Mens Tennis Forums banner

HBO game of thrones - anyone watching?

112K views 2K replies 180 participants last post by  Spectator75 
#1 ·
I love the books, and wondered whether anyone was watching the HBO series.
 
#989 ·
I needed 30 minutes recovery after the battle at Hardhome. Truly jaw dropping. Have seen the last 20 minutes 3 different times so far. It's right up there with The Red Wedding in terms of emotional impact IMO. I read a theory about the background of the White Walker King ("The Night's King"). He was actually a Lord Commander of the Night's Watch long ago in Westeroso history and he fell in love with a beautiful woman with blue eyes and white skin (white walker?) and brought her back to the castle. They had relations, he set her up as his queen, and it cost him his soul. The 13 years he "ruled" the night's watch were bloody mayhem and he was finally defeated by a Stark king of the north (his brother)and another ruler beyond the wall. He managed to escape and fled to the land of always night.

Interesting no?
 
#990 ·
I needed 30 minutes recovery after the battle at Hardhome. Truly jaw dropping. Have seen the last 20 minutes 3 different times so far. It's right up there with The Red Wedding in terms of emotional impact IMO.
Really? Not a single important character dies and we don't actually learn anything new plot-wise.

It's an OK battle scene but nothing more.
 
#994 · (Edited)
Wildling, you make my heart sing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBCVr-AVbDE&t=5m52s

I agree with you. She is too good to be turned into a white walker after one episode. Although I think we will still see her in the future as one ;)

However still a great episode.
 
#995 ·
There is barely any nudity in GoT anymore, so what are the prudes complaining about here? :shrug:

Chillax. The GoT I loved was raw, and with all the show of flesh true to the world it depicts without once losing grip on the storyline. As a matter of fact, I took to the books after seeing the first season which was as faithful to the books as possible. Now, they are losing everything. It had to happen of course, given Book 4 (Feast) was the runt of the litter. But its just too much...

A large number of horrifying changes in storyline this season...wow!

- SANSA marrying Ramsay? I have just started reading DwD part 2, and so far it has only been mentioned that Jeyne Poole will marry Ramsay posing as Arya, not Sansa.

- DORNE could have been more interesting. Doran's character is vastly underdeveloped here, as are Oberyn's daughters.

- TYRION'S JOURNEY: Sometimes it is understandable to cut down characters (for budget reasons), but for instance the whole adventure of Tyrion's journey from his meeting the Magister of Pentos to his very crucial *SPOILER* meeting with prince _______ (in hair dyed blue); the exploits of Quentyn Martell and Euron Greyjoy in the seas, have all been cut off abruptly. There is a very fascinatingly planned route and mix ups in Tyrion's journey before he is taken away by Jorah. I can hardly call these liberties taken by D&D "narrowing down to basics" as they might have us believe. More like attempting an orchestral performance with a single instrument.

- FFS, where have the GREYJOYS disappeared for this season? I know D&D are not showing Victorian Greyjoy but even so, Euron would have been a menacing addition to the series. Even Yara is absent. Balon's incident/ aftermath hasn't been covered yet. A whole chunk of the book has been lifted, it would seem.

- These Sparrows don't cut it. Also, Margaery was never imprisoned in the books for saving Loras. And Loras - shouldn't he be in Storm's End fighting to death? :scratch:

- And yes, Littlefinger gaining wings, while Arya still repeats training in a loop :lol:

Lets hope this erratic oversimplification of GRRM's work does not come to ruin the series.


---

On a positive note, the sight of Drogon flying over ruins of Valyria and Tyrion seeing a dragon for the first time was goosebumps, and last episode's fight was unexpected and epic.
 
#996 ·
You are very negative about the show. Simply there is no time to develop and cover all these characters ( extra Greyjoys, fake Arya - while leaving star actress playing Sansa doing nothing in Vale, Young Griff aka "blue haired prince", Quentin Martell. This is the nature of books vs TV/Movies. You are complaining about Prince of Dorne and Sand Snakes not being developed and want even more side characters who do not do much for the main story lines. Sorry but not possible.

