Since it's premiere on April 17, 2011, HBO's hit fantasy drama Game of Thrones has gained a thriving fanbase of several million followers. Popular for its excellent character development and shocking twists, it has become HBO's most popular show in recent memory, passing even The Sopranos in viewership ratings. In the time between one seasons end and the next ones premiere, many fans such as myself took to reading the novels on which Thrones is based off of, A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin. Like any novel to TV/movie adaptation, upon finishing the books you finally begin to see characters and internal dialogue which the show didn't have time to introduce. As such, here are 5 major things you're missing out by only watching the show. While it goes without saying:

**SERIOUS SPOILERS IF YOU'RE NOT CAUGHT UP WITH THE SHOW**

5. Daenerys' visions at the House of the Undying

Okay, so we've already seen the House of the Undying in the show. The visions begin when Dany walks through an empty, ruined throne room covered in snow (or ashes) in King's Landing, and proceeds to walk through the tunnel beneath the wall at Castle Black where she meets and has a touching conversation with her dead husband, Khal Drogo. In the books it's... quite a bit different. For the sake of saving space, I'm going to give you a brief description of the important ones in a bullet list.

• A feast room strewn with dead bodies clutching spoons, knives, and other dinnerware, while a man with the head of a wolf wearing an iron crown sat dead at the head table, "his eyes following Dany with mute appeal."
• An old man on a throne telling an advisor "Let him be king of charred bones and cooked meat. Let him be the king of ashes."
• A man that looked like her brother, cradling his newborn child named Aegon, saying "He has a song. He was the prince that was promised. He is the song of ice and fire." Before turning to Dany and saying "There must be one more. The dragon has three heads."
• She hears whispers: "Mother of dragons, child of three..." "Mother of dragons, daughter of death..." "Mother of dragons, slayer of lies..." "three treasons will you know… once for blood and once for gold and once for love…"
• The death of her brother, Viserys.
• Rubies falling to the ground next to a dying prince, as he whispers a womans name.
• A blue rose growing from a wall of ice. (More on the last two bullet points later.)

I'm not going to explain what each of these means, as that takes away the fun of figuring out what these prophecies say, but it doesn't take a genius to figure out what some of these are predicting.

4. Courtnay Penrose

Courtnay Penrose appears in only one chapter. After Renly Baratheon dies, he is left in charge of the Baratheons traditional home castle, Storms End. When Stannis Baratheon arrives at the city walls, Penrose immediately suspects (correctly) that Stannis was the one who killed his brother Renly. When treating with Stannis before the siege, he lays down some serious smack talk in one of the most entertaining dialogues of the entire series. He tells Stannis and his Red God to go **** themselves, before challenging Stannis to a duel for the castle despite Penrose being an old man. When Stannis refuses and opts to besiege and capture the castle, he says this:

"As the gods will it. Bring on your storm, my lord—and recall, if you do, the name of this castle."

Get wrecked, Stannis. Stannis ends up killing Courtnay Penrose the same way he kills Renly, so it doesn't really add anything to the novels worth translating to the show, so he does not make an appearance. In the novels however, it makes Stannis feel guilt over what he's done to his brother, Penrose, and others.

3. Lady Stoneheart

Towards the end of the 3rd book, A Feast for Crows, several characters hear reports of Freys and Lannister supporters being brutally murdered and hanged in the riverlands by the Brotherhood without Banners.These reports are pretty vague, but all of them involve a woman in a grey cloak. In the epilogue of the book, we get the point of view of a member of House Frey, sent to negotiate the return of a family member taken by the Brotherhood. When he gets to the meeting spot, he discovers his family member hanged, and is himself taken hostage and brought to the leader of the brotherhood, the cloaked woman. Scared for his life, he asks who she is, and the woman pulls back the cloak. She is revealed to be the undead Catelyn Stark, unable to speak due to her slit throat.

Shortly after the Red Wedding, the Freys dumped Cat into the river at the Twins. While in the river, Nymeria (Arya's direwolf) pulls the body from the river, as Arya is unknowingly warging into her wolf, thinking it's a dream. It is there that Cat's body is found by Thoros of Myr and Beric Dondarrion, the current leader of the Brotherhood without Banners. Beric gives her corpse the kiss of life, as Thoros had done to him, and Cat was brought back to life as Lady Stoneheart.

Stoneheart doesn't make an appearance in the show, and it kind of makes sense why. An undead Cat Stark who only kills Freys? What purpose would that have narratively speaking? Well despite the satisfaction of seeing Freys die, it (along with Beric Dondarrions revivals) could be used as a precedent to revive a certain character who died at the end of season 5.

2. Wyman F***ing Manderly

Ahh, Wyman. My favorite character in the books, and he doesn't even appear in the show. Wyman is the lord of House Manderly, the richest house in the North, and staunch Stark loyalist. After the Red Wedding and the Bolton's rise to power, the Manderlys are forced to feign a friendship with the Freys and the Boltons, despite Wyman's son dying at their hands, and another son being captured at the Red Wedding. The Freys infest his castle, and he even plans on marrying his daughter to one. When Davos Seaworth is sent to the White Harbor, the Manderlys city, to orchestrate a secret treaty with them on behalf of Stannis, they imprison and execute him to appease the Lannisters, Freys and Boltons.

