This is a guest post from our very own KatherineMW!
I got into Game of Thrones in a rather unusual way. I was vaguely familiar with the existence of the show due to popcultural osmosis, which led me to buy the first book in the series (A Song of Ice and Fire) when I saw it at a garage sale last September. By December, I had read all five books in the series and placed the HBO series’ first season at the top of my Christmas list. I pre-ordered Season 2 pretty close to the moment I finished watching Season 1.
It’s rather amazing, in retrospect, that I had never encountered the series prior to last year, since I have a long-standing love of fantasy fiction dating from my introduction to The Lord of the Rings. Perhaps the oversight was to an increasing neglect of fantasy literature after my teenage years, when I became increasingly disillusioned with authors’ ability to find new and uncreative ways to rip off Tolkien.
A Song of Ice and Fire is, of course, not Tolkien; it’s about as far away as you can get while still remaining within the milieu of fantastical pre-industrial Western civilization. It’s dark, gritty, sexual, and political. It starts off with probably the most heroic character in the entire series beheading a man in front of an eight-year-old, and the distinctions between ‘good’ and ‘bad’ characters become more blurred the further you read. This is one of the aspects of the books that the HBO series ramps up even further, giving more sympathetic tinges to characters who are pretty straight-up despicable in the books. (The sexuality is another aspect that HBO accentuates – rather more than is necessary, if you ask me.)
The most notable quality of the books is that they are the story of the oppressed and disadvantaged. The main viewpoint characters (with one major exception whose fate proves the rule) are women in a highly patriarchal culture, cripples, a bastard and a dwarf. The lives of this characters are deeply affected by their oppressed positions, but their characters are not defined by them – they are not some nebulous mass, but highly distinct characters who find very different ways of responding to the situations into which they are thrust, as well as the situations which they create. They are far from all being heroic, as well, recalling one of my all-time favourite quotes from Ta-Nehisi Coates’ blog: “That boot on your neck isn’t ennobling. It’s just a boot.”
The Game of Thrones HBO series does not capture this quality as clearly as the books due, partly due to the unavoidable medium-based fact that it lacks the viewpoint structure of the books. However, it nonetheless manages to capture the themes of the books fairly well, and their tone and setting perfectly. In terms of sheer immersiveness and depth of detail – locations, clothing, weapons – it’s on a level with The Lord of the Rings films, a major accomplishment given the much lower budget for TV shows. The first scene of the first episode of the first season confirmed for me that the show had captured George R.R. Martin’s world perfectly, and I after two seasons I haven’t yet seen anything to contradict that.
The first and second seasons have their differences from each other. The first season tracks the books extremely closely, even down the much of the dialogue being exactly the same. (To continue the comparison above, it’s certainly closer to its source material than The Lord of the Rings films are.) It also has a fairly linear plot. The second season has more deviations from the text and, some have said, a less cohesive and linear plot. The latter is partly due to the nature of the source material – the books become increasingly diffuse as the series progresses due to an increasing number of characters and a continually broadening geographic scope (and, by the latest two books – in my opinion – George R.R. Martin’s dire need of a stricter editor).
I considered the second season well-done on the whole, and understood the rationale behind even those changes which I didn’t entirely like. This may be because I’m such a newcomer to both the books and the show, and so haven’t had the time to develop the deep attachment to the canon that many fans acquire for their favoured works (don’t ask me about the crimes of Peter Jackson unless you want your ear bored off).
SPOILERS FOR SEASON 2 (AND BOOK 2) FROM HERE ON OUT.
(Jaybird’s note: here’s a link to rot13 if anybody in comments needs one handy.)
Probably the most controversial of the changes was the introduction of a much-expanded romantic subplot for Robb Stark, completely different from the one in the book. I wasn’t overly enamoured of the new character of Talisa Maegyr, whose backstory was generic and whose attitudes felt a little too modern for a series characterized by its immersion in the quite alien cultural and moral attitudes of its medieval societies. But she still had much more of a developed character and personality than Robb’s wife in the books, and it makes sense to me that the rapidity of his engagement and marriage in the books would come across as too abrupt and unexpected for a TV audience. The thing about the changes that I dislike most is that Catelyn’s release of Jaime wasn’t spurred by receiving reports of Bran and Rickon’s deaths – it’s the emotional power of that news that makes her decision sympathetic, and I think her character loses something from it not being the decisive event.
