@Jedi:
awesome new pics from season 2 (more will come, thats what they said)
http://winteriscoming.net/2012/02/the-first-publicity-photos-from-season-two/
Brienne looks spot on.
@Jedi:
awesome new pics from season 2 (more will come, thats what they said)
http://winteriscoming.net/2012/02/the-first-publicity-photos-from-season-two/
Brienne looks spot on.
Luckily I still have some of the books to read, which quenches my enormous thirst for seeing season two. Will be picking up A Storm Of Swords Part 2 today~
new trailer here:
I am officially in love with this song.
Yess.
And then listen to some more Florence and the Machine.
Best trailer yet.
Goddammit, I wish HBO didn't have this effect on me. :ermm:
I've listened to this entire florence and the machine album like five times now.
After I listened to The Way 100 times. ><
@Chocula: I'd be inclined to agree, if the Vengeance trailer wasn't so godly.
Florence + The Machine and Melisandre.
This post onwards this thread shall be dedicated to burning hot redheads.
http://io9.com/5890410/watch-the-simpsons-game-of-thrones-intro?tag=gameofthrones
Missed this last night. Dammit.
FINALLY finished ADWD. What can I say? After the disappointment with AFFC, and hearing quite some praise for this book. . .sorry, but nope.
This is a million light years away from ASOS.
! How can a book of 1000 pages be so stale? Why pages and pages of written content feel so empty and yawn inducing?
! First off, we have Tyrion back. Yay!! And he is as good as ever, but. . it all ammounts to Tyrion going that way. . .then that other way. . .now he's with guy A. . .now guy B. . .all for (almost)freaking nothing!
! Daenerys has always been a terrible pain for me to read, she's so incredibly unlikable. That she has more than half the book for her and her alone, made it no better. Than this Meereen part is one of the most boring, plot irrelevant stuff of the whole series, yeah, icing on the cake.
! Also, agree with the opinion that this time around, the wall chapters were freaking painfully BORING. All that happened could've been done in less than half the chapters. I mean. . .FUCK, you have the freaking white killing machine motherfuckers just waiting to show up and. . .it's all about recruiting wildlings?? and that red herring with the Karstark girl served the purpose of. . .??
! The wall was always something I greatly expected and enjoyed. This time around, it was a freaking bore to read.
! I was expecting Jon to die. It still caught me by surprise, but well. Melissandre is still there. If Thoros of Myr can revive Dondarrion 7 times, Melissandre, supposedly a much more powerful red priestess, can revive Jon (if he MUST be revived, of course) no problem. Unless they mutilate him, like Robb. . .
! All the Stannis hype, getting the north clans with him thanks to Jon, to have him defeated by a snowstorm. Hmmm. . .go Stannis, go??
! Bran. Ok, a guy I know told me that "one of the best chapters ever in the series is the last of the 3 Bran chapters". Ok. Question: what was so mindblowing about it? Maybe I didn't get the scope, the greatness of Bran's new powers, but I was quite "ah, ok. . ." after that.
! Surprisingly, the best part for me came from Theon. He was a freaking asshole, but man, he was DESTROYED by Ramsay. Now we're talking, Ramsay. This motherfucker terrifies me. I want him dead. Now. Roose is like a sister of mercy compared to Ramsay.
Also, I know I'm not smart, but. . .I didn't even think about Mance Rayder once that freaking BARD with SIX WOMEN appeared on Winterfell. Hell, I'm slow. . .
! More with the bastard, I still think that letter is the most terrifying thing in the last two books. This guy is definitely an evil guy that I'm freaking afraid of. Where the Mountain was just a plain ol' boring brute who only had strength going for him, Ramsay is pure sadism and terror personified.
! Also, I don't know where the stuff with White Harbour, Manderly and Davos is going, or will go. Manderly was almost killed by that Frey guy, and sent to fight Stannis by Roose Bolton. How will he freaking rebel against the Boltons if he's going to fight Stannis? How will he know if Davos succeeded in his mission? What will it mean after Stannis is killed? Or after he himself dies?
! That's one thing that kind of pisses me off but is still part of the essence of this saga is that you know that 50% or more of what the characters do, they do it FOR NOTHING. Like for example, Arya is in the other freaking half of the planet, she is thousands of miles away from Jon or Mance or Ramsay or Stannis, yet they are all fighting for Jeyne Poole, thinking she is Arya. It's like. . .hell, I know it's the point, but it gets on my nerves. There are way too freaking hundreds of things that must be done to be wasting so much freaking time on misunderstandings and threads that lead NOWHERE, and we know beforehand that they indeed lead NO fucking WHERE.
