Nobody_Important
“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
Daemon, Rhaenyra, Alicent, and Viserys carry the show on their backs.
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Kinda the job of the main characters, don'tcha think? To me it's a sign of just how well the show runners stuck to the masterful source material, folks are fully engaged and firing on all cylinders.
Thaedolus
Member
Also gotta say again, the Valeryons look cool as hell. The girls are beautiful, the men look like badasses (when they’re not getting chopped up)…the dopes that had BIG CONCERNS about them being black should feel real dumb.
Also I’m not sure if I’m just noticing it now but the kings guard armor in this episode? So good.
Elysion
Banned
Really? I think they look goofy as hell. The wigs of the girls in particular look ridiculous; they look so fake and unnatural. I laughed when I saw the wig on that Velaryon girl who was with Rhaenys and Rhaenyra in the godswood (either Baela or Rhaena). It literally looked like someone put a mop on her head lol.
Nobody_Important
“Aww, it’s so...average,” she said to him in a cold brick of passion
It is their job, but it is rare for an actor to pull it off immediately within the first season. It usually takes time or sometimes doesn't happen at all.
Which is why it's so impressive that 4 of them did it in the first season of a show despite two of the characters having a change of cast. So thats 6 actors in one season hefting the whole show onto their backs. That's insane.
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Fools idol
Banned
That was a wonderful episode of televisionbox. God damn.
Paddy the lad best be getting an Oscar.
Paddy the lad best be getting an Oscar.
Thaedolus
Member
I think there are some wigs that look pretty not great, yeah, but for the most part I really like the look. Especially the curly white locks one of the girls was sporting vs the white dreads.
I dunno, I think they look cool.
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The velaryons being black is problematic to the Lore in lots of ways, this period isn't the first (or last) targaryen/velaryon hook up so you'd think by now the two families would have blended more.
It also makes the bastard kids absolutely untenable. They go from "hint hint wink wink say no more" to straight up "are you just dumb not to see this?".
Imagine if the races were reversed and Laenor was white but the Strongs were black, so her kids were as black as Baela and Rhaena are in the show. Think ANYONE would be fooled? It would be straight up insulting to the audience and the story to suggest otherwise.
It also makes the bastard kids absolutely untenable. They go from "hint hint wink wink say no more" to straight up "are you just dumb not to see this?".
Imagine if the races were reversed and Laenor was white but the Strongs were black, so her kids were as black as Baela and Rhaena are in the show. Think ANYONE would be fooled? It would be straight up insulting to the audience and the story to suggest otherwise.
Emmy....
The showdown of HotD and RoP might just revitalize the emmys as a show worth watching.
Show runners FTW!
I was really down on this show pre release, I'm HAPPILY eating Crow about it. There is some dumb shit in there but it's small potatoes compared to the greatness.
Hardensoul
Member
There is 2 Aegons, she may have thought Veserys was talking about her son and not know he was talking about Rhaenyra’s son! Because Veserys at this point was delusional and seem like he was continuing his conversation with Rhaenyra!
As opposed to other epic fantasy series currently airing, we aren’t constantly being told how much the show runners care about the source material, then slapped in the face repeatedly by how little they actually care about literally anything and told we’re just too blind to see their brilliance.
Hats off to Condal and Sapochnik for delivering an instant classic. Did not expect to care about the world of ice and fire ever again, but here we are.
Hats off to Condal and Sapochnik for delivering an instant classic. Did not expect to care about the world of ice and fire ever again, but here we are.
thegame983
Member
When Daemon pick up the crown and helps helps Viserys sit on the throne 
mortal
Gold Member
I can't believe Amazon passed up on Condal's Conan the Barbarian project. Some of the executive sign offs over there have been head scratching to say the least.
Apparently the way things played out helped in bringing HotD to life, so that was the silver lining there.
DetectiveBananas
Member
Are there this many time jumps in the source material?! Don’t think I’ve seen a show jump this much this quickly in one season. 
Also money is on Eye Patch to cause massive casualties!
Also money is on Eye Patch to cause massive casualties!
DeepEnigma
Gold Member
Yes. He was on his final moments and hopped up on poppy’s milk. He though he was talking with Rhaenrya. But now that Alicent mistook it on purpose or by accident will remain to be seen.