The other major changes were the expansion of Ros’ role from the first season and the complete change to Dany’s story. I’m not a fan of the level of gratuitous fanservice (almost entirely directed at guys) in this show, but the use of Ros’ viewpoint to expand the viewers’ understanding of the characters of two of the series’ more inscrutable characters – Littlefinger and Varys – works quite well.
The issues of the Dany story can to a large degree be laid at the feet of George R. R. Martin, who didn’t give her a plot with much activity or movement in the second book. While a book series with many characters can get away with giving one of them less of the limelight for a while, the TV show didn’t reasonably have the option of largely ignoring Dany – not when her dragons provided the ending climax of the previous season. However, I’d have liked a little more of the book’s foreshadowing from the House of the Undying, and the ending of that scene in my view undermines the power of one of the major scenes of Season 3.
One change the show made that may actually be an improvement is its characterization of Theon. For one thing, it provided more exploration of his background and personality in Season 1 than the first book did, so that his emergence to prominence in the second season didn’t feel so out-of-nowhere. For another, it managed to make me feel something towards Theon other than utter loathing, which the book never managed (and never tried to manage). There’s a little more power to the story of him being a basically weak person who wants to be respected but fails to do anything worthy of respect, than the story of him just being a complete asshole. And it gave me one of my favourite (and very colourful) speeches of the season, courtesy of Yara.
I’d love to hear what other people who are familiar with either (or both of) the books or the TV series think of them.
[I bought the first book] at a garage sale last September. By December, I had read all five books
That’s a heckuva lot of reading in a short time. Have you read the Dunk and Egg stories too? They’re three short stories (more planned) set in Westeros about 80 years before ASoIaF. They’re quite good, but a bit tricky to get, because you need to obtain the anthologies they were published in. (It’s pretty easy to find cheap used copies online.)
Yep – I can kind of binge on a new series when I discover it.
I’ll read the short stories if I can find the anthologies at the library.
If you can, it’s best to read them in order.
I have only read the first book but have seen both seasons. So I am not in much of a position to compare book to show. But the show is fan-freakin’-tastic as far as I am concerned.
make me feel something towards Theon other than utter loathing
Both the writing and the acting here are key. Gurba vf abg n tbbq crefba (cnegvphyneyl j/e/g jbzra), ohg V guvax gur frevrf fubjrq uvf cbfvgvir cbvagf gbb. V guvax ur qvq/qbrf ybir Eboo naq gb fbzr rkgrag gur bgure Fgnex xvqf, naq uvf ha-Fgnex-yvxr frafr bs (ovggre/plavpny) uhzbe naq uvf vagryyvtrapr/jbeyqyvarff naq jvyyvatarff gb gnxr npgvba (vs hygvzngryl jebat barf) va cynpr bs raqyrff vqrnyvfgvp inpvyyngvba ner nccrnyvat; guvf whfg unf gur rssrpg bs znxvat uvz zber gentvp, naq uvf orgenlnyf fgvat nyy gur zber: n cresrpg Whqnf.
Orpnhfr gurer’f n frafr gung vg *pbhyq* unir orra qvssrerag, fbzrubj, sbe uvz. Ohg uvf bja crefbanyvgl pbhcyrq jvgu uvf fvghngvba nf n jneq (ernq: ubfgntr) bs gur Fgnexf qbbzrq uvz sebz gur fgneg. Ur arire unq n cynpr va gur jbeyq, naq arire jvyy. Guernqvat *gung* arrqyr fhpprffshyyl naq ubabenoyl jbhyq unir orra orlbaq zbfg nalobql, naq Gurba vf hygvzngryl gbb jrnx gb rfpncr sebz uvf onfvpnyyl-hagranoyr fvghngvba.
And if you ever need to cast a young Mick Jagger…
This is an issue with authors generally once they become too prominent to rein in. It’s not just authors either, George Lucas suffered from the same problem. As much as the ideal of the lone artist carries weight in our culture, there are few if any people who can create something that can’t be improved by outside input.
