"Official" Game Of Thrones Discussion for those who have read the books. - Page 30

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Originally Posted by ShiftyEyes 

Come on, guys. The Red Viper is Oded Fehr. 

Looked him up, thought hte name was familiar. That's perfect casting for sure.

As for the next season, I like the idea of RW at 7 and PW for the season capper. Sansa being whisked away from Littlefinger, Tyrion as a captive. The only problem is Tywin's death comes off as a great season ender too and it'll be pushed to roughly the first half of 4th season so I hope it doesn't lose it's impact.

We are totally making stuff up here,

so they are NOT SPOILERS. LOL

Jaqen, did I miss it, did they not show it, or will they show his "face" changing later?

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Originally Posted by philmooreslim26 

The only problem is Tywin's death comes off as a great season ender too and it'll be pushed to roughly the first half of 4th season so I hope it doesn't lose it's impact.

I think it'll have more impact as a sudden WTF moment than something that's built towards in a finale.

They better feature a shot of his chamber pot.

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Originally Posted by Monster Pete 

We are totally making stuff up here,

so they are NOT SPOILERS. LOL

 

 

Jaqen, did I miss it, did they not show it, or will they show his "face" changing later?

SPOILERY

They did not show it in the episode, and will most likely save it for the final episode, which is titled 'Valar Morghulis'. They clearly built up Jaqen as someone who isn't normal, as his killings are shown to be freakish in both stealth and strength.

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Originally Posted by neil spurn 

 

GoT trivia in NY? Where was this?

A diner on park ave south and 19th called Big Daddy's. Apparently they do a ton of trivia, Friends, Seinfield, Simpsons, but this was their first ASOIAF. I was lucky to have two of my friends who have read all of the books at least 5 times and have read all The Tales of Dunk and Egg which a lot of the trivia was based off of. I hope they do it again soon, pretty good turnout.

The track listing for the official GOT season 2 soundtrack has been announced - and it does provide us some clues for how the season will end:

Source: http://www.westeros.org/GoT/News/Entry/Season_2_Soundtrack_Details/

Three blasts...  I will bet good money that the final shot of the season finale will be of White Walkers heading up the Fist...

Never paid mind to the idea of buying the soundtrack but The National is one of my favorite bands, the fact they're doing "The Rains of Castomere" is just perfect for me. Yay!

SPOILERS? NOT REALLY...

You can hear The Rains of Castamere here. I hope this isn't literally the version they use in the show--sounds too modern. But otherwise, it's good.
 

Hmmm, It does sound a little bit too modern but I like it. Love Matt (lead singer) voice, that grumble tone is perfect for the song. Now that I'm thinking about it, it's interesting that this song is in the second season and not the third. I know they mention it a lot, but I only really remember it because of the RW and PW fiasco.

If I recall correctly, Martin starts to develop the Westeros Top 40 in the second novel. Not just Castamere but The Bear and the Maiden Fair and a couple of others. In fact, isn't there some reference to bards starting to sing comical songs about Robert and/or Joffrey, a la the dude getting his tongue torn out, in the first book? It's definitely needed to establish the world so that there's a payoff at the RW.
 

Isn't Dontos the one who sings it in the book? He's supposed to have been stripped of his dignity, so that would totally work.
 

It's not Dontos, it's Margery and her grandmother's fool. I forget his name.

Patches is the only fool that matters in Game of Thrones. It is known.

Background image from HBO.com from tomorrow night's episode. It's creepy how much they've made up Sophie to resemble Cersei, the hair, posture, eyebrows, everything.

Vargo Hoat audition

Heh. It sounds like now that the show's a bona fide hit (again, remember, S2 went into production only a week or two after S1 started airing, so I don't think HBO was as sure of it as they are now) they've got the budget to cast all the characters who were trimmed from book 2. But then, the Bloody Mummers were pretty much a guarantee. The only question mark now is the Reeds, and there was casting info that seemed to suggest they were being cast.
 

