Regarding Locke vs. Hoat, the main reason for changing him was for simplicity’s sake. There were already so many ‘bands’ of people—The Brotherhood, the Second Sons later on… it was determined the Brave Companions could be simplified without really affecting the main story. And the shifiting alliances of Hoat—again, very interesting in the book, but it would have been a lot to throw at the audience, many of whom are just now getting the main families straight! We were still going to call him Vargo Hoat—but when he became a Bolton man (and a Westerosi) George asked that we change his name, and we complied.”