Game of Thrones: Read The Book SPOILER thread

[Paulie Dangerously]

Because people keep complaining about hints and spoilers from those who have read the book let's just have our own thread as it's fairer on them and easier on us not having to nsfw everything.

 

What do we reckon about last night then?

 

 

 

 

 

I can't see Arya getting to Bravos any time soon but interested to see if she gets tangled up with little finger and Sansa

 

The finale is going to be ace if they stay true to the books narrative with the great escape and revenge. With Jorah being banished it'd be interesting to see if he ends up coming across Tyrion in the slave trade.

 

I hope they drop the Lady Stark resurrection angle completely as I didn't find it entertaining at all

[Hand Shandy]

I'll be annoyed if they put Arya and Sansa back together. Arya's whole story arc would be fucked, and it's one of the best in my view.

 

I agree though - they're going to struggle to get her to Bravos by the end of the series. I think her story will end with her killing the Hound.

 

I think they will drop the Catelyn storyline - would be a bit too random to just drop her back in now given there's been no build up to it.

 

Tywin getting it is going to be ace!

 

[Paulie Dangerously]

Yeah the Catelyn red-monk thing would hard to be shoe-horned in now.

 

I'm kind of hoping Tyrion doesn't end up in the circus\slavery though as TV Tyrion is more humble and likeable then book Tyrion IMO but I'd imagine they will still follow that route to get him across the sea.

 

I think Arya's only mentioned her assassin friend once this season so I'd be ssurprised if she made it to Bravos this time as you say.

 

Can't wait for the wildling attack on the wall. Reckon that's going to be emotional.

[PestiRed]

Not sure where they are going with Sansa, very different from the book. I do find her character extremely annoying though. Presume that they will cover the attack on the wall and Tyrion's escape in the next two episodes. Which will be amazing

 

Biggest disappointment for me is that, in the books, the fit handmaiden performs some bedtime duties for Daenerys. This needs an entire episode devoting to it in explicit detail. The TV guys have let us down there

[Paulie Dangerously]

Agreed Pesti. How about some integrity to the text eh Hbo?

[Hand Shandy]

I don't think Sansa is massively different to the books. The Eyrie is where she finally starts to understand, and play, the game. I agree that she's not exactly the most enthralling of characters, but Martin obviously has plans for her or she'd be dead by now.

[AJBlaikie]

Because people keep complaining about hints and spoilers from those who have read the book let's just have our own thread as it's fairer on them and easier on us not having to nsfw everything.

 

What do we reckon about last night then?

 

 

 

 

 

I can't see Arya getting to Bravos any time soon but interested to see if she gets tangled up with little finger and Sansa

 

The finale is going to be ace if they stay true to the books narrative with the great escape and revenge. With Jorah being banished it'd be interesting to see if he ends up coming across Tyrion in the slave trade.

 

I hope they drop the Lady Stark resurrection angle completely as I didn't find it entertaining at all

 

I think the hound will be dead by the end of the next episode. It will be something to do with the wound he has got in the show. He gets killed in the book when Arya gets the sword so not sure how it will happen. She will then get on a boat at the end of the last episode.

 

Jorah and Tyrion do come across each other in the books and are such important characters can't see see them not doing it at all.

 

Can't see them leaving the Lady Stark resurrection angle out as they almost kill Brienne and she was last seen leading Jamie off to them.

 

All the killing in the last episode will be ace. Going to interesting to see when they do the attack by the people who came over the wall with Jon Snow and the massive army too and how they will fit that in the last 2 episode. Hope they don't completely miss it out like they do with most battles. 

[Sugar Ape]

Jumping ahead, way, way ahead, what are the collective thoughts on the fate of Jon Snow? Most of the people I know think, seeing as how ruthless Martin is, that he's gone and ain't coming back. I, however, think he's this guy http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Azor_Ahai

His storyline was just set up to become even more awesome and I can't believe it's ended for him.

 

Saw these snippets from The winds of winter on the following characters. I'll put them in NSWF tags in case someone doesn't want to read them.

 

STANNIS

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The Winds of Winter

 

Though reportedly isolated and secluded, Stannis is actively and efficiently preparing for the looming battle against the Boltons. At the crofters' village, Stannis receives the Braavosi banker Tycho Nestoris and the two sign a contract. Stannis plans to send the banker back to the Wall so he does not get caught up in the fighting.

