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[Book Spoilers] the shadow


turdle

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One of my friends who hasn't read the books yet asked me how that was actually written out (cause he couldn't imagine putting that scene to words), so I took the liberty of copying the passage down for him. Figured y'all might wanna see it too and compare.

"Panting, she squatted and spread her legs. Blood ran down her thighs, black as ink. Her cry might have been agony or ecstasy or both. And Davos saw the crown of the child's head push its way out of her. Two arms wriggled free, grasping black fingers coiling around Melisandre's straining thighs, pushing, until the whole of the shadow slid out into the world and rose taller than Davos, tall as the tunnel, towering above the boat. He had only an instant to look at it before it was gone, twisting between the bars of the portcullis and racing across the surface of the water, but the instant was long enough.

He knew that shadow. As he knew the man who'd cast it."

Clash of Kings, Davos 468

So yeah... I thought they did a marvellous job actually.

Thank you so much for the book quote! I love to compare passages from the book with how scenes played out. I'm not a book purist and have been fine with most of the changes done so far in the series, but I enjoy comparing and contrasting the two anyways.

A lot of people in this discussion thread have said its not how they imagined it, or the shadow was not correctly animated or too smoky, too inky, whatever. But if you read that passage describing what Davos saw... that's almost exactly what we saw in the scene in this episode end.

It also confirms better for me that Davos did in fact have an idea this was some black magic formed by a union with Stannis (sexually or by blood or both) and Melisandre. I argued in another thread last week that it may have been somewhat vague until much later in the books what was actually going on between Stannis and Melisandre and that her rituals were not entirely explained as purely sexual acts.

I'm guessing in reading this that it was intended to let you know that Stannis is the 'shadow who cast it' and so since this creature was born of Melisandre's womb, it must be some dark Asshai magic similar to what Mirri Maz Duur may have been doing to Daenerys which resulted in her baby being born demon / lizard /dragon like, an abomination that died. It had something to do with that Blood magic that Melisandre is performing and sapping life out of Stannis too.

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I need to re-watch, but it sounded like Stannis knew what Meli was about to do. Does that imply that he understands the sex was for a shadowbaby? Wish that was more elaborated on. But you know, they ran out of time at 9:51 PM.

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In the books i couldn't quite get my head around the shadow as it felt like it needed slightly more substance... the shows gave the shadows a bit more substance and i really liked it. I assumed the shadow would be silent but i guess its a minor detail that's not too probelmatic. I imagined the shadows to be very similar to the Others, just all dark and slippery as opposed to crisp and shiny :)

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I didn't like it either, the screeching or the way it looked. If I had to do it myself, the birth would have been just an ordinary shadow spreading on the ground. Then I would just have the actor that plays Stannis stand there and walk away, casting his shadow on the wall, and delete the actor's image from the scene. I would also show the torches at the camp casting the shadow as it moves towards Renly's tent (I suppose it's going to kill Renly?) and when Renly dies, you would see it as if Stannis was killing Renly himself with a knife, only Stannis wouldn't be standing there, only his shadow cast on the wall. That's how I imagined it from the book, as a shadow, not as a smoke monster.

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She had power, but no one was sure exactly how much. In the show, it looks like they're going to take it much more literal that she's a wielder of godlike power, and Renly's death won't be a mystery whatsoever; it'll be tied to Stannis immediately.

i dont know, mel births shadow, shadow kills renly was a pretty clear cut conection for me.

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Few people in the Twop forum's unspoiled speculation thread seems to have liked Mel's shadow baby, and it is being called "smokey" or "smoke baby" by all and never "shadow baby". Quote: "There is something weirdly believable with the White Walkers and the wolves who are portals to their humans, and even Dany's dragon babies, but this demon smokey shit was just that, shit." Just an observation.

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Few people in the Twop forum's unspoiled speculation thread seems to have liked Mel's shadow baby, and it is being called "smokey" or "smoke baby" by all and never "shadow baby". Quote: "There is something weirdly believable with the White Walkers and the wolves who are portals to their humans, and even Dany's dragon babies, but this demon smokey shit was just that, shit." Just an observation.

TWOP?

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TWOP?

Television Without Pity. There's a forum full of viewers dedicated to following the story through the series, actively avoiding the books. It's fun reading their theories because they pick up things pretty well. Also, their speculations are spot-on with events in the later books.

Their reactions and insights are a litmus test to just how well the producers have adapted the story for the series.

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I can't make up my mind about shadow baby. If they've taken the the decision that the shadow isn't actually Stannis then the screeching etc is OK. If it is, it's a little stupid. It makes more sense that it's just some kind of demon spawn anyway. It isn't exactly how it was described in the books but I'm fine with that. I was pretty certain they'd make it more of a 'shadow monster' rather than just a 'shadow' as it is in the books.

I don't think a true 'shadow' would go particularly well on TV. In saying that the shadow monster things on the film Ghost scared the shit out of me when I was a kid. Something like that might have been cool. But it was their screeching that made them scary as well. Oh well, whatever these guys do someone's going to moan about it. You can't please all of the people all of the time. (Why isn't Loras hotter? Why aren't the Reeds in season 2? Why did Jon see one of the Others take Craster's son?)

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My only issue of merging Renly's and Penroses' death is that in the book it was such a shock when Renly said 'cold' and was stabbed in the throat it was totally unexpected. However the viewers now know there is a shadow creature on the loose.

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