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House Cambodia

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About House Cambodia

  • Birthday 07/09/1961

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    Phnom Penh

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    House Cambodia

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  1. If you're talking about Elden Ring (which I've never played myself), excellent new(ish) YouTuber Michael Talks About Stuff is doing an indepth exploration into the links between ER and the background of Weirwoods and such ancient ASOIAF lore. Spoilers for Elden Ring Are Spoilers for A Dream of Spring (first of an ongoing series)
  2. It doesn't have to be intentional. LF and the maester have been chronically overprescribing him sweetsleep for a while now. They (or at least LF) may have led her to believe too much is good for the kid's epilepsy, and she still naively trusts him. She may innocently administer the final dose.
  3. I'm unaware of the reference, but I'm saying that whilst they are a real and present existential danger to humanity, they won't be offed by a mere magic knife. It will take a series of brave, sacrificial, vital decisions by human agents who could choose otherwise, to defeat them (albeit with the aid of magic knives - and magic lizards).
  4. I dislike theories that presume the endgame is one where the Forces of Good defeat the Forces of Evil. I think GRRM has done enough to show us he doesn't think that way (a la LOTR). R'hllor and The Great Other must remain beliefs in some people's minds, not objective realities. It's still an open question as to who is on each side anyway - full kudos to him for still screwing with us after all these years and pages. Connected to that, I'm mistrustful of theories in which the endgame is some cosmic conflict in which humans are mere pawns - GRRM is serious about "the human heart in conflict with itself". Dany will have agency to choose whether or not to give up her 'god given' rights; Bran will have agency to choose whether to follow Bloodraven/the Weirwood Net or not, Undead Jon will be torn between his lingering humanity and what he's turned into, Arya whether to reject her assassin-conditioning, Jamie whether to return to Cercei's bosom - or not etc etc.
  5. By "we'd all" you mean us here on this board. Unfortunately, the vast majority of TV fans are never going to read the books, and they're where the numbers/fast money are. I've just finished a re-read of ASOIAF/AWOIAF and will probably need to do so again when/if news of TWOW is ever announced, and for now and going through AKot7K. Personally, I'm looking forward to a TV version of those novellas more than HoTD. I really like how Dunk the lunk drags this royal kid incognito through the Westeros version of the working classes, lower middle-classes, and general bog end of society rather than focusing on the elites as HoTD does.
  6. To those of us who grew up on Doctor Who, that's like a second language to us! But as to your main point, it's fair to say Cixin Liu doesn't do women. But characterization generally, not just women is the weakest part of his writing. And yet, whilst all the criticisms are justified, the primary antagonist in the first book is a young woman scientist in a man's world who has a strong character arc and compelling motivation driving it.
  7. I've read the trilogy and can confirm that is wholly absent. There is a case for arguing there's an element of sexism (or old-school gender stereotyping), especially in the third volume, but that's a whole other discussion!
  8. Why do you keep starting new threads? Keep all your pet theories on the Prologue in one place.
  9. Yes, I've always maintained the hypothesis that there was ONE prehistoric cataclysmic event - a "breaking of the moon" with a meteor strike, raining down black stone, Breaking the Arm, flooding The Neck, shattering the Iron Islands, destroying civilizations in Essos and so on. Dates from preliterate times I take to be largely arbitrary - 4000 years ago, 8000 years ago - no one knows, and no one could know which events in Westeros and Essos were synchronous. I also think that given so much of Westerosi history was inspired by British history, it's entirely possible that GRRM had the myths and legends of King Arthur in mind for this most ancient stuff. There's even a direct parallel with "King" Arthur's "Knights" of the Round Table centuries before there were 'knights'. What I mean is, just as there was probably a real warlord at the heart of the stories, 99% of the legend is later non-historical accretions, so too in the distant Westerosi/Essosi prehistory, the majority of it is invented/exaggerated/twisted and we'll probably never know the truth of them. Some will have a direct impact on the narrative in TWOW and ADOS, however, and will reveal their secrets.
  10. Yet he didn't continue to travel to The Wall after Arya released him. He could even have accompanied her if both were heading to it. I'm with you on his mission to find some key scroll or book on dragons, though.
  11. On this detail, the Meereenese burnt the olive groves as part of their scorched earth strategy. It takes olive trees decades to grow and mature.
  12. I forget the exact chapter where Varys mentions it, but he was a jailer supervisor, not the guy who brought the food. The only prisoners we know he visited were Ned and Tyrion, both due to his 'main job'.
  13. ^ I like most of it, but if he planned on killing Varys, I'd say it was a peculiar plan. Varys only very occasionally donned his dungeon-keeper persona, so the chance of running across him before execution was small. Secondly, even if he was lucky in that regard, the prisoners are incarcerated in a cell, so his opportunity to kill was not much better than when he was in the cage travelling to The Wall.
  14. I'm relieved a couple of you watched the Chinese version. A couple of observations: The book is definitely somewhat thin when it comes to characterization, and you're right, the show did add some depth without veering away from the book. Second point - I completely get IFR saying the pacing was too slow; it surely isn't suitable for most western viewers. However, for me, that is a huge plus of the series. 30 episodes (with ENG subs) allows it to adhere to the book, and it totally worked for me. I think we can safely assume Netflix will take the opposite route - fast pacing, lots of crashes and bangs and no too much dialogue wasted on science-and-philosophy stuff (or keeping it pretentiously mysterious, like Westworld). Having loved the ROEP books, I'd be banging my head on a wall watching this upcoming series, but thanks to the Tencent version I'll content myself with smugly thinking, 'Yeah, whatever. I already saw the good version'.
  15. It's an intriguing theory, but if LF hired a FM to assassinate Ned, why not get him to off both Jon Arryn and Bran? Or is this 'proof' that he had no role in hiring the catspaw? EDIT: Just watched the video - it's quite convincing, actually. One further thought re. means if not motive: who could have secreted JH into the cell? Not LF, but Varys. We later learn that one of his disguises is keeper of the keys of the Red Keep dungeon.
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