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[Book Spoilers] No Strong Belwas?


Gordon Freeman

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I am definitely disappointed about him not being in. You need a funny side kick from time to time.

Also, I thought Thormund was quite funny? There is definitely room for him to grow in the role. I am sure it will get better when the Jon/Thormund bromance will develop.

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I have a strange notion that they are cutting the comic relief characters. They have completely changed Tormund so that he has the personality of a potatoe. The reason behind is maybe to keep Tyrion and Bronn as the funny ones. Thats the only reason I can think of.

I just hope they keep tormund's braggadocio about his member!

I know rite! I was really looking forward to Tormund. And instead theres some melancholy, skinny guy who doesn't even talk about his member. I was really disappointed with the casting of basically all of the wildlings, except for Ygritte. She's too pretty for the role, but got the personality down IMO.

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I don't think the show needs Strong Belwas. He's entertaining in the books, but so are others that we'll probably never get to see. It's hard to introduce new characters to an already packed list in a season that only covers about 10 hours unless they're essential to the storyline, and I don't think SB is.

I did like the reveal of Barristan Selmy at the outset, again thinking this is the best way it could have been handled within the confines of the show.

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The dockside assassination attempt was a disappointment on several levels. Content wise, I of course miss Strong Belwas and the interplay he and Whitebeard/Selmy had. I also think the reveal of Selmy's true self would've been a great show moment and I'm not sure why the showrunners cheated the audience out of that. But visually it was just shot and stage din such a mediocre, cliched way. Hooded guy in obvious pursuit of Daeny then the hood comes off and it's *gasp* some dude the TV audience saw for maybe 10minutes total on screen in S1. Then Jorah Exposition has to chime in and explain who the fuck this guy is to everyone. Just a meh bit of storytelling.

So much whining.

Yes, let's have the show introduce one of very few foreign looking and sounding characters, and them have him act and speak like a gigantic moron. I'm sure that would go down well.

Selmy was never at the SC meetings in S1, so it's possible that he will not know that Jorah was a spy.

Ehhh, I find that a stretch. He can still fuck up shit for Jorah and his Kahlessi crush. Hopefully Selmy and Jorah will have the same adversarial relationship on the show to keep things interesting in camp kahlessi.

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Definitely more than Bronn, although I do like Belwas so I don't have a problem with him. I just acknowledge that he isn't a character of importance.

I disagree about that scene as well. While it's a good battle scene the others have plenty of scenes that actually helps show new depth with characters, character growth or to tell things that is mainly told through inner monologue in the books. The characters you mention have already been cast in previous seasons so they didn't compete with Belwas, but Belwas competes with the entire existing cast and all the potential new characters of the third season. I see easier use of Belwas' actions to help establish other characters more quickly (Daario Naharis in particular) while the others don't really have things that would benefit others to the same extent.

They save a battle scene and get a single combat scene (saving $). If daario does the same thing, I'll be satisfied for sure.

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I've never thought of Belwas as very important, to be honest. Except for a certain

bowl of locusts

of course. Even then, that could be very easily retconned just like the manticore was.

Also, my brother instantly recognized Barristan and he hasn't watched season one in a while. He never read the books, apart from book one prologue. I think it was a good decision to reveal right away.

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Yeah!

i liked him! i mean i get that he's kinda on the fringe of the story, but he has some important bits.

Most notably

I've never thought of Belwas as very important, to be honest. Except for a certain

bowl of locusts

of course. Even then, that could be very easily retconned just like the manticore was.

How will they explain that away? Its a pretty pivotal point

because that's what reveals the evil-husband-guy who's name i cant remember

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I've seen a lot of people saying they weren't bothered about him in the book I'm with them to be honest. I still think they could bring him in when they get to another city, but I doubt they will. They have a big enough cast for TV viewers to try and remember anyway without bringing in a tertiary character

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I have a strange notion that they are cutting the comic relief characters. They have completely changed Tormund so that he has the personality of a potatoe. The reason behind is maybe to keep Tyrion and Bronn as the funny ones. Thats the only reason I can think of.

Tormund had like 3 lines, one about farting and one about killing little men, seems pretty on for me. Isn't Dolorous Ed still his dolorous self?

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I've seen a lot of people saying they weren't bothered about him in the book I'm with them to be honest. I still think they could bring him in when they get to another city, but I doubt they will. They have a big enough cast for TV viewers to try and remember anyway without bringing in a tertiary character

I was upset he wasnt in this episode but i think like what you said that they may bring him in at a later stage of the series if he is to appear on the show.

