Uh hey you dropped your shadow-baby: decadently spoilery Game of Thrones thrad

[elpollodiablo]

Slower pace?

[dieblucasdie]

They're doing Storm of Swords over two seasons, though they might introduce some of the Dorne stuff from Feast for Crows in S4.

[YojimboMonkey]

Kind of funny about not wanting to introduce too many new characters since according to wikipedia

According to Entertainment Weekly, Benioff and Weiss confirmed that the following characters will be cast for season 3 along with "a few others":[7]

* Mance Rayder, the Wildling "King beyond the Wall"
* Tormund Giantsbane, a Wildling raider
* Daario Naharis, a Tyroshi mercenary captain
* Jojen and Meera Reed, two young Crannogman siblings
* Edmure Tully, Catelyn Stark's brother and head of House Tully
* Brynden Tully, the "Blackfish", Catelyn's uncle
* Selyse Baratheon, Stannis Baratheon's wife
* Shireen Baratheon, their daughter; cast with Kerry Ingram[8]
* Olenna Redwyne, the "Queen of Thorns", Margaery and Loras Tyrell's grandmother
* Beric Dondarrion, the leader of the "Brotherhood without Banners" (the character already appeared briefly in a scene in season 1)
* Thoros of Myr, a red priest with the Brotherhood

So I guess one of the things that bugged me about the Bran/Rickon plot, that they weren't splitting them up since there wasn't anybody other than Hodor for Bran to go with, will be rectified next season. Don't know why they'd run into Crannogmen on their way north but whatever.

[dieblucasdie]

Well, the new character list for S2 was even longer.

They've also confirmed casting for Ramsay and Vargo Hoat, btw.

Some people have speculated that they'll go to (or happen upon) Greywater Watch itself, which I think would be pretty effing cool, actually. Apparently they put out a casting call for extras 5 feet tall or under.

It's kinda weird that they're bothering to cast Selyse and Shireen at this point, though.

[elpollodiablo]

One other thing about the end of this season: the Lord of Bones looks like a fat kid in a cheap Halloween costume. That's like the only time the costuming has just completely fallen short so far

[YojimboMonkey]

AVClub guy said he'd like to see them go with the Red Wedding for the big ep 9 shocker and Catelyn resurrection reveal for the end of ep 10 but I dunno, definitely with them on ep 9 but I think I remember there being a bit more separation between those 2 things.

[dieblucasdie]

Yeah, probably the first thing will be the end of S3 (probably episode 9, and episode 10 ends with the siege of Castle Black and the second thing you mentioned will be the end of S4.

[davy]

Holy shit, these are awesome.

http://io9.com/5916409/see-westeros-like-youve-never-seen-it-before-++-with-some-exclusive-new-game-of-thrones-art

Especially this one, depicting what is probably my favorite scene from the last book:

[dieblucasdie]

Picture took a while to load, was expecting it to be Jon Snow beheading Janos Slynt while Stannis looks on approvingly, since that was clearly the best scene

[elpollodiablo]

Definitely.

[davy]

The only section of that book that I can truthfully say I relished was Tyrion's journey down the Rhoyne from Pentos to Volantis, and the best part of that was the Sorrows.

[jebreject]

So I'll just ignore this thread until next year then shall I?

[dieblucasdie]

Luckily the show's given you no idea what Pentos or Volantis are

[dieblucasdie]

Which brings to mind a thing: the show's definitely supplied a pretty meager sense of this world's history, at this point. I don't expect the moon, but do non-readers even know who Rhaegar is, for example? Or have even the most basic grasp of the Targaryen legacy, apart from Mad King = bad?  Because that shit is important later, and not just in the macro sense; how do you introduce Dorne if the viewer doesn't already know about the Rhaegar/Elia/Sack-of-Kings-Landing thing in explicit detail?

