Maybe it was the book that was unrealistic, or inconsistent. Martin writes the Dothrakis as barbarians, warriors, savages, almost. Khal Drogo is sort of an Atilla the Hun – not someone you’d expect to pay attention to foreplay. But Dany is his wife/queen (and a virgin), so you might expect that he’d treat her gently. There’s a dichotomy here that isn’t answered by either the book or the film. If Dany is going to come to love this man, they should have gotten off to a better start.
tarragon918, do you want to know or would you rather learn as you go? There’s lots of info available on the lineages and the politics, but it’d be spoilery. I can tell you that the white-haired brother/sister are Targaryens. The Starks and Lannisters (and others) took the throne from their family in a war, and they want it back.
First of all the “bastard” son (Jon) is so because he is Ned’s son but not Cateleyn’s. Also why she doesn’t like him of course.
As for why Ned has kin lost to the Targaryens…(really minor spoiler)
Remember the sister they kept talking about in the tomb that Robert was supposed to have married? She’s the main one, though the ones that rode south (Ned’s father and brother…or uncle, can’t remember) were killed by them.
We haven’t seen the whole sex scene yet. It’s possible we’ll see Dany the next morning, lying down on the mountaintop, with a very satisfied look on her face.
I never read the book and I really loved the first episode.
It looks like I’m going to have to stay out of these threads. While there the OP said no spoilers, I already know that Drogo is going to be a gentle and Dany is going to end up loving him.
Liked it very much overall. Great cast (Tyrion was pitch-perfect - and I see Charles Dance, who’s always awesome, will be playing mean ol’ papa Tywin!), impressive sets, costumes, cinematography etc., and just enough exposition to get the ball rolling. A few nitpicks: didn’t like the opening credits (Westeros isn’t nearly so mechanized as those implied, and if I didn’t know where everything was I don’t know that they would’ve helped me much); and the crowd scenes of the King arriving at Winterfell looked a little sparse.
And a missed line: when Ned and Jaime bump into each other at the feast and Ned needles him about not jousting, what did Ned say just before Jaime grinned and said, “Well played”?
He said something like " I don’t joust because I never know who I’m going to meet in the field, and I don’t want them to know my tricks". Something like that. I don’t recall that from the book, but it’s definitely a setup line for sure.
And yeah, I’m hoping they spend just a little time on the Drogo-Danaerys thing; she may never have grown to ‘love’ him, but the scene in the book was awesome, and the one in the series was…ok, more realistic, but geez. Of course, there’s not likely time for all the setup entailed; I just hope the whole series doesn’t take too many shortcuts like that.
One very general spoiler I’ll ask that I don’t think even needs to be spoiler boxed but I’ll leave it to your discretion: is there supernatural stuff (wizards, magick, etc.) in this or just mortal? And is there any difference between a Direwolf and a regular wolf?
It definitely threw a lot at those of us who haven’t read the books, but I think it through it slow enough to catch. I totally didn’t see the kid’s death coming (well, once he saw the incest of course, but earlier in the episode- I was expecting it was the king who was going to die).
Jon Arryn appeared to be a very old man. Was he a lot older than his wife? And was there any significance to the stones with the eyes painted put on top of his eyes or is that just a funerary detail?
I’d like to see a map and perhaps a genealogy that doesn’t contain any major spoilers.
Hmm, yeah I was thinking of just avoiding things that happen later down the line. Not discussing differences. I’ll try to keep that in mind and put that in a spoiler box in the future.
That’s not much of a spoiler, fyi. They probably showed that in ads. But still, I’ll keep it in mind.
Loved it. I could probably nitpick a few details, but I generally think they got pretty much everything right. And A Dance With Dragons comes out July 12th!*
Unless, of course, he’s lying to us about the publication date again.
Sampiro: There’s some supernatural elements (like the Others, obviously) but I can’t think of any other blatant magic; it’s definitely not a wizards and magic fantasy series.
That was awesome! It’s so great to finally see all these characters on screen. And the ice wall looks absolutely amazing. All the scenery does in fact. And I loved the opening credits. The episode did feel a little rushed though. I wish they had made the first episode 90 minutes instead of just an hour.
My only real complaint is that we didn’t get to see the wolves nearly enough. They definitely needed to include a scene of all the Stark kids getting their wolves and naming them. They didn’t even say any of their names in this episode, did they?
I noticed they changed the ages of some of the kids. No big deal, just an observation. Was Rickon in this episode at all? If so, I didn’t see him.
Persnoal gripe - they cut one of my favorite lines from the book. When they find the wolves in the book, Theon says, “An albino. This one will die even faster than the others.” To which Jon replies, “I think not, Greyjoy. This one belongs to me.” I knew then that Jon would be one of my favorite characters.
I was looking forward to that line, but they shortened it to Theon saying something like, “The runt of the litter. This one’s yours, Snow.”
I’m glad Daenerys was recast, because she is fine as hell.
Sampiro - I tried to find a genealogy online that doesn’t contain spoilers, but I can’t find any. Nor a good map. Oh, and there is extremely little supernatural stuff. Not much more than what you saw tonight, with the Others north of the wall.
ETA: And a direwolf is much like a regular wolf, but larger, more intelligent, and more fierce.
True, true. Yeah, dragons, they’re kinda a big thing, haha! And there’s the whole thing with Dany and Mirri Maz Dur and the “shade” or whatnot that Brienne sees, and Bran’s wolfy thing…
I remember seeing Rickon in the welcome the King to Winterfell group shot, but that’s about it. I think a 13 year old Dany, like in the book, would be a biiiiiit much for even HBO to get away with. Cat, Cersei and Jamie all were a bit older than I imagined them to be, but it didn’t bug me.
I dunno. I actually think they would’ve been wise to not follow the books so closely. The books have too many characters, too many plot lines that never really intersect, too many factions. I think its going to be pretty hard to follow for anyone that hasn’t read the series.
For example, the scene at the beginning with the Others was pretty cool, but:
The show will have to go on for years before it becomes relevant. Until then, its just going to seem like they threw in some random zombies at the beginning and never revisited it
I’ve read the books, and so have a lot of others in this thread, and I’m not getting much negativity. I loved the show! The only criticism I can come up with is what others have said - I would have liked to see more of the wolves, and, in the book, Danaerys was not nearly as upset about her wedding night as what seemed to be portrayed in the show.
And what’s with all the doggy-style? Apparently it’s popular in Westeros/wherever Danaerys is (I forget…)
I really like the casting so far. Cat, especially, is like I envisioned her, Tyrion/Peter Dinklage of course is great, Arya… the only off cast member to me is Sansa, in the book she’s a great beauty (and that’s important to her story). Here, she’s pretty enough, but not gorgeous. And the hair is too orange IMO, auburn is darker in my head. But those are all very minor criticisms, once we see more of her I may change my mind.
Loved it. The only thing I would have done differently is a prologue with a brief history of Westeros and the war when Robert won the throne. Something similar to the first five minutes of The Fellowship of Ring.
At the risk of spoiling you further…you don’t know anything. Trust me.
I *really *liked it. Things were different than in the books but not horribly. I watched it with my wife who hasn’t read the books, and she didn’t like it nearly as much. It was too much information to digest for a first episode and too many characters for her to care about too quickly. She is going to stick with it for now though.
Cat, Cersei and Jamie all were a bit older than I imagined them to be, but it didn’t bug me.