HBO's Game of Thrones (NON-SPOILER THREAD)

**Evil Agent** · May 18th, 2011, 02:33 AM

Originally Posted by Cheerwell

But surely, for two people playing such a dangerous game, it's a careless move? Well, it was a careless move as Arya overheard them, intentionally or not.

The book makes it more clear that by chasing the cat, Arya has found herself deep in the bowels of the keep where no one has been in a long, long time. It wasn't as clear in the show.

Theon (Greyjoy) is still in Winterfell, along with Robb and Bran (Stark). He was standing right beside Bran in this week's episode, doing archery practice while Bran was at his lessons.

**Loerwyn** · May 18th, 2011, 02:35 AM

Originally Posted by Evil Agent

The book makes it more clear that by chasing the cat, Arya has found herself deep in the bowels of the keep where no one has been in a long, long time. It wasn't as clear in the show.

Except for the scheming gits, of course

Originally Posted by Evil Agent

Theon (Greyjoy) is still in Winterfell, along with Robb and Bran (Stark). He was standing right beside Bran in this week's episode, doing archery practice while Bran was at his lessons.

Right, I think I'm with you now. Is Theon the one with lighter hair?

**Spears&Buckler** · May 18th, 2011, 05:50 AM

Originally Posted by Cheerwell

Right, I think I'm with you now. Is Theon the one with lighter hair?

Yes, that's him.

**Loerwyn** · May 18th, 2011, 06:18 AM

Originally Posted by Spears&Buckler

Yes, that's him.

Excellent, thanks!

Hopefully I'll be able to tell the difference in future

**pat5150** · May 18th, 2011, 09:14 AM

What do you think of HBO's GoT? New poll on the Hotlist here.

Cheers,

Patrick

**Evil Agent** · May 18th, 2011, 12:49 PM

Originally Posted by Cheerwell

Is Theon the one with lighter hair?

Actually, there has been a bit of continuity trouble with his hair. It has changed back and forth from dark brown (almost black), to light brown, to blond (in some shots from the original pilot). So hair colour is perhaps not the best way to remember him.

Anyways, he's not a Stark and his actions will usually make that clear enough. His behaviour and attitudes are quite different from Robb.

Also, he's played by singer Lily Allen's brother (here's a song she wrote about him).

**Loerwyn** · May 18th, 2011, 01:06 PM

I... See...

Right. I'll try to remember who he is

**Evil Agent** · May 18th, 2011, 01:20 PM

Originally Posted by Cheerwell

I... See...

Right. I'll try to remember who he is

Slight Theon spoiler...

Spoiler:

He's not important until Season 2.

**Loerwyn** · May 23rd, 2011, 04:09 PM

I think I've got it nailed down now, EA.

Right, so thoughts... Pretty good episode, seemed rather eventful on the whole as I can see it having bigger impacts. Daenerys is free of her brother now (Or is she?) and really doing a good job of getting Khal's people to love her and treat her as their queen, Tyrion is going to cause more issues, Ned Stark probably just caused himself one hell of a headache, and Rob isn't a happy bunny (There's a surprise...).

Joffrey made me cringe with his "You are my lady!" scene. It was by far less palatable than last week's sex scene (Which I really didn't mind). That kid is seven kinds of slimy...

**Evil Agent** · May 23rd, 2011, 08:00 PM

Originally Posted by Cheerwell

I think I've got it nailed down now, EA.

Right, so thoughts... Pretty good episode, seemed rather eventful on the whole as I can see it having bigger impacts. Daenerys is free of her brother now (Or is she?) and really doing a good job of getting Khal's people to love her and treat her as their queen, Tyrion is going to cause more issues, Ned Stark probably just caused himself one hell of a headache, and Rob isn't a happy bunny (There's a surprise...).

Joffrey made me cringe with his "You are my lady!" scene. It was by far less palatable than last week's sex scene (Which I really didn't mind). That kid is seven kinds of slimy...

Yeah, I thought it was another fantastic episode! Still no Jon Snow this week (that's 2 weeks in a row without the Wall), but we got to see Dany again. I actually felt sorry for her brother Viserys (Harry Lloyd makes him a little more sympathetic than in the books). You're totally right about Ned Stark causing himself headaches. He's so stubbornly honorable that he's his own worst enemy. It's part of what I love about him, though.

Yes, Joffrey is creepy! It was hard to watch that scene without laughing. I felt sick when Sansa kissed him.

