[Book Spoilers] An Analysis of Why the Sandsnake Introduction Fell Short

[AdmiralKyrd]

I've read a lot about the Sand Snakes in the preliminary reviews for the past few weeks, and it's nice to get to see what the hubbub has been all about. They were amply hyped before the season by the production and they've been characterized with the now infamous term, "B-Movie Bad Girls." While I think that it is definitely still too early to totally judge the Sand Snakes, we have had their introduction, and I'd like to compare how their introduction holds up to others.

Now, the Sand Snakes really aren't that special in the books, so is it fair to compare them to some of the great characters in this story? Noooope. But the show has previously used a distinct formula for introducing new characters, and it could still have applied to these characters regardless of how interesting they really are. Let's take a look.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other Introductions
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tywin Lannister

First Lines: "Attacking [Ned Stark] was stupid. Lannisters don't act like fools."
Action: Butchering a stag with his back turned to Jaime.
Setting: Command tent on a battlefield.

In the first few seconds of meeting Tywin, we learn everything we need to about him.

1. He's highly critical.
2. He's also... right.
3. He's unconcerned with criticizing Jaime. He has his back turned to him and is going about his business.
4. He's not afraid of getting his own hands dirty.
5. He is enamored with his family name.
6. He commands from a seat of power.

So much is said in so little time. The rest of this scene further refines Tywin's character and adds a few more points while moving the plot. It's practically a perfect introduction.

Walder Frey

First Lines: "Whadaya want? ... Oh spare me. Your boy's too proud to come before me himself. What am I supposed to do with you?"
Action: Sitting in a chair, groping a disinterested teenage girl.
Setting: Seat of the Twins, a fortress Robb needs. Walder is also surrounded by his errmmm family.

1. He doesn't care for visitors.
2. He thinks other people look down on him.
3. He looks down on other people.
4. Not only that, but he insults the Lady of the North immediately, and the daughter of his liege Lord. He also calls Robb a boy.
5. He is seriously creepy with much younger women.
6. He has a very raggedy, dirty look about him.

Melisandre

First Lines: "Lord of Light, come to us in our darkness. We offer you these false gods, take them and cast your light upon us. For the night is dark and full of terrors."
Action: Presiding over a religious ceremony burning statues of the Seven.
Setting: A beach at night, fires burning all around her.

1. She's some kind of religious zealot.
2. Believes they live in some kind of terrible darkness.
3. Believes in sacrificing things with fire.
4. Has a cult like following of people, including a king, Stannis, making her a fairly powerful figure.

Stannis Baratheon

Note: Stannis was introduced in the aforementioned scene, but he only repeats Mel's "For the night is dark and full of terror" line. His real introduction comes shortly afterward at the painted table. This scene was originally supposed to be the cold open, but it was switched to later. While it was switched mainly because introducing new characters in the first scene of the second season was seen as undesirable, it has the byproduct effect of getting us right to Stannis without much of a break.

First Lines: "He wasn't my beloved brother. I didn't love him. ... -a lie. Take it out. ... Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer, call him what he is. ... Make it Ser Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer. Whatever else the man is he's still a knight."
Action: Proofing a letter to send to the Seven Kingdoms declaring him the rightful king.
Setting: A dreary castle at the head of a long table surrounded by noblemen and advisers.

1. He's harsh
2. But he has a thing for the truth.
3. He's not afraid to call someone out, or people from a powerful family.
4. But he also respects their standing.
5. He commands a seat of power with followers.

Samwell Tarly

First Lines: "Samwell Tarly, of Horn Hill, I mean... I was of Horn Hill, but, I've come to take the black. ... Ahhh ahhh, I yield, please... no more. ... Oww oww ahh (x12) ... Were you hurt? You can call me Sam, my mother calls me Sam."
Action: Getting his ass kicked at swordfighting.
Setting: Castle Black courtyard, people training everywhere.

1. He's seriously cowardly.
2. He's terrible at fighting.
3. He's a kind person.
4. Interested in making friends.
5. Was probably a momma's boy.
6. Is not really fit for harsh environment of The Wall.