I rarely prefer “director’s cuts” of films to their theatrical releases for this reason; I almost always feel like the stuff that was cut, should have been cut.
It was awesome that the Coens trimmed the already-lean Blood Simple when they re-released it.
There are exceptions, of course. I saw an awardwinning script get butchered horribly before it got to screen.
Yes. Once an author (or other artist) becomes famous and successful, there’s this assumption that they got there completely on their own and that leaving them unsupervised is the best path. But view people are strict and self-aware enough to completely supervise themselves and their own work. I love all of the Harry Potter series, but in Order of the Phoenix it was very apparent that JKR would have benefitted from an editor to tell her “there’s too much filler here – make it a hundred pages shorter”. The overwhelming success of the first four books meant that nobody thought this was necessary.
If anything tanks the current winning streaks of JJ Abrams and Joss Whedon, it will be that. Abandoning an artist to their own id is rarely a wise move.
The same thing happened to J.K. Rowling. The first three Harry Potter books feature short, crisp writing, with tight, well edited storylines (mostly). After book 3, when Rowling’s reputation was established, the books get much longer, and it’s pretty clear that editors had very little control over the author. (The worst offender in that series in book 5 [Order of the Phoenix], which could probably lose 200 pages and be better for it.)
Katharine and I have already discussed this. Spoiler for anyone who hasn’t read through book 4:
Va gur obbxf, Eboo’f zneevntr gb Wrlar Jrfgreyvat jnf znfgrezvaqrq ol Gljva Ynaavfgre. jura eboo jnf jbhaqrq naq fgnlvat ng gur Jrfgreyvat ubhfr, Gljva fhttrfgrq gb Wrlar’f zbgure gung Wrlar fubhyq ahefr Eboo naq gung gur gjb bs gurz fubhyq or yrsg nybar gbtrgure fb gung angher jbhyq gnxr vgf pbhefr. Ur ubcrq gung Fgnex ubabe jbhyq pnhfr Eboo gb zneel Wrlar vafgrnq bs gur Serl ur’q orra cebzvfrq gb, naq gung ur pbhyq hfr gung gb qevir n jrqtr orgjrra gur Fgnexf naq Serlf. Guvf jbexrq cresrpgyl bs pbhefr, naq yrq gb gur qrfgehpgvba bs gur Fgnex guerng ng gur Erq Jrqqvat.
Gur snpg gung guvf cneg bs gur cybg jnf erzbirq sebz gur GI frevrf obguref zr.
Va gur obbxf, V jnfa’g pyrne jurgure Ybeq Gljva ratvarrerq gur zngpu orgjrra Eboo naq Wrlar be jurgure ur znqr fxvyyshy hfr bs vg bapr vg unq unccrarq.
In other words, the situation may have been Tywin seizing an opportunity not of his making. (V trg gung ur jnf va pbzzhavpngvba jvgu, naq cybggvat jvgu, Wrlar’f zbgure.) Maybe I missed something.
” Gur guvat nobhg gur punatrf gung V qvfyvxr zbfg vf gung Pngryla’f eryrnfr bs Wnvzr jnfa’g fcheerq ol erprvivat ercbegf bs Oena naq Evpxba’f qrnguf – vg’f gur rzbgvbany cbjre bs gung arjf gung znxrf ure qrpvfvba flzcngurgvp, naq V guvax ure punenpgre ybfrf fbzrguvat sebz vg abg orvat gur qrpvfvir rirag.” – this is an excellent catch and one I am embarrassed to admit I didn’t notice – I guess the story was so clear in my head that I assumed I hadn’t been paying attention when it happened on screen. [spoilers through book 5] Sbe zr, cneg bs gur cbjre bs Pngryla’f fgbel vf gung fur vf fb *qevira* ol ure birejuryzvat tevrs…. gung gur tevrs vgfrys vf fbzrubj n zber cbjreshy sbepr guna nyy gur cybggvat naq fpurzvat bs gur zber pynffvpnyyl genvarq fgengrtvfgf (naq, nyfb, gung tevrs, jvgu vgf zber engvbany frrzvat snpr, pbagenfgf naq zveebef – obgu – Ylfn’f hggre znqarff). Gur frafr bs urneg-jbhaq hcba urneg-jbhaq cvyvat gurzfryirf bagb ure, gur eryragyrffarff bs gung, vf qrsvavgryl sne yrff cebzvarag va gur frevrf – naq V guvax vgf ynpx jvyy znxr gur arkg fgrc bs ure fgbel – ure zrgnculfvpny genafsbezngvba – yrff cynhfvoyr.
