Winter is Coming (Song of Ice and Fire TV)

[Rob Van Der Sloot]

The interactive HBO map: http://viewers-guide.hbo.com/game-of...eason2/#!/map/

The Ice and Fire wiki community map: http://awoiaf.westeros.org/images/3/...e_and_Fire.jpg
(which clearly differs regarding the east continent of Essos)

And Vaes Tolorro (the city of bones) is not shown on either one of those maps, which according to the book is where Dany travels next. I'm not sure if we'll see that in the next episode... I'm not even sure if they will include it in the series, since not a whole lot happens there, apart from her people recovering from the harsh journey through the desert. There really are a lot of places, especially in Dany's story, that are not shown on any of the maps. Yet there are plenty of other places that ARE shown on the map, yet we never visit. I tell ya, maps and fantasy books...

[Gorani]

I assume Danaerys will meet the ambassadors soon, skipping the city of bones.

[Rob Van Der Sloot]

First, one thing. I did notice that the title song sounds different this time around. Same theme, but they definately did a different take on the theme song. The Pointless, you were correct.

(MINOR spoilers ahead regarding the places and people. No story spoilers.)

I just saw episode 2, and that was amazing! Pyke looks awesome, and they nail the scenes with Theon and Asha spot on! (Although they call her Yara in the series for some reason) It seems that now that the first episode is out of the way, they are taking more time to tell the story. They did however make some leaps in the story, and mixed some scenes together, which didn't bother me all that much. We spend more time with each character, allowing us to better get to know Theon and Davos, which is so important for the story. This more than makes up for the first episode, which was already pretty good. But now they really stuck to the book so accurately.



Pyke looks exactly as described in the book, with the stormy coast and the tiny bridges that span between the towers. If you look closely during the episode, you can even see silhouettes of people walking across the bridges in the distance. Then when we meet Theon's father, they even added the Kraken of House Greyjoy above the fireplace. Such excellent attention to detail. Enough to have a fangasm.

Asha looks some what different from what I imagined (and why they changed her name to Yara baffles me). But she does radiate the right level of overconfidence that the character needs. Theon is just as unlikable as in the book. They also did that pretty well. How ever, they did skip on a few characters that Theon is supposed to meet, which won't reappear until Feast for Crows (book 4, which I am reading right now). I guess that wasn't all that important.



This means they'll probably move on to Renly, Brienne and Cathelyn in episode 3 or 4. Which is something I'm especially looking forward to. Dany is only shown briefly, so again they don't reach the City of Bones.... if they do at all. For those of us who read the books, it is easy to follow. But I wonder if the rest of the audience can keep up with all the new characters and places. Especially now that they switch to Pyke and Dragonstone for extended durations, we don't spend quite as much time with familiar characters as we did in the first season (just like the book btw).

Considering the pace, I suppose it will also take a while before we get to Harrenhal. I remember there were quite a few scenes before it which are rather important. They mention Harrenhal in the behind the scenes videos, and I already saw some of the amazing sets. This is going to be phenomenal!

And of course Tyrion was hilarious as always. He steals any scene he's in. But then again, they are among some of the most enjoyable scenes in the books.

Spoiler

They made some significant changes with how Tyrion handles the captain of the city guard, which eliminate certain side characters from the story. Now Bronn is in charge? If I remember correctly, Tyrion appointed someone else for that, and Bronn remained more of a henchman to Tyrion. I also distinctly remember Tyrion putting his tribesmen from the first book to some good use in order to keep the city in check. I wonder if we'll see some of that in the third episode.

Most of these changes are probably nothing that readers of the books will get angry about. I understand some parts of the story need to be condensed, so the series does not introduce countless irrelevant side characters, like the book does. I also think it is clever how they merged some scenes, in order to cover bits and pieces from two chapters in one scene, like they did with Asha and Theon.

[Buddah]

I don't remember Jon following Craster though. I thought Gilly or one of the other woman at the keep filled in that detail.

[Gorani]

...and why they changed her name to Yara baffles me...

