Game of Thrones Season 6

plan

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The Game of Thrones season 6 trailer was just released two days ago:


There are a couple of interesting things here:

1) Danaerys has her hands tied and she's walking with the Dothraki horde, which means they're basically treating her like chattel. If they realize she's the former Khaleesi to Khal Drogo, they're going to put her with the crones and she won't be allowed to leave Vaes Dothrak. If they don't realize who she is (and that's a big if, considering how strikingly different her looks are), then they'll treat her like a slave. Honestly, I expected Drogon to descend and scare the hell out of the Dothraki, but apparently that did not happen.

2) The footage at 1:19 is Jaime Lannister, Mace Tyrell, and the royal army moving on the Great Sept of Baelor. This HAD to happen. The Sparrows intimidated a weak king and imprisoned his queen. Now that real men -- Jaime and Mace -- are back in the capital, that will not be tolerated. If they can't control their own city, they can't control the realm. Clearly they have to make an example.

3) You can see Jon Snow's unmistakable bob in footage of the battle involving the Bolton armies. At least, that's what it really looks like. Who knows? What we do know from this footage is that someone is leading a HUGE host of wildlings and northmen against the Boltons. In the footage, you can see the banners of House Umber and other northern houses on the opposing side.

4) Is Ramsay Bolton finally turning on his father?

5) Littlefinger is back in the North.

6) Sansa Stark appears in one shot, cloaked, looking regal and all made up. That suggests she gets away from the Boltons.

7) Tyrion is holding down the fort in Meereen while the chickens come home to roost. Think of all those cities Danaerys conquered on her way to Meereen. Now think of the revenge they're going to want against her. And oops, she's not there lol.

I seriously CANNOT WAIT! This is the first time, ever, that absolutely NO ONE knows what's going to happen, not the "book readers" and not the TV audience. It's going to be epic.
 

misty8723

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You're right that the book readers have no idea what's going to happen, because from what I can remember (it's been awhile), Dany was not captured by anyone.  I don't know about the rest of it. I don't recall Sansa ever being with the Boltons either.  Even if the book had been finished on time (ha! ha! ha!) the series has gone off in it's own direction.

I don't have HBO, so I haven't watched the series. I LOVE the books, but I don't think he's ever going to finish them - at least not in my lifetime (and he is no spring chicken either).  Now I'm trying to decide if I should get the DVDs so I can get some kind of closure for the story (even if it's not the one GRRM intended). I did see the first season binge watching during a free HBO weekend, and there was one thing that was very different from the book which totally changed something very vital to the story in my opinion. 

Well, in any case, happy watching!
 

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I don't have HBO either, so I'm waiting on Season 5 to come from Netflix. I read all the books, which was disconcerting when I watched the TV show because I was startled to see certain characters alive who had died in the books. I think Martin outlined the unwritten plot for the TV producers to follow, but who knows? I have to agree that I don't think Martin will finish the series. He digresses way too much and fills of pages and pages with unimportant stories. And the publishers made him cut down each book by one-third! He's got a good imagination, but seems to be a little disorganized.
 

misty8723

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I think GRRM is a victim of the fame he got for these books. He's always off doing this and that instead of writing. I read somewhere that once the series moves beyond the books, he will become irrelevant, and I believe that will be true to a degree. If another book were to magically appear anytime soon, I would buy it, I love his writing, I don't mind the side stories, I think they're all important sooner or later and interesting reading in any case.  If I had known all those years ago when I picked up that first book it would come to this, I probably would not have read it. My own rule has always been to never start a series until it's finished, and that three books in a series is ideal.  Ah well, I am hooked, no doubt about it.  I'll have to look into the Netflix angle to watch the series.
 
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plan

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I think GRRM is a victim of the fame he got for these books. He's always off doing this and that instead of writing. I read somewhere that once the series moves beyond the books, he will become irrelevant, and I believe that will be true to a degree. If another book were to magically appear anytime soon, I would buy it, I love his writing, I don't mind the side stories, I think they're all important sooner or later and interesting reading in any case.  If I had known all those years ago when I picked up that first book it would come to this, I probably would not have read it. My own rule has always been to never start a series until it's finished, and that three books in a series is ideal.  Ah well, I am hooked, no doubt about it.  I'll have to look into the Netflix angle to watch the series.
This is true.

