Darryk

Been pissed off by adaptations lately but it's encouraging that Neil Gaiman is involved.

I don't see how it could end other than with the Wildlings taking over the wall. Don't they outnumber the Night's Watch by some distance? I imagine Melissandre plays a role in keeping Jon's body intact. I don't think she gives up her belief the way she does in the show. I reckon in the books she's become convinced by now that Jon is the true saviour, not Stannis. So my guess is her and the wildlings take control of Jon's body and probably put it in an ice cell to preserve it. Meanwhile Jon's consciousness is in Ghost who, as far as I remember, is still locked in Jon's quarters. Maybe Melissandre releases him. What does he do then? No idea. I don't see how there's anywhere for Ghost-Jon to go other than to stay with the wildlings. Meanwhile I think Stannis takes Winterfell, but goes gradually more insane and eventually becomes what Dany saw in her vision. Maybe Melissandre sacrifices Shireen to try and bring Jon back?

I agree that Bran and Arya would benefit the most from it, but I would add Jon to the list of people who benefit. Five years makes him a more experienced Lord Commander who's potentially found out more about the White Walker threat. I also agree Stannis would be the biggest problem. No sense for him to stay stuck at The Wall for five years. I don't think Cersei would've been a problem, we don't need to see her toxic thought processes, we can easily imagine how bad her leadership would've been. Ultimately I would've liked a five-year gap because I like epic stories that span years. That's one of the things I like about The Expanse.

When I first read the books (after season 2 of the show) I was very sympathetic to him because I had the much more likeable Peter Dinklage version in my head. But on re-reads I've become more aware of how reprehensible at times. Like in book 5 where he says he wants to "rape and kill" his sister, and he bangs a prostitute who is described as being barely aware of what's going on. He's clearly meant to be Richard III, but GRRM said in an interview that he liked Richard III, so who knows where Tyrion is going to end up.

I was thinking the other day that The Expanse may be the best sci-fi / fantasy series I've seen, mainly because it maintained the same serious tone and atmosphere throughout the series without ever descending into schlock. The Mandalorian, I feel, is starting to descend into schlock, I can see the signs. Hopefully they turn it around in the third season, but Book of Boba Fett showed signs of the inevitable slide into cheesiness and schlock that besets Star Wars in general. Game of Thrones, obviously, got so caught up in its own popularity and became very smug and self-indulgent near the end, with gross fan service (the bad kind) and the cringeworthy Ed Sheeran cameo. The Expanse never lost direction or descended into schlock. That makes it unique amongst sci fi / fantasy series.

So no fight in the clouds between Rand and Ishamael then? Goddamn you Rafe.

I also think he will die much earlier in the books. Theon too.

But surely the heir has to be on the Targaryen side? Personally I think Bran will be elected king by a Grand Council of all the lords in the realm. Why he'll be elected, I have no idea.

I enjoyed the finale, although it didn't really feel like the end 'cause I know the books go on. But in some ways I got some things from this finale that I wanted to get but didn't from the GoT finale. The scene where Holden gets offered the role of President gave me feelings that I wanted to get from GoT but instead got the anti-climax of Bran becoming king. Then the part where Holden resigns was also great, a very Jon Snow moment.

Jon gave that cretin Janos Slynt a chance to redeem himself, and Slynt threw it back in his face. Furthermorr, Janos losing his head was poetic justice, for Janos Slynt's corruption led to good man losing his head!

What was also really weird was I like to think of the end of the book 12 as the real ending of the series, for me that was the pay off and the true victory.

You're gonna get what's coming to ya, Bowen Marsh.

Remember when they asked Robert Jordan about the harem, hoping for some sophisticated reason as to why it was part of the story, and his answer was basically: I'm sure he was just trying to be funny, but the whole thing still felt pointless by the end of the story.

Well speaking only for myself, I struggled through book 7 to 11, but thought book 12 was pretty good, and the ending to book 12 in particular made the whole series worthwhile for me. Book 13 and 14 I had mixed feelings about, I wasn't particularly happy with where the story went, but they are more action-packed.

Why the hell is Gitara telling Moraine to "kill it" in that script? I remember that flashback from the books (can't remember if it was one of the main books or from New Spring) but I don't recall her telling Moraine to kill it? Why would she do that? Yeah, they're afraid of the Dragon Reborn but they know they need him. Also that scene is just so badly written. So much extraneous dialogue.

I wish there was a page for Wheel of Time as funny as Freefolk on Reddit was for Game of Thrones. The memes on that thread made the disaster of GoT season 8 worth it.

How did he fail Westeros in its hour of need? He's like, the only guy trying to marshal everyone against the White Walkers.

Wow, the actress playing Lanfear.....Rand, you lucky bastard.

He really sounds like a dick, don't buy that he's a fan of the books as he claims. So he's not just emulating Dan Benioff and DB Weiss' egomania in thinking they can adapt books in such a haphazard way, he wants to share their sadistic joy in killing off characters too? Can imagine the three of them gathering around a table and drinking vodka as they celebrate how many fans they pissed off.

That doesn't sound good. Find it hard to believe Amazon doesn't have the budget to support a large ensemble cast. My guess is Moraine will die instead of being stuck in that portal then, which is a shame, cause the part where Mat rescued her was pretty bad ass.

Like I say, if you read it at the right time in your life (18 years old in my case, when the only other fantasy I'd read was Tolkien and Raymond E. Feist), it's pure magic. I personally found Egwene to be the most annoying character in the history of literature, and Nynaeve not that far behind. They're both more likeable in the series, because I get to see them as actual people, whereas in the books the way they're written just makes them feel like caricatures.

Well he has memories of things Lews Therin did, which confirms to the audience that he's the Dragon. How Rand himself was able to conclude that he's the Dragon, I've got no frigging idea. In the books he's still hoping it's not true right up until he gets Callandor.

I think a part of Jon wanted revenge for Ned, else he may have dealt more leniently with Slynt. That said, on a legal basis, he was completely within his rights to execution Slynt for treason.

I'll be surprised if it has anywhere near the pull. I think the GoT's characters, and the performances of the actors playing them, were a large ingredient in its insane popularity. The likes of Ned Stark, Tyrion, Arya etc really grabbed the hearts of the audience, plus characters people loved to hate, like Joffrey, plus really unique characters like Varys. I haven't read Fire and Blood yet; I read the Princess and the Queen, I just don't see the characters featured in the Dance of Dragons being as iconic.

Aaaaand he looks pretty much how I pictured him