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Which storyline by itself would make for the best series?

Idiotsloveboxes

By Idiotsloveboxes,
in General (GoT)

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Idiotsloveboxes Commoner

Idiotsloveboxes

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I was thinking about all the different theatres of characters and plots in Game of Thrones, and how the books and show jump around constantly. We see the political drama of King's Landing; the war & familial drama of the north; a tale of survival against the wilderness & the unknown on the wall; and a saga of adventure and conquest in the east. What if GRR Martin wrote his books from one point of view, one set of characters. That family and region would have to become a lot more developed and intriguing to carry a chapter or episode, with all the other as minor characters. Maybe none are interesting enough?

Which of these stories is strong enough to stand on its own?

  • The Baratheon-Lannister-Tyrell story of the South
  • The Stark-Tully-Iron Islands story of the North
  • The Targaryen story of the East
  • The Night's Watch story of the Wall

Would you watch a show that just starred Peter Dinklage or just Emilia Clarke? A show that mostly stayed in King's Landing or Winterfell? etc.

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Winterz Council Member

Winterz

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If it's about the book stories, I'd chose the NW or the Starks.

I like the show approach on the Tyrells/Lannisters, especially the casting so I'd pick this if it was about the show.

The Targaryen storyline IMO only serves to explore the east and develop Dany as a character/leader. It's good but still not nearly as good as the rest.

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Mr.Sandman Commoner

Mr.Sandman

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Theon + Ramsay's torture porn, a bedtime story for all ages!

But to be honest, I dont think any would be as good as the whole, its all about how they connect (history between people, talking about whats going on up north etc..). So yeah the whole is greater than the some of its parts.

But wasn't Dany's Book 1/Season 1 story originally a short story which George later wrote the rest of the books around? I could be mistaken, but I read something like that.....somewhere....

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Blackheart Freerider

Blackheart

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I personally find the KL the most interesting, although I loathe them, I also love to hate the Lannisters and find them the better house to read about it in my opinion, the dysfunctionality, though they appear to be the 'strongest' house and most powerful, I would argue they are the weakest through inner personality clashes and a weak family unit. With the Tyrells coming into the equation, certainly makes it spicier. On it's own though, I don't know. The events in KL wouldn't have occurred if not for the Stark storyline, and other storylines, and so on. All of the storylines intertwine which is what makes this series so unique, genius and special. So for technical and specific reasons, I would argue that the storylines need each other to work, yet for argument's sake and the point of this topic, if I had to choose a storyline for a separate story, I would choose the KL storyline.

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Golden Lion Hedge Knight

Golden Lion

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The Baratheon-Lannister-Tyrell is easily the most interesting, other series have been built on less political twists than ASOIAF has. Especially considering how much power changes in KL from book 1 to book 5, it would be a very interesting series.

I got bored of the north stuff half way through a clash of kings, it just isn't interesting and very few fantasy-esque pays offs.

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YouSnowNothing Landed Knight

YouSnowNothing

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Personally, the Kings Landing realpolitik is the most interesting part of the series to me, I can't get enough of it. Logically speaking though, storylines in the East or at the Wall are a lot more isolated and so would stand better on their own as a separate series.

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Idiotsloveboxes Commoner

Idiotsloveboxes

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Honestly, i am a bit surprised by all the Night's Watch love. I thought only Lannisters & dragons were on people's minds. I started thinking about this question when thinking about the emmy awards and the Game of Thrones actors. Usually an actor can expect to appear in a few scenes, not every episode, and in the end make up less than a quarter of a season. How could ever compete against the casts of other drama shows where viewers see the same actors in one contained season long story? I love the show and the books and think they are high quality fiction, but I started to think about what appeals to people and how to carry an audience with so many faces and plots to focus on. At least shows like Heroes and Battlestar Galactica had loads of people but always came back to Petrellis and the Adamas.

Does this say something about the book series and show, that maybe none of its parts could carry a fan base on their own? Should that be considered a weakness? Most books and tv shows don't have a dozen different settings to check in on every season or book. Perhaps audiences have short attention spans. The fact ASoIaF/GOT has pulled off this format so well is amazing to me.

As for me, I love the story of Daenerys more than anything else. I love to see how the different locales and characters make her character grow and progress. I think all the Targaryen and historical background stories of Essos are just as interesting as those of Westeros, and I'll be thinking about how GRRM is going to finish the stories of both continents with books 6 & 7.

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Broken Fox Council Member

Broken Fox

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The best way to think about it is that ASOIAF is greater than the sum of its parts.

None of the storylines could stand alone I don't think.

We're aware of that. It's a hypothetical question.

Buzzkill.

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