Personally, I think I'll like it much better if we meet the Reeds in season two, probably on their home turf.  My Westeros geography is a little sticky, would Bran and co. pass through the Reeds' swamp? I'm also hoping they put off Osha taking Rickon away as long as possible, only because I'm really warming to that character (and Martin has said he's warmed much more to her since the show, so possibly we'll get some awesome Davos/Osha interaction in the next book.) And if we get at least SOME hint or inkling of Howland Reed...maybe a  silhouette of a guy in a shack in the swamp...

Also, please keep the Bloody Murmmers as super villainy as possible, complete with dancing fool with a flail and leader who rides a zebra. 

EDIT: Holy smokes, that audition makes me excited!

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Originally Posted by Syd 

Personally, I think I'll like it much better if we meet the Reeds in season two, probably on their home turf.  My Westeros geography is a little sticky, would Bran and co. pass through the Reeds' swamp?

No. The Howlands (and their kin) live south, in "the Neck" section of Westeros (basically between the North and the Freys' territory).

Well, if the Reeds were cast for season 2, it wasn't announced, so I think you're going to have to wait for S3. If Bran's now going to spend 2 seasons tramping around the North, having him meet up with them could be a good way of padding out his screen time.
 

I"VE SEEN SPOILERS YOU PEOPLE WOULDN"T BELIEVE

Bran and his crew will, necessarily I imagine, become people we see like three times a season going forward. I can't imagine the Reeds being much more prominent than, say, Dany's handmaidens, especially with Osha working out pretty well.

On the other hand, this show seems to be constrained by no laws governing other TV shows. Martin has given them so much material and they've proven so adept with creating new scenes, I could happily watch them play this show out over a dozen seasons, in a perfect world. It would of course have to be a world ungoverned by the passage of time, because those kids are going to be aging out of the roles pretty fast. Seriously, how weird will it be when Arya gets hot?

Maisie Williams is 15, so they lucked out with someone who's just naturally young-looking for her age. Sophie Turner, on the other hand, makes me feel like a big ol' perv every week. 

I don't get all this concern about the kids growing out of the roles, though. The story's supposed to take place over years, and I believe it's approximately one per book. I mean, we don't actually expect Arya to become a badass experienced assassin at the age of 12 or whatever, right?

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Originally Posted by The Prankster 

I don't get all this concern about the kids growing out of the roles, though. The story's supposed to take place over years, and I believe it's approximately one per book.

I may be mistaken, but I think A Game of Thrones through A Dance with Dragons comprises just over a year total.  (Not that it matters -- the show can stretch that.)

Spoilers motherfuccker, can you read it?

is anyone else expecting Dany to discover her missing handmaiden, dead in the house of the undying?

Assuming she was the one who helped steal them, considering her obsession over dragons???

It may just be another example of Dany being let down be the people closest to her, all leading to her pushing Jorah further and further away.

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Originally Posted by The Dark Shape 

 

I may be mistaken, but I think A Game of Thrones through A Dance with Dragons comprises just over a year total.  (Not that it matters -- the show can stretch that.)

Game of Thrones alone seems to take at least a year--I believe they mention Joffrey having two "namedays", and besides, they go back and forth from King's Landing to Winterfell (a month's journey at least) several times. I also believe Ned mentions having been in KL for six months at one point, BEFORE he's arrested. And Robb was able to roister an army and get it all the way to the Riverlands between Ned's arrest and his death. And, of course, the direwolves grow from newborn puppies to biggish animals. Which, incidentally, also applies to Dany's dragons over the course of the series--I know animals tend to grow fast, but to go from newly hatched bird-sized chicks to gigantic, human-eating monstrosities in a few months? That's crazy talk.

Then you've got all the traveling that goes on, especially on Dany's end of the map--Barristan and then Tyrion both make their way across Essos to Dany, which has to be at least a couple months' journey in both cases. Ditto Dany's crossing the red waste. And I'm willing to bet even an incredibly fast, successful war against the Ghiscari is going to take a few months, combined with the fact that Dany seemed pretty damned settled-in in Meereen.

On top of everything else, there's the arrival of winter--if summers and winters last years in Westeros World, it seems reasonable to assume the autumns would last at least a year. Autumn officially starts at the beginning of book two, and by book five we're well into the thick of winter.