 

Stannis is made aware of Arnolf Karstark's planned treachery due to the message Jon Snow gave the banker. Stannis has Arnolf, his son Arthor and three grandsons arrested and plans to execute them, though whether their death will be quick beheadings or by fire depends on their willingness to confess. Stannis prepares his position to battle the coming vanguard of Lord Roose Bolton's army led by Ser Hosteen Frey. Stannis sends Ser Justin Massey to escort "Arya Stark" back to the Wall to reunite the girl with her half-brother, Jon Snow, in gratitude for Jon warning him to amass the northern mountain clans rather than march straight into the Karstarks' plans.

 

Stannis orders Justin Massey to go with Tycho Nestoris to Braavos, where Justin will use the money given to him by the Iron Bank of Braavos to hire sellsword companies till he has a force no less than twenty thousand strong and then sail back to Westeros. Stannis also gives orders that if he is slain in the coming battle, Justin is still to do as instructed, with the intention of using the army to place his daughter, Shireen Baratheon, on the Iron Throne.

 

Stannis plans to have Theon Greyjoy executed, hoping to gain favor with his northern allies by exacting justice for the murders of Bran and Rickon Stark

 

 

ARYA

 

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The Winds of Winter

Arya, now known as "Mercedene" or "Mercy" for short, is now a mummer at a playhouse called the Gate, owned by Izembaro. She is still experiencing wolf dreams, the latest with a tree watching her.

 

When Ser Harys Swyft arrives in Braavos on a mission to negotiate with the Iron Bank of Braavos, the mummers of the Gate perform The Bloody Hand, a play presumably about Tyrion Lannister's tenure as Hand of the King to Joffrey. Arya plays a maid, presumably Sansa Stark, who is raped by Tyrion, played by a dwarf named Bobono.

 

However, as the play is about to begin, Arya notices two of Swyft's guards talking. One of them is Raff the Sweetling. She seduces him and takes him to her room. She tires him out by running there, and thus she is able to stab him in his thigh, cutting his femoral artery and rendering him unable to walk. Rafford pleads to have him carried to a healer, but Arya replies: "Think so?" and stabs him in the throat, just as he did to the disabled Lommy Greenhands. Arya throws his corpse in a canal and heads back to the Gate before she is due to come on stage

 

 

TYRION

 

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The Winds of Winter

 

While in the Second Sons, Tyrion attempts to change Brown Ben Plumm's mind over a game of cyvasse, in order to rejoin Daenerys. While playing news of the Iron fleet entering slavers bay reaches the encampment. While preparing for war, a meeting of the Second Son commanders occurs in which a Yunkish commander demands they fight, after he is killed by Mormont a white dragon cyvasse piece falls at Tyrion's feet at which point it is declared the Second Sons will rejoin Daenerys.

 

[AJBlaikie]

Don't think Snow dead. Think the red women will bring him back liked happened to other. Think as he is dead means he could leave the wall.

[Sugar Ape]

Anne Groell, the editor of George RR Martin's epic book saga A Song of Ice and Fire which is being filmed for TV as Game of Thrones, has suggested that the series might end up with eight novels rather than the planned seven.

 

In a Q&A with fans, she said that the series was originally a trilogy, before she cajoled Martin into writing more:

 

"I remember when he called me, years and years back, to confess that his little trilogy was…well…no longer a trilogy. He predicted four books. I said Seven Books for Seven Kingdoms. Then he said five books. I said Seven Books for Seven Kingdoms. Then he went to six. I said… Well, you get it. Finally, we were on the same page. Seven Books for Seven Kingdoms. Good. Only, as I recently learned while editing The World of Ice and Fire (another awesome thing you must buy when it comes out!), there are really technically eight kingdoms, all having to do with who has annexed what when Aegon the Conqueror landed in Westeros. So, maybe eight books for Seven Kingdoms would be okay."

 

She admits that "7 [books] is what we currently have under contract," and that she is currently working with him on the "amazing" sixth book, The Winds of Winter, which isn't completed:

"When I have a [publication] date, you will have a date." The World of Ice and Fire which she alludes to is a forthcoming companion book outlining the gigantic setting for the saga.

 

Jane Johnson, his UK publisher, told the Guardian: "I know there's been some speculation that A Song of Ice and Fire may run to more than the seven books we currently have under contract, but in all honesty only George knows how many books there will be in the series and he's not saying: indeed at this stage of the writing, with the many branching pathways of the characters' stories still to intersect, he may not know. As an editor I can say that it feels as if there's a lot to tie up in just two more novels – albeit very long novels – but if George continues to kill off characters in his usual ruthless fashion it could easily be over in the planned seven books!"

