Sam Tarly is Jon Snow's father.
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Sam Tarly is Jon Snow's father.
Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker's father.
Wait... What? It has to be from Game of Thrones? Fine...
King Robert is Drogo's father.
Lyanna Stark is Jon Snow's father.
ironically his mother is Cat Stark
Rickard Stark (Ned's father) is Cersei/Jaimie's father. Tywin's suspicions that this is true are the basis for his dislike of the Stark family, his crappy fathering skills and his hatred of his one trueborn son.
Aerys is Tyrion's father.
Tywin is Drogo's father.
Waymar Royce is everyone's father.
Jon is Robert's father.
Jon Snow is his own mother.
But not his father.
Gregor Clegane is just Tyrion in a robot suit of his own design.
You learn this shortly after you learn that Tyrion perfected the art of telportation long ago.
Jon Snow is his own father. And mother. And fighting instructor. But where did all the other zombies come from?
Dolorous Edd is Jon's father.
Patchface is Shireen's father.
By the way, why are people attributing "White Walkers" to the show? The book uses the term as well.
SpoilerThe book uses the term once or twice, usually referring to them as Others. The show always refers to them as white walkers. I can understand why, "Others" would be a strange thing on screen where you don't get that capital O, while White Walkers is much more distinct, but it is a diversion of the show relative to the books
Strong Belwas is Walder Frey's father
Hodor is Thoros of Myr's father
Varys is Qhorin Half Hands farther. Varys gets around.
Not to be a buzzkill, but can we get back to discussing the show rather than playing Mad Libs?
SpoilerI have to join the chorus of those who find the Eyrie somewhat disappointing. There's too much wrong there - no sign of the Blackfish, nothing to really stress how impregnable the place is and how difficult the ascent, and the door being in the floor all just add up to make it disappointing. I'm not even particularly bothered about how the sky cells are larger and less slanted than I expected, but that's one more thing to add to the list.
That said, everything else there went nicely. Bronn's duel was awesome, though he (like everyone else) seems older than I expected. I also feel like they haven't really explained anything about who he is. I honestly couldn't pick him out from anybody else in that room before he spoke up. Hopefully we'll get a better intro to him soon, now that he has attached himself to Tyrion.
The scene between Jaime and his father was interesting, and done well enough that it almost had me fooled into thinking I had forgotten that part of the book. Although the symbolism of Tywin carving up a stag is very nice, I still can't shake the feeling that getting his hands dirty like that is very out of character for him. Not that big a deal overall, but it seemed strange to me.
Am I the only one practically salivating in anticipation of Syrio's big moment in the near future?
SpoilerI've not seen it yet, but I assumed that the added scene between Tywin and Jamie was meant to impart Tywin's ruthlessness and "villain status" as clearly as possible to the audience, and to retain the deer gutting scene that, for some reason, was excised from Sam Tarley's story at the Wall.
Can't say if it's good or bad, but the actor certainly looks the part . . .
I know it might seem to be incredibly nitpicky, but I was expecting Tywin to be bald, not balding. It's actually fairly important, because deciding to shave his head when he started balding because he doesn't do half measures is one of the first insights we get into his personality.
Since I haven't yet said anything in this thread, so I figure I'll finally weigh in with my thoughts. I truly have enjoyed this show so far, and it brought me around to reading the rest of the book series, just so that I can look forward to what I'm going to see.
Before I say anything further, I need to come clean about where I'm coming from with regard to the book series. I really really disliked GRRM's writing when I first read it, still do. Lest people think I'm trolling, here's a defense I previously wrote on just that subject, trying to justify my opinions, which I freely admit is what they are (spoilered for length, and very minor later book/season spoilers):
Spoiler1) His pacing is ATROCIOUS. Each of his books drags out far longer than they need to in order to convey the same plot. Individual scenes drag on at a snail's pace, bogged down by tedious internal monologue that often does little to build on the characters he's already created. How many scenes do we really need with Jaime spending a paragraph chafing at being referred to as "Kingslayer"?
