Quote Originally Posted by Tbonewannabe View Post
Someone has to rally the rest of the kingdom. Unless a lot more people show up, the Nights watch is just going to be a speed bump.
This. The Night's Watch, even with the Wildlings, isn't in a position to fight a war with the Walkers and the Others. In the books, they were opening some of the other castles along the Wall, but they really didn't have enough men to do it. They need the manpower of a united Westeros. That's why the politics behind capturing the Iron Throne matters. And Jon is apparently the only one with the first hand experience, speaking ability, and clout to actually convince the Seven Families to band together.....if he can prove that he's really the heir of Rhaegar.

I'm really interested to see what happens with Dany next season. The group of Dothraki is led by Khal Drogo's top bloodrider who swore to kill her if he saw her again when she refused to join the Crones after Drogo's death. Of course, that was before she had burned Drogo's body and the dragons were hatched. I'm guessing he reconsiders when Drogon shows up and sets a good part of his khalasar on fire.

And I know I'm beating a dead horse by now, but I wouldn't read too much into what they change between the books and tv. I'd be shocked if GRRM and the producers haven't worked out some significant plot changes to force those of us already reading to continue to buy the books after GoT ends. We may know the ultimate end (Iron Throne Winner, Jon's parentage, the Stark family fate, Others/Walkers or Humanity triumphs, etc.), but how they get there will be pretty different. Look at some of the differences just within this episode: Arya being found out and punished for killing someone on her list instead of being blinded as part of the training process, Sam convincing Jon to send him to Maester school instead of the other way around, Myrcella being poisoned and on a ship to KL instead of being cut with a sword and staying in Dorne. Plus, simply for the sake of budget realities, it's necessary for GoT to combine plot points, characters, or eliminate some altogether. Personally, I think we'll wind up enjoying both for what they are.