The preview for next week shows somone - possibly Robb - chopping downward on something. You guys think Jaime might be losing his hand a book and a half early? It makes sense.
It might be the Karstark execution.
Too soon- we don’t know the northern lords yet, and besides, it serves no dramatic purpose. Karstark’s death was the beginning of the end for Robb’s campaign, and as of now it’s just beginning.
OTOH, all Jaime does for the next book is sit around in the dungeon, so what difference does it make when he loses his hand? His role in this season has been beefed up compared to the book, so disarming him, so to speak, would serve as a poignant end to his current character arc.
It’s going to have to be Robb executing someone for trying to kill Jaime. Is that Karstark? I don’t remember. Robb cutting Jaime’s hand off is way out of character - Hoat does it, IIRC.
-Joe
If they cut his hand off now, they may as well skip Brienne.
Why? She could accompany a one-handed Lannister all the way to King’s Landing instead of just half the way. If anything, it’ll make her role more important.
Is there any reason at all to believe they’re doing something that stupid? Have we seen any evidence anywhere so far that indicates they’re going to be making large divergences from the plot?
While I’m sure he won’t be nearly as much fun, do we really think they’re going to cut out Vargo Hoat?
Jaime stays a proud prick up until the moment he loses his hand. Having him lose it while in captivity to the Starks makes no sense whatsoever.
-Joe
Actually, he stops being an arrogant prick the moment Cat sets him free - his weakness from his time in captivity takes care of that. The loss of the hand simply exacerbates the process.
I don’t think it would be a particularly stupid change, and frankly, I don’t think it will have any real impact on the plot.
Sure, but you’re basically pulling plot changes out of nowhere because of a couple seconds of preview footage.
-Joe
That’s not at all true. He’s extremely arrogant the entire boat trip with Brienne.
Of course I am. We’re discussing a hypothetical, aren’t we?
So he’ll be arrogant with just one hand.
Which is a complete change of character.
No, not really.
If you really, actually think that scene is actually going to be Robb turning Jaime Lannister into “Lefty” Lannister, well, let’s put $20 on it. Because it’s stupid, and I haven’t seen a whole lot of stupid from the writers yet.
-Joe
I don’t “really, actually” think anything - I think it’s a possibility, and I’m discussing the implications if it happens to be true. If you don’t feel you can conduct a light, friendly conversation on the issue, then maybe you should just ignore me.
Oh, I agree totally and I always pictured Shae as a local girl. One of my favorite lines in the books is during the discussion when Tyrion goes to live in the Tower of the Hand at his father’s beheast and he is forbidden to take Shae with him, she then makes a very clever remark to the effect of "that must be why they call it the Tower of the “Hand” "and I just don’t see that double entredee coming from a foreign girl.
Awww…
I think the Joffrey is going to choke on a pretzel next episode. After all, he dies anyway. Let’s discuss it!
-Joe
I’m not sure I like your attitude.
I am a huge fan of these books even though I don’t enjoy fantasy much in general. I am, however, a big fan of medieval history.
As I read the books I tend to equate the fictional locations with areas of Europe and I was wondering if I’m the only one that does this. Winterfell and the Starks are definintely English and Casterly Rock and the Lannisters are French. The Twins are German. Highgarden, with all it’s bounty, is someplace lush and Mediteranean and I see The Vale as Eastern European…maybe Bulgarian or Transylvanian, even and Dorne is Spanish or maybe even Turkish. I see the Iron Islands as the cold wet Northern English Isles.
The lands on the other side of the narrow sea are Asian/Arabian in nature, to me at least and I think it is obvious.
That said, Martin’s plot are all their own and he really doesn’t steal too much directly from history …the crowning of Myrcella plotline is ringing a bell in my head though, I’ve read something historical post Henry 8th that is resonating. I need to look it up for my curiosity.
I have an interesting theory I would like to trot out for the board’s amusement. We are told that three Targaryens, a brother and two sisters IIRC, came over on dragons and conquered Westeros. What if Danys needs three riders for her dragons to invade Westeros this time? She makes one rider, Jon Snow makes another (assuming the theories about Rhaeger and Lyanna are correct), but who is the third? If a third rider is needed, the best candidate that I see is Varys. We know he’s been helping the Targaryens behind the scenes. In one of the books Tywin Lannister makes the comment that all the trouble started when Varys joined the council. I thought at first that Tywin just doesn’t like eunuchs, but what if Tywin was correct and that marked the beginning of Varys’ intrigues? We know very little of Varys’ past and he could be a Targaryen distant, poor relative or a bastard.
One somewhat popular candidate is Tyrion. IIRC, he has dreams about dragons, and also IIRC, there’s some question of whether or not he’s Tywin’s biological son. If, say, Aerys raped Joanna and Tyrion was the result, then you have a third Targaryen and possible dragonrider.