Books: A Song of Ice and Fire *SPOILERS* Part XIV

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Frank the Tank

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This is actually a pretty good point, I mean Rhaegar is a key figure to the story and a cool character... yet we've barely heard about him and have never seen him.

Hopefully one of the prequels they're scripting is about him and that story.

It's almost poetic that while the book series is titled a Song of Ice and Fire, the show is called a Game of Thrones.
 

Kurtz

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They have already confirmed none of the prequels have characters we have already seen in the show.

From what I've read, they don't intend to have any of the current actors in the prequels, but that doesn't preclude the possibility of having a younger version of a character (also...we've never actually seen Rhaegar :) )
 

Emperoreddy

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From what I've read, they don't intend to have any of the current actors in the prequels, but that doesn't preclude the possibility of having a younger version of a character (also...we've never actually seen Rhaegar :) )

I've read we won't see any characters we have seen.

So the plan is further back in time and in different places.

I've read a few things that Robert's Rebellion won't happen.
 

Siamese Dream

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They have to at least do Dunk & Egg, have to. Both characters are at least mentioned in Game of Thrones so it's not like they're completely unknown. The Hedge Knight is a wonderful story, I think it would translate well onto screen and they won't need a huge budget. (You also wouldn't get "thick as a castle wall" over and over without Dunk's inner thoughts!)
 

Emperoreddy

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They have to at least do Dunk & Egg, have to. Both characters are at least mentioned in Game of Thrones so it's not like they're completely unknown. The Hedge Knight is a wonderful story, I think it would translate well onto screen and they won't need a huge budget. (You also wouldn't get "thick as a castle wall" over and over without Dunk's inner thoughts!)

They won't. George won't let them finish another story of his because he writes so slow.
 

njdevsfn95

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:(

Screenshot?

Jon Targaryean, first of his name :yo:

EDIT -

Cersei actually pregnant, or is this a ploy to keep Jaime around, loyal?

If she is pregnant, I hope she gives birth to a dwarf and dies shortly after.

I have no screenshot but it appeared to me a fairly large and relatively intact wight with plenty of hair on the head. I'll see if I can make one later and I'm assuming, obviously
 

Warden of the North

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I've read we won't see any characters we have seen.

So the plan is further back in time and in different places.

I've read a few things that Robert's Rebellion won't happen.

Aegons Conquest?

Or capitalize on the Stark name and make it about Brandon the Builder and making the Wall and the formation of the Nights Watch
 

RobBrown4PM

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This is actually a pretty good point, I mean Rhaegar is a key figure to the story and a cool character... yet we've barely heard about him and have never seen him.

Hopefully one of the prequels they're scripting is about him and that story.

I think he's been touched upon quite a bit, albeit via the nostalgia of others talking about him. I enjoy this approach, as it means his character can never really be ruined, like a potential introduction could.
 

Finlandia WOAT

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I think he's been touched upon quite a bit, albeit via the nostalgia of others talking about him. I enjoy this approach, as it means his character can never really be ruined, like a potential introduction could.

Right, and he's not really needed in the show beyond giving legitimacy to King Jon I Targaeryan, First of His Name.
 

The Moose

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Just curious, are the upcoming books expected to go in the same direction that the TV show is heading? Or could it be a totally different conclusion? I haven't read the books, and I a don't know how accurately the show has been following the books. I am just wondering whether there is any point of reading the books after seeing the show.
 

Finlandia WOAT

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We'll never find out for the "upcoming" books.

Off the top of my head there are at least three major characters whose characterizations and arcs (if not the general plot, which is fairly rigid between mediums) are very different, and for those three characters I, personally, prefer the books.

Those characters are (SPOILER)

[spoil] The Lannister siblings [/spoil]
 

WarriorOfGandhi

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Just curious, are the upcoming books expected to go in the same direction that the TV show is heading? Or could it be a totally different conclusion? I haven't read the books, and I a don't know how accurately the show has been following the books. I am just wondering whether there is any point of reading the books after seeing the show.

it's been mentioned in this thread but one thing the books do much better is describing prior events. The show has a vague sense of who Rhaegar was, but in the books we got many descriptions and anecdotes about him and why he was so important. Likewise the show barely makes any mention of the Azor Ahai prophecy, which is the whole reason why Jon came back to life, while the books have lots of detail about it. One of the reasons why GRRM is taking so long to write the last two books is because the world he created is expanding and expanding, and the show only reflects a portion of that world.
 

JabbaJabba

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Just curious, are the upcoming books expected to go in the same direction that the TV show is heading? Or could it be a totally different conclusion? I haven't read the books, and I a don't know how accurately the show has been following the books. I am just wondering whether there is any point of reading the books after seeing the show.

There are somethings that are likely very similar in the books like Shireen's and Hodor's fates, which haven't yet happened in the books, as I believe those came straight from Martin. We don't know everything he has told D&D and because the books aren't finished, it could be that Martin doesn't know everything either, so he couldn't have told everything. However, the books and the show differ a lot, there are so many more characters and their journeys are much different compared to their show versions. It could be that the endings are quite similar but they take a very different routes to get there, but we'll have to wait and see.

At this point I consider the show a fanfiction.
 

The Moose

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There are somethings that are likely very similar in the books like Shireen's and Hodor's fates, which haven't yet happened in the books, as I believe those came straight from Martin. We don't know everything he has told D&D and because the books aren't finished, it could be that Martin doesn't know everything either, so he couldn't have told everything. However, the books and the show differ a lot, there are so many more characters and their journeys are much different compared to their show versions. It could be that the endings are quite similar but they take a very different routes to get there, but we'll have to wait and see.

At this point I consider the show a fanfiction.

Is it still rewarding to read the books after watching the show? I realize the answer is bound to be very subjective, but just your opinion.
 

