Game of Thrones

[Veggie Legs]

From what I've read on Westeros.org there seems to be a 3/4 month turn around on the book being completed and then it being published, so that means we can rule out anything up to June for definite. There has to be some pressure on to get in finished in the next 9 months so the TV series doesn't significantly overtake the books just yet but then with the final book it looks like we will see the ending on screen first.

Even if The Winds Of Winter is released this year, which I think is unlikely, there's no way the final book will be released before the final TV series. I expect the last book to be written a little bit quicker than the last couple, assuming GRRM knows how it's going to finish, but I still think we're looking at 2018 or so. I've only watched the first two series of GOT so I don't know exactly how it maps to the books, but I thought it was closer to finishing than that.

 

[SUTSS]

They've said they want 7 or 8 seasons of the tv show and nothing more so if we go with 8 then:

Season 5: book 4+5
Season 6: Book 5+6
Season 7: Book 6
Season 8: Book 7

If it came through like that then the last book would have to be out early 2018 which seems very tight unless they are going to have a hiatus of a year or begin to split the seasons over 2 years but they have no reason to wait really. I don't hold out much hope for reading the ending first.

 

[Veggie Legs]

Yeah, it does look like the TV show will finish first, but I'm intending to read the books before I watch all of that. I reckon the next book will be released summer 2016 anyway so they'd have to delay the TV series a lot to make it fit.

 

[Oaf]

It seems unanimously agreed between everybody who isn't actually involved in the decision making process that a filler season showing Roberts Rebellion would be more than acceptable to try to give GRRM time to finish it. DOOOO EEEEEET.

Of course the biggest problem there is that all of the kids (Bran, Arya) would probably go from looking like kids one season to elderly citizens the next if there was a year gap.

 

[RavenBish]

I don't think they would. Bran's not in this season anyway so his jump is going to be ridiculous anyway considering a picture I saw of him a few months ago. Arya's nearly 18 in real life and still looks about 13 so I reckon she can continue to play someone much younger for quite some time yet, girls age differently. Emilia Clarke's like 28 isn't she?!

 

[Don Tonberry]

I'll spoiler this bit for non-book readers:

Spoiler

With Season 6 they might go and revisit some of the things that happens in Dance with Dragons to fill in the time and not advance too much into book-spoiler territory. For example, the Griffs and Euron & Victarion Greyjoy are too important to the story to leave out completely, surely? I can see them getting away with omitting Quentyn and Arianne Martell altogether but not the others. Whilst there might be a few minor continuity issues, it's possible that the Greyjoy attack on Slavers Bay and the attack on Storm's End could take place in Season 6 so not to advance too far forward with everyone else's story.

 

[Oaf]

Anybody seen the latest news on this from IGN...?

You're not going to like it.

Just copy and pasting the article...

Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin has warned book readers they may not be too happy with some of the deaths coming in Season 5 of the TV adaptation.
Speaking to Showbiz411 at the Writers Guild West Awards this weekend, Martin explained show runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have decided to kill off several characters who (at the time of writing) remain unmaimed in the source material.
“People are going to die who don’t die in the books, so even the book readers will be unhappy," he said. "Everybody better be on their toes. David and D.B. are even bloodier than I am.”

Don't post yet. BREATHE. Stay calm. Don't let this beat you. It's happening. You can't change it. Accept this.

And now post.

 

[This Charming Mike]

FFS.

 

[Don Tonberry]

Could be interesting but then BOOK SPOILERS could happen, as those characters could be seen as unimportant to future plot.

I mean, Jojen bit the dust in Season 4 and he's still alive in the books but he says himself that his end is nigh anyway, so hardly a massive spoiler. An article in the Independent claims that four characters are going to be ended in this series but that could just be Wildling #234 for all we know.

Book Spoilers:

Spoiler

I know Kevan Lannister (who is confirmed to be in Season 5) and Pycelle get bumped off at the end of the last book, but to my memory no other major character gets killed (I refuse to believe Jon Snow is actually dead). So, who could the other two characters be?

 

[Oaf]

Spoiler

I could half see it being Brienne. She's shit anyway. And her whole story in the books basically went nowhere. Why not put us out of our misery? Screw it, this could be a good thing...

 

[RavenBish]

I'd have thought book readers would actually prefer this. Better than it basically just being the same as the books and spoiling everything. As some of you have said as well, some of the individual story arcs are a bit shit, if this is just a case of the show runners picking out the bits they like and changing the bits they don't then I'm all for it. It is an adaptation after all

 

[Don Tonberry]

Spoiler

I could half see it being Brienne. She's shit anyway. And her whole story in the books basically went nowhere. Why not put us out of our misery? Screw it, this could be a good thing...