Oh, and I believe Martin mentions Jon Snow being 14 years old in GoT, and he's DEFINITELY described as being 17 in aSoS.

It's quite possible that CoK and the overlapping events of AFFC and ADWD take less than a year each, but I think that's balanced out by aGoT and aSoS taking longer than a year. So I'd give you 3 and a half years for the entire saga so far at a minimum, and probably more. Certainly there's more than enough leeway to believe the kids are going to remain basically the right age.

ETA: The third book mentions "the new century" (i.e. the year 300 A. T., After Targaryen) beginning in the midst of the events of aSoS--in fact I believe Joffrey's wedding is on the first day of the new century. Most GoT nerds seem to place the beginning of the saga as happening sometime in early 298, so at least two years pass over the course of the first three books. The online GoT reference The Tower of the Hand has the timeline of the war as taking place over two years. And of course all this assumes that Westerosi years are 365 days.

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Originally Posted by The Prankster 

 

Game of Thrones alone seems to take at least a year--I believe they mention Joffrey having two "namedays", and besides, they go back and forth from King's Landing to Winterfell (a month's journey at least) several times. I also believe Ned mentions having been in KL for six months at one point, BEFORE he's arrested. And Robb was able to roister an army and get it all the way to the Riverlands between Ned's arrest and his death. And, of course, the direwolves grow from newborn puppies to biggish animals. Which, incidentally, also applies to Dany's dragons over the course of the series--I know animals tend to grow fast, but to go from newly hatched bird-sized chicks to gigantic, human-eating monstrosities in a few months? That's crazy talk.

 

Then you've got all the traveling that goes on, especially on Dany's end of the map--Barristan and then Tyrion both make their way across Essos to Dany, which has to be at least a couple months' journey in both cases. Ditto Dany's crossing the red waste. And I'm willing to bet even an incredibly fast, successful war against the Ghiscari is going to take a few months, combined with the fact that Dany seemed pretty damned settled-in in Meereen.

 

On top of everything else, there's the arrival of winter--if summers and winters last years in Westeros World, it seems reasonable to assume the autumns would last at least a year. Autumn officially starts at the beginning of book two, and by book five we're well into the thick of winter.

 

Oh, and I believe Martin mentions Jon Snow being 14 years old in GoT, and he's DEFINITELY described as being 17 in aSoS.

 

It's quite possible that CoK and the overlapping events of AFFC and ADWD take less than a year each, but I think that's balanced out by aGoT and aSoS taking longer than a year. So I'd give you 3 and a half years for the entire saga so far at a minimum, and probably more. Certainly there's more than enough leeway to believe the kids are going to remain basically the right age.

 

ETA: The third book mentions "the new century" (i.e. the year 300 A. T., After Targaryen) beginning in the midst of the events of aSoS--in fact I believe Joffrey's wedding is on the first day of the new century. Most GoT nerds seem to place the beginning of the saga as happening sometime in early 298, so at least two years pass over the course of the first three books. The online GoT reference The Tower of the Hand has the timeline of the war as taking place over two years. And of course all this assumes that Westerosi years are 365 days.

Spoiler, spoiler, spoilers!

Why do you read this!

Stop!

Anyway, it is way more than a year. Lollys gets raped, impregnated, gives birth, and then tries to name it Tywin, from Clash of Kings to Feast of Crows. That doesn't include the time in GoT and Dance with Dragons. I know a couple of namedays pass for Bran as well.

After tonight, I cannot wait for A Storm of Swords.  Jesus have they nailed it thus far.

By god that was a fantastic hour of television. Not that the show hasn't delivered already, but good almighty they brought justice to Blackwater for sure. Someone give Lena an Emmy for that performance, she stole the show in an action packed hour. The female performances in this series are just unbelievable, I wish they all could win something. Wildfire looked spectacular, better than I could of imagined. So what, we lost the chain, but everything else more than made up for it.

