIN POV CHARACTER. she is WAY more relevant than Trystane or even the sand snakes. they could've cut Ellaria and the sand snakes and sure it wouldnt have been great, but Arianne and Doran were so important for the whole thing. They really shot themselves in the foot by removing Young Griff from the story since that ties so deeply into with the Dorne plot. I think they didn't give a shit about Dorne ever, especially not after Oberyn died, and it showed in the frankly embarassing way they tried to Frankenstein some kind of reasoning together for why Dorne didn't just straight up secede after Oberyn was killed and several different wars broke out, forcing the crown's attention elsewhere. in the books its clear that Doran wants to keep peace until he has the Targaryen (whichever one) to rally behind and marry to one of his children (Arianne at first, then Quentyn, possibly Arianne again with Young Griff showing up), but since Dumb & Dumber removed that aspect of the story entirely they had no idea what to do with Dorne. a talented writer may have been able to create something new and engaging, but alas, the show was stuck with two clowns for writers, unable to see past their overinflated egos.

[@mschell8022]

They made a mockery of the Dorne plotline. Because of that, most casual fans don't take it seriously at all.

[@samuelcrows]

Stoneheart missing was a sign that D&D didnt really care about the magic elements in the show.

[@masonmccarthy9057]

Seasons 5-8 bud not just 8

[@bebos1262]

Them not adapting Quarth and the House of the Undying properly should have been a red flag and a sign of things to come in terms of how they were to treat the magical and actual fantasy elements of the series. They gutted asoiaf of its bread and butter

[@deadbully1337]

I actually tattooed SH and i was super sad when she didnt come to hang pod

[@MeleysRQ]

I think it was the final nail in the coffin for magic as they toned down the House of the Undying and didn't made any Stark kid but Bran a skinchanger, plus many more things. Ignoring Stoneheart was definetly a sign they didn't cared about the themes of the story nor its many messages.

[@mschell8022]

​@@MeleysRQCrazy how they thought they had to filter and censor the magic out of the series

[@earlpipe9713]

Arya killing all the Freys, all at once, was a full spectrum farce of failure by the showrunners

[@mschell8022]

The worst thing was how the general audience didn't seem to care at all about that scene

[@AttemptedJustice]

QUINN!!! First, Congratulations! Its no wonder you’re my preferred ASOIAF content creator! You construct your theories and opinions like a fellow law scholar. I just passed the BAR 3 years ago and still remember the absolute hell that was Law School and how quickly I was humbled as a L1 who assumed I could juggle much of anything but school. Law school can be all consuming. Don’t let the imposter syndrome tell you that you can’t do it if you don’t upload any videos for a while. Anyone whose been in any doctoral program will certainly understand. Cheers X

[@Ricardo_Muna_Singh_716]

Happy Birthday, Quinn. Please keep the ASOIAF content coming!

[@mtizdrunk6419]

I like the idea of Arya putting her mother to rest, but I believe a better ending for lady stoneheart would be for her to realize how empty revenge is for herself and use the kiss of life to bring back Jon to make up for her lifelong hatred she had for him (or to punish him, however you want to look at it)

[@jacksparrow9227]

Hope so, Melisandre bringing him back isn’t that interesting though if he’s trap-warged in Ghost would he just go back into his revived body?

[@NoCryinRyan]

Stoneheart embodies vengeance; all of Cat’s rage, grief and pain shape Stoneheart’s violence, cruelty and madness. Arya mercy killing her is the only way I can see her story ending (thematically and narratively fitting). Jon will probably come back as a wight or an Other; he’ll warg into Ghost until the cold of the Others reach him (the prologues for AGoT, ASoS and ADwD all seem to hint at the Others trying to find someone).

[@العهدالجديد-ن9خ]

Martin released 12 sample chapters from Winds of Winter most of them lack major events and barely advance the plot . I am sure he intentionally left the eventful chapters like Jaime for the official book release although he finished them quite early

[@xenomorphgrid4177]

Happy Birthday, Quinn, you are legitimately my favorite content creator, and I look forward to seeing you grow. :)

[@josephbulkin9222]

The showrunners did not run out of books. They simply stopped reading them because they thought they knew better. The lack of heraldry, magic, and color in general was a problem the show had from the beginning, and it should never have been in live action.

[@QuinnTheGM]

I feel like HotD has done a good job of capturing color, heraldry, and magic in live action.

[@bobbybanks6810]

@@QuinnTheGM yea and even the regular show got really good over time. Still I think that ASOIAF would be perfect in Animation.