 

The most recent instalment, A Dance With Dragons, was published in 2011, but the success of the TV show in the interim means that anticipation for the next is higher than ever. Martin is famous for spending a long time between books, frustrating fans eager for the next instalment, who have written (sometimes abusive) comments on his blog and elsewhere telling him to continue writing the series. "The more readers you have, the harder it is to keep up, and then you can't get any writing done," Martin has said. Neil Gaiman was moved to write "George RR Martin is not your bitch" on Twitter, when he was quizzed about the progress of the novels.

 

When asked whether she'd tried to get Martin to work on the road as he meets fans, rather than only on his computer at home, Groell replied: "Good gracious, yes! Multiple times. He is one stubborn man, and very set in his ways, though."

[Paulie Dangerously]

Final episode is going to be ace. Surely we get to see Tywin get it?

 

Enjoyed the fact they didn't skim over the battle at castle black but was a bit disappointed they didn't do the 'booby trapped ice stairs' unless that's in a future one and I have got them mixed up. Really like the representation of the giants. Suitably grotesque

[AJBlaikie]

Final episode is going to be ace. Surely we get to see Tywin get it?

 

Enjoyed the fact they didn't skim over the battle at castle black but was a bit disappointed they didn't do the 'booby trapped ice stairs' unless that's in a future one and I have got them mixed up. Really like the representation of the giants. Suitably grotesque

In the book that was when they attacked from behind which was before the attack from the front so I think that is done as when Jon Snow talks to them Stannis comes and saves them.

[index1000]

have any of you guys read any other books by George? i can seriously recommend Fevre Dream. All these vampire story's - twilight , true blood etc pale into comparison with this little masterpiece about a Mississippi steamboat in the 1800's with a mysterious passenger

he also writes some excellent Science Fiction -  Hunters run is excellent and Tuf Voyaging is brilliant. 

The hedge knight graphic novels -comics;-)  - are good as well set in westeros before the events in Song of ice and fire.

 

Anyway worth checking out if you are interested.

[Paulie Dangerously]

Might give them a go Index.

[Sugar Ape]

Fevre dream is a superb book and the first one I read by Martin about ten years ago which then made me pick up the Game Of Thrones books soon after before there was any talk of a TV programme.

 

I'm just waiting for them to finally announce they are starting a TV version of American gods by Neil Gaiman which will be ace but seems to have been dropped by HBO.

 

Check out the Kingkiller Chronicle by Patrick Rothfuss as well if you like Game Of Thrones. Ace books that are rumoured to be set for TV also.

[gingerhulk]

Hurry up and watch the last episode!

[PestiRed]

Watched but can't remember the last scene in the book, you'll need to remind us

[gingerhulk]

Watched but can't remember the last scene in the book, you'll need to remind us

 

Wasn't it where Catelyn Stark came back as Lady Stonehart? 

[PestiRed]

Oh yeah, they seem to have missed that whole storyline. Mind you, I reckon they could get away with it providing that Martin doesn't put a big arc around it in future books

[Guest Pistonbroke]

I wish he would hurry up and finish the next book. I have a sneaky feeling it will be released just before Xmas...a very handy stocking filler which will sell fucking millions. 

 

Once we do have a date, I think I will read all the other books again to bridge any gap and obviously to refresh the old grey matter. 

[aws]

Xmas this year or next?

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Xmas this year or next?

Good point, martin certainly enjoys making his fans wait. If there is to be 8 novels we could be looking at another 10-12 years before the saga is concluded, a big chance that he'll fucking die before he finishes...or I'll pop me clogs. 

[aws]

I have every confidence he'll not finish the series and we'll have endless wrangling while his executors decide which author is going to get the job.

 

I read somewhere he gave a summary of how it all pans out to the TV company who were also worried on this point. It would be strange if the TV series overtook the books at some point.

[Guest Pistonbroke]

Yeah, I remember reading something similar on the many forms dedicated to the subject. He has it in his head how it all pans out but says he can always change his mind along the way. 

 

I'd say there is a good chance of HBO catching up, that alone might put him under pressure to rush/spend more time finishing the last books and ditch his many engagements he likes to do with the fans. 

[Stu Monty]

For anyone who was wondering if we are going to see some nudey Cercei action or if they were going to be more tasteful about it, it looks like it's going to be done as in the book. A church in Croatia were kicking off about her coming out of it in the nud.