Game of Thrones Thread
 

Feel free to discuss any future speculation, theories. Anything from the books is fair game to post. Everything that has been broadcast on TV or from HBO. No spoilers needed.

1. If you watched or know the events that will take place in a unaired episode that has not been broadcast on HBO, you must put all the information and comments in a spoiler tag.
2. Do not post any media of any kind involving actual content from unaired episodes without being in a spoiler. The only exception to the spoiler rule is content publicly posted from HBO and or the GOT actor themselves. Teasers, promos, trailers etc.

Any person unable to follow the spoiler rules will be banned from this thread. 14 days for first offense. Perm banned from the thread for a 2nd offense.

http://i65.tinypic.com/dpygqt.jpg

Book readers unite! And boycott the direction this sham is going.

S

(This would actually be the third spoiler thread!)


To absolutely nobody's surprise....

link

At this point the fat **** should hand the outline over to someone that is actually going to write the books. Then have a Big Mac and a grabber.

Season 5 trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZMKhdDlKHNE&sns=Emmy

No prince Aegon? No Iron Islands? Varys and Tyrion together? More battles at the wall?

Definitely veering far off the books at this point, but that's not a surprise since they are saying Season 7 will be the last season of the show. I'm kind of glad, because I know I won't be able stop myself from watching, and I don't want the books to be too spoiled. Hopefully we get book 6 before the last season starts in April of 2016.

I wonder if they will show Arya or Jon warging this season? Or if there will be any hints as to Jon's parentage?

Personally, I wish GRRM had a more judicious editor to whip his ass into shape. I think he's completely derailed the series at this point. I've generally disliked the last two books and find them to be plodding pieces that introduce new complications without resolving old ones. I feel like the story has gotten away from him.

Next spring is only season 6. 7 will be in 2017.

He's definitely veering into WOT territory with the unnecessary crap.

I think we are going to get book spoilers this season.

And that's a ****ing joke to me. I read all 5 books 2 years go and this pisses me off. I can't imagine what it's like to have started in 1996 with the original book. What a slap in a face to all the readers that have been with him for almost 20 years. To not finish before the show is outrageous. Now I get that these books are enormous and I wouldn't want him to sacrifice quality but with all the damn book tours he takes and all the side projects, he is milking it at the expense of his long-time readers.

Maybe I am just naive, but if I was a diehard and started the tv series, I would hate to spoil the ending for other people, but that's what is going to happen. To what extent, who knows, but at least some of the ending is gonna be revealed in the show before the books. Like other people, it's going to be hard for me to ignore the the show and wait for the books. It's not really about patience. But I would rather have the show spoil it than have some radio station or random person I meet accidentally spoil it for me.

It's just a gut feeling, but I don't think the last three seasons are going to spoil all that much. I think they're going to be a complete departure from the books.

Although...

With book 6 likely coming out early next year, it's possible that season 6 will be brought back in line with book 6.

I don't really fault Martin with taking a long time between books. I've been trying to write a book for (literally) sixteen years, and have so far gotten exactly nowhere with it. It's an extremely difficult and time consuming thing to do. And this isn't some hack thriller or mystery series coming out with the next braindead 300-page part of a series every year or two. We're talking about a 1000-page behemoth. So while I would've liked three or four years per book and the the whole thing being done already, I can certainly understand it taking five years between ADWD and TWOW.

Hopefully we get word of a publication date this summer and the book just before season 6.

As someone who has spent the last four years writing a novel, I understand most of that sentiment..... but.

Martin has spent countless hours at different comic-cons, press events, and writing OTHER material between the release of ADWD and TWOW. Before last year, every time he was asked about the possibility of the series catching the books, he brushed it off and said they could "make a prequel season" or make a "couple of movies" while he caught up.

HBO made it clear from the beginning that a prequel season was not in their interests, and DD have said since season 2 that they didn't imagine going past 7-8 seasons.

