Some of those things are brief conversations. The final battle of the book may or may not happen around the same time, but I don't think Robb & company knew about Ned's death yet. In any event, that battle was not shown in the book. As I mentioned in an earlier thread, they are highly unlikely to bother with a big battle set that is only described in a conversation in the actual book, so they can conceal their money-saving under the self-righteous pose of staying true to the story. If Ned's death ends one episode, the next would probably open up with Tyrion and Tywin getting the news of the battle and the conundrum their latest setback and newest reason for ticking off the Starks have presented them. On the other hand, after Ned's death, there is really not enough for the rest of his family. IIRC, there is only a single Sansa scene and a single Catelyn scene for the rest of the book. Proclaiming Robb king might be best saved for the final episode, so what do they do with Robb & Cat for episodes 8 & 9? Tyrion's last scene is that same one where he hears about the battle at Riverrun, and Tywin sends him to court. Arya's last scene is the execution. I think Jon has only one scene after Ned's death, where he runs away and his friends return him, and the next day he speaks with Lord Mormont.




Actually, the more I think about it, they might be killing him too soon. As I note above, there is not much left of each arc after his death. I AM kind of hoping his death won't be the climax, because that would be a fairly obvious signal to new viewers that something unusual is going on. It won't be as much of a shock as it would if it just happens in the middle of the episode like it's just another thing and no big d-HOLY CRAP THEY KILLED OFF THE STAR!!!!