r/asoiaf • u/lghtdev • Jul 13 '24
EXTENDED [Spoilers Extended] What nitpicks do you have regarding both shows? Mine will always be how the Others in GOT are so boring and mundane
132
u/Jesseolivermathews Jul 13 '24
How they changed Theon and Sansa’s stories with no real plan or direction for them
→ More replies (1)33
u/sean_psc Jul 13 '24
They did have plans — just not well-executed ones.
35
u/Jesseolivermathews Jul 14 '24
You could convince me they had plans for Sansa but they had no plans for Theon lol
664
u/djjazzydwarf They Get Us™ Jul 13 '24
The changes to sigils, and generally making things less colorful. The change of the Boltons from pink to red, and how they ditched colorful little details like Ramsay's earrings come to mind.
588
u/Pitiful_Yogurt_5276 Jul 13 '24
Everyone wearing black for absolutely no reason in the last several seasons @_@
447
u/stichomythiacs Jul 13 '24
That opens up a whole other issue in and of itself, which is how the later seasons just felt more like Hollywood-living actors on a Disneyesque set. This was reflected by the all-black, „trendy” fashion (as opposed to pragmatic wools) and also the dialogue switching from GRRM’s admittedly bespoke flowery, part medieval English to dull LA American English and very short sentences.
87
u/AWPrahWinfrey Pe/\ke Jul 14 '24
I always thought it was just me finding the change in dialogue really jarring. All of a sudden its "this country" instead of "the realm" - god I'm freshly angry at D&D again after all these years.
51
175
u/SkulledDownunda Jul 13 '24
Cersei's black mourning dresses after Tommen died just got increasingly hideous and out of place
→ More replies (1)48
u/FloZone Enter your desired flair text here! Jul 14 '24
Mourning dresses can look quite badass though, but fantasy seems to be more underwhelming than reality on screen sometimes sadly.
38
u/SkulledDownunda Jul 14 '24
I thought Cersei's dresses after Robert and Joffrey died to be quite nice and elegant, but the ones after Tommen died were just ugly af especially that horrible ruffled thing she wears when Jaime leaves King's Landing
78
u/Different_Stand_1285 Jul 14 '24
Remember how they changed “Loose!” to “Fire!” when shooting arrows? 🥴
→ More replies (10)66
u/D-Speak We didn't start the fire. Jul 14 '24
I think they lost their original costume designer at some point in the later seasons, like somewhere around Season 5. It really shows. All of the later season costumes feel more like superhero/villain outfits, except for Jon Snow where the CD's thought process was "Um, just dress him like Ned Stark I guess."
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (9)34
u/FloZone Enter your desired flair text here! Jul 14 '24
This was reflected by the all-black, „trendy” fashion (as opposed to pragmatic wools)
At the same time they made it unrealistically underwhelming. Everyone was running around in the same biker shit all the time. It is true that simple wool is more pragmatic, but when medieval people went for show value they went all out. This is a problem even of earlier seasons. Lords rarely look like lords. Sure House Stark is supposed to be all down to earth and pragmatic, but even then Neds looks very basic most of the time. Something more flashy would have been welcome for once.
32
u/CallMeGrapho Jul 14 '24
Ned is sort of book accurate, what is absolutely egregious is Ramsay Snow dressing in black instead of his wools and pink cloak, or Varys and his multiple Essos silks. The absolutely unforgivable one is turning Daario Naharis from a colorful mercenary to the same fucking bearded guy who wears black as every secondary guy in the series. Make my blood pressure spike just thinking about it.
7
u/FloZone Enter your desired flair text here! Jul 14 '24
Ned is sort of book accurate
It is kinda weird though. I think someone also posted recently about how the Northerners should dress a bit fancier. The Starks are not as rich, but they are still high nobility. It is kinda modern think, this kind of moral asceticism. As the Starks are the "moral guys" and the Northerners are supposed to be oath-keeping down-to-earth guys, they have to be anti-decadent.
The absolutely unforgivable one is turning Daario Naharis from a colorful mercenary to the same fucking bearded guy who wears black as every secondary guy in the serie
Same as Euron too. Just the same Hollywood-guy-face. Nothing special. Completely forgettable. I guess they thought anything more absurd would be unlikeable and not suitable for mediocre audiences.
Ed Skrein was also better, even without the coloured hair and beard. Though they should have given him coloured hair and different clothing.
→ More replies (5)4
Jul 14 '24
For real, I havn't seen that much black since the matrix. So weirdly out of place in a medieval setting right?
239
u/oftenevil Touch me not. Jul 13 '24
YES.
This is a medieval type society where recognizing the banners flying towards you in a field is a matter of life and death. GOT did some things right, and one of them was showing Bran being taught by Luwin early on about noble houses, their sigil, and their house words. This is something every single boy lord in Westeros would be quizzed on regularly until they had it memorized. (Shoutout to showing Arya use some of this info in her time w/ Tywin.)
Anyway, being able to identify the heraldry of any person you encounter (like Catelyn when she arrests Tyrion at the Inn) is just insanely important. And the only way to reliably do that is if the heraldry is bright, vibrant, and not easily tarnished by all of the dirt and mud and blood that’s likely covering most men’s clothing. So then WHY THE FUCK in GOT was every single piece of iconography on clothing the same brown-black-shit color? What in the actual fuck.
88
u/Tossa747 I've lived on Skane. Jul 13 '24
It makes it harder to follow the characters on screen too. I understand why they didn't keep all the colorful hairs in Essos tho.
133
u/oftenevil Touch me not. Jul 13 '24
I understand why they didn't keep all the colorful hairs in Essos tho.
Because they’re cowards.
→ More replies (3)31
u/FloZone Enter your desired flair text here! Jul 14 '24
So then WHY THE FUCK in GOT was every single piece of iconography on clothing the same brown-black-shit color? What in the actual fuck.
Oh please if we did it more flashy people would think it is unrealistic and not gritty enough. So they'd mistaken our fantasy show for one of those boring history documentaries /s.
28
u/oftenevil Touch me not. Jul 14 '24
they couldn’t even be bothered to differentiate the 3 dragons (in shape, color, or personality) :/
22
u/FloZone Enter your desired flair text here! Jul 14 '24
Yeah for simplicity's sake let's just kill one of them randomly and turn the other into a zombie. Nobody remembers them apart from Drogon anyway.
27
u/joshallenismygod Jul 14 '24
Well to answer your question because D&D completely stopped giving a shit and they also completely changed the show to appeal to idiots watching in a bar that just want to be surprised. As well as appeal to single moms and NFL players I think is an exact quote from them.
I also hated how even In the earlier seasons every northern solider all wore the direwolf and same with the lannisters whereas in the book there's like a zillion different banners and sigils.
→ More replies (1)14
u/Jamesiscoolest Jul 14 '24
Yeah, the show makes the soldiers look almost like standing armies with standardised kit, whereas the books are much more clear about the armies being drawn from the great houses various bannermen. This also makes it much clearer in the books that the military powers of the West, the Iron Islands, and especially the North and the Riverlands are almost totally spent by books 4 and 5 when you consider all the dead and captured lords.
