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*UNMARKED SPOILERS ALL BOOKS* Game of Thrones |OT| - Season 5 Offseason Thread

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They're hyping up Arya because it'll probably be the only plotline worth caring about from now on (maybe alongside Jon's).

The rest they'll either make up as they go or simply cut, so...

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WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
They're hyping up Arya because it'll probably be the only plotline worth caring about from now on (maybe alongside Jon's).

The rest they'll either make up as they go or simply cut, so...

Cersei's and Danaery's should stay relatively the same. Jon & Sam's will work mostly fine as well. Stannis's and Theon's will probably remain faithful. The only uncertain one's are: Tyrion's, Jamie, All of Dorne, Brienne and Sansa.
 
Some pretty bold inferences being made here based on a nugget of a marketing push that hasn't started yet....I'm sure just like the other seasons that the trailers and promo spots will feature a variety of characters.
 

kirblar

Member
Some pretty bold inferences being made here based on a nugget of a marketing push that hasn't started yet....I'm sure just like the other seasons that the trailers and promo spots will feature a variety of characters.
Arya was always going to be the focal point for S5- she has the best storyline by a mile.
 

Loke13

Member
Arya was always going to be the focal point for S5- she has the best storyline by a mile.
I'm more excited to see Cersei destroy herself personally and Jon getting stabbed, and whatever is happening with Sansa although
Arya getting to kill Meryn Trant will be all sorts of awesome.
 

Moff

Member
Arya was always going to be the focal point for S5- she has the best storyline by a mile.

absolutely. does anyone disagree that she had the best story of the established POV characters in AFFC/ADWD? not that that would be difficult.
 

Dysun

Member
absolutely. does anyone disagree that she had the best story of the established POV characters in AFFC/ADWD? not that that would be difficult.

I personally found Theon and Jon to be far more interesting than Assassin School

Theon's chapters are easily the best part of post-ASOS
 
absolutely. does anyone disagree that she had the best story of the established POV characters in AFFC/ADWD? not that that would be difficult.

I didn't care for the direction they went in with her. For me, Theon was by far the best. I think his, Davos', Bran's and Jon's were the only ones that maintained the quality of the first 3 books.

Theon might have had the best arc out of any of his books.
 

Moff

Member
I definitely enjoyed Theon's chapters the most, too, in AFFC/ADWD. but a lot of it was already shown in the show and I still don't see theon as one of the big carriers of the show, or even the book. that's what I meant with established POV characters.
that's why I think it makes the most sense for the show to focus on arya.
 
Arya was always going to be the focal point for S5- she has the best storyline by a mile.
I don't disagree that Arya has good content for S5 and will get significant screen time in S5, I meant that saying the marketing was really pushing Arya before we've seen a trailer is premature.
 

Ogimachi

Member
absolutely. does anyone disagree that she had the best story of the established POV characters in AFFC/ADWD? not that that would be difficult.
I do. I prefer the Jon and Theon. Arya is too young to be doing all that and I'm not a big fan of the whole Master Assassins Guild trope, it's like GRRM abandoned the 5 year gap for everyone except her.
 

Leependi

Member
Surprised so many people liked Arya's stuff in book 4/5, I found it pretty uninteresting and not really relevant to anything else going on. It also seemed like she was getting several time jumps which didn't really line up with any other characters.

I think Jon and everything happening at the Wall was the best storyline, be interesting to see what the TV show viewers think since none of them seem to like Jon.
 

NeoGiff

Member
Wow, no one talking about this?

Some interesting iconography here. Mel, nails, a hand going towards the snow slowly (jon?), that strange rock or stone with the sigil...

Because there's nothing to talk about. It's basically all old footage, except the pot smashing and the final shot of Arya in the other video. The shot of Mel is from the S4 finale. The nails were those driven into the Masters' hands. The hand in the snow/ash is Dany's from the HOTU sequence. This whole Raven thing has been a disaster.
 

WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
Because there's nothing to talk about. It's basically all old footage, except the pot smashing and the final shot of Arya in the other video. The shot of Mel is from the S4 finale. The nails were those driven into the Masters' hands. The hand in the snow/ash is Dany's from the HOTU sequence. This whole Raven thing has been a disaster.