[jess]

We get the story of how the Targareans (sp?) came to power via the dragons from Arya and Tywin talking (and her reminding him that the Targarean women rode in on dragons too). There's the geneology you get from the guy who is now at the Wall when he advises Jon about the issue of fighting to defend your family. There's also the reference to the family's history of marriage within itself and the suggestion that that's part of what made them crazy, from Tyrion and Cersei's conversation.

[jebreject]

Which brings to mind a thing: the show's definitely supplied a pretty meager sense of this world's history, at this point. I don't expect the moon, but do non-readers even know who Rhaegar is, for example? Or have even the most basic grasp of the Targaryen legacy, apart from Mad King = bad?  Because that shit is important later, and not just in the macro sense; how do you introduce Dorne if the viewer doesn't already know about the Rhaegar/Elia/Sack-of-Kings-Landing thing in explicit detail?

I just (re)started the first book, and it was really amazing to me how sympathetic we are to Dany right off the bat, and how much history of her family is given; the way Robert is referred to as "the Usurper," for example, makes the Targareyen quest for the throne seem a lot more logical and legitimate. I didn't really get that sense in the show, where really it feels more like Viserys is just maladjusted and power-hungry (both of which are true, I'm sure, but that's not my point) and Dany is sort of just thrust in to the role. I didn't really have as strong of a feeling while watching the show that, hey, this is actually their birthright.

I have absolutely no idea who Rhaegar is.

[jess]

Isn't he the one who killed Leanna Stark or something? He was of that generation. I know they talked about him.

[jebreject]

It's funny, I  read a bit before bed and literally the sentence after the one I left off on was about that. I honestly don't remember that from the show, but there are so many names thrown out there that I had a difficult time keeping track of any of it.

[jess]

I recognized the name off the bat, but it took me a while of thinking about it to get there. I totally had to look up the name of Leanna though, didn't remember that clearly.

[Greg Nog]

drargons

[dieblucasdie]

I recognized the name off the bat, but it took me a while of thinking about it to get there. I totally had to look up the name of Leanna though, didn't remember that clearly.

Yeah, that's sort of a problem. For example, if you've just watched the show, I'd imagine you'd think Ned was kind of a dick for looking down on Jamie for his "Kingslayer" status, given that Ned was in open rebellion against the same king, and would've gladly killed Aerys himself. Assuming you remember that stuff at all.

The piece you're missing is that the Lannisters did not enter that war at all until Robert had already killed (heir apparent and total badass) Rhaegar Targaryen at the Battle of the Trident, and that the Mad King opened King's Landing's gates to Tywin, thinking him (his former Hand) a friend, only to see Tywin sack the city. The Sack of Kings Landing is a huge thing that has all sorts of repercussions (including Tyrion's decision to send Marcella off this season, and the gold cloaks' decision to fight for him at Blackwater).

All of this is to say that there's a crucial element of history missing. There's a whole 'nother layer of character motivations that are just completely absent. I get that there are limitations inherent in the 10-ep format, but we really should've gotten a flashback, of some sort, by now. Get Sean Bean back for an episode and show us the Tower of Joy scene, or show him telling Jamie to get down off of the Iron Throne.  Get Mark Addy back for an episode and show him gripping his warhammer, staring down Rhaegar at the Trident.  Shit, if you wanna get exploitative, show us the Mountain killing the guards and entering Elia's chamber. Do any of those things and it would be the most popular episode of the season, for readers and nonreaders alike. Ugh.

They're casting Jojen and Meera, though, so hopefully that, combined with a desire to give Bran things to do for the next x seasons, will prod them into showing us the False Spring tourney. Here's hopin'.

[FreddyKnuckles]

I feel like they're going to explain some The Mountain shit at some point.

[dieblucasdie]

They pretty have to, at some point, so it's kinda weird that they haven't already, given that its already affected the story.

[FreddyKnuckles]

He's a big scary man.

With a HEART!

[dieblucasdie]

Ha, no, they definitely do not woobify the Mountain.