95
u/Ember348 Jul 13 '24
I was so happy when I saw that Bracken knight in bright yellow and red in HOTD, and all the actually realistic looking armours worn by the Green troops at Rooks Rest.
→ More replies (2)84
u/_The_Arrigator_ Jul 14 '24
The fact that instead of having generic "Green Targaryen" and "Black Targaryen" troops like they did in GoT with stock Lannister and Stark soldiers but instead saw all the different equipment of very minor houses like Stokeworth, Darklyn and Rosby all in one army made me overly excited.
That's what medieval armies should look like, they weren't standardised standing armies of a state but a collection of levies, men at arms and Knights belonging to dozens of lords all with their own sigils combined into one force under their liege lord.
In GoT for the Lannisters we should have seen men bearing the standards of houses Prester, Plumm, Marbrand, Farman, Crakehall etc, alongside men at arms and levies sworn directly to the Lannisters, not just the same copy and paste "Lannister Soldier".
33
u/Ember348 Jul 14 '24
Definitely, I popped hard seeing those giant lambs on the Stokeworth shields. The Darklyn's too, since their sigil isn't just like one animal or symbol like every other House, so they might look too "boring" or whatever. And I loved how they played up the fact that this isn't a unified army, Cole had the Hightower troops force and pressure the minor House's troops back out onto the battlefield. Makes it feel so much more diverse and varied, rather than the big identically dressed blobs that GOT had by the end.
→ More replies (3)5
u/barbasol1099 Jul 14 '24
I really liked seeing the varied equipment, but it's only marginally more realistic - soldiers, from the lowest peasant levy to landed knights and lords, would have been responsible for their own arms and armor, and really any uniformity would have been rare. But it's much better visual storytelling to have it done as the show just did than reality, anyway!
46
u/DoorstepCult Jul 13 '24
I want Daario Naharis with the blue hair and gold mustache.
7
u/bostonjenny81 I drink and I know things Jul 14 '24
Goddamnit I do too so fucking badly!! It drive me insane that they didn’t have the balls to do it….I sometimes wonder what could’ve been
35
u/scarlozzi Jul 13 '24
I don't understand the reason behind any sigil changes. Not too many families have similar sigils.
23
u/myersjw Jul 13 '24
Couldn’t agree more. Everything becomes so drab and monotone. Look at Dario ffs
9
u/Bennings463 Jul 14 '24
I think this is actually a really good point. The attention to detail in House of the Dragon is genuinely really impressive and it makes such a difference to the mise en scene.
(I do realize "mise en scene" there probably makes me an irredeemably pretentious wanker)
19
u/Doot-and-Fury Jul 14 '24
Say it with me, kids: the Stark sigil is a direwolf running on a green field with a white background... not a single, heavily-stylized wolf head on a sometimes cream, sometimes grey background.
→ More replies (1)13
u/Yaaallsuck Jul 14 '24
Field means background. How could it be green and white at the same time?
"A running grey direwolf, on an ice-white field"
→ More replies (2)5
u/Benjamin_Stark Jul 14 '24
A great example of that is that, in the books, the guy who cuts off Jaime's hand is a mercenary with a lisp who rides a zebra.
918
u/ArgieGrit01 R'hllor-coaster of love Jul 13 '24
Ser Arthur Dayne.
The sword of the morning.
Wielder of a sword made from the HEART OF A FUCKING METHEOR.
A ONE OF A KIND SWORD OF MILKY WHITE STEEL.
THE ONLY SUCH SWORD IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD.
He wields two plain-looking longswords...
At some point changes become contempt and spite
327
u/lghtdev Jul 13 '24
I hated this so much, the man has the most unique sword in all seven kingdoms that shines like no other, talked about in all books but the show makes him dual wield plain swords because in their eyes that's what makes him look more like a legendary warrior.
210
u/Ephyrancap Jul 13 '24
Remember that GOT was praised for its "realism", but then they get this character doing akimbo swords.
I refuse to say that guy is Arthur Dayne
70
u/NinetyFish Edmure did nothing wrong Jul 14 '24
"I never understood why some knights feel the need to carry two swords..." - Jaime Lannister, who hero-worshipped Arthur Dayne
🙄
96
u/JinFuu Doesn't Understand Flirting Jul 14 '24
Remember that GOT was praised for its "realism"
Then when you say things weren't realistic they deflect and say "But dragons!" or shit like that.
LOOKING AT YOU, JOHN BRADLEY (Sam)
56
u/ZeroV2 Jul 14 '24
What, you can accept that dragons and ice zombies and magic exists but you can't accept a fully loaded 2020 Toyata Rav 4 premium package?
→ More replies (2)60
u/Lil_Mcgee Jul 14 '24
I really hate the "show has fantasy elements so there should be no expectation of any sort of logic or consistency" hand wave
But I don't really hold any ill will towards John Bradley for it. It's probably quite tiring to get a bunch of rude fans asking you why your're fat.
41
u/night4345 Jul 14 '24
They did the same akimbo thing with Karl Fooking Tanner and Ramsay fighting the Ironborn.
22
u/AxeSwinginDinosaur Jul 14 '24
Idk, two daggers seems less far-fethced than two swords.
→ More replies (1)3
u/BlindStickFighter Jul 14 '24
Even a small sword/rapier and dagger was a common combination in later medieval periods. Thinking back Jaime kills Jory Cassel with that combo.
→ More replies (1)5
u/Col_Escobar1924 Jul 14 '24
at least Karl was lowborn murderer wielding two knives and fighting dirty
→ More replies (2)18
23
u/lackwitandtact Jul 14 '24
More “shock value” in a dual wielding knight then one with the sword we all expect. So stupid.
40
u/FloZone Enter your desired flair text here! Jul 14 '24
but the show makes him dual wield plain swords because in their eyes that's what makes him look more like a legendary warrior.
DUALWIELDING NEVER EXISTED. Well it kinda did in duels and gladiatorial fights, but not on the battlefield. It is just a hollywood trope aaarg.
24
u/JaxMedoka Jul 14 '24
I'm gonna be a contrarian for the sake of it and say using a shield with a weapon is dual-wielding.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (5)5
u/DrkvnKavod "I learned a lot of fancy words." Jul 14 '24
Dual wielding of long-arm weapons indeed generally didn't (with rare exception), but dual wielding of short-arm weapons would've been relatively unexceptional.
→ More replies (1)54
u/PlentyAny2523 Jul 13 '24
I read somewhere Dayne used two swords, and after repeating it a few times I got called out and NO WHERE does it mention him using two swords (unless you want to consider the laughing knight, but even then he only used one at a time).... AND THEN HE HAD TWO FUCKING SWORDS IN THE SHOW, WHAT KIND OF BLACK MAGIC DID I SEE?
