While I too miss the trees, this isn’t too hard to justify. They’re just further north of the wall than before.
It’s not hard to justify. I just don’t see the point of the expense.
I hope next year they decide on another film location for night-time scenes north of the wall. These shots restricted to the frugal daylight hours of Iceland are not helpful.
Besides, if it’s dark – it’s not as if we can really see much to recognize the landscape or be impressed by it in any event. And to the extent that’s needed - they can edit in some night landscapes if need be.
Benhur
3924
They can do night-time scenes in the studio.
Presumably wherever it stated Robb’s army was on the note that she stole- I assumed that she stole it so that she would know where to run.
I’m more than a little worried about all these changes they’re making to the canon–given that Tywin Lannister himself is now holding Harrenhal, how is the whole “weasel soup” business with Jaqen H’ghar going to work (the third death)? If it happens, suddenly they’ve got M-F-ing Tywin Lannister as a prisoner, unless Tywin conveniently leaves before all that. Is Roose Bolton still going to take Harrenhal or is someone else? I can’t remember if in the series they’ve already promised Harrenhal to Petyr Baelish (who BTW CLEARLY recognized Arya in that scene in the last ep).
I’m also wondering what’s up with the camp-follower/nurse hottie that Robb is obviously smitten with. Is she his future wife in disguise or some spy character they’ve created out of whole cloth?
That worries me, because if you read the convo between Jaime and Jeyne’s mother in book 4 it’s pretty clear that Tywin set that situation up. Having trouble beating the Young Wolf in the field?; get the lad who is so like his father into a situation where his honor will work against him.
Whoa. Is the Blackfish gay?
It is widely believed so, though there’s not a lot of evidence for it. Not like Renly and Loras. Brynden Tully fell out with his older brother Hoster because he refused to marry (and Cat later says her uncle will never marry), and that created a very big rift. He left Riverrun, adopted the Blackfish as his sigil, and went to serve Lysa in the Vale.
Harrenhal and the dominion of the riverlands have not been promised to Baelish yet.
As for ‘weasel soup’, consider the end result they need to achieve in the TV series - Arya (and Gendry?) on the run, on their own.
There’s really nothing inconsistent with that, so far in the TV series.
IMDB and some other stories indicate that this is Jeyne Westerling, although they are silent if she is in disguise or if she has been renamed and recreated.
Razgon
3931
I could have sworn Tyrion promised Harrenhall to Bealish two episodes ago, where he mused on what happened to the last one who got that offer.
That was a carrot. Tyrion later admitted it was a lie.
Also, Harrenhal itself is a ruined castle, with fertile lands, but unmaintainable - not much of a prize.
Baelish is eventually granted not only Harrenhal, but also named liege lord of the Riverlands, making him not just a major lord, but one of the great lords of the lands.
Kadayi
3933
To stop her from heading to the Wildling camp and informing them that the Nights watch is at the fist perhaps? Seems like a pretty good reason to stop her to me.
Also although a lovely country, not sure what inspired them to film in iceland given it’s above the tree line. They could likely of found suitable wooded locations is Norway, Sweden or Finland and the costs would be about the same.
But they probably got Iceland at a steal, considering the disaster its economy is in. Hell, Iceland was desperate enough that they opened up a national park for filming that had previously been restricted for that kind of use.
One of the issues with filming the wintery scenes is that they start filming in June/July every year, and the reason they went to Iceland is because they felt the cotton snow just didn’t cut it. (The blu-rays are so sharp that if you freeze it during certain scenes, you see the fluffy cotton floating in the air.)
Another thing to consider: Northern Ireland has brought another big film/television studio lot online this year in Banbridge, and the local press is reporting that Game of Thrones will expand to it. So now they have Paint Hall and the Banbridge lots, in addition to all the external locations in Northern Ireland.
Teiman
3935
I can’t imagine hordes of people, giants and giants mounting on spiders in this land. Is too desolated to support more than a few “nanuk” every hundreds of miles. Production: fail. The riot is also too contained, looks like a single street problem. Littefinger is show like a hotheaded creepy dude that improvise his next movement.
I am getting the most fun by reading the spoilers version of GoT in different forums, and the reaction of people, plus things I don’t remember about the novels.
This thing of waiting a full week for a new episode is new to me, I normally download whole series from the internet, and I watch all the episodes one after another in a single weekend.
I want to know what magical unicorn Littlefinger rides on that seems to allow him to go from King’s Landing to Storm’s End to Harrenhall all in the time it takes Jon to go from the Fist of the First Men to the next mountain over…
Also, Brynden Tully (Blackfish) being gay is news to me. I never inferred that from the books, but rather thought of him as someone who never married simply because he didn’t want to marry someone who was chosen for him by his brother. Service in the Vale allowed him to escape that while also appealing to his sense of adventure and military spirit chasing down the clans and whatnot.
That’s funny – I always assumed he was gay, and this from a guy who missed the clues for Renly on his first read-through.
My logic ran a little differently – it’s not that he simply didn’t marry the girl his brother picked out, it’s that he refused to marry. Anyone. Period. Cat didn’t shrug and say that she doubted he’d marry, she stated it as an incontrovertible fact, as if such a thing was beyond the realm of possibility. Both those strike me as the actions of a guy who refuses to marry because he thinks it would be dishonorable to “pretend” to be straight, not the actions of a guy who prefers to be a bachelor because the right girl hasn’t presented herself just yet.
Also, I have a memory of a conversation between Bryndon and Cat where she nudges him towards marriage and he says “You know that’s never going to happen.” Which would be a big smoking gun… except I’m not sure that conversation actually happened, more likely I’m thinking of Cat’s comment.
Well, I haven’t read beyond somewhat into the third book, but it could just be that he’s an inveterate horndog, and knows that as a nobleman he has the resources/pull/relative impunity to get himself some “strange” whenever he pleases.
The idea of the Blackfish being gay has been mooted but his refusal to marry a woman designated by Hoster is basically the only datapoint. Hoster’s dying ramblings suggest he was oblivious if that was in fact the case. This could be read as the ironic twist to their estrangement, but Petyr Baelish and Catelyn also don’t provide any hints, and GRRM wasn’t that subtle about his easter eggs back in 1996.
So, in last night’s season-enders for NBC shows, at two points people made lists that flashed up on the screen.
In 30 Rock, Liz has a list of Crisspoints, a reward system where her boyfriend gets stuff for doing certain chores. One of the chores on the list was “Referring to me as Khaleesi”.
Then, during Parks and Recreation, two characters are figuring out where to live in case they need to skip town. One of the options is Winterfell.
I can’t tell if the shoutouts are because geeks and nerds write comedy shows, or if there was a coordinated effort. I imagine it was the former, as one has to freeze frame on both lists to really catch the references.