Excellent post, EXACTLY what I was hoping to read when I pestered you!
Oh, and I forgot to say – I’m not so sure it’s your recent encounter with the book that makes you more relaxed about the changes than some. I started reading them in the 90s, have read ’em all twice, and I still think people need to accept the bad or reasonable along with the great. ‘Course, I feel that way about Peter Jackson, too, so you may find my opinion highly suspect. :D.
The series mis-serves Catelyn in a lot of truly dreadful ways.
1. Va gur obbxf, fur vf gur bar jub cerffherf Arq gb orpbzr gur Unaq, tb gb Xvat’f Ynaqvat, naq svther bhg jung unccrarq gb Wba Neela. Va gur fubj, fur ortf uvz gb fgnl ubzr.
2. Va gur obbxf, fur vf gur bar jub pbzrf hc jvgu gur vqrn bs Eboo nyylvat uvzfrys jvgu Erayl. Va gur fubj, Eboo whfg gryyf ure gb tb zrrg jvgu uvz.
Gurer’f nyfb gur znggre bs gur artbgvngvba jvgu gur Serlf (juvpu Eboo raqf hc haqrezvavat) naq jura fur qrcyblf gur cbjre bs ure snzvyl anzr gb ncceruraq Glevba. Pngryla vf n irel fniil cbyvgvpny bcrengbe, naq gur fubj whfg gbgnyyl fperjf gung nfcrpg bs ure punenpgre hc.
V sryg n ovg bs flzcngul gbjneq Gurba. Ur jnf gnxra sebz uvf snzvyl naq envfrq ol bar jvgu irel qvssrerag inyhrf. Jura ur erghearq ubzr, ur unq orra ercynprq ol uvf fvfgre. Bar bs gur ernfbaf ur vf abg npprcgrq vf ORPNHFR ur unq orra frag gb yvir jvgu gur Fgnexf, juvpu jnf abg uvf qrpvfvba. Ur vf gelvat uvf qnzaqrfg gb cebir uvzfrys gb uvf sngure, jub qrfcvfrf uvz sbe gur fbsgarff yrnearq sebz gur Fgnexf. Gur orfg jnl gb qb gung (va uvf zvaq)? Ghea ba gurz, naq fubj ur vf yblny gb qrne byq qnq naq pncnoyr bs ehguyrffarff.
V guvax gur raq erfhyg vf gung ur ungrf uvzfrys, orpnhfr ur ernyyl qbrf abg jnag gb qb gubfr guvatf. Ur qbrf frrz gb ybir gur Fgnexf, fvapr ur jnf gerngrq jryy juvyr envfrq gurer. Ur jnf gerngrq zber yvxr n oebgure/fba guna nal fbeg bs rarzl. Ur vf tbvat ntnvafg uvf angher jvgu uvf orgenlny, naq birepbzcrafngrf jvgu uvf ivpvbhfarff.
To pick a nit slightly I wouldn’t say that the story is about the oppressed and the disadvantaged. The true oppressed and disadvantaged would be women, dwarves and children who are not of the noble classes. Our viewpoint characters are still enormously privileged… they’re just towards the lower rungs of the privileged class. This is fine of course: the true disadvantaged people of Westeros are so badly oppressed and crushed that they cannot be realistic viewpoint characters; they simply don’t matter enough individually to change the direction of the story*.
*Now one could bestow metaphysical power or astonishing personal characteristics upon such a commoner but that’d upend the GoT theme. It would become an entirely and possibly less realistic feeling story.
By and large I think the adaptation has been quite a success. Even the sex scenes served a purpose. By having women making out in the background, for instance, Littlefinger was able to wax eloquent about power dynamics for like ten minutes. That’s an achievement.
Also Catelyn’s character on the screen fills me with both affection/admiration “you’re a good mother, a tough lady, a clever person” plus fury/frustration “Oh girl how can you be so dumb!? Oh you’re a MOTHER, you’ve got a blind spot the size of Pentos where your children are concerned” so they clearly have adapted her correctly.
