Just watched it and I have to agree here. This was the only scene that I was disappointed about.
It's not like it was 100% consensual in the book, but it wasn't as bad as the show made it seem. I wonder how they'll spin it now so that she'll still come to love him, without it looking weird.

I did have some problems recognizing and remembering the minor characters, after all I read it in 2004.
I just realized it's been nearly 7 years. I'm getting old.

 

This was awesome. I have just started the series and blasted through the first three books when I heard a series come out and I was excited. With the events being fresh in my mind I appreciated the closeness to the original work even more. And all of the changes except Daenarys' "rape" were welcome.

Speaking of which, that one has now put the creators in an awkward place , as someone said. How to make it look like Dany fell in love and wasn't just suffering from Stockholm Syndrome? I sincerely hope it was deliberate instead of the director and actors bungling it because if so, I'm worried for the rest of the series.

But on the other hand, the actor who played her brother was awesome as Viserys. Granted he's not the psychotic piece of shit we all came to know and hate, but I liked this interpretation just as much if not more. It would have been very difficult to do the book!Viserys right without coming off hammy so I see why he went in another direction. Somebody said the kid who played Joffrey was Draco-ish, but damn, this guy screams Malfoy to me. Or what Malfoy should have/could have been.

As for the story, it was pretty faithful I think, but having just read it I can't seem to see a hook for me. And people like me that can mean the difference between watching for something new or to see my favorite scenes acted out. On the one hand I hope they throw in something new in there, something not in the books, on the other that has the potential to turn sour and probably wouldn't fit anyway.

Hopefully the ratings stay strong and we get to at least aCoK.The machinations really come into themselves in aCoK and I probably enjoyed it more if only for the Imp. But I'm wary, I can easily see this show being Rome'd after a few seasons.

 

Apparently old news but I only just saw it today. If you haven't read the books don't click on the link, the comments on that page have some spoilers.

I'm not surprised they're already looking for ways to condense the third book. If I remember right it was pretty big.

 

Of all the books we have to guess from...

Spoiler

The problem is that everyone has their part to play.You step on one character and shit goes wrong. Catelyn could die sure, but she has to free the Kingslayer and be a vital voice in Robb's kingdom.But she is probably the most expendable

Robb dying would pretty much fuck over everything in canon.

Lysa could die sure, but then how does Littlefinger become Lord of the Eyrie? But not having read A Feast for Crows I can't tell if this is really necessary.

I refuse to even consider the idea that Tyrion is going to die. Granted he was a busy beaver and lot of his plots/counter-plots may not translate well to television and the idea of Peter Dinklage fighting off an invading army would look ludicrous, but no...just no.

Did Theon die in the second book or the third? They're all blurring together in my mind.

Fuck it, as long as it's not Tyrion, or Jaime I'm cool.

 

Finally had a chance to watch it a couple days ago. I must say that it was FUCKING EPIC!!!!! Can't wait for the next episode.

For all those complaining about ages, they didn't change all of them. Sansa still says that she's 13, so I'm assuming that the Stark children are all canon ages, despite looking a tad older. If they ever mention Dany's age, that will probably be changed because of the situations she gets put in, but that's really the only one I think. I look at the aging of the characters as a product of the time the series is set. In the middle ages, people lived shorter, harder lives, so they aged more quickly. 40 or 50 was really old back then. One could argue that there were exceptions in Westeros (i.e. Maester Aemon), but that's my thoughts on it.

Spoiler

Pretty sure Mormont dies in Clash of Kings, and if they kill him off early, it would mean getting rid of Jon's beyond-the-wall expedition and almost-conversion into a wildling, which was a huge part of why so many didn't trust him as commander and a huge component of his character. I suppose they could kill off Tywin Lannister early, but they'd better have Tyrion do it, because again, it's a really important moment for his character.

@Scrib:

Spoiler

Of your list, the only two I can see happening are Theon or Lysa. Cat dies during a critical plot moment that would never have happened without her, and it's also questionable as to whether she can be considered actually dead. Robb is too main of a character (until he dies) to kill off. He may not have any POV chapters (does he? I can't remember), but a ton of POVs and a huge part of books 1 and 2 are based off of his whole campaign. Tyrion and Jamie aren't dead yet, so no worries there.

Theon we haven't seen any of so far, so it's conceivable that he could die early, despite having some fairly important parts to play. Lysa could go pretty easily; just have Petyr volunteer to take Robert as his ward, then lock himself up in the Eyrie and say "fuck you" to the people of the Vale. It would ruin a lot of the nuance of that side plot, but it would definitely speed things up.

 

Overall, it was an okay beginning. I love the casting, and that kind of tided me over many contentions and problems I have with the pilot.

Many of the Westeros parts seemed a bit rushed to me: that scene in the start with Cersei and her brother in King's Landing: how she launches into that long winded recollection, and it seems a bit rushed here, not a natural speech event but a piece of information that was required to be said for character building and could not be drawn out. Here, another problem surfaces: I love this actress, but her voice has a bit too much gravitas to be an accurate Cersei. (or maybe that is just a hangover from Sarah Conner Chronicles - I don't know).

Some other scenes that really irritated me were those with Tyrion. I love this character, but that little brothel scene served absolutely no purpose. It was pointless exploitation, could have been more tastefully done, and served to, in many ways, dull the impact of Daenerys' abuse scene. It also introduces Tyrion through a certain prism that will surely color judgements of those being exposed to this world for the first time. And while Tyrion is certainly lascivious and the scene, in a modified form, would have been needed after a while - he has many other qualities that should have been highlighted, and his lasciviousness is subordinate to those.