So the show continues to go full steam ahead, and it seems like EVERYONE sees the series catching up to the books except George R.R. Martin. While he continues to do press tours, travel, and work on other projects, he openly admits that the only time he's comfortable writing TWOW is when he's in his basement two finger typing on an 80's era Wordstar app. In spite of these insane conditions, the man continues to travel with reckless abandon. If he had written 300 words a day from the launch of the show, TWOW would be on store shelves now.

Now Martin is screwed, and he knows it. If I had to guess, the man got catapulted into stardom and got caught up in the accolades and recognition that goes along with it. This could have happened to a lot of people... but since he had book readers who have been devoted to his works for the past 20 years, I think it was his responsibility to continue working on the books since he sold off the rights to his show.

Personally, I feel like the man has created a albatross with the last two books in the series. Lately, he and his publisher have even insinuated that an eighth book may be inevitable to complete ASOIAF. I believe it's becoming clear that the problems that he's created with his novels has pushed his passions elsewhere, and DD interpretation of ASOIAF may be the only ending we'll ever get to see.

This is a horrific possibility to ponder, but GRRM has said that he's instructed his wife to torch all of his uncompleted outlines/manuscripts if he passes before the series is over.

If you know anything about his history he's always been an eclectic guy. While you might want to lock him in his den and skip all the other crap you don't care about, whether it's editing with Gardener Dozois or Wild Cards or Game of Thrones scripts or public appearances, the reality is that he's always had a lot of irons in the fire. I don't think he's doing all the non ice and fire just to avoid writing it

What a selfish twat. He's already beyond the original scope of GOT in book count, and talking about an eighth book, while not even bothering to work on book six.

I'm nearly to the point where I'd like to see the publisher go ahead and find a ghost writer to finish it for him now.

I've not heard that. I have heard that the TV producers know what happens to all people in the books and how the story line evolves and ends for each. That was a prerequisite to do the TV series in the first place.

Someone knows his vision. They can find a writer to mimic his style and use his vision to finish the book series. Too much money to be made to not have that happen.

Reading about how steadfast he's been that the series would "die with him" felt almost like a slap in the face to readers who have been following him for the past 20+ years. I understand his fear that the books wouldn't be done right without him, but at the same time, it feels awfully cold to be that rigid to such a devoted fanbase.

As BRC pointed out, at least we'll get to see DD's interpretation of the story's conclusion, but I'm starting to feel like their ending will vastly differ from whatever GRRM ends up writing.

I understand to an extent, but in the end he has spent so much time over the past few years in what seems like an attempt to milk both money and attention out of the situation. I get that, but the simple thought in my mind is this...there is no way on earth I would allow the TV series to pass me. I don't care if it made me sacrifice a few years of my life to finish, I wouldn't let my diehard readers down. Not the ones that "let me have a house across from my house" as Martin has said.

I get that pushing him to finish might affect his writing ect, and I don't want to minimize that at all, but in the end, he shouldn't have let this happen imho. He isn't my slave, but in my mind I just wouldn't do this to people that were so loyal to me.

Martin came out and said that no release date isn't as big a deal as it may usually seem because he doesn't want his editor giving a release date until he physically hands them the manuscript. Not breaking news but at least it means the end of this year could still be possible, even if still unlikely.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/BL-SEB-86559

LMAO awesome

http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/%E2...id=mailsignout

‘Game of Thrones’ Season 5 Will Kill Characters Still Alive in the Books

Death is coming for "Game of Thrones" characters in Season 5 -- even if they're still alive in author George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" novel series on which the HBO show is based.

‘Game of Thrones’ Season 5 Will Kill Characters Still Alive in the Books © Provided by TheWrap ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 5 Will Kill Characters Still Alive in the Books
"People are going to die who don't die in the books, so even the book readers will be unhappy," Martin told Showbiz 411 at the Writers Guild West Awards on Saturday. "So everybody better be on their toes. David [Benioff] and D.B. [Weiss] are even bloodier than I am."

Martin's avid readers who watch the fantasy series shouldn't be surprised, though. Several characters have already gotten axed on TV, even if they were still alive in print.

Season 4 characters that met death on TV include Jojen, Grenn, and Pyp, while Daenerys Targaryen's handmaiden Irri was murdered in Season 2.

