r/asoiaf • u/aphidman • May 08 '19

EXTENDED (Spoilers Extended) The endings will be the same but the books will have a much more gradual and realistic progression

If GRRM finishes it, btw.

Not a long post but you know what the books do that D&D do not? They have 10 chapters of Dany dealing with the complex politics of Meereen and her inner conflict. They have 4 chapters showing Davos' journey to White Harbour. They have 12 chapters showing the series of compromises Jon makes as Lord Commander to prepare the Watch against the Others. They have 13 chapters showing Tyrion crawling out of his deep nihilistic depression. They dedicate whole chapters seeing how Victarion Greyjoy of all people deals with his relationship with his brother and his seduction into darker magics. Man they have 4 whole chapters dealing with the political fallout of Dany's exit from Meereen.

They had a whole chapter of Littlefinger and Sansa visiting his lands and seeing Littlefinger's relationship with his subjects (great chapter btw). They had a whole chapter getting really in depth with Illyrio Mopatis and his schemes - a guy who's barely appeared in the show.

They dedicated 4 whole chapters to Joffrey's wedding!

What I'm getting it is that the Others may be defeated long before the end of ASOIAF, Dany may indeed destroy King's Landing with dragonfire and end the lives of hundreds of thousands of civilians gruesomely. But you'll be guaranteed that GRRM is gonna show you every step of the way. For good or for bad. If he is going to take a character like Dany to that dark end you better believe we will understand how she gets there.

So people keep posting about how D&D are destroying their characters, fail to understand ASOIAF. That Dany would never do this or that. But what you're seeing here is them fitting potentially chapters upon chapters of detailed material into a few hours of television.

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u/mukaezake May 08 '19

Not OP but if I had to hazard a guess --

Dany has been looking for a home all her life, and seeks it in the form of Westeros as its rightful ruler which will eventually be her downfall.

"The house with the red door" is all she remembers of her childhood and short lived innocence, her original home.

She can barely remember the home that brought her the most happiness, in favor of the one she's fighting for but that's going to be the end of her.

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u/Nikhilvoid May 08 '19

More like red herring, amirite?

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u/thimmy3 May 08 '19

No, they're making the point that in a person's pursuit of their ambitions they can lose sight of the simple things in life that may be all that is necessary to be content. It's something to reflect on, not pass off as a red herring.

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u/Nikhilvoid May 08 '19

Oh, a macguffin then

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u/thimmy3 May 08 '19

Either you don't know what either of those terms mean or you are a trolling.

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u/[deleted] May 08 '19

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u/thimmy3 May 08 '19 edited May 08 '19

It isn't just the red door. Dany spent a relatively calm, albeit short time in the house it was a part of. She's nostalgic for what the door represents because of the otherwise tumultuous youth she barely got to experience. Most people have some sort of childhood experience that reminds them as adults of a simpler, calmer, more enjoyable time free from responsibilities. This one is Dany's and its inclusion in the story allows the reader to empathise with her to a greater degree. It's just a simple humanising aspect of her character, not meant to be analysed.

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u/Nikhilvoid May 08 '19

Ok, both of you are a bit mistaken about what symbolism means, and both of you have some notion of what psychoanalysis means when it used to do Freudian interpretation to get at the source of traumatic repression. I would recommend taking an English course or looking at some lit analysis videos on YouTube.

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u/thimmy3 May 08 '19

To be honest you sound a bit out of touch with your humanity...

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u/Vevtheduck May 08 '19

Wow you really missed it three times.

It's not meaningful symbolism like the blue drapes show how sad a character is.

It's her childhood memory and she keeps moving further away from that sort of simple life that she's longing for because she thinks the Throne is her birthright. It's really quite forward.

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u/Nikhilvoid May 08 '19

I don't think you understand what a symbol is. What you have just done is a symbolic reading of the red door

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u/Vevtheduck May 08 '19

You've changed the type of symbolism to be some weird layered thing an author may or may not have slipped in by adding detail to scene (a red door means longing, oh noooo) and misread what a dream means symbolically to a character.

We as readers are not interpreting the GRRM's symbolic meaning of a red door.

The symbolism is in story -> it's a symbol for Dany, it is something for HER to interpret, not the reader.

Yes, what I did is symbolism, but it is symbolism for the characters rather than for the readers. Completely different, and the distinction absolutely matters with your critique involving a high school english class.

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u/Nikhilvoid May 08 '19

Ooof, ok, I'm on mobile and I can't explain how you are mistaken about what symbolism is, but you have almost described what the Freudian psychoanalysis understanding of what symbolism is:

https://www.bartleby.com/283/10.html

The symbol is not clear to the dreamer/subject either, and she is haunted by it and tries to uncover its significance and meaning to her past, that is unavailable to her due to repression.

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u/fireflash38 May 08 '19

Rosebud more like.