As far as I am concerned they mostly did the right choices so far, since I don't care much about Greyjoys and the young Griff is fake anyway.

Only the Arya storyline is boring indeed.

SPOILERS: BTW there are rumors that Euron Greyjoy is being cast for season 6, so you might get some of your wishes.
 
#1,000 · (Edited by Moderator)
I've seen parts of tonight's episode and it is devastating. One sequence really questions my motivation to continue watching the show, even after all the changes from the book.

This is the scene (don't look if you don't want to be spoiled).






 
Stannis actually agrees to burn his daughter. The scene depicts Shireen's pleas for help from her parents as Melisandre lights the stake with a torch. Visualize this with how Mance was burned earlier in the season. Selyse finally breaks down and tries to help her daughter, while Stannis remains cold-blooded without an inch of sympathy. This is character assassination in my book, and will cause a huge uproar for days to come.
 
#1,001 · (Edited)
Tennisfan856, character assasination is a quite good way to put it. It is known that D&D's favourite character is Dany, and they, obviously, don't like Stannis very much :lol: I'm glad the episode was leaked beforehand, so I could find out what happened before by Twitter.

(Spoiler is from tWoW, Stannis' POV, chapter was released by GRRM online)
 
“It may be that we shall lose this battle,” the king said grimly. “In Braavos you may hear that I am dead. It may even be true. You shall find my sellswords nonetheless.”

The knight hesitated. “Your Grace, if you are dead —”

“— you will avenge my death, and seat my daughter on the Iron Throne. Or die in the attempt.”
Stannis Baratheon, The Winds of Winter


seems legit :eek: To make it all better, when *that thing* happens,
 
Shireen
is reading a book! :lol: If D&D were on MTF they'd get banned for massive trolling for the show is dark and full of errors.

late, epiphanic Spoiler edit:
 
Jorah has greyscale. Jorah touches, nay, *holds* Dany's hand. Problem found? nah, not gonna happen
 
#1,002 · (Edited)
Why
 
did they have to kill Shireen?
:mad:

At least
 
killing her to revive Jon Snow would make some sense
, but this is ridiculous. The first thing I really didn't like in the show.
 
#1,004 ·
How do I post spoiler tags for the future? That's perfect.

It was difficult for me to concentrate for the last 20 minutes because of Stannis's actions. He is one of my favorite characters in the book, and these creators have ruined him in every possible way. Now I could give two shits about his TV version. They've made him so despicable that I want Brienne to finish the job.

The only thing I find interesting out of this whole debacle is that it leaves the viewer uncertain on who he/she really wants to win the battle at winterfell. You still kinda want Stannis to win because that results in Sansa's safety (temporarily).
 
#1,005 ·
Emilia Clarke is a god awful actress and her character is ruining the show. She can't even clap without it looking terrible. What the hell did she do at the end, just fly away and leave the others with the remaining attackers? And how did she not get speared during her emotional moment with the dragon? lol.

Still not as annoying as Arya's ''Oysters, clams and cockles'' though, I want to cut my ears off whenever she screams that.
 
#1,006 ·
For what it is worth in the inside the episode video on HBO's website Benioff outright says Martin told them that this was what was going to happen in the Stannis storyline. So Martin may have changed things, right around when the season was getting ready to start he was gloating about a twist with one of the characters that the show couldn't do since they had already done something else, so this could have been that.
 
#1,014 · (Edited)
see my tWoW spoiler, from the other post. The tWoW Stannis chapter was released four years ago :lol: so GRRM, at least here, couldn't have changed stuff like that.
One thing is: Shireen getting burned alive somehow (which could happen, I don't know. While I hope it doesn't happen, it's possible, fair enough) and one very different thing is Stannis "crown my daughter if I die" Baratheon burning her, only for losing some measly food and horses and having a supply line cut.

