[Book spoilers] Thenn Cannibalism

[Hippocras]

Palatable. :D

Har!

[HannibalStark]

I agree with a lot so posts here. It was a very large deviation from the books, but it served an important purpose:

1. It introduced cannibalism, which is relevant in the books because of Skagos but Skagos will be cut from the TV show so they needed another way.

2. It helped barbarian-ize the wildlings in the build-up to the war at the Wall.

3. It is not groundless.

I am pretty sure it was the Thenns at Mole Town who were giving Jon the most trouble after they came South of the Wall. It was also them who went around carving new terrible faces in trees around the Gift, in spite of their supposed conversion to R'hllor. The are several book hints of some vicious Old Gods practices, via that terrible Weirwood at Whitetree Village where they found the bones of a human child in the mouth. Craster's mother was from Whitetree village also. So we already know that the Old Gods are as grey as anything else in theses books and have an evil side. That needed to be clarified and the Thenns were a way to do that.

vicious old Gods yes.....just like in Brans vision he sees a woman with a bronze sickle slice open a mans throat in front of the heart tree in the Winterfell Godswood made me think of the Thenns...I can 100% see them as being vicious, but vicious is one thing, preferring the marbled man meat of kneelers so they can enjoy eating them more is another. There seems to be a lot made about blood sacrifices before weirwoods and with how the Thenns more closely resemble the First Men than the others.

So much as I can remember , eating people is a wee bit different from blood sacrifices though...and I don't recall cannibalism being associated with the Thenns or the First Men in any way.

I guess its one way to show that the Thenns don't get along with the other Free Folk...and there is/was at least one Wildling group that does eat people I think, besides the Skagosi.

I kinda liked the Thenns in the books though...and the canablism was more alluded to than out right shown. But maybe this will mean Rickon is hiding with the Thenns in the end of the show?

[Dany's Golden Fleece]

Jon accepts cannibals at the Wall in the books as well - the Ice River Clans. It's just rather glossed over.

Won't the tv watching audience balk at Jon letting the wildlings in. Can you imagine the audience reaction with Jon discussing strategy with a Thenn? Interesting move by D&D.

I am actually starting to understand the fears of Bowen and co thanks to the show haha funnily enough. Bringing cannibals through the wall voluntarily, wow, when you think about it.

[protar]

Won't the tv watching audience balk at Jon letting the wildlings in. Can you imagine the audience reaction with Jon discussing strategy with a Thenn? Interesting move by D&D.

I am actually starting to understand the fears of Bowen and co thanks to the show haha funnily enough. Bringing cannibals through the wall voluntarily, wow, when you think about it.

That's a good thing. GoT is supposed to be all about moral ambiguity, and sadly a lot of it has been stripped away. If they're bringing some back that's great.

[enyellara]

vicious old Gods yes.....just like in Brans vision he sees a woman with a bronze sickle slice open a mans throat in front of the heart tree in the Winterfell Godswood made me think of the Thenns...I can 100% see them as being vicious, but vicious is one thing, preferring the marbled man meat of kneelers so they can enjoy eating them more is another. There seems to be a lot made about blood sacrifices before weirwoods and with how the Thenns more closely resemble the First Men than the others.

So much as I can remember , eating people is a wee bit different from blood sacrifices though...and I don't recall cannibalism being associated with the Thenns or the First Men in any way.

I guess its one way to show that the Thenns don't get along with the other Free Folk...and there is/was at least one Wildling group that does eat people I think, besides the Skagosi.

I kinda liked the Thenns in the books though...and the canablism was more alluded to than out right shown. But maybe this will mean Rickon is hiding with the Thenns in the end of the show?

Well, They can not be complete bad if they take care of a lost little boy and do not eat him.

[The Prince of Newcastle]

I'm not too bothered about them being changed but why not just use the actual cannibal clan and keep the Thenns civilised?

[Ravenstooth]

They did not need to mess with the character of the Thenns. If they wanted cannibals they should have used the ice river clan. If I remember correctly the Thenns see themselves as the last of the first men. I liked the idea that with the Thenns we had a glimpse of what westerosi culture might have been like before the andals.

[Hippocras]

They did not need to mess with the character of the Thenns. If they wanted cannibals they should have used the ice river clan. If I remember correctly the Thenns see themselves as the last of the first men. I liked the idea that with the Thenns we had a glimpse of what westerosi culture might have been like before the andals.

Which may still be true even if they were cannibals. I mean how do we know the First Men were not cannibals? So far the Northerners seem quite vicious in general. The Skagosi are reported to be closest to wildlings AND are reported to be cannibals, so connect the dots. The Hill Tribes are like the First Men, and they burn their body parts for fun and wear ear necklaces.

[Theda Baratheon]

They did not need to mess with the character of the Thenns. If they wanted cannibals they should have used the ice river clan. If I remember correctly the Thenns see themselves as the last of the first men. I liked the idea that with the Thenns we had a glimpse of what westerosi culture might have been like before the andals.

I agree.

Could have kept the Ice River clans, they COULD have made the Thenns pretty intimidating, but why make them look like extras from Mad fucking Max and are cannibals to top it all off???

They could have showed divide between the wildlings better and the whole 'you should eat crow' and close up of the arm was so naff, i'm sorry.

[The Fourth Head]

Cannibalism does not have to equal vicious- it just does in Styr's case because he's a nasty guy, but I would imagine you get all sorts of people in Thenn society just as you do in other groups, or other families. Assuming they are all vicious is prejudice, based on disgust and fear- as expressed by Tormund- but hating Thenns doesn't men all Thenns are hateful- all of which applys to the Skagg's in the book.