I called the squire conversation with Jamie leading to Pod still being the one to save Tyrion, perfect way to set him back up. And to the guy who plays The Hound, the entire episode he just got me giddy thinking about the scenes I'm going to see with him next year with Maisie Williams. "Fuck the king" indeed. Hands down so far best ep of the season, and arguably one of the best of the show.

Best ep of the series so far, in my opinion.  Excellent script from Martin, whose mastery of dialogue was on full display.  Incredible direction from Marshall, who apparently was hired only a week before the shoot because the original director (don't know who) fell ill.  The wildfire shots - particularly the first ship being blow to pieces - was incredible.  And the Hound, Cersei, and Bronn gave standout performances.  For a moment I wondered what the show would be like if all the eps had this budget and time to shoot - then I had to stop because I was driving myself insane with the possibilities.

Agreed, fantastic episode.  That was Lord of the Rings levels of warfare.  The wildfire was much better than I could have hoped for.

This was one of the few (if not only episodes) that locked in on one location instead of jumping back and forth, and the results speak for themselves.  As great of a job as this series is doing, it just goes to show how rushed everything is in most episodes.  Still, given the state of modern TV, I really couldn't ask for more.  I can't wait for the finale.  I'm expecting wild things in the House of Undying and white-walkers.

Consider me also impressed by how well the Battle of Blackwater played. If this season skimped on spectacle before in order to set aside budget for this, it was a good move. That giant green explosion of wildfire did indeed look great.

(I'm glad, incidentally, that Tyrion got to keep his nose. I was positive they weren't going to go that far with it, anyway-- but it would have been rough to look at for the rest of the series.)

And you have to hand it to Martin for his scripting of this episode. He really seems to have taken to heart the show's ethos of expanding on things that happen at the margins of his novel, or creating all-new events and exchanges that could've happened but weren't told to us on the page. The interplay between Bronn and the Hound tonight is maybe my favorite thing this season has given us-- and I'm pretty sure those two guys never shared a scene or said one word to each other in the books.  

One small issue with an otherwise terrific episode...Loras has been underserved and it's kind of disappointing.  Okay, so his reaction to Renly's death is toned down, but his defining moment as he arrives with the reinforcements is not emphasized enough in the episode.  It sucks because in Season One they made his relationship with Renly much more explicit and yet these emotional moments don't get their proper pay-off.  There are a few brief shots of him riding through and killing, but the connection isn't made quite as well as it could have been.  He's wearing the armor if you're paying attention to his appearance in the throne room, but it's too "blink and you'll miss it".  Was looking forward to someone mentioning that it looks like Renly's spirit has arrived on the battlefield.

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

Tyrion was never going to lose his nose on the show, for practical reasons. Not only do you not want to mess up your leading man's face too badly if you can help it (badass scar, OK; missing nose, ick) it would mean FX gubbery literally every time he's on screen, which would add needlessly to the show's expense. I wonder if even the scar is going to be downplayed, just because it'll mean lots of makeup for Dinklage from now on. And it's not like it serves a major narrative function.

Actually, all this makes me wonder about Jaime's hand in the coming season. That's going to require a bit of FX work too--not as much as a missing nose would, but they can't just stick a bag over his hand without it looking lame. I guess he gets a prosthesis at one point, doesn't he?

SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER

I'm glad Tyrion didn't get his nose chopped off for the show either.   It just seemed like overkill in the books and served no purpose to the story.   Jaime's hand being chopped off isn't something I can see them skipping.   That changes his entire character and his arc.

Also, will someone please upload a gif of Cersei kicking Lancel's ass?

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Originally Posted by Draco Senior 

One small issue with an otherwise terrific episode...Loras has been underserved and it's kind of disappointing.  Okay, so his reaction to Renly's death is toned down, but his defining moment as he arrives with the reinforcements is not emphasized enough in the episode.  It sucks because in Season One they made his relationship with Renly much more explicit and yet these emotional moments don't get their proper pay-off.  There are a few brief shots of him riding through and killing, but the connection isn't made quite as well as it could have been.  He's wearing the armor if you're paying attention to his appearance in the throne room, but it's too "blink and you'll miss it".  Was looking forward to someone mentioning that it looks like Renly's spirit has arrived on the battlefield.