This is Stannis, who ate rats for a year to endure a siege, and that's been mentioned in the show before so it's not like it's obscure book stuff... it's the reason for Davos' rise, so it's important. We *know* he would give exactly zero fucks and march anyway, Ramsay's trolls be damned.

The other thing, and it's way more important, *Shireen, Melisandre and Selyse are not with Stannis during the march to Winterfell*. so... yeah. Whataver Benioff is claiming is probably bullshit. Maybe Shireen will die, and maybe not: but she will not be burned by Stannis, and not for the POS reason we had in the show.
 
#1,008 ·
I thought Melisandre might be capable of doing that kind of stuff without permission from the father...but Stannis himself? Disgusting

And now even if he takes the Iron Throne, he doesn't have an heir. That's completely illogical.
 
#1,009 ·
Weird episode for me. The whole Dorne part is so unnecessary, only person worth mentioning there is Doran, otherwise burn them all. So many minutes of something so meaningless and so badly written, they could've used the footage much more effectively, I'm really disappointed with this decision. Jamie could've went in the Riverlands and they could've showed us scenes with Doran, but no.

Next is Stannis. OK, he's a person who is focused on getting the iron throne and he will do everything, really everything for it. But have any of his actions led to this ending? He was always nice to Shireen, you have that speech in the fifth season, then you have the discussion with Mel, I don't know, it didn't look like show or book Stannis to me. The whole scene with Davos was heartbreaking, you knew it was going to happen. I've liked him because he's fair, but this wasn't fair at all plus he let his men to watch it. Idotic move really.

Dany with Drogon, wow. First of all, GOAT throw from Jorah, I would've bet on him winning some spear competitions on target. The whole Drogon coming scene and flying scene afterwards was weird, they could've killed Dany with their spears, but no, throw it at the dragon. I understand their motivation, but without Dany there isn't a problem for them. But on the bright side, Tyrion finally ruling, Dinklage the GOAT for some more screen time next season please.

At the Night's watch, Olly's decision making is intensifying, foreshadowing is there, we know what's coming. I hope Ice Ice Baby is going to be there too with his army of wights. Arya was boring as usual, it's a preparation for Meryn Trant and we can expect Arya giving the pleasure to Meryn with taking his little brain from his skull. I wonder what's Jaqar's reaction going to be like. And MC Tyrell will let the drop beat causing the greatest ovulation in Westeros of all time. What a lad.

Overall good episode with too much fillers, but a solid one with another shocker. I hope 10th episode will be better though. Hardhome still killing it.
 
#1,010 ·
Can't see how dragons are a big deal when a couple of mugs can simply spear them and already do some damage.
 
#1,020 ·
With winter in full force and White Walkers coming from the north? I really doubt it.
 
#1,017 ·
why did stannis end the Baratheon line? i dont get it
 
This post has been deleted
#1,024 · (Edited)
Hard to predict even for book readers since they changed so much, but here are some who I think will die in the last episode of season 5 (SPOILERS from books - proceed at your own risk - i.e. don't read if you don't want the last episode completely spoiled):

 

- Don't freak out - Jon Snow - actually it is unknown if he dies, but he got stabbed multiple times in the books and that is where it ends - that bastard GRRM :mad:. I doubt Jon Snow will end up or remain dead - either he recovers (boring) or he is revived by Melisandre, Thoros of Myr, or White Walkers - a clever way to release him from his Night's Watch oath and let him rule the world:
The Night's Watch oath said:
Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death...
;)

- Of course Arya kills Maryn Trant
 
#1,025 ·
 
The scene I'm most looking forward to is Cersei's naked walk through the streets of King's Landing as a sign of penance. I wonder if they'll tone it down or Lena actually went through with it. This was the sequence I wanted to see for years.

