Now that the dust has settled, what's your verdict?
>>4210Well it turned into complete shit for the later seasons.
I didn't think that was even up for debate.
Now as for whether the early seasons are good, I'd say yes.
Whether you put the cutoff for good at season 3 or 4 (or 2 or 1 even; though I think that was just /tv/ contrarianism), is up for debate.
But there is no argument for the shear and utter catastrophe of writing the show became.
>>4216Brutal
Well, I only saw the second to fourth season. And later the last one. Oh god, it was garbage, Disney broke the show they were promised right?
>>4210I think it's funny that fans always praised the show for being "realistic" and not doing tropes, and then got extremely angery when the show didn't give the Night King a predictably epic Hollywood-style final showdown.
Most of the things I liked about it were thought up by GRRM for ASOIAF. Without his work to go off of, the show fell apart.
>>4420I think the people who said "this why D&D are liberals, because apparently you can't have a revolution if you break a few eggs" are sort of presupposing that a revolution has to be led by a literal madmen who kills millions of the toiling masses out of spite. This isn't what revolutionaries do. Robespierre, Lenin, Mao, Castro weren't crazy, they didn't hold contempt for the common men who used to live under their enemies. Only Pol Pot started mass-killing his own people like Daenerys, and he can not be called a comrade or genuine revolutionary.
D&D are libs, of course, but I feel there is a bit more to it. Daenerys isn't some marginalized people's hero, she comes from the most powerful feudal dynasty that just happened to lose a civil war before, one that is known for inbreeding in madness. Her compassion to the common folk, like to slaves, is completely patronising, if they don't reciprocate it, they have to die. The masses of King's Landing didn't want her "love" so they had to do die. Even if you look at progressive historical figures like Julius Caesar or Napoleon Bonaparte, they didn't do shit like that. Jon, on the other hand, is a marginalized bastard son, and even though he ends up turning out to be Aegon's son, he's more genuinely people's oriented than Daeneryses cult.
>>4210The last season was nowhere near as bad people say, it just seemed worse because the early-mid seasons were so good. The show will go down as a classic. People hated the Sopranos ending at the time too.
The "what" of the ending - what actually happens, where all the characters end up, etc. - is perfect, and undoubtedly is lifted straight from GRRM. The burning of King's Landing as the culmination of Dany's arc was genius. The problem was with
how it was done in the show. In a word: it was rushed.
But it's annoying how everything just gets swept up into the wave of neckbeard outrage. All the legitimate criticisms get mixed in with the retarded criticism so the consensus becomes a braindead, unnuanced "it's shit!" People even retroactively re-label the earlier season as shit because of it. Bitch, you obviously loved the show, stop lying to yourself. THE REASON you were so angry at the last season is
because you loved it so much.
>>4453worst meme
literal reddit tier
fucking fred flintstone
>>4455People have rated last two episodes way lower than the rest of episodes.
>>4470She cute
>>4596Eh. The story has plenty of romances, it's just that they often turn out badly, but in their description they are just as kitsch as traditional fantasy. There are also plenty of heros and villains. I also disagree that the deaths are pointless, at least for the most part, they always seem to reshuffle the balance of power necessary for the plot to go forward.
Idk, that poster seems really triggered.
>>4596>where are the descriptions of variously sized dongs swinging within the confines of absurdly detailed clothingFAT
PINK
MAST
Also worth noting is that dicks are generally less visible than tits, and GRRM writes excessive detail about everybody's clothing and armor. I don't think this person even read any of the books.
Obviously this is one of those people who think femininity is sacred and a fat neckbeard describing a woman's appearance is profaning the temple of womanhood.
>>4216That's a pretty retarded and deliberately contrarian take on GoT. It's not super avante-garde high art or anything, but it's a lot more nuanced than just mindless violence and domination. In the books at least, one of the main themes of the story is all of the pointless suffering, violence and death that results from all these petty power-struggles between the noble houses. It's not meant as a glorification of all the violence, it's a condemnation if anything. And then you have the whole white walker thing, (which is pretty obviously an allegory for climate change) basically saying that if these rich assholes vying for power don't get their shit together, then everyone is gonna die and none of it will have mattered anyway.
Also Peter Joseph is a complete fucking sperglord lmao.
>>4924>a pretty retarded and deliberately contrarian takeIt really isn't. Like a lot of shows that are its contemporaries its edgy, gory "realism" is what appealed to fans.
>a lot more nuanced than just mindless violence and dominationIts not. It just hides behind complex political and military back n' forth.
>It's not meant as a glorification of all the violenceNo-one said it was. They agree, it demonstrates all the most beastly characteristics of humans in a gory low-fantasy story with fairly predictable shit about political wayfinding, betrayal and other shit.
The first 2 Seasons were good and I enjoyed it, and then the rest went to shit because they couldn't get past "hurr I betrayed you, hurr incest, hurr power!"
>>4216Thinking GoT is high art is pretty embarrassing but not as embarrassing as acting smug over knowing it's not.
