Ran

Willig was a suitably threatening, murderous gangster in Dexter, but other than that, I've not seen him in anything. Obviously, because of his size and build, he gets cast in a lot of parts as "Big Brutal Tough Guy #1", but that's typecasting for you.

It's entirely possible that the westermen are going to speak with American accents; Dinklage is American, Coster-Waldau has largely acted in the U.S. We know casting also took place in L.A. and N.Y., so they clearly expanded things a bit. It's true, though, that he could also fit for Drogo.

Actually, re-reading the description of Sandor, Willig isn't even that bad a match face wise. Sort of heavy-browed, big nose, not exactly gaunt but there's some sharpness to his features.

It seems probable that Willig has auditioned for the part -- can't be many HBO pilots needing a 6'8" actor besides GoT. This doesn't mean he's getting the role though, it should be said. The Hound can't be considered handsome, even. George has said so. He's gaunt-faced, heavy-browed, thin haired, with a large hooked nose .... yeah, not many ladies are going to swoon over him because of his pretty face. ;) George has explicitly said that the Hound's not handsome, too, when saying that there's a bit of his earlier character Bretan Braith in Sandor, except Bretan was handsome before he was burned and Sandor wasn't.

Someone's notion that Matthew Willig was after the part based on comments in a recent profile or interview was interesting to me. He certainly has the size and physique, relatively speaking.

Gotten rid of that article for now, while I see if an e-mail does any wonders, or perhaps David and Dan would be so kind as to end our suspense. ;)

Wow. You're absolutely right. I don't know how I misread that article so completely.... oh, I see. I first came across this, searched for the source report that they were using for that tidbit, and for whatever reason that very strange article just points out Bokelberg worked twice with McCarthy without really explaining why it's noting that. With the blog post in mind, I just didn't parse the actual article closely enough. Hrm, hrm. Well, nothing for it but to ask someone in the know.

Re: Director of Photography, I think I posted elsewhere that Oliver Bokelberg seems to be selected as the Director of Photography for the pilot. He's collaborated with McCarthy before on The Station Agent and The Visitor. This is of July 20, there was a news item about it.

Three are all that are ever mentioned, though. Bran is really interested in them and provides the names, so ... I think he would have provided the rest if they were present.

Nope. Barristan doesn't show up until after Robert and co. clear the Neck.

Sandor's not a knight. George mentioned Ser Rodrik as one of a number of minor roles that were yet to be cast, so he seems pretty likely, or perhaps one of the Kingsguard accompanying Robert, Boros or Meryn.

I distinctly recall that George has read half of the second Davos chapter, SPOILER: Davos 2taking place at White Harbor but I admit I'm not sure where the report for it is located.

It's a whole chapter.

Jaime, Brynden Rivers, and his mother was a Blackwood, not a Bracken. We see lots of houses that follow the Old Gods. Not a one of them other than the Reeds or the Starks (who must be among the purest of First Men houses) have shown such ability (with the possible exception of Jeor Mormont), whereas Bloodraven was half-Targaryen and who knows how much Andal blood the Blackwoods (surrounded by Andals, as they were) have. This is neither here nor there -- after all, most of the Starks are half-Tully -- but I wouldn't make any claims regarding Bloodraven being a skinchanger, not least because there's absolutely no reference to actual ravens being around his person in TSS. His association with ravens has solely to do with his parentage and the birthmark on his face. As to pale skin, note that all the wights are described as pale, as far as I can tell -- certainly Jafer Flowers was. Fairly natural when your blood has congealed and congregated at the ends of your extremities, I suppose.

The "thousand eyes and one" thing clearly refers to the fact that he had hundred of informants, just as Varys did. I'm not really sure where the notion that he had ravens spying for him comes from...

Welcome to the board, Painty and Goldaline. Painty, I do second Stubby -- keep away from spoilers if you mean to read the whole series and haven't yet! If you do feel the need to ask a question, start a thread and make it very, very clear indeed that you don't want to be spoiled past A Game of Thrones. :) Bean should be a fantastic Ned Stark.

All Sam says is that Coldhands doesn't have blue eyes. It's a fair point that, having been able to see his eyes, you'd think he'd notice if he had just the one (if he were Bloodraven). But I suppose it's not conclusive.

Destillat, The wolves are roughly ~2.5 years old at this stage, give or take; in real wolves, sexual maturity is achieved at around 2. Possibly direwolves take longer than that, but Grey Wind and Nymeria are repeatedly described as "monstrous" and "huge" in ACoK and ASoS. The direwolves are probably at or pretty close to their maximum adult size now.

Summer would be about the size of a pony at this stage -- though of course, what sort of pony is, I guess, a bit of a question. But yes, certainly, Summer ought to be able to tear apart a regular wolf... though Varamyr's one-eyed wolf was old and cunning, so perhaps experience has a bit to do with why it may have been able to put up a worthwhile fight.

I don't know. I imagine a man used to hunting game would probably be just as matter of fact about such things. We shall see!

We really don't know anything about the magic involved in reanimating him. Perhaps it's a gift of the Three-Eyed Crow. That he doesn't reveal himself is meaningless as well, as it seems to me one could just as well not do it in preference to scaring your nephew needlessly. But yes, Bloodraven is, I suppose, some sort of possibility; although it seems to me he would have been rather old to end up wandering off the Wall to be turned undead.

A good point that I hadn't thought of. As I recall, Jafer Flowers' blood was quite congealed. So, if it's Ollo and co., they abandoned Craster's and somehow were able to stay alive for ... how long? For a long, long time given the state of affairs. It's ~two weeks from when Sam met them at the Nightfort. Sam and Gilly took at the very least a week, probably more like two, to get to the Nightfort. So we're talking the mutineers having survived for a month or so in what now seems to be deep Other territory. Perhaps the Others gave Craster's a wide berth for awhile, continuing with their "agreement".

Excellent report, thanks! It's interesting that Coldhands keeps his face hidden. I suppose it might be because it's horribly disfigured/rotted, but it does leave the possibility that he's Benjen aside. Is there any reference to his voice? Perhaps it's muffled, or perhaps otherwise strange... I do think it's a fair bet that those were some of the surviving mutineers, particularly Ollo Lophand. Yet, I rather wonder if they were actually alive or if they had been turned into wights? We know from the Varamyr prologue that the wolves see a bunch of wights -- might some of them moved after them? The last green seer... So the children of the forest have been dying out. Will this make the green men of the Isle of Faces more important? I wish someone had been able to ask about that, to see if it was still in George's plans. Hrm, hrm...

That's correct, but you can put an image on a third party site and link it as your avatar. The Board FAQ covers how that works. :)

Oh, BTW, we dropped down to PHP 5.2.10. Scafloc, could you see if that fixes the template issue you mentioned earlier?