Why does Jon Snow cry out "Olly" on the Game of Thrones TV series and in the books he cries out "Ghost"? This is a question many fans ask to this day. I am pretty sure there are many reasons Dave and D.B. had for this but I believe the answer is fairly simple, though two-parted.
There are many people who prefer books over movies or TV series as they are able to visualize what they are reading, making the story more interesting to the individual, as opposed to following what someone else, being the writers/producers, visualize in their heads. I began watching Game of Thrones on HBO before I read the 1st book of the same name. I am glad I did it this way just because it made me familiar with characters much easier than the books would have, just because there are so many!
So why did the show have Jon say "Olly" instead? I think there are 2 reasons:
1. Jon has warging ability in the books, but he suppresses it and does not use it. They address warging in season 2 when Jon has to ask the Wildlings what the guy is doing. If he knew what warging was, he would not have had to ask. Really they did not hit on the stark children's abilities much at all, with the exception of Bran. My first thought on why Jon said "Olly" instead of "Ghost" is because in the books, Jon does have warging ability, but does not use it. I believe where George RR Martin was going with him saying "Ghost", was because he had plans for Jon warging into Ghost before he succumbed to the stab in the heart from Olly. So it would have been crazy to the TV series only group to see Jon warg on the last episode of season 5, with no prior reference to it in the show. The writers can sleep at night knowing that we would have believed just about anything to see Jon Snow brought back.
2. Money, money, money. There was no way that Jon was going to say "Ghost" just because it would have been a spoiler due to reason number 1 above. If we knew Jon could warg, and he yelled out "Ghost" on a season finale of one of the biggest money making shows of all time, there would be some writer, somewhere, fired. Period. Not to mention, we would not have had night sweats for a year, waiting to find out if he was truly dead. We broke the internet the following Monday as everyone raced to find out any information they could, all while trying to mend our broken hearts. It didn't help that Kit Harrington cut off his hair after the episode aired. I would almost be willing to bet that there is a scene that was all over the cutting room floor where Jon does call out to Ghost instead of Olly.
For the show's sake, I understand why "Olly" was said to not confuse the viewer, if that was the reason. When he said it, he had a look of shock and it made sense at the time. So, well done, I suppose?
For the faithful book readers who have waited very patiently for the writer to finish the book series, I believe they are at 25 years and counting, it was most likely a huge disservice to remove this from the story line. At what point does money overtake the original author's creativity? I wonder what George RR Martin thinks about it.... Did he give his approval for it, etc? I am sure he has been asked since the "death" of Jon Snow was such a big thing for the show, book, and the fans. HBO trying to keep that under their hat must have been quite the daunting task, considering the 1st four episodes of this season were leaked to the public and HBO was pretty much forced into making them available early as well.
What do you think? Do you think that it really doesn't matter one way or another what Jon said before Olly stabbed him? Do you think it is horrible to take integrity from the writers creativity to make a buck? Tell me what you think in the comments! Thanks for stopping by!
Gina
House of Murrell, Queen of Discussion
There are many people who prefer books over movies or TV series as they are able to visualize what they are reading, making the story more interesting to the individual, as opposed to following what someone else, being the writers/producers, visualize in their heads. I began watching Game of Thrones on HBO before I read the 1st book of the same name. I am glad I did it this way just because it made me familiar with characters much easier than the books would have, just because there are so many!
So why did the show have Jon say "Olly" instead? I think there are 2 reasons:
1. Jon has warging ability in the books, but he suppresses it and does not use it. They address warging in season 2 when Jon has to ask the Wildlings what the guy is doing. If he knew what warging was, he would not have had to ask. Really they did not hit on the stark children's abilities much at all, with the exception of Bran. My first thought on why Jon said "Olly" instead of "Ghost" is because in the books, Jon does have warging ability, but does not use it. I believe where George RR Martin was going with him saying "Ghost", was because he had plans for Jon warging into Ghost before he succumbed to the stab in the heart from Olly. So it would have been crazy to the TV series only group to see Jon warg on the last episode of season 5, with no prior reference to it in the show. The writers can sleep at night knowing that we would have believed just about anything to see Jon Snow brought back.
2. Money, money, money. There was no way that Jon was going to say "Ghost" just because it would have been a spoiler due to reason number 1 above. If we knew Jon could warg, and he yelled out "Ghost" on a season finale of one of the biggest money making shows of all time, there would be some writer, somewhere, fired. Period. Not to mention, we would not have had night sweats for a year, waiting to find out if he was truly dead. We broke the internet the following Monday as everyone raced to find out any information they could, all while trying to mend our broken hearts. It didn't help that Kit Harrington cut off his hair after the episode aired. I would almost be willing to bet that there is a scene that was all over the cutting room floor where Jon does call out to Ghost instead of Olly.
For the show's sake, I understand why "Olly" was said to not confuse the viewer, if that was the reason. When he said it, he had a look of shock and it made sense at the time. So, well done, I suppose?
For the faithful book readers who have waited very patiently for the writer to finish the book series, I believe they are at 25 years and counting, it was most likely a huge disservice to remove this from the story line. At what point does money overtake the original author's creativity? I wonder what George RR Martin thinks about it.... Did he give his approval for it, etc? I am sure he has been asked since the "death" of Jon Snow was such a big thing for the show, book, and the fans. HBO trying to keep that under their hat must have been quite the daunting task, considering the 1st four episodes of this season were leaked to the public and HBO was pretty much forced into making them available early as well.
What do you think? Do you think that it really doesn't matter one way or another what Jon said before Olly stabbed him? Do you think it is horrible to take integrity from the writers creativity to make a buck? Tell me what you think in the comments! Thanks for stopping by!
Gina
House of Murrell, Queen of Discussion
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