Oberyn

Oberyn's introduction is more drawn out, and we can see the formula start to diverge. He's originally picking girls with his lady, then goes off to pick a fight with some Lannisters, and then has a long introductory scene with Tyrion. We learn exactly why he's there though - he wants revenge for his sister, and he's not afraid to get rough to make it happen.

-------------------------------------------------
Anatomy of a Scene
-------------------------------------------------

So how are the Sand Snakes introduced?

Setting: A tent on a beach, with a guy buried up to his neck in the sand.

Obara Sand

First Lines: "Will it be war? Without Doran we have no army to march against the Lannisters. ... -a ship's captain came to me in Plankytown claiming he had information to sell. He told me he smuggled Jaime Lannister into Dorne. ... When I was a child, Oberyn came to take me to court.
I'd never seen this man, and yet he called himself my father. My mother wept, said I was too young, and a girl. Oberyn tossed his spear at my feet and said "Girl or boy, we fight our battles. 'But the Gods let us choose our weapons.' My father pointed to the spear, and then to my mother's tears. I made my choice long ago."
Action: Spearing a prisoner in the face.

1. I understand she had a choice between tears and spears, but I don't know why she made that choice. Did she choose that because she had a bad relationship with her mom? Was Oberyn simply inspiring? Did she want more out of life? Did she just make a random choice? Was she some kind crazy? I don't know what drove her, although I take it that she is "about fighting." I realize this portion is lifted from the books, but it could use a lot more refinement for the show just in the dialogue department since the rest of the surrounding dialogue is lost.
2. She appears to be a capable warrior, and is dressed in armor unlike the others.
3. Since she met with the captain, I guess she's the one who went about the torture.
4. She is harsh with her punishments.
5. Oberyn was a formative figure in her life.

Tyene Sand

First Lines: "Mama! ... I'm with you, always."
Action: She greets Mother and stands close to her.

1. She loves her momma.

Nym Sand

First Lines: "You may have a problem."
Action: She whips a bucket off a buried dude's head.

1. She is proficient with a whip.

-------------------------------------------------
Breaking it Down Further
-------------------------------------------------

So in this scene, really only one character was introduced, Obara, and there aren't any follow-up scenes in the episode to flesh out the others. We also don't learn anything new about Ellaria, yet she has a heavy amount of dialogue in this scene. So what's going on here, and why is the Sand Snakes introduction not that great?

Ellaria's Rework

Part of this problem stems from Ellaria's rework, which I'll probably look at more in depth after the season, but since she is almost exactly like the other three characters, there really isn't any grit to having her meet with all the Sand Snakes and introduce them one of the time. There is no tension, no meat, no excitement. It would be interesting to have introductions with each of these characters, but it's hard to justify doing the same thing over and over in three different fashions without there being some dramatic tension between the characters. "Sand, Party of Four" is difficult to justify spending much time on in a story with so many great interactions available. We still haven't even had a Sam/Davos scene.

The Hype

It's not so much a bad introduction if you conclude, hey, the Sand Snakes are mostly going to be background characters who only have a few lines. One issue is the production has hyped them up so much. Even GRRM kind of touted them as the foremost new characters this season. I don't mind if the Sand Snakes are just background characters and glorified (or gorified) extras, but the promotion should match who they are. Take Aeron Greyjoy's much-slashed role in Season 2 for example. Ain't no one at HBO coming out with videos drumming up the excitement of this character and the intricate craftsmanship behind his water-pouch.

The Set

This set is so bland that it is like it doesn't even come from Game of Thrones. It's not even very thematic to Dorne. It's a small tent on poles, with a couple of horses tied to a post. Anyone could recreate that set with an afternoon, $50, and a trip to Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

The Directing/Blocking

I like how Keisha opens her palms up as she walks away and folds her hands shortly after, and the spin of Ellaria's horse as it arrives, but any amount of well-blocked acting ends there. Ellaria arrives on her horse, Tyene greets her, Ellaria gets a drink of water, Nymeria whips off the captain's bucket, and everyone kind of stands around underneath or beside a tent. There's nothing interesting about what they're doing. It is capped off with Obara walking away and having a speech directed towards... the audience, really.

