Game of Thrones (HBO Show) - Spoilers Within.

[Tawmis]

Please use Spoiler Tags if discussing anything specific!

I decided to up and create a thread for this show - because I have been looking forward to it, and I knew Andrea has - and there's a few others here who are watching it.

I just finished watching the second episode (which couldn't come fast enough after the first show's cliff hanger!)

And I have to say the second episode has one of the most epic scenes EVER.

I stood up and CHEERED. LOUDLY.

And that scene is - when the dire wolf comes in and attacks the assassin and rips out his throat! After that scene I was so completely amped up, it was ridiculous!

I did like in the second episode when the dire wolf attacked that bitch of a prince too. Somehow I don't think that's the last we have seen of her dire wolf.

[AndreaDraco]

I'm so glad you opened a thread for the show. I think it's ridiculously awesome

What's you favorite character judging from the two episodes you've seen?

[therogue]

I'm in two minds on the second episode:

One the one hand. I enjoyed it, it moved along at a nice clip and plot was interesting enough. Also, yay! Sean Bean.

On the other hand. Again, events concerning the white haired lady, Danywhatthehelleverhernameis and the warlord. Those scenes really bother me. To me it felt like hey, look at this girl starting to find her power through learning to please her rapist. It especially bothered me after hearing from a bookfan that the relationship is supposed to be far less rapey.

[AndreaDraco]

On the other hand. Again, events concerning the white haired lady, Danywhatthehelleverhernameis and the warlord. Those scenes really bother me. To me it felt like hey, look at this girl starting to find her power through learning to please her rapist. It especially bothered me after hearing from a bookfan that the relationship is supposed to be far less rapey.

Daenerys and Drogo's first night together is indeed more consensual in the novel. However, I didn't interpret Dany's scenes in this episodes like you did: she wasn't trying to learning to please Drogo. She was trying to use her sexuality in a more active way, to assert her as Drogo's equal.

[therogue]

I suppose it can be seen that way. At least she's getting herself some power but even if she grows to love him, it will always be her falling in love with a man who raped her and that bothers me badly.

[Tawmis]

I'm so glad you opened a thread for the show. I think it's ridiculously awesome
What's you favorite character judging from the two episodes you've seen?

Favorite character? You mean besides the boy's dire wolf?

I'd say it's probably the boy himself, Sean Bean, or the bastard son. I also like the dwarf brother.

I suppose it can be seen that way. At least she's getting herself some power but even if she grows to love him, it will always be her falling in love with a man who raped her and that bothers me badly.

One thing to consider is - that's how things were back in those kinds of times. He is, after all, a savage. Like they were saying at the "wedding" - if there isn't at least three people killed during an event, it's considered boring.

[therogue]

I think it bothers me so also because its different in the book and I don't understand why the tv show went this way with it. Why go for that old trope.

This is set in a fantasy world. I'm not familiar with the books but historical accuracy to the real world isn't a concern. I can't articulate exactly why it bothers me so much. It just does.

Anyway, this is a subject far too heavy for a thread like this.

Favourite character(s) so far:

- The younger Stark girl and her half brother (the one who gave her the sword)

I can't be the only one who thinks Waldau (the twin brother of the queen) looks just like a real world version of Prince Charming from Shrek.

[Tawmis]

I think it bothers me so also because its different in the book and I don't understand why the tv show went this way with it. Why go for that old trope.
This is set in a fantasy world. I'm not familiar with the books but historical accuracy to the real world isn't a concern. I can't articulate exactly why it bothers me so much. It just does.
Anyway, this is a subject far too heavy for a thread like this.

