Game of Thrones

[Rojhaz]

My brother's been getting hyped for the HBO Game of Thrones mini-series as castings have slowly been getting announced. I was just wondering what people's opinions of the cast so far are, what people have read about it and how they think it will turn out.

Sean Bean as Eddard has left me kind of 'meh' but Peter Dinklage as Tyrion and Mark Addy as Robert Baratheon are pretty sweet choices.

Ninja Edit: It's amusing how on IMDB the Popularity of the actors so far has skyrocketed upwards of 4,000% this week.

[Trav]

I am drooling in anticipation of this. I will actually be purchasing the HBO package specifically for this (well, and enjoying the benefits of being able to watch things like TruBlood and Eastbound and Down, which I've been told I must see).

I couldn't recall Mark Addy off hand, but I saw his picture on IMDB and immediately thought, "Holy shit, that's Robert without a beard!"

I'm mixed about Sean Bean. I've always liked him, but everything I've seen him in he's too...angry to be Ned. He might turn out ok, though. Fortunately, though *spoilers* if he's terribly miscast, we only have to worry about it for season 1

[Constantíne]

Never heard of it...

[aranil]

*spoilers* if he's terribly miscast, we only have to worry about it for season 1

Thinking that for most of the people. Maybe 1/3 of the cast actually needs to be good...

[Rojhaz]

Never heard of it...

If you're into high fantasy type stuff with minimum magic (so far) it's an amazing series of books.

[Fivelives]

I'm not sure about the minimum of magic stuff (so far). Books 3 and 4 are really getting into the weird aspect (re: bran).

I'm of two minds about this - both the novel series and the TV series. On the one hand, the writing is excellent, but on the other hand, I think that the author is falling into the same trap as Jordan did with Wheel of Time - way way way too many characters being introduced throughout the series so far.

[Talaii]

I'm of two minds about this - both the novel series and the TV series. On the one hand, the writing is excellent, but on the other hand, I think that the author is falling into the same trap as Jordan did with Wheel of Time - way way way too many characters being introduced throughout the series so far.

On the other hand, unlike Jordan he is ruthless enough to just kill some of them to keep things moving.

[Fivelives]

He's killed off 2 that I can think of - and introduced like 6 or 7 more.

[Barristan]

He's killed off 2 that I can think of - and introduced like 6 or 7 more.

By book 4 he killed off plenty more than 2 characters.

[Fivelives]

There's a difference between major and minor characters. The two that were offed were major characters - at least until their untimely demise. A good rule of thumb to use is if they have their own chapter, they're a major character. If they only appear in other people's chapters, they're minor characters.

[Barristan]

So wait, most other books only have one major character?

Your rule of thumb blows.

[Fivelives]

Most other books don't name their chapters with the names of the people they are about, either.

[Trav]

There's a difference between major and minor characters. The two that were offed were major characters - at least until their untimely demise. A good rule of thumb to use is if they have their own chapter, they're a major character. If they only appear in other people's chapters, they're minor characters.

I disagree with this wholeheartedly. From Book 2 until his demise Robb Stark was more or less a central character, despite NEVER getting a chapter from his POV. In fact that's one of the things I loved, the fact that the person in the center of the war, you never knew what he was going to do, because you never got inside his head.

I would argue that so far, Davos has been fairly minor compared to the likes of Cersei, Robb Stark, Stannis, et cetera, but yet, he's a POV character, and they are not...he existed to give a window into Stannis's faction, without it being Stannis himself.

[Fivelives]

I don't remember Davos dying, but it's been awhile since I read the series. I do remember Stannis' maester dying, though. And, yes, Robb got a couple chapters of his own from his POV - after he left Winterfell but before Cat caught up and started travelling with the army, if memory serves.

I haven't read the 5th book yet, is the series finished? At the pace of the first 4 books, it really seems like the 5th would have to feel incredibly rushed in order to cool all the irons that Martin put in his fire.

[Garov]

is the series finished?

We shan't discuss this.