Game Of Thrones -- Book Spoiler Free Thread

Sansa becomes Jon Snow Legend.

Got it—no solid rumors and everything's possible. Also, keeping book stuff out of this thread now.

Casting news: Ian McShane will be in S6.

edited 1st Aug '15 3:21:00 PM by Julep

That is good news. I am pretty sure he's Euron Greyjoy. He played Blackbeard (albeit historically inaccurate Blackbeard) in the last POTC and he's Al Swearengen, its an incredible way to introduce Euron Greyjoy, audiences see Mc Shane and they automatically know all they have to about the guy.

The pork merchants' pockets will overflow with gold

I wouldn't say a historically inaccurate Blackbeard as much as he's a historical fantasy Blackbeard. His characterization in POTC is essentially "All The Myths Are True" Blackbeard. As in, "what if every historical urban legend about Blackbeard was true?".

And thus the rumors of Blackbeard dabbling in dark magic were upgraded into Blackbeard being a fullblown evil sorcerer, while Blackbeard's tales of cruelty and mistreatment of his crew are taken at face value. He even drops direct quotes to the real life Blackbeard ("If I don't kill a man every now and then they forget who I am").

Also this magnificent introduction scene.

I heard some rumours stating he's Randyll Tarly, which would also be quite interesting.

I much prefer to call a spade a spade and say "historically inaccurate Blackbeard" but then the vast majority of his portrayals are inaccurate (except for the video game Assassins Creed IV Black Flag which is closest to the record). The real Blackbeard is not known to have killed anyone until his final confrontation.

Well now that a small role is mentioned, yeah Randyll Tarly is a good fit too, perhaps better.

I know him from John Wick, where he was the Reasonable Authority Figure and owner of the Continental hotel.

I've also heard speculation that he's Howland Reed.

Ah yes, Howland Reed, rarely has any character been so popular despite not showing up once in the narrative.

Awesome casting choice. I don't think I've ever watched anything with Mc Shane in it where he has failed to deliver. He's got a bit of a Rule Of Sean Connery going on.

Rewatching some of season 2 episodes.

Oh good fucking God, Ygritte is utterly insufferable. I couldn't help but wishing that Jon just cut her tongue off. Would be a stupid thing to do, but still.

@Julian: Well I'd also call Black Flag's portrayal historically inaccurate, because while it correctly displays Blackbeard's showmanside and nicer qualities, it whitewashes the living shit out of him. The game just removes any bad trait Blackbeard had (like the fact he often sold people into slavery, or how thoroughly he fucked over his partner Stede Bonnet). But anyway I'm going off-topic.

Ian Mcshane is a guy I've been wanting to see on GOT for a long time now, so even if he's playing random soldier n#3 I'm still pretty damn hype. Man never fails to deliver.

If you have a hot and wild redhead, cutting off her tongue isn't something you should consider quickly.

I thought she was hilarious.

"And I didn't want to want it but, oh! Ruined! Now I'll never be able to marry a perfumed lord! What will me savage father say?"

Even Jon was biting back a laugh there

The accent did get a little out of hand sometimes though.

"boot, oo fooire"

"No fire!"

"Bet yuuuu freeze ta death befaaw ah duu. Bet yoa laaaf"

I like Ygritte, maybe she's not super-charismatic but she and Kit Harrington's Jon worked well. I found her death sad, ruined as it is by Olly Chekhov's power-nod.

Olly was well on his way to ruining everything.

Eh wasn't much bothered by her death. Keep your goddamn oaths Jon. And you too Sam!...and you too Alliser and those twenty people that helped him!

GOD DAMN IT CAN NOBODY KEEP AN OATH IN THIS PLACE.

Basically everyone there broke one oath or another. I believe they pointed out more than once that that was to be expected considering the kind of people that mostly make up the Nights Watch, i.e. unrepentant murderers and "rapers".

If we took the head of every man who broke any vow, the wall would be defended by headless men.

Turn back around

edited 2nd Aug '15 8:36:20 AM by blkwhtrbbt

I think the little punk should be renamed Olly Shit. I loved Ygritte, Rose Leslie was a perfect cast.

On that we agree.

The drama of the series is that oaths are hard to keep even by the most honorable and decent men. Jon Snow technically didn't break his oath with Ygritte. He was told by Halfhand to infiltrate the Wildlings and do what he had to gain their trust, intelligence and confidence before returning to Castle Black. Jon did fulfill that duty, in some cases a little too readily. Samwell Tarly though is a more deliberate oathbreaker and his romance with Gilly is a good deal more selfish. As for the Night's Watch conspirators, well they are reserved for the lowest circle of the non-existent Hell.

does that mean they'll simply be reincarnated?

Nah...I agree with Melisandre on one thing, "There's no Hell but the world we live in." Reincarnation is too kind a fate. One life means you don't get a second chance or take back what you did, you live with the consequences of what you do.

edited 2nd Aug '15 10:19:24 AM by JulianLapostat

I loathed Ygritte because for all her taking up screen time, it served nothing substantial other than agonizingly slowing down Jon's plot line. I would have preferred it much more if Jon just met Mance Raider earlier.

Turn back around