Am I The Only One Around Here Who V.2

[RhaenysBee]

Maybe? I didn't like it. It looked like a leather jacket dress to me (like that horrid denim evening dress Britney Spears once wore, but in leather version) or the long skirt version of a doublet Tywin would wear. 

Re Spice king, maybe, but it was still funny  and I think it was a good idea to include a character who doesn't take Daenerys seriously. It's realistic. She is a young girl with a dozen starving followers and three dragon hatchlings which anybody could snap the necks of or starve to death, and she makes demands of croesus rich merchants based on her family name while offering nothing in return. It is perfectly realistic for people not to take her seriously, especially at that stage in her story. 

Re Emilia, I agree with little scribe of naath, she was pretty good in season 1, and then the writing and directing became very one-dimensional. She comes off as a badass brat because they overdo the confident girlpower queen of badassness (which is basically the core of every major female character on the show at this point, because god forbid that we are faithful to the medieval, feudal and patriarchal context when we can (and have to) be 'progressive') 

am I the only one around here who is really annoyed with this? (This being what I said above in parenthesis about the female characters on the show) 

[Joy Hill]

No, you're not. The show doesn't know how to write female characters.

 

Am I the only one around here who kind of enjoyed Cersei and Taena's "friendship"?

 

 

[Raisin' Bran]

You might be. Sorry. Didn't like Dany with Irri either.

 

Am I... who wonders if those that have argued endlessly for some ridiculous tin foil theory or another will apologize when it is clear, in text, that they were wrong?

[Little Scribe of Naath]

Hahaha  I've wondered the same thing myself, so you're not alone.

It depends, really. If the discussion and debate is civil and decent with the people who disagree with you, I don't think there's a requirement for an apology. At the end of the day it's theories over a fictional book. But arguments tend to get personal quite a few times, and people do tend to get condescending and rude. In that case, for sure, an apology is required.

I've heard tales (from some older posters) that there have been alternate forums started by a few people purely to bitch about the posters they disagreed with here. That's taking it way too far.

 

AITOOAH who wonders how there aren't any lesbians in the book, besides Dorne? We have quite a few prominent gay characters - Loras, JonCon, Egg's son Daemon, Daemon II Blackfyre, and so on...but hardly any lesbian or bisexual women.

Arianne seems straight to me, even though she has experimented (I think?) 

[Joy Hill]

I did not think about it until now, but you're right. A few experiment, but I don't think we know of any bisexual women.

Raising Bran : No no no, I did not enjoy Myrish swamp, I meant their interactions in general

 

Am I the only one around here who doesn't really like Strong Belwas?

 

[Annara Snow]

No, you're defintely not. I found him to be a ridiculous OTT caricature. Leaving him out was one of the very, very few good things the show ever has done.

I don't know if Arianne has experiemented. Lady Nym is probably a lesbian, since she was in bed with the Fowler twins, and Ellaria is bisexual. There's a mention in TWOAIF of a lesbian woman who was married to Forrest Frey. It makes sense that lesbians and bisexual women would be 'invisible' in a patriarchal society like Westeros (except in Dorne, where sexual mores are not so strict). Women's desires generally aren't something that the society cares about, all that matters is that they get married and have kids and not have kids by someone other than their husband, and women have far less independence and freedom to refuse marriage (like Egg's son Daeron) or pursue their desires in an obvious way. But on the positive side, it is probably far easier for women to get away with same sex relationships without anyone noticing - with the custom to have noble ladies shared the bed and generally spend a lot of time with other women - and the society would also care less about that than about a woman sleeping with a man, since the latter can result in bastard children and false paternity and disrupt the inheritance.

Speaking of which, AITOOAH who thought Goodwife Amabel and that other elderly lady who worked in Harrenhal (I can't remember her name) may have been lovers? There is no mention of either of them being married, there's no mention of them being sisters or relatives, and they spent years, possibly a lifetime working together in Harrenhal - and Amabel seemed so upset by the other woman's death that she went nearly insane. It could just be a strong platonic friendship, but it's more likely they were romantic partners.

