GRRM - Winds won't release before Season 6 - Spoiler Rules on this forum?

[DaveSumm]

I'll steer well clear of the General Discussion, hopefully the Gen/Lit/Ent will be safe. I may quit FB and at the very least cull my Twitter feed of GoT stuff.

[Lord Lannister]

I'll just say that if you want to avoid spoilers an internet forum is probably the last place you should be. That said, I'm just glad we'll be getting some new material finally. The show and books have pretty much diverged into to similar paths that may end up at the same destination anyways.

[Equilibrium]

Spoilers aren't that bad to avoid. The ending of the last ep. of TBBT was a huge thing and I found out by checking the thread about it in this board.

I watched few seasons of that and declining quality made me change my mind, but I really had to check now what happened that was so huge.

As it is out of context for me I am torn between saying it is jumping the shark and something not surprising at all seeing it was bound to happen.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

I watched few seasons of that and declining quality made me change my mind, but I really had to check now what happened that was so huge.

As it is out of context for me I am torn between saying it is jumping the shark and something not surprising at all seeing it was bound to happen.

I only watched the first two episodes of this season, so it's also out of context for me. Honestly, it could have been worst...

[Lord Varys]

Exactly this. Besides, there's no way you'll be able to completely avoid getting spoiled. Not unless you stay off the internet and avoid talking to people in general for the next decade until A Dream of Spring comes out.

I take that bet. I went completely unspoiled into the new Star Wars movie despite being actually a very great Star Wars (and by the way, I share the other George's opinion on the new movie).

The moment that finally severed the books and show for me was when they showed the new Daario playing pattycake with Grey Worm. Yes, I know it wasn't pattycake, but it was a version of pattycake and the absurdity was just what it took to sever the two in my mind.

Once this separation has happened the show needs to stand on its own and the show isn't holding up. The show has become a series of big events with a very thin storyline in between these high points. Because of this I too find it hard to remember what exactly has happened in the show. This is a sign of waning interest on my part.

As far as spoilers go, I think we may all have different ideas about what spoiler means. GRRM may have told D&D that "Stannis burns Shireen as a sacrifice to R'hllor", but we know it cannot happen as it did in the show. For me, why something happens is far more important than what happens, so I don't feel at all spoiled on this issue. This will be the same for any other "spoilers" that may happen on the show. So if I stop watching the show it will be because of a lack of interest rather than a fear of spoilers.

Well, since 'new Daario' resembles me somewhat (at least in my mind) his whole cast was pretty funny - usually nobody considers me a fit consort or lover for Daenerys Targaryen ;-).

The nature of the spoilers most likely isn't as severe as the 'different roads to the same place' people usually preach, but for me it is a matter of taste, really. I really don't want to watch scenes like the Shireen debacle from last season, especially not if we get such botched scenes on actually important stories/revelations (like Rhaegar-Lyanna). And I really dread the approach the show takes on the Others. Somehow I don't think they will be anything else but 'evil' in the show, nor do I think that anything, well, deep is going to come from the whole background thing Bran most likely is going to explore.

[Equilibrium]

I only watched the first two episodes of this season, so it's also out of context for me. Honestly, it could have been worst...

I consider that show the Game of Thrones of the shows that are not Game of Thrones, idiocy became unbearable at one point.

Making the two characters have sex to sate popular demand or deliver the shock is something that has the markings of the declining show desperately clinging for ratings. I mean the thing is in the ninth season

 

[Blackfyre Bastard]

Allright, this is becoming a "I'm the one who hates the show the most" thread. I'm in.

[Ice Turtle]

I will watch everything until the release date is out. Then I might try to avoid further spoilers, but even avoiding internet might not be enough. I once travelled in a train and three people sitting around me spent whole four hours discussing AGoT. 

[XSarellaX]

Allright, this is becoming a "I'm the one who hates the show the most" thread. I'm in.

Yey! All on board!

 

[Ser Jampot]

Don't go on Facebook I reckon you can avoid a lot of spoiler shiz. I'm defo trying to avoid it over the next while, the series is going to strip down all the good stuff, as usual. 

Im up for waiting no matter what. 

[The Ned's Little Girl]

I'm of the mind that the show cannot possibly spoil anything. Even if they film the exact same event as one in the book, it won't make sense, it'll happen to different characters, logic will be bent six ways from Sunday to make it happen, thematic significance will be ignored and the dialogue will be terrible.

The same event in the book (any book) will make sense, it will happen the way it should with the characters it should happen to/with, and the thematic elements will be spot-on, interesting and important. It will be a completely different experience.

So, I'm not worried about spoilers.

 

[Gogossos]

I'm of the mind that the show cannot possibly spoil anything.

I agree, that's why I'm also not worried about spoilers. Besides, the show is running out of space quicker than Martin is running out of time. They still make only 10 episodes but they keep adding new characters all the time, squeezing and botching current storylines as a result. By the time they reveal the ending, the show will be a vastly different creature. Only the Starks, Jon and Dany's endings will resemble spoilers but the logical sequence of beats that gets us there will be different.

[jarl the climber]

The show is like an alternative universe version of the books, so I don't really see the show spoiling the books for me. 