>>4416>I think it's funny that fans always praised the show for being "realistic" and not doing tropes, and then got extremely angery when the show didn't give the Night King a predictably epic Hollywood-style final showdown.People were mad that they did an epic showdown that had no basis in any of the foreshadowing, character development, or themes that the show had built up to that point. Pic related would be an example of an ending that makes sense given the context. Instead of something that made sense or even something actually subversive, they picked a random character to beat him and executed it in a way that made no sense. She teleported past like 100 white walkers and stabbed a convenient gap in his armor using a sleight of hand trick. lolsorandumb is not the same thing as subverting the tropes.
>>4427>I think the people who said "this why D&D are liberals, because apparently you can't have a revolution if you break a few eggs" are sort of presupposing that a revolution has to be led by a literal madmen who kills millions of the toiling masses out of spite.But the only reason she did that (in the show) is because "revolutionaries are psycho mass murderers." Her actions make no sense otherwise. Up to that point she went out of her way to avoid hurting random civilians. She would be brutal but only toward the ruling classes. There are plenty of faults but bloodlust directed at the commoners comes completely out of nowhere.
>D&D are libs, of course, but I feel there is a bit more to it. Daenerys isn't some marginalized people's hero, she comes from the most powerful feudal dynasty that just happened to lose a civil war before, one that is known for inbreeding in madness. Her compassion to the common folk, like to slaves, is completely patronising, if they don't reciprocate it, they have to die.This is a product of D&D not grasping the source material. She's written this way by GRRM, as a kind of mighty whitey who thinks she's a savior but is arguably making things worse. D&D interpret this as a revolutionary who wants to improve things but that doesn't work and revolution is just worse than the status quo because reasons. GRRM is a liberal too of course, but he has a much better grasp on politics than Dumb & Dumber. The books make it a lot clearer that she's unhinged and detached from the commoners. The show plays her heroism straight until suddenly it doesn't.
>>4941>There I said itThat's not being smug and neither is calling something low art… jesus how fucked are we if casual phrases are now "smug"
>seen people have where they actively act smug for not liking a popular showDerisive and smug are not the same thing.
>>4925Yeah that was my impression too. None of the main characters except Theon died if I remember correctly, and the entire concept of the Night King was poorly written: while a creature like that is not (yet) introduced in the books as nothing but a myth (with some indication that it might have something to do with the main story), in the show they revealed the origin of the Night King early on as something the Children of the Forest have created, to which the audience doesn't really have a connection to. He was established as some type of dark lord that you just need to kill to make his entire army dead, without any explanation, including the motive of the White Walkers to move south in the first place. I think ideally, we should have gotten much more mystical and hidden White Walkers and some form of a Long Night covering parts of Westeros where people live in some form of apocalyptic hell with giant spiders hunting in the dark and zombified villages for a good season, instead of giving it a single battle climax right after they break through the wall and then everybody pretending nothing ever happened. You don't have to cover all of Westeros in the Long Night, but at least let this have some sort of impact.
I think it is clear what parts Martin envisioned and what he told D&D: the ending of Jon stabbing a mad Dany in the throne room in front of a burning city, with Drogon then burning the Iron Throne is actually an ending I believe that Martin did envision, it's the "bittersweet ending" he always talks about, but he hasn't really found out a way to get there, and he doesn't really know how to get to the conclusion of the threat of the Others (White Walkers in the books) either I believe.
>>4957> implying that your taste is better than most peopleMaybe I'm weird but I think that's wrong, and more of something people who do like it interpret when someone doesn't think GoT is all that great.
>>4963I can get that and Peter probably is like that, I just meant that the specific tweet was pretty neautral IMO.
>>4982>Not liking an over-rated show that is a low-fantasy despite denial is ShitLib<If you're a liberal even a basic post is related to your politics even if the content has nothing political
Pure Ideology
>>4870Not so much poorly utilized so much as underused and inconsistent. They were supposed to be nigh unbeatable as adults, yet one is killed by ship-borne ballista from afar with Daeneris not even bothering to maneuver in her attack.
https://www.theringer.com/game-of-thrones/2019/5/9/18538169/game-of-thrones-crossbows-explained-medieval-warfare >>5701>might-is-right, will-to-power, do-what-thou-wilt wagnerian aestheticsThat shit always had entertainment appeal, beyond capitalism I would claim, you can find this in Shakespeare already. I see no value in moralizing about this, it's clearly depicting feudal relations and dynastic conflict for the viewer to see as such, it only got politicized in the later seasons where braindead neoliberal cultural analysts compared some of the characters to American politicians and shit like that. GRRM himself, despite the liberal he is, has explicitly distanced himself from any allgeoric interpretation of his work. It's more of an example of a good story being hijacked over time through the virtue of being successful, so you see massive commercialization, pop culture references, self-references, etc. evermore increasing the popular it gets - and D&D seem to have zero values of their own.
>>22769D&D claimed that GRRM told them the ending. So it may not exactly work out like that in GRRM's notes, but the main twists (Danny losing it, the throne being destroyed) are probably the same.
>multiracial armyGoT was far from "woke". The entire main cast are white characters, and the relationship between Missandei and Greyworm was probably just added to give some screentime to PoC. The two gay characters are kind of asshole-ish, and women making out only exists to pleasure a man.