! Also, the trolling. If what Martin did to Quentyn is not trolling. . .It's even worse than Arianne Martell's "adventure" on AFFC. Fuck, that was POINTLESS, but at least she lived!! Quentyn did all that stuff. . .to end up roasted by a dragon and accomplish nothing! And I thought the Starks took all the shit. . .
! Also, the last chapter (Daenerys). . .hell. 20 pages of Daenerys walking. Then, in 10 LINES, she calls for Drogon, mounts the dragon, kills a khal scouter, eats his horse and Khal Jacqo appears before her and her dragon. 10 lines. After 20 pages of "Daenerys is weak", "Daenerys falls asleep", "Daenerys is dreaming", "Daenerys wakes up, she is bitten by ants", "Daenerys drinks water from a stream", "Daenerys has diarrhea and shits", "She has blood. . .but it's her period (SERIOUSLY???)". . .And then. . .Oh No, I must have a cliffhanger!! FAST FAST FAST!
! Last but not least, Jaime's chapter felt completely like a tease. Rushed is an understatement. In a 1000 page book where almost nothing happens, you have to completely RUSH through Jaime's only freaking chapter. Uh-huh.
Loooong story short, didn't like it. Not terrible, but boring, very boring. Martin mostly walks through entire chapters, and when he wants for something, anything to happen. . .he rushes that "something" like a madman in like half a page. Just so he can have his little nice cliffhanger.
Hell, most of the time he didn't even bother with cliffhangers this time around, and when he did, only 2 or 3 of them proved shocking, and after seeing how some of them from past books had like 0 consequences in the end, it's hard to take them that seriously.
The best thing was Victarion, Arya (Shitty cliffhanger resolution and 2 freaking chapters aside, she is still so bat shit crazy that you gotta love her) and Theon. The rest, felt boring, stale, uninteresting and badly paced. Martin could've taken 3 Daenerys or 3 Jon chapters away and give at least 1 more to Arya, 1 or 2 more to Jaime, 1 or 2 more to Bran. . .
I don't know, I really want to see Martin starting wrapping up things, something, ANYTHING, but start the wrapping things already! If the next book are again 1000 pages of next to nothing. . .
if the next book is 1000 pages of next to nothing you're still going to buy the last one because…i mean at this point theres no turning back
I actually stopped reading the last book about 3/4 in because I was so bored.
Quitting is definitely doable, don't give up! :ninja:
Oh, I'll read it, of course.
Still, I haven't paid money for any of the books yet. All presents (christmas, birthday. . .) or borrowed from someone.
That makes me feel like a rebel, oh yeah.
It's clear the books have been suffering from the "middle books disease" where the halfway point of a lot of epic series become its worst. Biggest problem with Dance was that it was a whole lot of nothing after a long gap between another book that had a whole lot of nothing (though I have come to appricate Feast more after a reread). There was no resolution at all for the even small things that happened in the book. That being said, I enjoy Martins writing and these characters (though Jon and Danny were super annoying in this book) enough that I can't call it a "bad" book, but I do hope that this is the exception and not the new norm for this series.
Apparently yet another trailer has been released two days ago and I didn't realize it. So if anyone else has yet to see it, go do that.
There's a reason Martin originally had planned to just timeskip past the events of books 4 and 5.
And that reason is, a whole lot of little things happened, but nothing of real interest.
And yet, still too much setup and piece shifting to just keep trying to recap it later. But yes, a good editor could have cut a couple hundred pages out of both of the previous books and they wouldn't be hurt for it. It's Harry Potter syndrome. Eventually the series gets so popular, that the editors can't tell the authors "no" anymore and all their whims of needless extra bloated material end up in the story.
It's also really easy to see why he had ten years of writers block with Daenarys. I get that she might end up being the most important character by the end of the series when she finally ties into th main plot, but… by five books in she still hasn't even spoken to a single member of anyone else in the main cast. Her plot is just so... tertiary. It'd be an okay story on its own, but, within these books its totally out of place.
Also Jon Snow
! is totally still alive. the scene cut away before anything final or anyone else could react to it. Jon might be bedridden much of the next book, but… alive. If Brienne could get out of very clearly being dead with a simple scene cut, he will too. Martin is just using our expectation of "anyone can die" to cheat the drama a bit.