It's understandable that it does. Not arguing that it SHOULDN'T.
I am, however, "glad" that it wasn't this tender love scene. And for a few reasons. First, you get the impression these dudes are barbarians. When are barbarians ever the tender loving kind? Especially to something that he probably regards as his "possessions" vs her being his "wife" or "mate." Second, you get the impression these barbarians are indeed barbaric because during the "wedding" - there's barbarians openly engaging in sex on the "dance floor" (for lack of a better word). Third, as stated before - if there isn't at least three deaths during a "wedding" it's considered a boring event, directly quoted from one of the characters who explains it. Fourth, the woman (Daenerys ) is shown as being pretty weak (in will) to the point that she doesn't even stand up to her brother (other than to say, "I don't want to be his queen" - once - and when the brother confronts her, she backs down). Fifth, I have a very distinct feeling that she's going to learn to be sexual and utterly manipulate (if not control) Drogo. One of the things I loved about HBO's other great show - Rome - was that, though men were in power, women more often than not controlled and/or manipulated many men through sex. Just showing that no matter how strong men are, they're easily manipulated just by the promise of some sexual pleasure. I look forward to Daenerys become a woman of power, because that's where I think this is headed. So seeing her evolve will be very nice.

On that note, I am surprised you don't hate her brother even more.
I mean, he's the one who essentially pimped her out to Drogo. And he said, and I quote, "I'd let Drogo and his 40,000 men and their horses f__k you, if it meant getting my kingdom back."

I can't wait till fate gets the best of him, because I despise him (in a good way!) and can't wait till the Karma train comes for him.

[AndreaDraco]

Well, I feel like stepping in the discussion.

I have three favorite characters from the book, and you guys have already seen all of them: Bran, Arya and... Daenerys.

Even before seeing the first episode of the show, I know that - no matter how good the writers could be - they simply could not do Daenerys justice in this first half of the first season. The reason? Because in the book her chapters are literally filled with internal monologues, memories of her nomadic past, with her brother dragging her from Free City to Free City, and of the only place she considered home, a small house with a red door and a lemon tree outside her window. She was a newborn baby when she and Viserys fled the Seven Kingdoms and she can't remember a single thing about it. Yet her brother can't stop talking about it. And now he sold her to Khal Drogo in exchange for an army... to conquer back a reign that was theirs but that Daenerys has no emotional attachment to. In the first novel, you get to watch everything that happens to her directly through her eyes and she's not weak. She's just disillusioned. In the novel, she's just a child, dreaming of playing outside with the street urchins she hears from the window of her secluded chambers. She's full of fear and yet you immediately realize that there is a seed of greatness inside her. She just has to realize that and then she'll understand that, much like her brother, and incomparably more than him, even if she doesn't know yet, she is "the blood of the Dragon." It is the marriage to Drogo that, in many ways, awakens this greatness inside her, for reasons I can't spoil

Finally, about the sex, which seems to be so controversial in these first two episodes. She's not trying to use it to manipulate Drogo, nor to please him. She's embracing it to empower herself, to assert herself as Drogo's equal. She is not a slave, despite being sold into marriage. She's khaleesi and in the next episode you'll see how much a month riding with the khalasar has changed her.

Is it clear that I'm a loyal Targaryen supporter?

[therogue]

I didn't mention it here like in the main tv thread but I spend most of the first episode and every time he shows up wishing that the white haired dude would be set on fire.

Hell, the majority of the characters are vile but good fun to watch.

[Tawmis]

Game of Thrones discussion turns violent.

Almost too funny to be real. Best comment was:

If he'd bother to read the books, he'd know the answer to "which of the cable program’s characters was going to win". The answer being, none of them. Of course, reading umpteen thousands of pages is too much work, it's much easier to throw your cousin through a window.

[dotkel50]

I'm betting there were copious amounts of alcohol involved.

[Tawmis]

I'm betting there were copious amounts of alcohol involved.

You underestimate us nerds. We don't need alcohol to fight over something so trivial.

[dotkel50]

Like this?

stooges.jpg (46.34 KiB) Viewed 2182 times

[Tawmis]

But those three are much cuter!

(Ah, I remember the days I would sit and watch Three Stooges religiously...)