>last two seasonsGoT lost it with season 5 already. Even though season 5 is somewhat watchable (the Cersei storyline is somewhat interesting), with the finale of season 5 you know this shit is unsalvagable (Stannis senselessly sacrificing Shereen only to die with his orc army against the Boltons, Ramsey just killing his dad without whom he would have no support whatsoever, etc.). You can actually see red flags in season 4 already, the dialog just got much weaker and lines felt like fallen out of time - characters suddenly started talking like modern people. However, the first three seasons and most of season 4 was the best stuff that television has ever produced, and I stand by this take.
>>22775 (me)
Also, what I was wondering, why didn't they take over the Reek/Ramsay bait-and-switch storyline from book two? That was way more coherent and elegant than just "Theon giving a speech and just gets knocked out by his soldiers because fuck it". It also would give them some material for season 3, instead of just torture porn.
>>19413> TywinLannisterCPquestionable name
Man I wish I was there for this show's hype, Please tell me there'll be something like GoT again
Do you think the new spin-off will do anything?
>>30999Shortsighted capitalist thinking since the GOT showrunners were being given control of the Star Wars franchise, they thought they had an even bigger payday coming, so they squeezed out enough GOT to meet their contractual obligations and then left as soon as possible.
Too bad it didn't work out for them lol
>>30999why would a capitalist invest more, when a choppy product gets the job done?
>>30968>>30994Wrong opinino, It's okay
>>31094Besides obvious scumbags like Frey or Bolton the Stark's enemies are fledged out after a couple of episodes with their ony motivations.
But yes, essentially you are right. Besides Ned behading a guy they never do anything evil. Which I like House of the Dragon more so far, because all sides there are grey. I find it hard to believe that someone can rule a fiefdom/kingdom as vast as the North with multiple opposing clans that seek to replace you without ever doing anything ruthless.
>>31122They paid dearly with their entire careers for it. Did they ever got that Star Wars job? I don't watch SW so I don't know.
>>31172Except even that is shown in an understandable manner as Robb wanting to do the right thing and marry the first girl he had sex with to honor her, and he desperately tries to make it up to the family he was betrothed to but gets betrayed so like I said GoT is basically an extended African charity ad except instead of getting you to sympathize with starving Africans it's getting you to sympathize with a bunch of white fake scandinavians who are literally
>too pure and kind for this cold cruel world >>31131Yeah but even in the books it's clear that you're meant to sympathize with the Starks and they are the ones you should always root for regardless of circumstances
>>31123Yeah House of Dragon is more grey.
>>31233yeh but them being
>muh honourable gets them all killed, in the end, and arguably leads to the destruction of the realm
>>4470 I will always prefer Lena Headey's performance as Sarah Connor over her portrayal of Cersei. Mostly because Cersei becomes written into an utter idiot and cunt that makes her character intolerable. Headey is a great actress, but the character is just toxic sadly.
On a sidenote, she was a much better and believable Sarah Connor than Daenerys/Emilia Clarke.
>>31235I think the two main themes of ASOIAF are cause and effect, and return of fantasy. There is no karmatic reward for your actions, just consequences of them. Ned didnt die because he did honorable thing, but a stupid one. The same goes for Robb and Jon. They all antagonise someone and then proceed to make no effort to protect themselves from payback. But then ocassionaly magic comes in play, and cause and effect is out of the window. Danny, instead of dying at the end of book 1 as direct consequence of her actions, becoming the protagonist of the story thank to dragons. Stannis never cared about making friends and as such shut eat shit come War of Five Kings, but then shadowpeople put him into plot relevance. Jon about to be ressurrected. So the magic in the books isnt just random spectacle to make them cooler, but a way to make the story follow conventions of fantasy.
Anyway, that is why I thing in the next book there is going to be sort of Roar of the Astral World event that will completely shift the focus from grounded politics and scheming into full fantasy.
>>31755HotD has much less porn, there is only one scene that could be considered porn, but keeps the grimdark shit. The porn shit in GoT was unbearable, some of the actresses were actual pornstars.
>>317561-3: 10/10
4: 8 (red flags start to show up)
5: 5
6: 3
7:1
8: 0
>>31758 LMAO no, touch grass, see real women. Most aren't stacked like in your porn. Not to mention it's a cuirass type LARP clothing, that flattens the chest if worn. Summer has a pretty damn nice bust.
>>31759 I think they meant porn as in gore excessiveness - i.e. gore porn.
>>31773GoT is proof that art under capitalism is compromised.
They could have just stopped at season 4 and waited for r martin to catch up, but no they needed to rush out *something* to keep that money rolling in and what we got was one of the biggest nose dives/lost opportunties of a lifetime.
>>31797tbh im an absolutist, I think the show just went to complete shit the moment they went off of the book script
I can take s1-4 as being perfect adapations of the first few books but its so plainly apparent when they run out of material.
