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

i always thought of dorne as sicily - deep south, sun-bleached, full of vengeful princes

She only thought Doran wanted to disinherit her -- he's supposedly in on Varys's Targaryon restoraton scheme and was saving her Aegon.

Well, Doran was saving her for Viserys. Once Viserys died he wanted Oberyn to marry Daenerys instead. Haven't read the Dorne-chapters from ADWD yet.

You're right -- Viserys.

You can make a very strong case for everywhere in westeros being britain with dorne then tacked on the bottom

Or everywhere in Westeros being Britain through a mirror, with the Lands of Always Winter being tacked on the top.

http://i.imgur.com/S4INh.png

Stereotyped European climates/cultures extra, no charge.

Making King's Landing, what, Liverpool?

http://winteriscoming.net/2014/05/23/characters-confirmed-game-thrones-season-5-new-details/

i wonder if they could've done the dorne and iron island storylines outside the main series, like mini series spinoffs on one-off specials or something. i guess that gives them even less material for the main series but there is something narratively satisfying about the idea imo.

The Sand Snakes, Oberyn Martell’s bastard daughters (with ages ranging 18-25):

I see the producers are keeping their options open.

braavos is more like amsterdam than venice i think

venice

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bravo

there is no deeper shame as an american than to have some canadian drop some james fenimore cooper knowledge on you in a rebuttal

I think it is very much meant to be an amalgamation of the two. The layout is much more Venice, and it's a trading post which is much more like middle age Venice. On the other hand, it's religiously tolerant, and the placement of the free cities are obviously meant to be like the Hanseatic League, right?

Is this streaming anywhere?

Next week there better be mammoths

gloomy gray banking capital filled with canals!

as well done as the fight itself was, i didn't love how it just seemed to suddenly happen. it could've used a bit more in-episode build up. also jorah's dismissal very similar, a really significant moment that just happened and was hurried past. but hey we did get what i am gonna assume was some kind of bizarre internet fan service thing with misandry and grey worm.

also needing more build up imo is next week's fite. i feel like the show needed something more visual than a passing reference to the hordes descending. we got a couple of scenes of stannis on a ship en route to blackwater and that did the job. i am sure they could've done something similar, mance and ser bones surveying an abandoned craster's or something, like the police in holy grail.

maybe i am misremembering, but the revelation of sansa's identity already seems like a significant departure from bookplot? i guess they must have something in mind for those characters to burn their wheels with for next season. something that involves sansa joining christian death apparently.

lannister beetle smashing simpleton = grrm right?

Oberyn's death was one of the most shocking moments in the whole series, and not just because of the way he died, but because you get a good understanding of the character and his death has meaning; he didn't (really) get his vengeance. He's been ok on the show but you don't really get that sense of him in the same way, there were more scenes of him in brothels than talking about his sister. It all felt very superficial. Still, his scene with Tyrion where he talks about the Martells and their father (wtf) visiting Casterly Rock was great.

but the revelation of sansa's identity already seems like a significant departure from bookplot?

ADDITIONAL SPOILER WARNING FOR ACCIDENTAL TOURISTS

sooo...judging by the other thread, the remaining major death of this season is going to be poorly received by the tv crowd. episode 10 is probably going to be "hooray, at least this guy isn't going to die" followed by "wtf that guy's dead now?? fuck this i'm out" followed presumably by...well...the opposite of a major death i guess. and will that improve matters for the 'fuck this' folks or will it prove to be the last push for ppl with one foot out?

misandry

lol her name is spelled Missandei.

yes

but now we'll never get to find out what the story with the Lannisters' finances is!

I'm curious as to whether they'll do that final, awful Tysha revelation with Tyrion and Jaime.

yeah this is yet another instance where the show spent more time with a character (tywin) than the books did and so theres more potential for attachment that isn't there in the books with oberyn or tywin or even robb stark

Possibly of importance here is the fact that the tv show comes out staggered, whereas for many people I'm sure that the spate of deaths / apparent deaths in the latter part of Storm of Swords would have been covered in 1 or 2 reading sessions, making it a kind of blitzkrieg where you come round afterwards rubbing your eyes and wondering wtf just happened and who's actually still alive. Maybe the TV show is giving people too long to think about this stuff.

Assuming episode 9 is almost entirely at the wall, finalé is gonna be pretty packed this year, huh?

What's left? The Hound "dying" and Arya going to Braavos (possibly where the Children of the Forest come in, too?). Tyrion offing Tywin. UnCat reveal (which looks to be the last shot) -- and I'm peeved that we STILL haven't gotten any dead Freys.

final episode is called "The Children" so will bran make it all the way to the tree? or run into coldhands? Something big has to break in zzzz dany's story. add Arya/Hound denouement, stoneheart, patricide and egress, *something* for Brienne and Pod, idk it starts snowballing into a lot of big moments.

i suppose timing wise the hound has to die this season but it is a shame that that will get lost in the shuffle somewhat.

Ep 9: Jon Snow and the Night's Watch face a big challenge.
Ep. 10: Circumstances change after an unexpected arrival from north of the Wall. Dany must face harsh realities. Bran learns more about his destiny. Tyrion sees the truth about his situation.

so i guess not much else happens ep9 but the battle still carries into the last ep. and bran meets the forest friends but i figure like 5 mins of screen time, immediate first encounter, no meeting tree dude etc. where is coldhands?! and lol at tyrion description.

Brienne and Pod -- if we get Stoneheart at the end of 9 instead of 10, is there enough time for them to get nabbed by the BWB and put on trial?

if they do that, which I wouldn't be surprised by really, that means they're just straight cutting the entirety of brienne's AFFC story which is kind of hilarious.

Dany may close out on Drogon killing that kid actually. No chance we won't be seeing grown dragons in the finale anyways.

good call, i was wondering what that might be

i wonder if there will be a book by the start of season 5 or if the show is actually going to go past the books in a meaningful way. shouldn't be bothered by that prospect but i guess i am.

aren't we essentially still in book 3 for the most part? so there's still 2 more books to mine for another season or 2 before GRRM has to catch up.

it kind of depends on how the show decides to deal with dorne and the iron islands stuff. like are they gonna fritter away half a season on completely new plots and characters? Or just cut euron and victarion entirely? I've already seen sand snake casting calls, so dorne is in, but I could see jettisoning everyone but "yara" as a v real prospect. and the more they cut the deeper into book 6 we are by late next season, I guess?

We're in book 3 for Tyrion's story, book 4 for brienne's, book 5 for Dany at the moment. It's all kinda relative.

they foreshadowed tywin getting capped when baelish tells robyn people die on chamberpots -- wondering if they'll have the spine to film tyrion killing shea in cold blood. that would be wicked

just working with existing material means that some storylines - sansa, bran - have to dramatically slowed down or suspended tho.

oh lol, good pick up on the chamber pot ref. i was actually pondering if they would let charles dance die on the loo.

i think there's at least a season there in the rest of 4&5 even cutting most of iron islands and brienne. tyrion's trip east, theon's redemption, all the fallout in kings landing from the lannisters' loss of control after tywin's death, etc

also whatever the hell arya does in essos, i forget all that but its there.

Yeah, lots of Queen vs. Queen stuff with the new High Septon (kind of an eerie premonition of Francis??) to deal with, too.

Arya trains to become a Faceless Man!

House of the Black and White, kissing skulls, eating worms, killing wayward Brothers of the Black.

next year might be comprised largely of Cersei v Margaery spy vs spy hijinks, for good or ill

Arya should get a spinoff

also sam gets it on. important stuff there.

Sam getting it on should get a spinoff

god those later books really are mostly just terrible aren't they

Yes.