You can’t go comparing Walda’s pregnancy with Gilly’s to figure out timelines and chronology. I don’t want to quote, because the only place I read it was from the author of the books, but there is no guarantee these stories line up. And I think that stipulation applies to the show, too. The scenes with Arya could be months away from the scenes with Jon, which could be months away from the goings in in King’s Landing. The only times they definitely match up is when storylines come together, like with Sansa and Brienne. Otherwise, we have no idea if Sam and Gilly’s storylines line up chronologically with Lady Walda’s. You can’t assume every “present” scene is taking place at the same time.
The show has not given us any indication that the various scenes are set at different times, so I think it’s reasonable for the viewer to assume that they are. It’s actually a little crazy to think that they’re not all occurring at once.
Yeah…that sounds like a rationale for sloppy plotting on GRRM’s part.
I always took the timeline to be that on an episode to episode basis, the events are necessarily happening at the same time, but over the course of the season it’s roughly the same.
For example, at the beginning of this season, the events of the Wall take place immediately after the end of last season, but Jaime has come back all the way from Dorne first for the scenes in King’s Landing.
…and Arya’s story has been taking place over weeks and months while Jon’s has been all happening in the same 24 hours. Clearly the events of the story are unfolding at different rates. They’re happening around the same time, but not necessarily all at the exact same instant.
I’d guess 14-15 as well.
Westeros does not really have especially clear laws; there seem to be a myriad of unofficial traditions, customs, and understandings. The position of King of Westeros did not exist prior to Aegon’s conquest of most of the continent, and so for most of the existence of the position, “King of Westeros” was by definition what the Targaryen family could get away with doing. When they overstepped what the realms most powerful lords would let them get away with, they were killed and Robert Baratheon became King. He was a terrible King, it seems, as was Joffrey, and Tommen is not off to a great start, though all for different reasons.
The Westeros we see isn’t really a nation-state with clear laws; it is, consistent with the medieval theme, an affiliated group of feudal lords with varying degrees of loyalty to one another and the nominal crown, and if things go sideways a hideous civil war can break out - nationwide, in the case of the War Of A Whole Buncha Kings, of locally, as in the Ironborn’s ill-advised attempts to invade the mainland. So basically, the rules governing what the King can or can’t do appear to be more or less based on who the King is, how much he can get away with, and how much the various higher-level lords feel they can get away with as they jockey for position. Laws are applied based on tradition but also, to a large extent, on the strength of the ruler who chooses to apply the law.
Indeed, it isn’t really super clear what Tommen Baratheon is King of, is it? He doesn’t have full control over his own capital city; his own Queen is imprisoned by a religious nut and he refuses to do anything about it. So far as we can tell the Crown now has zero influence over what happens anywhere else; agents of Dorne murdered the King’s sister, which is an open act of rebellion and treason, and they seem powerless to do anything about that. The North is in a state of low-intensity conflict that the Crown appears not only powerless to do anything about, but disinterested in doing anything about; it is now effectively not part of the same country at all.
King Tommen is now similar to the Emperor of Japan during the Sengoku Period, when the Emperor sat in Kyoto and everyone smiled and offered him gifts and said what a wonderful rules he was but went on fighting each other and not actually taking any orders from the Imperial “government.”
Essentially, the entire show could be summed up in Varys “Power resides where men believe it resides” speech.
The scene indicated that he was naked in bed (even if not shown) with an older woman who was also naked, and talking about just having sex and doing it again. That may be enough for the law to prohibit it, or even if it doesn’t the show doesn’t want to risk it.
Yes we do. It’s 16.
You’re welcome to perceive whatever you want, but the evidence indicates otherwise.
Martin isn’t plotting the TV show. The showrunners are adapting various plotlines according to the demands of composing 10 one-hour shows per season. How exactly they slice and dice the material has little to with the source material.
As Shakester says, while events are happening in roughly the same time period, they aren’t going on simultaneously. Even in the same episode different timelines could be off by several months if not more.
Perhaps it’s less a hard set of rules than a preference on Tommen’s part not to have something that could be perceived as a stain on his monarchy.
Why would having a regent be a stain on the monarchy? If it were, and he had a choice, Joffrey wouldn’t have accepted one. In any case, I don’t think having a regent is by the choice of the underage monarch. If he could make his own decisions he wouldn’t need a regent.
Where / when was this established?
By the way, did they say in an interview/podcast or something that they’re subject to this Irish law? I’m curious, since even though they have their filming HQ there, it’s a US-based company producing for a US network. US productions for TV and film shoot all over the world pretty regularly and I’ve never heard of them having to abide by laws of the countries they shoot in regarding the cinematic content of the end product.
I’ve already answered this.
Actors are routinely cast to play characters several years younger than their own age.
It’s a UK law, not just Northern Ireland. They show the program in the UK, and they receive funding from Northern Ireland. They’ll need to comply with UK law.
Here’s an article that discusses the issue.
The article says Tommen is “13 or 14” at that time, but it was written two years ago, and before his wedding night scene with Margaery. The information indicates that by the time he was shown having sex, his character must have been at least 16, to comply with UK law.
However, in GoT the child actors are playing characters more or less their own age. They aged the characters to match the ago of the actors, rather than having older actors playing characters much younger than their own age. And none of the other child actors are playing characters five years younger than their actual age, as people have been claiming for Tommen. (Natalie Dormer is playing a much younger character, but she is an adult.)
It would seem to me that Tommen’s age is never established in the series, so that they can plausibly tell any authorities “oh don’t worry, he’s 16” while getting the audience to infer he’s actually 12-14.
Whatever. Like I said, if you want to imagine to yourself he is 14 and ignore the ample evidence that he’s at least 16 per the TV show, knock yourself out.
I see the point about how it depends if it’s aired, not just filmed, in the UK, but aren’t many of Tommen’s scenes filmed in Croatia? Or just the outdoor ones?
Roman Polanski’s Game of Thrones.