GoT is one of those shows someone will do perfectly in like 50-100 years (sort of like LORT) but untill then lol
I just hope im alive long enough
>>32837I think he does have 2 or 3 other works outside of GoT that are decent, it's nobody ever reads them. Stealing from historical events is something every fantasy writer does, because it is almost always imitating Europe's feudalism.
A Feast for Crows was decent, it wasn't action-packed but incredibly atmospheric. I always found Jon's, Bran's and Dany's storylines to be the most boring ones so having new characters was nice.
He is a slob who won't continue writing and wrote himself into a corner, I'll admit that, but he is not a bad writer per se.
>>32848Nah, i've actually read plenty of his works even before he got famous. It's mediocre at best, unreadable crap at worst.
>Stealing from historical events is something every fantasy writer doesFirst of all, not true. Second, the difference between stealing and inspiring is wherever you can actually think of a good plot on your own. Martin can't.
You also forgot the plagiarizing stuff. I remember reading some blogpost where it shows that occasionally he just copies huge swabs of text from other authors.
>A Feast for Crows was decentNah, it wasn't, but even you will admit that it was worse than previous three books. And Dance with Dragons was even worse than that.
>he is not a bad writer per se.He pretty much a definition of one.
Regardless, the point was that people say "oh if only the Martin was able to write the script it would be better". It wouldn't be. Show got worse because source material got worse. Simple as.
>>4210Game of Thrones was always bad.
There's a lot to talk about, but it all boils down to poor writing. Structurally it's a complete mess (is there any structure at all?) and it's overall completely meaningless. It's a nihilistic shit show, and it's not even as realistic as it pretends to be. Not to mention Martin is a lunatic, a literal creep who's obsessed with incest, has no sense of morals (just take a look at the characters we're supposed to like) and writes every character in conflict with the setting itself.
The reason it sucks, but so many people like it, is that it's not a fantasy show, it's actually a soap opera. They're books for people who like the idea of enjoying fantasy novels. "Oh, look, it has sex and gore, that means it's mature, and the books are very thick, which means that I'm smart for reading them."
It's a fashion statement, not something that's good on any merits of plot or characters or milieu.
"If it subverts expectations, it's good!". It was all setups, but never any payoffs. Fans got the ending they deserved. They loved the show for subverting expectations, so it is only just that it subverted the expectations fans had in the show's ending.
>>32888That's a lot of contempt for a show you clearly don't understand shit about.
>nihilismbrain-dead take
>I don't appreciate the show so everyone who likes it must be a poser!!111! >>31045The ending seems to have as many made up parts as it did actual plot points Martin wanted.
Parts that made sense:
1) Bran being the final King makes sense thematically as the Starks rise from near extinction to holding the most powerful position that they never even wanted in the first place but it's a hollow victory since it's the 3 Eyed Raven
2) Likewise Sansa ascending to power in the North seems likely given how much time she's spending around Baelish and how there must always be a Stark in Winterfell yada yada and that certainly wouldn't be Arya or Jon although she will be running a post-apocalyptic wasteland after the Others are through with the North
3) Jon staying beyond the Wall is retarded but it's retarded in a way that I really do think this is his actual ending. Perhaps he becomes the new king of the freefolk or whatever since he likes Val a lot. The earliest plot outline Martin stated that he and Bran would somehow become enemies - perhaps he's also staying away because Bran has given orders to kill him since he's a potential contender to the throne.
4) Unsullied/Dothraki/etc. all leaving for Essos when Dany dies. Dany is the only main motivation for them to stay in Westeros so as soon as she's dead they have no reason to stay.
5) Winter being resolved before Cersei. I agree that Cersei will be the final villain of the series as a pathetic and insignificant figure who is easily overwhelmed by whatever array of forces happen to still be alive after the long night. I don't think Cersei will be able to kill any of the main cast however by that point as the long night will have eliminated many characters so an easy win over Cersei will be the "sweet" part of the "bittersweet" ending after a long and grueling battle against the Others.
Parts that seem to be made up:
1) Varys being executed by Dany for treason. I don't rule out Dany killing Varys but in the book series he is backing another contender to the throne (Aegon) and not Dany so it won't be a betrayal but just Varys losing and being killed for his defiance
2) Jaime dying with Cersei (no explanation needed here)
3) Tyrion turning on Dany in favor of Jon and Sansa (lol)
4) Dany going mad and Holocausting everyone at King's Landing. There is simply no inciting reason for her to do so. I think the most likely event is actually her dying during the fight against the Others because it's her brother who lost the coin flip for sanity ("when a Targ is born the gods flip a coin to decide whether they're sane or not" etc.) so she is explicitly the sane one and there's also the Azor Ahai prophecy which suggests her sacrifice is needed for Jon to activate the uber sword.
5) Arya deciding to travel the world. Her entire shtick is that she's the only one of all the Starks who remembers that they need to stay together to have a chance against their enemies. She'll hang out with either Sansa in Winterfell or Jon past the Wall when everything is done and since she's biased towards Jon and will take his side in any dispute she won't be bodyguarding Bran.
6. Arya killing the Night King and Theon dying in direct combat against the Others. In the book series Theon is tortured way worse than in the show and he is not fit for fighting at all. I agree Theon will be redeemed but it won't be such a heroic death. And Jon is definitely the one to fight the final battle against whoever leads the Others.
