Game of Thrones discussion thread - Season 5 debuts April 12th

[quote name='crunchb3rry']Did they change Jeyne Westerling's name? What the fuck is the purpose of that? Asha Greyjoy's name was changed too. Why does the show have to dick with everything now? Margaery Tyrell being made older and scenes being made up for her just feels weird. Yeah, we get it, Renly like the pole and not the hole. And worthless Ros again, being put in yet another scene to beat to death something the audience already knows. Yeah, we get it, Joffrey is a prick. He pointed a crossbow and Sansa and had a Kingsguard knight beat her in a rather disturbing realistic manner, so having him beat some anonymous whore was kinda pointless. Would have rather they focused on The Hound's relationship with Sansa. Because
the Battle of Blackwater is not too far off and they're running out of time with that whole mini-arch
.[/QUOTE]


Maybe they're just having her use a faux name for now. Or maybe they changed it cuz she shares the name with Sansa's friend who was mentioned like once in the first season.

They changed Asha's name cuz it was to similar to the prisoner that hangs around with Bran.

You have to remember, they dick around with the show cuz audiences are stupid and they need things to be as clear as possible (names) and drilled the hell in so that way they get it (Joffery).

[quote name='panzerfaust']Alright, so what the hell -- the end of episode 4 implies the fire god of light is real? Does that mean the other gods in the world are real too? Not looking for book spoilers here, but what are the rules of the heavens here? Because from the dialogue of other episodes, i figured people just prayed to their culture's little shrines and took religion with a grain of salt.[/QUOTE]

Magic =/= Gods.
Or maybe it does, I don't know.

Supposedly religion is much bigger in the book and it's just been downplayed for the show.
 
yeah it seems like everyone has their own gods you saw that a bit in the first season when they went to that weird tree and the chick who takes care of the crippled kid mentioned her gods as well.
 
There are any number of gods in the books. The old gods of the north, the 7, the lord of light(R'Hllor), the god of many faces etc. The 7 seem to be the most common among those in westeros. Whether the lord of light is real or not isn't really proven. What is real though is that Melisandre and Thoros of Myr, both followers of R'Hllor, do have powers.
 
[quote name='crunchb3rry']Did they change Jeyne Westerling's name? What the fuck is the purpose of that? Asha Greyjoy's name was changed too. Why does the show have to dick with everything now? Margaery Tyrell being made older and scenes being made up for her just feels weird. Yeah, we get it, Renly like the pole and not the hole. And worthless Ros again, being put in yet another scene to beat to death something the audience already knows. Yeah, we get it, Joffrey is a prick. He pointed a crossbow and Sansa and had a Kingsguard knight beat her in a rather disturbing realistic manner, so having him beat some anonymous whore was kinda pointless. Would have rather they focused on The Hound's relationship with Sansa. Because
the Battle of Blackwater is not too far off and they're running out of time with that whole mini-arch
.[/QUOTE]

Changing Asha's name makes sense. Changing it to Yara doesnt.
 
I didn't even pick up on the name change at first until I rewatched that episode. I get the feeling that they're going on the assumption that the people watching the show aren't quite as observant, or even intelligent, as those reading the books. Like they figure the names of all the characters better be very distinct or it's going to confuse people. Those people probably shouldn't bother reading the books if that's the case.
 
[quote name='Clak']There are any number of gods in the books. The old gods of the north, the 7, the lord of light(R'Hllor), the god of many faces etc. The 7 seem to be the most common among those in westeros. Whether the lord of light is real or not isn't really proven. What is real though is that Melisandre and Thoros of Myr, both followers of R'Hllor, do have powers.[/QUOTE]

Don't forget the drowned god. Those are the primary ones we see in Westeros. Across the sea, there are many more that are followed that are never explained.
 
[quote name='Clak']I didn't even pick up on the name change at first until I rewatched that episode. I get the feeling that they're going on the assumption that the people watching the show aren't quite as observant, or even intelligent, as those reading the books. Like they figure the names of all the characters better be very distinct or it's going to confuse people. Those people probably shouldn't bother reading the books if that's the case.[/QUOTE]

There was an interesting clip with GRRM recently where he talked about how most authors are taught to give characters very different names (going so far as to never give any two names beginning with the same letter) so as not to confuse the reader and that he doesn't subscribe to that philosophy since it's not how people are named in reality. In fact, he deliberately goes the other way - I'll try to find the clip but he goes into some detail on his naming conventions.