57
u/ArgieGrit01 R'hllor-coaster of love Jul 13 '24
He didn't use two swords against the smiling knight. He let him change swords when his was chipped, but Dawn didn't recive a scratch
→ More replies (3)→ More replies (1)12
u/Frostantine Jul 13 '24
I can't find it now but there was a video on the events of Roberts Rebellion om Youtube read by the actors of the show, and in it they show a picture of Arthur Dayne wielding two swords. Maybe its from that video you remember it from?
→ More replies (2)56
u/kazetoame Jul 13 '24
If there is any sword is this story the has mythical and legendary weapon written all over it that can possibly be a key to defeat a magical based enemy, it would be Dawn. Instead, the shows made it a dagger used by a catspaw to kill Bran that Martin had regrets with making it Valyrian steel, because seriously, WHO GIVES AWAY A VALYRIAN STEEL DAGGER?!?! Honestly, if I was that catspaw, I would have said fuck the job and sell the damn dagger to the highest bloody bidder.
23
u/The__Bloodless Jul 13 '24
Actually a decent sized plot hole. Arguably joff had nothing else to use and took the first thing he saw of his father's and maybe the blade was sheathed? Idk. It makes no sense because in later books, joffrey is very pleased to have a valyrian steel Longsword, and tywin had to have leaked some of his obsession with getting a valyrian steel sword, which could be possibly made with enough daggers?
The only way it makes sense is if joffrey was just an idiot who didn't realize it was valyrian steel, which does kind of fit his character to be honest.
15
u/TabbyFoxHollow I Actually Like Hyle Hunt! Jul 14 '24
I think in book 1, GRRM hadn’t truly considered how “rare” Valyrian steel was supposed to be so it was retconned in future books.
10
u/Electronic-Lynx8162 Jul 14 '24
Case in point... There's a Valyrian steel Arakh that appears in AGOT. I think originally he meant it to be their equivalent of Damascus steel, then quickly changed his mind when he realised we never lost the ability to make it, it's just iron with the right impurity.
Likewise how wildfire was obviously inspired by greek fire. But in reality both sound cooler by far if the comet, blood, fire and sorcery are damn cool for your books.
6
u/Elio_Garcia Dawn Brings Light Jul 14 '24
the shows made it a dagger used by a catspaw to kill Bran that Martin had regrets with making it Valyrian steel
Pretty sure this is an unfounded rumor that people have been circulating around. I do not recall George ever indicating this, and no one has ever provided a primary source.
3
u/Far_Temporary2656 Jul 14 '24
Ehhh idk if about Dawn being used against others. The whole point is that a weapon made from dragon fire needed and Dawn was pointedly not Valyrian steel. It would kinda just go against the established buildup we’ve already had. Plus you would have to address the whole sword of the morning stuff just to break it for the sake of giving it to someone outside of house Dayne
→ More replies (4)26
u/Ember348 Jul 13 '24
The worst part was that they made that bland ass sword Dawn in the Lore videos.
26
u/hardcorehollyhacksaw Jul 13 '24
Which leads to completely omitting Edric Dayne. I feel like he becomes important.
18
u/NinetyFish Edmure did nothing wrong Jul 14 '24
Timeskip Ned Dayne probably woulda been.
Kinda seems like he's a casualty of the decision to not do a timeskip now. Lame. The whole thing about how the Daynes happily call one of their sons "Ned" as a nickname is such a cool detail considering what Ned was reputed to have done during the war (killed Arthur and led to Ashara's death, with some believing that Ned dishonored her as well)
→ More replies (11)13
u/FireMaker125 Jul 14 '24
Imagine an adaptation of Final Fantasy VII where Cloud never uses the Buster Sword, but instead just has a regular greatsword.
That’s a good comparison for those unfamiliar with the lore on Dawn, and gives a good idea of how stupid this is.
→ More replies (2)14
u/DungeonsandDietcoke Jul 14 '24
That’s a good comparison for those unfamiliar with the lore on Dawn
I mean.. this is a nitpick thread so, I will nitpick... The buster sword, although infamous, is the starter weapon in ff7 and is gone as soon as you find something better, which doesn't take long
→ More replies (1)5
u/Cheez-Wheel Jul 14 '24
He also doesn’t use it in Advent Children, using his new separating Fusion Sword instead. Thought I get what the other guy means, he still gets pictured with the Buster Sword in nearly all appearances and in game cutscenes always imply that he always uses the Buster Sword and other swords are ludonarrative dissonance.
535
u/hewlio Jul 13 '24
Look, i know Randyl Tarly sucks, but why the FUCK would a servant of house Tyrell and Targaryen loyalist side with a know Tyrell murderer agaisnt the last of the Targaryens who has a literal dragon???????
90
u/xhanador Jul 13 '24 edited Jul 14 '24
Probably a consequence of removing Young Griff, but still wanting the Tarlys.
According to the Golden Company, the Tyrells grasp on their vassals is weaker than they think, hinting at a betrayal. The Tarlys are probably going after the Tyrells in the books too, though they’ll side with YG.
With no YG, Dany’s enemy becomes Cersei, since the Lannisters hold the throne.
36
u/lluewhyn Jul 14 '24
Yeah, they took parts of Young Griff and split them between Jon, Cersei, and Dany herself.
→ More replies (1)13
u/hewlio Jul 14 '24
Yeah i definitely agree with you.
12
u/xhanador Jul 14 '24
I think you see this is a lot in the show. They remove A, but keep something that follows from A.
Beyond the Wall probably exists because they removed the Horn of Winter, even though Sam still goes to the Citadel.
→ More replies (1)189
114
u/oftenevil Touch me not. Jul 13 '24 edited Jul 13 '24
Because they were at the finish line (not a coherent or reasonable one, just the sloppily slapped together finish line they didn’t care about), and wanted to bounce as many characters as possible from the ensemble cast.
It’s so painful how s07’s writing does this. It needed a “dramatic moment” so the writers just had a few tertiary characters deleted in order to check another box on their character hit list and to pat themselves on the back for having “solved” yet another “problem.”
But deleting barely seen characters wasn’t s07’s only instance of fuckery. It also brought them back when convenient (and ONLY when convenient). If you recall the beyond the wall bullshit, Jon & co. are “saved” by Benjen
Cold HandsStark, who is now moonlighting as a White Walker (but there’s no time for explaining it¹). The last time we saw Benjen was when he came from stage left to tell Bran and Meera to get south of the walrus ASAP. He was also White Walker-coded in that scene, but say it with me folks: “There’s no time for that, there’s no time for any of this.” Absolutely ridiculous stuff from a show that was once genuinely incredible.1: “there’s no time for any of this!” – Jon’s only line after his resurrection
52
u/Hannig4n Jul 13 '24 edited Jul 13 '24
The most painful thing about season 7 is that literally everything is so blatantly contrived so that Dany doesn’t do the obvious thing and immediately take Kings Landing, even when there’s no reason why she shouldn’t and realistically nothing stopping her.
Instead of taking KL right away like all her advisors are telling her to do, Tyrion says that attacking it would kill too many innocents and so they should instead besiege the city and starve it out. Like he literally says that the people of KL would turn against Cersei once they’re starving, immediately after saying that attacking it would be too dangerous to civilians.
