HBO adaptation of Game of Thrones - will this be just for nerds? (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

Why did she go all the way to the house of black and white just to hang out and do nothing? What was that token she threw in the river? I don't remember how she got it. Why does she want to become 'no one'? Who are all the people there? Am I right in thinking the guy in the cloak is the same assassin who granted her three kills in previous series, or is he someone else? Is Arya merely interested in revenge at this stage or something bigger? What's all the mumbo jumbo about the 7 gods or archetypes or something, and when did she learn all this?

she has nowhere else to go and is sick of not having control of her own destiny; a coin given to her by jaqen h'ghar signifying that she is a friend of the faceless men; she got it from jaqen h'ghar in season 2; yes, that is jaqen h'ghar; arya is interested in revenge, yes sure, but also in having agency of some kind; she learned exactly as you did, the idea is that single throughline through all the religions in the world of GoT (or here on Earth) is that the one god worshiped by all people is the god of death, and that is who we ultimately serve. that's the faith of the faceless men, with whom arya is currently chilling.

cheers!

i must say, a lot of that doesn't feel very explicit in this season. despite the much-heralded divergences from the books, this season feels increasingly like an adaptation where certain plot-points are breezed over and character arcs don't feel particularly clear. I'm sure it's clearer in the bookes, but for those just watching as a series, it's testament to this season's rocky start that Arya would travel to a house in the middle of nowhere because she doesn't appear to have anything better to do. And as mentioned upthread, being refused access and then being granted it for no apparent reason a day or two later seems like a willfully gnomic move.

I'm not getting any of this confusion, tbh. I mean, for Arya's reasons for going, at least. Now we are experiencing things through her eyes, as a stranger in a strange land, and the mystery is deliberate. And that's fine.

But if Arya's hell-bent on avenging her relatives, why has she set sail to Braavos so she can hang around a dank labyrinth trying to forget who she is?

She knows she needs the skills first. She's pretty patient is Arya.

she has wanted to be a killer since p much the start, and they did spend several episodes showing how shit hot at killing people that jaqen guy was.

ah, alright then.

I was wondering whether deciding not to throw Needle away was due to sentimentalism, or just that she was thinking, 'this Faceless Men thing may turn out to be bs, I need a back-up plan'. Or a bit of both.

didn't ned give it to her? seems it'd be p hard to throw away the weapon your murdered father passed on.

Ned or Jon Snow? Or did Jon just help her name it or something?

I thought Ned gave it to her - didn't he find she was trying to learn to fight, get annoyed, then change heart and give her the sword?

ned got her some sword lessons. jon had the sword made for her

Oh yeah, it's coming back to me - Ned found the sword amongst her stuff in King's Landing, was pissed off at first then relented and sorted Syrio out to give her lessons.

ah right - presume they're just keeping the sword in the picture so she can kill jon snow with it then

she wants to kill jon snow?

nah i'm just imagining a future scenario in which that might be the case

i haven't read the books

Arya's kill list as it stands: "Cersei, Walter Frey, the Mountain, Meryn Trant"

why is the mountain on it again?

i think he was commanding the torturers in that ruined city when she was captured there. i assume that was when his name got on the list

so that's what she was saying. I heard 'marlin trout' and thought she had it in for a fish. who the fuck is meryn trant?

he killed Syrio

figured it wasn't RDJ's fault

He's in it quite a lot but rarely says anything - hatchet-faced kingsguard who's always lurking around Cersei.

Haven't they been showing us Arya staring at that coin and reciting names for two seasons before this one? This is not a case of a show not setting up a character motivation

yes, they have. i know because i've been really bad jokes about arya spending it on a hot dog for a couple years now

You mean some brown stew in Hell's bottom

Shit, show merge. Uh, Bottom's Kitchen

What's thatp lace called. The place with the stews

In Flea Bottom we called them 'bowls of brown'.

Right. Hell's Fleas

Flea Bottom, Flea Bottom, talk about brown bowls, the Red Keep's got 'em.

Haven't they been showing us Arya staring at that coin and reciting names for two seasons before this one? This is not a case of a show not setting up a character motivation

― Is It Any Wonder I'm Not the (President Keyes), Wednesday, April 29, 2015 3:47 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It was more the fact she was supposed to be out for revenge but instead decided to go to a house in the remotest of nowhere, throwaway her possessions (including, ostensibly, her sword), so she could hang around and mop a floor while forgetting who she is. I don't remember a bit in S4 where she made up her mind to go to Braavos or the b/w house but maybe I'm forgetting it. It was a year ago.

as an aside, i like it when people call it 'games of thrones'. especially if they've been following it for years.

xpost approaching tuomas-level deliberate obtuse

i felt like Aria's drive for revenge was waning – because all these people on her list were getting killed constantly by other people. i know she was still reciting her names, but i feel like she is more willing to put all that on the backburner.

and just hang around.

she wants to become an assassin. she knows one dude in the world who is one. I wonder why she goes to find him?

yes that's clearer now, but it wasn't before.

and besides, all this mr miyagi nonsense 'you can't come in. now you can come in' / 'now sweep the floor for days on end', is a bit played out and feels like an excuse to draw a simple plotline out over a series where not enough happens.

^^^

i think it would be pretty interesting if they were willing to pare back the number of storylines per episode...like maybe just follow one or two, allow them to develop without so much interruption and stalling.

but they can't develop storylines without running into the brick wall (the end of the books).

really the best solution is for this show to take a breather until 2020 or so, i'm sure everyone would be fine with that

the amount of expository back-story-retelling in this show is ridiculous

really the best solution is for this show to take a breather until 2020 or so, i'm sure everyone would be fine with that

― Karl Malone, Wednesday, April 29, 2015 12:18 PM (20 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

All of the actors will age normally except Bran, who at his current rate will be a decrepit old man by that point.

just think, first episode could be tyrion and dany until they (presumably) meet. episode two: arya and sansa's storylines so far. episode three maybe cersei and jon snow? or whatever. it's all so choppy and dissatisfying dramatically right now.

i remain confused by how frustrating this is to people, i mean to each his/her own obvs but the sprawl and the crosscutting has been embedded in the show's blueprint for most if not all of its run

but they can't develop storylines without running into the brick wall (the end of the books).

well, since they aren't going to be going entirely according to GRRM's plan out of necessity, i'm not sure this is a factor exactly

yeah book diversion is already a thing, they can do whatever they'd like at this point

True, but they're not doing it very well is the thing.