Game of Thrones - Book Readers' Thread - - - Part 20

[Reek]

 

[Reek]

Jokes aside... stop being an ******* all the time... its uncalled for. we're amongst friends here.... Tosser.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Peanut, am I going to have to spank your bony arse?

 

[Reek]

 

[Drz]

If the rumors of them casting some of the Northern Lords for Season 6 turns out to be true, then I'm going to be REALLY annoyed. You're bringing them in NOW, as opposed to Season 5, where their presence would have made the whole "Sansa goes to WF" thing make more sense, seriously writers?

Yeah but the show wants to have the Starks win, so the Umbers or whatever will assist these people instead of showing Stannis Baratheon in a good light and having him a sa tactical mastermind. I'm guessing the Northeners and Wildlings will also handle the White Walkers.

Then Littlefinger will improvise and have the Vale back up these North lordlings to take down Bolton in Cersei's command because Cersei wants Sansa dead.

Well lets not ignore that Sansa could easily be helped by these new north cast members... its not terrible they werent in season 5... dumb maybe, yea... but I'm just happy they are planning to add them and actualy acknowledge **** like the rw.

I'm honestly guessing this has to do with budgets when it comes to cast and actors.

we need the Greatjon!

Yeah! Honestly I hope he doesn't get recast.

 

[Reek]

"EVEN THEIR GODS ARE WRONG!!!" *spits*

dude was very prominent early on... wtf happened?

 

[Reek]

you know... it's extremely irritating that no one from hardhome was present for 'For the Watch'.

 

[Drz]

Maybe in the books the Northern conspiracy happens in a sense that they screw over Stannis, but the tv version doesn't dare to show Starks in grey color so they made sure Stannis was as black as possible and killed by villains + heroic Brienne.

 

[Roose Bolton]

I think it's just a simple case of D&D not liking Stannis and wanting him off the board as soon as possible for season 6 so that it can be entirely "Westeros is a **** hole filled only with villains" for when Dany and Tyrion finally arrive.

I mean they feel that they're not really as beholden to the material now as they were originally, and they've said before that they disliked Stannis, so why would they keep this character around for however many more episodes when they can just kill him off and make room for other characters they like more.

 

[CaptainCanada]

"EVEN THEIR GODS ARE WRONG!!!" *spits*

dude was very prominent early on... wtf happened?

He had a scheduling conflict for season 2, and after that the show just wasn't interested in bringing him back.

 

[Drz]

Let's hope the same actor comes back for season 6.

 

[Loki882]

i don't really have an issue with someone taking issues with the show, but this is an expensive ass show to make. while we have wait year to year for each season, there isn't that sort of gap going on in the show.

perhaps the bugdet that went into the baratheon camp is going to go into the northern lords. who knows.

I MIGHT buy that, if they hadn't:

-Spent all that money finding a cool location to shoot the Dorne stuff, and hiring three new actors to play the Sand Snakes and spend the money for wardrobe/aesthetic/weapons/etc for the Dorne (and given how terrible/pointless most of the Dorne plot was, boy was that a waste of resources).

-Keep a superfluous character like Ramsay's psycho GF around.

So no, I don't want to hear that "it was too expensive." This show has gotten really bad at prioritizing it's resources. I'd much rather that they spend they money on stuff that'd make the show better, have Sansa's reasons for even going to WF make SOME sort of sense, than to spend it on what was essentially a glorified Xena ripoff.

 

[mr. peasant]

I MIGHT buy that, if they hadn't:

-Spent all that money finding a cool location to shoot the Dorne stuff, and hiring three new actors to play the Sand Snakes and spend the money for wardrobe/aesthetic/weapons/etc for the Dorne (and given how terrible/pointless most of the Dorne plot was, boy was that a waste of resources).

-Keep a superfluous character like Ramsay's psycho GF around.

So no, I don't want to hear that "it was too expensive." This show has gotten really bad at prioritizing it's resources. I'd much rather that they spend they money on stuff that'd make the show better, have Sansa's reasons for even going to WF make SOME sort of sense, than to spend it on what was essentially a glorified Xena ripoff.

So in other words, you're hating on the show for not doing and allocating resources to the things you want.

