Spoilers for the entire series and the entire book series are inbound. I’m tired of that Nathan Fillion .gif so that’s the only warning you’ll get. These are the posts I’ve read the past week about season 5 of Game of Thrones. I don’t agree with the last two articles but I thought they were worth reading.
“There was also a recent post on the “A Song of Ice and Fire” subreddit, where a user explained the many ways in which this is an abominable adaptation of Loras. The user points out that the Faith in the books does not seem to dictate that homosexuality is a sin. It seems to be more of an Ancient Greek-inspired social rule, where the norm is heterosexuality but gay relationships are tolerated among men as well.
The user, a self-identified gay man, stated: “When I watch my favorite series about a fantasy world, why the hell do I need to see guys being accosted for being gay…At best I feel pandered to in some sort of weird pity, at worst I’m outright offended.”
The purpose for adding this storyline is unclear. The Faith Militant do exist in the books, but they are more concerned with closing the gap between the elite and the common folk, as well as clearing out corruption from inside the castle. In fact, it is Margaery that is arrested at the behest of Cersei, under charges of adultery and treason.”
“Showrunners have opted to put both of the Tyrell siblings behind bars, with Margaery taking the fall for knowing about Loras. But they could also be trying to make some larger commentary on the nature of religion and homophobia.
Are Weiss and Benioff attempting to equate the Faith Militant with the persecutions carried out by religions of the real world? If so, how is this going to play out?
Olyvar, Loras’ lover on the series, works for Littlefinger, so by providing testimony against both Margaery and Loras he is choosing to destroy the alliance he built with the Tyrells. But that doesn’t make much sense. The Tyrells have proven to be strong players in the game of thrones, with more financial resources than many of the main houses and a cunning matriarch, Olenna. Did Littlefinger really instruct Olyvar to testify?”
Fans are up in arms about HBO’s treatment of a side character on ‘Game of Thrones’
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“Game of Thrones works better when the hands of the writers aren’t quite so obvious”
“Which is why that scene felt so gratuitous and wrong. It’s one thing to put your characters through awful situations to move the story ahead, but what did that moment prove? One of the season’s best characters was stripped of her agency and dignity in order to remind the viewer of something we already knew; that Ramsay is a terrible human being.”
“It’s a shocking scene that’s hard to watch, but it gives us no new information, nor does it move the story along. It feels like yet another horrific thing that Ramsay does for pleasure in a long series of horrific things the character has done, and when a piece of dramatic storytelling goes this far to rub our noses into someone else’s terrible acts it’s usually a sign that person is going to die and we’re supposed to be feel good about it. It doesn’t feel like clever writing or powerful drama, it feels manipulative.
It’s possible that trope is going to be subverted somehow, but the moment felt cheap as it stands. We know who the villains are, and we’re ready to cheer when they get taken down. For Game of Thrones that’s a major step backwards.”
Game of Thrones has a pretty serious villain problem this season
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“Then we have Stannis Baratheon riding south to attack them. Now, Stannis did have his brother murdered by a magical shadow assassin a few years back, and he’s spent a lot of time being boring since. But starting at the end of season four, and continuing this year in season five, Game of Thrones’ showrunners have worked overtime to make us like him. He saved the Night’s Watch! He loves his daughter! He even bravely stands up to crimes against grammar! (Well, that was always true, but we were reminded of it again this week.)”
“This trend toward clearer “good guys against bad guys” conflicts is something I worry about a bit as far as the future of the series is concerned. With the White Walkers looming, it does seem possible that the interesting and morally complex conflicts we’ve seen so far will eventually boil down to an all-out struggle for the survival of humanity. That can certainly be done well, but it’s a much more conventional story.”
In Game of Thrones’ next battle, it’s obvious who we’re supposed to root for
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“I’ve mentioned on twitter several times that I don’t think the showrunners actually do know the endings of the books, and I also think that’s now become irrelevant to the outcome of the TV series. There are only 2 story lines that could be considered faithful to their book source material at this stage of season 5. Arya and King’s Landing, however KL could be falling apart in an episode or two. It seems as though Ser Loras will be taking Margaery’s place as a prisoner of the faith, but unlike Margaery, Ser Loras will likely be found guilty of the charges. Since we don’t yet know how this will play out in the books, it’s hard to know if the show will be similar, but in truth, it doesn’t matter.
For GRRM’s part, he has been fairly polite on the matter. A consummate professional, George is familiar with how to promote TV shows via interviews with industry publications like Entertainment Weekly and Hollywood Reporter, and nothing would be gained by clarifying a few of the finer points of what the showrunners do and don’t know. It looks much better to be one unified team with a unified message. But George has also used his vehicles to drop some subtle hints to us. The two best examples are his sample chapters of Arya and Alayne released between seasons 4 and 5 of Game of Thrones. The Arya chapter made reference to the Master of Coin (Mace Tyrell) being present in Braavos, something we have recently seen in the show. But the Alayne chapter firmly places Sansa in the Vale and introduces her to her suitor Harry. It’s a subtle reminder that the true story is still being written, and those who worry that the books will be “spoiled” need not fear.
To accept the idea that the show can spoil the ending of the books, one would have to admit that the following storylines and characters are not important to the book conclusion:
Davos and his search for Rickon
Sansa and her potential marriage to Harry the Heir
(f)Aegon and his invasion of Westeros
Jaime and Brienne’s “situation” with Lady Stoneheart
Victarion and a fucking dragon horn
In a way the show has become a bizarro universe magnified by one butterfly effect on top of another. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
Coachspeak | The Winds of Winter Release
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“She expressed her disappointment at the major changes from the canon after Ser Barristan the Bold died, an event which was definitely not in Martin’s books and added that she’s not a fan of the “huge divergence” from the source material either.”
‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 5 NEWS: George R.R. Martin’s Editor SLAMS Showrunners For ‘Huge Divergence’ From The Books
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“In going forward with the plan to marry Ramsay, she is both scared and resolute—but she has a plan, and like her mentor in deception, Littlefinger, she’s learned to keep her cards close. She knows she has allies: “The North remembers.” And she knew what will happen on her wedding night—she’s far too smart to assume that Ramsay would respect her the way Tyrion did. Rape is rape, and this one was particularly hard to stomach as a viewer. But it’s also important to remember all of these factors, and to know that Sansa must have weighed them all.”
Critics of Sansa’s Rape Scene on Game of Thrones Are Missing the Point
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“But that’s what Game of Thrones does: It takes those cliches and expectations of the audiences and turns them on their head. The fact that we’re surprised every single time—every time a Ned Stark or Oberyn Martell dies—shows how much we are trained into certain rhythms of storytelling, including the daring last minute rescue. There’s nothing wrong with those cliches. But if those cliches are all there is or is allowed to be in storytelling, then that’s going to be stale. Game of Thrones is so addictive precisely because they resist your expectations about how these kinds of stories go. Because you expect the princess to be rescued in a last minute escape is exactly why you’re not getting that story.”
All (hopefully) of the bad arguments about rape on Game of Thrones debunked
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Fantasy Books and Fantasy Booking 