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12 minutes ago, The Bard of Banefort said:

GRRM probably wants Jaehaerys around for a DnE series (which would indicate that he does want the series to cover their entire lives). I really hope this means he has some more novellas on the assembly line right now. 

Given that he has been working on Winds plus consulting on all the shows, I don't think it's likely.

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10 hours ago, Mithras said:

Jaehaerys II should have never existed in the book canon in the first place. There is nothing about him that can't easily be attributed to Egg or his sons.

Jaehaerys II becomes a grandfather at the age of 34. Rhaella gives birth to Rhaegar at a very young age (14 at max, most probably younger than that – as young as 12 for the conception). GRRM did not have to stretch and squeeze the family tree so much if he thought about the simple solution of deleting Jaehaerys II (and his sister-wife Shaera of course).

In this case, Aerys II and Rhaella would replace Jaehaerys II and Shaera as children of Aegon IV. GRRM only had to make them 6-12 years older and everything would be fine with respect to ages. This would necessitate another interesting switch.

In the current version, Jaehaerys and Shaera were betrothed to a Tully and a Tyrell but they were in love and broke those betrothals by a secret wedding and bedding. In the modified version, since there was no love lost between Aerys and Rhaella, it would fall on Egg to break those agreements and wed his youngest children, all because of the Ghost of High Heart’s prophecy. This would add more color to Egg’s character and certainly alienate him to his wife who was not a fan of Targaryen incest.

Suprised that in the books neither Hoster nor Blackfish have anything to say about their spurned aunt.

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53 minutes ago, Angel Eyes said:

Suprised that in the books neither Hoster nor Blackfish have anything to say about their spurned aunt.

Not really Hoster died before GRRM invented Celia Tully and Brynden is not the type to share his feelings. We still don't know why he refuses to marry. My headcanon is that he wanted a place in the Kingsguard.

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Messing with the 'GoT canon' is something I've no problem at all. If they do nonsense shows like that Snow thing they can do whatever the hell they want, anyway, but in any stuff based on George's stuff shit like the broke Lannisters, a ridiculous looking Casterly Rock, or Kings 'Orys' and 'Maegor III' have no place.

Not to mention that they messed with their own 'canon' (going with that is kind of silly, anyway, it is like pretending that every Shakespeare adaptation creates its own 'canon' or its own 'universe') often enough only to stupidly retcon it later. Just think about Jaime both stabbing the Mad King in the back and cutting his throat or the ridiculous explanation as to why Barristan Selmy didn't sit on Robert's council.

If you change things then at least have the guts to stand by your change. Barristan killing some of Robert's friend should have less impact on whether the guy would sit on his council ... and much more on whether he would want to keep this guy as his bodyguard and the bodyguard of his wife and children. I'd not want the murder or killer of my friends serve in that intimate capacity ... while I could suffer such a person serving on my council in an official capacity.

Having read up on the more detailed leaks:

Spoiler

Wondering if/how they can make it work that Criston Cole kills several men on the royal wedding. In the tourney setting this could be tolerated, by a KG should have more self-control than he apparently has in that context ... meaning the king should actually punish him for this.

I think Aegon could really become quite a complex character. He really doesn't want to be king, feels really hurt by the fact that his father ignored him throughout his life, and he doesn't by Alicent's story that Viserys changed his mind on his deathbed. At the same time you can see how he would quickly develop delusions of grandeur and a taste for tyranny once he is charge.

Aemond really seems to have a kind of Hawk arc from Cobra Kai, as @The Bard of Banefort suggested. As a child he is ridiculed and not exactly impressive, but he puts his mind to it and when Viserys dies he is an impressive warrior and shows actually a desire to be king himself. Which I guess is going to lay the groundwork for his stint as Prince Regent.

If they allow the story to breathe in season 2 and don't rush things we could see how Aegon and Aemond and Criston Cole kind of band together to oust Otto and push Alicent into the background.

 

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I think Aegon could really become quite a complex character. He really doesn't want to be king, feels really hurt by the fact that his father ignored him throughout his life, and he doesn't by Alicent's story that Viserys changed his mind on his deathbed. At the same time you can see how he would quickly develop delusions of grandeur and a taste for tyranny once he is charge.

I dunno, the implications of Fire and Blood were already that he was a child rapist (given the circumstances he was described as being in when he is found to be informed of his father's death) and particularly scummy person even by Westerosi standards. I think that it won't be surprising if they go with the fact that Alicent wants him to be on the throne despite the fact he is manifestly horrible as a choice. He's also the only person of the Greens who rejoiced in his brother murdering one of Rhaenyra's sons.

Now they COULD make him a complex character but I also think he might actually be more useful as a plot device in informing on the nature of the Greens. All of them are dead certain that they have to put Aegon on the throne to protect themselves, because it's "right" (I believe some of them will genuinely believe in male primogeniture), and because he's family that we have the Show Cersei situation where she loves Joffrey dearly but gradually clues into the fact he was a complete waste of space.

I believe the Alicent scene with the sexually assaulted servant girl will be probably used as commentary on the mothers of children who have committed great crimes but figure out various excuses for them.

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53 minutes ago, C.T. Phipps said:

I dunno, the implications of Fire and Blood were already that he was a child rapist (given the circumstances he was described as being in when he is found to be informed of his father's death) and particularly scummy person even by Westerosi standards. I think that it won't be surprising if they go with the fact that Alicent wants him to be on the throne despite the fact he is manifestly horrible as a choice. He's also the only person of the Greens who rejoiced in his brother murdering one of Rhaenyra's sons.