 

Edited October 20, 2016 by Annara Snow

[RhaenysBee]

Definitely yes. I will not pretend that I knew of the existence of these characters before you brought them up, but you don't have to be somebody's lover to be very upset about their death, especially if you spent decades working with that person 16-8 hours a day. It's called friendship. 

 

Am I the only one around here who wonders whether some of the actors really have zero understanding of their characters or the impression I get is merely put on for show and to make the interviews funnier and lighter? 

(Am I the only one who wonders if I asked this before...?  ) 

[Queen of Procrastination]

No you're not I have a feeling that there are quite a few actors who don't really understand their characters, but I partially blame the writing for this. It has been difficult or nearly impossible to understand some characters. Apparently some actors also get very little information about their characters. Steven Dillaine said as much in his interview last year. 

Am I the only one around here who really enjoyed reading Bran's chapters?

(Now I'm also wondering if this has been asked before  ) 

[Joy Hill]

Absolutely not. I loved most of his arc, and he's one of the characters whose future Interests me the most.

AITOOAHW finds the idea of a castle on a hot spring in a cold place very appealing?

[Annara Snow]

Of course you aren"t - who wouldn"t love such a castle, especiially during winter, that's why Winterfell was built on a hot spring!

@RhaenysB Sure, like I said, it could be just that. But that's exactly why "there are/were no lesbians" in certain societies. Two women live together, maybe for an entire lifetime, are incredibly close, one of them dies and the other one is devastated, and unless they were not discrete (which they probably would be in that kind of society) what are most people going to say? "They were reslly good friends", 'they were  close like sisters", "those two spinster roommates spend decades together, they were really close". I've already pointed out how even a noblewoman could get away with a same sex relationship, but commoners would be even more invisible to the society, because who would care? Certainly not their lords/bosses.

re: the actors - going by what Iain Glen has said, D&D have been discouraging actors from reading the books.

AiITOOAH who really liked Brienne's chapters? (I've probably asked this before.)

[RhaenysBee]

No? I don't think you are the only one, but I sure hated every one of her chapters. 

Re same sex relationships : I understand that point, and you are probably right that it was easier to hide for commoners and nobody really cared about it because there weren't any social expectations. But being close friends or flat mates or colleagues doesn't automatically mean that the two people are romantically involved with each other. More often than not a blue curtain is just a blue curtain. And either way, I honestly don't think the question is worth any thought. This is about a character whose name even you can't remember and that's something to say about how very marginal she is. 

Re actors - I know that D&D discourage actors to read the books and that's not something I frown upon, per se. I also understand that poor writing doesn't help the actors to understand their characters, however, some seem to have an astonishingly shallow understanding even of their already shallow show characters. 

 

Am I the only one around here who really really really really hopes that we will not see Kit and Emilia in a love scene? I just don't think I could take that even remotely seriously... I just don't think those two are able to make me believe that. 

[Joy Hill]

No? Dany and Jon are both Mary Sues (Dany being worse), as a couple I'd find them ridiculous.

AITOOAHW was not angry at Dany for chaining her dragons?

[Queen of Procrastination]

No, I wasn't mad about it either, despite the fact that I like the dragons. I coul understand her decision.

Re Mary Sue: Jon and Dany aren't Mary Sues in the books. A Mary Sue is a character who succeeds at everything he or she does and has no characer flaws. Neither Jon nor Dany are Mary Sue characters in the books. They've made mistakes, they don't suceed at everything they do and they have character flaws. GRRM doesn't write Mary Sues. In the show I would agree with Dany being a Mary Sue, but not with Jon. The show has repeatedly (not just this season) portrayed him as someone who does not succeed and has to be saved by others. The only thing Show!Jon is good at is swinging his sword and he seems to be incompetent in most other areas. Ramsay on the other hand is a Mary Sue in the show. He succeeded at everything and only lost, because of he sudden arrival of a third party, not because of his own failures. 

