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

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Loke13

Member
The frequency of this promo material is great. It finally feels like previous years and I'm actually excited for the new season now!
I also like that they seem to be sticking to the book canon that Mels wears such thin clothing at the Wall because the cold doesn't affect her. I was wondering if they were going to bother putting that little detail in.
 

Ratrat

Member
Eh, I don't think it's implausible that the Faith views homosexuality as immoral, but the crown has never outlawed it. From the trailers, the Sparrows seem to oppose alcohol, too, which isn't illegal either.
Just doesn't seem like something that happens in a patriarchal, mysoginist society. Like Rome and medieval Britain had gay emperors and kings in spite of absolutely condemning it. Again, I'm hoping there's a lot more to the accusations and this doesn't weaken Cersei's storyline.
 

NeoGiff

Member
I also like that they seem to be sticking to the book canon that Mels wears such thin clothing at the Wall because the cold doesn't affect her. I was wondering if they were going to bother putting that little detail in.

Yep, it's great. Poor Carice must have been freezing while filming those scenes up in Belfast.
 

foxtrot3d

Banned
I also like that they seem to be sticking to the book canon that Mels wears such thin clothing at the Wall because the cold doesn't affect her. I was wondering if they were going to bother putting that little detail in.

One thing that concerns me in the trailer is that we saw Melisandre with Stannis in some kind of war tent. It makes me fear that Melisandre will leave The Wall with Stannis to fight the Boltons and we won't get those Jon Snow-Melisandra scenes from the book.

I got another one,
Game of Thrones S5 |OT| Edd, Fetch Me a Book.

EDIT:

Also, it's confirmed no Bran for Season 5. D&D makes Return of the Jedi analogy that makes no sense:

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/03/13/game-thrones-bran-season-6
The fledgling warg will receive his training from the Three-Eyed Raven and the Children of the Forest off-screen this year. “Like, it would be far less interesting, after The Empire Strikes Back to have an hour-long movie in between Empire and Return of the Jedi where Luke is training,” showrunner David Benioff says. “It’s so much cooler to cut from end of Empire to begging of Return, where he’s become the Jedi.”

D&D acknowledge that they've reached the end of all ADWD material for Bran:

“The fact is, even though we’re making changes to the books and adapting as necessary, we’re trying to keep the various storylines the same [as the books] and trying to keep them roughly [chronologically] parallel. And [in season 4] we caught up to the end of Bran’s storyline [in George R.R. Martin’s most recent book, A Dance with Dragons] last year. So if we pushed him forward this season, then he’s way ahead of where the other characters are.”


Um, like a majority of The Empire Strikes Back was Luke training with Yoda on Dagobah. So...
 

Jacob

Member
Um, like a majority of The Empire Strikes Back was Luke training with Yoda on Dagobah. So...

Yeah, this comparison doesn't make any sense to me either. If we're going with a TESB analogy, then Bran has only just entered Yoda's hut and realized who the little green dude really is.
 
Game of Thrones S07 |OT| Yep, still in Mereen
lol
Um, like a majority of The Empire Strikes Back was Luke training with Yoda on Dagobah. So...
I think the point was Luke leaves training in Empire and they never show him finishing training, he's assumed to be a fully training Jedi at the beginning of episode 6.

...but yes, still a strange analogy considering the considerable training that takes place in Empire
 

foxtrot3d

Banned
lol

I think the point was Luke leaves training in Empire and they never show him finishing training, he's assumed to be a fully training Jedi at the beginning of episode 6.

...but yes, still a strange analogy considering the considerable training that takes place in Empire

Yeah, that's what I understood but like you said the whole point was that Luke got considerable training time in Empire so further training scenes in Return was unnecessary.
 

RaidenZR

Member
lol

I think the point was Luke leaves training in Empire and they never show him finishing training, he's assumed to be a fully training Jedi at the beginning of episode 6.

...but yes, still a strange analogy considering the considerable training that takes place in Empire

It's also a bit of a cop-out and mostly serves to fleetingly explain something just for the time being. I wish I knew the reason why they couldn't do this 'skip a year' thing with Theon/Reek, especially when it would have been in service to his wild mental and physical transformation. Particularly because NOT skipping a year resulted in some questionable (in terms of entertainment and effectiveness) scenes involving his torture.

Between the need to start doing flashbacks with Cersei as a child, to the absence of characters starting with Bran, the show makes strange decisions all the time now.
 

WaffleTaco

Wants to outlaw technological innovation.
It's also a bit of a cop-out and mostly serves to fleetingly explain something just for the time being. I wish I knew the reason why they couldn't do this 'skip a year' thing with Theon/Reek, especially when it would have been in service to his wild mental and physical transformation. Particularly because NOT skipping a year resulted in some questionable (in terms of entertainment and effectiveness) scenes involving his torture.

Between the need to start doing flashbacks with Cersei as a child, to the absence of characters starting with Bran, the show makes strange decisions all the time now.
I think the Theon/Ramsay scenes were good in setting up Ramsay and the Boltons as the enemies of the second part of the show.
 