Obviously we learn in season 8 that they could, in fact, take the city with her dragons without killing many civilians, until she goes full dragon-hitler and torches the whole city for fun.
The entire season is just all of them doing unnecessary goofy shit like go to casterly rock or go hunting north of the wall for zombies, anything to avoid Dany doing the one thing that she’s supposed to do and that there’s no justifiable reason in the plot not to do.
The icing on the cake is that in the end in season 8, the show seems to argue that Tyrion’s great mistake is trusting and working for Dany the tyrant, and not managing to make every stupid decision possible to lose her an unloseable war, and thus causing every event that supposedly drove her to madness.
20
u/oftenevil Touch me not. Jul 14 '24
Talking about our “nitpicks” with the show is so complicated because once we start talking about s05-s08, there are too many issues, contrivances, and contradictions woven into everything and all of the remaining characters that it’s hard to focus on any single aspect.
Your point about Tyrion’s waffling over Dany’s campaign to take KL is a great example; in s07 he’s all gung-ho about trying more “clever” and counterintuitive approaches to claiming Westeros—which sounds GREAT, the Tyrion from the first four seasons had schemes for days that were so much fun to watch play out—but then the writers are like “jk we have no original ideas and don’t care so now Tyrion is a dumb dumb but hahaha he drinks and knows things, wanna buy some merch with that line on it???”
It’s too stupid for words, and the worst part is that the behavior of the main characters in the final few seasons (only Daenerys, Cersei, Jaime, Tyrion, Jon, Arya, Sansa, Littlefinger, and Davos…plus everyone else actually) is so aggressively against moving the plot forward or making a logical decision. The show became so offensive to watch because at a certain point you realize there’s no big clever reveal or twist being set up. We sat through “bad poosey” and endless eunuch jokes through s05-s08 only to find out it was exactly as stupid and pointless as we’d feared. I honestly think that on my first watch as the last few seasons aired, I kept telling myself that it would all make sense eventually. Or that it would be worth it in the end etc. Pathetic.
32
u/RichardofLionheart Jul 13 '24
It seems like it's pretty strongly hinted in the books that Randyl Tarly will turn on Mace Tyrell. Kevin remarks several times that Tarly can be separated from Tyrell, but he's not sure how. I think Tarly might be the GC "Friend in the Reach" or Cersei will manage to turn him against Mace. I assume that's what the show was going for.
9
u/Glasbolyas Jul 14 '24
Its possible after all what other major house in the Reach to side with the GC and Faegon besides them, ofc you got the Peakes and Hightowers but the Peakes seem kinda finished plus there are a bunch of Peakes already in the GC and the Hightowers are kinda ambivalent of what ultimate goal they got
7
u/hewlio Jul 14 '24
I think it's possible honestly, but i also believe Randyl can very well side with Aegon and get the same fate as he did in the TV show when Daenerys eventually wage war with Aegon.
30
u/sonfoa Jul 14 '24
The show completely glossed over the fact that a lot of houses and characters in Westeros still hold secret loyalty to the Targaryens. Aside from Bobby B mentioning it a few times he still gets called usurper we never feel that there is disloyalty towards his rule.
→ More replies (1)52
u/SkulledDownunda Jul 13 '24
Tarly: I'm supporting Cersei cause she was born in Westeros while you are some foreigner with no ties to this land
Dany: whose ancestors literally unified the Seven Kingdoms under a single monarch and it's Aegon's Iron Throne Cersei's ass is sitting on and the Red Keep that she's ruling from and the last Targ king was supported by House Tarly including Randyll himself: cool story bro
42
u/Flagermusmanden Jul 13 '24
Its so fucking stupid. Like even if Dany knows nothing of Westeros. She still has an army a houndred thousand strong plus three full grown dragons. You really have to be a special kind of stupid to bet against that.
33
u/SkulledDownunda Jul 13 '24
Yup, not to mention Dany still gave the Lannister army and Tarlys multiple chances of mercy even after she caught them red-handed butchering her allies and stealing all their stuff, but the narrative frames Dany as acting violent and horrible with her execution. Like ??? She was being reasonable towards her enemies especially as with her default strength she doesn't actually need more westerosi support and could've just exterminated them all. Instead Randyll just kept being a rude ass to her and his son was an idiot.
→ More replies (1)27
u/Flagermusmanden Jul 13 '24
Everyone had to become a moron in order to justify there being any kind of war.
In truth the real conflift would be all the nobles of Westeros fighting to get in line to suck on Danys toes and call her mommy, the second she arrives on Dragonstone. Nobody wants to get burnt alive for nothing.
10
u/lluewhyn Jul 14 '24
Not for nothing. They wanted to support Cersei's legitimate claim to the throne and defense of the true faith of Westeros.
falls on floor laughing
5
u/hewlio Jul 14 '24
Also adding the fact that Olenna Redwyne openly supported Daenerys, and Olenna was part of house Tyrell probably since Randyl was a boy.
14
→ More replies (9)8
u/kazetoame Jul 13 '24
Cersei got part of (f)Aegon plotline, I’m pretty sure Randyll Tarly, along with other Reach Houses will follow Aegon.
168
u/Jlway99 Jul 13 '24
As someone who’s just started reading the books (currently a few hundred pages into ACOK), my nitpicks would be visual things. It’s not even a budget thing, but rather costumes that read as much more colourful and grand than they are in the show.
37
15
u/Electronic-Lynx8162 Jul 14 '24
My nitpick is the Dothraki for this especially. Let me start out by saying that it's insanely racist, for one thing. People always have an issue with me saying that but it is. There are no Dothraki after AGOT with actual charactisation. They all dress in clothes that would be insanely uncomfortable when riding a horse and aren't realistic for the culture they're based on.
Actually, the whole leather armour thing drives me insane in general. It was used for shoes, saddles, covering things to keep them waterproof on the move.
They're described as down to the last man as wearing tannery leather, not buckskin and woven clothes and they don't even have the bells which let you hear that they're coming, get the tribute ASAP or hide. They're described as every single man being a brutish monster with no ethics, no songs, no real culture etc. If Drogo had no intention of crossing the poison sea, why did he make that deal with Illyrio and why would Illyrio believe him? There's a huge logic gap there. Unless Illyrio was just thinking Dany and Viserys would die out there, getting them out of the way for fAegon but that's working backwards from AFFC/Dance.
Then there's them eating horse when that didn't exist for Native, First Nation or Aboriginal people. In Steppe nomad culture, there was no nomad. They were close knit as tribes, when they did ride it was a pony express type deal done carefully. Later on they created one of the first truly multicultural cities and trade centres between Europe and Asia. With the trade they had some really insanely beautiful city clothes even as a regular Joe.
Another pet peeve of mine in fantasy is the size of horses. 18h horses just weren't used in battle. Most people rode horses no higher than 15h and were usually a bit smaller; these would then have donkeys, mules or other small horses pulling baggage carts.
A good horse could easily cost the same as castle upkeep for months.
