Game of Thrones: Season 4

Whoa, I hope Yoda doesn't read your spoilers above. He's still finishing ADWD.

Prologue chapter with Benjen or some wildling? Branvision? JonWarg?

Love reading the theorizing and I also love some of those ideas for setting up which entities are going to be revealed to be more sinister and vice versa. Might stop watching the show after this season until (if?) the books are done.

Pyro Tramp, you theorize that but from what I understand, it is not known if

So, I'm hoping that is the case and is in fact, left open till the next book.

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Oh, undoubtedly that isn't the case.

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(sigh) How do all you book readers remember ALL the freakin' details of ALL the books?

Is it just that I am not normally an epic fantasy reader and therefore just don't absorb details as well, or is it because I raced through all five books in a matter of a few months (in my spare time, late at night while I was nodding off) in e-book format from the library (therefore, on a deadline)?

I definitely MUST reread all five books (which I now at least own in trade paperback)...

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I've seen some huge ones lately since that episode about the webs, think this one was - http://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comme...thers_and_the/

Like the comments about 'always needs to be a Stark in Winterfell' being literal

To be honest, I don't. I've read a lot of theories and other boards which jog certain bits of memory. Tried rereading Clash as S2 was airing but show overtook book so stopped and not found time to reread since.

Thanks, Pyro. I feel a little better... but I am still going to reread them all. (Apparently while I'm waiting for Book Six, I still have a LOT of time to kill.)

Now Seds will chime in and say it's really easy to remember everybody and every detail, and I'll feel stupid again.

Oh, i'd love to reread them, far more interesting than the current 'Investment Principles and Risk'

Oh, something else that's been on my mind for a few weeks now.

For those of you who have read the books, or have at least finished A Storm of Swords...

Re: your spoiler text. I don't like it, and my brother hates it. I'm a little less worked up because I'm holding out hope they'll use it to pay off in some other way, but it's hard to argue that it's not a pretty huge change, characterization-wise.

Agreed.

I'm confident they can steer around it and still basically come to the same result. I know these little deviations have been made to bolster the drama wherever needed, but as we've seen, the show runners don't seem to be shy about altering the characters to get what they want out of the story.

Of course, this could be absolutely genius. Knowing and loving the source material makes it hard to break away and do something different. I didn't agree with the Jaime/Cersei alteration, but you've got to admire that Benioff and Weiss aren't forgetting they have a TV show to run. We'll see how they do with this one.

This season's pretty flat. I could say a lot more, but that sums up the way I feel about it so far.

My buddy, also a book reader, says he thinks this season is very boring so far. I can't help but disagree, and I really don't understand why even those who have read the books find the episodes boring. I get that the big moments are what we all wait for, but the episodes need not be chock full of crazy developments all the time. That's not how the books are written and that's why they work so well. Variety is the spice of life. If it was nothing but Blackwaters and Red Weddings in every episode, we'd all get bored. The expository scenes that build up to these big moments might be slow, but the vast majority of them are in the books. Do people seriously just skim over this stuff and go right to the set pieces?

Thought some of you would get a kick out of this. The Pirates (a baseball team) lost both games of a doubleheader against the Orioles yesterday amidst rain delays. Thus:

The Rains of Baltimore

No way man! Remember, I read 1-4 TWICE, because I had forgotten so much by the time 5 was about to hit the shelves. It had been 6 years since I had read 4, and longer since I had read 1-3. I was already starting to forget details about the first couple of books before I joined MoFo. Reading twice makes a huge difference, as even though I read 5 not so long ago, I am already misty on lots of content from that book. Will read it again just before 6 hits.

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What?! What?!

I wondered if show-watchers would even remember that.

First of His Name was a good episode, I thought.

Lots of various happenings and mentions of things that have happened, will happen, and may or may not happen.

Margaery needs to watch herself...Cersei told her the next time she calls her "sister" she'd have her strangled in her sleep, and here Margaery not only does that (well, okay---she asks Cersei what she should call her, either "sister" or "mother?") and I tensed up during the first question and almost gave myself a stress hernia with the second question. I expected Cersei to sprout fangs and rip a vein out of Margaery's neck!

On the flip side of Cersei, it was a nice scene with her and Oberyn. Makes you wonder if she'll ever see her daughter again. That's what I love about this show---you can hate a character one moment and then feel sorry for them the next.

Danys...not a lot happened in her scenes except for exposition about the cities she freed and her need to stay where she is instead of Westeros.

Brienne and Pod's road trip is a hoot to watch. The flaming rabbit was hilarious.

Still loving Arya and the Hound's travels. Loved her list reading and the last name she placed there. The Hound's mocking of her "water dancing" was great.

Feel so bad for Sansa. Always going from one bad situation to another. Her Aunt is creepy incarnate. Baelish must be gargling with hot water after they kiss. I don't even want to picture what he was doing to Lysa when Sansa was overhearing them. The stomach curdles at the thought. Anything for power with Littlefinger.

The attack on Craster's Keep was pretty great. Sweet what Hodor did when Bran got inside him.

Loved, loved, loved the ending of Karl's battle with Jon and where the deciding blade went.

Just a word about Noah Taylor, who plays Locke. Hard to believe that this is the same guy who played Angelina Jolie's tech guy in both "Tomb Raider" movies, and the dad of Charlie in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." Very versatile actor.