# Game of Thrones (season 5) BOOK SPOILERS!! TV SPOILERS! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 13, 2015, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539 "2015-04-13T02:13:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/61 "2015-04-14T23:39:40Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Of course there is a point :p. Sansa engaged off to the son of her brother’s betrayer makes no sense considering her character. Regardless of being more realistic about how to use power, there tend to be lines one does not cross (possible exception for Littlefinger - but I bet even he would draw the line at Cat’s killers). > > In the books, being more cunning results in Sansa realize that marrying Harold Hardyng is a great play. That is NOTHING like getting engaged to Ramsey Snow. Agreed. My suspension of disbelief suffered a lot. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2015, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/62 "2015-04-14T23:41:46Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > No she doesn’t. She has to do what he says or it’s back to King’s Landing for her. Or worse. Sure, she can _try_ to talk Littlefinger out of whatever nefarious plot he has brewing in his weasily brain but if he wants her to marry Crazy McFlayflay, what choice does she have? It’s not at all how it is depicted. ETA : in the show, I mean. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/63 "2015-04-15T01:42:31Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > No. This policy has nothing to do with ignoring the author and everything to with the fact that the first threads devolved into harsh arguments about what could or could not be mentioned from the books. > > Allowing to mention them always end up with spoilers being posted, unwillingly (someone wants to explain better some aspect of the story to the watchers, but it can be deduced from his comment that some character survives in the long run, for instance) or willingly (there was this guy who thought that not wanting spoilers makes no sense and who kept insisting he should be free to write whatever about the books’ content). > > Completely forbiding any reference to the books is the only policy that works properly, avoid people to be spoiled, and prevent arguments about what exactly the policy is. That’s true, but that was years ago. Excitement was high, but it’s cooled down. And, not allowing them to be mentioned \*still \*has spoilers, but also endless junior modding and screaming at posters who dare to mention the “B word”. Pages are wasted on what is or not a book mention. The policy hasnt worked properly. In any case there are already rules for spoilers- all that is needed is fro them to be enforced just like any other thread. . No need for special rules. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/64 "2015-04-15T01:54:13Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Agreed. My suspension of disbelief suffered a lot. Good point there, I agree. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/65 "2015-04-15T18:43:41Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > In any case there are already rules for spoilers- all that is needed is fro them to be enforced just like any other thread. . No need for special rules. GoT is unlike anything else because of the way the viewing audience is so split between people who have and people who haven’t read the books. I agree that the no-mention-of-books rule isn’t perfect, but a more perfect rule which allowed disussion of the books only when it was 100% unambiguously clear that no future developments could be spoiled by the mention, would be incredibly complicated to create and enforce. What I really don’t understand is why you get so upset about the rule. So it’s not perfect. So what? It’s pretty good, and most people are pretty happy with it. How does it interfere with your enjoyment of anything? ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/66 "2015-04-15T18:50:43Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > GoT is unlike anything else because of the way the viewing audience is so split between people who have and people who haven’t read the books. > I agree that the no-mention-of-books rule isn’t perfect, but a more perfect rule which allowed disussion of the books only when it was 100% unambiguously clear that no future developments could be spoiled by the mention, would be incredibly complicated to create and enforce. > What I really don’t understand is why you get so upset about the rule. So it’s not perfect. So what? It’s pretty good, and most people are pretty happy with it. How does it interfere with your enjoyment of anything? I thought I’d expand on this a bit. Here’s a situation in which, on the surface at least, using book knowledge would have been reasonable: way back in the pilot episode, we met Robb, Jon and Theon. And it was a bit confusing who they all were, particularly Theon. If someone posted in the TV thread “so who are those three teenage-y boys, I can’t keep them straight”, it would ALMOST ALMOST certainly have been harmless and in fact helpful to say “well, one of them is Robb Stark, the trueborn son of Ned and Cat Stark, and heir to Winterfell. One of them is Jon Snow, Ned’s bastard son (with a quick explanation of the surname). The third one is Theon Greyjoy, who is unrelated, but has been raised as Ned’s ward.” But there are two problems with that: (1) At the time, we didn’t know if there was going to be some interesting bit of storytelling in a later episode in which Theon’s backstory was introduced in a neat way… some little mislead that would be interfered with by clarifying what appeared to be harmless and useful background information (2) How do we ever really differentiate between this kind of information and actual spoilers? Leave it up to each individual person? In addition, what happens if you post that and someone says “oh, who’s Jon Snow’s mother?”. Suddenly, your answer to that, or your refusal to answer that, is going to start people thinking in a direction that maybe they otherwise wouldn’t have thought in, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Idle\_Thoughts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/838e76/32.png) [@Idle\_Thoughts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idle_Thoughts)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2015, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/67 "2015-04-15T19:13:00Z")
Rather than have this thread become about the spoilers/books/shows debate, let’s take that discussion to ATMB if anyone wants to hash it out more…just so this topic doesn’t become just about that and can get back on topic a little. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/68 "2015-04-16T14:48:09Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > Exactly the contrary, IMO. It’s what makes the books mediocre. > > The world could be enriched by publishing more separate stories (hopefully not cluttered by irrelevant blabber). YMMV and all that. I have read the separate stories and the World of Ice and Fire. Those are the things that excite me about the world. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/69 "2015-04-16T19:02:33Z")