Considering the Magnar has absolute control, they could have all manner of laws and codes that they abide by strictly and to the letter on pain of death. Ie- never kill a fellow Thenn. Never eat an ally. Only eat the enemy. Use fear and prejudice of Canniballism to your advantage by intimidating the enemy and making yourself look scary. Only eat your enemies as as symbolic deterrent. (note- Styr wants to dictate strategy to Tormund and the dead Crows work well as a means to an end- ie, Styr was probably laying it on a bit thick, because it suited him- all that talk about Marbling etc) Or- when facing starvation, rather than walk off into the snow to die, or kill your children than watch them suffer like the summer-softened northerners do, be a man and offer yourself up to the rest to improve your family's chances of survival. Offer your blood to the heart tree and hope the COFT will protect you from the Others. There is nothing vicious and savage about any of that- it could all be highly rational behaviour.

In Summer, The Thenns may well choose not to eat any human flesh- it;s just a last resort when facing starvation, or to intimidate/deter the enemy, and to appease the gods. Otherwise, they eat normal food.

[paronomasia]

I agree.

Could have kept the Ice River clans, they COULD have made the Thenns pretty intimidating, but why make them look like extras from Mad fucking Max and are cannibals to top it all off???

They could have showed divide between the wildlings better and the whole 'you should eat crow' and close up of the arm was so naff, i'm sorry.

Bear in mind that they only have a limited amount of time to show everything. It could well be that they decided they couldn't justify introducing two new wildling clans, and so had to merge all the traits they wanted into a single clan. They would then have chosen the Thenns because they are named, with characters who had at least a minor role in the book. The ice river clans were only briefly mentioned.

[Hippocras]

Bear in mind that they only have a limited amount of time to show everything. It could well be that they decided they couldn't justify introducing two new wildling clans, and so had to merge all the traits they wanted into a single clan. They would then have chosen the Thenns because they are named, with characters who had at least a minor role in the book. The ice river clans were only briefly mentioned.

I agree. There just is not enough time and budget to introduce too many types of wildlings. We are going to have to go with the ok ones like Tormund and the very scary ones like the show version Thenns.

[King Tam Stark]

They reminded me of Victor Kruger from The Highlander movie.

Haven't read through the thread but the tv thenns are possibly merged with the skagosi, one of the Skagosi Houses is Magnar so maybe they are trying to merge that house with The Magnar of Thenn.

[Rhaquentis]

There are still many episodes to go, many chances for the audience to love/hate the characters yet :D They went with the badass/dark intro for the Thenns for now. At least they will be memorable?

[Theda Baratheon]

Bear in mind that they only have a limited amount of time to show everything. It could well be that they decided they couldn't justify introducing two new wildling clans, and so had to merge all the traits they wanted into a single clan. They would then have chosen the Thenns because they are named, with characters who had at least a minor role in the book. The ice river clans were only briefly mentioned.

I understand this and it doesn't mean I have to like everything because of the ''budget''

I like the fact that the Thenns were scary and that Tormund didn't like them, but I just think they were really cartoony and the whole cannibalism thing just made me think of the movie Doomsday.

They reminded me of Victor Kruger from The Highlander movie.

LOL. I thought the same and they reminded me of the crazies in Mad Max.

[yushkevitch]

Bear in mind that they only have a limited amount of time to show everything. It could well be that they decided they couldn't justify introducing two new wildling clans, and so had to merge all the traits they wanted into a single clan. They would then have chosen the Thenns because they are named, with characters who had at least a minor role in the book. The ice river clans were only briefly mentioned.

Exactly.

[briantw]

Won't the tv watching audience balk at Jon letting the wildlings in. Can you imagine the audience reaction with Jon discussing strategy with a Thenn? Interesting move by D&D.

I am actually starting to understand the fears of Bowen and co thanks to the show haha funnily enough. Bringing cannibals through the wall voluntarily, wow, when you think about it.

Jon was able to bring a whole lot of wildlings who were certainly bad and/or vicious people through the Wall. He was willing to bring in others who were even worse (like the Weeper). This wouldn't be out of character at all for him, especially if he comes to an agreement with the Thenns that they have to drop their cannibalistic practices.

That, of course, is assuming any of them survive.

[GallowKnight]

I think the worst part of the cannibalism was that it was introduced in such a silly way. The arm on the spit looked more comical than anything else, like something right out of a goofy splatter-movie.

[HannibalStark]

Bear in mind that they only have a limited amount of time to show everything. It could well be that they decided they couldn't justify introducing two new wildling clans, and so had to merge all the traits they wanted into a single clan. They would then have chosen the Thenns because they are named, with characters who had at least a minor role in the book. The ice river clans were only briefly mentioned.

I think thats what they did, thats why it makes me neverous. I hope they don't back themselves into a corner with them.

[Dany's Golden Fleece]

Jon was able to bring a whole lot of wildlings who were certainly bad and/or vicious people through the Wall. He was willing to bring in others who were even worse (like the Weeper). This wouldn't be out of character at all for him, especially if he comes to an agreement with the Thenns that they have to drop their cannibalistic practices.

That, of course, is assuming any of them survive.

All I am saying I can understand Bowen Marsh's viewpoint a bit more now, when I have seen it visually. It's very easy to make agreements, much harder to keep them.