New Winds of Winter Excerpt Shows How Much Game of Thrones Is Missing

In the run up to Game of Thrones Season 6, there was quite a bit of discussion about whether the new season would spoil the novels the series is based on. Author George R.R. Martin and showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff all seemed to agree that the show and its source material have veered apart far enough to not step on each other's toes going forward, and a new excerpt from Martin's next novel, The Winds of Winter, certainly backs that claim up.

The newly released chapter follows a travelling party from Dorne on behalf of the ruling House Martell. Dorne and House Martell's storyline is the one that has been the most radically changed from the source material, a fact that had an exclamation point added to it when Prince Doran Martell, ruler of Dorne, was suddenly killed off in the Season 6 premiere episode, "The Red Woman."

The passage is told from the perspective of Princess Arianne Martell, the daughter of the still-living Doran. Didn't know Doran had a daughter? That's understandable if you've only watched the show, since she's never been mentioned.

While plenty of other characters from the source material have been left out of Game of Throens, Arianne's exclusion is notable for a couple of reasons. Firstly, she's a point-of-view character, one several character through whose eyes we see the story of A Song of Ice and Fire unfurl. That puts her the same level of significance as Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and all three of the Lannister siblings.

Second, Dorne has a very distinct and unique culture from the rest of the Seven Kigndoms of Westeros. Where the other six kingdoms were conquered by the Targaryens and forced to unify under one monarch, the Targaryens could never take the Dornish peninsula, and the kingdom remained independent for generations before joining the others through royal marriage. One of their unique customs is that inheritance is passed down to the eldest child regardless of gender, meaning that the Kingdom has frequently been ruled by women. Arianne is Doran's eldest, making heir the heiress to House Martell's seat at Sunspear, but Game of Thrones chose to circumvent all of that by leaving her out and only including her younger brother, Trystane (dead on the show now as well).

But it isn't just Arianne who stands out here. The passage is full of characters and plotlines that have been omitted from Game of Thrones, trading the subtle intrigue of Doran's carefully planned plot for revenge in the books for the brazen rage of Ellaria Sand (a minior character in the novels) and the Sand Snakes in the show.

Here's a paragraph from the excerpt, to give you an idea of what I'm talking about:

Nyrn and Tyene may have reached King's Landing by now, she mused, as she settled down crosslegged by the mouth of the cave to watch the falling rain. If not they ought to be there soon. Three hundred seasoned spears had gone with them, over the Boneway, past the ruins of Summerhall, and up the kingsroad. If the Lannisters had tried to spring their little trap in the kingswood, Lady Nym would have seen that it ended in disaster. Nor would the murderers have found their prey. Prince Trystane had remained safely back at Sunspear, after a tearful parting from Princess Myrcella. That accounts for one brother, thought Arianne, but where is Quentyn, if not with the griffin? Had he wed his dragon queen? King Quentyn. It still sounded silly. This new Daenerys Targaryen was younger than Arianne by half a dozen years. What would a maid that age want with her dull, bookish brother? Young girls dreamed of dashing knights with wicked smiles, not solemn boys who always did their duty. She will want Dorne, though. If she hopes to sit the Iron Throne, she must have Sunspear. If Quentyn was the price for that, this dragon queen would pay it. What if she was at Griffin's End with Connington, and all this about another Targaryen was just some sort of subtle ruse? Her brother could well be with her. King Quentyn. Will I need to kneel to him?

Again, none of that is likely to make sense to someone who watches Game of Thrones exclusively, so let's try to break it down. Nyrn (Nymeria) and Tyene are Sand Snakes, just like in the show, so that's easy enough. They're moving into position for Prince Doran to finally launch his strike against the Lannisters, something you'd never know he'd have any intention of doing from his portrayal on Game of Thrones. Also, Prince Trystane and Princess Myrcella are the same as they are in the show, star-crossed lovers, except that Ellaria and the Sand Snakes haven't murdered them.

Quentyn refers to Quentyn Martell, Doran's middle child who was also omitted from Game of thrones. He's been sent to Meereen to take Dany's hand in marriage. After Robert's Rebellion and the brutal rape and murder of Doran and Oberyn Martell's sister, Elia, and her two children, Doran and Oberyn travelled to Braavos and signed a secret pact to marry Allaria to Viserys Targaryen, thus unifying House Martell and House Targaryen to smite the Lannisters and reclaim the Iron Throne for the deposed bloodline. However, plans changed when Viserys died travelling with the Dothraki, and so Quentyn was sent to marry Dany instead. However, Dany was too young at the time to remember any of these secret dealings, and what Allaria doesn't know is that one of Dany's dragons roasted Quentyn to death not long after he arrived.

But that's just one part of the plan. Jon Connington, sometimes referred to as the griffin or Griff, was formerly the Hand of King Aerys II, the Mad King. After being defeated during Robert's Rebellion, Griff fled to Essos and joined the Golden Company, a mercenary company made up of Westerosi exiles. Griff has recently reached out to Doran Martell with the claim that, when he left Westeros, he secretly took Rhaegar and Elia's infant son, Aegon, with him, switching him with another infant who was instead murdered by the Lannister's men. Now that Aegon, whom he calls "Young Griff" to conceal his identity, is of age, Connington hopes to join forces with Doran for the Targaryen cause. Doran, however, is cautious, as Connington may be dressing up an imposter. If Young Griff is truly Aegon, that would make him the heir to the Iron Throne, not Daenerys, and it could bet that Connington simply believes a male heir will have a better chance at rallying the Houses of Westeros that were formerly loyal to the Targaryens to their cause than a female heir would.

That's a lot, right? But it's that richness, that feeling you get watching wheels spin within wheels that is missing from some of Game of Thrones, particularly its depiction of Dorne. I don't know whose idea it was to release this particular excerpt, Martin's or his editor's, but it is as if they watched "The Red Woman" and thought, "Let's remind these people of what they're missing out on."

Which is actually kind of cruel, since The Winds of Winter still doesn't have a release date.

Check out the full excerpt at Martin's website.

Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. ET on HBO.