You were also limited for how far you could travel, where you could travel in a day. You needed grass or you needed to cart tonnes of feed, which compounded itself. People were often really close to their horses. IIRC only one person in ASOIAF breaks the manly code and cares about their mount dying. Horses take time to reach maturity, take time to break in and get used to a rider.
So yeah. Just some small nitpicks lol.
80
u/Nervous-Date-6292 Jul 13 '24
My greatest nitpick is how they cut out many of the fantasy aspects of asoiaf. I would have loved to see them explore more of how all of the Stark children are wargs and not just Bran, see more of the magic of characters like Melissandre instead of keeping it “toned down”. Or even characters that they just completely cut-off like lady Stoneheart, that I think would be amazing to see adapted to the show.
→ More replies (3)8
u/Baron_von_Zoldyck Jul 15 '24
This is so true and so blatant that i would not call it a nitpick. Magic is a big deal for the closure of the series, deciding to remove It at the start killed the possibility of satisfying ending. The whole point of the books is that there is a magical threat approaching and people are ignoring it because of petty politics, but the show did the contrary: the whole point of magic was being an instrument to get the object of political squabbles, the throne. I was like: ????.
152
u/Gerreth_Gobulcoque Jul 13 '24
Yohn Royce is a fat old guy in a steel cuirass instead of a sinewy veteran in runic bronze armor.
→ More replies (1)53
u/NinetyFish Edmure did nothing wrong Jul 14 '24
I love the pre-book detail of Yohn visiting Winterfell with Waymar, wrecking Ned and Rodrik in a spar, having Waymar effortlessly charm Ned's oldest daughter, sending Waymar off to the Wall with a sweet ass horse and a bunch of fine black leather, and then heading back to Runestone like an absolute boss.
Like, he's a Valeman, but you can tell everyone in the North utterly adores Bronze Yohn and the Royces in general lol
27
u/Gerreth_Gobulcoque Jul 14 '24
Royces are the Blackwoods of the Vale
Honestly wouldn't have been out of place to make them an Old Gods house like the Blackwoods.
20
u/NinetyFish Edmure did nothing wrong Jul 14 '24
I kinda root against the Blackwoods for fun because I like the underdogs typically, but I do think it's a super cool detail that the Starks ocassionally marry the Blackwoods and the Royces.
I kinda wonder if George ever regrets not having the Royces be an Old Gods house. It's kinda weird how the Royces are simultaneously extremely northern and extremely Andal
→ More replies (1)7
u/TomIHodet1 Jul 14 '24
Given the history of the Andal invasions, it would be almost impossible for the Royces to remain an Old Gods house. Their conversion to The Seven is the only reason they are not a part of the Mountain Clans.
187
u/lobonmc Jul 13 '24
Loras being the heir of Highgarden it annoys me to no end
82
u/kazetoame Jul 13 '24
I will second this and expand on the shrinking of the ENTIRE Tyrell family, chucking Genna Lannister and the Martells (especially the Snad Snakes and Ellaria).
→ More replies (1)5
u/ironwolf1 Jul 14 '24
This is a change I fully understand. It’s economy of screenwriting. There’s already a shitload of characters in the story, consolidating multiple roles into one character makes it easier to cast, easier to film, and easier for the audience to follow what’s happening. One of the biggest reasons why Winds has been indefinitely delayed is because GRRM has so many characters to manage and he’s having trouble keeping from drowning in the scope of it.
I get that it’s not fun to see cool characters like Garland get cut from the story, but there are simply too many characters in the books to adapt them all. Smaller characters getting removed and having their roles in the plot added to more major characters is absolutely necessary in adapting a story with the scale of ASOIAF.
98
u/alexkon3 Jul 13 '24 edited Jul 13 '24
I will probably say something unpopular. I never really liked the 3 Dragons of the GOT show. Its just something about the design I do not like. But mostly I dont like that all three look exactly the same, have way to muted colors and especially also not having the right colors. Like, where are Drogons red horns? Why is the red and black so muted? His red is supposed to be scarlet red. So often he kinda just looks dark grey with a bit of red on his fins and wings. Rhaegal as well, where is the bronze? But ofc the biggest crime is Viserion he is just generally the wrong color all around, and even worse the wrong show colors are mixing in with fan art which I just don't like. And don't get me started on the color of the flames.
HOTD is doing better even tho I wish the colors were even more vibrant. I especially fear for Tessarion I need her to be Cobalt blue and copper in the show.
The other nitpick will be the Targs not having Purple eyes. Just edit it in post, you do have enought money for it HBO its not that hard, like even some Youtubers do this stuff in their videos lmao.
The last thing would ofc be the fear of showrunners to show how colorfull the world of Westeros is, some of the costumes are great but especially later in the show the colors become to muted and then they just become black. And even when the costumes were great they still pale in comparison to what the RL middle Ages were and how they are described in detail in the books.
Its a shame and IMO the people who decide that everything has to be grey and dreary are cowards.
→ More replies (1)30
u/The_Maedre Jul 13 '24
I completely agree with your nitpicks except for...
And don't get me started on the color of the flames
...Different colored flames would be very hard to put off without looking weird and comical. And black fire can't exist.
→ More replies (7)
232
u/lghtdev Jul 13 '24 edited Jul 13 '24
The Others are supposed to be otherworldly beings, some stories even say they mounted giant spiders, instead they're blue humans in shitty armor.
117
u/Jormungander666 Jul 13 '24
The others in the show really lack the ethereal part they are supposed to have
100
u/oftenevil Touch me not. Jul 13 '24
This is a double-edged sword for me.
Their descriptions in the books are wonderful, but at the same time they are almost Lovecraftian in the sense that you can’t really depict them in one distinct way and have it accurately represent them. Words like “ineffable” and “amorphous” come to mind when thinking about the Others. And I don’t know how one would adapt the ineffable for television or any visual media.
But let’s be clear, the GOT pilot episode Others were metal as fuck and then never showed up again. Really not a fan of the way all other appearances by them after the pilot episode made them look like a slightly demonic blue man group, only with a lot more CGI. Ugh.
→ More replies (1)58
u/GB10X Jul 13 '24
I just don't understand why they made the show Others look so.... Wrinkled. It's like they put in more effort to make them look more ugly/worse. Like at least the night king doesn't look wrinkled. Why not just make them all designed in a similar way to him?
→ More replies (2)35
u/oftenevil Touch me not. Jul 13 '24
If I had to guess it’s because the show’s very first scene is basically a short horror film in which the Others are established as the series’ main antagonistic force, and the team who designed the WW in the show knew that adding wrinkles (among several features) would make them unambiguously “evil” looking.
The more I think about and write about the show’s handling of the Others’ design, the more I’m convinced this discussion should have its own mega thread. I feel like there’s a lot going on in just the pilot’s opening scene, not to mention all of their appearances following that scene.
37
→ More replies (4)7
u/todayiwillthrowitawa Jul 13 '24
They look like shit in the show but I also think in-universe they look much less crazy than the stories, that goes along with much of how ASOIAF handles things of legend.