[@TheJadedJames]

The final two books in the series are still unpublished years later … the showrunners altered a lot of material from Feast/Dragons, which is understandable considering audience reaction to those books wasn’t perfect either … but a lot of their changes sucked

[@josephbulkin9222]

Yes it should have. If A Dream Of Spring comes back, here's still a chance. Give it 20 years or so@@bobbybanks6810

[@josephbulkin9222]

Altered? I think you mean outright removed. Rip Victarion Greyjoy, my favorite character.@@TheJadedJames

[@a.a677]

ASOS epilogue is so amazing, I still remember feeling so creeped out and haunted by it. D&D leaving out Lady Stoneheart is so stupid.

[@chrisviolante1953]

I haven’t watched your videos in a couple of months and decided to watch this one and damn the quality of your editing and mic really has Improved a lot good stuff man

[@loloflac2667]

Never commented on a video, but as a long time watcher, happy birthday 🥳

[@brendan9868]

It’ll never cease to amaze me how often D&D started doing plotlines from the books and then would be just way off with them. Like they did the Jeyne Poole arc where they posed her as Arya and made her marry Ramsay, but instead of Jeyne they decided Littlefinger would sell Sansa to the Boltons for no apparent reason. Or how it looked like they were about to do the dorne plotline, then omitted Quentin, Arianne and the attempt to put Myrcella on the throne in favor of making the sand snakes kill Doran and takeover dorne for some reason. There’s just so many examples of them knowing the source material and just actively choosing to not follow it. So to me the books not being done excuse that’s often used doesn’t cut it because they already had a history of not following the books really anyways and were on a trajectory to where regardless of the books status the story would still be different because they omitted so many important plotlines. Like just not having Aegon alone completely changes the entire story and dumbs it down astronomically.

[@mschell8022]

It's worse when you see people treat D&D's shitty fanfic as if it has any real book evidence behind it

[@JanYaps]

I think a big mistake early on in season 1 was making jeyne poole an unimportant secondary character. By not giving her any lines really she was just that girl you see on screen occasionally that the average audience member will go "whos that again?" But she was really important for the northern plot in the later books impersonating arya. It made no sense for littlefinger to sell her away in the show

[@AnakinBlackfyre]

I wish they would just make a animated series for asoiaf and tell the story correctly this time lol we had to miss several battle scenes because of the budget and the probably left those characters out for the same reason.

[@april-bloom]

Bro has been a content machine these past two weeks, and I'm all for it

[@MeleysRQ]

Great content as always, Lady Stoneheart rol in the novels is so amaizing and carefully crafted it pains me every time someone says she devalues death in asoiaf as she does the exact opposite making you fear the effects of the death even more. Idk I just think is neat.

[@thisisgame]

Happy Birthday dude! I'm glad someone is still making ASOIAF content

[@SDH159]

I would’ve loved to see these 2 epilogues adapted to got, imagine how cool it would be to see nothing of Varys for a whole season before he kills Pycelle and Kevan at the end of S6

[@aidenbutterfield754]

Honestly what the show did to Jamie crushes me. I like a lot of ASOIAF but Jamie’s arc in the books so far is so so good and in the show it was also and the three it all away for fucking nothing. I know it’s likely but I just need to know from George Jamie in the books isn’t gonna be like “She’s hateful and so am I” or “ I never cared much for (the small folk)” Legit everything else I could forgive but that I just need to know it’s not true.

[@blackeyedlily]

Great video! You made some excellent observations about how the two epilogues contain important story points that were left out of the television show. I would also add that the prologue to Feast had additional content, especially when combined with Sam’s final POV chapter. There were important elements of the Faceless Men storyline in that prologue, along with the Maester Marwin the Mage and setting up Oldtown for the coming disasters of Winds, which I expect will be unleashed by Euron. The other thing that the epilogues did in my opinion was to end Act One and Act Two of the series. You spoke to this as well, but I would like to add that, in addition to the magical threat from the Others, which permeates the entire story, each Act seems to include a primary human villain, with each one darker than the one before them. Act One had Joffrey. Act Two has Ramsey. And Euron is looking like the Act Three villain, who might have a connection with the magical powers threatening the world.

[@AlgrenTheBlue]

Happy birthday Quinn!

[@vladimirsuigetsu6167]

Happy Birthday! Absolutely love your content!

[@taylora9672]

I don’t think Jamie or Briennes story ends when they meet stoneheart, but at the same time how do they escape her need for vengeance?

