The Bard of Banefort

So do you believe this theory then?

Three Body Problem is set to premiere this spring. As much as I hate how much I’ve been defending D&D this year. . . doesn’t this all fly in the face of the allegation that they rushed GOT to start their movie career? Wouldn’t they be off making movies now in that case?

I’m planning on seeing this one in-person. I haven’t seen a movie in theaters since before COVID.

This might make me a traitor, but I would be perfectly fine with GRRM taking a break from Winds to write more DnE, the same way he stopped writing Winds to focus on the Dance (he more or less confirmed that FnB was written to get ahead of HOTD). And I’m willing to bet that I’m not the only one who feels this way. If the DnE show is a hit, I could see them deciding to end it mid-way, like with Egg becoming king. It would avoid another tragic ending, and let’s be real, no one is going to want to watch an elderly Dunk & Egg. It didn’t work with Indiana Jones, and in that case, they still had the same actor.

George uses a lot of foreshadowing in his books, so I always wondered if there is something in She-Wolves that would spoil Winds, and that’s why he shelved it.

I keep hearing people say that the next two DnE books (She-Wolves and Village Hero) are basically done but just need to be edited. Is there any truth to this or is it just a fandom urban legend?

. . . where else would they be filming?

We’re talking about the stack of papers on his desk.

Are you going to make a video about this? It’s pretty funny.

Someone on Reddit managed to decode the blacked-out part of GRRM’s original pitch letter when that came out, so hopefully they can figure this one out too.

What’s surprising is that they were able to trace this back directly to Bloys himself. Shady social media shenanigans is something I would expect from the comms team, not the CEO. It reminds me of how some authors/publishers were exposed for trying to dogpile negative reviewers on Goodreads years ago (most of whom were not professional reviewers, mind you).

Speaking of Winds’ writing process, George’s minions posted this to his Twitter: Now we just have to wait for someone with high-tech software to decode what’s written on the page.

Are they still doing the ASOIAF comics? Clash finished a while ago.

The interesting thing about reading show-fans’ thoughts on HOTD online is that the most consistent critique I see, aside from “not enough happening,” is that it doesn’t have a Tyrion—not even Tyrion himself, but just a character who fills a similar role (the Hound gets mentioned quite a bit too). Book-fans spent so much time rolling our eyes at St. Tyrion that it was easy to forget how much of a draw he was for the show. Aside from Mushroom, the only character I think could have been refashioned into someone more Tyrion-like would have been Larys. But I’ve long felt that Larys would have been a better character if they made him less overtly evil. It also makes me wonder how much of a franchise’s success is based on loyalty to certain archetypes. All the main Star Wars movies included a trio, a master and apprentice, a bad guy in a black cape, a droid, etc. James Bond avoided the issue entirely by having the character live forever. Even the Rings of Power showrunners were right on the money when they said that any LOTR product needed some kind of hobbit to succeed. Perhaps that’s part of why Marvel has been struggling for the past few years: none of the new characters have been able to fill the shoes of Tony Stark and Steve Rogers.

Looks like Euphoria will probably be filming next year too, but I have to wonder, is Sam Levinson on his way to getting Joss Whedon-ed? He wasn’t named in the lawsuit that revealed the fake Twitter accounts, but it sounds like he’s unpleasant to work for. HBO seems to love these auteur showrunners, but the price may be outweighing the prize here.

Sounds like we’ll be getting a trailer soon. https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/house-of-the-dragon-season-2-premiere-summer-2024-1235773002/

It’s interesting that Daeron the Drunken was named for Daeron II, which would indicate that he was the firstborn grandson. Perhaps it just took Baelor and Rhaegal longer to conceive, or there were miscarriages, but Maekar seems to have been married off fairly young (not unlike Viserys II, although he probably wasn’t quite that young). On the topic of names, it was pretty dumb for Daeron not to name any of his sons Aegon. He wore his father’s crown, after all, so he clearly understood appearances. GRRM does tend to take a romantic approach to marriage, where people would rather stay unwed for thirty years than love again. The kings who did remarry (Maegor, Viserys I), aren’t regarded fondly for doing so. Even Alyssa Velaryon’s second marriage is painted as bad judgement on her part.

If George introduced a new queen for someone at some point, I think Maekar would be the best bet. I don’t think it’s likely to happen, but it is a little weird that, in spite of his many heirs, Maekar was widowed so young and remained unwed for all that time. (It would also be really funny if there were some scenes of eligible ladies fawning over him and him being all gruff and uncomfortable in response haha).

There are now rumors that, in addition to Daeron, Nettles has also been cut from S2, and possibly from the whole show, which is certainly. . . a choice. With Nettles specifically, this goes back to the discussion about whether Daemon could realistically be “redeemed” through his love for a teenage girl. S1 made the decision to lean in to the view of Daemon as a predator, and the showrunners have been pretty staunch in defending that decision. Still, Nettles is a popular character that a lot of fans were excited about seeing onscreen, so it will be a shame if she’s cut. As for Daeron. . . maybe they just don’t have the budget for another dragon (and rider) this season? It wouldn’t surprise me if they cut back the number of episodes in order to make their funds spread further. That could also be a contributing factor for Nettles/Sheepstealer, especially since this season will likely include the highest number of individual dragons.

Further proof that, yes, media companies do try to find ways to control the narrative online: https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/hbo-casey-bloys-secret-twitter-trolls-tv-critics-leaked-texts-lawsuit-the-idol-1234867722/ The first example cited is from 2020, which makes me think that the GOT backlash probably played a direct role in creating this strategy.

For the life of me, I can’t figure out how they’re going to stretch The Hedge Knight into six episodes. And however silly it may sound to some of you, many viewers are definitely going to confuse Daemon Blackfyre with Daemon Targaryen.

Not to mention that, having watched this fandom now for the better part of a decade, I am certain that even if TWOW is junk, ASOIAF fans will come to regard it as a masterpiece within five years’ time. That’s just the nature of this fandom. (And I say this as someone who was genuinely excited when Fire & Blood was announced and didn’t need several years to start liking it). There will be a barrage of people online who don’t like it at first, and I expect that the arguments over what is or isn’t problematic will probably get much worse, but after a while the haters will drift off and the people who like the books will stick around (even if they also like to whine).

Stabbing and throwing a grown man in armor takes a hell of a lot of strength.

Podrick Payne. We really don’t talk enough about how a ten year old was able to kill a kingsguard knight in the middle of a battle.

Well, we now have a statistic even more depressing than ‘Daenerys has been in Meereen since the Clinton administration’: the LAPD managed the solve Tupac’s murder before George finished ASOIAF. Tupac died the same summer AGOT was published