Iksenpets

Banned
I think the Theon/Ramsay scenes were good in setting up Ramsay and the Boltons as the enemies of the second part of the show.

I'm not sure if there were quite good, but they were definitely necessary in a way Bran/Bloodraven training isn't. We didn't know anything about Ramsay or what he would do to Theon at the end of season 2, and it would've been way too much to explain in retrospect in season 5. Bran, on the other hand, we know what he's up to based on the end of season 4. He's learning from a magic tree wizard. We don't know quite what, but it's something, so we'll be expecting his transformation.
 

Szeth

Member
The last 2 seasons of Jojen/Bran was his "Empire" training. Then the next time we see him he'll be a master. Analogy makes sense to me.
 

RaidenZR

Member
I think the Theon/Ramsay scenes were good in setting up Ramsay and the Boltons as the enemies of the second part of the show.

I don't disagree that the Boltons need to be conveyed as antagonists going forward. The Red Wedding pretty much cements how the viewer will perceive Roose (and his family). Then the Theon/Ramsay scenes hammer it home and fuel the fire. So yes, all that serves a purpose that they sculpted up to what most of have read in the books and seen of Season 5.

However, and I say this as someone who didn't mind them (and still don't) and isn't bothered by on-screen "torture", but the Theon/Reek scenes were repetitive (and actually rather tame compared to what I thought would be depicted). I didn't really buy Theon's breaking point, and I think the mental torture is much harder to suggest in a TV medium. I'm not going to suggest I know what the solution is but that's just how I feel and how it rang for me.

The other side of it is that the torture season for Alfie Allen really put clamps on what he was able to do. He only got to act distressed, worried, scared and pleading. It was rather one-note. After season 1 and 2 I was REALLY impressed with what he pulled off and what the writing gave for him to work with. I actually thought he stole the second season away from Peter Dinklage and Tyrion. There was lots of Alfie Allen and most of it was pretty compelling and good.

He was misused and underutilized in seasons 3 and 4 by comparison. Not in terms of screentime, just in terms of character contexts. I think in a hypothetical year gap over season 3, where he comes back and is a radically fucked up "new" character, would have been very interesting. Especially in hindsight given what we got.
 
I think (from my armchair/20-20 hindsight) that they shouldn't have done the torture scenes after Ramsay sets up free and captures him again in 303/304. IIRC, they did torture scenes in 306 and 307 that were pretty similar, which I didn't find affective because of that.
 

Dysun

Member
More Theon and Ramsay is a good thing. I think their scenes totaled something like 38 minutes that season which is not much in the grand scheme of things, especially when establishing a new villain.
 

Iksenpets

Banned
I think (from my armchair/20-20 hindsight) that they shouldn't have done the torture scenes after Ramsay sets up free and captures him again in 303/304. IIRC, they did torture scenes in 306 and 307 that were pretty similar, which I didn't find affective because of that.

I think you could've spent the same amount of time on the torture had the torture not been so monotonous. Hate to play the book purist, but I think the Kyra story from the books could've worked well. And they could've on Theon's character more than the torture itself. I don't think it was as bad as some people made it out to be, but it definitely could've been better.
 

Forkball

Member
I just read an interesting analysis on the Westeros.org board. Here is Part II. TL;DR:

+Many of the myths and legends of Westeros are based on astronomical events
+Westeros really did have two moons, as stated in Qarthian legends
+The original Azor Ahai/Nissa Nissa/Lightbringer combo was the Sun/second moon/comet. The comet struck the second moon, destroying it, which caused a massive meteor shower on earth. The red comet is the second half of the original moon-destroying one.
+The Long Night was caused by the meteors hitting earth
+The Asshai myth of AA is based on a rather evil dude

There's going to be a part III eventually. I'm not sure how all this information would tie in to the end game of the story, but there is certainly some interesting textual references.
 

Brakke

Banned
Psyche! All those legends were lame superstitions y'all were silly to believe this shit destiny isn't real nothing is real life is meaningless lol.
 

Gila

Member
It's going to be hilarious when AWOW completely disproves theory after theory. It's going to spawn so much speculation too though. Mostly about when the last book is coming out.

Random question, why do people refer to book 6 as AWOW? Is it so hard to type "T" instead of "A" or am I missing out on something here? (Don't mean no offence, just curious since I've seen it numerous times by multiple users)
 

Forkball

Member
Random question, why do people refer to book 6 as AWOW? Is it so hard to type "T" instead of "A" or am I missing out on something here? (Don't mean no offence, just curious since I've seen it numerous times by multiple users)

All the books start with A so it's just habit.
 

NeoGiff

Member
Random question, why do people refer to book 6 as AWOW? Is it so hard to type "T" instead of "A" or am I missing out on something here? (Don't mean no offence, just curious since I've seen it numerous times by multiple users)

AWOW = A World of Waiting

I don't know the real reason, but this is the first time I've seen it used. Maybe it didn't register with me before.
 