Season 5 of "Game of Thrones" premieres on April 12.

Bit of trivia didn't know until last week. Show creator David Beniof is married to Amanda Peet. Nice pull.

http://cdn01.cdn.justjared.com/wp-co...ly-benioff.jpg

He also wrote City of Thieves which is absolutely a fantastic book that I'd recommend anyone read. I imagine it will be made into a movie.

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Wow!! I have no idea how I never put that together. City of Thieves is an awesome book. I read his collection of short stories When the Nines Roll Over but wasn't that thrilled. Thieves is such a good damn book though. I don't know if it's appropriate for me to be floored about something like this, but I am.

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Anyone want to take a...stab...at what happens to Jon Snow this season?

I don't get this. If you want to create more "red wedding" shockers, then you have Lady Stoneheart which you haven't even used.

If its to gain more book readers as viewers, thats a failed strategy. they are already watching.

He discovers American football and becomes a Giants fan.

Cast on leaving the books behind.
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Unless it's somebody major, book readers won't care. And even if it is someone major, the books are the canon, not the tv show.

Something to muse on while we wait another 6-8 years for the next book to come out...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/0...ushpmg00000063

The rumor is

yeah, maybe they take some of the Stoneheart material and give it to Sansa?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>First 3 Game of Thrones Season 5 Episode titles:
Episode 1: The Wars to Come
Episode 2: The House of Black and White
Epidode 3: High Sparrow</p>&mdash; Jon Snow (@JonSnowBastrd) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonSnowBastrd/status/573949978831372290">March 6, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

I wonder how much of the Arya story they cover from her time in Bravos. I really don't know what to think of them changing things. I certainly don't want them spoiling the 6th and 7th book, but I also am very loyal to the actual story. I'm just not going to be fully happy in any scenario where the show is somehow giving away something from the books. I will give the show credit for the Briene vs. Hound fight. The Hounds comments about "safe" to Briene are kick ass.

I agree. Lady Stoneheart is a fantastic shocker. The scene with her trying to hang Briene is on it's own a reason to bring the character in.

Then you probably need to not watch the show.

It will probably be far easier for you if you consider the books and the tv series two different stories. One is told by the author of the books, so it's canon. The other is told by the producer of the show, so it's entertaining and all that, but it's not necessarily canon.

Otherwise your head is probably going to explode.

Just learned the coolest bit of trivia about this show... the Red Wedding was based on a true story from 1400's Scotland called "The Black Dinner".

The boy king James and his handlers arranged for a recalcitrant Scottish warlord, the Earl of Douglas, to attend a dinner that would mark his entrance as a power player in Scottish politics... only to bring out a severed boars head on a platter, a symbol of ultimate treachery in ancient Scotland.

They took Douglas into the courtyard and beheaded him on the spot... some great mimicry from RR Martin, it seems pretty clear that the bloodthirsty Joffrey was based on James as well.

The More You Know...

RR Martin I believe has a masters in history. He is a huge history buff and pretty much everything in his books is based loosely on real events... or at least I read that somewhere.

I'm not surprised at his masters, man... cannot wait for season 5, that show has reached Sopranos level mania with me.

Sooo incredibly well done... acting, dialogue, stories, cinematography, effects... its all there in spades.

I have thought about it. At some point I'm gonna hear about big stuff that happened on the show whether I try to avoid it or not. Especially if I'm waiting until beyond 2020 for book 7. Once the show is back on I'm sure I will enjoy how well it's done as I usually do. All just comes back to the frustration of waiting and not liking spoilers.

I find it impossible to believe that the story has gotten away from him.

It hasn't gone anywhere since halfway through book 1.

Saccoshit in with the reminder of why I have him on ignore.

Book 6 will tell us a lot. If he can't start to consolidate story lines and move toward a conclusion in this book, then I will really start to worry. He can't stretch this out to 8 or 9 books, he will never finish the series that way. He needs to make significant progress in book 6 or we will know we're in trouble. It can't be a repeat of books 4 and 5 (which are really best read as one long book together) where the story seems to expand and doesn't seem to move in the direction of ending anytime soon. I think book 6 will be more like book 3 in terms of action and events. At least I'm hoping.