2) His writing is predictable. I think that with the possible exception of two or three events (over the course of four books), every one of the "twists" that happen every so often was predicted long before it actually happened. For example, there's a key scene in the third book, when Daenerys wants to purchase something, but doesn't have adequate money and does something "unexpected". I put the book down, stated what was going to happen, resumed reading, and whenever the next chapter with her came around, it happened precisely as I had said. Even the Red Wedding wasn't a surprise. Maybe I've just become inured to these sorts of things.
3) Most of the characters are surprisingly static or have developed in ways that make me not want to bother reading their chapters. In what ways has Arya developed over time? She's a character that's got excellent potential to be interesting, but he seems to have spent 3 books just being the victim of circumstance (in the fourth she doesn't really do anything). Something very similar could be said of Sansa, but she actually has some slight development in the third and fourth books. While I have come to enjoy Jaime's chapters (wangst aside), Cersei's have become a chore to get through. I fail to see how any of the kings changed as characters over time, each constantly governed by a single set of immovable characteristics: Robert is a drunken boor, Joffery is a spiteful prick, Stannis is stern and adheres to the rules, Robb is capable but inexperienced. They're secondary characters, yes, but their importance really means they ought to have had more development (with the allowable exception of Robb).
4) His use of pseudo-medieval language is not only inconsistent, but comes across to me as poorly done. It doesn't really serve to keep the setting particularly immersive, but makes it seems like he's trying quite hard and failing to do so. I see this a serious literary failing on his part.
5) This is probably the most petty of my complaints, but there's something about his writing style that drives me crazy, aside from the phrasing. I think that the editor really should have stepped in at some point and slashed the hell out of his descriptions of every rock, tree, sword, and tertiary character that we'll never see again (and maybe hear about once more). Each and every thing has a paragraph of description behind it, as if he's afraid that we might imagine something in his world incorrectly, so he tells us exactly how he wants it to be. Some of this is fine, and required, but the level and frequency of description really goes far beyond that point.
However, given that I've likely given people plenty of ground to disagree, here are some nice things that I'll say about GRRM to perhaps soften some of the potential rage:
Spoiler1) When I say that I think he's not a great writer that doesn't mean I think he can't tell a good story, or else nothing good could come out of his work and this TV show wouldn't exist. I enjoy the meta-plot that GRRM is going after, as it's quite an interesting story with some truly unique details. It's unfortunate that those unique bits are shunted to the side as often as they are.
2) He does know how to write some good characters. Best character: Tyrion, a bright spot every time we come across him, always awesome. He develops and changes over time, and does so in a way that the audience's opinion of him is likely to shift along the way. Cersei is similar, but not in an enjoyable fashion. But yeah, real credit for the Tyrion chapters.
3) The man knows how to build a world. I complain about his description of everything imaginable, as well as his tendency to describe events in history, no matter how tangentially related to the plot (hint: in every case it's him foreshadowing, *wink wink*), but that means that his world is incredibly well-fleshed out in a way that few authors since Tolkien have even attempted to do. I like that feeling of a full backstory, but I don't care for it being shoved in my face so often so that he can prove that's what he's doing.
This show, on the other hand, does a number of things so very right that I can't help but love it much more than I did the books.
First and foremost, the transition to a visual medium did WONDERS for the pacing. Gone are the tedious and and unnecessary descriptions of trivial objects (I swear if I had a dollar for each use of "lobstered", I'd have enough to pay rent) or people, they are shown and that's done. Tolkein himself would have cried for mercy at the original, but that complaint becomes an absolute non-issue. The scenes they've chosen to cut and to create are expertly chosen and do the best job possible of advancing the story in a timely manner. The scene between just Robert and Cersei (in 5?) was really the best example of this.
