Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon!

[Psychotic]

This thread is still going.
THIS THREAD IS STILL SMURFING GOING.

This thread will never die.

What is thread may never die.

[WildRaubtier]

More posts are coming.

[Shaibana]

More posts are coming.

Hear me post!

[Psychotic]

Posting strong.

[Shaibana]

ours is the thread!

[Shlup]

Started typing replies to posts about last week's episode and realized I was ten pages behind. Damn, ya'll.

I'm very excited about Sansa's character development. I love that Arya and Sansa are two sides of the same coin, both learning to play "the game" in very different ways.

All of us starting laughing even before she did, so it was even funnier when she joined in.

Yeah, the laugh was well-timed; I was definitely laughing already.

That fight scene! Oberyn didn't particularly stick out for me in the books. Pedro Pascal, on the other hand, made me grow to love the character. They nailed his death. Seeing a character that suave, cocky, and composed screaming for his life is one of the most disturbing things I've seen on television in some time. I knew very well what was coming, and was still shaken by it.

Ditto and ditto. I wasn't all that into any Dornish characters in the books, but so far I really love them in the show.

Creepy stare of creepy

Sansa's still too young for me to feel comfortable with how hot I find this. "I know what you want," muahaha.

And then Cersei grins. Is there anyone who views her as a sympathetic character? Liking her kids is the only redeeming quality she has, and when her kids are monsters, even that might not be so good.

Cersei's entire life has been about two things: 1) fighting to control her own life in a way noble women just aren't allowed to, and 2) her children, who I think they said this in the show, and I know they said this by this point in the books, and it's backstory so click at your own riskshe was told by a witch would all die painful deaths before her. For both of those reasons, yes, I find her a bit of a sympathetic character. She's a dumbass though.

Then I told my spouse about this episode and she was like "Why do you watch this?" Which is a really good question. Why do we? It feels good to watch the bad guys get their comeuppance. It doesn't feel good to watch the good guys die horrible deaths. Maybe there's some schadenfreude, but it has its limits. Does reading something horrible make us feel better about our lives by comparison? Do we all have a violent, sadistic side that this stuff appeals to? I've been really into dark fiction for a while and I can't explain the appeal, but the appeal is clearly there.

I don't get invested in a story because I want to see bad guys die and good guys prevail--I get invested in a story because I want to see characters live lives very different from my own. It doesn't feel good to see a good guy die; it feels good to be surprised. It feels good to feel suspense. It feels good to care about what's happening because you don't know how things will turn out. Like others said, when you can't predict what's going to happen it humanizes the world GRRM has created. You can't ignore a hero because of course things are going to turn out alright for them--they might not turn out alright at all.

Hm, I feel the opposite. If everything goes as it is going, I'll no longer give a smurf about any of these characters after this season. I'll have to weigh that with the desire to see how it all ends because the overarching plot is still interesting.

Also, having a guy's skull crushed doesn't 'humanize' the character for me. I already know skulls can be crushed without having that proven for me on screen.

I think I just need to read ahead in the books so that I'm prepared for this crap. It's much easier to deal with this brutality in print form.

It's not about his skull being crushed--it's about a world where things don't magically align for you just because you're a good guy. Oberyn was a hero on many levels, and he was the last hope for Tyrion, who the fans adore. How could he lose? Hubris and life not giving a trout if you're supposed to be the hero of the story.

BJ has this problem too--he wants to see good guys win and bad guys lose. He's admitted he would be happy just watching a show where all the Starks stayed in Winterfell and hung out and ate ham all the time and the Lannisters died of the trouts.

Gargantuan spoilerI really don't think Jon Snow is dead. Martin has a tendency to write a lot of cliffhanger "false" deaths. The actual deaths are always written very clearly. When a character has been killed he makes it undeniable. With Jon? Not so much.

End of ADWD big spoiler.No way he's dead. All the unpredictable deaths served a purpose, but Jon Snow dying just cuts off a large area of storyline. I almost feel like the other resurrections were really setting precedent for Jon Snow's. I mean, we're used to heros dying at this point, but this one I'm not falling for.

Similarly, when Bran and Rickon "died" I could not put the book down and go to sleep until I could confirm that it was hooey.

[Ayen]

I could not agree with Shlup any harder if I slammed my fingers against the keyboard until they were sore and bruised.

[Rantz]

Yeah, Shlup said all the things I was too lazy to put into words. xD

[Psychotic]

Cersei's entire life has been about two things: 1) fighting to control her own life in a way noble women just aren't allowed to, and 2) her children, who I think they said this in the show, and I know they said this by this point in the books, and it's backstory so click at your own riskshe was told by a witch would all die painful deaths before her. For both of those reasons, yes, I find her a bit of a sympathetic character. She's a dumbass though.

I used to find Cersei a sympathetic character to an extent, and she certainly is my favourite POV character in the books because the way she thinks is fascinating. However, Feast for Crows - book spoilers!the way she sent people off to be medically experimented on and tortured by Qyburn tipped her into the pure evil bracket for me, alongside the likes of the Mountain, Vargo Hoat, Ramsay and Joffrey. Especially poor Falyse Stokeworth. Lying to and manipulating her and her husband to go take out Bronn - a situation where they were woefully out of their depth - was one thing, typical Cersei. But when it goes tits up, when Falyse has lost everything - her home, her husband, her family - because of Cersei and is naturally really smurfing upset and looking for help and somewhere to shelter her, how does Cersei react? I cba to fix this or deal with your tears, so off to the dungeon with you to be sliced open and experimented on by Qyburn! On the character list at the end of each book Falyse's entry now notes that she "died screaming in the black cells". Can't sympathise. That has smurf all to do with the prophecy and smurf all to do with feeling like she is passed over because of her gender, that's absolute and pure evil.

[Raistlin]

I agree with Shlup. I consider GoT to be a refreshing change of pace. In most TV shows you just know the main characters' are going to survive every encounter, because that's just what happens on TV. The more mature, complex perspective of GoT is personally welcome.

[Bones]

I've tried!

ACTUALLY, I'm almost to Season 3. We've watched up until I think Season 2 Episode 8. At least, I have.

[Shaibana]

Khuu khuu khuu!

tehehe

[Ayen]

That first one is genius.

[Mirage]

the funny thing about that shirt is it implies you're all virgins lol

People aren't usually born into the night's watch!

[Del Murder]

It's not about his skull being crushed--it's about a world where things don't magically align for you just because you're a good guy. Oberyn was a hero on many levels, and he was the last hope for Tyrion, who the fans adore. How could he lose? Hubris and life not giving a trout if you're supposed to be the hero of the story.

BJ has this problem too--he wants to see good guys win and bad guys lose. He's admitted he would be happy just watching a show where all the Starks stayed in Winterfell and hung out and ate ham all the time and the Lannisters died of the trouts.

I really want to admire Martin for doing something different but deep down I'm just like BJ. I guess we're too nice of guys to appreciate horrible things happening to likable characters on TV. I think I'd have less of an issue with it in a book since I can use my own imagination to make it more tame in my head.