Quote :

"Sandor is the one who travels with Arya."

Can I make a request that anything not in Game of Thrones be left out of discussion here? I know a few thousand pages of one story runs together, but I have just started book 2, and I want to be able to read through this thread w/o hitting spoilers.

Back to the show. Robert was cast horribly in my opinion. I know in the book it talked about his drinking, dining, and general being out of shape, but I still didn't picture him as a fat man. I could never picture the guy playing him swinging his war hammer about and smashing foes etc.

3/29/2010 7:37:59 AM

I thought Robert's cast was great! He is definitely supposed to be very fat at present times in the books, no doubt about that. I dont have the books in front of me to quote from, but the two "wiki" sites that cover this series have these descriptions for Robert which are pretty much how I remember him:

Quote :

"He is six foot three and immensely fat, with a coarse black beard hiding a double chin and jowls and dark circles under his eyes."

Quote :

"A large man, Robert was once a renowned warrior, but grew fat from excessive alcohol and food consumption"

I think you're not grasping the fact that he WAS a good warrior who got lazy and f-a-t as king.

Also, the wiki Tower of the Hand: http://www.towerofthehand.com/ is pretty decent. Its not super detailed but can give you good refreshers or clarify stuff if you need. What makes it really nice is the fact that it has a "scope" dropbox at the top.

ie if you go here to Robert's page: http://www.towerofthehand.com/reference/k/00017/index.html

You will see that dropbox. I suggest you only change your scope to whatever book you have finished. So, if you are in the middle of Clash of Kings, leave it at GoT so that you avoid spoilers. The site remembers your preference and applies it to all areas of the site you visit.



Also:

Jennifer Ehle is being replaced by the Irish actress Michelle Fairley for the role of Catelyn. Rumors that Dany is being recast as well. I knew this happened a lot after pilots, but normally pilots arent as publicized so people don't even keep up with it.

[Edited on March 29, 2010 at 7:57 AM. Reason : ]

3/29/2010 7:47:15 AM

Dany?! No!!!!

I know I'm the only one that finds Tamzin Merchant hot, but she was cast well regardless. She can sure as hell be made to look innocent/14 but still have a fierceness about her.

3/29/2010 8:05:43 AM

yea i thought she was a decent cast for Dany too

3/29/2010 8:06:42 AM

sorry for spoilers

3/30/2010 12:38:50 PM

spoilers are so hard to avoid when talking about this book. I have several friends reading them now and sometimes I forget where the books broke so I have to try hard to dance around certain things.

3/30/2010 2:52:21 PM

this is easy...don't look at the thread if you don't want any book spoilers

this is for discussion of the tv series, not the books...they're distinct and different and as such, people shouldn't come in here expecting others to make sure they don't mention anything past the first 10 pages

3/30/2010 3:03:30 PM

still can't wait to see dinklage as tyrion. I really think he is going to be awesome.

3/30/2010 3:06:16 PM

wasn't the last book released 15 years ago? clock has expired on spoiler alerts

3/31/2010 12:21:35 AM

The first book was released 14 years ago.

Game of Thrones 1996
A Clash of Kings 1999
Storm of Swords 2000
A Feast For Crows 2005

and the others are still forthcoming...dude needs to hurry up

3/31/2010 7:52:44 AM

i've been waiting on this fucker for too long now

Feast for Crows got delayed, but this one is ridiculous

i think i've accepted he's going to die before he finishes these.

3/31/2010 10:28:07 AM

Apparently it's 7 books in all, so still 2 more after this next one is finally released.

So like another 10 years.

3/31/2010 12:28:30 PM

it was originally supposed to be 4.

and all this stuff in dance of dragons was supposed to be in Feast. i'm curious if that added yet another book to the series...

3/31/2010 3:11:36 PM

I'm pretty sure the 7 includes A Dance With Dragons.

edit: Actually, yea just confirmed that. The first time 7 was mentioned was due to AFFC being split into AFFC & ADWD

Quote :

"In a May 2005 statement, the author also said that this move now meant that the series would require seven volumes"

[Edited on April 1, 2010 at 8:23 AM. Reason : ]

4/1/2010 8:20:41 AM

i've only read the first three...i'm holding off until he finishes...which means i'll be OLD

4/1/2010 8:51:21 AM

lol

Just be thankful you weren't a fan of The Gunslinger when it was first released

4/1/2010 9:06:23 AM

^^ This might be my favorite series, but honestly you aren't missing much by not reading the 4th yet.

