Game Of Thrones -- Book Spoiler Free Thread

Grey Worm be gettin' some.

Wait, I didn't catch that. At what point in the trailer was that? Because Grey Worm and Missandei make for such a cute couple.

1:35-1:36.

this actually made me excited for the new season

edited 16th Mar '15 10:11:13 AM by byakugan0889

My college had a pre-screening of the premiere....It was awesome!

I'm jealous. :{

Damn, can't wait.

I've actually started reading the books, and I'm actually comfortable with treating the show as its own thing, more inspired by and with the blessing of GRRM than a word-by-word faithful adaptation.

Go Jelmazmo!

Think we go to the same University, cause I got to see it last week as well.

Without getting into spoilers, it was a pretty solid premiere, although there are some characters we don't see in the premiere that I wanted to see show up. It felt more quiet then anything else.

There's also a rather spoilery change from the books that happens in the episode, but I'll keep mum about what it is.

So Cersei was just as rotten as a little kid.

Did you forget Oberyn's story of the first time he met Tyrion?

Just saw S 5 E 1. Thoughts:

• Amusing bit of metacommentary on the show's proclivity for showing naked women - when the Unsullied meets the prostitute and she takes off all her clothes, he tells her it isn't necessary, and she replies 'Force of habit' or something similar. I have a feeling the nudity is going to be remarkably reduced this season. Case in point...
• I understand Emilia Clarke has stated in her contract that she will not do nude scenes on the show, but I am rather disappointed that this means that Game of Thrones, of all shows, has begun using the Modesty Bedsheet trope, when the Jelmazmo discusses the matter of the fighting pits with Daario.
• Tyrion's back! And in utter Heroic BSoD, but yay! The part where he speaks with Varys is the best part of the episode, even after most of it was in the trailer.
• I hope this doesn't count as a book spoiler, considering how famous the word is, but I was surprised at not hearing the word 'Valonqar'.
• Cersei's emotional manipulation of Jaime at the funeral of their father has become more and more transparent - I don't think even Jaime can ignore it anymore, no matter his love for her.
• Cousin Lancel's back! And... it seems he could prove a thorn in Cersei's side after finding religion.
• And so on to the main arc of the episode, Jon, Mance and Stannis. The one true king seems to have acquired Melisandre's taste for burning people alive - Mance bends the knee or he burns to death. I suppose Mance dying was inevitable, given the nature of both men - Mance'd never kneel to a southern king, as much due to necessity as pride, and Stannis has become a bit of a baby, burning anyone who he doesn't like - and the nature of the show - but I'm happy Jon shot him in the heart to ease his suffering. It is rather telling that we can see the nature of people based on their reaction to the burning - the wildlings with the beards are outraged, Samwell and his girlfriend (Gilly, I think it is) are horrified, and so is Shireen - but Stannis's wife is actually serene, and Davos is kinda inured.
• Also, I have a question - the music which plays whenever Melisandre does something is remarkably similar to the theme that plays on the dead Reaper in Mass Effect 2. Anyone else noticed that?
• I guess it is great for Melisandre that the fire of the Lord of Light burns within her, so she doesn't have to change into warmer clothing at the Wall. However, it wasn't as if she was sweating profusely down south. Does the Lord of Light provide his true devotees with a temperature regulator?

Additional thoughts:

• It seems the show seems to have gone for the Female Gaze this week, considering we get to see Daario's bare ass as well as Loras and Olyvar post-coitus. Is Olyvar Loras's boyfriend now? Certainly he isn't actively a spy - Middlefinger is far away.
• Yay, Margaery! Her walking in on Loras and Olyvar is hilarious, especially when she is rather unflappable with these two naked guys, one of whom is her brother. Also, 'Perhaps.' [awesome]
• It seems Cersei has maintained the same dressing sense and hairstyle throughout her life, as seen in the flashback. I'm rather surprised the witch didn't troll her and go on about her twincest - certainly by that point I think she and Jaime were getting it on.

edited 12th Apr '15 9:52:39 PM by arcanephoenix

A flashback, wow. It took me embarrassingly long to figure out that was Cersei, since I just wasn't expecting any sort of flashbacks. Good casting, though.

I'm usually okay with the Modesty Bedsheet trope, having run across it many times in real life. However, with Dany it just felt incredibly out of place, given she's been the one in control of her and Daario's relationship, and one of their establishing moments was her being brazen about being nude in front of him.

Yeah, it took me until very late in the flashback to figure out who that was.

Also, I just now noticed that out of all the (23) kids Robert and Cersei had, not a single one was between the two of them.

Wasn't there the black haired boy Cersei told Catelyn about? Was he Chuck Cunninghamed out of existence?

Was I the only one who thought it was Grey Worm who was killed? He looked enough like Gray Worm I assumed it was a casting change, and then he went to the red light district to be with the girl who sorta looked like Missandrei... I thought they Dropped a Bridge on Him.

edited 13th Apr '15 10:44:13 AM by Larkmarn

I had the same reaction exactly, but I am not exactly proud of it, because their faces are actually rather different. I just assumed that "black guy, Unsullied, bald head, same skin tone, must be him". The only thing that made me tick was how buff he was, I didn't think GW was that musculous.

What black haired boy?

I thought the Unsullied was Grey Worm for a couple seconds, and I'm actually black. The two of them just look lightly similar.

Doesn't count because he died pretty soon after birth/was stillborn? (Don't remember the details)

I was sure it wasn't the same actor, but hey, he looked a helluvalot more like Grey Worm than Daario in the S4 premiere looked like S3 Daario.

I've come to accept that characters may just change appearances between seasons.

Why, I didn't even recognize Cersei in the first few minutes!

Anyway, about the Black Haired Son... what was the witch's prophesy, exactly? She said that Cersei would have 3 golden children, and Robert 20 children, but did she say anything precluding Cersei having a (non-golden) child with Robert?

edited 13th Apr '15 11:28:15 AM by Larkmarn

Black haired boy died of fever before his first birthday. So probably doesn't count.

I assume than in middle-agey setups children start being remembered after surviving the first few years, because death was rather common.

... why not?

Wildlings don't name their kids until they turn two, but Westerosi name theirs when they're born.

edited 13th Apr '15 12:27:01 PM by Larkmarn

Yeah but kid doesn't actually have any affect on the grand scheme of things.

Agreed, but it doesn't change the fact he... well... did exist. I don't see why the prophesy would arbitrarily exclude one, unless he just got lumped in with Roberts 20 children.

EDIT: So I found the quote. "The king will have 20 children and you will have 3." So yeah, black-haired child is just quietly ignored, likely so that it wouldn't confuse viewers who don't obsessively remember every single off-hand mention of a character.

edited 13th Apr '15 12:47:51 PM by Larkmarn

It's just a plot hole but you can handwave that by saying that Cersei was lying to Catelyn.

It's not like it's out of the ordinary that Cersei lied to Cat's face to pretend to show some sympathy. Seems in-character.

They probably just retconned it. That line wasn't in the books if I recall so they might have decided to ignore it.