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

yes but

? shadow monster birth p much exactly as i expected it. altho truly bizarre to see on tv screen.

otm

Reading people talking about potentially serious divergences from the books. I'm not against this, mind, as I wouldn't know the difference.

I also read that apparently Stannis was attacking Renly (who was on his way to King's Landing) so I guess that's why they happened to meet up. Hoping this really kicks off soon, as I'm worried its going to crumble under the weight of too-many characters. I hope there's some response by Tyrion to the Ros/Joffrey scene.

what. the...

"whoa, that lady amputates legs real good I'M IN LOVE"

Really enjoyed the use of the word "cunt" in this episode.

TV Joffrey is even more horrible than book Joffrey.

Interesting that they didn't let/make Melisandre squat in the row boat, which is iirc how she births the shadow in the book. It's like the half-reclined legs open position signifies birth on screen--otherwise, how would we ever have known what the enormously pregnant lady was doing with her...you know, down there.

Maureen Ryan had a good paragraph about the Joffrey scene:

"Game of Thrones" has gotten a lot of crap for its "sexposition" and its affinity for boobs, but I'd like to point out that this scene was not exploitative of the female characters in the least. In fact, it did what some other scenes in the show haven't done: It took us inside the experience the women were having, and it made us feel their emotions and reactions. The women weren't mere objects in the scene, they were human beings for whom I felt sympathy and pity. This scene wasn't about sex or nudity (and there was very little of either); this was about Joffrey's despicable need to exercise the very worst kind of power over others, and one can only begin, like other characters in this tale, to pray for the day that his head is separated from his body.

agreed, but this whole episode was a bit nauseating

yeah i think we've established that joffrey is horrible at this point

I don't think there's ever been a show that's made me ask myself "wtf did I just watch?" like this one. 0_o

Also DIE IN A FIRE JOFFREY

As awful as he is I'm enjoying the Joffrey stuff because it makes his eventual comeuppance even more satisfying (he has to get some degree of comeuppance, right? RIGHT? Please god i hope so). It is also fun to see his angry, impotent face when Tyrion comes in and gets Sansa.

Really enjoying Arya's storyline, ven if her being Tywin's cup-bearer feels like a serious stretch in credibility. On the flipside, Arya interacting with Charles Dance!

I don't understand why she was taken to the Lannister prison though. They weren't fighting for the Starks, they were just heading to The Wall, right? Why take them?

Until Tywin shows up at the end of that bit, Harrenhal's being run by the Mountain and his men who are basically cruel outlaws that happen to be on good terms with the Lannisters. They're just kind of capturing random civilians to interrogate about the "brotherhood" that we don't know what is yet.

Ah, okay. So the King's Guard (they're the ones that attacked them on the road, right?) just dropped them off there?

that wasn't the king's guard was it? just some lannister men.

yeah the mountain's dudes are just basically psycho criminal masquerading as soldiers

Tywin showing up and laying down the law was pretty great. strutting around calling them all numskulls!

yeah that was the best part of the episode by far.
tywin's sort of ruthless efficiency is cool.

that wasn't the king's guard was it? just some lannister men.

oh right, this might be where i got confused. I thought the intial guys that they told to fuck-off were the King's Guard, as they had the ruling from the King.

maybe i need to make flash cards with the various armour so i can learn who's who by sight.

i think the initial guys might have been.

kingsguard are the elite knights who protect the king

the guys they told off were just random lannister knights/soldiers i think

like, the kingsguard don't usually leave king's landing unless they're travelling with a member of the royal family

kingsguard = secret service
"gold cloaks" = police

right. but the first guys to show up were sent from King's Landing; soldiers or knights or whatever. the people who wound up taking Arya & co. prisoner where the Mountain's rabble.

lannister army = blackwater

So who is in charge of executing the king's orders outside of King's Landing? Like, when Ned Stark ordered that guy to arrest The Mountain in season 1, wasn't he talking to a member of the King's Guard?

the king or hand can command any of their knights to carry out business like that, i guess. that guy was Beric Dondarrion, who's not a Kingsguard member, just a knight.

No, that was Beric Dondarrion wasn't it?

remember that name

Deric Bondarrion. got it.

ok, so to clarify by mixing up Ancient Roman periods - King's Guard are the Praetorian Guard? Gold Cloaks are ~~kind of~~ like the lichters? And the King of Westeros' armies are the various bannerman who have all sworn fealty?

kind of - the Kingsguard is small though, there's only 9 people in it at a time iirc. they're basically glorified bodyguards for the king and his family

and who are the thirteen then?

There were a couple discussions in season 1 about how there wasn't a Westeros army, it was basically just made up of various loyal houses who could split any time if they weren't happy.

the thirteen are the rulers of qarth.

pronounced KARTH

can someone put this in terms of Star Wars, as opposed to Ancient Roman periods?!

Only one of several ruling councils in the book right?

xposts

Kingsguard are the red guys who hang out in Emperor's chamber.

yeah in the book i think they are just an influential political/business faction.

xxxp yeah basically there's a small number of major lords/houses who each have lots of bannermen sworn to them: Stark, Lannister, Baratheon, Tully, Arryn, Tyrell, Martell. So however those align is how everyone else aligns pretty much. Right now they're all pretty much separate, the only alliance is Tyrell and Baratheon via Renly's marriage.

<i>There were a couple discussions in season 1 about how there wasn't a Westeros army, it was basically just made up of various loyal houses who could split any time if they weren't happy.</i>
True, but after Robert claimed the throne people bent the knee/signed treaties with him or whatever. And then when the Ironmen rebelled a few years before the start of the series, his rebellion was quashed on behalf of the king by Ned Stark, who was...Warden of the North, and that kind of thing comes with the title. Think Tywin Lannister was Warden of the West.

el tombot goes off upthread about how westeros is a libertarian paradise

the power structure is king --> regional "wardens" --> bannermen --> subjects

at each level the people swear fealty to those above them

If that's paradise we better keep Ron Paul out of office.

theoretically one of the powerful houses could break their vows to the king and launch a rebellion, its what baratheon did to the targaryen, what the greyjoys attempted, and what robb stark is more or less attempting to do now (though he wants to separate, not to become king of westeros), but b/c honor is the paramount virtue in westeros it would take an even bigger breach of honor on the part of the king to lead a sworn subject to do so

With the powerful houses, there's really only a few who could realistically challenge a king, so the kings keep them in line with marriage/powerful positions. Hence Robert marrying Cersei.

Although it works both ways - it got Tywin the Warden of the West gig, and put him in a strong position to claim de facto rulership of Westeros when Robert died.