Jamie, Cersei and Tyrion Lannister, you mean, or Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommnen Barantheon?
I think he/she was referring to Viserys and Dany.
Yea, they really could’ve made it more explicit that the kingdom they’d been tossed out of was the same one the rest of the characters were in. I don’t think I would’ve figured that out either.
Indeed, I was expecting them to tweak the plot a little and have Jorah start out in Westeros, interact with some of the characters there and then travel to join up with Daeneryes. That would’ve given the writers a lot more opportunity to insert some dialogue to make it clear how the two story lines are related.
Now, unless they make a larger change to the plot further down the road, there’s pretty much no opportunity to have any character overlap between the two plotlines. IIRC, the books still haven’t reached the point where they intersect (though GRRM seems to have set it up to happen in the next book)
Well, we do have scenes where the small council discusses what to do about Viserys and Danaerys, so the connection should become clearer then. And Selmy, who is introduced to us in the first book, joins Danaerys in the second book after leaving Joff.
[spoiler]Yea, I figured they’d have the council discussion with Jorah actually present, so it would be really clear to the audience who was being discussed and thus, that the kingdom Viserys wants to conquer is the same one Robert rules. Good point about Selmy though, I’d forgotten the character.
I have trouble seeing how a show that has three independent story lines (four, if you count Bran/Rikon) with almost no intersection is going to work, if I were the writers I’d take every opportunity to connect them. But I guess we’ll see. Should be different anyways, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show that did anything similar[/spoiler]
I don’t remember why this is significant, Alessan? Wanna spoiler it for me please? (I was also distracted by his… other attributes. fans self)
I had started re-reading the series a while back in prep for the new one, whenever it comes out. It’s funny, I always blow through the first book, but when I hit the second one it feels like such a slog. I’m not sure why. When I read GoT for the first time, CoK was already out so I read them back to back. Actually, even the first time I read CoK I put it down a few chapters in, I thought it was too slow. Then when the third one came out I reread them. Then when the fourth one came out I reread one, two and three. So I’ve read the first one the same amount of times, but the second one, I feel like “God I’ve read this so many times…” I think because I want to get to the third and fourth which I’ve only read once! (I barely remember the fourth, I blew through it.)
ETA: OH. I just read the last few posts in this thread and I remember now, Alessan. 
Regarding non- or minimally-interacting plotlines…
Some shows have done it. Look at Malcolm in the Middle. The Francis B plot lines pretty much never intersected the A plot lines, and if they did it was pretty much via phone. And those phone calls didn’t really do much other than ratchet up various characters’ annoyance at their situations.
Fact of the matter is that in ASoIaF, all of the plot lines out there are either going to intersect or (and this is important) they have intersected in the past. The Platinum Twins are in exile from Westeros because of what happened nine-ish years ago. When other plot lines diverge they’ll have been caused by what’s going on now for our heroes.
Plus, we know that all the divergent plots will eventually intersect…even if there’s about one chance in a zillion that the show will still be on when that happens.
-Joe
Umm…let’s play Clue!
Drogo. In the Tent. With the belt of gold medallions.
Really? For me the third one is the slowest, and I think it’s because by the time I’m about a third of the way through I keep reading slower and slower because every chapter I’m like “Oh man, I think the wedding is coming up. Reading that is going to be brutal”. And then I go slower and slower and slower.
-Joe
[QUOTE=Merijeek]
Plus, we know that all the divergent plots will eventually intersect…even if there’s about one chance in a zillion that the show will still be on when that happens.
[/QUOTE]
Which is approximately the same odds of any given GRRM main character surviving intact throughout the series…
-XT
Viserys eventually demands his crown. Drogo melts his belt and dumps it on Viserys’s head; crowning and killing him
Yeah, Alessan answered my question before I asked it 
I think it’s just that I feel like I’ve read the second one so many times, and the one after it, not. So I want to get to them.