[Edited on April 1, 2010 at 10:50 AM. Reason : ]

4/1/2010 10:50:08 AM

Yea, this series pretty much revived my love of fantasy-related fiction. Any other suggestions? Not to derail the thread, but since i've been reading some more "modern"(as in when it was written, not style) fantasy/speculative fiction I have read Rothfuss' "Name of the Wind"(loved it), Sanderson's "Mistborn" stuff(meh), Lynch's "Lies of Locke Lamora"(enjoyed) but not sure what to pick up next.

I really enjoy the gritty, dark side of Song of Ice and Fire but havent been able to find something I like as much as that. I have been recommended Robin Hobb's "Assassin" trilogy and also Joe Abercrombie's "The First Law" trilogy. Anyone read these or have other recommendations?

4/1/2010 12:48:29 PM

^ i've read the first three that you mentioned and i concur with your assessments (i'm stoked about rothfuss' stuff and looking forward to more locke lamora stories)

i've also been recommended abercrombie's trilogy, and i will likely pick it up (though i'm waiting for them to be sold in "normal" book size instead of the $12/book large format)

i've read 9 of the books in hobbs' realm of the elderlings world:
- the farseer trilogy (assassin's apprentice, royal assassin, assassin's quest)
- liveship traders trilogy (ship of magic, the mad ship, ship of destiny)
- the tawny man trilogy (fool's errand, golden fool, fool's fate)

but i haven't read the last two books that were released recently (the dragon keeper, dragon haven)...i've also read her soldier son trilogy (shaman's crossing, forest mage, renegade's magic)

i found that i liked her trilogies less with each one...i very much enjoyed the farseer trilogy and with each one i was less impressed (i really wasn't a fan of the soldier son trilogy)...that said, i DID enjoy the realm of the elderlings series and i'd recommend the trilogies

[Edited on April 1, 2010 at 1:20 PM. Reason : .]

4/1/2010 1:19:23 PM

good deal. and yea I meant "Farseer" instead of "assassin" up there. The fact that they all have assassin in the name in that first trilogy threw me off, but I think you realized that

I'll add that first Elderlings trilogy to the personal queue then and give it a shot

Thanks

PS yes I too am stoked about more of Kvothe's story and wouldnt mind reading some more about Locke Lamora either.

[Edited on April 1, 2010 at 1:26 PM. Reason : ]

4/1/2010 1:25:35 PM

so not to contribute to thread derailment, but....

i've really been enjoying the stuff by R. Scott Bakker -- he has a trilogy called The Prince of Nothing, the first book is called The Darkness That Comes Before

It's set in a more fantastical world that Song of Ice and Fire, but it is similar in that you only see magic or the fantastical elements sparingly (at least in the first book), which I enjoy. Very political in nature, like GRRMs stuff, lots of different players shaping what is going down.

It does break the foul I have where I get turned off by an absurd amount of ridiculous names/terms/other shit and it is hard to follow at first, but I'm about to finish the second book and it's been hard as hell to put down. Definitely a more mature fantasy, better than your standard "orphan on a quest against an unnamed evil with ZOMG DRAGONS" crap.

[Edited on April 1, 2010 at 2:42 PM. Reason : ^ I think you might enjoy this -- definitely some dark stuff in there]

4/1/2010 2:41:00 PM

cool, much appreciated. Always looking for more! Been too busy to read much lately, but I'm looking forward to getting some more time in the future.

4/1/2010 2:51:50 PM

the runelord series by david farland is pretty cool. at least the first three books were. i havent read past that because i started on other stuff after the third one came out and havent gone back to them yet. I also am probably just gonna wait in GRRM to go ahead and finish the song series before i go back and read feast of crows and the next ones. i hate waiting for books so much....grrrr

4/1/2010 8:53:27 PM

Quote :

"I have read Rothfuss' "Name of the Wind"(loved it),"

yes, amazing book. hopefully he doesnt pull a GRRM and produce longwinded crap by book4 in the series...

4/2/2010 10:40:01 PM

yea haha.


