I hope they really don't do this....some of what you call minor was some of the more interesting stuff for me. What they have done to Sam in the TV series still makes me cry. I WANT SAM THE SLAYER! The Dorne stuff was extremely interesting and showed how everyone uses children for their own ends and was a very interesting look at another culture. Bran is by far one of the most important stories as well...I don't know I don't see any of these as minor..but then I am a reading of long epic fantasy and I love intertwined plots...sigh...I hate how they have to cut things down for the crazy crazy short attention span of TV watchers..sigh...