Why has that been a disaster? Like in the show with Bran or the marketing for Season 4?
 

WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
absolutely. does anyone disagree that she had the best story of the established POV characters in AFFC/ADWD? not that that would be difficult.

I do. Daenery's is a good arc.I also enjoyed Jamie's, Cersei's, Jon's, Tyrion's, and Theon's.
 
Arya had quite a few great moments in AFFC and ADWD. Especially in regards to how powerful she is at skinchanging; using the cat's eyes to defeat the Kindly Man in a duel was badass, plus the poisoned coin in ADWD. I bet the show will spice things up by bringing back Hagar to replace the Kindly Man.

Ultimately Theon has the best arc in the last two books IMO. Pretty much all the northern stuff in ADWD is great.
 

Iksenpets

Banned
Surprised so many people liked Arya's stuff in book 4/5, I found it pretty uninteresting and not really relevant to anything else going on. It also seemed like she was getting several time jumps which didn't really line up with any other characters.

I think Jon and everything happening at the Wall was the best storyline, be interesting to see what the TV show viewers think since none of them seem to like Jon.

Arya would actually be pretty low on my list of Feast/Dance plots. It has some interesting world building for Braavos and the Faceless Men, but other than that, there's not a whole lot to it. Arya I think suffered the most from the loss of the five year gap. None of this stuff was really supposed to happen on page. I would say her plot is better than Sansa's, the Ironborn, Quentyn, and Tyrion. Maybe tied with Brienne's. Everyone else I probably liked better.

Edit: Forgot Sam. She's better than Sam.

Cersei's and Danaery's should stay relatively the same. Jon & Sam's will work mostly fine as well. Stannis's and Theon's will probably remain faithful. The only uncertain one's are: Tyrion's, Jamie, All of Dorne, Brienne and Sansa.

I don't know on the Northern stuff being similar to the books. The Northern plot is pretty complicated, with lots of characters moving around to different places and intersecting. I'm not sure they can do it without pretty big restructurings.
 

NeoGiff

Member
Why has that been a disaster? Like in the show with Bran or the marketing for Season 4?

The whole Raven marketing thing. They initially make a big deal about it and when it comes around, it's a mess. A huge number of people can't get it to work, and for those that do... It's a hodgepodge of footage from previous seasons.

BUT WAIT GUYS, GET HYPED BECAUSE YOU CAN ONLY WATCH IT ONCE!!!
 

Loke13

Member
I do. Daenery's is a good arc.I also enjoyed Jamie's, Cersei's, Jon's, Tyrion's, and Theon's.
Yeah I agree with this Arya had to few chapters in between the two books for it to really be impactful. I think spreading he training arc over 3 books kills any momentum that her storyline otherwise would have had.
 

CassSept

Member
Surprised so many people liked Arya's stuff in book 4/5, I found it pretty uninteresting and not really relevant to anything else going on. It also seemed like she was getting several time jumps which didn't really line up with any other characters.

I think Jon and everything happening at the Wall was the best storyline, be interesting to see what the TV show viewers think since none of them seem to like Jon.

Arya's stuff can work really well in TV form.

Personally, I think Theon had by far the best arc, Top 3 of the series as a matter of fact with probably Jon second, but I'm not confident Jon's arc could translate too well into TV... they're probably going to excise a ton of content from it.
 
In the books I'd agree but IDK, in the show it hasn't had the impact even close to it did when I got back to Theon in the books and I say that as someone who saw the torture stuff in season three before I got to where Theon/Reek's story picks up in the books. The only thing the Theon stuff in the show as good for was lending more to establish Ramsey as an older, possibly sicker, best friend for Joffrey who he unfortunately never actually never met but not anywhere near as hated because fuck Theon and what he did. We'll see how season five goes, hopefully with no Ironborn running from dogs.
 
The whole Raven marketing thing. They initially make a big deal about it and when it comes around, it's a mess. A huge number of people can't get it to work, and for those that do... It's a hodgepodge of footage from previous seasons.