Consider it another way: the grave scene precedes this one, and Daenerys follows it: they both suggest a certain conception of women in this world, and since this scene is in fundamental ways similar to the next, it again becomes kind of redundant within this procession.

Moving on, the next couple of scenes are again good, and that one with Danerys backing away from the horse as Drogo tries to mount her upon it, is a brilliant touch.

The episode them ends with an adaption upon the original. It would be interesting to see how it pans out.

 

If you'll remember the opening chapters of the book, Tyrion wasn't shown in much of a good light then either. He was loud, lascivious, rude and overall playing in character to the 'Imp' nickname, and apart from his advice to Jon (which was pulled off quite weakly, I think, in the show) we didn't get to see much of him. Aside from that, the scene with the whores highlighted an important part of his and Jaime's relationship; that Jaime actually likes his brother, which in the next few episodes we'll come to see as pretty unique.

 

Spoiler

Of your list, the only two I can see happening are Theon or Lysa. Cat dies during a critical plot moment that would never have happened without her, and it's also questionable as to whether she can be considered actually dead. Robb is too main of a character (until he dies) to kill off. He may not have any POV chapters (does he? I can't remember), but a ton of POVs and a huge part of books 1 and 2 are based off of his whole campaign. Tyrion and Jamie aren't dead yet, so no worries there.

Theon we haven't seen any of so far, so it's conceivable that he could die early, despite having some fairly important parts to play. Lysa could go pretty easily; just have Petyr volunteer to take Robert as his ward, then lock himself up in the Eyrie and say "fuck you" to the people of the Vale. It would ruin a lot of the nuance of that side plot, but it would definitely speed things up.

Spoiler

If you mean arranging the marriage between Robb and some random Frey, that doesn't seem like it would fall apart without her help. All you need is some random general telling Robb he needs the Twins and Robb sending/receiving someone who then relates the terms to him.

I'm leaning towards Twywin Lannister. Most of his victories/defeats aren't particularly unique or require him in any way. And his asshole acts do not either, some of them like the dealing with Tyrions wife (and presumably fucking her after) can be recounted without him at all.

 

Hmmm...

Spoiler

...doesn't Balon Greyjoy die in book three? Could he not be killed off sooner to hasten the Ironmen plot a little bit? After all, I don't actually believe that Theon is dead. Just enjoying the comforts of Bolton hospitality.

 

Good so far. Joffery is a whiny cunt. Daenerys is hot. Cersei is a bitch. Robert is awesome and disappointing. Sansa is stupid. Arya is pimpshit. Ned is a toughandcoldmotherfucker.

What else needs to be said?

 

Jon is awesome.

 

Jon is awesome in the books. In the show he is meh.

 

The new episode threw in a couple extra clues for Catelyn (and the audience too, I guess):

Spoiler

When Cersei goes in to see Bran, she mentions that she lost her first child, a "black-haired beauty." Pretty sure that one wasn't in the book. Considering the deal made out of Robert's black-haired children and how they were the major evidence for Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen being Jamie's kids, that's a bit heavy-handed. Plus there was the hair that she found in the tower.

On the subject of who might get killed off early, Renly is another possibility. It would let them drop the whole Renly arc and really speed things up.

 

Spoiler

While I don't think it was mentioned in this book, later on we find out she did got pregnant from Robert and drank some evil tea to abort it.

You know, having a face to go with Sansa really helps my hate of her. The little idiot should suffer.

 

What the fuck is with the Sansa hate? I've been noticing it for a while and for the life of me I cant see why someone who had it as hard as her is hated so much.

I'm not just ranting here, I seriously want to know why, from where I'm sitting it just seems...strange.

 

Because she is still stuck in a juvenile fantasy centered around her finding someone that would sweep her off her feet; an idealized fantasy that she has held since early childhood. She's also not that bright, which for me makes it a pain to read her POV. She's also pretty shallow, which is another point against her. I just don't like reading those kinds of characters.

But the main reason I dislike her? Because of all the shit that has happened to her, all of it bad, she has not changed.(Well she has, just became a lot sadder.) She still clings to her fantasy, when most would have let that go after it had been proven wrong time and time again.

Another way of looking at it would be to say she clings to that fantasy as a life-raft keeping her sane in such dark times. And if that is the case, then she is a pretty weak character.

If that is the truth, I have to give GRRM credit for making her so believable. However, I've run out of pity for since her plotline seems to be focused mainly on how much more miserable the author can make her life. I really hope in the next book this trend changes, but I won't get my hopes up.

Spoiler

I think his name was the Falcon? I recall not getting very good vibes from his introduction.

 

What iLost said and

Spoiler

her idiocy is the reason Eddard is dead. Seriously, I could hate her for nothing other than that.

 

I think George R.R. is well aware of the hate. In fact, it's very likely he did it knowingly. You're not hating the story, you're hating the character. Negative or positive, you're feeling for the characters inside the story. That's a good thing.

 

It's a good thing to hate a character. It's a good thing to enjoy reading a character. My hate for her stems mainly from annoyance. So, really, hate is a bit strong here. I am extremely annoyed with the character and the events happening to her.

Personally, I don't like being annoyed when I am reading a character. However, as I said, if GRRM did this intentionally, it shows his prowess with a pen. I can appreciate the skill behind the pen, just not what the pen produces.