AnimeSuki Forums

Because we can talk about stuff other than anime...

And its the 4th season, theres gotta be stuff we can talk about!

Now is this relegated to just the series or books as well?

Because I'm up to Feast of Crows/Dance with Dragons (I say both because I'm reading a PDF with the 2 books combined chronologically)

Both, of course

I understand there are couple changes in the book from the TV series, but the TV series have yet to deviate too much from its original source material.

yeah they've been pretty good about it.

This past weeks episode only had one irk for me and that was the Jaime/Cersei scene in the sept.

Oh, you mean that now infamous oink scene?

TBH, I understand the author wanted to portray royals as being incestuous and generally screwed up, but I think that aspect might have been utterly, utterly overdone...

It's also different from how the original author portrayed it, to be honest.

Well, yeah. Jaime arriving earlier in Kings Landing has changed the timeline considerably. This last episode consisted almost entirely of scenes which weren't in the books or at least were changed up considerably from the original source. Well, more Hound and Tywin Lannister is aces in my book.

I personally wanted Joffy to be burnt alive by Genghis Khan's Dany's dragons, but I guess choking on his own blood would be the 2nd best option.

"Stabbed repeateadly in the groin by Arya" would have been my favorite, but "painful death by poison" is also okay with me.

Tywin is indeed deliciously evil, and Tyrion is deliciously hilarious. Though I must admit, Dany ranks up there as my favorite character, and all because she is more above the influence than the rest. She is the closest thing to TV Tropes' Screw the rules! I make them!

That, and because Genghis Khan is my hero

Like Tywin said to Arya once, "Dragons changed the rules".

Going around the net, I think I've observed a rather interesting behavior... it would appear there is very little sympathy going around for the Starks dying en-masse in the Red Wedding...

Really? The disgust when the episode aired was quite palpable...

While tragic, the Red Wedding was one of those events where you end up shaking your head at the Stark's naivete. Truly an epic WTF moment if there ever was one, which makes it difficult to remain sympathetic. Not to say I didn't feel outraged by their betrayal, but then again they literally walked right into that one.

Well, no. The problem is that people who watch the show have little appreciation as to how much of a taboo violating guest right is to the people of Westeros. The Freys might as well have announced themselves to be incestuous cannibal rapists to the world at large.

While Rob (and retinue) compounded error upon error and therefore enabled allies to leave and turn against him, getting killed under guest right was not something he could have predicted.

Yep. People don't really appreciate how much of an aberration that was...

Aberration or not, it's still a situation that someone in Rob's position should have at the least considered, if not predicted. Maybe it's a case of cynicism on my part, or that I don't hold people in high enough regard to dismiss such possibilities? The idea of nobility makes for a nice bedtime story, but is meaningless if it isn't enforced. If the people of Westeros truly believe in the sanctity of guest right, then they should hold the Freys accountable for their actions. What good is any right if it's not upheld?

As I just finished reading and Alayne chapter not too long ago, guest right is such a big thing in Westeros, that I'm hoping they hit that point home well in later episodes.

At that point of the story, the situation if Westeros had devolved so much that people can't effectively sanction the Freys. The Lannisters are in cahoots, the southern lords are too far away, the north is in shambles (and some of their leaders are kept as hostages by the Freys), the riverlords are cowed, the iron isles are distracted with their own plans of conquest and so on. But people know and remember, believe me that. At the moment nobody has the real power or motivation to punch the Freys number, but that day is coming (and in the books already is going on).

As for Rob, he already was more careful than his dad, but still so wedded to honor that he couldn't conceive of guest right being violated. It's always easy to say from the outside "he should have seen it coming", but I personally believe that we have to try to see things with the limited information and with the mindset the character has, before judging their actions.

Also, in the books at least, Rob did go through a certain number of humbling gestures that weren't all that well portrayed in the TV show. Those did hammer home how much of an effort the Stark camp was actually making, just by going there (granted, they needed the Freys, but still).
The "Red Wedding" was an aberration, and there will be repercussions. Bloody ones, I'd think.