BUT WAIT GUYS, GET HYPED BECAUSE YOU CAN ONLY WATCH IT ONCE!!!

I've yet to get one to work for me despite getting a PM for each one.
 
I liked Jon's ADWD arc but most of it wouldn't translate to tv. To me AFFC and ADWD really revolve around rulership, specifically of three characters: Cersei, Dany, and Jon. All three face a variety or complex situations and problems, and all three run into big problems. In Jon's case he spends quite a bit of time doing things you'd expect a LC to do: making sure there's enough food for winter, training his men for battle, restoring the Wall, etc. But he also deals with a massive humanitarian crisis while poorly managing his own men, who eventually betray him. Martin has often criticized Tolkien's view on ruling, especially the "great king solves everything" trope. And he explores it in depth in those two books.

But Jon doesn't really fight anyone or have sex or do anything a tv show would require...so I'm sure they'll add some action beats and other asinine content.

Tyrion's ruling in ACOK was more interesting due to the cast and setting. Varys, Littlefinger, Cersei, Bronn, etc - plus the backdrop of imminent war. Whereas the NW structure isn't really fleshed out much. Marsh mainly just grudgingly nods approval until Jon goes too far. I wish there was more personality on the Wall outside of Jon (and Mance), especially after Jon sent his friends away. I would have liked more council type scenes to help flesh out the personalities beyond the surface. Perhaps a First Ranger coming and going with various badass exposition dumps about what he's seeing beyond the Wall.
 

Patriots7

Member
I agree. fAegon is something that seems to large to cut especially when George has said there will be a second dance of the dragons. If they haven't cast Young Griff but have cast a seemingly unimportant character like Trystane it makes me think there's a good chance he is their fAegon.
I can't understand how Aegon being Trystane could work in the show.

So Doran, according to the show, has no heirs but Trystane, who he smuggled before the death of Aegon and passed on as his son? If this is how the show will set it up, then it means that Aegon actually did survive (and isn't some Blackfyre) as I don't believe Doran would pass his own child off as Aegon, which would kind of be an insult to his sister.
 

CassSept

Member
But Jon doesn't really fight anyone or have sex or do anything a tv show would require...so I'm sure they'll add some action beats and other asinine content.

That's why they will probably only jump from major one major story beat to another. We assume this season ends with his assassination and in the show he wasn't even elected LC yet. He has 13 chapters in ADWD so they have a lot of wiggle room, a ton of content will be thrown away to make it more exciting for TV viewers.
 

NeoGiff

Member
That's why they will probably only jump from major one major story beat to another. We assume this season ends with his assassination and in the show he wasn't even elected LC yet. He has 13 chapters in ADWD so they have a lot of wiggle room, a ton of content will be thrown away to make it more exciting for TV viewers.

I honestly don't know what to think about this. On one hand it's a great end of season, typically GoT moment. On the other (and presuming he's resurrected by Mel), it's an incredibly cheap cliffhanger to leave fans on for a year.

On the other other hand, if this season doesn't end with "For the Watch"... what finale moment could Jon really have?
 
I don't expect it to be a cliffhanger like the books. I'm expecting the end of the season to be him being revived or the last shot being his eyes turning white. I don't think they'll leave it at him just being stabbed.
 

NeoGiff

Member
I don't expect it to be a cliffhanger like the books. I'm expecting the end of the season to be him being revived or the last shot being his eyes turning white. I don't think they'll leave it at him just being stabbed.

Or blue...

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Seriously though, I'd have to think about it, but a reveal shot of him opening his newly whitened warg eyes reminiscent of Bran opening his eyes for the first time after his Season 1 accident could work quite well.
 
If they do it for Jon will they finally do it for Arya?

I expect we're getting the "For the Watch" part this season unless they want to stretch Jon's story out for whatever reason but I don't know if there's another good cutting off point in the books, the Lord Commander thing is probably going to take up an episode or two and then they'll have seven or eight other episodes for other stuff, I could imagine having the gates opening to let the the free folk in as an ending but it feels more like an episode ender than a season ender.