I can help with that. The wildling woman the Stark boys take into custody (which plays a bigger part with Bran & Rickon later) is called Osha. The writers wanted to avoid the similarity in name with Asha Greyjoy.

[The Pointless]

Seems a bit of a tiny fail to me, seeing as that similarity forms part of Theon's frustrations late on in the book.

[Rob Van Der Sloot]

I can help with that. The wildling woman the Stark boys take into custody (which plays a bigger part with Bran & Rickon later) is called Osha. The writers wanted to avoid the similarity in name with Asha Greyjoy.

I'm always against changing names. Even if it is to make the name less easy to confuse with another character. The characters are written around their names. By changing that, they just make things needlessly confusing for those that do read the books. And they could have simply pronounced Asha in a clearly different way from the name Osha. I doubt many of the viewers know that the wildling woman is called Osha anyway.

BTW, spoilers to what the following three episodes will supposedly cover (YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!):
(I also make some speculations regarding the other episodes till the end of the season, based on the titles of the episodes. Heavy spoiler territory if you haven't read the book!)

Spoiler

Episode 3 - "What Is Dead May Never Die"

Catelyn Stark arrives at King Renly's camp to negotiate an alliance. Tyrion also tries to gain supports for Joffrey's cause by proposing three different marriages. At Winterfell, Bran Stark needs help to decipher his dreams.

Episode 4 - "Garden of Bones"

Catelyn tries to convince the Baratheon brothers to abandon their quarrel and unite against the Lannisters (a memorable scene from the book, which briljantly shows how stubborn the two kings are), while Sansa is chastised by Joffrey in revenge for her brother's victories (and nudity follows). Arya and Gendry are taken captives to the castle of Harrenhal (I wonder if they skip Arya's fight at a settlement, and the atrocities commited by The Mountain's men). After her exhausting journey through the desert, Daenerys arrives at the gates of the prosperous city of Qarth. (Yep, they skip the City of Bones. Yet the title of the episode still seems to make reference to it.)

Episode 5 - "The Ghost of Harrenhal"

In Harrenhal, Arya Stark is promised help by the mysterious Jaqen H’ghar, one of the three caged prisoners during her trip to the Wall. The new situation at Renly's camp forces Catelyn to flee (Awww, we have to wait till episode 5 for this to happen? Or do they perhaps show it at the end of episode 4?). Theon sails from Pyke prepared to prove that he is a true Ironborn. The Night's Watch arrive at an ancient fortress called the Fist of the First Men, where they intend to make a stand.

Episode 6 - "The Old Gods and the New"

Somewhere in this season they will have to show the most notorious and creepy scene with Melisandre from the book.

Episode 7 - "A Man Without Honor"

Probably focusses on the adventures of Brienne and Jaime.

Episode 8 - "The Prince of Winterfell"

This could be referring to the attack on Winterfell.

Episode 9 - "Blackwater"

It is rumoured that George R. R. Martin co-directed this episode. The title of this episode is probably referring to the most epic battle in the entire book. This is probably where most of the budget of the season went.

Episode 10 - "Valar Morghulis"

This is probably the episode where Arya escapes Harrenhal. This will be epic as well, and will require some visual effects for Jaqen H’ghar's transformation.

[The Pointless]

Finally managed to watch S2E2. I'm starting to wonder if it was wise of me to blam through A Clash of Kings so soon before watching this season. It's made all the differences between book and show too noticeable for my liking and my attention feels more drawn to those individual changes than the storyline as a whole, I think.

[Gorani]

Not unexpected, but HBO gave green light for the 3rd season, today. :)

PS: D.B. Weiss said, that no more than 10 episodes for each season are possible and that the series is an adaptation of the books, so fans should not expect that each season will end as the each book did.

http://www.serienjunkies.de/news/gam...fel-39366.html

[Gorani]

It is a German site, but pretty much everything is in English and I guess you can find your way around to click through the ten pages.

http://www.serienjunkies.de/news/gam...dom-39429.html