Anyone else caught up in Game of Thrones?

[EZWind]

Not to sound negative but I don't really care for her or her part of the story. She has a cockiness to her ...

...agreed...she's way too full of herself. The dragons are really cool, tho

I don't know about all of you but I am rooting for the Starks. I am finding less people to root for as the show goes on

...agreed...been rooting for Arya since season 1 episode 1. Have not read the books, but hoping for more screen time for her this season. And Jon Snow may be only half Stark but he's ok too

[EZWind]

Re: the whole Whodonit aspect as to the Joffrey situation, I believe it was Eva Cassini posted a very well reasoned and lengthy list of possible suspects...(can't seem to find the thread anymore)
What tickles me about it is we used to have a Supervisor at work who was a major league jaggoff, and we used to joke about how, if the guy turned up dead and the FBI came to investigate, we'd ALL be suspects. There was about 100 of us who had to deal w/ him on a daily basis, and not one who didn't have a good motive to do him in. Haven't read the books, but my money's on LittleFinger.

[Stavros]

Not to sound negative but I don't really care for her or her part of the story. She has a cockiness to her and I hate that. Sometimes she seems pure of heart with great intentions and other times she seem's cold and heartless (which can be said about most of the characters bordering in the Gray area) but the way they go about it seems so boring. I find it hard to care about whats going on with her when so much of the plot is happening somewhere else.

I don't know about all of you but I am rooting for the Starks. They are the underdog thus far and have been kicked round way way too much so I think to have them at least break even would be a satisfying conclusion. Kill the Lannisters, Kill the Freys, and the Boltons. I am finding less people to root for as the show goes on but i have hope.

I haven't read the books, but I think it is an attempt to contrast different styles of leadership -Daenerys is a 'charismatic' leader, where Joffrey was perhaps a milder version of the earlier 'Mad King', impetuous, autocratic and not as Tywin would have it, a 'wise leader'. The Starks had the privileged position of being the first family to be depicted in the series and were presented as down to earth, practical people compared to the loud and garish Baratheon, and the two relatively 'innocent' children, Arya and Bran (though Arya has lost one aspect of innocence) therefore look like they would be just rulers, although as an earlier post pointed out they also made mistakes and Eddard could be cruel and unfaithful to his wife. If, however, the Game of Thrones is played on a winner takes all basis and it is all in the winning, the most ruthless leader will win and survive -being nice won't cut it.

[youngblood61]

If your going after the Iron Throne nice will never win out. It's why I like the show, it's ruthless.

[Stavros]

Maybe Daenerys will replace the Iron Throne with a Dragon Throne? Or Tyrion become King and replace it with a Poppy Throne?

[alpha2117]

I haven't read the books, but I think it is an attempt to contrast different styles of leadership -Daenerys is a 'charismatic' leader, where Joffrey was perhaps a milder version of the earlier 'Mad King', impetuous, autocratic and not as Tywin would have it, a 'wise leader'. The Starks had the privileged position of being the first family to be depicted in the series and were presented as down to earth, practical people compared to the loud and garish Baratheon, and the two relatively 'innocent' children, Arya and Bran (though Arya has lost one aspect of innocence) therefore look like they would be just rulers, although as an earlier post pointed out they also made mistakes and Eddard could be cruel and unfaithful to his wife. If, however, the Game of Thrones is played on a winner takes all basis and it is all in the winning, the most ruthless leader will win and survive -being nice won't cut it.

Okay I think you may have misunderstood my post - it appears unlikely that Ned was ever unfaithful to his wife. Which leaves Jon Snow's parentage in question - the most likely scenario being that he is in fact not Ned's son but the son of Cate's kidnapped sister and her Targaryan kidnapper. Meaning that he actually probably has the strongest claim to the throne of anyone. Thats what I meant by Ned covering up the circumstances of his birth. He's also one of the other 2 to 3 Targaryan's hinted at.

The books take elements from history and twist them. The Starks & Lannisters both contain plenty of elements of the York & Lancaster factions from the War of the Roses for instance. Elements of European history abound. Easy examples to see - Theon killing the 2 youngest Starks is Richard the Third killing the princes in the Tower (including the fact he likely didn't but never denied it). Renly is Edward the 2nd. The Red Wedding contains elements of Olga of Ukraine's story where she invited her enemy's to her wedding and went to town and slaughtered them.

The Starks are noble but to be honest kind of incompetent. Ned, his father & Robb make terrible errors of judgement that get a lot of people killed. The Lannisters are too caught up in their own self importance and infighting. Stannis is a zealot. The Greyjoys little more than barbarian brutes. Hell at the moment Thommen actually seems the best potential King out of the lot of them -of course he's 11 and his real father is his uncle but in one scene in the last episode he showed more common sense than any other candidate so far.

[Stavros]

Interesting, Alpha, it hadn't occurred to me that Jon Snow's parentage was still in doubt -and your references to sources is ingenious and seems spot on to me. I have now discovered that George Martin took his inspiration for the Red Wedding from the
"The Black Dinner" (which) "took place in 1440 when William Douglas, the 6th Earl of Douglas, was invited to a dinner with the ten year old King James II of Scotland. After the dinner the Clan Douglas chiefs were taken outside, given a mock trial and beheaded."
http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Red_Wedding
I also think it or something close to it is in a Greek tragedy but not sure about that.

[Prospero]

A theme that runs through history. The same thing happened at a wedding feast in Dubai a few decades ago (the bride's family - a key ruling family from a nearby sheikhdom - were slaughtered enmasse)

[dderek123]

Interesting, Alpha, it hadn't occurred to me that Jon Snow's parentage was still in doubt -and your references to sources is ingenious and seems spot on to me. I have now discovered that George Martin took his inspiration for the Red Wedding from the
"The Black Dinner" (which) "took place in 1440 when William Douglas, the 6th Earl of Douglas, was invited to a dinner with the ten year old King James II of Scotland. After the dinner the Clan Douglas chiefs were taken outside, given a mock trial and beheaded."
http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Red_Wedding
I also think it or something close to it is in a Greek tragedy but not sure about that.

It's rumored that Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen are his real parents. Good ole Ned kept it a secret since being a king is hazardous to your health in Westeros. It's really interesting. I'm excited to see the Blood Raven who should make an appearance this season.

There's a decent youtube channel called Emergency Awesome which recaps each episode.

[dderek123]

Interesting, Alpha, it hadn't occurred to me that Jon Snow's parentage was still in doubt -and your references to sources is ingenious and seems spot on to me. I have now discovered that George Martin took his inspiration for the Red Wedding from the
"The Black Dinner" (which) "took place in 1440 when William Douglas, the 6th Earl of Douglas, was invited to a dinner with the ten year old King James II of Scotland. After the dinner the Clan Douglas chiefs were taken outside, given a mock trial and beheaded."
http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Red_Wedding
I also think it or something close to it is in a Greek tragedy but not sure about that.