If I had to pick a group I’d say…(wild speculation, but by default those listed are still alive so far, so non-book people definitely don’t want to read it)
Tyrion - Too clever to die, and he’ll eventually be responsible for catching the Spider in his web
Dany - She has a fanatical army and dragons. She’s somehow going to prove to be magic-proof when Melisandre takes a shot at her
Bran - He’s basically the heart of the series (I know, I know…) and when it comes down to it he’s going to be the one that somehow ‘fixes’ things between the Seven Kingdoms and the Wildlings and the Others. Whether that means finding the Others’ weakness and destroying them, or working out a treaty, or whatever, I have no idea.
I see Jon, Stannis, Breanne, and Jaime going out in some heroic fashion. I see Cersei being attacked and lynched in the streets. Tarly is going to get totally shafted somehow because Martin is mean and the overweight unathletic character is basically the audience stand-in. So, he’s soooo screwed.
-Joe
I agree. There was a tiny hint though. Ned and Robert are in the crypts, Robert says something like “I kill him in my dreams every night” and one of them mentions the Targaryen name. Then the scene shifts to Pentos (?) and Viserys and Dany and we learn their name is Targaryen.
Even then, I mean, let’s face it. We’re talking about a kingdom where a group of families rebelled and seized a throne and talk about the repercussions of it.
Then we look at another group of characters, far away, talking about doing anything to get an army to get their throne back.
Sherlock Holmes it doesn’t take.
-Joe
[spoiler]Tyrion…not intact. He lost half his face IIRC. One of my favorite characters, btw.
Dany…I suppose she is more or less intact, physically at least. Mentally she’s had a lot of shit happen to her. It will be cool to see how the dragon thing plays out. I was always secretly hoping she and John Snow would hook up, but I guess that’s not very likely.
Bran…crippled in his fall. He’s an interesting character though and I hope he doesn’t suddenly get a bad case of the deads from GRRM.
The thing is, that as mentioned earlier, this isn’t exactly the standard bunnies and elves type fantasy. Any of these characters could, based on past experience with the books, have their throats cut or die in other surprising and sudden ways at any time. And even the characters that manage to survive (note…that doesn’t necessarily mean they ‘live’) are generally beat to shit either physically or emotionally. Or both. Consider what GRRM has put some of the characters that are still in the stories through. :eek:
[/spoiler]
-XT
I’ve only read a few dozen replies to this thread so forgive me if this has been addressed (I’ll go back and read the entire thread after posting).
My one complaint about the pilot was the intro piece beyond the Wall. Yes, it was the intro to the books, but it’s completely out of place here. I guess the biggest reason why is that questions are raised that even the books (4 in and counting) do not yet address. So for viewers who see this as their first view of Westeros, wonder what the hell is going on, and eagerly await an answer throughout the series…they’re going to be sorely disappointed.
On the one hand, that scene does send a powerful signal to the core fandom that they’re serious about bringing what’s in the book to the screen. But still, that scene could have been entirely cut out and nothing would have been missed from what’s important to the plot.
You’re right, it could have. Only thing I can say is that it was for the book fans. However, it also does tell the non-book audience that “Yes, there are big bad things afoot. It’s not just about a bunch of jackasses slaughtering each other over power. Oh, and those dragon eggs may be more than just fossilized rocks.”
-Joe
You sure? I’m not remembering anything that specific. Cat says something to Ned about how he’s been fighting for Robert, but that’s the only dialogue I remember hinting that things haven’t been peaceful.
Didn’t Robert say something like “You helped me take this throne, now help me keep it”?
[QUOTE=Alessan]
Didn’t Robert say something like “You helped me take this throne, now help me keep it”?
[/QUOTE]
Yeah. And there were some other hints, such as the side discussion about Lord Stark’s sister’s death, the death of Jon Arryn and what Lady Stark’s sister is doing, some of the hostility between the Lannister’s and the Stark’s, the fact that the King even traveled all the way out to Winterfell to get a new hand, some of the dialogue between Daenerys and Viserys and Viseyrs advisor who’s name currently escapes me. I think that to pick up on some of it you really need to be familiar with the book, though.
-XT