I have a feeling he will just end up with a bad scar or something, I doubt they will significantly alter his face.

And depending on how they handle book 2 it could definitely have some wtf moments.
Theon "killing" Bran and Rickon could come off as a huge cliffhanger, just the fact that he takes Winterfell will probably piss a ton of people off.
The birth and death of Renly which I think will happen pretty true to the book (they show her birthing in a preview).
Jon leaving to join the wildlings is pretty big as well.
Dany in the temple is pretty wtf.

Definitely a bunch of good moments, though definitely nothing like book 3.

Also saw a mention in an interview about how epic the final battle will be, taking place both on land and at sea. Really interested to see how it gets portrayed as I thought it was one of Tyrions best moments early on (building the chain the whole book).

4/5/2012 7:27:33 PM

damn, yall remember the minute details of this shit

4/5/2012 7:30:30 PM

I only first read the books about a year ago.

And I would say none of those are minute details.

[Edited on April 5, 2012 at 7:47 PM. Reason : a]

4/5/2012 7:47:30 PM

Those aren't minute details; skokiaan just likes to troll the GOT/ASOIAF threads.

4/5/2012 7:55:12 PM

quote from director Neil Marshall that sounds very promising:

Quote :

"The Blackwater episode, as the director puts it, “is pretty much one long battle, on a much bigger scale than anything in Centurion. I couldn’t believe the scale of production value I had. It was as big, if not bigger, than most features I’ve done: 400 extras, costumes, horses, stunts, fires… We had a full-size galleon to play with and a green-screen set that was doubling as several other ships, and we were setting that on fire and throwing people overboard. Then there’s a Saving Private Ryan-like beach battle, with all these guys getting shot to pieces, an attack on a castle.”"

4/5/2012 8:18:32 PM

A few things that I noticed were different from what happened in A Clash of Kings.

-Didn't all of Dany's bloodriders come back after she sent them into the desert? I don't know which one's head came back tonight but I think they all came back alive in the book.

-Was Stannis and Melisandre's sex ever explicitly written about in the book? I know it was heavily implied but I don't think it was actually outright explained.

-Did it say anything in the book about Craster taking that baby and "giving" it to the Others?

4/9/2012 12:53:30 AM

In order to those points:

-I believe that in the book they all came back, though I wouldn't bet the farm on it (the individual bloodriders didn't stand out at all to me, so I'm not certain)

-No, the sex was not explicit. It was occasionally implied, though even then not very strongly (I thought)

-No, but it was implied much more strongly than the sex.

4/9/2012 1:45:43 AM

^^

- Yes they all came back. I dont' have a problem with the change because it more clearly states that the other new Khals have a big problem with Dany. This was more easily conveyed in the book, and probably would've been somewhat unclear in the show. At least that scene certainly drove it home.

- Stannis and Melisandre having a sexual relationship was implied in the book basically through one thing. Davos said that the shadow child she bore had the features of his king. It's HBO though, they're going to show some fucking.

- It was obvious in the book that Craster gave the boys as offering in an understanding withe The Others. There was no scene where John followed him to watch, though. There certainly was never a scene where Crastor knocked John out.

- Additionally, the scene with Baelish in his Brothel didn't take place in the book. His conversation with the whore who was sad about her friends baby being slaughtered was a good addition imo. It was obviously to give his character development, and it worked beautifully. The other half of that scene irritated me. The part we he basically wipes semen off of one girls mouth and sends her off with another man. Just a little too grotesque.

4/9/2012 7:13:44 AM

I agree with the responses. However, I wasn't a big fan of the added Littlefinger scene. Then again I'm not a big fan of Ros period though. I haven't found much value in her storyline so far. It's not terrible, but when you have things that you are cutting from these books to compact into a TV show, why add a boring storyline?

[Edited on April 9, 2012 at 7:46 AM. Reason : ]

4/9/2012 7:45:55 AM

I have no problem with the changes, I was just wanting make sure I remembered things correctly. In the long run (unless the bloodriders have a more important role after Book Five for whatever reason) I don't think it is a big deal and I'm sure Martin agreed to said changes.