I also sympathize with their rejiggering of Rob’s romance. In the books it was so especially remarkably stupid whereas the show is making it a touch more romantic/stupid instead of Rob essentially getting his ass played.
Even the sex scenes served a purpose. By having women making out in the background, for instance, Littlefinger was able to wax eloquent about power dynamics for like ten minutes. That’s an achievement.
Producers, take note: it’s OK to have your characters deliver long, rambling monologues, so long as you have a girl-on-girl scene going in the background.
It’s one of the few things that might help the Atlas Shrugged movies break even.
+1
If the gods were just, Michelle Fairley would be a contender for an Emmy for her portrayal of Cat Stark. But the role is probably not flashy enough for those purposes.
I’d modify the claim slightly. This series is about the ruinous wastefulness of war, and especially its effects on the disadvantaged. From the Others to Brienne’s journey in book 4 (*especially* Septon Meribald), GRRM is very clear about how utterly pointless the game of thrones is.
You’re certainly right that the major players are still people of privilege, but they’re all outsiders looking in on the halls of “real” power. It’s a notable feature of the series that none of the putative kings are POV characters (except Dany, who isn’t really playing the game).
Where do whores go?
Martin needs his ego popped, and badly.
Sadly, I doubt that pranks will help.
Va gur obbxf, Eboo urnef gur arjf gung Oena naq Evpxba ner qrnq naq gung Gurba unf orgenlrq gurz, naq uvf haqrefgnaqnoyr qrfcnve hcba urnevat gung arjf qevirf uvz vagb Wrlar Jrfgreyvat’f nezf. Gung zbzrag bs irel uhzna jrnxarff yrnqf uvz, sbe ubabe’f fnxr (Wrlar’f ubabe, abg uvf), gb oernx uvf ratntrzrag gb gur Serlf.
Whfg yvxr Png’f serrvat Wnvzr va erfcbafr gb gur arjf nobhg Oena naq Evpxba vf haqrefgnaqnoyr naq znxrf frafr (nf gur BC abgrf), fb qbrf Eboo’f ernpgvba, juvpu yrnqf gb veerirefvoyr pbafrdhraprf.
Ol pbagenfg, ba gur gi fubj, obgu Png’f serrvat bs Wnvzr naq Eboo’f oernxvat gur ratntrzrag ner zhpu zber qryvorengr npgvbaf, naq Eboo’f npg va cnegvphyne vf na hasbeprq reebe gung vf obgu uneqre gb rkcynva naq unf gur rssrpg bs yrffravat gur punenpgre.
Gung cybg punatr jnf na hasbeprq reebe ol gur jevgref.
“But she still had much more of a developed character and personality than Robb’s wife in the books, and it makes sense to me that the rapidity of his engagement and marriage in the books would come across as too abrupt and unexpected for a TV audience.”
Since the writers had no problem shifting point-of-view to show us what Robb was doing (va gur obbxf, jr bayl frr ovgf naq cvrprf bs Eboo’f fgbelyvar guebhtu Png’f CBI), it seems like they could have taken that same time and developed a character for Jeyne Westerling.
Gur erny ceboyrz jvgu Gnyvfn, nf fbeg bs vaqvpngrq va gur BC, vf gung fur haqrezvarf gur erfg bs gur srznyr punenpgref va gur frevrf. Fur’f n sbervta aboyrjbzna jub qrpvqrf gb cenpgvpr onggyrsvryq zrqvpvar naq fnff n xvat hagvy ur snyyf va ybir jvgu ure? Nal bgure srznyr punenpgre va gur frevrf jbhyq raq hc orurnqrq jvguva 15 frpbaqf sbe gung xvaq bs orunivbe, naq univat Gnyvfn whfg xvaq bs trg njnl jvgu vg haqrezvarf gur cbfvgvba nyy gur bgure jbzra ner va.
Fnafn, va cnegvphyne, vf ernyyl vyy-freirq ol gur rkvfgrapr bs n jbzna jub pna whfg qb naq fnl jung fur jnagf jvgu ab artngvir pbafrdhraprf.