Game of Thrones Season 4 - The Thread

Can't wait for more meaningless nudity.

Aside: Season 4 should be good but show's probably going downhill from there; losing two of the best actors and making the best actor irrelevant for a while is a tough sale.

Which two do you speak of? Joffrey and Tywin?

@aegon: Yup, I realize one of them is loathed but that's what makes him compelling and that's kind of the whole point of the character.

The Red Viper.................................

I'm not super excited for this season. I read all the books over the summer because I wanted more of this universe, but after reading them, the show just isn't doing it for me anymore.

I'll still watch it but I really don't like some of the changes they made. Anyway, this season should be really good since the second half of A Storm of Swords is great.

Under two weeks till the premiere, can't wait for season 4. Been rewatching the show while basically reading the wiki about characters, events, history, locations to buff up my knowledge. Probably should just read the book but whatever.

Question: Would Frey's have betrayed the Starks even if Robb didn't break the agreement? Going off the show I think he would've killed them all no matter what happened, essentially Frey uses the betrayal as an excuse to go through with the Red Wedding, make himself feel better. What do you all think?

@nightriff: Got some good links for me so I can do the same? (I watched the official lore series on Youtube though)

@armaan8014: In regards to watching the show or reading about the show?

I've read all the books, have barely watched the show. I hear it diverges slightly from the books.

If anyone wants to message me with a broad rundown of how they differ, please do. It might convince me to sit my ass down and actually watch it.

Stuff like that. Don't want to get into the books yet either :P

slightly may be an understatement, depending on how sensitive you are to those things, and that mostly applies to season 2.

Is this a thread for show fans whose only knowledge is of the events of seasons 1-3, or what?

I don't understand what the spoiler tags are spoiling, therefore I'm avoiding them, therefore I'm scrolling through the thread without reading a word.

@armaan8014: I use the Game of Thrones Wiki as well as the Song of Ice and Fire Wiki

GoT wiki is great to remind you where things have left off during the TV show, and there is usually a link to the ASOIAF wiki at the bottom if you want to know essentially what could happen in the future season. Its really helped me with learning about characters that I didn't understand their importance in the universe; the show really does a poor job of talking about things (understandably so, they have to condense a lot into 10 hours). Example is Barristan Selmy, probably the most confusing character for me while watching the show with no context on who he was or why he matters(I never put together that he was fired from the kings guard(?) in season 1 and shows up to help Daenarys in Season 3, thought they were two completely different characters). Turns out he is one of the most badass characters (my opinion) in Westeros. Something I didn't learn until watching the show again while also browsing the wiki.

also i've read these books too many damn times. i keep trying to find something new in fantasy, but Malazan fell flat with me, and i couldn't really get into Black Company but maybe i should retry it. to be honest i haven't even finished Wheel of Time even though the last two books have been out for quite a while now, so maybe it's just my lack of commitment.

@singingmenstrual: Spoiler tags are possible (probable) spoilers for season 4 as the show follows the books for the most part. I personally feel previous seasons are free reign in terms of talking about major events without spoiler blocks, this is the season 4 thread so theoretically someone in here has already seen the previous seasons.

That is your logic, and it's the best logic, but I'm sure there are people using spoiler tags for season 1-3 events because they think someone who hasn't watched the show yet is for some reason looking at this thread.

So now we have spoiler tags on season 1-3 events andon actual book 3+ events, go figure which is which.

I'm done with this thread already, I don't want anything spoiled.

There are always dudes talking about the books in discussions of the HBO show and ruining it for me.

@nightriff: Yeah I found that character pretty confusing too. Thanks for the links!

I got to see the season premiere Monday night thanks to my university. It was fantastic. I think it was the best episode 1 yet. Can't wait to watch it again in just over a week

Season premiere is tomorrow! WINTER HAS COME AGAIN!

Olly Moss just released his print sets for Game of Thrones, if anyone is interested. I just bought Set 1.

http://ollymoss.bigcartel.com/

@fredchuckdave: I don't recall any meaningless nudity... There is a lot of nudity, but it is either with story intention or for atmosphere. It was also a lot more sporadic in season 2 and 3. Season 1 had the most.

I have been watching all of Season 3 today. I am so pumped for tomorrow night!

Final season of Game of Thrones for me, but I'm pretty excited for it. Hope there isn't too much Daenerys.

Tomorrow cannot get here quick enough.

Tonight's the night (wait, that's a different show).

For now,

I'm so excited I'm doing my game of thrones dance. It's basically me seated like usual, but moving my head like a bobblehead. I don't dance.

That final scene! Valar Morgulis, bitches.

I wonder if the Ser Duncan the Tall reference was only for world building purposes. I really would like to see a miniseries of his story.

Also, who else laughed at "Fuck the King!"?

That was, like, a real brutal fight. Damn. Although in the books, it's the tickler being bopped by Arya ("Is there any gold hidden in the village?! Silver?! Gems?! Where is Lord Beric?!"). It's kind of a confusing mess in that the Tickler and Raff roles were somehow fused into Polliver. I mean Raff is only dealt with in the most recent Winds of Winter excerpt.

I guess it doesn't matter ultimately.

Here's the preview for episode 2 (purp wedding):

Oh, Arya! You adorable little burgeoning psychopath!

Also Oberyn is every bit as Inigo Montoya as I imagined him to be.

I always get worried with these threads, especially the game of thrones ones, all the book guys tend to spoil the fuck out of shit for everyone else, the assholes. (i had the red wedding spoiled for me.....pissed me the fuck off)

Anyways, just finished the first episode. It was pretty solid. It's weird that Arya, a 10-12 year old girl, is one of my favorite characters. Normally i absolutely hate child characters in shows, but she's just awesome.

