FanTasy

In my country Season Two has not been on TV (well, it's a bloody shame, Season One will be aired this autumn ...) so I had to view season 2 at some health risks for my computer, and not always in good quality. Although I mourn the loss of lots of character development and scenes that I loved from the books I suppose the adaptation is as good as one can expect from an adaptation. I have read all novels for the fifth time, so there is a chance I like them a lot. It would simply be not fair to expect the TV show to live up to that. Mainly they stayed true to the story, I think. I watched it with an open mind and tried to see its merits as just that, an adaptation. No more, no less - and kudo's to the show. If I would allow myself to be upset about what they did not show, it would be for the character development of Arya. I'm not sure what happens with her characterwise will be fully understood now that her life at Harrenhal is shown as a cupbearer for Tywin Lannister. Sure, she observes cruelty, but in the books she is in a much less comfortable position. That made the choices she made for the names she gave to Jaqen in the books not wise but very understandable, considering what she went through and the fears she had. The names she gave Jaqen in the show made her choices silly, I'm afraid to say. Maybe the show is saving the hardening of her character and the actions that she takes according to this hardening till a particular event in season 3. Joffrey ... I admire what is done with the character in the show but I mourn the loss of pity that I have always had for him when reading the books. For as evil as his actions are, in the books he is someone to feel pity for: a disturbed, very evil boy, abandoned by his two fathers and used for her own purposes by his mother, The adaptation for me leaves no room for pity for this character and so there is loss of character depth. Dany. I was surprised what they have done to her storyline in Episode 10. I think they could not show the visons and prophecies of the House of the Undying at this stage. You can read about this in a book but I guess it can't be shown on screen. What they did show was very telling though: the throne room in ruins, nothing for her there, explaining the choices she makes in season 3 - and the choice she makes at that tent that is located near the Wall. Nicely done. Jon and Sam. Oh boy. The scenery was great and I'm thankful that it matched what I envisioned and felt of the scenery beyond the Wall when I read the books. Sam is the Sam I picture in my mind when I read the books, Alas ... Jon in the TV Show is not the character I grew to find very, very interesting and multi-layered, when reading the books. But let's wait and see what the actor can do with the character in Season 3. The white walkers. I liked very much what they did in the scene with Sam, the image of them 'herding' the wights. They came close to my image of the white walkers, allthough they were a bit too solid. In my mind they have always been sort of made up of the white mist that is connected to them. All in all, I liked Episode 10 and Season 2 as an adaptation. I'm thankful for the TV Show for the images that fit with the images I have made up in my mind, for the landscapes and for some characters. My 'Jorah' was a different Jorah than Ian Glenn, but he made it change. The same with Bronn, the Hound, Stannis, Theon, Tywin. I have more trouble with the image of the show-Cersei, Catelyn, Tyrion, But lets see what they will do with their characters in Season Three. Edited for typo's and spelling.

Ow forgot: Stannis and Melisandre: yes of course we knew from the books they had sex. The one thing I found disappointing that the show suggests Stannis does it because he is promised a son. The books are clear imo, although subtle: he has sex with her because he knows it will cause Renly's death.

Loved the way they made Pyke look. Awsome. Loved Ghost even more ... they put in the red eyes at last. In general: mixed feelings. But I realise it would be nearly impossible for Season 2 of the show to get me hooked completely. Season 1 taught me GRRM and the books existed :blushing: and after that I have read the books several times. So my hopes were not that high up when watching Season 2 ... But to give credit to the show: I like what they are doing. You have to be very explicit, you can't use the subtle build up in the books. - Suspicions confirmed that Joffrey could have had a hand in ordering the slaying of the bastard children in Kings Landing. It fits in that the show seems to make Cersei look more as a counterpart of Catelyn, less evil and disturbed than she is in the books. - Littlefingers scene with Roz: I get why at this stage they have to picture him as an evil schemer and a pimp. Otherwise viewers wouldn't get what happens between him and Sansa later on. - Bronn as commander of the City Watch was a shock. I suppose they are cutting the whole thing with Lollys and found a way to get him in a position where his later choices will be better understood. - Silver and the bloodrider: digressions I can understand, serving the goal of fleshing up Dany's desperate situation - Craster whacking Jon I definitely didn't like, have to wait how they are resolving this in Episode 3 but it was a thing I disliked. I can understand they must have a cliffhanger for the audience that has not read the books. - Jacqen, Rorge and Biter: nice. Aptly done. - Tyrion: mixed feelings. Found his acting performance better in Season 1. He gives the impression of a bad ass and not the man who is ambition driven but at the main time terribly insecure. All in all kudo's for the show runners.

Just a suggestion to the honorable Sers that produce the TV adaptation of the books - if there is a great cheering crowd needed at the end of Season 7/8, to invite some folks from westeros.org :cool4: And a cameo by GRRM would be nice :devil:

Ha, I thought about Buffy too when Sam was called Slayer. There is also this image of Azor Ahai driving a sword through the one he loves to save the world. I thought about that scene where Buffy puts a sword through Angel to save the world. The 'dead things in the water' in the disturbing letter Jon got from Cotter Pyke(?) reminded me of the dead things in the water in that cave Dumbledore and Harry Potter visited. And of course there is the scene in LOTR. Creepy.

I'm relatively new to fantasy, but evidently LOTR (don't ever throw things in wells) and Dune (the father will perish in the first book) came to my mind as reference and hommage. As well as the direwolfs in relation to the daemons in His Dark Materials. Some Harry Potter popped up (the Snapes are not bad to the core and the Dumbledores have their own agendas; if wou mess with your death your soul is severely damaged). I thought that there are obvious references and hommages to the Robert Frost poem in the plot, in many ways. Strangely I have not found anything about this in interviews, but I have not read, seen and listened to all in So Spake Martin. This is a nice thread, by the way.