It didn't surprise me when they decided to change a few names to avoid confusion. It's easier to keep track of names of characters on the printed page than it is on a TV show where they may only be said aloud once or twice anyway.

Also, the assumption that the book-reading audience is generally more intelligent than the TV-watching audience isn't really a stretch. Intelligent people tend to read more books, that's not some earth shattering revelation. ;)
 
[quote name='bvharris']There was an interesting clip with GRRM recently where he talked about how most authors are taught to give characters very different names (going so far as to never give any two names beginning with the same letter) so as not to confuse the reader and that he doesn't subscribe to that philosophy since it's not how people are named in reality. In fact, he deliberately goes the other way - I'll try to find the clip but he goes into some detail on his naming conventions.

It didn't surprise me when they decided to change a few names to avoid confusion. It's easier to keep track of names of characters on the printed page than it is on a TV show where they may only be said aloud once or twice anyway.

Also, the assumption that the book-reading audience is generally more intelligent than the TV-watching audience isn't really a stretch. Intelligent people tend to read more books, that's not some earth shattering revelation. ;)[/QUOTE]

Damn you. There's a $21 box set beckoning me at Amazon.
 
[quote name='Clak']I didn't even pick up on the name change at first until I rewatched that episode. I get the feeling that they're going on the assumption that the people watching the show aren't quite as observant, or even intelligent, as those reading the books. Like they figure the names of all the characters better be very distinct or it's going to confuse people. Those people probably shouldn't bother reading the books if that's the case.[/QUOTE]

Its much harder to learn the names watching the show. Its not a question of intelligence since the names just arent said all that often outside of the major characters..

Also I dont think they changed Jeyne's name. It seemed that she was lying about who she was. Its also possible they changed the character completely and its more then just a name change. Maybe to make her more "common"?
 
It's near impossible to learn the names watching the show. But that's because I'm a visual learner.

hell, I didn't really know his name was Renly until they made a joke about "he's been stabbing Renly for years and he's still alive.."

There's so many characters in this show I just know them by sight.
 
I try to take an active role in learning names and attributing them to faces. I even made notes while watching the first season. It's a must in this show to know who's who with the abundance of characters and since people get talked about so much when they're not around.

Hell, they were name dropping Stannis so much in the first season that I thought I must have missed seeing him in an earlier episode.
 
[quote name='panzerfaust']Yeah the show makes it pretty difficult to learn names. By the way, what's the name of Dany's personal guard? He's awesome.[/QUOTE]

Jorah Mormont. He's the son of the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. It's definitely hard to keep track of everyone and how they relate to each other - having read the books is extremely helpful.
 
[quote name='panzerfaust']Yeah the show makes it pretty difficult to learn names. By the way, what's the name of Dany's personal guard? He's awesome.[/QUOTE]

Jorah Mormont. Son to the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. The guy who Jon is the steward to.
 
[quote name='Indignate']Jorah Mormont. Son to the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. The guy who Jon is the steward to.[/QUOTE]And let's not forget why a knight like him is in the middle of nowhere.

He was selling poachers on his lands to slavers and that's illegal in the kingdom. Ned Stark found out he did it and was going to deal with it, though Ser Jorah fled and ended up with the Targaeryns. I think the penalty was execution for slavery.

I think that's how it went down, so please correct me if I have some of it incorrect.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']And let's not forget why a knight like him is in the middle of nowhere.

He was selling poachers on his lands to slavers and that's illegal in the kingdom. Ned Stark found out he did it and was going to deal with it, though Ser Jorah fled and ended up with the Targaeryns. I think the penalty was execution for slavery.

I think that's how it went down, so please correct me if I have some of it incorrect.[/QUOTE]

You've got the gist of it.
 
[quote name='yankeessuck']Its much harder to learn the names watching the show. Its not a question of intelligence since the names just arent said all that often outside of the major characters..

Also I dont think they changed Jeyne's name. It seemed that she was lying about who she was. Its also possible they changed the character completely and its more then just a name change. Maybe to make her more "common"?[/QUOTE]
Mmm, Asha is going to be a major character later on, there was no need to change her name in that case.
 