Second, aging the characters by several years solves one of my gripes with the original story: children acting much older than they should, even in a time/place when they're expected to grow up faster. I understand that part of the overall point was that children become adults quicker when they are forced and expected to, even more so when the world is as rough as it is there. However, aging all the children by 2-3 years solves much of the unbelievability, while keeping most of the message intact. I think the biggest beneficiary has been Daenerys, though moving her to a less of a jail-bait age was clearly on their minds.
Third, since one of my big gripes was about how easy it was to see what was coming in the books, I'm surprised at how much less that's the case here. They're doing a much better job of leading me to believe things can go more than one way. This is almost about to be covered by the show, but still:
But that's not an issue in the series, since they did a much better job of not broadcasting "This person is doomed" messages on all channels.SpoilerTo me, I read Ned and Robert as doomed characters from the very beginning. From their first scenes I knew both of them were going to die before the book was through. Ned surprisingly made it as far as about the 3/4 mark. This was particularly unfortunate, since Ned turned out to be a more interesting character than I first thought. Either way, in both cases, I knew early on not to become really invested in either one of them since they were so very clearly not going to make it.
Finally, I can't rave about their casting choices enough. Almost each and every member of the cast are picture perfect for their roles. Particular standouts are Ned (after accounting for the universal aging), Robert, and TYRION. Now when I think of those characters, there's no one else I can put in those roles. Someone said on Twitter recently that they should just save time and give Peter Dinklage the Emmy, and I agree. He's that good. Even characters with few lines and secondary characters are well-chosen: Khal Drogo (who makes me excited for Conan), Tywin Lannister (his previous Lord Vetinari experience can't hurt), and Bronn (the rogue was instantly likable, just from the first few moments he was shown/talked). The people making this show really get what it takes to make a show work, but nowhere is it more apparent than here.
I look forward to each new episode.
Edit: Most of this was copied from a post I'd written on another site, and had been done around the third episode. I've tried to correct the things that made that apparent (mostly tenses). Also added the point about predictability being cut down.
FWIW, Martin agrees with you about the character ages. He's gone on the record saying that if he could go back and change that he would. I'm pretty sure he was pushing that in the show.
I didn't predict a lot of the third book, myself, but then I also spectacularly failed to predict chapter thirty-three of Deathly Hallows, so there you go.
SpoilerAnd it's quite possible I only predicted the Red Wedding because I knew it was called the Red Wedding - but I really hope the prophetic old crone Arya (?) runs into would have tipped me off.
Anyway, I mostly love his writing style, but I have to agree with you about there being too many characters. At this point, I really couldn't care less how that half-wit minor noblewoman is doing.
Honestly, I feel the same way about Lord of the Rings as you do about A Song of Ice and Fire, Sinfonian.
The books dragged on and on endlessly, and I really didn't care by the end. The movies, though, were fun! I quite enjoyed watching them.
@DomaDoma: But I love all those extraneous characters! It really does make the world feel alive, when there are just so many people in it.
And the best thing? So often those minor characters become important later. Who would have guessed in book 1 that Barristan was going to get a POV in book 5? Or that Theon, who was even more minor than Jory, would get a POV in book 2?
Or that Renly, whose first appearance was all about laughing at Joff and his whole "Lion's Tooth" sword, would end up important? Or that Brienne would become a viewpoint character? Sam was less of a surprise. I didn't guess the Blackfish would stay a relevant character. I certainly wouldn't have guessed Beric Dondarrion's role!
Seriously, everyone has an entire suite of secondary characters around them, and they swap around at times. It's nice.
Reading the books a second time, with everyone's future roles in my head, they become much sharper in my mind when I see them the first time. They stood out a bit more, because I actually knew all of them, and this time had an image of them in my head.
Oh, one other thing:
I'm betting Petyr will be the BBEG of the series. If there's any Big Bad, he's it.
Of course Renly would become important. He's the king's brother, in a book about royal succession.