Spoiler

I think Brienne is a good shout as she doesn't really have a purpose in the grand scheme of things now. But then her death wouldn't be that "shocking" like certain members of the cast have said, would it?

The only real deaths which would truly shock me would be if Tyrion, Arya or Danerys bit the dust but that surely won't happen, will it?

Just realised that Maester Aemon is another one who dies in the books but he isn't listed in the credits for series 5.

 

[Oaf]

Spoiler

You'd like to imagine it won't be any of Tyrion, Arya or Dany. Along with Jon, those four probably make up what I consider to be the main four characters of the show who have the biggest roles to play down the line. Anybody else, I could see them killing off... if they really are sure it's going to piss everybody off, I could imagine it being somebody like Jaime.

 

[Don Tonberry]

Spoiler

You'd like to imagine it won't be any of Tyrion, Arya or Dany. Along with Jon, those four probably make up what I consider to be the main four characters of the show who have the biggest roles to play down the line. Anybody else, I could see them killing off... if they really are sure it's going to piss everybody off, I could imagine it being somebody like Jaime.

Spoiler

Isn't he supposed to be going to Dorne rather than Riverrun? Apparently there's an encounter with a sand snake or two in there, but I couldn't see him being killed off. I still think either he (or Arya) will be the death of Cersei come near the end of it all.

It could be Margery, just when it looks like Cersei is going to lose her battle of wits against her? They may forward her trial to this season and she could lose?

 

[Oaf]

Gargh. It's gonna be annoying speculating on who it could be over the coming months.

One thing that's good though... it'll mean that every time it looks like somebodies life is under threat, even if they're not dead yet in the books, it's still going to make for nerve shredding television... back like it was for the first two seasons for me, before I read the books!

 

[SUTSS]

They could well kill of Asha/Yara and the rest of the Greyjoy's bar Theon. They seem to have no interest in following that storyline whatsoever.

 

[Oaf]

Spoiler

While I wouldn't entirely dislike that happening, I still want to see it in there in a reduced capacity. I didn't entirely mind all that Iron Islands kingsmoot and all that shit, it just felt like it dragged a little. I still want it to be in there, just only in a couple of scenes rather than taking up large chunks of the story. I also liked the idea toward the end of them all heading out to try to find Danerys.

 

[Megaclyde]

Even though i'm still only on the 3rd book myself, i'm suprised the Daynes and the 'southerners' have been in the show so little, they seem a part.
Biggest moment in the 3rd book for me so far was Aryas chat with Edric (Beric's squire) Dayne

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

The series will start spoiling the books more and more. If a character or arc isn't in the series then you kinda know that it's ultimately rather irrelevant, because he tells them what is important and how it ends even.

 

[Jockney]

The series will start spoiling the books more and more. If a character or arc isn't in the series then you kinda know that it's ultimately rather irrelevant, because he tells them what is important and how it ends even.

Exactly that. Although, even ignoring the potential for spoilers, I'm starting to get tired of the TV series. The adaptation task is starting to become unworkable. They've spread the source material far too thinly for me to care about anything that happens episode-to-episode. It's getting to the point where I need a fucking GOT to ASOIAF wikia page permanently open to figure out what's going on. I'll watch the next season but probably more out of habit than anything else.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

The confusion might just be from reading the books though and trying to reconcile the two, because I haven't read them and it feels pretty straight forward from my perspective. Lots of names to remember but that's about it.

 

[Leewilson]

Right so I have a dilemma and I need some advice.

My brother got Box sets 1-3 for Christmas. We watched them and both enjoyed them despite not really being into the fantasy genre. We've just got box set 4 which has been released and again both enjoyed this. We're now up to date.

My dilemma is, do I read the books? I loved the TV series but there were periods where I was a bit unsure quite what was going on in certain story arks or why. However, eventually you sort of get the jist of it although there are still alot of minor characters who I have to remind myself on etc.

Will the books help clarify things like story arks to me and give me a better understanding (I'm thinking in particularly the whole Iron born thing as an example)? Or, will they now end up adding even more characters and even more depth to what I've already watched?

 

[BCFC Jordan]

S1 was pretty much all the 1st book covered.

From S2 onwards things start to increasingly differentiate from the show and the books. For me, the show is getting worse than the books as each season progresses due to them having to cut so much of the books' plot points out.

 

[Oaf]

Right so I have a dilemma and I need some advice.

