Vesper
5101
I wonder if Book 4 will get a huge edit. For example, will they bother with Kingsmoot stuff? That has low impact on the rest of the story.
Avtar
5102
Yeah, I think it will be edited heavily. I loved the Kingsmoot stuff and all the Iron Islanders stuff in general, but that’s just more characters to add to an already tightly wound show. Ditto for the Dornish stuff. It’s a whole new setting and culture to introduce, and in some ways it’s a bit of a side-story to what’s happened so far. I can see them chopping those plots down to just the essentials, and the parts that affect the larger plot as a whole. I hope they include as much as they can though, the Dornish stuff is some of my favorite in the whole series.
Also, some of the favorites(Tyrion, Arya, Dany, etc.) are barely in book 4 at all, and there’s just no way that’s gonna fly for TV watchers.
Yo_Rudy
5103
I really hope Hyle Hunt ends up in the series because he’s my favorite character which makes no sense even to me. Also I’m holding out hope that my second favorite character, Strong Belwas, gets added at some point even though he’s already been skipped.
Seriously what’s wrong with me.
I would also recommend reading the books. Not in a smartass way, as if being spoiled was your problem, but because it does enrich your enjoyment of the show. I watched the first two seasons, then read the books. I enjoyed those first two seasons but in a limited way. You do lose some surprise from the tv show, this is true. But I think it’s worth it because you gain so much other detail that the tv show could not possibly cover that it more than makes up for it. Also, the book series isn’t done, so even reading all the books to this point you still won’t be spoiled on a lot of stuff. You can’t be spoiled on stuff that isn’t written yet.
I’m conflicted about reading the books, so I fall back on the at least partially true excuse that I don’t have the time. But more specifically, I can live with the yearly pace of the show, I think I’d get much more frustrated if I caught up and was then stuck with another decade or so of waiting to finish the books. And with the uncertainty about the eventual end of the show and how it will or won’t be timed with the books, I think I’ll be much happier if I stick to just judging the show on its own terms first, and then tackling the books after that.
Of course, I also keep meaning to make a post about how I think the show is already a little too big for TV, which I’ll elaborate on when I have the time, but reading the books might be just the thing to help me deal with that minor complaint.
So like I said, conflicted, and therefore defaulting to lazy and not starting them for the time being at least.
olaf
5106
That was awesome. That ending scene was one of my favorites in the series. The Hound is awesome. I hope he isnt dead.
I think it will, and maybe some book 5 as well. Purple wedding looks to be in episode 2 or 3?
As for reading the books or not…I would say read them. The first 3 books are the best series I’ve ever read. 4-5, not so much but they are still worth reading. I expect the series to overtake the books in terms of awesome starting with this season. I also expect the series to wrap up before the books. The delay between the first 3, and 4, and then 5 has left me with zero faith in Martin to wrap it all up well, let alone in a timely fashion.
It makes sense to me not to bother reading the books if you’re satisfied with what you’re seeing. I read the first three books and enjoyed them, but I wasn’t as blown away by them as most others seem to have been. But I’m highly entertained by the HBO series, much more than I was by the books. I think a really big part of that is just having a face to put to the massive cast of characters, it helps me immensely keep track of who is who and how they relate to each other. I don’t plan to read any further into the series because I’m pretty well set with what the show is giving me.
Funny thing for me is that I don’t watch the series, but I read the books. However, I find myself putting the various faces that the show has brought forward to the characters - kind of the inverse approach.
I plan to read all the books eventually, but the show is good enough that I don’t want to spoil it. I’m a slow enough reader that I’m not burning through the books in days, or even weeks, so I’m just catching up on the books at a very casual pace and trying to stay behind where the show is at.
Re. the “what will they cut?” question, I think they could easily cut a lot of the Ironborn stuff. Essentially, all they need is to maneouvre horny Victarion into position. I think a lot of that stuff qualified as GRRM filler, milking dump trucks of money for the purpose of. Great filler, since it’s GRRM, and because pirates. But filler nonetheless.
JMR
5111
Game of Thrones theme goat edition
Gil102
5112
Took me a few seconds to get that. Purple wedding…lol! Now I can’t stop chuckling!
Do the people who haven’t read the books know Tommen exists?
My wife and I are watching the third season via Netflix. (Episode 4 was pretty awesome.) Does Theon get captured and tortured in the third book, or is that time-shifted for the show? I’ve read the first three books and don’t remember that at all. I have a bad memory though.
Tommen’s been the show briefly at times.
All the things that happen to Theon after Winterfell are mostly implied up until Book 5, IIRC. Until he’s revealed, it was naturally assumed that he was actually killed at the end of book 2.
— Alan
Gendal
5117
Took me a few seconds as well before I started snickering.
LockerK
5118
This is why we can’t have nice things, like non-book readers in a thread titled for the TV show :( It’s what I get for poking back in and hoping things were safe now that the show has started back up.
Um, who the hell were the cannibals who showed up at the camp where Ygritte and her fellow wildlings were staying? I don’t remember anything like that from the books.
They basically combined the Thenns with the Cannibals from Skagos. The Thenns are actually quite civilized for wildlings, but D&D had their reasons.