The last season of the Game of Thrones has prompted public outcry and culminated in a petition (signed by almost 1 million outraged viewers) to disqualify the entire season and re-shoot a new one. The ferocity of the debate is in itself a proof that the ideological stakes must be high.
The dissatisfaction turned on a couple of points: bad scenario (under the pressure to quickly end the series, the complexity of the narrative was simplified), bad psychology (Daenerys’ turn to “Mad Queen” was not justified by her character development), etc.
One of the few intelligent voices in the debate was that of the author Stephen King who noted that dissatisfaction was not generated by the bad ending but the fact of the ending itself. In our epoch of series which in principle could go on indefinitely, the idea of narrative closure becomes intolerable.
It is true that, in the series’ swift denouement, a strange logic takes over, a logic that does not violate credible psychology but rather the narrative presuppositions of a TV series. In the last season, it is simply the preparation for a battle, mourning and destruction after the battle, and of the battler itself in all its meaninglessness – much more realistic for me than the usual gothic melodramatic plots.
Season eight stages three consecutive struggles. The first one is between humanity and its inhuman “Others” (the Night Army from the North led by the Night King); between the two main groups of humans (the evil Lannisters and the coalition against them led by Daenerys and Starks); and the inner conflict between Daenerys and the Starks.
This is why the battles in season eight follow a logical path from an external opposition to the inner split: the defeat of the inhuman Night Army, the defeat of Lannisters and the destruction of King’s Landing; the last struggle between the Starks and Daenerys – ultimately between traditional “good” nobility (Starks) faithfully protecting their subjects from bad tyrants, and Daenerys as a new type of a strong leader, a kind of progressive bonapartist acting on behalf of the underprivileged.
The stakes in the final conflict are thus: should the revolt against tyranny be just a fight for the return of the old kinder version of the same hierarchical order, or should it develop into the search for a new order that is needed?
The finale combines the rejection of a radical change with an old anti-feminist motif at work in Wagner. For Wagner, there is nothing more disgusting than a woman who intervenes in political life, driven by the desire for power. In contrast to male ambition, a woman wants power in order to promote her own narrow family interests or, even worse, her personal caprice, incapable as she is of perceiving the universal dimension of state politics.
The same femininity which, within the close circle of family life, is the power of protective love, turns into obscene frenzy when displayed at the level of public and state affairs. Recall the lowest point in the dialogue of Game of Thrones when Daenerys tells Jon that if he cannot love her as a queen then fear should reign – the embarrassing, vulgar motif of a sexually unsatisfied woman who explodes into destructive fury.
But – let’s bite our sour apple now – what about Daenerys’ murderous outbursts? Can the ruthless killing of the thousands of ordinary people in King’s Landing really be justified as a necessary step to universal freedom? At this point, we should remember that the scenario was written by two men.
Daenerys as the Mad Queen is strictly a male fantasy, so the critics were right when they pointed out that her descent into madness was psychologically not justified. The view of Daenerys with mad-furious expression flying on a dragon and burning houses and people expresses patriarchal ideology with its fear of a strong political woman.
The final destiny of the leading women in Game of Thrones fits these coordinates. Even if the good Daenerys wins and destroys the bad Cersei, power corrupts her. Arya (who saved them all by single-handedly killing the Night King) also disappears, sailing to the West of the West (as if to colonise America).
The one who remains (as the queen of the autonomous kingdom of the North) is Sansa, a type of women beloved by today’s capitalism: she combines feminine softness and understanding with a good dose of intrigue, and thus fully fits the new power relations. This marginalisation of women is a key moment of the general liberal-conservative lesson of the finale: revolutions have to go wrong, they bring new tyranny, or, as Jon put it to Daenerys:
“The people who follow you know that you made something impossible happen. Maybe that helps them believe that you can make other impossible things happen: build a world that’s different from the shit one they’ve always known. But if you use dragons to melt castles and burn cities, you’re no different.”
Consequently, Jon kills out of love (saving the cursed woman from herself, as the old male-chauvinist formula says) the only social agent in the series who really fought for something new, for a new world that would put an end to old injustices.
So justice prevailed – but what kind of justice? The new king is Bran: crippled, all-knowing, who wants nothing – with the evocation of the insipid wisdom that the best rulers are those who do not want power. A dismissive laughter that ensues when one of the new elite proposes a more democratic selection of the king tells it all.
And one cannot help but note that those faithful to Daenerys to the end are more diverse – her military commander is black – while the new rulers are clearly white Nordic. The radical queen who wanted more freedom for everyone irrespective of their social standing and race is eliminated, things are brought back to normal.
>>31172Both Ned and Robb are entitled douchebags that help cause the ruin of their families along with a massive war that causes untold suffering
Catelyn is also pretty cruel and indifferent to the consequences of her actions
The rest have complex character developments where they turn from shitheads into nuanced people
>>34339Catelyn's a good mom; cares about her kids and just wants to see everyone safe. Only thing you can really get mad about is hating on Jon but that's understandable given the time period.