4/9/2012 9:36:20 AM

Yeah, I think some of the other changes made were probably smart in terms of representing it on TV. The Littlefinger stuff just doesn't seem well executed or something so far.

4/9/2012 9:56:10 AM

Seriously, who gives a shit about the prostitutes?

4/9/2012 11:38:26 AM

Quote :

"- Stannis and Melisandre having a sexual relationship was implied in the book basically through one thing. Davos said that the shadow child she bore had the features of his king. "

Also in ADWD he says that Melisandre doesn't have much use for her bed since Stannis left

4/9/2012 7:13:31 PM

Just finished ACoK, just started reading ASoS, on my Kindle.

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome.

4/9/2012 7:26:35 PM

I remember being in the same spot you were. I couldn't put those books down.

4/10/2012 9:39:35 AM

From the GoT thread

Quote :

"Poor Theon. I hope he leads the attack that puts his dad and downy sister down."

4/10/2012 12:59:23 PM

Ha if they are thinking "Poor Theon" now, I'm curious as to what they will think when the Bastard of Bolton gets his hands on him.

4/10/2012 2:30:21 PM

anyone have the bundle on Kindle? i've read about some formatting issues. any experience?

4/10/2012 2:43:16 PM

I have the bundle.

No issues whatsoever.

4/10/2012 3:11:51 PM

Quote :

"Poor Theon. I hope he leads the attack that puts his dad and downy sister down. "

lol

4/10/2012 3:30:35 PM

There is so much ridiculous shit coming that will blow TV only viewers away. I'm really curious to see the public reaction to the wedding, Bran and Rickon "dying", Jon getting stabbed in the back, Theon's betrayal and transformation to Reek, Joffrey dying, etc etc. Gonna be freaking epic.

4/10/2012 7:20:06 PM

I don't know if the show will be able to withstand the rw. The folks that have invested in only show might bail out after that, because Rob will most certainly be many viewers' favorite character.

4/10/2012 9:41:56 PM

Yeah. I heard they are going to make Rob's love story more of a focus so that the RW will have even more of an impact. It is gonna be a mess.

Personally it hit me harder for Catelyn, only because we saw it from her point of view and we had at least had a few chapters from her perspective. No matter what its going to be pretty shocking.

And in the event the show makes it to what will probably be season 6 or 7 - ending the season with Jon dying will be huge.

[Edited on April 10, 2012 at 9:51 PM. Reason : a]

4/10/2012 9:50:24 PM

Why would they care about some generic character getting killed? Rob has been a pretty flat character, so far.

4/10/2012 10:51:45 PM

Quote :

"I'm really curious to see the public reaction to the wedding, Bran and Rickon "dying", Jon getting stabbed in the back, Theon's betrayal and transformation to Reek, Joffrey dying, etc etc."

Well, the wedding is gonna cause some pants to be shitted, no doubt, and ditto Theon taking Winterfell. If I were making the show, I'd want to go more into the events leading up to the former and those following the latter. The books really didn't give us much, I thought; we get next to nothing about the courtship that leads to the wedding and very little about Rob's reaction to Theon's betrayal. (He's upset? No shit. Then proceeds to almost ignore the issue)

Joffrey's death will probably be met with cheers -- more disheartening, I think, will be the fall and exile of Tyrion (from what I can tell, clearly the crowd favorite at this point).

If I had to lay down money, I'd bet that the "death" of Bran and Rickon won't survive an hour of airtime. Either they will be revealed as alive in the same episode as their supposed murder, or a cliffhanger will lead to their reappearance early in the next episode. Maybe I'm wrong -- to get the full effect, a longer delay would be in order -- but folks who haven't read the books might mutiny if they don't turn up alive pretty damn quick.

4/10/2012 11:02:54 PM

I think Bran and Rickon "dying" will be one of the cliffhangers of this season's finales, or it will happen in the episode previous and this season will end with Bran heading north. I think they will save it for the finale though as its one of the bigger cliffhangers of ACoK.

