The first season of Game of Thrones was released a few months before the fifth novel in the A Song of Ice and Fire book series of which it is based on.
The success of the TV show gave some fans the false hope that the increased interest would ignite a fire in George R.R. Martin that would allow him to quickly finish the series so that the later seasons of Game of Thrones could be faithful adaptations of his work.
These foolish hopes of the fanbase never came to , as The Winds of Winter still lacks a release date as of the time of writing.
Game of Thrones is approaching its final season and it's safe to say that we are more likely to see the end of the show before the next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series is released.
The lack of information regarding the future of the series has meant that Game of Thrones has sometimes struggled to make sense in regards to its own continuity. These problems have always existed within the show, but they were increased by a great amount when the events of the story ed the ones from the novels.
We are here today to reveal the times when the Game of Thrones TV show stopped making sense and ignored the events of previous episodes; from the revolving door policy of Moat Cailin to the vanishing member of the Kingsguard.
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Sam The Sword Thief
Sam Tarly tells Jon Snow the story of how his father threatened to arrange for a lethal "accident" if he didn't the Night's Watch.
Lord Randyll Tarly first appeared in the sixth season of Game of Thrones, where he was just as vile as we imagined him to be. Sam visits his old home on his journey to the Citadel and decides to steal Heartsbane, the Valyrian steel sword of House Tarly before he departs.
Sam is somehow able to retain ownership of Heartsbane, even though he remained in the Reach for several months during his training and was able to travel to Winterfell without incident.
We are somehow meant to believe that the man who was so proud of his heritage that he threatened to dispose of his own son to prevent him from disgracing the family name was just fine with a precious family heirloom being stolen.
Lord Randyll Tarly could easily have sent a couple of men to retrieve the sword and Sam couldn't have done anything about it, yet he never did.
The Long-Term Annulment
Game of Thrones finally confirmed the fan theory that Jon Snow is the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. It wasn't apparent how legitimate this union was, as Rhaegar was already married to Elia Martell and they had two children together, both of whom were older than Jon.
Gilly would go on to discover a document at the Citadel which proved that Rhaegar had his marriage to Elia Martell annulled and that his marriage to Lyanna Stark was official.
This means that Jon Snow is a legitimate Targaryen and has a better claim to the throne than Daenerys.
The problem with the idea of annulment is that they are meant to be used in situations where the marriage wasn't consummated, as was stated with Sansa and Tyrion's short-lived marriage.
The fact that Rhaegar had two children meant that an annulment should have been impossible.
The Part-Time Night's Watch Employee
The vows of a member of the Night's Watch prevent them from abandoning their duty, which includes leaving their post to go take up political positions south of the Wall.
Jon Snow managed to find a loophole by returning from the grave, with the aid of Melisandre's magic. He would go on to reclaim the lands of his ancestors and is declared the new King in the North, despite his status as an illegitimate child of Eddard Stark.
The show never addresses the fact that the people of the North should consider Jon Snow to be a Night's Watch deserter, which is something that is punishable by execution.
His excuse for abandoning the Night's Watch is that he was resurrected, but how many people would actually believe that, especially as he has no proof?
The Empty Dragonstone
"Dragonstone" ends with a scene of Daenerys and her entourage arriving at the titular island, which represents the first time that she had truly stepped on the soil of Westeros.
There was an extended scene where she travels through the empty castle on the island and reclaims her birthright.
It's never explained why the castle of Dragonstone is empty. Stannis Baratheon was the previous ruler of Dragonstone and likely would have left a garrison there.
It's possible that Dragonstone was abandoned by Stannis' men, which then raises the question of why Tommen or Cersei's regime never reclaimed the island.
Dragonstone is significant because it is the seat of the heir of the kingdom, so reclaiming the castle would have helped cement the status of the current regime and brought a definitive end to Stannis' campaign, yet it is left empty.
The Lannister Age Issue
One of the biggest changes in the adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire to the screen was increasing the age of almost every character in the show.
This meant that the actions of the younger cast would be more believable and that the producers of the show wouldn't be sent to jail, due to Daenerys only being thirteen years old on her wedding night in the books.
The ages of the three Lannister siblings have seen the most change, to the point where they have been retconned on several occasions.