I'd hardly call the Dorne subplot pointless given that Myrcella's death (or as some have speculated, Trystane's last minute rescue of her) is bound to have long lasting effects on the overall storyline; not the least of which being Cersei's deteriorating mental stability and her relationship with Jaime. Honestly, if it came down to the Dorne subplot or having a few new Northern lords we've never seen or heard of before faff around doing and accomplishing nothing, I'd rather the former.

 

[Roose Bolton]

Myrcella's death could have easily been handled in ways that didn't subsume as much time and money as it did. I don't really see how the Sand Snakes themselves added much of anything, especially since they're minor characters who appear in a grand total of two chapters in the span of two books.

 

[mr. peasant]

Whether it's for one scene or for the entire season, the base cost of showing Dorne is going to be about the same - in terms of location scouting, set design, costume design, etc. So, it would make sense if the creators wanted to get their money's worth.

Also, I suspect it's more a case of an unwinnable situation. If the show had decided to spend more time fleshing out the North's storyline, then someone else would be complaining about Dorne not being shown. Lastly, just because the show didn't feature the North this season doesn't mean they won't be exploring it next season instead.

 

[Infinity9999x]

Whether it's for one scene or for the entire season, the base cost of showing Dorne is going to be about the same - in terms of location scouting, set design, costume design, etc. So, it would make sense if the creators wanted to get their money's worth.

Also, I suspect it's more a case of an unwinnable situation. If the show had decided to spend more time fleshing out the North's storyline, then someone else would be complaining about Dorne not being shown. Lastly, just because the show didn't feature the North this season doesn't mean they won't be exploring it next season instead.

I mean, the Dorne subplot was all of two or three chapters in the book, so I doubt many would have been super disappointed. I didn't see many people all that bummed that Quentyn didn't show up (I know I certainly wasn't.)

 

[mr. peasant]

I mean, the Dorne subplot was all of two or three chapters in the book, so I doubt many would have been super disappointed. I didn't see many people all that bummed that Quentyn didn't show up (I know I certainly wasn't.)

Was Quentyn ever present in Dorne during the books' time frame? Regardless, I think the rationale for the show's creators were as such:

1. They wanted to kill off Myrcella.
2. Ellaria's storyline needs continuing lest she turn into a loose end, especially since she's a major and popular character on the show.
3. Oberyn - and by extension, his family especially the Sand Snakes - are really popular amongst book readers. Meaning, they'd likely get complaints if they skimped on their presence if they're doing Dorne.

Even neglecting the latter two, the decision to kill Myrcella meant the show needed to flesh said storyline out in order to have an actual impact on the viewers.

 

[Infinity9999x]

Was Quentyn ever present in Dorne during the books' time frame? Regardless, I think the rationale for the show's creators were as such:

1. They wanted to kill off Myrcella.
2. Ellaria's storyline needs continuing lest she turn into a loose end, especially since she's a major and popular character on the show.
3. Oberyn - and by extension, his family especially the Sand Snakes - are really popular amongst book readers. Meaning, they'd likely get complaints if they skimped on their presence if they're doing Dorne.

Even neglecting the latter two, the decision to kill Myrcella meant the show needed to flesh said storyline out in order to have an actual impact on the viewers.

Quentyn wasn't present in Dorne, I was using him as a character with equivalent (if not more) book time than the Sand Snakes who was cut from the show. And a good argument can be made that thus far Quentyn has had a much bigger impact on the overall story of the books than the Sand Snakes have.

Also, I don't think you needed to do the Dorne subplot to kill off Myrcella. If their intention was to have an actual impact on the viewers when her death came, I think they were only moderately successful at best, going off most people's reactions. We still only had a handful of scenes with the character, and her death was largely met with ambivalence.

I don't think Ellaria needed to have her story fleshed out after the death of Oberyn, people liked her, but she was nowhere near as popular as Oberyn herself, and I think most people would easily assume she just would have gone back home in despair after his death.

The Sand Snakes are liked by readers, but by no means hugely popular. As a book reader myself, I would have had no issue with them being cut, because thus far, they've done jack to influence the overall plot of the novels---which is my main gripe with all the new characters GRRM introduced in books 4 and 5.

