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Game of Thrones & A Song of Ice and Fire blog *SPOILER POLICY: While I've read all five ASOIAF books, I don't reblog or post spoilers beyond the current episode or episode preview/trailer.*

theriverundercutsthebank asked you:

You may have already talked about this, but why do you think HBO replaced Jeyne Westerling with Talisa of Volantis?

I think they believed that the story of Jeyne and Robb wasn’t substantial enough for a plot this season, so they created one from scratch. They changed the name at GRRM’s suggestion, he has said. Robb and Jeyne fall into bed together and get married entirely off-stage in the books, with no POV characters present, so we have almost nothing to go on. I would’ve been fine with seeing the simple book version (him taking comfort in her arms after he finds out that Bran and Rickon have supposedly been killed by Theon) but I guess that wasn’t enough conflict for D&D. I suppose the spunky nurse calling out the wannabe-king seemed more interesting to them than a young man who is way over his head and a girl like Jeyne. I don’t hate the story as much as some do, but I think it was unnecessary.

The jury is still out on whether Talisa is 100% different from Jeyne. I think we’ll know once and for all after the third season is done if she has any of the same connections Jeyne had in the books.