Posted on 04/11/2015 6:45:04 PM PDT by lulu16
The fifth season of HBO’s Game of Thrones is upon us. Winter is still coming. Millions will tune in for more of Tyrion’s witty ripostes and for some more smoldering romance between Jon Snow and his Wildling paramour Ygritte. Wait, Ygritte is still alive, right? Honestly there’s been so much carnage on this show I don’t even remember. What ever happened to that hunk who befriended Arya? Didn’t Bran have a younger brother? Where did we leave off on the Hound, exactly? Test your knowledge with this quiz.
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
Gosh, I wish that The Hound was not left for dead.
19 out of 20. I forgot about that Locke guy who, IIRC, wasn’t even in the books.
Have you read the entire series? I stopped. I want to be shocked.
20 out of 20
I love that after each answer is given, there is a brief explanation for that status. For the character of Hodor, the explanation is “Hodor”.
Highlight for my hidden spoiler comment.
Ewwww, smoldering. I guess so if you don't mind a little post cremation necrophilia.
"What do we say to the God of Death?"
"Not today."
Read the first two or three books, forget which, when they first came out.
Gave up. The books portrayed, IMO, a seriously distorted view of medieval or medieval-like societies.
Yes, dishonorable people existed, and the world never consisted of knights in shining armor doing glorious battle for their ladies and the right.
But the constant betrayal and dishonor that almost all the characters displayed went far beyond anything seen in the actual Middle Ages, IMO.
Feudal society was built in the most fundamental possible sense on bonds of trust between lord and vassal. A lord who was, or who was viewed by others as, dishonorable paid a very, very steep price. His power, and in the long run his life, depended on his vassals trusting him to treat them and their families with honor.
Once he lost that trust, he had a very rough time. See King John of England. He was a competent ruler, but was viewed by his people as dishonorable. Certainly as compared to his father and brother, both of whom rode pretty roughshod over their opponents at times. But who were never viewed by their subjects as utterly dishonorable and therefore untrustworthy.
John provoked repeated rebellions, one of which resulted in Magna Carta, and eventually an invasion by the Dauphin of France, supported by many if not most of John’s vassals.
Then John died, and the disturbing factor of the dishonorable king was removed. The English supporters of the Dauphin promptly fell away, and the English nobility rallied to John’s son. Despite the obvious problems of a long minority in a monarchical system. IOW, an infant king was infinitely preferable to a dishonorable one.
There are many, many examples in the Middle Ages of nobles and royalty who lived up to their honorable duties. For every Richard III there was at least one John of Gaunt. (Richard III lost his throne and life largely because people believed he dishonorably did away with his nephews.)
Game of Thrones didn’t show that. The only really honorable character was killed off early.
YMMV
The Hound killed by a female, and because she was superior to him and beat him in sword play and even when they turned to fists, and he was rested and fresh and she had just hiked 20 miles in armor.
Goofy.
I enjoyed the books as fantasy but the HBO interpretation is not to my liking.
My take on it is that this is a world without the Judeo-Christian faith. Of course, Tolkien's world also lacked that faith, but Tolkien was a Christian, and he did divide Middle Earth into two basic camps -- those who followed the path of evil and those who followed the path of righteousness.
In George RR Martin's world, there seems to be no path of righteousness. Ned Stark was not entirely alone -- but nearly so -- in his devotion to honor. Virtually everyone is just out for themselves.
I think a case can be made that in much of our world, there was a widespread lack of morality (or what we would recognize as morality) until the Judeo-Christian faith was introduced. Pre-Columbian America? Africa? Just darkness and barbarism. Quite a bit like Westeros.
Christianity made a huge, huge difference in our world.
I take it this is worth watching? I have season 1 waiting for me on dvd’s at the library.
Last thing I watched and loved was House of Cards with Kevin Spacey. About criminals in congress and the WH. Very entertaining, tho very dark.
I realize the books weren’t intended as history. But they were obviously a medieval-like society. Certain things arise from that.
Nobody ever seemed to pay a price for betrayal. Didn’t anybody figure out that betraying a safe conduct and killing your enemies was a one-shot weapon? Nobody would ever trust your word again, and there was a very real cost to that.
Didn’t any of the devoted henchmen of the various power players ever start to feel uncomfortable that their lord would cheerfully throw them under the bus if it suited him? Why didn’t they themselves start thinking about how to stab their lord in the back while they could?
Sorry, I realize Tolkien was unrealistic in the noble motives of the “good” characters, and that noble ideals have always been mixed with base motives.
But in GOT there didn’t seem to be anything BUT base motives. To my mind, the whole thing just fell apart because you can’t run a society that way.
For example, the mafia and other such groups can exist only because they are parasites within a larger society based on rule of law. An entire society run of mafia lines would disintegrate. Well, that’s what GOT seemed like to me.
Something that bothers me is how the religion of the sun, or fire? that is pushed by the woman, uses so many words that Christians use, it seems like it is intended to mimic Christianity as a mockery of our words and rituals.
I agree on that. But even in the later days of the Roman Republic, there were men who tried to live and rule honorably. Although admittedly the real power players such as Marius, Sulla, Pompey and Caesar would have been right at home on Westeros.
I think the history of all societies show men who tried to live up to their conception of Right. Which often varied quite a bit from ours. There doesn’t seem to BE any such conception on Westeros.
Season 1 -- good, but way too much sex. It's just there to make sure you don't get bored. Blatant and distasteful, in my opinion.
Season 2 -- Very good.
Season 3 -- Very good. Some decline in acting might be noticeable.
Season 4 - Very good -- but the writing, directing and acting shows evidence that they really wanted to appeal to the lowest common denominator to attract a vast viewing audience:
Bad guys? Oh, they're bad. Bad, bad, bad. They talk with their mouth full. They push women to the ground for no reason at all. They are rude, crude and bad, bad, bad. Just in case you might nor be paying attention and might be unsure where this particular guy is a good guy or a bad guy. They make it really, really, really clear. The people you are not supposed to like? You know who they are. It can get over-the-top.
Still a good series though.
Same reasons I detest the series.
But they need henchmen to do so. Where do they get them? Why do their henchmen put their lives at risk in the service of their lords?
Why do lords have power? What is it based on? In the normal human society, it's because they're believed to have the legitimate right to rule.
I know of no society in which such legitimacy survives very long when the rulers openly do what is seen as wrong and evil by their own people. By their very actions they cut the ground from beneath their feet.
Thanks for the interesting rundown. I’ll watch season 1, though I am really not interested in watching sex sex sex. Or woman bashers. As a female, I really object to churlish behavior.
Thanks. I thought I was the only one.
I can’t get into a book or TV series or movie if there isn’t at least one character I can identify with.
What kind of person identifies with the people in GOT? Other than Ned, the dead guy.
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