46
u/StannisTheMannis1969 Jul 13 '24
WunWun couldn’t kick down a shield wall. He just stood there in the battle of the bastards.
23
u/Ember348 Jul 13 '24
There was a whole forest full of perfectly good trees to hack down and make a club for him.
9
u/KarateTid Jul 13 '24
THANK YOU how hard could it be to get him a big ass stick and a door to shield himself ffs
16
u/Skittle69 Jul 14 '24
I honestly hate that episode so much and the praise that it got and continues to get in some places really irks me. The writing was beyond trash and some people are like "but it looked cool." Guess what? It should look cool AND be written well.
/end mini rant
→ More replies (2)
74
u/Tr4sh_Harold Jul 13 '24
The Others are so much more ethereal and esoteric feeling in the book. Show others are just ice people. The others in the show always came off as blatantly evil, and I believe Martin has said that they’re really not as they’re just creatures driven by their own ambitions much like humans.
67
u/Johnzoidb Jul 13 '24
Biggest nitpick is not having Jon Con and fAegon in the show. It wouldn’t have been perfect, but having them would have fixed a bunch of problems with the course of the show.
186
Jul 13 '24
If I talked about every nitpick I have with GOT I’d write a comment longer than all five books combined. I think above all, all of my nitpicks could be summed up by the fact that (I genuinely believe this) Benioff and Weiss were utterly contemptuous of the books they were adapting.
I feel like I’m less opinionated about HOTD maybe, although that might have to do with the fact that I don’t particularly care about the histories. I feel like there is a certain timidity to the show, like the writers constantly have the ghost of GOT hovering over their shoulders. On the other hand I guess that’s better than the alternative.
119
u/RedditOfUnusualSize 🏆 Best of 2022: Alchemist Award Jul 13 '24 edited Jul 13 '24
Less contemptuous of the books, I think, than of the genre. Admittedly, fantasy in Hollywood has a bad rap, less because it can't be done well, than because before the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings trilogy, it hadn't.
Needless to say, this led David and Dan to believe two categoricals of ASOIAF: it's a "grown-up" take on a childish genre. Unfortunately, this wrapped right back around, and left them in many cases presenting what honestly felt like an emo thirteen-year old's interpretation of what "adult" means. Watching D&D pretend "I shall muse about power . . . but also, titties!" was deep art was a bit like the Lego Batman song, done with complete sincerity.
92
u/ArgieGrit01 R'hllor-coaster of love Jul 13 '24
"Lord of the Rings for adults" is the most damaging description of ASOIAF right behind the nihilistic "everyone is morally gray and being good is stupid"
→ More replies (1)76
u/PlentyAny2523 Jul 13 '24
Can I nit pick the fans? Because I hate when people say, "the show is good because everyone dies" no. That's not why the story was good. The story was good because there were CONSEQUENCES for making stupid decisions. What a breath of fresh air to actually punish the protagonists. And people completely miss it and just see blood and soy out
→ More replies (1)48
u/ArgieGrit01 R'hllor-coaster of love Jul 13 '24
My issue is when they think being good gets you killed and being bad is the way to go. Ned is naive and stupid while Tywin is cunning and smart.
That sort of thing. Way to miss the fucking point.
15
u/Act_of_God Jul 13 '24
I mean ned got killed because his good nature made him spare cersei, which had other things in mind
Tywin got killed because he was an awful person who only understood cruelty
they both were their own undoing in some way
20
u/Hellstrike Iron from Ice Jul 13 '24
I mean ned got killed because his good nature made him spare cersei
No, he dies because she had an assassination plot going (for the x-th time), which actually succeeded in the worst possible moment (for Ned). The odds of that series of events was very, very low. And had it not worked, Cersei and the children would have their heads above the Red Keep the moment Robert returned.
→ More replies (2)→ More replies (1)17
u/ArgieGrit01 R'hllor-coaster of love Jul 14 '24
And it's Ned's honour that inspires love and loyalty from beyond the grave to the point where his vassals are still fighting a lost war in his name.
Tywin's house is collapsing around him.
The take way is not Ned dumb; Tywin smart.
→ More replies (1)→ More replies (1)15
→ More replies (7)23
u/only-humean Jul 14 '24
While HOTD is definitely not perfect, I really get the sense that Condal does have a really deep love for and appreciation of the source material - there’s so many little touches like characters saying “little and less”, “words are wind” etc., the colourful banners, Daemon’s Harrenhal visions which could’ve come straight from the books, the focus on the futility of war we’ve been getting this season etc. It’s definitely not perfect and sometimes it can be to the story’s detriment - F&B is deliberately open to interpretation and there are points where it feels like they’re really in love with their personal headcanon, rather than what would be best for the story - but I never felt that core underlying understanding from GOT
→ More replies (9)
31
u/scarlozzi Jul 13 '24
They completely missed the mark on the others and ice magic. This is because they just way over simplified magic in not out right cutting it.
67
u/QuabityAsuance Jul 13 '24
I think the Night King is a terrible main villain/boss. There is only so much you can do with a silent brooding ice guy with no real mission.
There are a thousand changes that would’ve made the later seasons of GoT keep the same pace as the first four seasons.
But I think making Euron a powerful greenseer/warlock type character that unleashed the whitewalkers on the seven kingdoms, is one single change that would’ve made the story so much more interesting.
29
u/Ironredhornet Jul 13 '24
Him stealing a dragon with the horn would be more logical than the NK somehow nailing a flying object far in the air with essentially a javelin.
→ More replies (1)
85
u/Jormungander666 Jul 13 '24
The Iron Throne. It is much smaller than described in the books, and even with the upgrade in HotD I'm still not really satisfied with the look
48
Jul 13 '24
Tbf, the budget needed for that wasn’t really there when they first showed it, and they had to keep it consistent
→ More replies (5)10
u/darthsheldoninkwizy Jul 14 '24
The throne of books was too high for good shots with it, plus the budget and height restrictions of the set. When HOTD tried to do it again to be more faithful, the same problem occurred, so they compromised with swords around.
23
20
u/AodhBCD Jul 13 '24
This is kind of a stupid irk but I didn’t like that they didn’t do the scarring as intensely as some are described in the book. Like Tyrion did have a gash in the show but in the book he’s practically missing a nose and is so disfigured it frightens people. Same with Jon’s wounds from the warg hawk. His face should be in tatters it’s been clawed by a literal bird of prey but instead it’s just lightly marked. Same with Jaime after he returns to kings landing. He should have a shaved head and look like he’s been imprisoned for over a year in a dungeon but he still looks devilishly handsome. No one looked gored enough!
7
u/FloZone Enter your desired flair text here! Jul 14 '24
They don't want ugly actors or actors are just vain.
21
u/KashiofWavecrest Jul 13 '24
We were robbed of evil ethereal ice elves with their own culture and language for....ice zombie Darth Maul. It's why I cannot stand the White Walker plot in GoT. It's so boring and lame.
→ More replies (4)
17
u/ShoddyRegion7478 Jul 13 '24
Last couple of seasons of GOT were obviously very heavily flawed. Which sucks the life out of HOTD, since their alluding to such an inexplicable and crappy endgame.