! is totally still alive. the scene cut away before anything final or anyone else could react to it. Jon might be bedridden much of the next book, but… alive. If Brienne could get out of very clearly being dead with a simple scene cut, he will too. Martin is just using our expectation of "anyone can die" to cheat the drama a bit.
! It's getting old though. We've had Brienne, Davos, Jon and Stannis at the least. And if the death doesn't get confirmed in the same book then it's probably not real anyway. Even if Jon's death does get confirmed next book I don't think it will shock me either. Because I already "knew" for several years. Contradictory? Yes. But that's the way my mind works. :P
! It's getting old though. We've had Brienne, Davos, Jon and Stannis at the least. And if the death doesn't get confirmed in the same book then it's probably not real anyway. Even if Jon's death does get confirmed next book I don't think it will shock me either. Because I already "knew" for several years. Contradictory? Yes. But that's the way my mind works. :P
! Count Davos twice, Tyrion twice (at least), Theon.. I think that the only one who got "killed" (during their chapters) and did Die was Catelyn.
! Other than the poor intro/ending chapter people
! Count Davos twice, Tyrion twice (at least), Theon.. I think that the only one who got "killed" (during their chapters) and did Die was Catelyn.
! Other than the poor intro/ending chapter people
! and Quentyn. Like Huschel said, don't expect anyone to be dead unless it's confirmed in the same book.
! It is getting to be a bit of a problem. These cliffhangers about a major character being on the brink of death don't have the same affect they used to because we've had too many fake outs and not enough real deaths. Its gotten to the point where I now assume Jaimie and Brienne will survive, even if all signs point otherwise, and I roll my eyes at Jon's "death" which I never thought would happen with a Martin book…
! Hmmm, EVEN if Jon dies, which I highly doubt, miss Melissandre says hello. If Thoros could revive Dondarrion like a million times, Melissandre won't even break a sweat to bring Jon back to life after 4 stabs.
! That being said, a guy I know that is like a master of making theories about ASOFAF, told me Melissandre will burn Jon because he has the blood of kings, and Jon won't be burnt because he IS the song of ice and fire himself, being all but confirmed of Targaryen blood (fire) and Stark blood (Ice), and that would mark him as the third dragon (third dragon¿?¿? that exists??).
! I won't say it's a bad theory, but well. . .
! And Jaime/Brienne, nah, they won't die. Near the end of the saga, the death count will skyrocket, and probably in more climatic ways. But lately I feel like he has started to "cheat" with these red herrings, fake cliffhangers and the like.
"HBO’s award-winning fantasy drama “Game of Thrones” has earned a new crown: the largest first-week DVD sales among any series in the cable network’s history.
Season one DVD sales reached about 350,000 units in the first seven days following its March 6 release, the network said on Thursday. That pace ranks ahead of other popular HBO series including “The Sopranos,” “Sex and the City” and “True Blood.”"
Source: http://au.news.yahoo.com/world/a/-/world/13181886/exclusive-game-of-thrones-rules-hbos-dvd-sales/
The cast were on a photo session when they heard the news.
And Dinklage was like, "Hey guys, hear me roar my Mercury impersonation".
! I never thought Jon's dead for real because that scene pretty much resembles the prophecy of Azor Ahai. Ser Patrek was the bleeding red star (his sigil was a red star), the darkness that gathered was the Nightwatch and I remember something about smoke and I guess salt can be interpreted into that scene as well somehow. Plus, when Melisandre tries to see Azor Ahai in her fires she only sees snow. Of course it is still kinda vague and the prophecy could relate to Dany and probably Victarion too but so far Jon would be my best guess.
! I never thought Jon's dead for real because that scene pretty much resembles the prophecy of Azor Ahai. Ser Patrek was the bleeding red star (his sigil was a red star), the darkness that gathered was the Nightwatch and I remember something about smoke and I guess salt can be interpreted into that scene as well somehow. Plus, when Melisandre tries to see Azor Ahai in her fires she only sees snow. Of course it is still kinda vague and the prophecy could relate to Dany and probably Victarion too but so far Jon would be my best guess.
! At this point I think its safe to assume that Martin has made it a point to seem that the prophecy can fit almost ever character you want it to. The Hound, Davos, Victarion, Dany, Jon, and if you squint really hard it could even fit Varys. Its probably Dany as it fits her the most neatly, but I think Martin has made his point clear that prophecy can fit anyone you want it to if you interpret it the right way.