[The One And Only]

What happens if he doesn't finish the series?

[Gogossos]

Well, Girl With A Dragon Tattoo series was not finished ...

[The One And Only]

Well, Girl With A Dragon Tattoo series was not finished ...

Yes I know.  My question was geared towards those who are avoiding the television show.

What if the books are never done?  I like the television show so it doesn't matter.  However, what if you hate it but want to know the ending to the books? Will you watch when/if we find out he will never finish the series?

[LmL]

First off, I'm certainly going to wait to watch this season, since I expect TWOW will be out next year sometime, god-willing.  Now, when the following season comes out, that's when it's going to be well and truly f*cked. 

As for my blog and podcast, I will certainly not be discussing anything on Season 6 of the show or any spoiler information, unless it's in a separate essay labelled as a discussion of season 6 material. It's not to hard for me, because I am mostly concerned with the ancient past and deciphering symbolism, as opposed to making a ton of predictions. Those like to predict things will be the most twisted upon the gap between season 6 and TWOW... 

I'd prefer it if we had a very strict spoiler policy over here. You can avoid spoilers about pretty much anything in the internet simply by not looking up or not reading certain posts, articles, etc. Perhaps you cannot avoid certain headlines but you can certainly try.

I've said it multiple times I won't watch the next season before I've read the book, and I intend to stick to that. Not only so much because I don't want to be spoiled but because I really had to drag myself through the last season. I honestly no longer enjoy watching the show all that much, and therefore see little reason to discuss it here or anywhere.

In that sense, I really see no reason why anyone should want to discuss the show in relation to the books when there isn't really all that much book stuff to be discussed in relation to the show.

Perhaps the admins could set up an entirely different sub forum for speculation about future events in the books in relation to/based on season 6? There certainly will be many people who want to do that, and it might be more reasonable to that in forum that is not exclusively books or exclusively show, but both.

That would be my approach to avoid spoilers in the book forums. But I warn you all, I'll go Kevan on anyone who actually ends up deliberately spoiling me ;-).

Agree on everything, especially the bolded, and your idea about a joint show-book sub-forum is so terrific that I'll be shocked if they don't do something along those lines. 

Count me in on the group that won't watch season 6.

Actually, even if Winds were out, I probably wouldn't watch next season anymore. Before season 5, I still felt excited and optimistic about the show. Then I realized I was feeling angry and disappointed more often than I was enjoying it. It's just not worth it.

While it's very unlikely we can remain completely unspoiled until aDoS, I think we can avoid being spoiled about everything. We shouldn't give up before we see it's possible

As soon as season 6 starts, I'm only checking facebook to see my inbox. No browsing other people's pages until at least one month after the end of the season. I'll ask my friends to avoid discussing the show when I'm around.

 The hardest part will be avoiding ASOIAF online communities. But I think Westeros.org doesn't necessarily need to be one of them. If the show watchers keep most of the discussion on the show subforum, use spoiler tags in this subforum, and are careful when choosing thread titles (i.e "Season 6 spoilers- Randyll Tarly" vs "Will Randyll Tarly kill Mace Tyrell in the books?), I think we can manage

Yep. I'm with you on the show, as many are. As a show, it's ok. As an adaptation... not so much.

Good points elsewhere. 

Yeah, but I don't necessarily want to stop visit this board just because there is a show I'm not watching on TV.

You can try to canalize discussion better with a specific TWoW/books future in connection to the show. After all, shows threads are usually full pretty quickly, and there might actually be quite a few people who would want to discuss show elements especially in relation to the (future of the) books. That would be a new and unique situation, rather different from a normal book/show comparison discussion.

And I gather the potential for such discussions would be reasonably great, especially if TWoW isn't published shortly after the sixth season has aired. Not to mention that season 6 might actually already contain spoilers for ADoS if the show rushes things.

Well, the moment that sort of broke the show for me were the broke Lannisters. It is such a trivial detail, but I really couldn't help myself. I laughed tears for ten minutes or so. After that, it was difficult to take the show seriously, and season 5 added to that in the sense that the overall story, dialogue, and plot scarcely resembled the books anymore.

I actually realized that I honestly don't care what happened to these people, and would not watch the show if it wasn't based on George's books. I even tend to forget what has happened in the show, a strong sign that I'm not really emotionally invested in the whole thing.

Yeah, it was the broke Lannisters, the Craster's Keep debacle, the Dorne plot line, then the raping and burning of young girls with very little sense or tact... It's both non-serious and tasteless. The word I use more often than not of late is "travesty." 

For the most part, the thing I have enjoyed about the show is isolated scenes. Sometimes it's rurally great to something visually depicted, and most of the actors are quite good. If they use dialogue from the book, sometimes a scene goes very well and I feel enriched. But those moments are less fewer these days. After the Sansa thing, I stopped watching them live, waiting to hear about what happened before I deemed it safe to watch a given episode. 

The show will spoil plot points, as in if in the book Jon dies, he will die in the show too. The show will do it ridiculously, though, like he did with his stabbing.

It's gonna be like listening rumours or gossip. You'll know who had sex with who, but not the whole story, which is what matters at the end.

