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Game of Thrones Maesters Thread


elizium

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Just finished book five, was hoping for more to it. Better than Feast for Crows, but that is not saying much.

Not that I'm implying that you should spend the next six months rereading the books, but I think A Feast for Crows is the book you'd enjoy rereading the most.  Once you realize who the new characters are, and stop being pissed off that they are in the book and your favorite characters aren't, it is really good.  My job allows me to sit here with earbuds and listen to podcasts, music, and books on tape.  I listened to the entire series, which is really well done by the way, and Feast for Crows was my favorite after listening to it.  I hated it when I read it, but I really think it was based much more on the fact that it was so focused on people I didn't care about at the time.  After Storm of Swords I wanted more than anything to know what happened to Tyrion, and I didn't get it.  I got a book full of Cersei, who was the last person I wanted to get more of at the time.  Now, I understand that Cersei is the character who you hate for what she did to Ned, Sansa, and Tyrion, and getting into her mind seems like it would be the worst way to spend a thousand pages. 

 

Once you realize she is a crazy person who can't help herself but to feel like the world is fighting against her, it gets really interesting.  The thing that makes it a chore the first time through is that you don't realize she is a crazy person when the book starts.  Until A Feast for Crows you can very easily think that she is a smart manipulator, because there are enough smart people around her that her ineptitude doesn't really shine through.  Then all of a sudden Tywin is dead, Tyrion is on the run, Varys has disappeared, and Littlefinger is in the Eyrie, and she has all of the power, and slowly but surely you realize that this person who you hated but respected her G wasn't a G at all.  She is insane and everything she does isn't just bad for the realm, but bad for everyone.  It is bad for her, bad for Tommen, bad for Jaime, and especially bad for anyone who has hitched their wagon to the Lannister cause.  She just turns everything that Robert, Tywin, Tyrion, and the rest of the small council built into a pile of steaming shit in no time at all, and the whole time she is cackling to herself like she is smarter than everyone.  It is almost too subtle the first time through, but when you go back through it knowing where it ends up it reads a lot better.

 

She's a quality heel promo, too.

 

She's also slowly turning into everything she despised about Robert, which is tremendous fun to see on re-read.

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I actually enjoyed Cersei's sections, it was the Dorne and Brienne's sections I hated. Plus, I had heard The Hound, my favorite character of the series, was in it and I missed his cameo at first. I was more pumped to see Ser Robert Strong and the Gravedigger theory, meaning one day we will get The Hound vs The Mountain. Arya and Sansa's journeys were intriguing. There was too much stuff that seemed to drag.

A Dance With Dragons had all of the really interesting characters but with 150 pages left I realized nothing was really accomplished there either. The Dorne stuff again was pointless, people kept "dying" then returning, the big finale is chopped off. And so much Daenarys, he character I loath most. Such an annoying character arc and in a world where anyone can die she is untouchable and obnoxious. I actually felt sad for Cersei by the end, this woman went from having the whole world seemly in her hands and is now shamed into submission. I liked Varys return, that was well done.

Seriously though, The Others better show up in Winds of Winter. It is winter now in the books, show up already. I like to think Benjen Stark will show up in that book as well, he maybe hid that horn at the Fist of the First Men before heading into the Land of Always Winter. I can totally see Jon Snow's injuries leaving Te Wall leaderless and easily overrun. I hope.

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I actually enjoyed Cersei's sections, it was the Dorne and Brienne's sections I hated. Plus, I had heard The Hound, my favorite character of the series, was in it and I missed his cameo at first. I was more pumped to see Ser Robert Strong and the Gravedigger theory, meaning one day we will get The Hound vs The Mountain. Arya and Sansa's journeys were intriguing. There was too much stuff that seemed to drag.

A Dance With Dragons had all of the really interesting characters but with 150 pages left I realized nothing was really accomplished there either. The Dorne stuff again was pointless, people kept "dying" then returning, the big finale is chopped off. And so much Daenarys, he character I loath most. Such an annoying character arc and in a world where anyone can die she is untouchable and obnoxious. I actually felt sad for Cersei by the end, this woman went from having the whole world seemly in her hands and is now shamed into submission. I liked Varys return, that was well done.

Seriously though, The Others better show up in Winds of Winter. It is winter now in the books, show up already. I like to think Benjen Stark will show up in that book as well, he maybe hid that horn at the Fist of the First Men before heading into the Land of Always Winter. I can totally see Jon Snow's injuries leaving Te Wall leaderless and easily overrun. I hope.

 

 

That's not all that's chopped off in ADWD, wink wink nudge nudge. :)

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Also, given that dragons are "fire made flesh" as they're described in the series, and this is the song of ice AND fire, it stands to reason there's an "ice made flesh" to balance things out and said creature will eventually assert itself.  That has to be The Others.  I have to believe the others are Winter Personsified.  Winter with a capital W.  The Winter the Stark family motto is talking (and warning you) about all this time (and nobody listened because they were too busy killing the Starks off).

 

So yes, the Winds Of Winter has to turn into or at least culminate with The Others administering NWO Beatdowns to all of Westeros without discrimination or quarter.

 

And honestly, Westeros is so full of assholes I'll probably be cheering the heel beatdown as totally justified.

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Not that the fourth and fifth books were bad but they didn't reach the quality of the three proceeding books. I love the world building but at times it was meandering. I do enjoy how due to treachery Ramsay Bolton has avoided two major forces coming down on him and possibly a third time unless Theon warns Stannis of Karstark.

I think GRR! Bounces back on WoW, it has to open with Meereen at war and Stannis vs Ramsay. Seems like the Greyjoys will get some bigger roles and the Sand Snakes might actually do something.

Really enjoying guessing at all the mysteries, like who will ride the other two dragons.

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  • 3 weeks later...

 

I was imagined Doran looking like the Sultan from Aladdin though.

 

Yeah, the guy was basically immobilized by his gout, if I recall correctly. I imagine him being a bit more stout. But it's not that important.

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Well, notable characters missing from that casting reel include all Greyjoys, pretty much everyone who's not Yezzen that appears in Essos (everyone Tyrion encounters, especially Connington and Aegon, everyone Ayra encounters) and Arianne was notable absent from that reel of Sand Snakes, Hoath, Mycella, and Doran.  So I imagine that this was just a partial announcement and there are more to come.  Its gonna be hard to stick the Ironborn in a holding pattern for another year without Balon dying and the Kingsmoot.

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I might have missed it in the series, but is Balon Greyjoy dead? I can't recall any mention of it.

 

Balon Greyjoy has won the war of five kings by default on the show and it never ceases to be hilarious to me.

 

Unless his death is a deleted scene to come on Season 4 DVDs. 

 

I've long assumed they won't show his death until they're finally ready to go in on the Kingsmoot/Greyjoy Brothers stuff, which that "new cast" clip suggests won't be this year.

 

A little bummed.  Also a little bummed that there's no Randyll Tarly (at least not yet; he would be a fun shitheel to portray).

 

Looks like Myrcella is recast as well.  Too bad, the original had a funny little Vine post after the Purple Wedding episode.  But this show hasn't really missed yet on a casting decision so I guess I'm cool with it.

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  • 6 months later...
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Assumng of course they stay on course w the books. :)

 

I am counting on them staying on the popular and profitable course of having one event per season that makes their fans nearly consider throwing themselves into moving traffic.  Tragedy = OMG RATINGS~!

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