A Song of Ice and Fire/Game of Thrones Spoiler-Filled Discussion

[Klaus]

I consider them great so far, looking forward to seeing how things wrap up and what ties together...

 

[Biffette]

Does anyone else think that Septa Lemore could be Lyanna Stark?

 

[Ayelbourne]

Lyanna died in Ned's arms. So no.
I expect him to be able to recognize his own sister.

 

[Scout101]

Yeah, no. Maybe more going on there than we know so far, but that's too much. Ned confirmed that one, they had a recognizable body to bury, etc.

Series started off really tight, but these last two were pretty loose, wandering tales. Needed to be edited down to 1 book that had a better cohesion. Killing people just to spend pages introducing new people, just to kill them, seems to waste a lot of time, and doesn't appear to be moving the story forward. Feels like the middle seasons of Lost, before they decided to regroup and head for the finale. Hopefully, GRRM will do similarly and tighten up the story as he heads for the big finish...

 

[Shurik]

Greyjoys will own everyone in the end. It is known.

1. Writer never described how dead beeing brougt back to live beyond the wall.

Others' magic. Martin also never described why the seasons in this world are of random length. When people ask him what is the reason for that, he says "Magic".

2. Beric Dondarrion - every majore character in the book seem to be ignoring the part where this guy was resurrected multiplied times. No one is that ignorant.

His followers in BwB know that he was resurrected multiple times. Most of the people in Westeros do not believe in magic or believe that it died with the dragons.
There's a scene in ACOK I think, where Alliser Thorne arrives at court in King's Landing, presents the rotted hand of the wight and says that the dead rise beyond the Wall. No one, including Tyrion, believes him and the joke advice he gets from Tyrion is "Bury your dead deeper so they won't rise".

 

[Klaus]

Agreed... the "resurrections" are being written off by most as fog and rumor of war, like "Renly's Ghost".

 

[Biffette]

There's a scene in ACOK I think, where Alliser Thorne arrives at court in King's Landing, presents the rotted hand of the wight and says that the dead rise beyond the Wall. No one, including Tyrion, believes him and the joke advice he gets from Tyrion is "Bury your dead deeper so they won't rise".

Tyrion did believe him but was concerned about being taken seriously at court, so sent him off with his pick of the dungeons and that snotty remark.

 

[Hyperspace05]

No, I don't think Tyrion believed him. The hand hand rotted to pieces and was no longer moving.

Representatives of the Watch always get the pick of the dungeon, that was not special favor by Tyrion. It is a convenient way to get rid of willing prisoners.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Game of Thrones won the Emmy for Best Main Title Design at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. It lost out on the other technical awards it was nominated for.

 

[Kegg]

Tyrion takes the idea of defence of the Wall rather seriously, though, regardless of whether or not he bought the claim of undead attacks - hence also he's both getting rid of prisoners and giving the Watch the only support he really can. Later in the series Tywin disabuses him of this notion when reading about the Wall requesting aid; to the southerly perspective of Tywin an invasion across the war would only hurt their enemies in the north and is such to their benefit.

 

[Elemental]

Well, I just finished the first book tonight and loved it. The TV series stayed remarkably true to the book.

So, I'm about to start book 2 and I'm just wondering if someone could tell me if I'd be spoiling myself to anything by referring to the appendix. I found it extremely useful in book 1 but just from a few quick glances, in book 2, it seems to divide characters amongst "camps" that I'm not yet aware exist. Any danger or can I refer away?

 

[Bisz]

I think the appendices are usually spoiler free for the book they are found in, at least when it comes to major things, like a character dying. I think that for the most part you should be OK to read it.

 

[Darth_Daver]

I think the appendices are usually spoiler free for the book they are found in, at least when it comes to major things, like a character dying. I think that for the most part you should be OK to read it.

But it is true, they mention camps (kings and alliances) that isn't publicized at the beginning of the second book yet.

But no big spoilers. If someone dies halfway through book two, he'll be shown alive in book's two appendix and shown dead in book three, etc.

 

[Colonel Midnight]

The last two books could've definitely gotten some more editing/fat-trimming out of them, I think.

(Speaking of which, is it just me, or are almost all of the Lords This-and-That fat and/or huge beyond belief? Especially in ADWD, it seemed like every non-POV/non-major male character was a porker!)

But yes, all in all... pretty good reads.

Cheers,
-CM-

I agree about the need for editing in the last two books; in particular, Tyrion and Dany's chapters needed some serious trimming in ADWD.

But I'm not sure about the comment about ADWD having a large amount of large lords. Aside from Wyman Manderly, Tyrion's lord who died of the pale mare, and Doran Martell, who else is really fat? (Come to think of it, Doran Martell might not even be fat - I'm only thinking of him as such because he's got such bad gout, which is traditionally associated with overindulgence.) Any other large characters were introduced long before ADWD: Illyrio, Sam, possibly Varys, Robert Baratheon, and Lollys (and none of them are lords except Robert, who's obviously not in ADWD.)

Well, I meant more in the world throughout, more than just ADWD. But it did seem (to me) to introduce a lot of... large characters.

You also have:
Strong Belwas;
One (or more ) of the Freys;
Larry, Moe & Curly zo Hizdahr ();
Lady Genna Lannister;
Xaro Xhoan Daxos;
Yezzan zo Qaggaz (Gesundheit!), etc.

Granted, none of the above are really major characters, but cripes... it just seemed like everytime one or more of them were described or showed up, there was a reference to their size. YMMV, of course.

Cheers,
-CM-

 

[superdeluxe]

Its been awhile, but Tony way has been cast as Dontos Hollard and Ian Whyte has been recast for Gregor the Mountain.

Oh and Simon Fisher Becker has been cast as the High Septon.

 

[Kegg]

I thought Stevens was a good Gregor, though obviously not one with a hell of a lot of material to work with. Interested to see what Whyte will bring to the role, which should be a little beefier this year.

But it did seem (to me) to introduce a lot of... large characters.

Quite. As I think I observed elsewhere (or earlier this thread?) Meereen in ADWD is just a patsiche of Orientalist cliches. The decadent, effeminate east contrased with the masculine west.

 

[superdeluxe]

We have our ygritte!!! Downtown abbey rose Leslie !

http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/10/10/game-of-thrones-rose-leslie/

 

[Skywalker]

Yeah, she'll do.

 

[Out Of My Vulcan Mind]

Excellent casting for Ygritte!

 

[Klaus]

I thought Stevens was a good Gregor, though obviously not one with a hell of a lot of material to work with. Interested to see what Whyte will bring to the role, which should be a little beefier this year.

But it did seem (to me) to introduce a lot of... large characters.

Quite. As I think I observed elsewhere (or earlier this thread?) Meereen in ADWD is just a patsiche of Orientalist cliches. The decadent, effeminate east contrased with the masculine west.

And Westeros is a mass of cliches too lol, though well-done ones. If Ned Stark was any more honor-bound he'd be a Klingon!