And yes - Joffrey's death will be met with cheers but I think it will still be unexpected.

And the show runners already said there would be more time spent developing Robb and his relationship. I would assume that will cover Theon's betrayal.

4/10/2012 11:06:57 PM

I don't think it was clear that Jon is actually dead. Unless I missed some lines, it was left rather open ended.

4/11/2012 9:59:50 PM

I think he is dead, but will come back. I am assuming he warged into Ghost for now.

4/11/2012 10:10:18 PM

It definitely isn't clear that Jon is dead; that was pretty clearly intended as a cliffhanger. He might be dead, but we won't know for sure until the next book.

That said, I think the theories that he'll die and come back are pretty solid.

4/11/2012 10:40:24 PM

his body is most definitely dead.

4/11/2012 11:16:03 PM

What are the odds of him turning into something like that crow dude (who I assume is some form of Benjen) that was guiding Bran and saved Sam/Gilly?

4/12/2012 9:56:00 AM

you talking about coldhands?

I think he either get resurrected by Mel or warg into something or someone. Who knows though.

4/12/2012 10:11:37 AM

maybe jon will warg into stannis

4/12/2012 4:01:44 PM

also, crazy thought, but maybe he ends up being a warg with one of dany's dragons? three heads and all that?

4/12/2012 6:08:46 PM

When are the Lannisters going to get their due?!

Reading ASoS now and was pretty much devastated with what just hapenned.

4/21/2012 10:57:38 PM

^All the Lannisters except Tyrion are gone by the end of the next book, there are far bigger things to worry about then the Lannisters. The war is pretty much settled and a new king established early on.

4/22/2012 12:16:54 PM

^Not entirely true.

4/23/2012 1:05:48 PM

Okay so Rickon is still married to Myrcella, but Jamie and Cersei have been eaten by dragons and Roose Bolton and his giant army are in charge. I would say the Lannisters are insignificant.

4/23/2012 9:23:06 PM

you forgot about tyrion's marriage to shadow mellisandre.

4/23/2012 11:44:03 PM

The man.

4/24/2012 1:10:38 PM

This is how the series will end:

4/24/2012 3:18:19 PM

GRRM says that there are "unreliable" narrators throughout his books.

We will not know if Jon is dead til the next book comes out.

I think he and Dany are the two keys to the series so Jon cant be dead yet.

I think Jon is the lovechild of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark

4/24/2012 6:08:57 PM

^How in the world would they prove that lineage though?

4/24/2012 10:56:05 PM

^howland reed was at the tower of joy and is still alive. he knows whats up.

4/25/2012 8:51:18 AM

Every Targaryan since ever has had bright blond hair though.

4/25/2012 9:06:05 AM

because of inbreeding

4/25/2012 9:14:14 AM

Ever seen a Stark with Blonde hair? The blue rose on the wall pretty much sold me beyond a shadow of a doubt.

4/25/2012 9:26:15 AM

Quote :

"Every Targaryan since ever has had bright blond hair though."

blonde hair and blue eyes are very recessive traits

the targaryans are so inbred they are pretty much homozygous recessive for the traits of blonde hair and violet eyes.

4/25/2012 9:35:01 AM

^ exactly. Brown hair + Blonde hair = Brown hair

Plus they talk about how much Jon and Arya look alike... as well as how much Lyanna and Arya look alike. I've felt pretty strongly about R+L=J since the first book. Ned's got too much honor for Jon to be his, but adopting his sister's child that would have otherwise been brutally murdered is right up his alley.

4/25/2012 1:13:59 PM

I can definitely see it as possible. I wonder why he wouldn't tell Catelyn though? I guess the less people that know, the less chance it can get out. She wouldn't have been a complete bitch to Jon the whole time I guess but I suppose that was necessary so that everyone would understand he is Ned's bastard.

It would definitely cement a nice happy ending if Jon, the long lost Targaryan ends up marrying Dany and they live happily ever after as king and queen of Westeros but we all know Martin isn't one for happy endings.

4/25/2012 2:12:01 PM