WARNING: HERE THERE BE A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE/GAME OF THRONES SPOILERS
IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE FIRST THREE BOOKS OR AREN'T CAUGHT UP WITH THE SHOW, TURN BACK NOW, OR BE SPOILED.
I am, without a doubt, a huge ASOIAF fan. I love the books, I love the show, I've wasted countless hours on ASOIAF/GOT-based game mods, hanging around ASOIAF/GOT subreddits, and even making stupid Cleganebowl stuff in photoshop because why not.
The thing is, normally, changes from the book to the show don't bother me. I'm actually quite happy with a few of them, like the scenes between Arya and Tywin. There's just one that really gets on my nerves, and I feel it's something of a silly thing, as I never see anyone else bring it up. It's always Renly this, Loras that, book Tyrion book Tyrion whitewash whitewash. You see, the thing that actually got to me was the removal of (and replacement with an amalgamation character) one of the most interesting minor characters in the fictional world of ASOIAF.
Vargo "The Goat" Hoat is the leader of the Brave Companions, a group of marauders hired by the Lannisters to go around Westeros causing havoc. They're not just any group of mindless barbarians however, the thing about the Brave Companions is that they're all this insane, eclectic group of flamboyant lunatics and monsters that try to have "fun" while committing some of the most horrible acts in the series.
Urswyck the Unfaithul, second in command and constantly described as basically being a walking corpse.
Utt, a self-flagellating pedophilic former septon that constantly weeps between his horrible acts.
Qyburn, the former Maester who is essentially Westeros's Herbert West.
Shagwell, a psychopathic jester.
Zollo, the world's fattest Dothraki.
Zollo, the world's fattest Dothraki.
Rorge & Biter, two vicious escaped criminals with a penchant for rape and cannibalism.
Every single member of the Brave Companions is something of an oddity, and each of them are interesting enough to leave you wanting to know more about them. They're like major characters from another story that just wandered into the one you're reading.
Still, it is not so much for the lack of any of them that I feel like griping. I mean Qyburn is still in, and Rorge and Biter are still technically in... but the man I'm left missing is their leader.
Vargo Hoat hails from Qohor, one of the free cities of Essos, and is the only character in the series that has ever been introduced to come from there. He's a tall, gaunt, strange looking man that worships "the Black Goat", wears a large goat-horned helmet, rides a Zorse (ASOIAF's zebras), and has a tongue so swollen that most of the words that come out of his mouth are difficult to understand from the lisp. He's also known as "The Crippler" for his rather disturbing preference for how to deal with his victims: He slowly removes their body parts while they're still alive.
He is, without a doubt, one of the strangest people that readers will meet in the series. From the way he looks, the way he talks, his actions, and the fact that he rides a fucking zebra. Seriously, in Westeros they had a team of flamboyant psychopaths lead by a lisping sadist in a goat helmet on a zebra, and we missed that. You will never see that in live action.
Instead, the show got a man by the name of "Locke." Locke looks similar to how I pictured Vargo Hoat, and he commits some of the same actions (he's responsible for Jaime's lack of hand, he brings Jaime and Brienne to Harrenhal, and he sends Brienne to fight a bear), but it's just not the same.
For starters, besides the lack of zorse, lisp, goat helmet, or Brave Companions following him, he's no longer a backstabber. In the third ASOIAF book, the reason why Vargo Hoat has Jaime's hand cut off is to prevent Roose Bolton from trying to switch allegiances and serve the Lannisters, as Vargo knows that Roose has lost faith in Robb Stark. Vargo Hoat is terrified of this, as he was a former Lannister man that brought Harrenhal under Roose's control during Arya and Jaqen's attack on the Lannister guards. He knows that if Roose abandons the North and joins the Westerlands, he'll be left to pay for his actions. He has suddenly become very, very aware of the "Curse of Harrenhal."
As show watchers and book readers know, this does end up happening. In both of them, Roose Bolton makes a pact with Tywin Lannister at some point and, alongside Walder Frey, organizes the Red Wedding to kill Robb and Catelyn Stark. But, since show-Vargo (Locke) has always been a loyal Roose follower, he has nothing to worry about. For book-Vargo, however, he ends up meeting possibly the most horrifying fate in the book series.
Before Vargo Hoat forced Brienne to fight the bear back at Harrenhal, he made a failed attempt at raping her that caught him his ear (Brienne bites it off), which ends up becoming heavily infected and making Vargo significantly more crazy than usual. Eventually the rest of the Brave Companions abandon Vargo Hoat at Harrenhal, and by the time Ser Gregor "The Mountain that Rides" Clegane finds him he's defenseless. The Mountain decides to give him some ironic punishment by slowly removing his body parts and having him eat them.
Compare that to the series, where Locke is sent up to the wall to find Bran for Roose (and his apparent friend Ramsay, who seems to have taken on parts of Vargo Hoat), and ends up being killed by Hodor. ...by Hodor.
I know all of this is trivial, I mean this is a very minor character, and I don't -hate- the show's replacement for him, but I do really feel like we missed out on something by not getting him in the show.
I have a good idea as to -why- we didn't get him. The zorse would look too silly, his lisp would get annoying, his horrifying treatment of those around him would distract from the Theon-Ramsay scenes happening in the same season, and they didn't have the time or budget to show the Boltons taking Harrenhal during season two. Still, I will miss him.
I have my fingers crossed that he will be the only awesome character to not end up making it into the series.
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