The Bard of Banefort

He stopped doing the chapter reviews a year or two ago, and I had assumed that he just lost morale after waiting for Winds for so long. I hadn’t realized he was sick.

Steven Attewell (Race for the Iron Throne) has died from cancer.

I’ll say this, he certainly looks like he could be related to show-Brienne. I wonder if they’ll try to get a big name for Baelor, since D&E are both relative unknowns. I like the Oscar Isaac fan casting, but he might be too expensive lol.

I completely disagree. It’s kill or be killed. The Greens would never be safe if Rhaenyra took the throne, and vice versa. I don’t see how Alicent recognizing this makes her a wicked stepmother. Her caring more about Rhaenyra’s claim than her own children’s safety would just be nonsensical.

Alicent’s rationale could be that Daemon is a psychopath who killed his own wife and would definitely murder her children to secure the throne. They made Daemon so obviously evil on the show that it’s silly for Alicent not to expect that to happen if Rhaenyra takes the throne. Crowning Aegon would be about saving her family.

Should we read anything into them dropping the trailers on the same day that 3BP premiered? From what I’ve read, D&D have been very careful not to say anything negative about GOT/HBO/GRRM on their press tour, so things don’t seem to be too bad at the moment.

Apparently that’s Sunfyre in the Dragonpit.

Looks like they’re really going to showcase Aegon more this season, which is promising. TGC has shown a lot of potential so far. It’s interesting how Aemond already seems to be subtly replacing Daemon in terms of marketing. It reminds me how Stranger Things relied so heavily on Winona Ryder to promote the show at first, only to then switch the focus almost entirely to the kids. Ewan must really be driving online traffic. Still no sign of Alys, curiously. Well, I was way off-base about assuming they’d hype Winterfell. There have only been slight hints to the northern storyline so far. As an aside, Jace is in the scene at Dragonstone where Rheanyra declares her intention to fight for the throne, so either that scene takes place at the end of the season, or the Winterfell arc is a short one. I’m sorry, but I can’t get past how stupid the Alicent-misunderstands-Viserys’-deathbed-ramblings twist is. It’s so, so bad.

Man, they’re really sleeping on Jace. Shame.

I think HOTD is trying to set up Rhaenyra’s downfall as her being destroyed by the patriarchy, rather than having her actually be cruel or incompetent. Same with Alicent.

Aegon’s Conquest is good for the lore, but it’s a pretty boring story on its own, with the Targs just steam-rolling over everyone. I’m also not sure how you could portray them as the heroes here in this day and age.

Looking back at the Tamzin Merchant recasting mystery, I would guess that the most likely reason she was replaced was probably just that she wanted more money. It would explain why everyone was so cagey about the recasting (salaries aren’t something that’s really discussed publicly), and why the other “established actresses” who were offered the role before Emilia turned it down. Pretty much all of the young cast in season one were unknowns who likely weren’t getting paid much by Hollywood standards. (And just speaking from my own experience in the job market, I have definitely noticed that the lower I put my “desired salary” on a job application, the more likely I am to get an interview. I’ve heard similar things from other people.)

He said last year was a bad one for him professionally, too. Obviously the writing isn’t going well, but I think he was probably alluding more to the TV projects, since that’s what seems to give him the most joy at this point in his career. Maybe these spin-off shows are just getting too expensive. His latest blog post was also a reminder for me that as old as I may feel at times, I still have a long way to go. There are a lot of think pieces going around these days asking “why don’t young people care about x, y, z?” But that’s just part of getting on in life. You can’t exist in a permanent state of hysteria, especially when so much of what’s going on in the world is beyond your control.

Judging by his latest blog post, I wouldn’t expect a new book anytime soon. He’s clearly not in a good headspace. The most we can do is pray for another Miracle Mets season, because I think that’s the only thing that would be able to considerably lift his spirits at this point.

Nailed it.