LogFAQs > #884814751

Yeah, I think that strictly speaking, the Arya/Tywin in Harrenhal makes for better TV and better scenes. Two spectacular actors. Will never dispute that. But in terms of narrative consistency, getting to know (book 2 spoilers) Roose Bolton early makes sense, considering how important that character becomes. Alos the foreshadowing with Elmar (?) Frey, to whom Arya was betrothed.

I suspect that turning Jaime human and sympathetic was a decision GRRM made after finishing Book 1. It's universally agreed to be one of the strongest developments/twists of the stories - but also clearly one of the reasons for the bloat of the narrative, and seemingly tangential to the endgame of Dany and the Others.
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yet all sailors of all sorts are more or less capricious and unreliable - they live in the varying outer weather, and they inhale its fickleness