My brother got Box sets 1-3 for Christmas. We watched them and both enjoyed them despite not really being into the fantasy genre. We've just got box set 4 which has been released and again both enjoyed this. We're now up to date.

My dilemma is, do I read the books? I loved the TV series but there were periods where I was a bit unsure quite what was going on in certain story arks or why. However, eventually you sort of get the jist of it although there are still alot of minor characters who I have to remind myself on etc.

Will the books help clarify things like story arks to me and give me a better understanding (I'm thinking in particularly the whole Iron born thing as an example)? Or, will they now end up adding even more characters and even more depth to what I've already watched?

The books are notorious for having a ridiculous amount of characters in them to the extent where it starts to make it hard to follow. And it makes it worse that so many names are so similar (Osha, Asha, Arya, Aemon, Aegon, Aerys... that's enough of that!)... however, I do feel that even if you don't quite fully understand who is who after one read, you get enough of what's going on that it doesn't detract from your enjoyment all that match.

Plus going into the books, as I and other have, after the TV show will at least make it easier to get you started as you'll be familiar with most of the important characters anyway. And yeah, I do think that it may even help make a lot of it a lot clearer.

 

[This Charming Mike]

As much as it pains me to say it, I'd probably suggest avoiding the books in your situation Lee. They are so much more complex than the show is and feature several hundred more characters, many of which aren't even referenced in the series. There are also long periods, particularly in books four and five, where very little happens and I'm not sure they would really add much to your enjoyment of the ASOIAF world. I think if you were to read the books, you would have to be prepared to fully immerse yourself in GRRM's world and accept that things are going to be different to what you know from the show.

 

[Oaf]

Yeah, one thing I would say is... you've pretty much missed out on reading most of the good stuff, Lee. Books 1-3 (covered by the first 4 seasons of the show that you've already seen) are superb and I'm sure you'll enjoy reading them regardless, but the 4th and 5th books either are pretty dull (book 4) or not quite up to the standard of the first three until the latter half (book 5). So for the the books, you'd pretty much be committing to rereading the stuff you've already seen, and then a LARGE book which is pretty dull and half of another book which isn't all that great either, just for half a book of new, great content.

This being said, I'd still actually recommend it, as while you've seen the show already, those first three books are still superb reads and do make the world even richer than the show does. And while I do sit here and call the 4th book dull, it's still good enough by most books standards, I guess. Just below par for this particular series.

 

[Leewilson]

It's a tough one. I think I might leave it for the minute. I doubt I'll be able to get through all 5 before the next series of GOTs is out and I don't want to be midway through the books when that's on as the slightly altered storylines are going to throw me. It's something that I will look to read eventually though.

I obviously can't compare the books to the series but I do think the series is excellent, although I imagine it appeals more to the casual viewer than those looking for plot loopholes etc. If they eliminated Theon and the Boltons from the TV series though I'd be happy. Theon has the most irritating face and the acting who plays Ramsay Bolton has always aggravated me with his tone of voice.

On another note, me and Oaf are going to war over Brienne. She's awesome.

 

[Sideshow Bob]

I'd read them, like yourself lee I wasn't really into fantasy (or much of a prominent reader at all in fact) but the ice and fire world really is addictive and reading them was a great experience.

Regarding books 4 and 5, there's always the option of reading them combined as one book as they cover the same timeframe picking up immediately after book 3. there are a couple of helpful reading order guides online.

 

[Oaf]

It's a tough one. I think I might leave it for the minute. I doubt I'll be able to get through all 5 before the next series of GOTs is out and I don't want to be midway through the books when that's on as the slightly altered storylines are going to throw me. It's something that I will look to read eventually though.

I obviously can't compare the books to the series but I do think the series is excellent, although I imagine it appeals more to the casual viewer than those looking for plot loopholes etc. If they eliminated Theon and the Boltons from the TV series though I'd be happy. Theon has the most irritating face and the acting who plays Ramsay Bolton has always aggravated me with his tone of voice.

On another note, me and Oaf are going to war over Brienne. She's awesome.

Haha, I probably just hate Brienne because I knew her mainly from the books first. And her chapters are pretty much the dullest in the series for me... they don't even really go anywhere either. She's a weak point in an otherwise brilliant series of books. I guess she's more bearable in the show, though.

 

[Leewilson]

Haha, I probably just hate Brienne because I knew her mainly from the books first. And her chapters are pretty much the dullest in the series for me... they don't even really go anywhere either. She's a weak point in an otherwise brilliant series of books. I guess she's more bearable in the show, though.

In the series, she's quite kick ass. I love her battle with the Hound.