[quote name='Indignate']He did get a pardon to go back for being Varys' informant, but then he fell in love with Dany.[/QUOTE]
And she told him to GTFO.
 
[quote name='Clak']Mmm, Asha is going to be a major character later on, there was no need to change her name in that case.[/QUOTE]

Its too similar to Osha. Of course Yara is similar to Arya so that made no sense.
 
[quote name='shrike4242']And let's not forget why a knight like him is in the middle of nowhere.

He was selling poachers on his lands to slavers and that's illegal in the kingdom. Ned Stark found out he did it and was going to deal with it, though Ser Jorah fled and ended up with the Targaeryns. I think the penalty was execution for slavery.

I think that's how it went down, so please correct me if I have some of it incorrect.[/QUOTE]


kinda funny theyd frown on someone doing that when isnt being sent to the knights watch pretty much another type of slavery. yeah some choose to do it for personal reasons but many are forced into it due to crimes they committed or were accused of.
 
[quote name='Indignate']
They changed Asha's name cuz it was to similar to the prisoner that hangs around with Bran.
[/QUOTE]

Damn, you're right, totally forgot about Osha. Yeah, their names do sound similar. I would have thought Osha would have been the one to get the name change. Asha became a POV character in the books. Osha is barely a minor character.

[quote name='yankeessuck']Changing Asha's name makes sense. Changing it to Yara doesnt.[/QUOTE]

I know, lol. I keep thinking of that free Toyota XBLA game everytime I hear her name.

Can't wait for the next episode. The Winterfell events were some crazy shit.
 
I thought the same. Maybe they didn't think that far ahead due to not knowing if the show would even succeed or not?

Either way, I don't mind the character name changes much. Now if you keep the name, but pronounce it totally different, then that's annoying (fuck you, Shyamalan).
 
And Martin looooves names that are hard to pronounce. In this last episode Dany mispronounces Qarth and is corrrected, certainly a nod to how hard some of these names are to pronounce.
 
After that badass speech, I was really hoping she got turned away, found a way to survive, and then actually burnt down that city in perhaps another season.

And no, don't reply to me with spoiler innuendo! Never touched the books.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I have yet to watch Season 2.

Just wondering about the pacing. Please, do not read if you have not read all of the books.

My question(s):
Has Jaime lost his hand yet? Has Katelyn gone all mega-witch? Have they introduced Brienne of Tarth?

Thanks in advance, sirs/madams.
 
^

MAJOR BOOKS 2 & 3 SPOILERS
Jaime still has his hand, that doesn't happen until next season. And Catelyn's "problems" will probably be in the 4th season (second half of Book 3 is reportedly being split into two seasons, and I imagine the Red Wedding would be season three's finale material). Briene was introduced last week, and last night she put Khal Drogo's fight scene to shame.
 
I might have to watch it again because I'm sure I missed stuff. Now it's really starting to get overwhelming with the amount of shit going down every episode.
 
The most jarring thing for me is how slowly the books tend to progress, vs how quickly the show progresses. I really think that they would have been better served by increasing the number of episodes per season, everything just seema to be happen too quickly.
 
[quote name='Clak']The most jarring thing for me is how slowly the books tend to progress, vs how quickly the show progresses. I really think that they would have been better served by increasing the number of episodes per season, everything just seema to be happen too quickly.[/QUOTE]

I agree that even 2 or 3 more episodes in each season would make a difference. 12 or 13 is the standard run for an HBO show, so it is a little disappointing that GoT is only 10. I assume the reasons are entirely budgetary, but I'd hoped the success of the 1st season might mean a larger order for season 2.

Given the time constraints of the format though, I think they've done as good a job as could be expected when it comes to pacing.
 
Yeah I don't understand the budgetary constraints. Maybe for the first season, but this show is a hit for HBO. If they really don't want to spend the money I think they're crazy.
 
[quote name='Clak']Yeah I don't understand the budgetary constraints. Maybe for the first season, but this show is a hit for HBO. If they really don't want to spend the money I think they're crazy.[/QUOTE]

Unlike networks which rely on ad revenue, there's really no incentive for HBO to order more episodes based on ratings. So they'd spend more on additional episodes but wouldn't really see a corresponding return on that additional investment above what the show already nets them.