**Loerwyn** · May 24th, 2011, 02:10 AM

Originally Posted by Evil Agent

You're totally right about Ned Stark causing himself headaches. He's so stubbornly honorable that he's his own worst enemy. It's part of what I love about him, though.

I wonder if what he did last night, i.e. strip The Mountain of everything, was him losing the plot a bit. Was he truly carrying out the King's Justice, or was it his own? Surely what he's done is abuse the King's power to further his own goals, rather than the right ones? Or maybe he sees the Lannisters (And perhaps rightly so) as the cause of a number of issues, and if he rids Westeros of them, perhaps there'll be less problems and fighting between the clans?

I guess, in an odd way, Ned Stark is actually very naive.

Edit: I forgot - Tyrion confessing the crimes had me in fits of laughter.

**Spears&Buckler** · May 24th, 2011, 05:55 AM

Episode 6 was great, and I couldn't help myself so I watched episode 7 on HBO GO yesterday. Even greater. Things are moving along very fast now and I can't get enough. They are doing a wonderful job and any scenes that I find silly or unnecessary are small in the grand scheme of the show. Excellent.

I second the Tyrion scene. Hilarious. I also like the fact that when Ned is piecing things together they don't reveal his thoughts all at once. They're doing a good job of letting the viewer try to puzzle it out for her/himself. I have a friend at work who hasn't read the books and loves the show and he has figured out a couple of surprising moments to come, but he doesn't have all of his facts straight yet. I'm dying for him to find out so I can TALK ABOUT IT! It's taken everything in me to not say anything.

**Loerwyn** · May 24th, 2011, 06:46 AM

Originally Posted by Spears&Buckler

I second the Tyrion scene..

"I stroked my sausage! I made the bald man cry!"

Oh, Tyrion, you rascal.

**KatG** · May 26th, 2011, 04:15 PM

Originally Posted by Cheerwell

I wonder if what he did last night, i.e. strip The Mountain of everything, was him losing the plot a bit. Was he truly carrying out the King's Justice, or was it his own? Surely what he's done is abuse the King's power to further his own goals, rather than the right ones? Or maybe he sees the Lannisters (And perhaps rightly so) as the cause of a number of issues, and if he rids Westeros of them, perhaps there'll be less problems and fighting between the clans?

I guess, in an odd way, Ned Stark is actually very naive.

Edit: I forgot - Tyrion confessing the crimes had me in fits of laughter.

Ned isn't naive, he's just reluctant. The Mountain is the Lannisters' bannerman and their fiercest fighter among the knights. That the Mountain went wild in a village, pillaging and looting, Ned sees as an opening salvo in the Lannisters' plans for war. So if he doesn't move against the Mountain and rein him in, he may be putting himself and Robert at a tactical disadvantage in terms of armed forces, and there will be more slaughter. Even more, if Robert is not seen as protecting the people of Westeros, even from its own nobles, able to deliver the king's justice and provide security, they risk rebellions. Plus, what the Mountain did offends everything Ned lives by, the madness that he joined the original revolution to stop.

But the Lannisters have not actually declared war yet and Cersei is Robert's queen. The king is broke and the Lannisters are his bankers. So if Ned sends the king's men to go after the Mountain for his crimes, he is declaring a stand against the Lannisters, increasing hostilities and potentially re-opening the rift between him and Robert. He could wait until Robert comes back from hunting, but there are consequences to that, and Ned fears Robert may not pursue justice and Ned's family will be in danger anyway for having angered the Lannisters. So Ned, having been forced to act as Hand by Robert and acting judge that day, decides to make the decision, take the risk and the stand, and hope to get Robert to back him. (Nobody likes the Mountain anyway.)

Ned's problem is that he is never left with good choices to make. Every way he could chose could bring disaster and so he tends to chose along the lines of his conscience, with an eye to also protecting his family.

**Loerwyn** · May 26th, 2011, 04:20 PM

I'm not disagreeing with any of that, Kat, I'm thinking Ned is naive in that he holds people and decisions to his views of what honour is or isn't, without perhaps realising that politics is as dishonourable as it gets - In order to get anywhere, he needs to stab people in the back, to play dirty and to be as bad as the rest of them. Honour and doing the "right" thing will only get him so far. That's why I think, for all his arrogance, Robert isn't stupid. He knows that people are corrupt and ruinous, and to hold his position as King then he needs to play the game as well as everyone else does - If not better.