! At this point I think its safe to assume that Martin has made it a point to seem that the prophecy can fit almost ever character you want it to. The Hound, Davos, Victarion, Dany, Jon, and if you squint really hard it could even fit Varys. Its probably Dany as it fits her the most neatly, but I think Martin has made his point clear that prophecy can fit anyone you want it to if you interpret it the right way.
! I know and if the prophecy would stand alone I would agree that Dany is the most obvious choice. But in combination with what Melisandre sees in her fires she doesn't fit so well anymore. And she had her own prophecy half-fulfilled in ADWD, I don't know if Martin would center two prophecies on Dany but I guess all we can do is wait for the final two books.
! On another note, I really should have read the Dunk & Egg tales because I missed out on quite a few surprising moments in ADWD.
I've been meaning to see this but haven't had a chance… now I'm pissed. I was watching AOTS and this happened:
(skip to 1:15)Goddammit…
Those are hardly spoilers. lol
Soon, oh so very soon…
Need MOAAAAR @_@;
@Elisabeth:
Need MOAAAAR @_@;
This. So very this.
The premiere was great, in my opinion, and says good things for the rest of the season. They've done a very good job of swiftly establishing context this time around, and I think the storytelling greatly benefits from it.
Hopefully there won't be as many sexposition scenes (they're a sometimes treat) in this season! This'll be Peter Dinklage's time to shine, so I'm ready for shit to go down in Game of Thrones town.
Now_. Right now_.
Hey guys. I've been meaning to get into this franchise for a while now but I've always wondered whether I should read the books or watch the TV show or if I do both (which is sort of unlikely) which should I start with? This appears to have become a really popular series and the stuff that I've been told about sounds really interesting and unique.
There's just one problem. I would like to start by reading the books, but they're all really, really long. And there's seven of them. So it just seems like it'll take a lot of time to get done with them all. So I'm thinking the TV show will probably be the better option to go with.
So my question is: How faithful has the tv show been to the books so far and will it most likely remain faithful? And will watching the show be as satisfying an experience as reading the novels? Also I know that there's going to be 7 books in total, with 5 released so far. While the tv show has only just gotten to covering the second book (I think). How hard will the wait be? I know I'm probably asking too many questions I'd just really like to know the full details before I get invested in this, because I know either way that this will be time consuming, and while I feel pretty confident I'll enjoy it, I want to know which will be more convenient.
Hope one of you guys can get back to me. Thanks.
@Kareem:
Hey guys. I've been meaning to get into this franchise for a while now but I've always wondered whether I should read the books or watch the TV show or if I do both (which is sort of unlikely) which should I start with? This appears to have become a really popular series and the stuff that I've been told about sounds really interesting and unique.
There's just one problem. I would like to start by reading the books, but they're all really, really long. And there's seven of them. So it just seems like it'll take a lot of time to get done with them all. So I'm thinking the TV show will probably be the better option to go with.
So my question is: How faithful has the tv show been to the books so far and will it most likely remain faithful? And will watching the show be as satisfying an experience as reading the novels? Also I know that there's going to be 7 books in total, with 5 released so far. While the tv show has only just gotten to covering the second book (I think). How hard will the wait be? I know I'm probably asking too many questions I'd just really like to know the full details before I get invested in this, because I know either way that this will be time consuming, and while I feel pretty confident I'll enjoy it, I want to know which will be more convenient.
Hope one of you guys can get back to me. Thanks.
Read the books. Game of Thrones and A Song of Ice and Fire should really be treated as two separate entities. The books are segmented in such a way that you can easily pick them up and put them down later. I am a slow reader too, and I finished the first and third (this one's the longest) within a week.
The TV show stays faithful through Season 1, but changes will and must be made to fit the television format.
For the ones who are as impatient as me, episode 2 has been leaked and can already be watched.
Loved the premiere, the casting for Milassandre and Stannis were perfect and Tyrion is amazing as always. I thought that due to the dragons the direwolves would be less frequent because of budget but damn was Grey Wind intimidating, couldn't get over how big he was. Really shows the difference that these wolves are from oordinary one.
One concern is how much things jump around, it was frustrating enough in Clash and it's even harder to do on TV. There are going to be a lot of characters that are going to disappear for a while, but that can't be helped. I'd rather Dany or Arya go away for a little while then force scenes that go nowhere and take away from other, more important things elsewhere. Cant wait for episode 2!