[@fishpastethe4th340]

They could help with the infiltration of the Frey castle and could alert the Frey's early and let them fight the brotherhood without banners. Jamie and Brianne could escape in the chaos, but lady stone heart needs to survive for Arya to meet her. Maybe Lady Stoneheart does die in the chaos and Brianne could be the one who brings the news to Arya when she arrives in Westeroes. Makes it even more tragic that she didn't get the option to see her mother or lay her to rest

[@avatarname0008]

I was thinking thoros of myr saves them as he feels the brotherhood has lost its purpose

[@Will-tn8kq]

Maybe Stoneheart forgives them. Jamie went on a long journey of redemption. Maybe he apologizes for the horrible things he did, Briene vouches for him that he has changed. And Stoneheart regains some of her soul in the act of forgiveness.

[@mschell8022]

I'm convinced that one of them doesn't escape

[@KaiHung-wv3ul]

Maybe Thoros helps them, he might convince Stoneheart in forcing Jaime or Brienne to help with the revenge wedding, and later Arya shows up and kills her or something.

[@fionncourtney5771]

Happy birthday Quinn 🎉 You’re keeping my ASOIAF interest at its all time high plateau 😎 Keep doing what you do forever

[@jolinefields3460]

Always love your videos and your take on things very creative. Very concise., it’s always poignant. Thank you.

[@lead_downpour8854]

This is absolutely your best video yet!

[@marauder7209]

"With baited breath for the next novel" I've held my breath for 12 years, I am not giving up!

[@QperG]

We really need a thrones reboot thats as book accurate as possible.

[@mappingshaman5280]

Maybe if we get winds, otherwise I don't think anyone will risk it

[@mschell8022]

Not going to happen for at least 40 years from now

[@grimreva3157]

happy birthday dude!!! love your takes on all things asoiaf , keep it up :)

[@Noah_EW]

Happy birthday! Loved the video… Just found you from your ADWD 12th anniversary video!

[@thatoneguyyouseearound7112]

Great video Quinn, keep em coming

[@johnvalentine5917]

Imagine if one of the seasons with ended with varys showing up from the shadows and killing Kevin and revealing his true intentions with Aegon. This would have given Dany a true enemy to fight against especially when she finds out the people love Aegon (once he conquers kings landing) and would have made her kill the blackfyre only to be hated by the people she wanted to rule out of jealousy or if the greyscale theory is true a tragic hero similar to Jaime with the mad king and people would give her the name the mad queen because they don't know of the plague she stopped they thought she just wanted to spread fire and blood better story arc than what we got in season 8 really disappointing because Aegon would have been an awesome addition to the show especially if given the legendary sword Blackfyre as a sign of his legitimacy and his name of course reminds me of what Otto said in HOTD

[@jacksparrow9227]

It would already still be way different and not as good with all the characters and plots left out like Jeyne Westerling and Stoneheart among others

[@erf3176]

I like the extra scene with Pycelle and Tywin as an extra. But very ok with it being taken out. I think confirming that Pycelle is faking being dumb is not a good move. I prefer that they leave it like a question. The more subtle quasi reveal they have for this is when he is talking with Ross until she gets exasperated and leaves. And then the old man starts to do some exercises that show he is more physically fit than what he usually seems. It gets the audience thinking there might be more to him. But it doesn't give it away. Agree with the vid that getting rid of Young Griff created lots of problems. Without him, Varys does not seem like a master strategist. In the show, in spite of all his spies, his plan was to put Viserys on the throne, either knowing (or not knowing) he'd be as bad or worse than Robert or Joffrey. Varys merely stumbles upon Danny being a good ruler to put in the throne. In the books he seems have cleverly been setting up Viserys to cross the sea with the Dothraki and weaken Robert and the Lannisters so that Griff can show up later and do away with all of them.

[@timemaster914]

Happy birthday man! You rock!

[@annavafeiadou4420]

Happy birthday!!!!!! Wishes for a long , happy and prosperous life !!!!!!!! And you are right!!!

[@alexcastro3857]

Great video Quinn! Happy Birthday too dude

[@animavestra7563]

Happy Birthday Quinn, love the content :)

[@williamwilliams8809]

Well waddaya know, you and someone I know share a birthday. Happy birthday Quinn! 🎂🥳

[@sonny8686]

Loved the video! And wish you good luck with your classes

[@11bluekitkats]

Great video also happy birthday!

[@BatFlash52]

Happy Birthday 🎉. Love your channel, love your collabs with Fantasy Haven and hope you had a great day.