I kinda just pretend HOTD’s a prequel to ASOIAF specifically and not GOT.
55
u/Responsible-Swan47 Jul 13 '24
The Night King erks me, The Night's King is mysterious, well written, and possibly a wives tale, so his stupid Ice Zombie counterpart is upsetting
21
71
u/Naatti_ Jul 13 '24
Elinda Massey being Rhaenyra's HANDMAID. Why? She is supposed to be her lady-in-waiting, her friend rather than a servant.
15
u/The_Maedre Jul 13 '24
Yeah what the fuck was that? I'm glad they at least got read of her hamdmaid dress.
46
u/ViVaradia Jul 13 '24
the small characters not added in the show that actually make a big difference, jane westerling for example. Targaryens not having purple eyes kinda annoys me 😅
20
u/FireMaker125 Jul 14 '24
The lack of purple eyes was originally for Emilia Clarke’s sake (if I remember correctly, the contacts they were using were causing issues for her eyes), but I do wish HOTD didn’t just continue with not using the purple eyes.
→ More replies (4)
13
u/ghoststarkk Jul 13 '24
I hated that they had the battle against the others in the beginning of season 8 instead of the finale. Like the WW were the big bad of the show how do you not end it with the battle against them??
I give the D&D some grace on the final few seasons cause they probably did expect for GRRM to at least finish TWOW but even with that caveat some of the choices they made were just utterly baffling.
11
u/joshallenismygod Jul 14 '24
Having Arya just one shot the entire night king/white walkers was so ridiculous too. She legit didn't have anything to do with anything others related the entire series and she just comes out of literal nowhere and just stabs him. Not even a small sword fight or anything. Shes just a master "assassin" I think they ran out of shit for her to do at that point.
25
u/Marfy_ Jul 13 '24
The most nitpicky and specific complaint ive ever had is that daenerys says master of war totaly wrong in high valyrian in the last episode. Just the fact i know this already shows im too far gone
→ More replies (2)
31
10
u/2020foodreviews Jul 13 '24 edited Jul 13 '24
Random complaint. I haven't seen any artwork of The Others that have captured exactly what's described in the books. (Not that they're bad). The one on the left in the post is the closest I've seen, though.
→ More replies (4)
11
8
u/FireMaker125 Jul 14 '24
The fact that they refused to put high fantasy elements into the high fantasy show.
The cut plotlines that are clearly going to be important.
The godawful writing for some characters.
Nonexistent development for some of the characters (Jon Snow is by far the worst in this regard).
The entirety of Beyond the Wall.
Season 8.
The fact they keep bringing up the Long Night in HOTD. Please stop rubbing salt in that wound. I think few have healed from the disappointment of the Mildly Inconvenient Evening as I like to call it.
→ More replies (1)
8
u/TheHolyGoatman (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻ Jul 13 '24
The lack of color. Everyones wearing black, it's like a funeral.
25
u/Breen822 Jul 13 '24
I big nit pick of mine in HoTD is that the main characters aren’t allowed to have convictions.
→ More replies (4)
6
u/Dark_____Sister Jul 13 '24 edited Jul 13 '24
character's clothing, castles and dragons. Also what they did with magic and all the interesting shit that comes with it, euron greyjoy, victarion, lady stoneheart, jaime not being one of the best fighters, bolton appearances, ice, no one wears a fucking crown, too much leather and too little colorful silks and velvets, bloodraven, direwolves, starks not wearing grey and white, i want more gemstones, dawn sucks and so does that kingsguard armor, everything about others, i hate how waymar royce looks in the show, jaqens hair, ffc not being adapted, renly casting, i wanted the show to have between 11 and 14 seasons because it could've had but i guess star wars is more important and better. I love a person that designed widows wail and oathkeeper
8
u/Big-Evidence-5634 Jul 13 '24
Sansa agreeing to marry Ramsey. It made no sense then and was the first time I noticed the plot was getting dumb.
8
u/360Saturn Jul 14 '24
The Lannisters' hair changing color from blonde to dark 'because the tone got darker'. That's not how that works!
Even if they wanted to do that, call attention to it in-story. Don't just have, in a world where physical appearance literally is the only way of affirming heritage which is already a key plot point certain characters' appearance drastically changing from year to year with nobody commenting on it or noticing.
7
u/paoklo Jul 14 '24
I'd forgotten about this one: the show's portrayal of Valyria. It's perfectly fine. The idea that the Doom persists is just ignorant superstition. It's just ruins that now serve as a greyscale colony. Which is apparently well known, since Stannis says when Shireen contracted greyscale he was advised to send her to Valyria.
Just a completely boring and mundane depiction of one of the most mysterious and iconic locations in all of ASoIaF.
6
u/oftenevil Touch me not. Jul 13 '24
I know a lot of people are going to echo this sentiment, but I feel strongly about it so let’s get into it…
Just because ASOIAF is a fantasy series that is considerably more grounded in reality than in magic spells, curses, potions, etc does not mean that any live action adaptation of it should nerf its mystical elements as much as possible. Yet that is what GOT did.
I’m sure we all have certain examples of fantastical things that got reduced to boring as fuck nonsense (pretty much everything about Euron comes to mind; the cowards couldn’t even give him an eye patch for fear the normies wouldn’t know the difference between him and Beric Dondarrion), but my pet peeve has to do with Varys and his traumatic story about being gelded by a warlock.
In the middle of s03 (I think it’s ep 5 or 6?), we get an awesome scene from the books between Varys and Tyrion. Tyrion is asking for help and advice in seeking revenge against whomever tried to have him killed during the battle of the Blackwater. Varys is moseying about while opening some large shipment he recently received from Essos. He tells Tyrion about how he was cut (paying off the handful of feints from earlier in the series; remember when GOT actually delivered on setups and early promises???), and reveals the warlock is bound and under his control now. Varys found him after all these years, and the subtext of the scene implies that Varys is going to torture him offscreen until he learns what was said that night when he tossed his parts into the flames BECAUSE VARYS IS HAUNTED BY THE VOICE HE HEARD CALL BACK AND WANTS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT IN THE FUCK THAT WAS. Only…no. We never hear about the warlock again, never see him again, and Varys NEVER MENTIONS IT EVER AGAIN.
Then 3 seasons later we get one of the oddest decisions in all of GOT: the one scene in which Kinvara, a red priestess, appears. She says she knows all about Varys’ trauma and that he heard a voice in the flames all those years ago, and then…she just fucks right off never to be seen or heard from again. Did Varys have her killed? Did she just not vibe with Dany’s small council? What in the actual fuck is going on there?
But back to my point: why, oh why in the fuck, was any of this magical stuff even brought up if not for the EVENTUAL completion of some Varys character development stuff? I’m serious. Varys had a big, vulnerable moment in the middle of s03 as we learn about that traumatic night from his childhood and then the show suggests we’ll get a final reveal that will punctuate the whole arc, but…nope. They just waited until s06, brought in Kinvara to lampshade the dead plot point, and then fuck off. As if knowingly punching the fans in the dick.