*Shrug* I need sleep.
 

Iksenpets

Banned
I honestly don't know what to think about this. On one hand it's a great end of season, typically GoT moment. On the other (and presuming he's resurrected by Mel), it's an incredibly cheap cliffhanger to leave fans on for a year.

On the other other hand, if this season doesn't end with "For the Watch"... what finale moment could Jon really have?

I know there's been a lot of speculation that they're reordering things to have Hardhome play out on screen and to maybe actually have Jon lead the mission there, instead of the Cotter Pyke stuff from the books. I could see that battle being an episode 8-9 event, and then having the final episode have Jon returning to Castle Black badly beaten, maybe with a few rescued wildlings in tow to replace the ones Tormund brought in the books. Then the opening few episodes of season 6 could have the two big battles from the beginning of Winds, plus for the Watch happening in actual chronological order after the battle instead of happening out of order like in the books.


That way, the cliffhanger doesn't feel quite so cheap, since you're only waiting a week to find out that he's not dead instead of a year, and they don't have to spend the entire off-season worried that someone is going to snap a photo of the supposedly dead Jon filming season 6 material.

It's a bit of a soft climax, but it's no worse than ending Dany season 4 on the dragon chaining scene, or the fact that the season 3 climax for King's Landing was just everyone finding out about the Red Wedding and Jaime getting home.
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Leependi

Member
I can see them leaving it on a cliffhanger when Jon dies just to avoid getting ahead of the books for as long as possible, then hopefully Winds will be out before season six starts.
 

NeoGiff

Member
I know there's been a lot of speculation that they're reordering things to have Hardhome play out on screen and to maybe actually have Jon lead the mission there, instead of the Cotter Pyke stuff from the books. I could see that battle being an episode 8-9 event, and then having the final episode have Jon returning to Castle Black badly beaten, maybe with a few rescued wildlings in tow to replace the ones Tormund brought in the books. Then the opening few episodes of season 6 could have the two big battles from the beginning of Winds, plus for the Watch happening in actual chronological order after the battle instead of happening out of order like in the books.


That way, the cliffhanger doesn't feel quite so cheap, since you're only waiting a week to find out that he's not dead instead of a year, and they don't have to spend the entire off-season worried that someone is going to snap a photo of the supposedly dead Jon filming season 6 material.

It's a bit of a soft climax, but it's no worse than ending Dany season 4 on the dragon chaining scene, or the fact that the season 3 climax for King's Landing was just everyone finding out about the Red Wedding and Jaime getting home.
.

I had completely forgotten about the Hardhome thing. Yeah, this all sounds reasonable and would work really well. Now let's watch as none of it happens that way haha.

I can see them leaving it on a cliffhanger when Jon dies just to avoid getting ahead of the books for as long as possible, then hopefully Winds will be out before season six starts.

The showrunners being hesitant to overtake the books is a non-issue at this point. It's happening this season.
 
I can see them leaving it on a cliffhanger when Jon dies just to avoid getting ahead of the books for as long as possible, then hopefully Winds will be out before season six starts.

There are two more seasons after this one, there's no point in structuring things to avoid getting ahead of the books.
 
Hadn't thought about Hardhome, that's an interesting scenario. Having Jon lead the fight there could be a way to avoid ending the season on what would ultimately be a cheap cliffhanger for Jon given our assumptions for what will happen next.
 
Hadn't thought about Hardhome, that's an interesting scenario. Having Jon lead the fight there could be a way to avoid ending the season on what would ultimately be a cheap cliffhanger for Jon given our assumptions for what will happen next.

I don't see any indication that these showrunners would want to avoid a cheap cliffhanger.
 

Yoda

Member
TWoW not being out until post season 5 means it will almost be years after the show is over until we get ADoS. Really wish they would just do most of AFFC and ADWD and extend the contracts, its not like hey can't afford to as they'd still make retard levels of profit off the show, it would simply amount to less profit. Also the streaming service might change the actual amount of $$ they receive per viewer which may make them change their calculus.
 
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