[@the_dancing_koko7663]

woooo happy birthday man i love your videos you are severely underrated

[@10bunks12]

I don’t even care about the show anymore. Im so invested in the books. I have read them over a few times. So so good. I hope Winds does come out Soon. The story it is to good to not be finished

[@dominicpalmer3130]

Happy birthday (and good luck at law school), happy to hear the analysis of the epilogues as I really enjoy them - almost more than the prologues (sorry to potentially be controversial, just a personal view rather than a slight on the prologues)

[@modelnanpresident]

Great video!! Happy birthday man!! Keep Up the great work

[@PinkGrapefruit22]

It's wild to me that D&D apparently thought they could just cut out characters by assigning their plotlines to other characters. As you pointed out, Cersei killing Kevan and Pycelle made zero sense. I think they tried to give some of Aegon's plot to Cersei and some to Jon Snow (I mean, I guess that was their reasoning behind saying his Targaryen name was "Aegon"????), but the actions just don't make sense and don't hold the same weight when done by different characters. If they really wanted to cut Aegon and, say, kill off Pycelle and Kevan Lannister, they should have come up with reasons for them to die that were plausible for the characters and story they were creating. But, honestly, it is soooo not plausible that Cersei is allowed to sit the throne after blowing up the Sept. Having Littlefinger marry Sansa to Ramsey instead of Jeyne? Cersei being supported by the Golden Company????? They weren't even trying to make it make sense. I think they just stopped really caring about making GOT good and just wrote whatever they could think of to get to the end as fast as possible. :/

[@dewi981]

That drawing of Lady Stoneheart is amazing, both hilarious and terrifying!!

[@jayse324]

HAPPY BDAY QUINN🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@mathewdean3334]

I think the epilogue on dance is the best one, in my opinion, as well it really makes you feel another dynasty is about to be brought down I can't quite describe the feeling

[@maelclen9519]

Happy birthday 🎉 !!! Thanks you for your great work

[@aislingnifhoghlu6351]

Happy birthday Quinn 🎉

[@Brellowcrop]

I hate the idea that they ran out of books to adapt. Young Griff, Victarion, Lady Stoneheart, Sansa's real storyline, the winterfel plot with the Boltons and Manderlies, Stannis, and more. Happy birthday, mate

[@BlackHand531]

They didn't want to do certain things to avoid the show being longer.

[@connormulholland2054]

Happy birthday and great video, that is all

[@mirandatangerine]

Happy birthday!! 🎉🎉🎉

[@cebolaameaca]

Happy belated birthday Quinn!

[@thewolfman5276]

Happy Birthday, my friend!

[@richardtabor8686]

LAW SCHOOL POGGERS!!!!! Good luck, Quinn.

[@bekkimcgrath]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY! 🎉🎉

[@Steelrat1994]

The reason was very simple and universally recognized: they were tired of doing it and wanted to move to newer shinier projects. And the HBO executives were afraid of interfering with the golden gooses, so they didn't step in and pass the show to someone else.

[@thehonestaspy102]

Honestly the Epilogues and Prologues are some of my favourite chapters as you get to see through the eyes of fringe characters and see perspectives and events you'd otherwise miss. Merrett Frey's is my personal favourite for the insight into how dysfunctional the family is and for the mic drop moment of Stoneheart being alive (kind of) and killing Freys! Also I'm convinced D and D never actually cared about the books or source material although this didn't become clear until they were given free reign from George in S5

[@petermann673]

2:56 Happy Birthday!!!!! 🎉🎉🎉

[@43Habsfan]

yeah I never really understood why they straight up didn't use a good chunk of the very little source material they had

[@Dare_To_Game]

Happy Birthday! Lol. Great video too.

[@nielsonmandela1185]

I don't see enough happy birthday wishes for this man

[@ThommyofThenn]

We should get a documentary on the astonishing failure and mismangagement of the later series of the show. I think it would be very instructive to identify the causes and decision making that resulted in so many bad fanfic ideas actually made it to screen. Hopefully we are all at least somewhat familiar with the process of taking a tv show from idea, to script, to filming and post. All D/D's bad ideas had to get through the process. I guess it's a lesson in how dangerous it is to have power concentrated like that

[@finnscho]

Who do you think will be the POV Character in the first Chapter (after the prologue) in The Winds of Winter?

[@QuinnTheGM]

My first full-fledged ASOIAF theory was about exactly that! Check out my prologue video.

[@finnscho]

@@QuinnTheGM Thx :)

[@mihaiionita5648]

I am curious how you pronounce Littlefinger's name.