Why? The TV show might get to the only resolution this story ever has.

Books and TV/movies are DIFFERENT MEDIUMS where DIFFERENT PEOPLE tell a similar story in their own way. You will be much happier in life if you stop sweating how Movie X completely screwed up Book Y (which it was based on) when it did whatever.

Who cares? If you love the book, read the book. if you love the movie, watch the movie. If you love both, read/watch both.

Usually by this point the author is so big the editors lose control. Same thing happened to JK Rowling, and Robert Jordan. They fell in love with their worlds and kept spinning out of control.

Problem is that when the books are a massive hit, the editors have no leverage, and the authors know it.

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Excellent, can't wait! I thought about not watching this season to avoid book 6 spoilers, but I can't do it. I'm ready to get this thing started!

Who are the folks in the gold masks?

More action than I expected. They're either going way, way further off book than I already assumed, or we saw bits of every action shot all year. LMAO

Brazen Beasts I think. They were the army of watchmen formed by Dany after taking over Mereen, and they wear brass masks in the shape of different animals. Supposed to help her fight the Sons of the Harpy who were the ones going around killing Dany's soldiers and watchmen.

The Shavepate runs the Brazen Beasts. He (and others like him) are called shavepates because they shaved off their traditional Mereen hair style to show support for the new Mereen ruled by Dany. If it is used as "the Shavepate" it usually is referring to him as their leader. The Sons of Harpy hate all the shavepates and Brazen Beasts because they view them as traitors.

That is the book version anyway, in the trailer it shows Dany, Jorah, Daario, and Grey Worm in the middle of the arena floor surrounded by attacking brazen beasts, which doesn't really make sense to me. Looking forward to seeing how that plays out on the show. Is Drogon going to come in and rescue them?

Some ep titles:

501: The Wars to Come
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Directed by Michael Slovis
Airdate: 12/04/15

502: The House of Black and White
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Directed by Michael Slovis
Airdate: 19/04/15

503: High Sparrow
Written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss
Directed by Mark Mylod
Airdate: 26/04/15

504: The Sons of the Harpy
Airdate: 03/05/15

At this point, I'm not sure why you would. The time to release Dragons and now Winds doesn't really bode well for us getting a finale as written by Martin. It's kind of hard to tell if these would even be book 6 spoilers or just new stuff.

I'm not even sure if that's a bad thing given the quality of the show; It seems he's clearly lost the verve for continuing forward.

I don't think he's lost the verve, at least I hope not. He's just allowed himself to get too distracted by the success of the show and the touring and extra projects he has done. It took 5 years each to write the last couple of books without all that, so not that surprising it will take longer than that this time. Frustrating, but not surprising.

I agree about the spoilers, the books and show are so different now, that it is hard to tell what is a spoiler or is just something changed or added for the show. Just look at this trailer:

- Sansa in Winterfell?
- John at Hardhome in the boats?
- Jorah in the fighting pits?
- Jaime and Bronn in Dorne?
- etc.

Everything is different than the books at this point it seems. Not even sure how they will end it on the show, but I'm starting to think it might be a completely different ending than the books.

Well, that's the other problem with the books, right. They REALLY slow down in 4 and 5.

I don't blame HBO one bit for saying "he got us off to a great start. Time to do our own thing and go in the direction that WE want and need for a great TELEVISION show."

I think we're actually building up to a couple of battles from the beginning of book 6 rather than completely out of the blue action. Stuff we haven't seen yet, rather than stuff that isn't in the book series at all.

The TV show has never been about action. I don't imagine HBO is changing directions in that regard. We'll see plotting all season and a couple major events.

(It just gets too expensive if they do more than that...)

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Arya Stark&#39;s new look for this season of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/GameOfThrones?src=hash">#GameOfThrones</a> <a href="http://t.co/TMkuHtADPe">http://t.co/TMkuHtADPe</a> <a href="http://t.co/DQTIN4oXF5">pic.twitter.com/DQTIN4oXF5</a></p>&mdash; Nerd Reactor (@NerdReactor) <a href="https://twitter.com/NerdReactor/status/575729200805470208">March 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>First official photos of Oberyn&#39;s bastard daughters. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SandSnakes?src=hash">#SandSnakes</a> <a href="http://t.co/Cs3Vda7V0Y">pic.twitter.com/Cs3Vda7V0Y</a></p>&mdash; Jon Snow (@JonSnowBastrd) <a href="https://twitter.com/JonSnowBastrd/status/575754662466424832">March 11, 2015</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

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Who wouldn't want to see a book so well written come to life without all of Hollywood's bull crap tainting it? Everyone.

If book readers have not read it yet, I highly recommend reading the Mercy chapter for book 6 that was pre-released by GRRM. It is an Arya chapter, and a good one. It was released early in large part because one of her events from last season came from that chapter to some extent (dealing with Raff the Sweetling, the one who killed Lommy when they were captured and taken to Harrenhall).

Link: http://www.georgerrmartin.com/excerp...nds-of-winter/

"What the @#$^s a Lommy?"

Damn that dragon got big as ****

Looks like HBO might be thinking that 7 isn't enough:

Ill be pissed if they end it in a movie

I was finally able to finish the second book.

It was a bit of a pain at parts. I found myself skimming through Sansa and Catelyn's chapters near the end. Daenerys' chapters while in Qarth were damn near unreadable. So ****ing boring..

But the overall story was still great and Id say it was a good read. I just picked up A Storm of Swords. My goal is to finish it before the new season airs.

You'll blow through Storm. Fantastic book.

You'll fly through that book. No worries.

you'll be clawing your eyes out as you go through Feast for Crows then LMAO

Game of Thrones "Spoiler" Thread II
 

I caught myself looking ahead and I'm not quite sure I'll be able to make it through an entire book that doesn't follow Jon Snow or Tyrion.

I found a method to read both books 4 and 5 simultaneously on some ASoFaI forum. It seems a bit complicated and I'm sure it'd be a pain in the ass but it may make the experience more enjoyable.

Book 3 is the best book. I read books 4 and 5 in a row. I saw those templates combining 4 and 5 into one huge read.

4 and 5 have parts that drag. Just describing people going through deep snow. No thanks.

Oh, I just read that A Storm of Shadows basically corresponds with season 3 and 4 of the show. That is absolutely perfect!

The beginning of four can be a little difficult to get through.

Martin is skipping Comicon and other Fantasy convention to work on book. I have seen articles about the book now possibly coming out this year. However it seems like the source is just Martin denying that the publisher said about it not coming out this year.

http://www.idigitaltimes.com/winds-w...aratoga-423360

He did say this, fwiw.... In Martin's "Not a Blog," he stated, "Should I complete and deliver 'The Winds of Winter' before these cons roll round, I reserve the right to change my mind."

Don't you tease me

Storm of Swords is the best book. It gets better as it goes too, and the last half of it is really good. I mean it won't be as dramatic for someone who has seen the show and therefore knows the big events that are coming, but that's just how it is if you watch before you read.

If you are going to read books 4 and 5, I highly recommend reading them together as one big book using any of the chapter lists online. Much more enjoyable that way. And it's not that hard to do, generally you read 4 or 5 chapters from one book and then switch over and read 4 or 5 chapters from the other book. It's not a lot of hopping back and forth after every chapter or anything like that, and if you end up reading further in one book than the chapter list says, it doesn't really make that much difference.

The key is that by doing the books together, you don't have to go through a full book 4 before hearing anything more about Tyrion, Dany and Jon, nobody likes that approach. It also helps to understand the timing of things since book 4 and the first 2/3 of book 5 take place at the same time, and that feels weird when you read them in order instead of together as one book.

Once you read books 4 and 5, it is good to go online and read some of the essays and theories at websites like the tower of the hand site. Then you will realize some of the subtle things you kissed while reading, and some of those things are pretty interesting.

Lastly, beware of this thread if you plan to read books 4 and 5, it will tend to contain some spoilers on those books.