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Dolex posted:I made a web based tool that lets you search for terms and phrases in the books. It plots their usage visually. This is cool, I just finished AFFC and felt like there were a lot of phrases that kept cropping up that I didn't remember from the earlier books. Glad to see I wasn't crazy. 
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Jul 8, 2014 21:12
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I don't think I've seen this posted in this thread.. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/10/game-of-thrones-george-rr-martin-rebuffs-fretting-fans-finger-f-word quote:The question of whether he will live long enough to finish the A Song Of Ice and Fire series – which has become the television phenomenon Game of Thrones – was bravely put, on behalf of his readers everywhere, by an interviewer for the Swiss daily Tages-Anzeiger. 
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Jul 10, 2014 17:45
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embee posted:I don't think I've seen this posted in this thread.. And suddenly smuggrrm.jpg is replaced for a new generation of shitposts.
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Jul 11, 2014 15:59
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So my girlfriend likes the Game of Thrones TV series and while I have nothing against adaptations most of the time, I do tend to like to get to know the source material as well. That is why I'm starting to read the books. I'm at the start of the first book and considering its length and that there are four more of them, I know I have a lot to learn about. However I'm feeling...overwhelmed by lore. I've been bombarded with Terms and Locations and it's hard to remember all that when it has no context or explanation. The tons of characters doesn't help either. I'm just wondering, will all this stuff be well-explained when it's more relevant? Or do I have to try and memorize everything? I'm not even sure who the actually important characters are at the moment. I'm guessing Daenerys. But there is so many Starks and I have no idea which is important. I would guess John but I dunno. I wonder if Dany's brother is going to become a main villain. He seems like an unpleasant fellow. Then again, I kinda sympathize with the rather lovely position he's in.
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Sep 18, 2014 06:49
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NikkolasKing posted:I'm just wondering, will all this stuff be well-explained when it's more relevant? Mostly yes. There are small and cool things that you will not pick up on unless you are keen eyed but it makes these books really, really enjoyable on a reread. I suggest you blaze through them, read a few of the more likely fan theories (Varys is a merman btw), and then give them a reread after a while. I'm also going to suggest reading AFFC and ADWD together in the boiled leather or ball of beasts reading order. It combines them so the book is more chronological than geographical. It looses nothing and is surprisingly better paced than the published books, an easier and more enjoyable read for sure.
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Sep 18, 2014 07:14
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Does anyone else kind of just want this series to go full fantasy-realm sorcery out of left field? Turns out Littlefinger is an agent of alien and terrible powers who were ancient when the world was still young. Destabilizing The Realm is all part of his plan to make their conquest by the White Walkers that much easier.
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Sep 18, 2014 09:56
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So does all the political intrigue and poo poo relate back to the prologue with the zombies because all the royals will be too busy plotting and trying to kill each other to effectively defend against the undead horde outside The Wall? Not gonna lie, I'm rooting for the zombies considering most of the characters I've met.
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Sep 18, 2014 22:31
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NikkolasKing posted:So does all the political intrigue and poo poo relate back to the prologue with the zombies because all the royals will be too busy plotting and trying to kill each other to effectively defend against the undead horde outside The Wall? This is the cutest post.
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Sep 18, 2014 23:13
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Cirofren posted:I suggest you blaze through them, read a few of the more likely fan theories (Varys is a merman btw), and then give them a reread after a while. This isn't the worst fan theory I've heard of, but it's up there.  Looking it up online, what info I've come across seems pretty strained, even more than ones like Illyio and Varys being Blackfyres, with Varys shaving his head to hide his hair color or (ADWD spoilers) Young Griff himself is a Blackfyre being put forth as Aegon, but it would require that even one of Rhaegar's most loyal friends is in on the ruse, or somehow being deceived and somehow never wonders about the boy who looks nothing like his alleged parents. Given the condition that Griff is in there wouldn't be much reason for him to keep up the act if so. Likewise, Varys has no reason to keep up the act to Kevin since if Aegon's a fake then it'd be even more devastating to tell him "not only am I going to destroy the kingdom your family rules, but the hero's a fake" unless he thinks one of his birds would tell someone, which seems unlikely. Plus if Varys is telling the truth it makes him an incredibly dark hero. He will get his hands as dirty as possible if it means unfucking the kingdom and purging a bunch of self-absorbed nobles. The only thing that would(will?) be better is having Sansa kill Littlefinger and Jaimie kill Cersei. Though since The American Tolkien apparently can't sit the gently caress down and write, we'll probably never know. I'm not asking him to churn out a metric fuckload of books like the Guin Saga, but unless he's going to surprise us rather suddenly, it's looking like another 4-5 years for this book. Evil Fluffy fucked around with this message at 22:59 on Sep 19, 2014 |
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Sep 19, 2014 22:42
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Evil Fluffy posted:This isn't the worst fan theory I've heard of, but it's up there. I think it makes Varys incredibly loving stupid, honestly. He helps destabilize the kingdom killing tens of thousands of people on the chance that a good king will rule for possibly only one reign? Whats the guarantee that his successor will be any good? If he wants a good ruler he'd keep Kevan as regent, because he's an actual good ruler. Honestly it makes more sense if he's just a Blackfyre loyalist, its petty, but it makes sense.
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Sep 20, 2014 02:00
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Mike N Eich posted:I think it makes Varys incredibly loving stupid, honestly. He helps destabilize the kingdom killing tens of thousands of people on the chance that a good king will rule for possibly only one reign? Whats the guarantee that his successor will be any good? If he wants a good ruler he'd keep Kevan as regent, because he's an actual good ruler. Ever since book two or three I've been secretly hoping that Varys is secretly working towards purging the nobility and launching a peasants rebellion. 