Robb's a kid who just wants to avenge his father and see his sisters safely back home and got way in over his head.
Ned mistakenly believed Cersei to be smarter than she actually was and tried to spare her and her kids from being collateral damage.
It's abundantly clear that the Starks literally do nothing wrong and just get repeatedly betrayed and destroyed due to their enemies' plot armor and Martin wanting them to suffer. If you have any other reading then you're just seething.
>>34436>The Lannisters have insane plot armor and luck throughout the war in order to make the Starks lose. George deliberately tilted the scales in their favor consistently.It's not plot armor when they live in much more fertile lands with tons of gold mines. That's like saying that England had "plot armor" because even though they are a small island in Europe they managed to dominate most of the world at some point - the Lannisters are modelled after the English, by the way.
>Edmure winning a battle forcing Tywin to retreat and then Tywin's retreat turns into a reinforcement of King's LandingStannis' forces were already weakened by the siege and since Tywin couldn't win against Robb in open battle he turned on King's Landing cause if that city falls he knows he is done for. And it was already established that Tywin has a great mind for strategy and long-term thinking, while Robb was brave but I believe in the books he is not even an adult.
>splitting Baratheon unity and removing one of the biggest obstacles to the Lannisters almost immediately.Agree on this a little bit, the shadowbaby was a bit of a plot device. But how exactly did that help the Lannisters? Now both armies were united under a much more experienced commander (Stannis).
>Bad luck once or twice is excusable but George wanted to masturbate furiously to Starks getting destroyed and so the series loses its appeal after rereads because you can see how hard the author is rushing everything to a foregone conclusion.He wanted to pull a twist that would shock the readers, but it is anything but rushed, and besides Tyrion the Lannisters aren't even POVs until book three.
It feels cheap now because now every writer and screenwriter wants to do a gritty twist like that so it became common.
>>34458Well, successful people often make their own luck.
>>34459Yes but they are controlled by the Lannister queen and their real parentage is popularly rumoured.
>>34460*queen mother I guess
I never read the books so IDK how good the writing is but I can tell that the GOT seasons that were heavily based on his work were a shitload better than the ones that weren't.
>>34460>Yes but they are controlled by the Lannister queenCersei very much fails in controlling her offspring. Tywin claims to defend his legacy, but dynasty sitting on the throne is Baretheon. Not to mention, Tywins actions ensured everybody despises Lannisters. And what is his plan for Castely Rock inheritance? Hopping that his son who consistently rejects idea of Tywins legacy suddenly has change of heart? All of his plans work by accident only. He openly rebelled against king and avoided getting smacked by collective might of all 6 other kingdoms only by Roberts death. He would had been steamrolled by Reach and Stormlands if it wasnt for Stannis and his shadow assassins. He kept getting outmaneuvered by a teenage boy, only managing to win by incidental internal strife among Northern lords.
>>34461The decline of quality is also fans fault. Fucking Hardhome is one of the highest rated episode of the show, just because it had a bad drawn out action scene. Oh, and the Battle of Bastards has the highest rating, on par with Red Wedding. Fucking slop-gobblers. They are the ones that made it clear to showrunners that they will eat anything as long as it has lots of people smacking swords with each other, and meaningless "funny" banter, so that is what the show became.
>>34410The joke was that the other retard completely missed the entire point of Ned and Robbs stories and their relation to the broader themes, and was regurgitating the pre-chewed slob that was the television show.
Check yourself, before you wreck yourself.
>>34464>Tywin is famed for his political maneuvers<Spends Roberts rebellion siting in his castle and then joins the side that already won, even though the insane king fucking hated him and suspected him to be traitor, which he confirmed by refusing his call to arms in the first placeUnchallenged mastermind.
<have member of Martell family brutally murdered, ensuring generations-long blood feud, in order to get on the good side of a guy who had just forgiven his open enemies no-strings-attached.Unparalleled genius.
<Declare war on two of the great houses, one of which is headed by the Hand of the King, and also kings best friend.Unrivaled savant.
>>34506I mean, one of them is already released and filiming the second season currently
The Dunk and Egg based spinoff was also being written but the strike has delayed it
>>34524GoT had much more exploitation, remember all those brothel scenes for which they hired porn stars? HotD didn't exploit their sex scenes as much besides one scene in the first episode. If you are being put off by some icky characters you are not gonna like anything GRRM has written - I honestly even think the characters are written a tad better than in GoT because they are more grey. The Starks were so clearly the good guys, the Lannisters the bad ones, and Daenerys and Jon could do nothing wrong.
>I'm rather skeptical about the longevity of HBO's George Martin Cinematic Universe.Unless it's abysmal like the new Star Trek shows people will watch it regardless. If are worried about HBO slashing it, then be worried for every HBO show because they do tend to do that. I'm assuming The Last of Us getting cancelled after next season because the hype took a nosedive after the 3rd episode.
>>34529>why are members of the great houses murdering each other in what amount to a one-scene gagWhich one?