RandV

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Just curious, are the upcoming books expected to go in the same direction that the TV show is heading? Or could it be a totally different conclusion? I haven't read the books, and I a don't know how accurately the show has been following the books. I am just wondering whether there is any point of reading the books after seeing the show.

An illustration here comparing the books vs TV seasons should help:

0RY4pU9.png


S1 one was a near perfect adaption. In fact they actually had about an hour of room left to film, so they improvised a lot of those scenes where it was just 2-3 characters in a room talking. Book 2 is a good bit bigger than book 1 and wasn't going to fit into 10 episodes, so they tinkered a good bit more but it's still relatively close. Book 3 was also slightly bigger than book 2 but it's the corner stone of the series up to this point, so they devoted to full seasons to 3+4 it with a little bit of spillover into book 4.

Books 4 and 5 were only intended to be one book, but it was getting too big and unwieldly so GRRM had to split it into two books that actually ran parallel to each other. Pissed off a lot of fans because Jon/Dany/Tyrion and a few others weren't in book 4, so we were left hanging for over 5 years.

Regardless, there was no way to properly adapt these monsters to the show so it's gone way off course. It's where a lot of criticism comes from, while in Feast (b4) GRRM devotes just as much time & detail to Dorne or the Iron Islanders as he does the rest of Westeros, D&D have only a few segments of room to come up with an improvised story and it falls flat... not sure how much you can really blame them though as it's not an easy task.

About the only thing I feel the show has definitely 'spoiled' for me as a reader was the "hold the door" moment and the birth of the Night King/origin of the white walkers. With everything else it's either gotten far too different in the show or is so much more complex that I'm not at all worried.

One simple example that I would consider an inconsequential spoiler, is that Sansa never left the Vale for Winterfell. One of Sansa's friends survived the butchering in season 1 after Ned failed to secure the Throne, and with no one actually knowing WTF happened to Arya the Lannisters are claiming this is her. It's why the Bolton's needed Theon so badly for the wedding, to validate for the other Northern lords that 'Fake Arya' (actually the former Stewards daughter) is the real Arya.
 

RandV

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So I'd say yeah, if you're capable of reading a massive series it's still rewarding to read the books. Maybe wait till Winds of Winter is out though, and when you get to A Feast of Crows look up something called the boiled leather order. It tells you the order to read chapters in Feast and Dance so everything remains in a chronological order.
 

Emperoreddy

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Well the show basically spoiled how most of the Dance cliffhangers are resolved.

It also revealed Jon Snow's parentage, something some book readers tried for a long time to prove wrong through theories.

Something's have to be different because of the cut storylines. A lot of things are going to be the same though. I don't think people are as prepared for this as they should.

Of course these books may never come out, something that seems increasingly likely.
 

JabbaJabba

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Is it still rewarding to read the books after watching the show? I realize the answer is bound to be very subjective, but just your opinion.

I think so, I started reading the books I think after season 4 and it added more depth to the watching experience, although season 5 is where the show and the books start to differ a lot, so of course going forward I was constantly comparing the two more and more. If you plan to watch the show first and then read the books, I think you can enjoy them both as separate works.
 

Siamese Dream

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The books will be plenty enough different, some things will stay the same but for a lot of storylines they've had to merge characters and plots to make it work, like giving Sansa the Jeyne Poole plot because otherwise she'd have nothing to do. Dorne will be completely different because the showrunners decided to just nuke it because fans hated it. I also have to think Gurm will come up with a different solution to the Cersei/Margaery/High Sparrow power struggle because again the showrunners just nuked it to tie up loose ends and plot points that were going nowhere, also Cersei is really dumb in the books compared to the show and her and Jaime are growing further apart. I don't know what Gurm will do with Arya, but I doubt we'll get the happy families Stark reunion that we've had in the show.

The things I expect to be similar are Jon's resurrection, Stannis dying in the North combined with Shireen burning. Dany taking over the Dothraki. Bran 3 eyed ravening and Hodor holding the door. Sam Citadeling and maybe meeting Jon Conningtom instead of Jorah (but there actually being a point to the Greyscale not just a forgotten plot point and having Sam conveniently cure him so he can go back to Dany)
 
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canuckster19

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We'll never find out for the "upcoming" books.

Off the top of my head there are at least three major characters whose characterizations and arcs (if not the general plot, which is fairly rigid between mediums) are very different, and for those three characters I, personally, prefer the books.

Those characters are (SPOILER)

[spoil] The Lannister siblings [/spoil]

And there's the one "major" character the TV show hasn't even touched.
 

Emperoreddy

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The books will be plenty enough different, some things will stay the same but for a lot of storylines they've had to merge characters and plots to make it work, like giving Sansa the Jeyne Poole plot because otherwise she'd have nothing to do. Dorne will be completely different because the showrunners decided to just nuke it because fans hated it. I also have to think Gurm will come up with a different solution to the Cersei/Margaery/High Sparrow power struggle because again the showrunners just nuked it to tie up loose ends and plot points that were going nowhere, also Cersei is really dumb in the books compared to the show and her and Jaime are growing further apart. I don't know what Gurm will do with Arya, but I doubt we'll get the happy families Stark reunion that we've had in the show.

The things I expect to be similar are Jon's resurrection, Stannis dying in the North combined with Shireen burning. Dany taking over the Dothraki. Bran 3 eyed ravening and Hodor holding the door. Sam Citadeling and maybe meeting Jon Conningtom instead of Jorah (but there actually being a point to the Greyscale not just a forgotten plot point and having Sam conveniently cure him so he can go back to Dany)

I don't think there is going to be a point to the greyscale. It was just another plot thread that wasn't thought out well enough.
 
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