Which Game of Thrones character endings are different from the books?

## There is no book finale yet

The most important thing is that A Song of Ice and Fire is unfinished. The last published novel, A Dance with Dragons, came out in 2011, and it ends years before Game of Thrones season 8. So it is not really accurate to say, for example, that Bran becoming king is “different from the book ending.” There is no published book ending to contradict it. George R. R. Martin summed up the relationship after the TV finale with “Yes. And no.” Some broad destinations may overlap, but he has also said the novels contain characters, plots, and choices the show left out. The better comparison is between where everyone stands at the end of the published books and where the show took them. On that front, the two versions had already split dramatically long before the finale.

## The big season 8 endings are still unknown in print

Jon Snow is the clearest example. In “The Iron Throne,” Jon kills Daenerys, is sent to the Night’s Watch, and then rides north with the Free Folk. In A Dance with Dragons, he has just been stabbed by Night’s Watch mutineers. The books have not confirmed whether he is permanently dead, resurrected, or headed toward anything like the show’s ending. Daenerys is alive in the Dothraki Sea after escaping Meereen on Drogon, not dead in the Red Keep after burning King’s Landing. Bran is still beyond the Wall, learning from Bloodraven and the Three-Eyed Crow, not king of the Six Kingdoms. Tyrion is near Meereen with the Second Sons, nowhere close to becoming Bran’s Hand. Sansa remains in the Vale as “Alayne Stone,” under Littlefinger’s control, while Arya is still training in Braavos. Their show endings may resemble future book ideas in some cases, but that has not happened on the page.

## Cersei and Jaime have a very different book setup

The show ends Jaime and Cersei’s story in “The Bells,” with the twins dying together under the collapsing Red Keep. In the published novels, both are still alive, and their relationship has gone in a very different direction. Cersei has survived her walk of atonement and is waiting for her trial in King’s Landing. Jaime has turned away from her more decisively than show Jaime does for much of the later series. He leaves with Brienne after she arrives with a desperate message, but the message is tied to Lady Stoneheart’s trap. That one missing character changes everything. Catelyn Stark is resurrected in the books as Lady Stoneheart, a brutal, revenge-driven leader of the Brotherhood Without Banners. She never appears in the show, which means the TV versions of Brienne and Jaime lose one of their most dangerous and important book storylines. Their eventual deaths, if they die, remain unknown.

## Several people the show killed are alive in the books

A number of major TV deaths are already direct continuity differences, even if they are not final book endings. Stannis is alive in the novels, campaigning against the Boltons in the North; the released Winds of Winter chapter “Theon” also keeps him alive. The show has Brienne execute him after his defeat in season 5. Shireen is also alive at the Wall with Selyse and Melisandre in A Dance with Dragons. Martin has indicated that some version of Shireen being burned came from him, but the show’s exact setup—Stannis personally authorizing it before Winterfell—is not the published book situation. Barristan Selmy is alive and leading Meereen’s defense in the books after removing Hizdahr zo Loraq. The show kills him in “Sons of the Harpy.” Rickon Stark and Osha are reportedly alive on Skagos in the novels, while Ramsay kills Rickon before the Battle of the Bastards and kills Osha earlier.

## Mance, Varys, Littlefinger, and Euron went off the rails

Mance Rayder is another huge split. In season 5’s “The Wars to Come,” Stannis burns Mance alive. In the books, the victim is actually Rattleshirt, magically disguised to look like Mance by Melisandre. The real Mance is sent into Winterfell to rescue the girl believed to be Arya Stark. That girl is actually Jeyne Poole, Sansa’s childhood friend, another character the show mostly replaced with Sansa for the Ramsay plot. Varys is alive in the books too, secretly supporting Aegon, also called Young Griff, a major claimant completely absent from the series. Book Varys murders Kevan Lannister and Pycelle; show Varys is executed by Daenerys. Littlefinger remains alive in the Vale, plotting to marry “Alayne” to Harry Hardyng, rather than being exposed and killed by Sansa at Winterfell. Book Euron is alive as well, pursuing a much stranger, more supernatural campaign around Oldtown instead of becoming Cersei’s lover and dying in a fight with Jaime.

## Arya and the Night King are not a book comparison

Arya’s big TV moments are especially hard to compare because the show created or reshaped so much around her. In “The Long Night,” she kills the Night King, ending the undead threat in one strike. But the novels do not have the Night King as an active villain commanding the Others. They have the Others themselves, plus the old legend of the Night’s King, but there is no direct book equivalent of the HBO character for Arya to stab. Likewise, Arya sailing west of Westeros in the finale has no published counterpart. She is still in Braavos, using identities such as Cat of the Canals and Mercy while learning from the Faceless Men. Hodor is worth separating from all this: he is still alive in the published books, but Martin has confirmed that the basic “hold the door” revelation came from him. That makes Hodor’s show death look less like a contradiction and more like an unprinted future-book event.