From This Point Onward, Game of Thrones Heads Into Uncharted Territory

I haven't been able to stop thinking about Game of Thrones ever since last night's episode titled "Oathkeeper" aired. This episode had the most deviations from the books so far. The last scene in particular, which is the reason for this blog post, is one that has me really thinking more about the future of the series and the franchise.

Game of Thrones is an adaptation of George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels. By the time the first season of the show ended, there were five books in the series. The TV series is almost halfway through its fourth season and it has already started introducing elements from the fourth and fifth books. It has also started to show things that were not in the books but most likely will be.

Although the first three books in the series were released relatively close to one another, the last two books have had five and six years between them (respectively). Given these time frames, it's likely that the next book, The Winds of Winter, won't be out until 2015/2016. The show runners have already said that they don't want the show to go past seven or eight seasons. This would mean that the show will end in 2017 or 2018.

While there is a chance that ol' Georgie could potentially release the last two books before 2018, it's reasonable to assume that he won't, given how long it has taken him to write the last two books. What does this mean? It means that the TV series will show the ending of the story before the books do. This may sound absurd but considering that Martin has told the show runners most of the major upcoming plot points and how the story is ultimately going to end, I think that it is a certainty that we'll SEE how the tale ends before we READ it.

Last night's episode (which I won't spoil here) had a final scene that is potentially very important to the main story arc of the series. It never happened in the novels but I doubt it was added in on a whim. I think that this, or something similar, WILL be in one of the next two books. This is just the beginning. I think that once the TV series moves past the fifth book, both fans of the show and books will be in the same position. Book fans will no longer have the luxury of saying "I know what happens next" because they'll be just as in the dark as TV fans. The advantage that book readers have enjoyed up until this point will erode.

Personally, I don't mind this. I started with the first season of the show and then went and read the novels. To have the ending of the series be revealed to me through the show before the books would be somewhat poetic. Also, and let's just be honest here, there is a real possibility that Railroad may not live long enough to finish his story. As cold as this may sound, I just want to know how things wrap up one way or another. If George passes away before ending his masterpiece then we can rest easy knowing that at least his work won't be incomplete. We WILL see how this saga ends one way or another.

I know that a lot of the novel readers don't like having the show "spoil" things for them but I personally don't mind. These events will play out differently in the books so it's not like anyone is getting completely spoiled. From this point onward, we will see even more changes in the TV adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire. More importantly, we will start seeing more and more events from the final two books. That right there gets me very excited.