Point being, I don't think there was a strong narrative reason to include Dorne, and Season 5 did nothing to show me they needed to be included...aside from turning the Sand Snakes into oversexualized idiots that apparently don't care if they send their whole friggin country into a war.

 

[Loki882]

One of the things that really irritates me about the Dorne plot in the show, well beyond it being bad in general, is that the show squandered a golden opportunity. The thing about the Dorne in the books is that it gives us an alternative perspective on things, because they have different customs from the rest of Westeros.

Both the show and the books go out of their way to show that the lives of women in Westeros suck overall. They have no real power and are frequently used as pawns in the "games" of men. The Dorne, however, is better in that regard. Women have an actual political voice and can even rule the place. The books make this clear, but the show completely overlooks this. Cutting out Arianne's plot (which was far more important than the Sand Snakes) being the most notable example. However, even if you could justify cutting her out, they could have AT LEAST had Oberyin (in S4) or Doran (S5) mention that Dorne has had female rulers before and that Myrcella would have her "voice heard" in the Dorne.

But as it stands, what we got instead was "wise Doran dealing with crazy bloodthirsty women with idiotic revenge scheme."

 

[Reek]

Ellaria was major popular character on the show? I don't know whether that was a joke or not lol

 

[Loki882]

Quentyn wasn't present in Dorne, I was using him as a character with equivalent (if not more) book time than the Sand Snakes who was cut from the show. And a good argument can be made that thus far Quentyn has had a much bigger impact on the overall story of the books than the Sand Snakes have.

Also, I don't think you needed to do the Dorne subplot to kill off Myrcella. If their intention was to have an actual impact on the viewers when her death came, I think they were only moderately successful at best, going off most people's reactions. We still only had a handful of scenes with the character, and her death was largely met with ambivalence.

I don't think Ellaria needed to have her story fleshed out after the death of Oberyn, people liked her, but she was nowhere near as popular as Oberyn herself, and I think most people would easily assume she just would have gone back home in despair after his death.

The Sand Snakes are liked by readers, but by no means hugely popular. As a book reader myself, I would have had no issue with them being cut, because thus far, they've done jack to influence the overall plot of the novels---which is my main gripe with all the new characters GRRM introduced in books 4 and 5.

Point being, I don't think there was a strong narrative reason to include Dorne, and Season 5 did nothing to show me they needed to be included...aside from turning the Sand Snakes into oversexualized idiots that apparently don't care if they send their whole friggin country into a war.

They also turned Ellaria into a COMPLETELY different character, and not at all interesting one to boot.

-Book Ellaria-argues AGAINST war, pointing out how revenge would solve nothing and only lead to more pain/suffering. She's useful in helping to convey GRRM's own views on revenge/it's consequences (as is Lady Stoneheart, whom the show conveniently cut out. I'm sensing a pattern here).

-Show Ellaria-turns into a bloodthirsty psychopath who wants to mutilate an innocent young girl as part of some idiotic "revenge" plan. And (probably) ends up killing said girl.

Great job there writers, excellent work.

 

[Victarion]

I can't wait to see Euron wreck Mace next season. What in the world was Mace singing about in episode..8 was it?

 

[BestGirl]

NOOO! No one is allowed to wreck Mace!

 

[Roose Bolton]

I can't wait to see Euron wreck Mace next season. What in the world was Mace singing about in episode..8 was it?

And with Hannibal cancelled (RIP), Mads Mikkelsen might actually be an option now. Nikolaj is a close friend of his and he's aware of the fans wanting him for the role.

 

[Victarion]

The SS are currently in place, or being set in place, to actually start affecting the overall plot. Tyene is, or is going, to try and join the Sparrows as I recall. The real mover and shaker in Dorne is Darkstar, seeing as he's public enemy number one there. One of the KG and Obara are heading up to High Hermitage to get 'em.

Mads getting the role would be fantastic, yes. I wonder who's leading the show's Harpies? Maybe that ****e that slit the unsullied's throat at the beginning of the season.

My response to Myrcella's death was more to the tragedy of father and daughter finally being honest with one another, open and all...and then that happens.