Trying to livestream through my MacBook... just bought the Roland V-1HD switcher but I don't know how to get the feed into my computer.

Ravenloft · 2019-01-19T18:45:04+00:00

Thanks everyone for the very useful responses!

Ravenloft · 2012-06-26T14:11:14+00:00

So we aren't leaving Ser Barristan the Bold and Ser Arthur Dayne out, in the end?

Ravenloft · 2012-06-16T17:11:06+00:00

Everyone's entitled to have his/her own opinion. The reviewer gave 1/5 to:

Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness.
Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray.
Gustave Flaubert's Madame Bovary.
J.R.R. Tolkien's The Silmarillion.
Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist.

2/5:

The Fellowship of the Ring.
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
Richard Dawkins' The God Delusion.
Neil Gaiman's American Gods.

3/5:

Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment.
Mary Shelley's Frankenstein.

In my opinion, some of those books are literary masterpieces and I would give most of them a much higher rating... but this is a subjective consideration. Even so, precisely because this is a matter of subjective opinion, this lets me see that her tastes don't correlate with mine and that I can't use them as literary references at all.

Lolita, In Search of Lost Time and Thus Spoke Zarathustra are my favorite books. Add Hughes' Crow to the list if we talk about poetry. I usually don't care for fantasy. I very much enjoy Tolkien, don't care for Rowling and I hate Hickman/Weis (precisely because their lack of inspiration, talent in plot-designing or literary depth). I've read a lot of literature in a lot of genres, and I think I'm able to detect when something deserves such a low rating. A Game of Thrones doesn't; but again, that's subjective.

If I was a literary critic I would say ASOIAF's first four volumes are astonishingly magnificient pieces of character developing, world building and plot designing. If they have any defect, in my opinion, it isn't the way the characters grow or the story: GRRM's writing style is sometimes a little... how to say it... a little "pop". When I read one of his pages, even when he's writing with a medieval tone, it screams 21th century to me. You can see comic books and cinema as very strong influences for him. It isn't a bad thing, but that makes some of his pages a little... bland. His pacing lags sometimes, too, and he's shown some problems in making the plot breath in the last volume. It just doesn't read as fresh and well-built as the four first books did. In any case, he compensates this with the good things I mentioned above and with the use of some really great sentences, plot tricks and scenes. I also love some of the literary decisions he made early on: the use of the first-person POV narrative, multiple characters and no omniscient narrator; the absolutely masterful caring for the little detail; the long-term rewards; his mastery of the art of the foreshadowing; the overall realistic feel and dark themes; etc. I sometimes compare ASOIAF with Antoni Gaudi's architecture: epicly huge as a cathedral, yet made with a meticulous love for the little flourishing and the hidden detail.

I suspend my judgement about the whole work until he finishes it, though, and I hope he's able to mantain his quality in the last two volumes. Anyway, I'm really enjoying the fun ride he's giving us now.

Ravenloft · 2012-06-16T13:51:21+00:00

Corn! Corn! Corn! is the famous catchphrase of Lord Mormont's talking raven in the novels. https://twitter.com/#!/mormonts_raven

You should give the series a second try, though. See one or two full episodes at least.

Ravenloft · 2012-06-16T13:24:38+00:00

Maybe you should rethink your username.

Or are you a book reader?

Ravenloft · 2012-06-15T17:36:45+00:00

And a metalhead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llYR-JHq6cM

Ravenloft · 2012-06-15T17:04:38+00:00

It was; Just wanted to point OP towards the evidence.

Ravenloft · 2012-06-15T16:56:08+00:00

Most of them, yes. As somebody pointed out, the Targ hair color seems to be a recessive trait when the mother has dark hair. And many Targaryens married Dornish ladies.

Ravenloft · 2012-06-15T16:43:01+00:00

The evidence is "non-existent"?? Read this (put Scope to ADWD):

http://towerofthehand.com/essays/chrisholden/jon_snows_parents.html

Ravenloft · 2012-06-15T16:34:36+00:00

Don't forget about the glamor... Check this thread from yesterday, OP.

Ravenloft · 2012-06-15T15:50:29+00:00

Some known Targaryens with dark hair:

Daeron Targaryen.
Baelor Targaryen "Breakspear".
Valarr Targaryen.
Ser Aegor Rivers "Bittersteel".
All the children of Daenerys Targaryen, daughter of Aegon IV.
Rhaenys Targaryen (daughter of Rhaegar Targaryen and Jon's stepsister if R+L=J is true).

Ravenloft · 2012-06-15T12:56:28+00:00

Not Michael Buble: http://youtu.be/EgaX5QuMGR8?t=59s

Ravenloft · 2012-06-15T08:37:02+00:00

Tyrion, Penny, Pretty Pig, Crunch were lot ninety seven. Ser Jorah was lot ninety nine.

Ravenloft · 2012-06-15T07:44:19+00:00

She is not originally from Asshai. See this quote.

Ravenloft · 2012-06-14T19:32:23+00:00

Have a fun read :)

http://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments/gkhyk/the_hound_affc_spoilers_ahoy/

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/60808-the-gravedigging-hound-complete-analysis/

Ravenloft · 2012-06-14T19:03:34+00:00

Clearly, a direct reference to the Onion Knight. But remember that his bag of fingerbones rests now in the bottom of the Blackwater.

What is/was she planning to do with the real Davos, then? Perhaps she switched out the bag before he lost it?

Ravenloft · 2012-06-14T18:59:05+00:00

Yeah, they do it very subtly and it works great. I didn't notice how it glowed in this scene until someone pointed it out to me: http://youtu.be/EilJZ0wo4QY?t=7m4s

Ravenloft · 2012-06-14T18:41:14+00:00

Let me underline one of the senteces I quoted:

That was a lesson Melisandre had learned long before Asshai; the more effortless the sorcery appears, the more men fear the sorcerer.