I don't get all the Daenerys hate. I rather like her.

it's back!! Good ep.

A very interesting end to the episode for those who read the books. Arya and The Hound are two of the best characters on the show and I really enjoy their interactions. I'm quite interested to see if they keep The Hound alive. It's never really clear if he dies in the books, but I always felt he that he was very well-written and produced a surprising amount of empathy.

He is widely accepted as not dead by the fanbase. There's a tall man on Quiet Isle (the place Brienne visits) who is a novice. He is most likely the Hound.

Arya's all growed up now. What a bad ass.

Oh sweet Jesus, praise his name. I am so glad the Hound is still with us! Him disappearing would be my Red Wedding.

It was a good solid episode, really what I enjoy most about the show is watching episodes back to back and treating it like a movie but I'll take what I can get. Oberyn is pretty bad ass, curious as to where is character will go. Arya and the Hound are fantastic together and should just keep that relationship up for as long as possible. Danys has always been an ok story line to me, if they wrote that story thread out entirely I wouldn't miss that much.

Agree it was pretty good ep, and better than the last couple of premieres that essentially serve as "where are they now" catch-ups. Some folks were complaining about the Oberyn scenes..that is his exposition was delivered clumsily. I thought it worked...his and Tyrion's scene is one of my favorites from the books, but it goes on for six pages and the show needed to get to brass tacks for brevity's sake.

One weird thing - the scene with Brienne and Jaime watching Sansa. Both of them, Jaime especially, looked to be wearing almost modern-era (well, modern-earth era) clothes. I expected Jaime to put on a pair of sunglasses.

What an awesome episode, better than anything from Season 3. I thought that was the weakest season so far, with the Red Wedding episode as an exception.

But I DIED when The Hound said, "The fuck's a Lommy?"

I dunno.. not a big fan of Oberyn. It just seems like lazy writing. He's basically Tyrion++, while Tyrion suddenly has become a complete doormat for some reason. Also, and I know it's silly, but Jamies new haircut just takes away from the swagger of the character. Overall I just got the impression that I'm watching a completely different show really. The introductory scene illustrating the decimation of the Starks was pretty damn good, but the eventual realization that it changes the entire dynamic of the story only lead to disappointment.

There's still a full season to go ofc, but this premiere only lead me to believe that we've passed into the "let's keep going since it's popular" zone. (yes, I know the books were written years ago, but I'm not really talking about the show itself, more the general writing.)

It is silly but I totally agree, not a fan of his short hair.

I don't see how Oberyn is Tyrion++ and Jaime is supposed to look more pathetic. At this point, he can't really fight anymore and that's all he's good for. Tyrion is the way he is because he was pushed out of the Hand position and now does what his father tells him. These are starting points for some of the plot threads of the season.

@strainedeyes said:

Him not having a beard really felt weird to me, just got so used to him being all ragged, hairy and dirty.

The season premiere was okay. Arya is an excellently written character. Having read the books, I'm interested to see what alterations will be made on the show.

@aegon: But if you look back at season 1 Tyrion was still a bad-ass before he became the Hand. Oberyn is pretty much that character, the "care for nothing, the world is mine to enjoy" kinda guy.

It's not that I don't understand the reasoning behind some of the changes, but as I said, it just feels like a completely different show all of a sudden. "Noone" are who they used to be anymore and the main storyline of Stark vs Lannister is dead.

An excellent episode. This series has had a habit of making their season premieres feel rushed, what with trying to cram in so many different storylines, and then having them unfold over the course of the season.

While this tendency certainly could be found here, I thought they'd done a much better job this time around. They took their sweet time introducing Prince Oberyn, which I was very pleased with. He's a character of note, not since Ned Stark have the Lannisters had to contend with an open threat in their midst, and then they only prevailed because of Ned's sense of honour, a trait Oberyen Martell doesn't share. If anything, he's more venemous than the Lannisters combined.

Another thing that took me by surprise was that I actually found myself liking Jon Snow. He's seen some shit, he's grown a spine, and doesn't act like the goody-two-shoes that the show has been portraying him up until now. He was genuinely flawed in the books, arrogant and self-righteous, though still likeable, and the Night's Watch changed him for the better. It's good to see that growth starting to creep into the show.

Oh, and the Hound's sticking about. Yep, great episode.

On the other hand, I think it's REALLY weird to see Jaime and Brienne in King's Landing already at this point. I suppose that this will allow them a bit more time together, and I've genuinely enjoyed their interactions, so I shouldn't complain. But it does seem pretty apparent that the writers just didn't want to drag out their trek to King's Landing, and weren't comfortable leaving such prominent characters out of the show for a longer time.

While I'm good with that in theory, the last time they tried something similar, we got the Theon (Reek) torture sessions which were just a waste of screen time. (One or two would've been fine and gotten the point across, but a scene nearly every episode? Get on with it!)

I can see why you make the comparison, and it's understandable. Oberyn's introduction on the show was sloppy compared to the book, I think it's because it's a lot easier to convey important aspects of a character through writing compared to relying on visuals and dialogue.

I'm sorry, I watched the episode last night and I have no idea how to participate in your discussion when you're mentioning books and laying down spoiler bricks.

Do I hover over your spoilers or not? What are my qualifications to already know what is under there? Do you want me to understand you and respond to your post at all, or just skip the white tags and comprehend nothing?

These goddamn spoiler tags man, what do they mean?

Sorry for being passive aggressive.

@singingmenstrual: It's rather obvious. A spoiler tag means I'm discussing something that hasn't happened on the show yet. If you haven't read all the books then do not look at spoilers, unless you don't care.