>>34524>Random connection to hecking unwholesome season 8Channers love being trite morons as always
>>34552Well the novels were apparently well-known and had a fanbase even before the show
Still, George R.R. Martin is a very cliche and unoriginal writer
>>34567Varys, the literal court eunuch who thinks about the realm in the abstract, of whom GRRM doesn't have the decency to add the concept of court eunuchs in the setting, instead coming up with some backstory about some sorcerer
Tyrion, the bitter black sheep with a secret heart of gold
Ramsey Snow, the fucked up bastard with fucked up origins who becomes as fucked up as possible
etc etc
>>34570The eunuch thing is definitely very well trodden. It was widely practiced in the Muslim world for hundreds of years for religious reasons (other places too, but nowhere as notable for the West). This inspired writers to copy the concept of the virgin eunuch, as scientific foil, rational assistant, hidden protagonist, etc.
Don't know if I'd call it cliché, but it is most definitely an established trope.
>>34639>>34569What the FUCK do you retards want from a eunuch character? Do you want a eunuch who lied about his dick being chopped off and actually has sex? Then why not just make him a regular character?
Seriously the actual nerve of some people fucking hell.
>>34639>virgin eunuch…
>as scientific foilHe isnt.
>rational assistantKinda??? I mean he is portrait as smart, and assists those in power, but has his own agenda.
>hidden protagonistHe isnt.
I checked TV tropes, and only eunuch one was that eunuchs are evil, which he isnt.
Also, generally about ASOIAF, like yeah, there are tropes in it (as are in literally every piece or art or media ever), but it is meant to be for the most part a subversion, that over time turns into standard fantasy. Return of magic and all of that. So lecherous imp turn out to have goodness in him, but is on his way to become a villain. Prince Charming is murderous sister-fucker, but as time passes become a true knight.
>>34657Read my post again.
Also, TV tropes doesn't do well with historic writing (unless it's a big one), at least in my experience.
>>34672Nah
I should note that I'm a bit biased against genre fiction in general
Even stuff like Le Guin turns me off
>>34681genre fiction is infinitely more interesting than
''literary' fiction
>>34472>Spends Roberts rebellion siting in his castle and then joins the side that already won, even though the insane king fucking hated him and suspected him to be traitor, which he confirmed by refusing his call to arms in the first placeThis is pretty clever, not sure why you thought it would refute that
>have member of Martell family brutally murdered, ensuring generations-long blood feud, in order to get on the good side of a guy who had just forgiven his open enemies no-strings-attached.That probably wasn't his fault, just the Mountain's bloodlust
>Declare war on two of the great houses, one of which is headed by the Hand of the King, and also kings best friend.His children started the feud with the Starks, he just went all in post hoc because he didn't want to seem like he was backing down from defending his family
>>34882>This is pretty clever, not sure why you thought it would refute thatBecause if Mad King won, Tywin would most likely end up on pyre. Helping squash the rebellion might put Tywin back in kings favour, joining rebellion would increase their chance of deposing Mad King, staying neutral was the worst option Tywin could take.
>That probably wasn't his fault, just the Mountain's bloodlustIf that is the case, prudent thing to do would be to immediately chopped Mountains head off for a.) gross disobedience; and b.) as peace offering to Martels.
>His children started the feud with the StarksWhich he, as arguably the second most powerful person in Westeros, could at least try to solve diplomatically, turn the situation to his favour. Instead he went berserk because his pride was slighted. Again, he made stupid decision that could have costed him head if luck was not on his side.
>>34885>Helping squash the rebellion might put Tywin back in kings favour, joining rebellion would increase their chance of deposing Mad King, staying neutral was the worst option Tywin could take. Not really. There aren't really any obvious choices to take during a war.
>If that is the case, prudent thing to do would be to immediately chopped Mountains head off for a.) gross disobedience; and b.) as peace offering to Martels.Lol and lose the loyalty of one of his best shock troops?
>Which he, as arguably the second most powerful person in Westeros, could at least try to solve diplomatically, turn the situation to his favour. Instead he went berserk because his pride was slighted. Again, he made stupid decision that could have costed him head if luck was not on his side.This is feudalism. Also the Starks were already slighted heavily and were definitely going to strike back. Going all in was the best choice, and in the end he even managed to neutralize them with the Red Wedding.
>>34888>888Checked
>>34653 To be honest we just think he's shit in general.
>>34885Wasn't the thing, though, that Tywin
didn't stay neutral? He fully intended to take a side and eventually did, he just waited until he knew what side would win.
I may remember it wrong. >>37111season 2 is fine, it's just a lot of "two people talking to each other in a room". i think the red flags were already there in 3, the dialog starts to feel more "modern", nobles in feudalism don't talk like that. i think hotD did that a bit better, they gave them their own jargon.
season 5 is the last one that is at least watchable, but the rest utter trash. i couldn't help but laugh at the battle of the bastards, like that battle tactic with the encirclement is so fucking comical
>>37115I think season 5 is when they stop using "rapers" and use "rapists" instead, which is a small thing but triggered my autism.
>>37116I think all the actors came out of it alright. Most went on to have big Hollywood movie roles.
>>37116>but wasn't it kind of a career killer for them?No.