Massa

Member
It's going to be hilarious when AWOW completely disproves theory after theory. It's going to spawn so much speculation too though. Mostly about when the last book is coming out.

Before that I think people will speculate about when book 7 is coming out.
 
I just read an interesting analysis on the Westeros.org board. Here is Part II. TL;DR:

+Many of the myths and legends of Westeros are based on astronomical events
+Westeros really did have two moons, as stated in Qarthian legends
+The original Azor Ahai/Nissa Nissa/Lightbringer combo was the Sun/second moon/comet. The comet struck the second moon, destroying it, which caused a massive meteor shower on earth. The red comet is the second half of the original moon-destroying one.
+The Long Night was caused by the meteors hitting earth
+The Asshai myth of AA is based on a rather evil dude

There's going to be a part III eventually. I'm not sure how all this information would tie in to the end game of the story, but there is certainly some interesting textual references.
Interesting, will read. I want to see if it ties into the theory about Dawn being Lightbringer. The sword was crafted out of a meteor...

Stuff like this makes the wait easier IMO. I was somewhat bored by a lot of the speculation during the long ADWD wait. Iirc the biggest theory from AFFC was the Grand Tyrell Conspiracy, which was interesting but nothing compared to the shit ADWD birthed.
 

foxtrot3d

Banned
I still don't get the shows aversion to prophecies I mean it's a pretty basic fantasy trope.

I just think they believe show watchers will be confused. "What, wut's all this Azoo A-Ahi stuff I gotta remember? This is weird and boring, I'm confused what's with all the magic stuff? Just give me back the funny dwarf."

Which is non-sense of course, never treat the audience like idiots people will understand.
 

Iksenpets

Banned
I still don't get the shows aversion to prophecies I mean it's a pretty basic fantasy trope.

If they left them in, we'd all be complaining about how they included prophecies that didn't end up coming true in the show. There's no way they could do that level of forshadowing when they never really know what their budget is going to be like the next year and what will have to be cut. Maybe they can kind of start now that their budget is approaching infinite and they're in the home stretch. Plus, no one wants to have mysteries that take seven seasons to solve. There's probably some post-Lost aversion to pulling stuff like that.

And I always kind of though that maybe the weird seasons were a result of losing the second moon, but I never put that all into a crazy theory like that.
 
Random question, why do people refer to book 6 as AWOW? Is it so hard to type "T" instead of "A" or am I missing out on something here? (Don't mean no offence, just curious since I've seen it numerous times by multiple users)

Didn't you hear? GRRM changed The Winds of Winter to A Wind of Winter, just one wind, the rest of the winds have been cut and will appear in The Dreams of Spring (which now features multiple dreams).
 
Still think there's no way he finishes this in three more books. TWOW roughly occupies much of what was formerly supposed to be book 2 of 3, IIRC, thanks to the way the five-year gap was undone (and book 1 of 3 turned into the first three books).

I can see TWOW finishing off the book-two material (along with AFFC/ADWD picking up a bunch of that legwork) but there's no way the "book three" material ends up not getting similarly expanded into multiple books.

We'll probably get A Time For Wolves at the very least, IMO.
 

foxtrot3d

Banned
Well, GRRM just commented on his blog again about the show passing the books and whether book readers should feel "betrayed."

GRRM said:
I am not aware of any previous instances either... but then, life is full of firsts.

It is what it is.

I write the books as fast as I can, but that's not very fast. They are very big, very complex, very challenging. I have never been a fast writer, and the passage of years is not making me any faster.

Is it "kinda awkward?" Sure. Is it a "betrayal?" I think that's harsh, and unkind, and untrue.
 

Iksenpets

Banned
Still think there's no way he finishes this in three more books. TWOW roughly occupies much of what was formerly supposed to be book 2 of 3, IIRC, thanks to the way the five-year gap was undone (and book 1 of 3 turned into the first three books).

I can see TWOW finishing off the book-two material (along with AFFC/ADWD picking up a bunch of that legwork) but there's no way the "book three" material ends up not getting similarly expanded into multiple books.

We'll probably get A Time For Wolves at the very least, IMO.

I think it's possible that acts 2 and 3 were never as fully realized in his head at the start, so there's less material there to cause the books to overflow. The original summaries never really specify much more than Book 2: Dany invades, Book 3: Shit goes down with the Others. I think the main concern is if he can move Dany quickly enough to get her in place for the 2nd act story. Or maybe Aegon was introduced to take some of that role when he realized Dany wasn't going to make it quickly enough? Who knows.

At the very least, he's >50% through Winds and still feels like two books is possible, so we're not in the crazy sort of situation he had with the first book where it was clearly never going to fit in one book from the start.
 

Kain

Member
Well, GRRM just commented on his blog again about the show passing the books and whether book readers should feel "betrayed."

And he is right, it's not betrayal, that's absurd. Everyone knew this moment would come, and it's not like this is the first time something like this has happened. We'll have two endings and that's OK.
 
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