I have to agree here.  It's actually been long enough since I read the books that I completely forgot about the "Renly's ghost" part.  They should have had some shot of soldiers being freaked out or something.  Still, it's one of these details that as a non-book reader, you would have no idea it was missing in the first place.  My guess is that they may reference it at some point as a passing comment ("nice touch with the armor") but probably won't hype it up very much.  Anyway, the important thing is that we're going to get Margarey vs. Cersei which should be good.

Frankly, I always thought the Renly's ghost bit was quite stupid, so I can't say I miss it.

Martin sure did love ending his chapters with fake gotchas that didn't pan out to be anything. That's how I always saw Renly's ghost. Kind of a dumb idea. 

...Renly's "ghost" is just a literary flourish. It's the kind of thing we've seen in literature and folktales since time immemorial. You didn't actually think Renly's ghost was literally riding up to save them, did you?

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Originally Posted by The Prankster 

 You didn't actually think Renly's ghost was literally riding up to save them, did you?

No. That's why it's dumb.

As I have absolutely no recollection of that, not a big deal to me that they cut it.  Seriously, I'm gonna have to dig the book out and find that bit just so I know what you guys are referencing.

*shrug* To each their own. I thought it was a really powerful moment in the book and it could have been chilling on-screen, if it was actually emphasized more. It was such a great, unexpected way to send Renly off with the terrified speculation that his vengeful spirit had returned to fight against Stannis.

On another subject, though...I hope they do justice to the mindfuck that is the House of the Undying next week.  It's really the one thing after Blackwater that I love the most from Clash and if its bizarre nature is little more than Dany walking through a few mildly creepy rooms with most of the truly ambitious imagery gone due to post-BW budgetary constraints, I'm going to be disappointed.  I doubt we'll get the dwarves and the giant heart...I hope they keep the RW foreshadowing, at least.

They've made Pyat Pree pretty creepy and the tricks in his last appearance were much more than what the book implied about his power, so I hope that means the House will be done well.

I still have hope for the House of the Undying, mostly because they've actually done a really good job with Pyat Pree so far, and because there's been a sense that they've been saving up for end-of-the-season hijinks. Hopefully they didn't just blow it all on Blackwater.

I guess we're not going to get an epic, digitally enhanced shot of hordes of Wildlings massing in the valley, more's the pity. (I've always been a little confused by the fact that this show is oddly reluctant to use digital multiplication to create crowd shots. My understanding is that this is relatively cheap and easy to do, and while I understand why you wouldn't want to do it constantly, it really would help the sense of scale if they'd throw in the occasional, single shot of a massive crowd--like at Robert's tournament in S1, for instance.)
 

I'm still hopeful.  I've had a lot of problems with the adapted Quarth storyline, but they've done a good amount with Pyat Pree.

I doubt the more "How are they going to do this?" imagery will be left in, and I also fear that we won't see the barbed throne/Rhaegar, but we'll see what they do.

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Originally Posted by The Prankster 

I still have hope for the House of the Undying, mostly because they've actually done a really good job with Pyat Pree so far, and because there's been a sense that they've been saving up for end-of-the-season hijinks. Hopefully they didn't just blow it all on Blackwater.

Yeah, I was worried about the House of the Undying sequence until I saw the creepy one with the multiple Pyat Pree's. After that, I have faith that they can pull it off. We'll see whether or not they actually do. 

With her storyline having so many changes already next to Arya's, I wonder if most of what Dany sees will be inventions of the show altogether.  As long as they still get the point across with what the visions are supposed to mean, I could see them going for completely different, more budget-friendly imagery.

I hope I'm somewhat wrong, though.  I'd love to be surprised and see the dwarves in there somewhere, the throne, the heart over the table, etc.

Oh! Oh! If they make up fun visions in the House of the Undying, can one of those be a squid with several of its tentacles cut off crawling about on the land?Please please please? This is all driven by my hope that Theon will have a part to play in the larger, White Walker/Dragon story going on.