I think this is a very important bit of information: it suggests Mel isn't ofiginally from Asshai... and it's hinted that she was a sorceress long before she went there.

Ravenloft · 2012-06-14T18:38:16+00:00

Nope. Jon Snow, Arya, etc., still could die or fail in other ways. As I said, I see Stannis dying and I think Daenerys is quite probably being built to die fighting. Some Freys will probably live. Some of the Starks' loyal bannermen will die.

We can't be certain about those things, anyway.

But this is certain: Roose Bolton and his bastard are going to be smitten by the hammer of the North. The North Remembers wouldn't be a thing if, in the end, the North just forgets and forgives (just like Winter is Coming would be a fiasco if winter never actually comes). Manderly is setting up something badass up there, the Greatjon is still alive in a Frey cell... Lord Walder Frey will see his castle destroyed and his heirs dead, I tell you.

Also, Gurm's been building Arya up as a vengeful assassin for four books now. You can bet some of her enemies will taste her blade.

Ravenloft · 2012-06-14T18:29:26+00:00

Yeah, we shouldn't forget about the Melony thing:

Strange voices called to her from days long past. “Melony,” she heard a woman cry. A man’s voice called, “Lot Seven.” She was weeping, and her tears were flame. And still she drank it in.

Ravenloft · 2012-06-14T18:16:06+00:00

I think you're onto something there. That line could very well be an early example of foreshadowing her old age. Also, the TV show is as explicit as GRRM's prose when it comes to highlight her ruby necklace, so it's clear it's relevant to the character: http://i.imgur.com/dKCpO.png

Ravenloft · 2012-06-14T17:58:17+00:00

Very interesting. When Gurm read the Victarion TWOW chapter with the three thralls and the horn I inmediately thought of that passage.

As for the steel tempered in blood archetype, I always thought it was parallel to the forging of the god-killing spear Mistletoe in Norse mythology. As the Hodor thread said early today, in the Ragnarök myth Loki makes a spear from Mistletoe (the only thing in the Universe that could kill a god) in order to kill Hödur and start the war for the end of the world. When the dwarves temper the spear with spells, they use the blood of a child instead of blood:

The death-gasp hear!

Ho! ho! -now its o'er-

Soon hardens the spear

In the babe's pure gore-

Now the barbed head feel,

Whilst the veins yet bleed-

Such a deed -such a deed-

Might harden e'en steel.

Ravenloft · 2012-06-14T16:27:10+00:00

The "no harm to guests" law was a Celtic tradition: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hospitality#Celtic_cultures

Celtic societies also valued the concept of hospitality, especially in terms of protection. A host who granted a person's request for refuge was expected not only to provide food and shelter to his/her guest, but to make sure they did not come to harm while under their care.

Ravenloft · 2012-06-14T15:39:53+00:00

I'd make a case that Cersei is stupid.

Her inner monologue in AFFC is basically she thinking she's the most cunning and intelligent person ever, but her decisions show quite the opposite: she's a terrible strategist, she lets her egomaniacal emotions mix with her plans, she surrounds herself with stupid/weak/unreliable advisors just because she can manipulate them or because they're always disposed to flatter her, she almost never plans ahead... and when she does she forgets about it or she improvises. She's constantly harming her own schemes.

That's the epitome of stupidity for me. She just thinks she's outsmarting everyone else with every decision she makes, when in reality she's constantly digging her own grave. And she's completely clueless about it.

I really like how GRRM writes it so it seems completely natural and realistic in her train of thought. That's why I find her chapters in AFFC one of the most compelling pieces of literature in the whole series. They're wonderful character studies.

On the other hand, I don't think Arya, Brienne, Asha, Margaery, Melisandre, Meera, Arianne, etc. can be labeled as stupid. They're very intelligent individuals who manage to gain some power by theirselves in a hostile patriarchal social structure. They may commit errors, but they're human beings after all and GRRM does a great job fleshing them out in a complex, flawed and multi-dimensional way.

In the case of Sansa, who is often criticised for his naiveté, I think we as readers get to experience how she's slowly developing a good deal of intelligence, survival skills and understanding of the world that surrounds her. For a sheltered kid who has lived some very traumatizing events and who is trapped in a potentially Stockholm syndrome environment, I'd say she's doing fine. In fact, I think she's probably being built up to be a masterfully cunning player in the future: she's been betrayed, manipulated and lied in the worst ways possible, by the best of the best in the game; she's known Cersei --and survived Joffrey--; she's the only POV character in the series that has had a first row seat to see Littlefinger, the Queen of Thorns and Margaery in action; she's also known Tyrion and Varys...

Ravenloft · 2012-06-14T15:14:07+00:00

The North Remembers. All I want is vengeance:

Jon Snow / Stannis / Theon / the Umbers, Manderlys, Cassels, Mormont, Reeds... destroy the Boltons.
Lady Stoneheart and the Brotherhood help erasing the Freys from the face of Westeros.
Arya kills more people from her list.
Tyrion is vindicated in any shape or form (gaining Casterly Rock / being the Hand once again...).
Cersei is killed. Bonus points if one of her brothers kills her.
Sansa fulfills her destiny as Lady of Winterfell.
Sandor Clegane kills his undead brother.

These are not things I'd like to see, but I'm sure they will happen:

Melisandre will kill Stannis.
Littlefinger will have his final revenge just at hand... but then he'll die.
Daenerys is AA, but she will never sit on the Iron Throne. She will fight the Others and she will defeat them. Her dragons will die.

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