Cersei tells Margaery that she re the Reyne Rebellion, even though it happened six years before she was born. The exact age of when Cersei and Jaime were born has changed on several occasions, which also clashes with the year when Robert Baratheon became king to the point where it is hard to say what either of their ages is.
These changes also extend to Joffrey, especially as the addition of another child before him makes it almost impossible for Joffrey to have been born when they say he was.
The Vale Doesn't Care About Arya & The Hound
The Hound had plans to ransom Arya Stark off to a member of her family, but they kept perishing before he could get the chance.
His last chance at finding a good price was with Lysa Arryn, who is Arya's aunt. This hope was squashed by the time that the duo reached the Bloody Gate of the Vale, as they learned that Lysa had been pushed out of the Moon Door.
Arya and the Hound are allowed to leave the Bloody Gate, even though she would be an incredibly valuable hostage and he is a man who is wanted by the Lannister regime.
It's not as if there weren't enough men around to take down the Hound, as the gate is one of the most well-defended points in the Vale.
The guards just let these two incredibly important people leave and go off on their way.
Maggy's Incorrect Prophecy
In "The Wars To Come" it is revealed that Cersei encountered a witch, named Maggy the Frog, when she was a young girl.
Maggy prophecised that Cersei would marry the king, that she would one day be cast down by a younger and more beautiful queen, and that she would have three children of her own, all of which would wear golden crowns and golden shrouds.
The prophecy of Maggy the Frog comes from the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, but it doesn't make much sense in relation to the story of Game of Thrones.
It is revealed in the first season of Game of Thrones that Cersei and Robert Baratheon did have a child together who ed away as an infant.
This unnamed child is an invention of the TV show and it screws up Maggy's prophecy, as it means that Cersei had four children.
Moat Cailin Is Empty
The North is protected from invasions from the south by an area called the Neck, which is a huge stretch of marshland that is almost impossible to traverse.
The only road that runs through the Neck is guarded by the three towers of Moat Cailin, which can allow a small defensive force to hold off an army.
Petyr Baelish mentions in "The Door" that the armies of the Vale were waiting at Moat Cailin. They were later able to through the area and catch Ramsay's army by surprise, resulting in a victory for the revived Stark forces.
It's never stated how the Vale armies were able to through one of the most highly defensive points in Westeros, nor how an entire army was able to make it through the North without being detected.
The Boltons would almost certainly have left a fighting force at Moat Cailin, as they were still wary of their Lannister allies and had previously committed open treason by allowing Ramsay to marry Sansa Stark.
Qarth Needs A Kingsguard
The storyline involving Daenery's journey to Qarth in the second season of Game of Thrones was greatly expanded in the TV show.
This included adding a story where Xaro Xhoan Daxos teams up with Pyat Pree to dispose of the other ruling merchants of Qarth so that Daxos can declare himself the ruler of the city.
The last time we see Xaro Xhoan Daxos is when Daenerys and her men manage to infiltrate his home and lock him up in his own vault. This scene was an invention of the TV show, as Daxos is still alive in the books.
Daenery's forces at this point consisted of a few Dothraki soldiers, three baby dragons, and Jorah Mormont, yet she was still able to invade the home of a sovereign ruler and assassinate him with very little trouble.
She was also able to escape the city without harm, with the only retaliation coming from a single (and poorly thought out) assassination attempt by the Warlocks of Qarth.
The Phantom Karstark Army
Robb Stark loses a large portion of his army when he executes Lord Rickard Karstark for treason. This event is far more significant in the show than the books, as Robb Stark claims that the Karstark host abandoned his army, which meant that he had lost half of his forces.
The Karstark army was nowhere near as big in the books, but Robb still lost a significant portion of his army.
We never learn exactly what happened to the Karstark host in the show. They likely could not have returned home, as the Ironborn still held Moat Cailin, which would have trapped them south of the Neck.
This means that half of Robb Stark's army is still out there somewhere.
If the Karstark host had somehow managed to return to the North, then they would have had the military might to prevent the Boltons from returning North and could declare themselves the ruling family.
This is because they had Stark blood and could conceivably be considered the heirs in a situation where no Starks were present, yet they allowed the Boltons to return unharmed and ed their cause.