Agree and good analogy. I have said much the same - it's like hearing rumors and scuttlebutt. We don't know for sure if anything we see in the season will happen in the books, or if it will just happen with different characters and dynamics. 

The moment that finally severed the books and show for me was when they showed the new Daario playing pattycake with Grey Worm. Yes, I know it wasn't pattycake, but it was a version of pattycake and the absurdity was just what it took to sever the two in my mind.

Once this separation has happened the show needs to stand on its own and the show isn't holding up. The show has become a series of big events with a very thin storyline in between these high points. Because of this I too find it hard to remember what exactly has happened in the show. This is a sign of waning interest on my part.

As far as spoilers go, I think we may all have different ideas about what spoiler means. GRRM may have told D&D that "Stannis burns Shireen as a sacrifice to R'hllor", but we know it cannot happen as it did in the show. For me, why something happens is far more important than what happens, so I don't feel at all spoiled on this issue. This will be the same for any other "spoilers" that may happen on the show. So if I stop watching the show it will be because of a lack of interest rather than a fear of spoilers.

Yeah... exactly. It oscillates from absurdly non-serious to offensively tasteless. In between are occasional moments of glory, usually when they stick to book material. I made a similar point above that individual scenes are sometimes ok, but they really make a both of narrative themes and plot continuity. Lurching from big event to big event is a good way of describing it. When they try to bring the plot back from one of their side-detours to the main book plot, that's when you see them really forcing things in unnatural ways.

Season 5 spoiler:

When show Sansa resumes her book arc of increasing her agency, after having this arc complete destroy last season as she again became a helpless victim, more so than ever, it's going to again make no sense.

That is so not true. I really can't name one place I go on internet that can spoil me the ASOIAF, I just don't use social networks or meme sites and such.

And very few of my friends watches GoT (a lot read the books but hates the show) and I really don't expect casual acquaintances to open a conversation with latest GoT spoilers.

Yes, it can happen that I overhear some conversation about GoT, but chances are pretty low and even if I do that won't spoil me much. And if spoilers here are rampart I will not come here.

So no spoilers for me, I will remain pure until I receive the plot ending from the books.

And it really isn't that hard. 

Yeah it doesn't seem like that big of a deal except of the internet use, and if you aren't spending all day on social media then it's not bad at all. Myself, I use FB and this here forum, and that's about tit... and I might take a small FB vacation. It's good to do that. You can also just check your notifications and not read the feed, as XSarellaX said above.

I take that bet. I went completely unspoiled into the new Star Wars movie despite being actually a very great Star Wars (and by the way, I share the other George's opinion on the new movie).

Well, since 'new Daario' resembles me somewhat (at least in my mind) his whole cast was pretty funny - usually nobody considers me a fit consort or lover for Daenerys Targaryen ;-).

The nature of the spoilers most likely isn't as severe as the 'different roads to the same place' people usually preach, but for me it is a matter of taste, really. I really don't want to watch scenes like the Shireen debacle from last season, especially not if we get such botched scenes on actually important stories/revelations (like Rhaegar-Lyanna). And I really dread the approach the show takes on the Others. Somehow I don't think they will be anything else but 'evil' in the show, nor do I think that anything, well, deep is going to come from the whole background thing Bran most likely is going to explore.

No comment on the idea of Lord Varys resembling the new Daario, other to ask you if you might in fact be Euron in disguise...

I also was unspoiled for StarWars. Really, the answer is to stop spending all your time on the internet. It's good for you anyway. 

[LmL]

What happens if he doesn't finish the series?

I don't mean to be rude, but I must say that for the record I find it offensive whenever people pose this question. I just don't think it's appropriate, or respectful of George.  I'm sure you didn't mean anything ill, but I'd ask you to reconsider statements like this. Think about how it must feel on the other end.  

Whether you like the show or the book or both, we should all be grateful for whatever art our beloved artist produces.  There would be no show without the books, of course.  I myself feel grateful for the fact that's he created what he has, and I'm fine with taking it as it comes.  I'm sure we all wish George many years of full and happy life, perhaps we can leave it at that. Out of respect.    

[The One And Only]

I don't mean to be rude, but I must say that for the record I find it offensive whenever people pose this question. I just don't think it's appropriate, or respectful of George.  I'm sure you didn't mean anything ill, but I'd ask you to reconsider statements like this. Think about how it must feel on the other end.  

Whether you like the show or the book or both, we should all be grateful for whatever art our beloved artist produces.  There would be no show without the books, of course.  I myself feel grateful for the fact that's he created what he has, and I'm fine with taking it as it comes.  I'm sure we all wish George many years of full and happy life, perhaps we can leave it at that. Out of respect.    

I think you are taking this question the wrong way.

It is not about GRRM.  It is more for the fans of the books.  Would you be willing to use the show in order to find out the ending the books.... if the books never provide them?

[The Ned's Little Girl]

Would you be willing to use the show in order to find out the ending the books.... if the books never provide them?

I, for one, won't. I'd rather come up with an imaginary ending while twiddling my thumbs than trust the show to do the ending in any way that is satisfying or interesting.