Of course, Jon will get betrayed and Ollie will get the final stabs in. His outcome will be the cliffhanger. Hoping for a Lady Stoneheart appearance, kind of lame of them to cut her out of the show so far.
 
#1,026 ·
Yes looking forwards to that scene too (the first one).
 
#1,028 ·
Book readers getting pissy :p. Chillax. And you're going to look really silly IF in the future books Stannis orders the sacrifice of Shireen for his cause ;)
 
#1,031 ·
do you even read :facepalm: Melisandre doing it on her own for the lulz? it's probable. But it can't happen like it did in the show. Read better (seriously... people can't read three lines, ffs.) I already quoted "The Winds of Winter", how difficult can it be? smh. Not Stannis, not there, not like that, not for the given reasons. :eek:
MKrep hit the head here:

Some characters die physically, he (Stannis) was just killed off psychologically. At best he plays a semi-important role for half a season now and then gets killed off.

Which probably means Dany's odds for winning the whole thing just dropped massively, which is bad development because I can seriously not stand her anymore. Gets away with murder (literally) every single episode.
+1. This serves an obvious reason: the show's telling you: "root for Dany or fuck off, because there's no other way" even if she sucks too (oops, I left Tyrion, Jorah, Missandei and Daario to die in the Pit, bad Dany, what is consistency? also, where the fuck is Grey Worm?). We get a fanatic, homicidal Stannis instead of the pragmatic one and it's a shame. (also known as the real one, but, what is characterization? Characters are either black or white here. Stannis bad, Dany goooood. :lol: )

@Dodger: Bran, what's a Bran? :lol:
 
#1,029 · (Edited)
If anything it was a very Game of Thrones-ian thing to do to assassinate Stannis's character this way. Some characters die physically, he was just killed off psychologically. At best he plays a semi-important role for half a season now and then gets killed off.

Which probably means Dany's odds for winning the whole thing just dropped massively, which is bad development because I can seriously not stand her anymore. Gets away with murder (literally) every single episode. The Sons of the Harpy possibly the most ineffective guerrilla force in the history of television. Also worst CGI of the show on that gay ass dragon flight.

I kind of dislike that they have completely moved away from what made the show great, which was the machinations between the families and the intrigues of characters like Varys and Littlefinger. We are moving ever closer to a dragons vs frozen zombies vs tree druid magic showdown, which I don't much care about to be honest.
 
#1,030 ·
Wow - no Bran at all this season! :eek:

If anything it was a very Game of Thrones-ian thing to do to assassinate Stannis's character this way. Some characters die physically, he was just killed off psychologically. At best he plays a semi-important role for half a season now and then gets killed off.

Which probably means Dany's odds for winning the whole thing just dropped massively, which is bad development because I can seriously not stand her anymore. Gets away with murder (literally) every single episode. The Sons of the Harpy possibly the most ineffective guerrilla force in the history of television. Also worst CGI of the show on that gay ass dragon flight.
Her character is still being shown as rather faultless - but for her erratic handling of her dragons, its too obvious she should get the throne. And kind of boring.

I kind of dislike that they have completely moved away from what made the show great, which was the machinations between the families and the intrigues of characters like Varys and Littlefinger. We are moving ever closer to a dragons vs frozen zombies vs tree druid magic showdown, which I don't much care about to be honest.
:yeah: But try telling that to Chico and the new fanboys. You'll get a handful :lol:
 
#1,036 · (Edited)
I get that you think that if Shireen dies, it will be by someone else than Stannis and for some other reason, fine :shrug:. I was just playfully hinting that you might look silly if it turns out otherwise, but obviously you seem to take this more seriously than most so I won't try to joke around anymore :D

PS: And this article discusses the point, with a tweet from Linda Antonsson saying that D&D "spoiled the books"

http://www.zap2it.com/blogs/game_of_thrones_showrunners_george_rr_martin_shireen_dies-2015-06
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top