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Sep 20, 2014 06:49
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Soylent Pudding posted:Ever since book two or three I've been secretly hoping that Varys is secretly working towards purging the nobility and launching a peasants rebellion. Well we sorta have that with the Faith Militant and the High Sparrow, unfortunately they're reactionary theocrats
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Sep 20, 2014 08:13
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Sansa has been the worst and she continues to be the worst by going to Cersei and telling her about Ned trying to send her and Arya away. You know, to save their lives. This part of the book is rather soul-crushing. EDIT: And I understand she's a child. People elsewhere are rushing to shout me down about this. Sansa has done nothing up to this point except be completely unlikable. This was just the final nail in the coffin for me. Considering what has just happened to her, and the fact things are probably only going to get worse, small surprise. At this point, my fave characters are Ned, Arya, Tyrion and Jon. I am also intrigued by Littlefinger and Varys and what game they are playing. The Hound is also a weird case for me since he's been perfectly evil and unlikable except for when he recounted his backstory to Sansa. I won't lie, I am perhaps more intrigued by the world, lore, etc. than the characters in it. But there are definitely characters I like. NikkolasKing fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Sep 21, 2014 |
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Sep 21, 2014 21:28
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I think one of the failings in Sansa's story is that (as far as I can remember) she never flashes on the fact that her childish idiocy was a major factor in getting her dad killed and the ball rolling on all the terrible poo poo that happened to her family. Not that she should be blamed, but to get as far as she has without ever really taking stock makes her character seem really thin and un-evolved. (This is kinda later books stuff)Like she seems to understand that her fantasies and ideas about Kings Landing were dead wrong and that she was dumb to buy into the veneer so hard but she's still stuck in dumb kid mode taking orders from Littlefinger while Arya and Bran are on big transformative journeys of mostly their own making. Sansa seems to get that Kings Landing was a bust, but where's the burning drive to get back at the Lannisters? And I actually like where he story seems to be heading, with her becoming a littlefinger-trained political manipulator...but I keep wanting her to reveal some agency. Like give her a POV chapter where she realizes what a creepy gently caress littlefinger is but decides to keep taking lessons so she can really take advantage of whatever weirdo thing he's doing that seems to involve putting her into power somewhere Intel&Sebastian fucked around with this message at 17:32 on Sep 25, 2014 |
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Sep 25, 2014 17:28
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NikkolasKing posted:Sansa has been the worst and she continues to be the worst by going to Cersei and telling her about Ned trying to send her and Arya away. You know, to save their lives. I'm obviously not going to spoiler anything, but a trademark of the series is your like/HATE of characters sometimes doesn't stay the same. With a huge cast, its often interesting to see who will have some deeper character development. I'm am looking forward to hearing your begrudging but inevitable liking of certain characters. Or maybe you won't,
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Sep 26, 2014 17:53
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People have been assuring me that I will like Jaime but I'm nearly at the end of the second book and still not much from him. I'm at Arya IX. I do feel sorrier for Sansa. It's hard not to pity anyone who has to endure Joffrey. And her doing her best to spare people has certainly earned my respect. I don't see poor Sir Dontos succeeding in rescuing her but I can hold out hope... Right now, my ire is all fixed on Lord Tywin. How could I not hate him after all the chapters of Arya fleeing through the ruined lands that he destroyed for no reason? He turns his mad dogs on anyone and everyone, whether they deserve it or not. He cares nothing for anyone, not even his own family. People say he did this all for his family but he did it all for his family's NAME, not his actual family. The living, breathing people in his family are nothing to him it seems. And then there's Melisandre, who killed poor Renly (whom I was rooting for), as well as that brave knight in Storm's End who was doing his best to save Robert's son. People keep telling me she isn't "that bad" but she is some religious zealot for a religion of burning things and gives birth to shadow baby murderers. ...yeah, she's not anyone I ever see myself supporting.
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Sep 26, 2014 20:00
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NikkolasKing posted:People have been assuring me that I will like Jaime but I'm nearly at the end of the second book and still not much from him. I'm at Arya IX. Remember there's 5 books out right now...still plenty of time for you to warm up to Jaime And on that note, here's a veeeery minor spoiler that may help you to understand why people say that: he becomes a POV character in Book 3 so you can get into his head a little bit (that spoiler's not even plot related and honestly it probably doesn't even deserve a spoiler tag, but whatever, just to be safe)
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Sep 26, 2014 22:06
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I grew bored with the series in book form 3 years ago, but liked the TV version enough and decided to give it another shot. There's good writing here, but it becomes a bit...sparse, in the later books. Jaime's stuff was surprising and really, really enjoyable. On the other hand, Bran and Sansa are colossal slogs to get through. It seems that Sansa is just there to watch other people do things and has zero agency, which is realistic in a way (not everyone gets to kick rear end and accomplish lots of stuff), but it grows old really fast. The Cersei chapters are fun in a cheap way, but it becomes grating how bottomlessly, pettily dumb she becomes. She also brings my biggest peeve to the books: please, not another self-fulfilling prophecy. Hasn't this been done to death already? I almost wish she was motivated by true, impossible love for her brother instead of the born psycho/My baaabiiiiesss!/I'm the true lion/perfect narcissism/fighting prophecies motive roulette she develops. I wonder if the whole The Others plotline can end in anything other than a big anticlimax at this point. Hell, the prologue of the very first book was some dumb noble being offed by zombies, but they are taking so long to actually make a move that they won't get to make a true impact before they are vanquished. They might rack up a body count, but antagonists need time in the spotlight to gain gravitas.
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Sep 28, 2014 02:59
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The Others have had proportionally about as much screen time in the series as a whole as the Freys did in books 1-3 and they were interesting enough.
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Sep 28, 2014 07:00
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