The Writing, Editing, and Original Intentions

This scene isn't totally bad, Obara has a bit of an introduction, even though she comes off as somewhat of a psychopath. Tyene and Nym simply don't have enough to talk about, so it's not like they said anything profoundly stupid. There was also more to this scene before, but it was cut for some reason. There is this production still of Obara sitting down, and meditating like a warrior-monk. Nym and Tyene are facing off, and Obara has a line that was cut from the show. We know this from the early audition tapes:

OBARA: Admit defeat Tyene. Nym’s mother taught her the whip before the knife and fork.

So there was originally more here, and sometimes a little goes a long way. Had this been included, we would know a little bit more about Nym. She was taught by her mother, not Oberyn, which opens up a little bit of mystery of how much she knew him. She is also a capable fighter. We'd also learn Tyene is not up to the par of her other sisters. What would have made this line even better would be giving it to Nym and having her console her half-sister. It would show she cares about her, possibly more so than Obara. If they didn't want to show the Sand Snakes fighting yet, they could have had Tyene appear a little sweaty, like she had been trying really hard to beat Nym, yet Nym shows no fatigue at all. It would make us kind of root for Tyene a little bit in the future, as it would show she was the underdog.

Having Obara also sit, meditating, and showing little concern for Ellaria and her arrival would have been better than any of the other blocking in the scene. It would show she was different, and would do a lot more with her interaction with Ellaria. When Ellaria asks her where she stands, it really isn't that much of a question because Ellaria is almost solely conversing with Obara about the upcoming plans. Had Obara been sitting, mostly quiet, meditating, and not speaking to Ellaria, it would have made her speech better. We would be wondering throughout the scene which side of the line Obara would take until she revealed her past.

Ultimately though, the premise of this scene doesn't work. One thing GRRM says is the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself. No one here is conflicted. Ellaria is headstrong for revenge, and everyone else just kind of jumps on the bandwagon. It would have made for a better scene if there was some kind of disagreement over harming Myrcella and what would have been Oberyn's wishes.

The Editing and VFX: Part I - The Special Effects

The spear piecing the head of the ship's captain looked more like late 90's VFX work than Game of Thrones. There was also this weird layer of rotoscoping on Obara's armor, where a burn/darken filter was added to her leather to try and mitigate the "nipples-on-a-breastplate" look. It just looked strange to me, although I imagine the alternative might have been worse.

The Editing and VFX: Part II - The Editing Oddity

One of the strangest thing to me about this scene was the odd noises that appear when the music starts and Obara has her speech. It sounded like some kind of porno was left on in the background of the mixing track and was accidentally added to the scene. Listen here to GoT's own youtube channel upload of this scene. Turn the volume up a bit, and listen to the noises at 1:32, 1:38, and 1:39. What is that sound? Are those the horses? ... having sex? Someone in production should have noticed this and cleared the audio up.

The Editing and VFX: Part III - The Darkness of Dorne

But the most baffling thing to me about all of these Dorne scenes is why is it so dark? Why does it look like it's going to rain? It's Dorne for crying out loud. I understand these scenes were filmed in Northern Ireland and the weather wasn't great, but why must it be edited so dark? A simple sun filter and color temperature adjustment in editing would help alleviate this problem. The promotional videos look brighter and more elaborate. And it's not just this episode or exclusive to the Sand Snake scene. If we go back to 5.02, even the Alcazar Water Gardens, shot in Spain, suffers from this problem. Dorne should not look and feel like the North. There isn't a point to filming in the Alcazar if you're going to remove half of its beauty with a dreary color palette. If they didn't want to do the Iron Islands, then why does Dorne feel like Pyke-with-Mosaics? Even Ellaria and Oberyn looked sunnier in King's Landing. They used an orange color palette for Joffrey's name day tournament in 2.01. Jaime and Bronn in Dorne looks like they're beside Lake Michigan in Late November at Nightfall. I'm kind of glad Dorne is not labeled "Sunspear" in the title screen because if this is how Dorne is going to look, there is nothing sunny about it. Heck, it shouldn't even be labeled "Dorne." It should be labeled "Detroit."

The Future

To be fair though, this scene kind of feels like the Yara/Dreadfort scene of the season, and that they just ran out of time and budget or interest. I think there is still time to flesh the Sand Snakes out further with Bronn, Jaime, Trystane, Areo, Doran, and... even Myrcella (provided they don't murder her), but the proverbial ball was dropped on their introduction.