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

I guess it's like, I'm sure we're all concerned about the re-emergence of the far right and neo-Nazism in Europe right now, but we all spend the vast majority of our time worrying about personal shit rather than that. And we have much more direct evidence of that than the people of Westeros do of the return of the dragons.

And we have far less to worry about in our day to day lives.

But then again Nazis can't breath fire... yet.

wouldn't say no to a white walker riding a mostly skeletal unicorn

150 years is really not that long.

well it's a bit longer, in human terms, if ppl die at 50 on the reg

Because they're fire breathing dragons who just a couple of generations ago were actual death-from-above beasts who destroyed cities? If someone had a baby dragon, I wouldn't think, aw, how cute, thank god that will never get bigger and try to kill me. But hey, that's just me.

― Josh in Chicago, Wednesday, April 30, 2014 11:41 AM (22 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ya but even the existence of those baby dragons is rumoured at this point

like what do you think would be a "realistic" reaction from the smallfolk, who are all basically starving or about to starve, being tormented by soldiers and mercenaries, and trying to rebuild their burnt-out and ruined lives? to just run around screaming about dragons?

Can't remember, are the Lannisters basically pooh-poohing the the dragon rumours at this point?

Tywin seemed to see Dany + dragons as a legit concern 2 weeks ago. Not top-shelf but in the mix.
But yeah after she'd conquered 3 cities and massing the hordes of (now invisible) Dothraki behind her you'd think there might be a bit more concern.

Yeah, doesn't he recruit the bisexual prince because his family/kingdom helped kill the dragons last time?

I'm not sure what smallfolk should think, since we haven't seen much of them and they have bigger (no) fish to fry. But it's unclear how pervasive the knowledge of the dragons/slave army et al. is at this point. I assume if Tywin knows others must know, right? They all seem so busy scheming for the throne, but if they knew you'd think they'd have some sort of in-case-of-dragon plan in place, too.

lack of information plus abundance of misinformation is a big thing in the books the show can't really capture. plus dragons effectively = a technological advantage, nothing more and one that's been overcome before by the dornes when they were facing actual dragons and not the weak dog size runts dany is rumored to have (if you believe in dragons).

Yeah I guess the show doesn't (can't) show the full scale/scope of this story.

What was all that stuff with the secret society (Dennis pennis maybe was in it?)that Arya stumbled on last series? With the resurrected guy

xposts
yeah - and it was established way earlier that even bumbling old drunk Robert saw the surviving Targaryens as a potential threat before Dany even started busting moves so Tywin and various other plotters should be on the case. Maybe they are and we just don't know yet.

How much do we know about how fast info flows from Essos?

lol

they'll be back. pretty sure we'll see them in the finale.

dragons effectively = a technological advantage, nothing more and one that's been overcome before by the dornes when they were facing actual dragons and not the weak dog size runts dany is rumored to have (if you believe in dragons).

― balls, Wednesday, April 30, 2014 12:16 PM (29 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

how did the dornes do it?

magic

They sexed them to death.

smothered by boobs

can u guys be srs for a sec thx

ya but dude we see storms and icebergs melting on tv.

For all the good it's done us.

Yeah, doesn't he recruit the bisexual prince because his family/kingdom helped kill the dragons last time?

Some clarification: Dorne didn't kill the dragons, they're just notorious for having withstood the original Targaryen takeover of Westeros (the Martell's motto is "Unbeaten, unsomethinged, unbowed") -- they're the hot, arid, desert version of Russia, in this case -- and they're viewed as something of a semi-autonomous part of Westeros, if not in a parliamentary sense then at least in style (they call their rulers Princes and Princesses) (though they do have different institutional laws, such as royal women being able to inherit before younger male siblings).

is there info in the books on how they withstood the original Targaryen takeover of Westeros

viet cong styles
but i think they did actually kill a couple of dragons

how do u kill a dragon

dorne seems chill they shd go there in the show

need new castles

dorne is geographically isolated (deserts, mountains) from the rest of westeros and that's the reason they weren't conquered. not sure that stands up to irl reason but that's the reason.

Right on the guerrilla warfare. I don't remember about killing dragons, tbh.

Anyway, relevant non-spoilerly stuff from AWOIAF:

Seven centuries after the Rhoynar invasion, Aegon the Conqueror invaded Westeros and in his War of Conquest subjugated all of the Andal kings one by one, except Dorne, which successfully resisted the Dragon King. Whereas other kings and lords had taken to the field against Aegon, or clustered in castles, the Dornish refused to give open battle and allow Aegon to deploy his dragons. Instead, they turned to ambush and raids, striking quickly and then slipping back into the desert or through the mountain passes, where even the dragons could not find them. In time, Aegon pulled away from Dorne.

A century and a half later King Daeron I Targaryen, the Young Dragon, managed to do what his ancestor could not and successfully subdued the kingdom. Unfortunately, Dorne almost immediately rose in rebellion. In the resulting conflict, forty thousand soldiers gave their lives, forcing the Targaryens to pull away from Dorne.

After Daeron's death, his brother and successor Baelor the Blessed made peace with Dorne instead, marrying off his cousin, another Daeron, to Myriah Martell. When this prince ruled as Daeron II, he made another marriage pact, offering his younger sister Daenerys to the ruling Prince of Dorne Maron Martell, finally joining Dorne to the rest of the Seven Kingdoms through a peaceful alliance. Before officially joining the realm, the Dornishmen fought alongside Daeron II's forces (being led by his half-Martell son Baelor Breakspear), helping to suppress the Blackfyre Rebellion. Even though they are no longer independent and now owe allegiance to the Iron Throne, the ruling Martells still use the title prince, unlike their lordly counterparts in the rest of the Seven Kingdoms.

The Dornish were loyalists who supported the Targaryens during the War of the Usurper, as Elia Martell was married to the crown prince, Rhaegar Targaryen.

That's a different Daenerys, obviously.

dorne is the coolest i support dorne

Yeah I hope we see some of Dorne this season.

I hope we see Thunderdorne.

dorne is basically sicily meets afghanistan

If they go to dorne I'm expecting copious amounts of spicy eggs with dragon peppers

Don't forget the olives.

That climate doesn't seem as conducive to world-famous wine as I thought it would

So at this point is bran basically just looking for a tree north of the wall?

plenty to choose from bran gosh

the end of the last episode torpedoes my theory that the majority of the planet's population is white walkers, and they just keep humans around in a little wildlife preserve to toy with and roll their eyes at.

lol i like it tho

how did the dornes do it?

― lag∞n, Thursday, May 1, 2014 12:46 AM (6 hours ago) Bookmark

Drones

dronish wine, delicious

are the dragons a metaphor for drones i have opinions to share

I sincerely doubt it but by all means proceed.

ok they definitely are

dragons more like b-52s

does that make Harrenhalll Dresden or Nagasaki

yes

So red wedding = wedding in Yemen or am I confused

going back a way just ruminating on how false this is -

for the largest part of human history, everyone agreed that a guy could be crucified and then come back to life three days later

I enjoyed this dumb article from a website I usually hate:

http://www.thebolditalic.com/articles/4734-game-of-thrones-lands-as-sf-neighborhoods