"Stick them with the pointy end"

some pictures of the girl playing Arya practicing swordplay:

http://pics.livejournal.com/grrm/pic/0009pa1w
http://winter-is-coming.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Maisie3.jpg

4/9/2010 10:48:29 AM

she looks like quite the water dancer. i will say i pictured arya as being much smaller though.

4/9/2010 11:34:21 AM

i don't know, she's pretty small

4/9/2010 1:04:16 PM

Yea, that girl is pretty tiny haha. Good cast imo.

[Edited on April 9, 2010 at 1:57 PM. Reason : ]

4/9/2010 1:57:24 PM

lol she's a lefty!

4/9/2010 4:10:24 PM

^ actually, the site I was reading said she is right-handed but because Arya was left-handed (didnt remember that...) she was learning to use a sword left-handed.

4/9/2010 4:14:56 PM

hmmmm ... that's either an example of how the show will be awesome or proof that they'll tank for obsessing over expensive details

4/9/2010 4:49:49 PM

great cast for Arya! That girl has the kinda sleepy/creepy/sad eyes and darker, bone-thin complexion that GRRM conveyed through the books...

4/9/2010 6:06:21 PM

who cares. there is no situation where the addition of a child actor to a show makes it better. at best, she's going to be a minor annoyance

[Edited on April 9, 2010 at 8:55 PM. Reason : .]

4/9/2010 8:55:17 PM

^ what the heck are you talking about? addition of a child actor? minor annoyance at best? shes a very loveable character; definitely looking forward to her portions.

[Edited on April 9, 2010 at 10:27 PM. Reason : ]

4/9/2010 10:25:33 PM

Good fan mock-up of Dinklage as Tyrion using a new picture (I think from a Death at a Funeral promo :beatup

4/15/2010 4:42:49 PM

Weird.. never thought of tyrion as blond... as a lannister, I guess he must be, but they never mention is as much as the other ones

4/15/2010 6:10:23 PM

yea^ i know what you mean. I still have a habit of picturing him with dark hair for some reason. In Game of Thrones however, they describe him as having blond hair along with the mismatched eyes etc.

4/15/2010 8:04:48 PM

Actually IIRC they describe his hair as almost white.

The other Lannisters have golden hair


One theory is [SPOILER ALERT KINDA]













King Aerys (Targaryens all have platinum hair) raped Joanna Lannister to conceive Tyrion.

This would make him an Heir to the throne, and one of the dragon riders along with Dany and (if the other rumors are true) Jon.













[/SPOILERS]

[Edited on April 15, 2010 at 9:22 PM. Reason : ]

4/15/2010 9:14:46 PM

yea i think they describe it as being patchy white and blond or something. I dono, I know his beard was patchy.

As far as the spoiler, yea, ive read the speculation on the other, but not him. Either would be awesome. I have a feeling when (if) this story gets completed, it will be crazy to go back and reread it and see the detail in all the little seeds and hints he has been planting all along.

[Edited on April 15, 2010 at 9:28 PM. Reason : ]

4/15/2010 9:27:48 PM

Quote :

"Wonder how they plan on representing Gregor Clegane. Dude's almost 8 feet tall and over 420 pounds ("30 stone") of pure muscle."

They haven't cast anyone yet, but after poking around online, I found an actor that sounds like a good fit for the role in Conan Stevens. It sounds like he has been working pretty hard to snag the role too. He wrote this in a followup to something he wrote stating why he is the best fit for the role:

Quote :

"So now I will have to get an agent onto this, if I am not contacted directly that is. I started the ball rolling in March 2007 by writing the article stating why I would be a good choice for Ser Gregor, this was picked up by some fans of the book series and with several email exchanges and a rather timely 'heads up' from a few fans it now looks like I could get a shot at the part. Slowly, slowly works the film industry. Finally I have to give a big thanks to all the fans supporting me and especially those who took time to write, with any luck we'll be able to secure me in this role. "

A quick synopsis of the blog he posted to try and get fan support to give him a shot at the role:

7' 1", 320lb (22.5 stone) actor (not an oscar winner by any means, but like 13 movies to his credit as actor or stuntman).


