Game of Thrones discussion (Spoilers) and question

I read the books several years ago. For those who are watching the HBO show now without having read the books, how many were surprised they killed off Ned Stark? I remember when I was reading the book, I kept thinking that somehow he would be saved at the last minute. And, when he was killed, I was stunned when reading the book. He was sort of the moral center of the first book.

(though, something in book 3 was more stunning to me, but I won't spoil it for people who haven't gotten that far in the books...)

and his biggest impression is "DAMN there are a lot of people in this thing." The concurrent story threads don't quite come across in the series as well as in the books, which are complicated enough. I don't know about you but the cannon fodder characters I don't even bother with much any more.

That said Martin is a great tease, and I do keep going because I'm just certain something really strange is going to happen at any minute.

I didn't expect Ned's death either and still somehow expect him to magically resurrect.

*SPOILER* And watching the show I am seriously going to miss Kal Drogo. YUM.

he'll be in the reboot of Conan the Barbarian over the summer, in the title role.

I read this book in 2007...and forgot that Ned dies. The read was a challenge to keep track of characters, storylines and geography but I got through it and bought the next 3 books. There are still waiting to be read.

So along comes the mini-series and I am totally re-engaged in this story and rereading GOT. I feel that part of me also died along with Ned...since I had forgotten. :cry:

On to the villians. I don't think that a group (Lannisters) could be detested more. Nice job Martin. And I seriously doubt that I could ever watch something objectively if the actor that plays that twerp Joffrey is cast. Fantastic job casting director.

Amazing series.

-dave

The actors are doing a great job being truly truly Evil.

My husband read the books years ago too, and he got very emotional when Ned was killed :cry:

characters with excellence, but who also actually strongly resemble the characters as described in the books. Amazing.

of the families next to their castles/lands. That would be quite helpful.

because of the rest of his family. Particularly when you read the book, which has more detail. I was sorry that the show left out Tyrion actually fighting in the battle, and instead made it look like he was just knocked out and never participated in the battle itself. I think he showed more strength of character by his participations in the battle and in the fight on the road to Eeyrie.

sure, he's not an angel... but, he's always interesting.

He did okay for himself in both situations, though it might have been too expensive to do full scale battle scenes?

after watching the first 6 episodes I read Book One in three days; couldn't put it down. Reading the books while watching the series really helps keep the characters in place.

I absolutely love some of the minor characters (not necessarily 'cannon fodder' ones), like Lord Frey.

My husband read the back of books two and three to me before I saw/read of Ned's death, and that spoiled it for me, pooh.

I guessed everything that happens to Danys/Khaleesi in her last three chapters in the book, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading it anyway.

I haven't enjoyed anything like this in a very long time, maybe not ever.

and I was just as shocked when I read it as I imagine I would have been if only watching the show. It took huevos gigantes for the author to do this, imho, and had his writing been of a lower quality, I can imagine he might have lost many readers. Although, the way book 1 ends, it's nigh impossible to stop reading there.

I predict his book sales skyrocket after the last episode airs. Coincides nicely with release of the 5th book too.

Oh crap. I think having him dead evens the odds more...only the children of the great kings survive. Harder to predict the outcome. Fascinating series. Should I order the books off Amazon, NewJeff?

if there isn't a waiting list for it. Just to see if you like Martin's writing style - the audiobook for A Game of Thrones is 28 discs and 33 hours, so they condensed it quite a bit to get it down to 10 hours on HBO.

I wanted to read the books before I saw the miniseries (I don't have HBO), so I broke down and just bought them at my local bookstore. Best entertainment purchase I've made in a long, long time. I would absolutely recommend that someone read Game of Thrones even if they've seen the series, because there's a tremendous amount of little threads and mysteries that are resolved only much later, and I cannot imagine they can fit all of that into 10 hours of TV.

I discovered this place a couple of weeks ago and now know the fates of most of the central characters:

http://awoiaf.westeros.org

It's cool though because, for me, I realized this series was going to very "Stephen King" about its characters and having some foreknowledge of their futures serves as personal emotional insurance.

EDIT ADD: uh oh, looks like I broke the site. I'm sure it will be back up soon.

exquisite, as is the melding/mixing of various elements from different real-life cultures into something 'new'.

But otherwise, this show has done an outstanding translation from print to television.