Am I the only one around here who didn't like the Kingsmoot scene in the books (the show did an even worse job with it) and who doesn't undestand why so many people hype this scene? 

 

Edited October 20, 2016 by Lady of Whisperers

[RhaenysBee]

Not at all. It is seriously overrated. 

 

Am I the only one around here who thinks the Euron actor was a horrible casting decision? 

[Joy Hill]

Nope.

Lady of Whisperers, I agree that neither Jon or Dany are complete Mary Sues, but they do tick a lot of boxes (Dany especially). That's why I don't want them to hook up : in my view, it would increase their special snowflake status. And yes, show!Jon is no Mary Sue at all, he's just an emo.

Am I the only one around here who has no idea what happened to Toad?

[Raisin' Bran]

Had not given him much thought. But there were a lot of recruits with Jon and Sam that I seem to have trouble recalling their names, let alone their fates.

Am I... who wonders about how the Golden company was able to successfully bring elephants to Westeros without significant trouble, like keeping the ships afloat?

Edited October 20, 2016 by Raisin(g) Bran 2 Greenseer

[Annara Snow]

Probably. I don't remember that they ever did bring elephants to Westeros?

@Joy Hill I can't even remember who Toad is, so obviously you're not!

I don't think either Jon or Dany are Mary Sues - just designated heroes, i.e. stereotypical badass chick and stereotypical badass hero, but they both comes off as stupid and/or bratty and incompetent. Also, Dany turns into a damsel whenever Jorah needs to be the Nice Guy even more than usual, or becomes incapable of making her own decisions without asking Tyrion. But show Tyrion is a total 100% Mary Sue, at least in seasons 5 and 6. His picture should be next to the Mary Sue entry on Wiki and on Television Tropes page.

AITOOAH who has no problem with MissWorm (even though I hate the show)?

[Count Balerion]

I not only have no idea what happened to (I assume) him, but don't even remember who he is. (Unless we're talking about Toad of Toad Hall.) I could look it up, but that would be cheating.

I guess I don't exactly have a problem with them; just find them a tad corny and that they take up too much screen time.

I think EC is decent when she's not screaming. Yes, I prefer the more vulnerable version of her.

Am I .. who doesn't remember more than maybe a quarter of the characters?

[Little Scribe of Naath]

Ninja'd by CB in answering Annara  

No, CB, not alone there. I don't know if it's a quarter (because I don't know how many total characters are there) but there's lots of characters I don't remember. I didn't remember Toad either.

 

 

@Annara Snow I don't think you're alone there, many show-watchers atleast don't mind it.

However, I really hated how they gutted the character of Missandei. You had an example of a truly intelligent female character in the books (there are precious few in the first place) A former slave girl and woman of colour, to boot. You could have really shown this woman to be one of Daenerys' most competent and smart advisors, and also one of her close friends, with whom Dany could have had scenes where she displayed her vulnerability, her worries over ruling, where Missandei reminds her of what she's really fighting for.....things like that. After Dany left Meereen, she could have been the one taking the decisions with Tyrion. That's something actually resembling female empowerment 

Yet, they age up Missandei, but give her zero role except for love interest of GW???? To me, seemed simply to fulfill the POC quota you have on TV and films nowadays (basically, have a couple of token black characters for the sake of it.)

 

AITOOAH who feels the show's version of "feminism" is idiotic and simply designed to pander to people who think a woman being "badass" is empowerment ???

Edited October 20, 2016 by Little Scribe of Naath

[RhaenysBee]

No. The show's version of feminism is dumb and overdone. But I think the show shouldn't try so hard to be feminist either, since it's set in a medieval time in a feudal and patriarchal society (especially when it is at the cost of good writing and authenticity). It may be 2016 outside the screen, but the audience is (should be) intelligent enough to differentiate between then and now, and understand the concept of fiction.

 

 am I the only one around here who wonders how much time was actually spent on writing the script of season 7?