-12 years freestyle fighting experience
-2 years of specific medieval weapons fighting and training
(ie both of these mean he can actually move and not just lumber around or stand there and look big)



-He was a dungeons and dragons player
-Ability to ride a horse
-And oh yea, did I mention the dude is huge? With his size, he'd be meeting them like 90% of the way there as far as having to portray him as huge on screen. Wouldn't take much camera magic at all to make him seem like a veritable giant if they wanted to



He seems pretty passionate about getting this role; his blog basically made it seem like when he found out about this it seemed like the role he had always been training for. So that plus the "bio" he has posted to support his interest at least have me thinking he has a fair shot.

[Edited on April 28, 2010 at 8:48 AM. Reason : ]

4/28/2010 8:35:56 AM

just finished storm of swords last night. every time i finish a book, i realize how epic this series is going to be.

6/3/2010 12:38:27 PM

So I take it the last 1/3 of that book redeemed itself like I said it would?

[Edited on June 3, 2010 at 12:57 PM. Reason : ]

6/3/2010 12:57:10 PM

it def did.

the best part for me was probably arya boarding the ship with the free men of braavos. she has literally been in awful situations non stop since she left winterfell so long ago.

the lord commander snow, i have problems with quite honestly. it's a little too fairy tale for martin's style of writing, but i'm sure it will turn tragic at some point.

catelyn O.o

6/3/2010 5:37:35 PM

Quote :

"BigT716 All American 705 Posts user info edit post Can I make a request that anything not in Game of Thrones be left out of discussion here? I know a few thousand pages of one story runs together, but I have just started book 2, and I want to be able to read through this thread w/o hitting spoilers. 3/29/2010 7:37:59 AM"

lol

6/3/2010 6:16:07 PM

yeah seriously, i'm reading SoS right now. nice job asshole.

6/4/2010 12:42:16 AM

Quote :

"just finished storm of swords last night. "

wait til you finish Feast of Crows - it will make you wonder how GRRM could possibly keep writing this series and finish within our lifetimes (six books planned in series right?) - i mean almost nothing happens from the end of SoS to the end of FoC.

the first two books were great.
the third was pretty good as well.
but four was just plain dragging it out.

maybe he just watched too much LOST?

6/6/2010 12:41:38 AM

well I think a reasonable amount happens, it just doesn't seem that interesting in the context of the first 3 books because of all the plot advancement, deaths, battles, etc. in those books. I definitely agree it was the slowest out of the 4 but it has some cool stuff that will probably be important farther down the line (like the Hound, the mountain, Pate, etc.).

But yes, I am not 100% confident that the books will get finished, which is a shame because there are so many awesome possibilities for the story. He is almost done with Book 5 (out of his currently proposed 7) but he has "almost been finished" since like 2007 or something ha.

In other news, GRRM said that the official start date for filming of Season 1 is July 26.

6/10/2010 8:09:56 AM

from GRRM's blog:

Quote :

"be sure and watch the third season premiere of TRUE BLOOD tonight, for a little taste of what's coming on HBO, including (yes) A GAME OF THRONES. In fact, you might want to tune in fifteen minutes early, to catch the pre-premiere feature. I'm not exactly sure when the GOT teaser will run. Before the pre-show, as part of the pre-show, between the pre-show and premiere... I'll be TIVOing the whole shebang myself. (And for those of you who DON'T get HBO... sorry. You snooze, you lose)."

I don't get HBO and I have no interest in True Blood at all but if anyone does have HBO and wants to catch the first glimpse into GoT tonight would be a good time. Hopefully it will get recorded and put online somewhere.

6/13/2010 3:53:55 PM

UPDATE...meet Eddard Stark:


high-res link:
http://winter-is-coming.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/634424_GOT_HS_Nov02_DSC5534.jpg

Here is HBO's teaser trailer: http://www.hbo.com/video/video.html/?autoplay=true&vid=1100909&filter=game-of-thrones&view=null

as well as a subsite on HBO released tonight: http://www.hbo.com/#/game-of-thrones

It is obviously pretty much just shots from the prologue and stuff beyond the wall at this point because they have only shot the pilot and have to reshoot all the dany scenes and cat scenes. Still nice to get a real quick glimpse. Nice to hear Sean Bean saying "winter is coming" too.

[Edited on June 13, 2010 at 9:37 PM. Reason : ]

6/13/2010 9:22:38 PM

the chick from tudors is no longer dany. It's some other chick, now.

the pilot has also been made. not sure if it is available anywhere

[Edited on June 14, 2010 at 1:42 AM. Reason : .]

6/14/2010 1:41:10 AM