Game of Thrones: Kill your darlings.
John Lanchester, author of Capital, reviewed A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin and HBO’s Game of Thrones last month in the London Review of Books. Good to see that journal of literary and intellectual essays give fantasy novels their due. The article is here. If you have not read the first three volumes or started watching Season 3, DO NOT READ IT. (But you will, won’t you hahahahaaa.)
Everyone is addicted, and everyone reports the same moment as being the one that got them hooked…The king and his entourage take up residence at Winterfell, ancestral home of the Starks. We see much of their antics from the perspective of Bran Stark, second-youngest son of Eddard, a likeable, lively eight-year-old boy. Bran’s hobby is climbing all over the huge high rambling castle of Winterfell, something he does with an enthusiasm which would be reckless if it weren’t for his complete confidence that he will never fall. In the course of one of his climbs, he hears adult voices through a high window, goes to investigate, and comes across Jaime and Cersei energetically engaged in (to use a neologism popular with fans) twincest. They catch him catching them at it, and Jaime grabs Bran. The two twins look at each other. ‘The things I do for love,’ says Jaime – and throws the boy out the window.
That startling moment is where the first programme in the TV series ends, and it’s the point at which people realise they’re addicted.
Also, its strongest characters are women. Catelyn, Cersei, Daenerys, Arya, Brienne, Margaery, Olenna Tyrell, even Sansa has learned how to live in that world.
Lady Olenna Tyrell on her grandson Loras. From the Lady Olenna tumblr.
Answers to questions you might be asking, unless you wandered onto this site purely by accident >>>
May 21st, 2013 at 07:25
I read the article and I’m so glad. I have something else to look forward to. Psychotic little shit! =)
May 21st, 2013 at 07:36
Hard to think that episode 9 won’t make broadcast until the first Sunday of June. We’re looking at things coming to a head as plot lines normally pay off normally at this part of the TV season.
It’s a good thing there’s a new season of Arrested Development to tide us over during the Memorial Day weekend in the meantime.
Oh, of course we need to tie things together in a neat bow…
http://arrestedwesteros.com/
May 21st, 2013 at 09:40
I got hooked the moment Ned Stark swung his sword, Ice, to slice off the head of the deserter.
Who wouldn’t get hooked? There are swordfights, intrigues, exposed mammary glands; tragic, heroic, noble, badass characters ultimately doomed; hateful villains that make you reach for your sword every time they appear; conniving, beautiful, cunning, lustful, strong women not afraid to use their sexuality.
And oh yes–wolves and zombies and magic and fire-breathing dragons.
Chances are, you’d see yourself in the menagerie of characters that inhabit the Ice and Fire universe.
I did, and I realized I am Ned Stark–I already have had my head cut off several times. And I will lose it again, unless I learned the lessons of Syrio Forel.
Jesus, I just geeked out.
May 21st, 2013 at 11:55
Game of Thrones is addictive as fck. Got baited by my S.O. when he was watching Season 2. (Missed all of Season 1, except Episode 1.) Bought the box set. Currently finishing Volume 2. Haven’t started watching Season 3. Read the spoilers in the Lanchester article. Didn’t care. My S.O. is sick of me wanting to watch/read Game of Thrones all the time he’s trying to switch me over to How I Met Your Mother or The Walking Dead. It’s no use. Winter is coming, and it’s got us all waiting.
May 21st, 2013 at 12:17
The dragons excite me no end. I find an episode boring when Daenerys and her dragons are not around. :P
May 21st, 2013 at 14:47
I liked the HBO previews/ads so I read it two months before it aired and I was hooked once I got past that intro. I am excited about the Jon Snow things and the Stark things, plus that thing about Lady Stoneheart. I want the Martells to appear as fabulous Indian/Middle Eastern types.
I wish they could condense books 4-5 in one season because they are boring and I don’t need Peter Dinklage to ask “where do whores go” every single freaking time. I think the “Daenerys failing to rule over her city” plot, while important, is too boring. Same with her nephew’s subplot.
May 21st, 2013 at 16:05
The scene where the screen cap was taken from, is one of the best this season.
Lady Olenna Tyrell is like Armida Siguion-Reyna. I imagine Tita Midz saying those words hahaha!
May 21st, 2013 at 17:13
amypond: One is setting herself up for unhappiness, not just in her mass media consumption but life in general, if one expects others to see things exactly as she does. Expectation guarantees disappointment. Accept difference. The best one may wish for is to be surprised.
May 21st, 2013 at 17:14
brewhuh: Among the oldies’ lines we also like Tywin’s “We could arrange to have you carried.”
May 21st, 2013 at 17:15
PinayTG: Haha, empathy. Dragon.
May 21st, 2013 at 17:17
volume-addict: Thanks for the heads-up, you’ve saved us some pointless fuming and gnashing of teeth. Judging from the title of episode 9 we will need to watch it with a very large drink.
May 21st, 2013 at 17:21
CaitlynsMomma: Yes, that was a particularly satisfying chapter in A Storm of Swords. Jack Gleeson should get an award, everyone hates his character with a passion.
We haven’t forgotten your cat T-shirt. The shirt styles are limited so if you want one, maybe you could contact Steph and arrange to send her a blank shirt? spalallos@gmail.com.
May 21st, 2013 at 22:37
I just read the article. the last part was disturbing! George R. R. Martin is 64 years old. I hope he doesn’t go down like a character in his books before he finishes writing the last 2 of the series.
May 21st, 2013 at 23:23
Ms JZ – Thanks for the heads up about the cat shirt. I was just wondering about that. I will contact Steph.
May 22nd, 2013 at 03:14
Strong women, yes, love that. But, I’m more biased on the likes of Tyrion–downtrodden. I love to see get his ultimate wish by the end of the saga!
May 22nd, 2013 at 03:41
Thanks for the journal–very, very readable and accessible! Indeed, winter’s already here! (And speaking of which, Your Grace, when will we enjoy reading Your Grace’s first novel?)
May 22nd, 2013 at 09:47
Granted there aren’t too many “iconic” scenes in books 4 & 5 but I didn’t find it that boring. They’re the books I re-read the most. I expect they’ll cut down most of the chapters all the same, the way they did ASOS. I wouldn’t mind two seasons if they pile on details and history and Frey pies and Bran eating people. Heh.
I’m watching the latest one right now and Arya’s hopeful face is killing me.
May 22nd, 2013 at 11:58
wangbumaximus21: We review other people’s books, right? Well we reviewed our own novel and found it uneven and clunky, and not the sort of work we’d put our name to. So it’s not for publication. Good to get the first novel out of the way, though. We could spend years rewriting it, which would be tedious, or write a new one from scratch, which is more fun.
In any creative venture, brutal self-appraisal will save you from worse pain.
James Salter: “Discard everything that is good enough.”
May 22nd, 2013 at 12:05
mmll: Just to taunt the readers who worry about his health and tell him to hurry up, the next GRRM book that will come out is NOT volume 6 in A Song of Ice and Fire.
He says he is working on volume 6, The Winds of Winter. He has also assured viewers that the showrunners Benioff and Weiss know how the stories turn out. And since he himself is a producer on the HBO series and he writes an episode each season (this season, The Bear and the Maiden Fair, which we love, although we’re sick of the Theon torture storyline) any changes made to the plots (Talisa who? From Volantis? Where’s Jeyne Westerling?) will probably not significantly alter the outcomes.
Although the young Mrs Stark pregnancy fans the heir to the North theories.
May 22nd, 2013 at 12:08
wangbumaximus21: In a series full of hot guys, Peter Dinklage is the star through sheer force of personality. That should give hope to everyone who is more Tyrion than Jaime.