Except, not really.They actually just executed a random criminal and hid Seaworth in the bottom cell of their dungeons. After a few weeks in the dungeons, Seaworth is brought to a secret meeting hall beneath the city, where Wyman apologizes for his treatment, as he needed to keep him hidden. When asked why he wasn't executed for the Freys, Wyman says my favorite piece of dialogue in the whole series:

“Foes and false friends are all around me, Lord Davos. They infest my city like roaches, and at night I feel them crawling over me.” The fat man’s fingers coiled into a fist, and all his chins trembled. “My son Wendel came to the Twins a guest. He ate Lord Walder’s bread and salt, and hung his sword upon the wall to feast with his friends. And they murdered him. Murdered, I say, and may the Freys choke upon their fables. I drink with Jared, jape with Symond, promise Rhaegar the hand of my own beloved granddaughter…but never think that means I have forgotten. The north remembers, Lord Davos. The north remembers, and the mummer’s farce is almost done. My son is home."

He then tells Davos that he's heard reports of Rickon Stark hidden on a desolate island in the North called Skagos, inhabited by people who are more like wildlings than Northerners. He gives Davos a deal: If he smuggles the last remaining Stark heir, he'll support Stannis. Not long after, Wyman leaves for Winterfell to attend the wedding between Ramsay Bolton and an Arya Stark imposter. On the way there, it is heavily implied he killed the three Freys close to him, and fed them to the Boltons and Freys at the wedding in three large pies. When the Freys accuse him of the killings, he denies responsibility, and responds:

"Though mayhaps this was a blessing. Had he lived he would have grown up to be a Frey."

In the ensuing fights that he had just instigated, Roose Bolton forces Manderly and Frey forces to march outside of the walls of Winterfell to attack Stannis, and as of the end of the last book, it is unclear whether he will attack Stannis or betray the Frey forces and join Stannis. This is a character that I'm seriously disappointed wasn't in the show, and many don't know exactly what they missed out on.

*WARNING: The following, while a well supported theory, is still just a theory and if true, may spoil future events within the show which haven't been discussed in the show as of Season 5 Episode 10. Read at your own discretion*

1. R+L=J

One of the major character traits of Jon Snow is how he deals with the fact that he is a bastard. It's something he learns to deal with and eventually overcome, eventually becoming Lord Commander of the Night's Watch despite his bastard status. However, the most popular fan theory in the series is that Jon Snow actually is NOT the bastard son of Ned Stark and an unknown mother, but the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark.

I know what you're probably thinking: "Who the hell are they?"

Let's turn the clocks back 12 years before the first book. At a large tournament the Prince and heir to the Seven Kingdoms, Rhaegar Targaryen, wins the jousting competition and instead of crowning his wife with a bouquet of flowers, he gives a crown of blue roses to Lyanna Stark, who is already betrothed to Robert Baratheon. This could have been left alone as an awkward event, but on the way to Brandon Stark (Ned's older brother) and Catelyn Tully's wedding, Lyanna either is kidnapped or runs away with Rhaegar (it's not very clear). When Brandon goes to Kings Landing and angrily says to the Mad King that he'll kill the man responsible, he's taken prisoner and burned alive, along with his father. This is what sets off Robert Baratheon's rebellion, which ends the Targaryen dynasty. However, several of the royal family's bodyguard, known as the Kingsguard, are in Dorne protecting Lyanna at a place called the Tower of Joy. After marrying Catelyn Tully in his brothers place, Ned and 6 companions arrive at the tower and fight the three kingsguard, with only Ned and one other surviving. Ned finds Lyanna in a bed of blood, whispering, "Promise me, Ned." Several weeks later, the honorable Ned Stark returns to Catelyn with a bastard.

There are several examples of evidence to be seen within the books. The first two of which were previously mentioned above in Dany's visions:

• Dany's vision of rubies falling to the ground next to a dying prince, as he whispers a womans name.
• Dany's vision of a blue rose growing from a wall of ice. A blue rose is typically a symbol for Lyanna in the novels.
• Lord Commander Mormonts raven looking at Jon and saying "King, king, king" perhaps referring to Jon's alleged roots.
• The fact that if Jon was a Targaryen, it would make perfect sense for Ned to hide him from the new king, Robert, who hated Targaryens.
• If Jon really is dead, than author George R.R. Martin, an author notorious for subverting common literary tropes, would have successfully subverted the "character with a secret, unknown family heritage claims what's rightfully his" trope.

So, there you have it: Five reasons why you should read the books if you haven't already. I cannot stress how good these books are. With a sixth book, The Winds of Winter, coming out... well, eventually, there's no better time to pick them up and join the club so you too can feel superior to show-only fans.

Sources:

1. Martin, G. (1999). Daenerys IV. In A Clash of Kings (pp. 698-709). New York: Bantam Books.

2. Martin, G. (1999). Davos II. In A Clash of Kings (pp. 604-623). New York: Bantam Books.

3. Martin, G. (2001). Epilogue. In A Storm of Swords (pp. 1116-1128). New York: Bantam Books.

4. Martin, G. (2011). Davos IV. In A Dance with Dragons (pp. 420-433). New York: Bantam Books.

5. Martin, G. (2011). Theon I. In A Dance of Dragons (pp. 732-751). New York: Bantam Books.

6. Martin, G. (1996). Eddard X. In A Game of Thrones (pp. 424-431). New York: Bantam Books.