Hrafntýr

1) In your own words, describe what Doran Martell looks like (eg his face, body, clothing, posture, anything else) and what his personality is like. What is your description based on? (for example, descriptions in the book, fan art, Alexander Siddig, another actor, other things) On the shortish side, stocky, with dark hair and eyes. You might not notice his height, though, as he's wheelchair bound. His swollen extremities, and the painfulness of his joints would likely strongly affect his appearance, as despite his best efforts to hide the pain, he'd likely have some vibe of being in anticipation of something that will make him flinch (a touch, a jolt). His hands would be hard to look at, on account of the gouty joints. I think he's wearing loose-fitting clothes, anything to avoid pressure on his joints, but that the quality of the cloth would be nice. I think his gout prevents him from wearing shoes, but he keeps his legs and feet covered so that others can't see the extent of his deformity. If I had to sum up his appearance in a word, I'd say "pained." However, I'd also say that there's some charisma in his bearing; Areo Hotah says that Mellario when first she saw Doran asked who it was that shone so bright, so when he's "on" I think he comes across as commanding. 2) Alexander Siddig will play Doran in the show, how does he compare to your own mental image of Doran before he was cast? (eg does he look the same? Is it hard for you to remember your mental image before he was cast? Did you imagine someone else playing the character? Anything else?) Siddig is much thinner than I imagined Doran, but I think he's got enough lines on his face, and his eyes are deep-set enough, to convey being worn/pained by his experiences and illness. I thought, though, that Ian McShane would be a perfect Doran. Siddig is better looking than I imagined Doran, but the show does that with a lot of characters, and I'm not complaining about the eye candy! With Tywin's demise, we needed a "hot dad" replacement, and Siddig's Doran should fit the bill. 3) Have you seen Siddig in any other films or shows (eg Syriana, Reign of Fire, Clash of the Titans, Star Trek, 24, anything else)? How do those other roles affect your feelings about him being cast as Doran? (For example, did you like those other roles? Are you happy to see the actor in something else? Are you happy to see the actor in GoT in particular? etc). Yeah, as Dr. Bashir in Star Trek: DS9. As a fan of that show, I was thrilled to see Siddig cast, and I do think that there's a way in which the jumped up intelligence of Bashir jibes with Doran's ostensible smarts/strategic thinking. Of course Bashir is a brat in a way that I doubt Doran ever was. 4) Have you read or seen any interviews with Siddig about his part in Game of Thrones? What have you learned about Siddig himself or his role as Doran? Where did you find this information? (for example YouTube, his official website, other websites, magazines). No, have there been any?

I'm not sure if it always works this way, but in my mind Arya's use of the word "stupid" is frequently related to the realm of romance (stupid princess, stupid lady throwing herself off a stupid tower, etc.). I like that here it's associated with Gendry!

Kyoshi: Was it FrozenFire3's post here? There's also good stuff about Tristifer Mudd's crypt in J. Stargaryen's Emeralds thread.

Quote buttons aren't working for me, nor is the post button (I used "more reply options" to post), and the html editor isn't visible. I already tried logging out and clearing cookies etc. Edit: did it all again (cleared cache, cookies, closed browser) and now it's working.

Although I've no idea whether GRRM is familiar with the Mahabharata, I thought I'd offer a little more information about this tale, for those of you who are interested in the parallel. The first thing I'd note is that this epic tradition is just as ambiguous about the nature of the "abduction" as ASoIaF is about Lyanna's (at least so far!). True, there are later variants like that offered above that see Subhadra as complicit in her "abduction," but in the earlier tellings she is definitely abducted by Arjuna (with the collusion of the god Krishna, who is Subhadra's brother and Arjuna's cousin), and there's nothing about her driving the chariot. Thus, the later tradition turns the story into a romance, when it's not so in the earlier tellings. However, in all cases Subhadra and Arjuna come to love eachother. And though it's more of an L+R=J detail, it's notable that Subhadra and Draupadi, the chief queen of Arjuna and his brothers (they're in a polyandrous marriage, one queen for 5 brothers), is described as loving, and that it is the son of (the son of) Arjuna and Subhadra who is ultimately responsible for carrying on the lineage, every other offspring being killed in an act of attempted magical genocide. But honestly, I doubt that GRRM is familiar with this tradition, as I see no evidence in the texts that he knows or draws upon South Asian literature. But marriage by abduction is a common motif in epic literature, and there are almost always questions about whether the woman is complicit in her own abduction. Love the Rethinking Romance series, by the way!

hey, sorry, it's hard to remember those made-up scenes!

my bad, i forgot about that, thanks!

but we don't even know that Oberyn is a judge in the showverse, do we? that's part of why it seems off...there's nothing obvious about oberyn becoming a judge.

Well, the logistics are easier in the show PW, since Marge isn't sharing that huge-ass goblet of wine with Joffrey. It is surmised from the books that she had to have been in the know, else there'd be the risk that she'd be poisoned, too. But they weren't sharing on the show, which means that they can preserve Marge's "innocence" of the plot.

Haha, you may be right, of course! I'm actually one of the readers who is skeptical about the account that LF provides. But Margaery's almost angry "But I would have been the Queen!" surprised me when I saw it in the trailer. She seems to be taking issue with what Olenna is telling her. I'd be quite happy if the show only implied that Olenna did it without confirming it, which is where we book readers stand.

Personally, I really like that there's a very similar level of ambiguity about the poisoner in the TV scene as in the books. It looks like we're getting the "reveal" of the QoT involvement as early as next week (so sooner than we do in the books), at which point the avid fans can go back to the episode and caps that reveal that Olenna touched the necklace, a gem is missing, etc., in just the same way that book fans can go back to the PW chapters to find "confirmation" of LF's explanation. But like the books, I'm not sure that what we're going to see/hear is in fact the true/full account of how things went down. For example, maybe we'll see Olenna taking responsibility for the poisoning in her conversation with Margaery, but no mention of Sansa. And then only later when LF talks to Sansa do we get the account that includes her necklace, which would emphasize the LF mind-fuck aspects of the necklace plan.

Yes!

For people who don't like Cersei's "feed the leftovers to the poor" intervention: I thought it was deliberate and playing with the pie-theorists (i.e. the people who think Joffrey was poisoned by the pie), since it suggested that maybe Cersei might have poisoned her own son, which would play with her instantaneous move of pointing a finger at Tyrion right after Joffrey dies. Just a thought.

Well, yes, as everyone notes the film dates from 2004, but the fantasy novel of the same name, by Diana Wynne Jones, on which the film is based, was published in 1986, well before ASoIaF, so I'd say it's a nod to the (quite enjoyable) book.

testing out the multiquote and so...