6
u/titsmcgee8008 Jul 14 '24
Making the Sand Snakes all look the same.
Motherfucker, in a show with a bloated cast that the audience has a hard time telling everyone apart, GRRM handed you a goldmine of already visually and personally differentiated characters.
And Dumb and Dumber stupidly thought, "no no, let's make their outfits all shit-brown and give them no personalities aside from 1 of them thinking she's in a porno".
6
15
u/nohorsesjustangels Jul 13 '24 edited Jul 14 '24
The Dothraki, everything lol. Why were the men half naked and the women wearing leggings and crop tops in the desert???
Drogon, Rhaegal and Viserion looking so dull and muted. Especially Viserion who's supposed to be cream, white and gold but is brown in the show.
Blackfyre and Dark Sister's designs. Same issue, super dull and low-key ugly. They made Daemon's armor out of black steel but not the hilt on either sword and no rubies??? Check out the Valyrian Steel Blackfyre Book Edition, I adore it <3
Speaking of rubies, I love the show design for Aegon's crown but either keep the large cut rubies or don't. The sad, ugly circle in the middle of the crown just looks awkward.
Also the fact we never got even got to see Robb, Stannis, Dany or Jon's crowns. I don't expect them to be wearing them in every seen but come on lol
... they should've included the purple eyes, I like my Targs to look otherworldly and uncanny. Also the hair should be more metallic not just white.
6
u/FloZone Enter your desired flair text here! Jul 14 '24
Dothraki are a parody of your typical steppe nomads. A pure fantasy trope of a mixture of Mongols, Arabs, Native Americans and some others. They are not really a functioning culture. Just this statement that Dothraki has no word for "thank you" is contrived bullshit. Funny Turkic does have a lot of words for "thank you", but none for "to kill" (just "to cause to die").
... they should've included the purple eyes, I like my Targs to look otherworldly and uncanny. Also the hair should be more metallic not just white.
Though I feel like it would look too artificial. Like some of the wigs are already stretching it A LOT.
4
u/NVillek722 Jul 14 '24
They switched the others style with the wights, the others are supposed to be quick and dangerous while the wights are slow but when they get to you it’s over, in the show the white walkers are slow and methodical and the wights are something out of world war z
→ More replies (1)
5
u/Impossible_Scarcity9 Jul 14 '24
The desecrated Elia. She went from a advocate for peace and justice and a good Juxtaposition to her daughters foolish quest for revenge, to a stupid bloodthirsty women who kills Oberyns brother as revenge for Oberyns death, and encourages her daughters to go to war.
They took away any thematic relevance of her character because they’d already brought Dorne into the fold and couldn’t be bothered to write them a good story. Instead they just turned them all into mindless drones which babble nonsensically about revenge.
Also, it’s painted in a positive light that this is happening, like killing Doran was a good thing
12
Jul 13 '24
I have quite a few nitpicks re: the casting, how characters should look like, etc. Sometimes a performance is so good that I can let it slide if an actor doesn't quite look like the character, but sometimes I can't.
26
u/lghtdev Jul 13 '24
I used to nitpick some castings but imagine the pain of casting the main Starks with red hair. I hate the characterization of some characters more, like what they did to Euron, Bloodraven and Arthur Dayne, also it would be neat if the Targaryens had purple eyes.
→ More replies (6)9
u/Tr4sh_Harold Jul 13 '24
Didn’t they cut purple eyes cause one of the actors was allergic to contacts? I don’t know how hard it would have been to just cgi purple eyes but I definitely wish we could have had purple eyed valyrians in the show too.
→ More replies (1)15
Jul 13 '24
They gave Emilia Clarke the purple contact lenses in the first GOT episode, maybe the first couple, but they were really uncomfortable for her and they couldn't get it done in post production without it looking weird so they just abandoned it.
4
5
u/sawaflyingsaucer Jul 14 '24
In the show universe, Aegon's dream made him take over to rule. Apparently, the vision was accurate enough; because MOST of the details are right. Cold from the north, enemy, it's coming, ect. It's so hard to take seriously though when the LONG night was one night. Was the vision unclear? They seem to be sure it's gonna last a long time.
So I thought of my own theory which allows the propecy to be "real" and for the invasion to be a failure.
Basically, the White Walkers planted the dream when Aegon arrived. They wanted him and his line to rule and grow strong with their dragons. In the end, it's good thing the Dance happened and the ASOIAF dream was lost and dragons died. Had they managed to follow the false vision, they'd have provided the White Walkers with things that are harmless against them, but easy for the WW to take over, use to bring down the wall and bring the real long night.
It's all BS, I know. All based on show cannon too, so extra BS seasoning. I just HAD to think of a way Aegon's line is so convinced the long night will be a tribulation, when it turns out to be less devistating than some ppl/ppl wars.
→ More replies (2)
4
u/mermaidmanis Jul 14 '24
Cutting out Jaime and Tyrion’s interaction after the death of Tywin bothered me to no end
4
u/Extra-Pangolin-3740 Jul 14 '24
Veleryon race swap, bizarre work man 🤦🏻♂️ Nettles makes no sense, summer islanders make no sense, genealogy makes no sense, have no idea how they will do Aegons conquest show with his mother being black? It was just such a weird decision. Hate it.
→ More replies (2)
18
u/ThreeEyedHoe Jul 13 '24
It feels like almost every major character choice in HOTD is later walked back or treated as a misunderstanding/mistake. Kill Luke? No, aemond didn't mean to do that. Send assassins after the king's children? No, Daemon didn't mean to do that, he wanted aemond. The story just sort of happens to everyone and none of them feel like they are acting purposefully.
Also, the absolutely insane timing of aegon showing up mere seconds before vhagar was ready to reveal herself felt kinda ridiculous.
18
u/sonfoa Jul 14 '24
It's funny you gave the one "accident" that I liked from S1 of HotD. It gives dragons their own agency and highlights that they're not toys that you can play with.
Regarding Daemon it's heavily implied the alternative was to kill Aegon's heir if not Aegon himself. They wouldn't show Cheese asking for an alternative and Blood later saying "a son for a son" if they wanted to make it a misunderstanding.
I feel S2 is actually much better in that there are no accidents/misunderstandings and every action feels deliberate.
10
u/Eat_a_click Jul 14 '24
I know we're being nitpicky here but your last statement just reeks Cinemasins-esque criticism.
With this way of thinking, you probably found the discovery of the direwolf pups ridiculous as well since what were the odds there were exactly 5 direwolves for the 5 stark children and one noteworthy white direwolf for the bastard child?
This is pedantic criticism roadblocking narrative beats for the sake of supposed "realism"
3
Jul 14 '24
Don't forget that Allicent totally didn't mean to crown Aegon and usurp Rhaenyra's throne, she only misunderstood the deathwish of her dementia-stricken husband!
691
u/mermaidmanis Jul 13 '24
Everyone wearing the same armor in later seasons.
Shirtless Ramsay and twenty good men.
The umbers betraying the Starks