THE GAME OF THRONES/ASOIAF SPOILER THREAD (WARNING: SPOILERS)

I haven't read the books; are the practical aspects of winter coming addressed at all? Like are there any voices of reason going "hey maybe we should all be focusing on stockpiling food rather than fighting wars, since we won't be able to grow crops for years on end" ?

Or am I misunderstanding how seasons work in this fantasy world.

i have a friend who couldnt get over this when she was reading it, she was like "winter is coming for YEARS and everyone is running around burning all the crops, they're all so fucked!"

iirc the thing is that any head wise enough to be more concerned by crops than crowns has been cut off by the end of book 2

also yeah it's sort of implied that the threat of the coming winter is the white walkers returning

― ciderpress, Thursday, May 9, 2013

huh? no one even believes in "white walkers"

i think cider is right, there is portent or superstition about winter and "winter is coming" that is not just meteorological, even if no one actually believes in the others specifically.

I haven't read the books; are the practical aspects of winter coming addressed at all? Like are there any voices of reason going "hey maybe we should all be focusing on stockpiling food rather than fighting wars, since we won't be able to grow crops for years on end" ?

Or am I misunderstanding how seasons work in this fantasy world.

i have a friend who couldnt get over this when she was reading it, she was like "winter is coming for YEARS and everyone is running around burning all the crops, they're all so fucked!"

― we're up all night to get (s1ocki), Thursday, May 9, 2013 10:36 PM (13 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Spot on tbh. For a series which has made such a huge deal out of "like fantasy but REAL" to ignore this point would be a massive mis-step. Can only assume that this is going to become a major plot point in The Winds Of Winter, particularly given how fond GRRM seems to be of getting bogged down in tedious detail these days. But I suppose there's also always a chance that the economic, social and agricultural realities of a decades-long winter will get ignored and focus will instead be given to Daenaerys and the Dragons vs the White Walkers

I also agree that "Winter is coming" / the aura surrounding winter in these novels has always implied more than simply the risk of heavy snowfall.

also, there is too much ~symbolism~ with the seasons for the series to end in winter. something magical will happen and spring will arrive before shit gets too real i am sure, although i am sure there will be some food shortage drama at least alluded to along the way.

Heartbreakingly withered neeps

LOL. i suppose there are always olives growing somewhere, it'll be okay.

Spot on tbh. For a series which has made such a huge deal out of "like fantasy but REAL" to ignore this point would be a massive mis-step. Can only assume that this is going to become a major plot point in The Winds Of Winter, particularly given how fond GRRM seems to be of getting bogged down in tedious detail these days.

It's not ignored at all. House Tyrell controls the majority of the food supply in Westeros. The Crown is severely indebted to the point they have foreign debt-collectors after them, which would severely impact their ability to import food from elsewhere. Jaime advises peasants to try for one last harvest. There's a lot of talk about the Vale having a huge granary and basically untouched supplies. Etc.

I never bought into Jaime's redemption from the books -- for whatever reason, it felt superficial -- but I have to admit that NCW is making it real for me in a big way.

God damn, creeping closer to the RW. Wonder if Talisa was really writing to her mum.

Are we to assume Theon is now sans penis? He only lost a couple of fingers in the books right?

Heavily implied that he has been castrated in the later books iirc. In fact, probably slightly more than implied, he just never actually mentions it explicitly.

"reek, reek, my name is reek, rhyme with no dick"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTBBNVwz5Dc

yeah in the books i didn't really buy into jaime's arc until the end of book 4 when he threw cersei's plea for help into the fire, they're setting him up to be likable a lot earlier in the show though

Oh Sam, why didn't you take the knife with you?

Also, Daario doesn't look nearly as sleazy as he needs to be.

Sam and Gilly meet an older gentleman.

Bah, I thought this was going to be Benjen AKA Coldhands.

ha me too, but that is classic work by the summarizer there

tv show teaser-summary trolling is really becoming an artform before our eyes.

http://swan2swan.tumblr.com/post/50967460714/i-hope-the-fans-who-think-that-robb-needs-a

lol

Remind me: was Blackfish @ RW, only to slip away to take a piss in the books, too? I can't imagine GRRM would let something that trite happen.

no, he stayed to hold riverrun iirc?

Yeah, that's what I thought! I guess they just wanted BF there for the old lady lols?

sort of vaguely annoyed that changes like the death of talisa "spoil" the future of jeyne westerling in the books

i mean i never really bought the jeyne westerling is secretly pregnant/magic stuff, but

that kind of stuff will start happening a lot more i guess

pretty sure seasons after this one will deviate more and more towards a similar endgame as Martin's as they know the broad strokes of the story going forward and obv books 4 & 5 need some rewriting (and expecting season 4 to be m/l a tyrion-centric Law & Order: King's Landing thing after Joffrey kicks it around episode 3 or 4).

that was very well done i thot. very nice pacing of the moments right before things got stabby and nothing too heavy handed so that even tho you knew something was going to happen it was still given the chance to be shocking. i am cool with them trading the unconvincing speculation over jeyne for an awesome moment in the show. also a wee male heir is good for no one, this should all end with bran as a tree and a queen in the north.

really could've done with one more scene between daario, jorah and worm getting busy and then returning victorious. just a quick scene with some extras thrown together to show that some other people were involved. it was a little too brazen with the whole off-screen battle thing, close to self parody.

It wasn't very smooth, almost like a scene had been edited out.

Yeah that bit felt like a total cheat. Everything else in this episode tremendously well done, not just the RW. Bran discovering the extent of his powers had a real weight to it.

And Frey's introduction of his daughters/granddaughters was hilarious.

Yeah, Frey was killing his scenes, as it were.

this should all end with bran as a tree and a queen in the north.

Can a tree be a queen??

neither a queen nor a king i'll wager

so it has v slowly dawned on me, they have manufactured much more of a substantial reveal out of ramsay now that it matters more who roose is. i didn't really get why they were continuing to be so coy about that, and now it seems obvious but also inspired.

so what are the big shocking moments still to come? jon getting killed at the wall and tywin-tyrion and um can't really think of anything else

Cersei's downfall/degradation

oberyn vs gregor

the entirety of the royal wedding and it's immediate aftermath obviously too

oh yeah cersei & oberyn vs gregor. so sad for the red viper. also monster making in the deepest, darkest dungeons of king's landing.

dany pooping herself over and over

yeah they'll make some good fun out of qyburn's dark side, i'm sure.

stoneheart reveal still to come, presumably. have any other POV characters been killed since catelyn? other than lol jon snow who is prob not dead.

yeah can someone remind me whether all that stuff in book 4 that happened in Dorne was important?

the final reveal that doran has been working with Varys/Illyrio and plotting the downfall of the Lannisters all along seems maybe important in the endgame but the stuff in dance of dragons with quentyn and who's gonna marry who for political purposes just bored me to tears.

Quentyn worst character and subplot in the entire series.

PURPLE WEDDING!!!!!!!!!!

I'm ashamed of you all.

the entirety of the royal wedding and it's immediate aftermath obviously too

― Clay, Monday, June 3, 2013 7:45 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark