Game of Thrones (spoiler-free zone)

[keg in kc]

A few have suggested it, might as well test the waters. The idea is to give people who haven't read the books a safe place to talk about the show.

A few quick ground rules:

• No Spoilers!!!!! for upcoming episodes.
• Larger Song of Ice and Fire discussion should be limited to the other thread although I think a tiny bit of book delving to fill in holes should be okay (example of this would be talking about Catelyn and her treatment of the wolves in the novel, which was alluded to on TV but never really made clear...)
• Everything that happened that week is fair game once an episode airs. So if you don't watch on Sunday night, I'd stay outta here until you do...

[Swanman]

Originally Posted by NewChief

Duh. Right. He didn't kill a white walker. He killed a wight/zombie that came back from the dead.

It was just another case of the writers using a term from the book that was never explained in the show. Luckily they don't do it too often. The most egregious example was Melisandre calling Davos the "Onion Knight" before she gave birth. If folks are interested, I can spoiler tag the explanation for that.

[eazyb81]

I'm pretty intrigued by the the whole Qarth storyline right now. It seems like a normal town but you can tell something is off. Who the hell were those old twins? How did that masked woman know Jorah?

And what's the deal with the big black guy? I hope he doesn't try to turn Dany against Jorah.

From next week's preview it looks like they might try to steal a ship. That might not be a good idea.

[Hawk]

Qarth is a weird place. Pyat Pree is the creepy warlock guy (and one of the 13 that greeted her at the gates) who did the trick and made a copy of himself appear. He invited Dany to the House of the Undying to visit the warlocks of Qarth.

The identity of the masked lady is a mystery (as it was in the books too). It is interesting that she knew who Jorah was, and of course she is right about how EVERYONE will want Dany's dragons because dragons are fire made flesh, and fire is power.

Not sure where they are going with Xaro (the big black guy), his story on the show is a little different from the books so far. We'll see.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Hawk

In the books, the main evil beings are the Others or White Walkers, and the zombies they create out of dead people are the Wights. Jon killed a Wight. We have only seen the actual Others twice, once in the very first episode, and once when Jon saw one of them (or what appearerd to be one of them) taking Craster's son that he had left as a sacrifice.

And finally Hawk gets the gold star.

I could really see people being confused as hell about some of this stuff if they hadn't read the books.

"Wait a minute...why the hell does that one have glowing eyes? WTF is a wight?"

All in due time, kiddos...

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Swanman

It was just another case of the writers using a term from the book that was never explained in the show. Luckily they don't do it too often. The most egregious example was Melisandre calling Davos the "Onion Knight" before she gave birth. If folks are interested, I can spoiler tag the explanation for that.

And Stannis referring to him being both a hero and a smuggler at one point.

They don't do it often, but they're going to have to do it even more as the story moves along, lest the series stretch out a decade.

[KC_Connection]

Yeah, didn't know there was a difference between white walkers and wights. Thought they were one in the same.

[KcMizzou]

Originally Posted by eazyb81

I'm pretty intrigued by the the whole Qarth storyline right now. It seems like a normal town but you can tell something is off. Who the hell were those old twins? How did that masked woman know Jorah?

Are these the "old twins" you're referring too?



Minor book

Spoiler!

That's Pyat Pree. One guy. It's an illusion. He's a warlock from the house of the undying.

[vailpass]

Originally Posted by KcMizzou

Are these the "old twins" you're referring too?



Minor book

Spoiler!

That's Pyat Pree. One guy. It's an illusion. He's a warlock from the house of the undying.

Beauty job of casting. Creepy little ****er.

[BigRedChief]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Yeah, didn't know there was a difference between white walkers and wights. Thought they were one in the same.

Same here.

[Bambi]

Getting a bit boring.

grrrrr...

[KcMizzou]

Originally Posted by KC_Connection

Yeah, didn't know there was a difference between white walkers and wights. Thought they were one in the same.

That's kind of a fantasy geek thing.

In its original usage the word wight described a living human being.[3] More recently, the word has been used within the fantasy genre of literature to describe undead or wraith-like creatures: corpses with a part of their decayed soul still in residence, often draining life from their victims. Notable examples of this include the undead Barrow-wights from the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and the wights of Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels by George R. R. Martin, a race of zombie-like creatures - usually human characters who have been attacked and/or killed either by other wights or so-called white walkers - who have pallid skin and fierce ice-blue eyes, are referred to as 'wights'. They are described as being virtually impervious to all forms of attack, even forcibly amputated limbs are described as having sentience. Their only weakness is noted as being fire.[4]

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

The White Walkers are much more frightening. They're a race of their own, and they're in charge. The only time we've had a good look at one was in the beginning of the first episode. The wights, zombies or whatever are their underlings.

[Aries Walker]

Probably the thing I like the least about Martin's creation is his naming. It's bad enough that he has this sweeping fantasy epic peppered with characters named Jon, Jaime, and three (!) characters named Robb or Robert, but he really couldn't find another synonym for 'undead monster' - ghoul, perhaps - besides a homophone of another, mostly-similar kind of undead monster?

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by Aries Walker

Probably the thing I like the least about Martin's creation is his naming. It's bad enough that he has this sweeping fantasy epic peppered with characters named Jon, Jaime, and three (!) characters named Robb or Robert, but he really couldn't find another synonym for 'undead monster' - ghoul, perhaps - besides a homophone of another, mostly-similar kind of undead monster?

It may suck, but remember that he's patterned much of the series after the War of the Roses. How many Johns, Henrys, and Richards were involved?

[Aries Walker]

Tons, of course, but that was a time of actual history when something like 70% of male babies had one of four different names (believe me, I've spent plenty enough time keeping track of the Matildas and Henrys of the middle ages). This is an invented fantasy world with invented fantasy names, and I would think that he'd want distinctive character names to help the audience keep them straight. It's the same reason sitcoms and hour-dramas on TV don't have multiple characters named (for example) Mike or Kathy, even though real-life offices and classrooms usually do.

Plus, being fantasy, having that real-life element dropped in is kind of jarring. Maybe that's just me.

[KcMizzou]

Originally Posted by NewChief

It may suck, but remember that he's patterned much of the series after the War of the Roses. How many Johns, Henrys, and Richards were involved?

And there are plenty of Jaqen H'ghar's, Xaro Xhoan Daxos', and Pyat Pree's (etc.)

The people of Westeros tend to have somewhat familiar names. Others are more "foreign" intentionally. Never bothered me.