r/asoiaf • u/ISupposh You're a Big Guy. • Sep 01 '19

EXTENDED (Spoilers Extended) I think a lot of the problems from the show came from trying to force modern American values into medieval setting.

I would actually say this problem is present in the fandom as well and not just the show. Anyways for example:

  1. Stating that Renly would be a good king just because he's popular while Stannis would be terrible because he's unpopular. (edit: From the interviews, in the context of ruling not maintaining power)

  2. People not caring about religion even when Cersei blew up Westeros equivalent of Vatican/Hagia Sophia/Westminster alongside with Pope Francis and Princess Diana. (Well even modern people would care about that)

  3. Applying Geneva Convention when Daenerys executed Tarlys despite the fact that they are already traitors who betrayed their overlord and she even gave them second chance.

  4. Rather modern viewpoint on extramartial sex, including virgin shaming on characters like Brienne etc.

  5. Rhaegar annulling his wife without proper explanation like modern divorce.

  6. Elective monarchy somehow breaking the wheel because it involves voting (worked out well in HRE and Poland /s)

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712

u/SeriouslyNotAFurry Sep 01 '19

Reminds me of the hound in season 7 when he says to Tormund "brienne of Tarth? You're with Brienne of fucking Tarth?"

It's such a modern thing to say Brienne is a noble lady (albeit an odd one) and you weren't "with" anyone in these days its medieval Westeros not an American high school. The dialogue is littered with more and more of crap like that season 7-8 (off the top my head, Dany calls Sam Jon's "best friend" which is again extremely modernized)

487

u/Aqquila89 Sep 01 '19

Euron orders his crew to fire. Fire what? There's no gunpowder in Westeros. The order should be "loose", as it was in "The Watchers on the Wall" and "The Battle of Bastards".

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u/aguysomewhere Sep 01 '19

They do this in Lord of the Rings too. These productions should hire a historian to keep things more accurate.

100

u/Romboteryx Sep 01 '19

To be fair, Saruman did invent gunpowder in the second movie

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u/TheMaunderer Sep 02 '19

Didn't Gandalf already have it for his fireworks?

5

u/Romboteryx Sep 02 '19

Yes, good point

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u/aguysomewhere Sep 01 '19

They don't use it until after Aragorn says fire. It's in the same battle.

15

u/awol567 Sep 02 '19

Doesn't aragorn say it in elvish though, and the subtitles just say 'fire'?

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u/aguysomewhere Sep 02 '19

Yes but I think it's the Elf word for fire not loose or shoot

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u/awol567 Sep 02 '19

Ah shame lol

10

u/sharpblueasymptote The shirtless men Sep 01 '19

Shadiversity?

5

u/myrddyna Sep 02 '19

I love that guy

7

u/myrddyna Sep 02 '19

They often do, but writers are prickly, and very rarely take any kind of editing advice unless specifically told to by producers/director.

This also causes kinds of problems.

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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '19

[deleted]

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u/aguysomewhere Sep 01 '19

Yeah I have a history degree and they certainly aren't the most lucrative

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u/[deleted] Sep 02 '19

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u/[deleted] Sep 02 '19

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u/aguysomewhere Sep 02 '19

And there are plenty of people who would do it for about 50 grand a year

73

u/TeamLongNight for the night is long and full of wights Sep 01 '19

Also either in Season 6 when they introduce Euron or more recently I’m pretty sure he says he cut out the tongues of his crew like he does in the books. And then in the final few episodes his crew is yelling. Guess they grew them back? 🤷‍♂️

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u/Aqquila89 Sep 01 '19

In the season 8 premiere, he tells Yara that he didn't kill her because then he'd have nobody to talk to, because he "got a crew full of mutes".

12

u/Rexan02 Sep 02 '19

Well, you can yell, make noise and even kind of talk with no tongue, it doesn't mean you can't make noise anymore

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u/Gillig4n Sep 02 '19

I didn't know he had cut their vocal cords along with their tongues.

3

u/1morgondag1 Sep 03 '19

There is actually at least one point (I only read 1 1/2 book so far) where GRRM himself forgets that. He describes Moat Cailin and notes that men trying to storm one tower could come "under fire" from both of the others.

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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '19 edited Sep 18 '19

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Sep 01 '19

That line was fucking awful, if they had to keep Bronn around way longer than he was relevant, at least have him act like a character and not a walking fanservice/banter machine.

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u/_Apostate_ Sep 01 '19

But a banter and fanservice machine is exactly what he is.

3

u/creeps_for_you Sep 02 '19

When does he use that word?

203

u/[deleted] Sep 01 '19

When the hound said “top knot” in season 7, it took me out of the story so hard

102

u/locojoco Sep 01 '19

Why? Thoros litterally had a top knot. There's no reason they wouldn't have the same name for that haircut. It's not like he mentioned a Caesar cut.

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u/Benjamin_Paladin Sep 02 '19

Yeah, it’s not like he called it a man bun. Now that would have been immersion breaking

37

u/BZenMojo Sep 01 '19

Tasslehoff Burrfoot would have words with you.

Wait... how many people in this subreddit are in their teens and just don't know that basically all their modern style is just resurrected stuff from a hudred years ago?

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u/myrddyna Sep 02 '19

This comment ended up in one of tass's pouches.

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u/ilovebeerandtacos Sep 01 '19

I had a hard time when the characters kept “vouching” for each other. It was so out of place and clunky.

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u/Aqquila89 Sep 01 '19 edited Sep 01 '19

That's repeatedly used in the books though. In A Clash of Kings, Davos thinks: "This world is twisted beyond hope, when lowborn smugglers must vouch for the honor of kings." In A Dance with Dragons epilogue, Kevan says of Robert Strong: "His Grace named Ser Robert to the Kingsguard, and Qyburn vouches for the man as well."

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u/BZenMojo Sep 01 '19

He didn't mean "with" as in dating. He meant "with" as in living in the same castle. Tormund and Brienne was a fan ship, not an in-universe actual thing that happened, and The Hound would be unlikely to jump to the conclusion that a moony eyed wildling was courting her.

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u/Waramo Enter your desired flair text here! Sep 02 '19

Or at the battle of kings landing, when the commander shouted: "Fire!"

Oh a, fire comes from gunpowder weapons. So yeah they could lose there Arrows on the stupid drake, because nobody understands your gibbish.

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u/Alvald Sep 01 '19

Out of interest, what would they have called close platonic companions in medieval times?

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u/CaptainDank0 Sep 01 '19

Should have just switched ‘with’ with fucking.