Kareem: you really should read the books regardless. If you read at even a decent speed, you could easily finish all books in no more than a month. I have a feeling the content of the show is going to get more confusing since they're going to have to cut/change some to make it work for 45 minute episodes and a limited number of episodes per season, so having read the books will very much benefit you.
The TV show stays faithful through Season 1, but changes will and must be made to fit the television format.
@Kareem, a quick caveat concerning this: even though what Kitsune said is correct for the most part, the TV adaption left out so much stuff that I felt was rather significant and important in regards to both world building and character development. To put it bluntly, the first season of the series left a bad taste in my mouth. Now, I know I'm being overly critical here – of course you would cut off a lot of stuff when making a ten episode TV series, fitting every single little detail in is impossible -- but if you really want to "get into the franchise", as you put it, you should read the books regardless of how long it will take. They are, in the end, much much more entertaining.
The TV show was probably really good on ordinary standards, but as someone who doesn't really watch TV and usually only reads books I thought it was subpar at best. The heck was that thing between Ser Loras and Renly I will never know..
You know Kareem, it would probably take you the same amount of time to watch the entire first season as it would to read the first book. Sure, the books are long, but so is a ten hour season.
For the ones who are as impatient as me, episode 2 has been leaked and can already be watched.
Where can watch 1? Can you pm me?
is it bad that i find the blacksmith kid incredibly good looking
is it bad that i find the blacksmith kid incredibly good looking
no. he was pretty cute in Skins and now he's just great to look at.
I want me some Melisandre.
The TV show was probably really good on ordinary standards, but as someone who doesn't really watch TV and usually only reads books I thought it was subpar at best. The heck was that thing between Ser Loras and Renly I will never know..
That scene freaked me out to on initial viewing but after my first reread of the series following the end of Season 1, it is actually in the books. One of Martin's greatest skills as a writer is his subtly and if you read closely there are two almost throw-away lines by Littlefinger and Jaime that claim Renly had no real interest in women and had an "unusual" interest in Loras. To see all the quotes and stuff that strongly suggest Renly and Loras being a couple you can go here http://www.angelfire.com/ma4/mlarchives/faq/lorasrenly.html (there are spoilers from later books).
I see what your saying about the TV show and it will never be as good as the books but I thought they did a much better job than I could have ever expected. One of its great strengths was scenes like the one between Loras and Renly or with Robert and Cersei talking about their failed marriage because while they weren't in the book, it doesn't mean they didn't happen because we did not get this character's POVs in the first book. As long as they stay true to the characters these scenes fit right in and even add something extra that the books didn't have.
Ironically, it's the book purists who couldn't even read between the lines to see Loras and Renly's relationship.
So obviously the show has written out Commander Bywater, which is understandable. But has it also written out Shireen? Mel made it sound like Stannis had no kids at all.
@Kareem:
There's just one problem. I would like to start by reading the books, but they're all really, really long. And there's seven of them.
They just look long. They go by pretty quick and can be read in short chunks.
And there's only 5 books currently.
So obviously the show has written out Commander Bywater, which is understandable. But has it also written out Shireen? Mel made it sound like Stannis had no kids at all.
Well, she said "no sons" and "no heirs." She never said no children specifically, but I can see why they would limit the number of onscreen characters until it's absolutely necessary to present them.
I think the ultimate result has been a much tighter script and storytelling that would be easier for a non-book watcher to follow. They plan on using scenes from Storm of Sword in this season as is appropriate as well in the hopes that they can tell a more coherent story. Though I've read all the books, I can definitely appreciate the narrative improvements this season has brought over s1, which hiccuped a lot for me.
I definitely feel more drawn in this time around, but perhaps that's just my experience.
I'm all for cutting out some of the minor characters. Yes, it makes the world more expansive and "real" to have 12,000 different named characters and job titles, but its much easier to remember when you merge and trim and run editorial on some of the really minor stuff.
Sometimes less is more.
Looks like HBO has renewed Game of Thrones for a 3rd season. Not a shocker based on its ratings but I hope the only one season renewal doesn't mean they are gonna shove Storm of Swords in one season cause that would be a mistake.
http://http://m.hitfix.com/blogs/whats-alan-watching/posts/hbo-renews-game-of-thrones-for-season-3
I hope that they don't shoot themselves in the foot with the removal of shiren.
Even though if she ever becomes relevant they have to the 5th book to name drop her and say "ah, she was hidden around there!"