PM: Worthing Yellow, warning spoilers for GOT seasons 1-5

Ravens - most only know one destination though "some rare birds" can fly to two or three. So think homing pigeons but with more brain. If you read the books you'll find some ravens can say a (very) few words even (and there's a great "corn code" theory about one particular raven predicting major deaths by the way it says "corn" but the show doesn't cover it. In terms of speed, do you mean a European raven or an African...no, wait...a Westerosi raven or one from Braavos? In the books, at the speed of an actual raven; in the show they can seem to move unnaturally fast (but they have nothing on Littlefinger who seems to have a teleporter in the later seasons). Of course we have to remember that things presented aren't necessarily happening contemporaneously and so on, but still.

Khaleesi's couture is one thing; what I really don't get is how, after being lost in the desert for so long many of her people have died of thirst, she still finds time to apply mascara. Her hair will be done by her handmaidens.

The Wall is bigger than it's meant to be. GRRM has admitted he made a mistake when he said 700ft (how does the lift work - when the wildlings attack are you really going to put strong capable men on winching a lift rather than fighting a fight?). However it's constructed with spells, as well as ice; undead things can't pass it and though "nowadays" they think of wildlings, it was actually built to keep the walkers out. A walker couldn't get through the tunnel. How they get round this becomes A Thing in episodes you've not seen yet.
In terms of sailing round it there was speculation they could just freeze the water and walk their way round - so the answer to your question is no good reason, but wights and water don't mix well at all.

Sex - no question, the first season in particular seems to have had a teenage boy acting as a breasts consultant. "Yes, it's all very well and good, this complex multilayered quasi-Tudor geopolitical stuff, but there's an opportunity for two pairs of breasts HERE and another pair HERE and...". They did calm down a bit after that and there is full frontal male nudity too as well as male-male sex scenes.

The thing they changed from the books I wish they hadn't: in the books, Dany consents to sex with Drogo when they're married. In the show, she doesn't. Yet she still falls for him and genuinely loves him in some kind of sick Stockholm Syndrome thing. That kind of thing *can* happen I guess but I found it disturbing and wish they'd not made that change.

Personal faves: I find Dany annoying and I think they miscast Jon Snow; Arya and Tyrion for the win, for me.

You'll find the pace changes as the seasons go on. I found the last season annoying in places as all logic has gone out of the window: there's a particular scene I wont go into, and you can almost see them working out "we need to get these characters together for some badassery, let's work backwards from that and make it happen" - no sense in what some very bright characters do at all. The densely-plotted political drama has gone out of the window: I guess that's part of it, the contrast between human tendencies to squabble over irrelevancies and ignore the real existential threat (the walkers in this, c.f. climate change/plenty of other stuff) and the consequences of not facing up to that threat early enough or committing to it.

I'm studiously avoiding spoilers for season 8; I have some strong feelings on some aspects of the ending but no clue about others and that's as it should be. I want to be surprised.

The show is great (even despite some weak episodes/plotlines - they absolutely ruined Dorne in the show, for instance) but the books are infinitely better and I'd strongly recommend picking up a set.

Posted By: Old Man, Jan 5, 11:08:44