I do wish the producers had pushed harder for an expanded season, but at least they were able to convince them to split up book 3.
 
For HBO it's about subscribers and DVD/Blu sales. If an increase in budget is going to result in a larger increase in subs/sales, they'll do it.
 
[quote name='yankeessuck']Did they not cast the Reeds? I guess they are pushing stuff into next season.[/QUOTE]

The Reeds weren't cast that I've seen. Honestly, I'm not sure they will be, I've been getting the feeling that the show's been positioning Osha to fill their role in the later books
rather than being who knows where with Rickon.
.
 
Yeah I don't think some things in the books are going to work on the show. Like for example, having a season without Tyrion, I just don't think it's going to happen. He's too well liked by viewers to write him out of an entire season.
 
[quote name='bvharris']The Reeds weren't cast that I've seen. Honestly, I'm not sure they will be, I've been getting the feeling that the show's been positioning Osha to fill their role in the later books
rather than being who knows where with Rickon.
.[/QUOTE]

Or they will be introduced outside of Winterfell. What you are saying does make sense though and it does seem like they are going in that direction. The Reeds arent really that important. Although who will take Rickon? Who cares may be the proper answer to that question I guess.
 
the little crippled kid is coming into his own i liked how he handled business. i hope that girl doesnt waste her
3 kills
if she was smart shed use it on the lanister dad that would throw alot of things into chaos. digging the butch knight chick too holy shit she can throw down and she will be a great addition to her house.

btw how fast do the dragons tend to grow? they wont be full size until probably season 3 or 4 yeah?and does she ever ride them?
 
She more or less does waste them, had she killed others it would have had more of an impact. The dragons won't be full sized probably until season 5 at least.
 
Regarding the importance of the Reeds,

They are actually important, as they educate Bran on the idea of greenseers and help him to begin to see his powers. They would have to setup Osha to suddenly start taking a great interest in that, whereas she's already discussed his dream last episode and dismissed it out of hand as being dumb (the sea coming to Winterfell). They need the Reeds, else they'd have to make up character(s) to achieve the same effect.
 
[quote name='lokizz']the little crippled kid is coming into his own i liked how he handled business. i hope that girl doesnt waste her
3 kills
if she was smart shed use it on the lanister dad that would throw alot of things into chaos.[/QUOTE]
Last night was a test. If you were told something like that, would you immediately believe it? Now that she knows dude is for real, the next victim should be interesting. Ultimately, if she asked for something unrealistic, it would be too easy of a plot device and this series is far too smart for dumb shit like that.

BTW, very OT but I hope you guys are watching Borgias right now too. Considering how many people love Assassin's Creed, the show is unknowingly a love letter to those fans.
 
[quote name='Anexanhume']Regarding the importance of the Reeds,

They are actually important, as they educate Bran on the idea of greenseers and help him to begin to see his powers. They would have to setup Osha to suddenly start taking a great interest in that, whereas she's already discussed his dream last episode and dismissed it out of hand as being dumb (the sea coming to Winterfell). They need the Reeds, else they'd have to make up character(s) to achieve the same effect.
[/QUOTE]

No she was scared by what he said. She didnt dismiss at all.
 
[quote name='yankeessuck']No she was scared by what he said. She didnt dismiss at all.[/QUOTE]

From the point of the viewer who hasn't read the books, that isn't the case (at least in my opinion). Getting rid of the Reeds also gets rid of interesting back story on Ned in Robert's Rebellion.
 
[quote name='Anexanhume']From the point of the viewer who hasn't read the books, that isn't the case (at least in my opinion). Getting rid of the Reeds also gets rid of interesting back story on Ned in Robert's Rebellion.[/QUOTE]

Whether people pick up on it or not its clear she knows about his dreams and was afraid by what he said.
They have laid the groundwork for her to be his "teacher" and she has clearly taken the Reeds place this season but beyond that we dont know and maybe the writers dont know yet either. Its possible Bran, Rickon, Osha, and Hodor are together at the beginning of the season and they introduce the Reeds then to give more scenes to Bran who doesnt have much to do the next two seasons. Truth is they are expendable characters and with all the new characters still to come its not a bad idea for them to cut where they can
 
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