Oh, he certainly is an ass. But he could be a kind of Joffrey ass ... which would mean he would just be a dick and have no character besides that. There is no reason why Joff is how he is aside from general bad parenting and living the entitled and pampered life of a prince.

Instead, it seems they make that he is a three-dimensional ass.

It also seems that

Spoiler

Aegon will be a victim of domestic violence. His mother apparently slaps him repeatedly, and there may be some sexual weirdness there, too. In context it seems that Alicent and Otto seem him as little more than a tool to get what they want ... without really caring what he wants. It is similar with Helaena, but Alicent apparently likes her more, although she pushed her deliberately into the incest match.

I think there is potential to make Aegon's arc/story a kind of failed emancipation story. In childhood and youth he is a pawn, the he struggles to get free of mommy and grandpa ... only to be very quickly become a crippled drug addict who is again dependent on mommy. Then we get his Dragonstone story which could actually be told as a kind of redemption or recovery story - he's pushed into the dirt, realizes life goes on (and not all that bad, necessarily) when one has nothing. A tragic aspect there could have been that he may have learned to be his own man on Dragonstone, the whole 'we take the citadel with Sunfyre plan' not being something he came up with ... only to be broken again by Baela's attack. Rhaenyra's murder could basically be the deed of a guy who is angry beyond measure due to his physical suffering at the time.

At the end he might end up becoming dependent on his mother again. They could have him as a guy who finally has had enough, who wants to make peace, etc. ... only for Alicent 'to beat some sense into him again'.

In a sense, Aegon might be the most honest of the Greens, expressing the feelings openly the others have, too, but

53 minutes ago, C.T. Phipps said:

Now they COULD make him a complex character but I also think he might actually be more useful as a plot device in informing on the nature of the Greens. All of them are dead certain that they have to put Aegon on the throne to protect themselves, because it's "right" (I believe some of them will genuinely believe in male primogeniture), and because he's family that we have the Show Cersei situation where she loves Joffrey dearly but gradually clues into the fact he was a complete waste of space.

Apparently the angle they are taking for Erryk Cargyll's allegiance is

Spoiler

that Aegon's character doesn't matter as long as there is a working government. But that is not going to be there - they will show how King Aegon II and Aemond are going to ruin the government, showing how you cannot really control a monarch in a monarchy if the guy(s) in charge want to run amok.

Show Cersei's story with Joffrey might be pretty close to Alicent-Aegon is certain respects, but I think the core issues will be different because Joff clearly was Robert's chosen heir ... while Aegon wasn't. The show take on Cersei-Joff was wrong on many levels, but mainly insofar as Cersei was actually afraid of her son at times ... when in fact Cersei was actually pretty proud that her son defied her and had little to no intention of controlling his behavior.

Spoiler

It also seems that Blood and Cheese will have a completely new motivational layer. Otto and Mysaria make a deal during the succession crisis which falls through for some reason. Otto tells Larys to get rid of Mysaria and he burns down her manse, killing lots of her friends and agents... but as we know, not Mysaria herself. Thus we have a scenario where Mysaria has her own reasons to get even with the Greens once Daemon reaches out to her. Reasons that may motivate her to be more interested in hurting Otto and Alicent Hightower than helping Daemon and Rhaenyra by removing Aegon & Aemond.

More importantly, apparently Mysaria already indicates that it would be very easy for her to murder Aegon if she wanted to ... so in the wake of Luke's murder and the attempt on Mysaria's life we can imagine that the safety of the new king and Aemond who killed Luke will be the top priority of Kingsguard etc., meaning that Helaena and the children might be the only targets Mysaria could reach at that time.

This setting would indicate that we might get a back and forth between the master of whisperers and the mistress of whisperers there. Wouldn't surprise me, for instance, if Mysaria were to feed Aemond the notion to kill all the Strongs.

Some general thoughts:

If they want to show Dorne in some fashion in this show we could see Prince Qoren die earlier than he seems to be dying in the book, having Aliandra Martell ruling Dorne earlier. If the Blacks don't want to attack Storm's End directly it might be enough for the Dornishmen to invade the Stormlands if Rhaenyra gives them her leave to do so.

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Anyways, George is being kinda disrespectful by throwing D&D under the bus again. 
 

He did not have to be part of the production, that was D&D’s choice. And he was the one who left them out dry with his pathetic excuses for not finishing the books. 
 

Letting them receive all the abuse and then popping up now to insinuate it’s their fault his unrealistic suggestions were not implemented means no one should trust this guy with anything. Completely unprofessional.

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I mentioned before that Emma D’Arcy was a stage actor up until now, and I think that’s another big difference between British and American culture. By the looks of it, most critically-acclaimed British actors have had successful theater careers. Meanwhile, very few Broadway performers cross over to Hollywood.* A lot of them star in guest roles on cable shows like Law & Order and NCIS, but I can’t really think of any that have become household names. Even Indina Menzel is most well known as a voice actor because of Frozen. (Lin Manuel Miranda is well known, but he’s more of a composer/screenwriter like Andrew Lloyd Webber was).

*Conversely, very few Hollywood actors pursue theater. Scarlett Johansen won a Tony years ago, but she’s one of the few.

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7 minutes ago, butterweedstrover said:

. And he was the one who left them out dry with his pathetic excuses for not finishing the books. 

Ser…they abandoned the already printed books in season five. This had nothing to do with running out of finished material. Surely, you can’t be serious.

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Just now, The Bard of Banefort said:

Conversely, very few Hollywood actors pursue theater. Scarlett Johansen won a Tony years ago, but she’s one of the few.

You see more TV & Film actors trying out Broadway performances these days.

Though Emilia Clarke’s attempt to branch out into Broadway was not well received.

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