The problem is that GRRM has been writing this same story for three decades. It's really not a surprise that he's uninspired and burnt out. Any writer would be sick of it after 25+ years of writing the same characters, and slogging through an increasingly complex narrative. But...GRRM also has a notoriously weak work ethic, and is probably the world's most notorious procrastinator. He also put enormous pressure on himself by inking that HBO deal.
 
You're right that the book readers have no idea what's going to happen, because from what I can remember (it's been awhile), Dany was not captured by anyone.  I don't know about the rest of it. I don't recall Sansa ever being with the Boltons either.  Even if the book had been finished on time (ha! ha! ha!) the series has gone off in it's own direction.

I don't have HBO, so I haven't watched the series. I LOVE the books, but I don't think he's ever going to finish them - at least not in my lifetime (and he is no spring chicken either).  Now I'm trying to decide if I should get the DVDs so I can get some kind of closure for the story (even if it's not the one GRRM intended). I did see the first season binge watching during a free HBO weekend, and there was one thing that was very different from the book which totally changed something very vital to the story in my opinion. 

Well, in any case, happy watching!
Danaerys was surrounded by the Dothraki at the end of A Dance With Dragons, so it's following her storyline exactly from the books. The Sansa storyline is slightly different, with some compositing and a lot less time wasted on slow chapters in the Eyrie.
 
I don't have HBO either, so I'm waiting on Season 5 to come from Netflix. I read all the books, which was disconcerting when I watched the TV show because I was startled to see certain characters alive who had died in the books. I think Martin outlined the unwritten plot for the TV producers to follow, but who knows? I have to agree that I don't think Martin will finish the series. He digresses way too much and fills of pages and pages with unimportant stories. And the publishers made him cut down each book by one-third! He's got a good imagination, but seems to be a little disorganized.
You can get HBO a la carte now, as a stand-alone streaming service, or as a single subscription without having to buy a cable TV package. Smart move by HBO.

I think you guys might be misremembering S1 because it followed the first book pretty much exactly. I mean, even the dialog was taken right from the book, and the narrative was recreated almost scene-for-scene.

The second season was also extremely closely aligned to the books. From there, the show started to take more liberties, but honestly most of them have made the story better, more accessible, and doesn't go off on long tangents the way GRRM does.

I mean, GRRM can spend 15 pages describing a feast..."spiced summerwine, ribs roasted in a crust of garlic and herbs, turnips soaked in butter; salads of sweetgrass, spinach and plums; sweet Dornish wines, deep Arbor reds; boar roasted with apple and mushrooms, with skin roasted crisp..." And on and on and on like that, for pages.

If you remember Arya's storyline from the first two or three books, it was also a meandering mess, with her criss-crossing the Riverlands for ages, getting captured and re-captured and seeing endless scenes of torture and brutality.

Even so, I enjoyed every single one of the ASOIAF books and I think GRRM is a fantastic and talented writer. But the TV series HAD to make some adjustments and composite some storylines, otherwise it would have been incomprehensible to the TV audience. No one has ever adapted a series this dense before, and HBO has done an incredible job with it.
 

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Plan, I agree with you. One thing I've noticed about these book series is that the author often runs out of gas on the last book and rehashes the whole series instead of adding something new. Martin may do that.
 

misty8723

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Danaerys was surrounded by the Dothraki at the end of A Dance With Dragons, so it's following her storyline exactly from the books. The Sansa storyline is slightly different, with some compositing and a lot less time wasted on slow chapters in the Eyrie.
Oh yes, it's coming back to me. It's been some time since I read it and I was remembering her journey but forgot the book ended with the Dothraki showing up.
I think you guys might be misremembering S1 because it followed the first book pretty much exactly. I mean, even the dialog was taken right from the book, and the narrative was recreated almost scene-for-scene.
My issue with S1 vs the book is Catelyn.  In the book, it's Catelyn who pushes Ned to go to Kings Landing. In the series, she begs Ned not to go, which makes her a more sympathetic character (in my eyes). The book version makes her the catalyst for all that follows (again, in my opinion), and that is a significant difference, however else it stayed true to the book. (Catelyn is my least favorite character).

And I know this is silly, but it's always bugged me that they had Ghost barking.
 

misty8723

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You can get HBO a la carte now, as a stand-alone streaming service, or as a single subscription without having to buy a cable TV package. Smart move by HBO.
If I can't afford the $15/month TWC is asking, I sure can't afford the standalone at $14.95/month.
 
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