[@KaiHung-wv3ul]

Puh-tire

[@cassiuscoleman4624]

I was introduced to ASOIAF through a good friend (RIP Alec due to Covid) but through the TV show first. He recommended the books and I immediately flew out to get them. Once I saw how massive each book was I knew right away that a 10 season format was the wrong one for this story. That was the first mistake D&D and whomever else made that decision made. This was when season 3 was about to start. Early on I also knew that the way they were paring things down that the would indeed be out of true source material before or by the 5th season and I was right. Not specifically but couldn't we all sense or feel a shift in the quality of the drama and inter character dynamics? It didn't happen all at once but you could clearly see how things were beginning to run downhill. The idea of working for another studio on a brand new project and that being the reason they all of a sudden upped stakes and capped the show never really rang true with me. That made and makes absolutely zero sense. Star Wars is a super huge, colossal juggernaut of a franchise and it's not like they couldn't have held off another three years before they were able to fully commit or whatever it is they so urgently needed to do in order to get in with the folks at the mouse. Even main people on Smallvile at some point turned the reins of the show over to some of their most trusted writers by turning them into producers. It's not like it wasn't going to take some time to develop, flesh out and prepare whatever project they were going to be doing for the mouse. Too little has been said and what has been said has been highly suspect from the start. I think Georege just got fed up with their alterations and changes and just stopped sharing pertinent character and story information with them. They realized this and decided to get out while the gettin' was good and as a big "F U" to George and the fans the boo-booed all over the show and cut it to an end. And shot themselves in the foot as a result. Yeah, the biggest thing I wanted to see closing out the final seasons was Lady Stoneheart. I felt so much for the Starks and how their own unwavering nobility and honor continued to hog tie them in the face of less scrupulous more nefarious characters. The set up and tension between Jamie and Brienne was just begging to be resolved and they missed that too. Oh well at least with that recent news of Martin celebrating some kind of huge professional-seeming accomplishment we might be getting a new book probably by year's end or early next year. I hope.

[@junaidakbar9623]

Finally Quinn got the MIC

[@azsultan_]

Love your videos and good luck with your law school journey!

[@mintw4241]

Happy birthday!!

[@Scott100W]

Happy Birthday dude

[@JoshuaKevinPerry]

Shout out to Lena Hedley for making a stone heart on her IG before one season finale. Congratulations on your name day

[@fishpastethe4th340]

Omg happy birthday and congratulations on getting into law school! I wish you the best of luck!

[@rpproductions6241]

I hate it when people say "Oh well they ran out of book material". That is NOT an excuse for bad writing

[@HarryModN]

happy birthday!

[@nannalange6696]

Happy birthday, and good luck with lawschool!

[@scarecrown7s]

Happy Birthday, please do a video on why Feast for Crows is the best book of the series.

[@MoonSystem-They-It]

For me, as a someone going through for the first time (just got onto adwd), Feast is the best because its has basically 2 returning "main" character (Arya and Jaime), and is full to the brim with people I've never seen before, but is able to keep me engaged both through these new perspectives I never considered for taking seriously, but also allows for a clearer showing of the Themes of ASOIAF that aren't muddied by "Stark vs Lannister, wonder who's gonna win the thrones uwu"

[@scarecrown7s]

AFFC is my favorite, you're right, new characters, new perspectives, not a Stark vs Lannister feel@@MoonSystem-They-It

[@ThommyofThenn]

I'm no philosopher but I can understand the idea of revenge, an eye for an eye just makes the world blind etc. However, in the the culture of Westeros specifically, what do you think is the proposed alternative to seeking revenge for a horror like Catelyn and Arya experienced, as an example? In the text of ASOIAF, what alternative to more violence do you think grrm is trying to "promote," if anything? Been considering this for a while and wondering what others think.

[@allenstevens4402]

Happy Birthday 🍻

[@agthe8999]

Happy birthday!!!!!!

[@shelleyj3704]

Happy Birthday! And Happy Law School!

[@h.a.harris7423]

The epilogue in Feast for Crows is my favorite

[@sblinder1978]

Quinn the GM: Happy Birthday, A Game of Thrones! A Game of Thrones: It's not my birthday, that was- Quinn: Oh I thought we had the same birthday A Game of Thrones: [sighs] Happy birthday Quinn the GM Now that I'm done stealing from The Office, what do you make of D&D's changes given their knowledge of GRRM's planned ending? 1. Can we assume fAegon makes no impact, if he can be omitted entirely? 2. Can we assume Euron's impact is minimal, given D&D reduced him to a naughty pirate? I like to believe that these plotlines are important and will contribute to the conclusion, and that D&D's mishandling of them is not a sign that they're ultimately trivial.

[@QuinnTheGM]

I think Aegon was omitted because D&D thought they were cool and could condense his role into other characters, but they clearly couldn’t. I think Euron was dropped because they hated the magical elements of the story, which he heavily focuses on.

[@jamessanford2991]

Happy Birthday!