It took up a lot of time for them but it got them lots of exposure. Peter Dinklage probably did the best out of all of them, Emilia Clarke maybe second? But I think for the main case they are able to just enjoy the money and aren't under pressure to keep working.
>>37151>talkslopkek
new level of cope unlocked
>>37152Everyone liked the later seasons that's why they got more viewers the only issue was S8 was a rushed piece of shit so the backlash from that crowded out all other memories.
>>37153If I wanted to be talked at to death I'd just boot up the old Soviet archives and look at hundreds of pages of Molotov and everyone else in the Central Committee being petty to each other. That's the same energy. It's fine IRL if you're actually working for a state but boring as shit in an ENTERTAINMENT industry.
>>37116Khal Drogo guy plays Aquaman in the MCU including as the main protagonist in a movie coming out in December
Peter Dinklage is in the new Hunger Games prequel and that movie about the playwright
>>36423In case the Embed dies: People Ruin - Game of Thrones
by ElvisTheAlien
>>39667>>39672Lena Headey and Sean Bean were already established actors. Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke came in as nobodies, and were honestly lacklusters even though they were supposed to be the main guys making to the end. Everything else they did afterwards was a flop.
In retrospect Clarke's acting was really atrocious ("WHERE ARE MY DRAGONS!"). The chick they got for young Rhaenera in HotD played pretty much the same role, a young, impulsive Targaryen girl, and does a far better job.
>>39725>Lena Headey and Sean Bean were already established actors True, but Lena Headey wasn't exactly very well-known prior to GoT.
>The chick they got for young Rhaenera in HotD played pretty much the same role, a young, impulsive Targaryen girl, and does a far better job. Aye, House of the Dragon took some of the best elements of GoT and got some real talent into the roles.
>"WHERE ARE MY DRAGONS!"Terrible acting, but honestly worth the sheer keks it gives me every time I hear it.
>>39731>>39725Emilia Clarke was at a huge disadvantage since she was trained for stage acting, not screen acting. When you're like 100 feet away from the audience you have to really exaggerate your acting, and it looks like shit when you do it 5 feet from a camera. That's the reason for everything she did being so over-the-top. You have to re-train to act for the screen, and she didn't for a while. She also had two brain aneurysms near the start of the show (between the first 2 seasons IIRC), and that will give anybody a hard time.
Idk what Kit Harrington's excuse is lol.
>>40419>Emilia Clarke was at a huge disadvantage since she was trained for stage acting, not screen acting Fucking nonsense excuse, some of the best film actors in history began as stage actors. Stage acting is in fact what most modern actors lack.
>When you're like 100 feet away from the audience you have to really exaggerate your acting No, you don't. That is today's modern take on stage acting and is why most stage plays I've seen in the past decades are fucking trash.
>That's the reason for everything she did being so over-the-top. The Camera is right there, she's performing on a greenscreen or on a set a few feet away from the crew and director, which would be equivalent to small-stage. To be fair, even if she didn't realize this, the Director's role is literally to stop and correct her and make sure the take goes well, so she's not entirely to blame.
>She also had two brain aneurysms near the start of the show Ah, I actually did not know that, in which case that at least explains the acting, even if it doesn't make it good.
Kit Harrington is the same as Emilia - modern "stage training" except he doesn't have her excuse of the aneurysms and what not.
I'm not being mean to her, she's probably a nice girl and probably tried her best, but her acting was still over the top.
>>40432>That is today's modern take on stage acting and is why most stage plays I've seen in the past decades are fucking trashAnd that's the kind she was trained in…
>some of the best film actors in history began as stage actorsYes and they also learned how to act for the screen.
>Fucking nonsense excuseNo it isn't, when your muscle memory is a certain way you have to train yourself to do it differently.
>she's performing on a greenscreen or on a set a few feet away from the crew and director, which would be equivalent to small-stageIdk what you mean by this, what theater stage has audience members sitting as close as a camera gets in a closeup?
> the Director's role is literally to stop and correct herCorrect. It's also something where if it's a persistent problem the production should hire an acting coach to help fix it. That doesn't change the nature of what she was doing wrong thoughever.
>that at least explains the actingProbably she was too busy getting medical attention and recovery to get coaching needed to fix the issue.
>Kit Harrington is the same as Emilia - modern "stage training"He has the opposite problem if anything, especially in the beginning and end.
>>40435>when your muscle memory is a certain way you have to train yourself to do it differently. Yes and no. For example when Diving you train to breath with the mouth and not push air out through your nose, and unless you've got some problems in reigning yourself in, you can do this by merely staying conscious of the fact and proceeding carefully. The same can apply to acting, especially when she has a director there who should be reminding her of things. That being said, as you mentioned with her aneurysms and what-not, it's excusable in this case.
>what theater stage has audience members sitting as close as a camera gets in a closeup?There is Small and Big Stage performances. Small Stage is when audiences are often right up close and the performance area is (obviously) smaller and up-close. I've been to a few in my time.
>He has the opposite problem if anything I suppose in some way yes, though proper facial expression is also a problem I've seen in modern stage performances, either over or under acting a role/scene/character.
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