I haven’t read any of the separate stories. Are they from the same world? Any of the same characters? I had thought they were only distantly related at best. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/70 "2015-04-16T19:04:40Z")
Same world yes. Same characters no. The most famous, the Dunk & Egg are, I believe, 100 years before the War of the Five Kings. And then the Dance of the Dragons (not to be confused with the Song of Ice and Fire’s “A Dance with Dragons”) was a few hundred before that. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/71 "2015-04-16T20:44:31Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Same world yes. Same characters no. The most famous, the Dunk & Egg are, I believe, 100 years before the War of the Five Kings. And then the Dance of the Dragons (not to be confused with the Song of Ice and Fire’s “A Dance with Dragons”) was a few hundred before that. D&E = ~90 years before GoT DoD = ~170 years before GoT Aegon = 298 years before GoT ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/72 "2015-04-16T21:01:47Z")
> [@ISiddiqui](#): > > Same world yes. Same characters no. The most famous, the Dunk & Egg are, I believe, 100 years before the War of the Five Kings. And then the Dance of the Dragons (not to be confused with the Song of Ice and Fire’s “A Dance with Dragons”) was a few hundred before that. Cool, thanks. I’ll check them out. Maybe I’ll understand more of the history if I read them. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/73 "2015-04-16T21:03:30Z")
If you want a one stop shop of understanding the history, “The World of Ice and Fire” is your best bet. But the stories are quite a bit of fun. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/74 "2015-04-16T21:16:32Z")
[quote=“thelurkinghorror, post:71, topic:717539”] D&E = ~90 years before GoT Just how OLD is/was Maester Aemon then? 125? He was Egg’s (Aegon V) OLDER brother and refused the Iron Throne. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/75 "2015-04-16T21:23:03Z")
Something like that, yeah. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/76 "2015-04-16T21:31:02Z")
> [@Emiliana](#): > > Cool, thanks. I’ll check them out. Maybe I’ll understand more of the history if I read them. The Dunk & Eg stories go for a huge premium, they are rare. There’s a decent graphic novel for one, reasonable priced. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2015, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/77 "2015-04-16T21:41:40Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Just how OLD is/was Maester Aemon then? 125? He was Egg’s (Aegon V) OLDER brother and refused the Iron Throne. 1. Looks like he was 11 at the time of _the Hedge Knight_ and Aegon was 9? ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/78 "2015-04-17T09:09:30Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > The Dunk & Eg stories go for a huge premium, they are rare. There’s a decent graphic novel for one, reasonable priced. The thing that makes me cranky is that I don’t understand why, given that there’s enormous interest in the whole shebang through the wildly popular TV series and that GRRM won’t be cranking out The Winds of Winter until next year (PLEASE let this be accurate), they haven’t reissued the Dunk & Egg stories, in whatever format they wish, straight-up books or graphic novels or both. I want to know what happens in the second book, but I want to experience it as written, not in Wiki recap form, and I don’t know why the publisher wouldn’t want my money for that. Grrr. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/79 "2015-04-17T13:25:59Z")
> [@shantih](#): > > The thing that makes me cranky is that I don’t understand why, given that there’s enormous interest in the whole shebang through the wildly popular TV series and that GRRM won’t be cranking out The Winds of Winter until next year (PLEASE let this be accurate), they haven’t reissued the Dunk & Egg stories, in whatever format they wish, straight-up books or graphic novels or both. I want to know what happens in the second book, but I want to experience it as written, not in Wiki recap form, and I don’t know why the publisher wouldn’t want my money for that. Grrr. I read a rumor that the D&E stories will be packaged and published after a fourth story is finished. I know there are electronic versions of the three D&E stories available online if you know where to look. I suspect they are pirated versions (not exactly sure how all that works). But don’t get me wrong, I’m certainly not encouraging illegal activities. ---
**Author:** ![ISiddiqui](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/97f17d/32.png) [@ISiddiqui](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ISiddiqui)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2015, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539/80 "2015-04-17T15:06:22Z")
The D&E stories being published separately on October 6: > **[Dunk & Egg Ride Again](https://grrm.livejournal.com/406858.html)** > > Circle October 6 on your calendar. My friends at Bantam have just informed me that will be the day that A KNIGHT OF THE SEVEN KINGDOMS in released in English, collecting all three of my "Dunk & Egg" novellas -- "The Hedge Knight," "The Sworn... But also, they aren’t really rare. You can easily find the short story anthologies of which each of the stories were published. If you buy used, it’s fairly cheap: The Hedge Knight is found in the Legends anthology: > **[Legends: Stories By The Masters of Modern Fantasy: Silverberg, Robert:...](https://www.amazon.com/Legends-Stories-Masters-Modern-Fantasy/dp/0765300354)** > > Legends: Stories By The Masters of Modern Fantasy \[Silverberg, Robert\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Legends: Stories By The Masters of Modern Fantasy The Sword Sword is found Legends II: > **[Legends II: Shadows, Gods, and Demons: Hobb, Robin, McCaffrey, Anne, Feist,...](https://www.amazon.com/Legends-II-Shadows-Gods-Demons/dp/0345475771)** > > Legends II: Shadows, Gods, and Demons \[Hobb, Robin, McCaffrey, Anne, Feist, Raymond E., Gaiman, Neil, Silverberg, Robert\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Legends II: Shadows, Gods, and Demons The Mystery Knight is in Warriors: > **[Amazon.com: Warriors 1: 9780765360267: Martin, George R. R., Dozois, Gardner:...](https://www.amazon.com/Warriors-1-George-R-Martin/dp/0765360268)** > > Amazon.com: Warriors 1: 9780765360267: Martin, George R. R., Dozois, Gardner: Books [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-season-5-book-spoilers-tv-spoilers/717539.md?page=5)