They say that this season is the one that will have the most differences from the book so that also makes me wonder if they will even have him in the series at all.

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My care cup is empty as far as Strong Belwas is concerned. Decent character yes, but by no means necessary. Its a lot harder to keep track of characters in a TV show than in a book, especially when you don't have Martin's little references. I think D and D have done what they needed to do, and good on them for it. Two many characters can kill a show like this, particularly for non-book readers. I've been trying to work out how on earth they could keep AW's identity a secret from the audience; again, much harder in a TV show than in a book.

And I actually think having Barristan out in the open will make the tension between him and Jorah more interesting - Jorah will know that Barristan has his number, and will be edgier than ever.

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Advanced Dungeons & Dragons know what they're doing. Belwas was too cartoony anyways. Letting a guy cut on his stomach (which isn't possible, you'd just get eviscerated) to leave a scar before killing him, the locusts which made him burp, shitting and farting, etc. It's unnecessary in a visual medium. You'd have a hard time pulling it off without it looking stupid.

Selmy can take all the badass roles Belwas sometimes represented, and he's an established character without introducing another dozen cast members to an already large ensemble. Plus I love they skipped the whole Whitebeard subplot, as I never loved it in the books and it'd be hard to pull off visually anyways. What, make him look like Gandalf?

Remember a giant cast is what helped sink GRRM's reputation in Feast and Dance; and got the plot dragging ass and not move. AD&D can avoid that mistake by doing some much needed pruning. Right now I trust them more than Martin at curating this IP. I'll reserve final judgment for Winds, of course.

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Advanced Dungeons & Dragons know what they're doing. Belwas was too cartoony anyways. Letting a guy cut on his stomach (which isn't possible, you'd just get eviscerated) to leave a scar before killing him, the locusts which made him burp, shitting and farting, etc. It's unnecessary in a visual medium. You'd have a hard time pulling it off without it looking stupid.

Selmy can take all the badass roles Belwas sometimes represented, and he's an established character without introducing another dozen cast members to an already large ensemble. Plus I love they skipped the whole Whitebeard subplot, as I never loved it in the books and it'd be hard to pull off visually anyways. What, make him look like Gandalf?

Remember a giant cast is what helped sink GRRM's reputation in Feast and Dance; and got the plot dragging ass and not move. AD&D can avoid that mistake by doing some much needed pruning. Right now I trust them more than Martin at curating this IP. I'll reserve final judgment for Winds, of course.

I agree with the Feast and Dance comment. I do hope there is a composite character who wil bring some quick wit to the essos scenes.

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While I'd have liked him to have been in the show, I think they're cutting or amalgamating characters who aren't essential in places. Belwas is one of them. He's mainly there for humour...other people are humourous enough. As for his fights, Jorah and Selmy can do that easily enough. He's just not essential enough.

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Yeah!

i liked him! i mean i get that he's kinda on the fringe of the story, but he has some important bits.

Most notably

How will they explain that away? Its a pretty pivotal point

because that's what reveals the evil-husband-guy who's name i cant remember

Seriously, spoiler alert. Don't read if you haven't finished Dance.

If I was a writer of the show, and we still hadn't introduced Belwas by time the locust berry crunch comes along, I'd just have it be someone else. Simple as that. Maybe no one too important. We still don't know what Daario's future in the aftermath of DwD, but he could be a candidate.

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When Arstan Whitebeard, I mean plain ol' Barristan Selmy comes lurking out of the shadows onto the dock I was so stoked. To see him kill the manticore with his staff..err knife I mean? No, because I knew Strong Belwas would be close in tow and I couldn't wait to see who they cast to play him!

Selmy sure enough killed the manticore, revealed himself as Barristan Selmy (or made no attempt to hide it), and asked to be taken in as part of Daenerys Queen's Guard. All of this took place and still no Belwas. I was thinking "ok, he'll motion him to come out of hiding any moment", except for that moment never came...

Is there not going to be a Strong Belwas?

I find his role VERY entertaining and him to be a fairly key character. Just as key as say Tormund Giantsbane, all except for the part where Thormund makes the truce with the Nights Watch. Up until that point their characters have about the same impact. So what do you think is going on, no Belwas, no scared up belly and ridiculously small studded vest?

They probably spent the money on hiring more actresses to have more whores in the show...! Oo

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