That final scene was awkward for a motivation for Alicent since Rhaenyra ALSO has a son named Aegon. So to hear the name Aegon could mean a couple people.
The Daemon and Aemon similarities are crazy strong. My wife thinks Daemon and Alicent hooked up at some point
Tams
Member
Not sure what planet you're on.
The white hair doesn't suit them at all and the wigs look, well like wigs except for Corlys and Vaemond where it's decent at best.
They have some pretty fine facial features, I'll give you that. But the hair. Nah bruv, it's shit.
BadBurger
Is 'That Pure Potato'
It has two of my favorite shots ever, both in one episode. There's this scene, and the other I really like is of Aemond at dinner. We see the suckling pig being brought in and laid in silence before Aemond, who is in the dark, only his patched eye visibile, as his cousin smirks at him. But we all know he realizes exactly what's going on. He turns, slams his fist into the table as he rises for a toast and comes fully back into the light. Great sequence.
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Hero of Spielberg
Member
After watching the latest episodes of each series I feel such a deep embarrassment for anyone involved with RoP.
Lukaku's First Touch
Member
The guy playing the king is amazing. Very good acting on his part, carrying the whole show for me.
Thaedolus
Member
Well I guess it doesn’t matter much now since they’re all dead or dying, except for the girls.
Flintty
Member
The whole series has been superb but this weeks and last weeks episodes have really lifted it to something special for me. I can't wait to get the 4K Bluray so I can see it in true UHD.
It's going to be a long wait for S2...
Edit: I just read a few posts on page 1, Oof
It's going to be a long wait for S2...
Edit: I just read a few posts on page 1, Oof
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Oof85
Member
Name names my guy.
Oof85
Member
I'm an ASOIAF encyclopedia for the most part so I've definitely got some issues with the shows but still enjoy it currently very much.
Tolkien lore I'm barely surface level familiar with.
Is ROP really that bad in comparison? Cuz it seems nice and way better than last years attempt at Wheel of Time.
Tolkien fandom isn't too happy with the product?
The world is tainted now that Rings of Power has been released into it, like the fell specter of Morgoth himself.
Oof85
Member
That bad huh for the purists huh?
I'm enjoying it personally, though it does feel kinda small.
Love Adar's breastplate/cuirass armor at least.
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Bitmap Frogs
Mr. Community
I'm sorry to tell you, but I have a feeling he might not be in the show any longer.
Lukaku's First Touch
Member
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Tams
Member
I'm never going to trust you on anything. You could tell me the sky looks blue or water is wet and I wouldn't believe you.
At least Wheel of Time had Rosamund Pike and it being a young adult series of novels going for it.
If i would give grades
HOTD - 9 to 10
Wheel of time - 6
ROP - 4 and just for the effects team that carried the show and transfer you to middle earth, otherwise it is so medicore below average show that every episode in contradiction with the other
Madflavor
Member
This was one of the things I was looking forward to with these two shows coming out. RoP is obviously mediocre, but with it coming out at the same time as HotD, you can't help but compare the two, and it's funny to see how outclassed RoP is.
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RoP is about as far from the actual lore as you can get. Motivations, relationships, and events almost all happen THE OPPOSITE of how they happen in the text. It's like they have to avoid anything directly in the Silmarillion (which they probably do, as they didn't get the rights to it) so the skeleton framework provided in the appendices takes them off into entirely new directions. There are names from the text given to what are basically new characters with wholly invented stories.
None of this would particularly bother me (Jacksons LOTR did a lot of that as well) if the writing and action was actually, you know, GOOD. But the show itself is a trainwreck salvaged by some intermittently great static scenes and a fuckton of nostalgia for ANYTHING that calls back to Jackson's LOTR.
DKehoe
Member
Nah, the Hightowers didn't really factor into the show They're still a major, powerful house and Oldtown is the richest city in Westeros but just with how things played out in the show they didn't really play a big role. In the books it looks like they will be more prominent. Euron Greyjoy looks like he's set to attack there and Sam is in Oldtown so they'll probably play some kind of role. The head of House Hightower has stayed in their tower reading books on magic for about a decade.
Oof85
Member
I guess.
Outside of Pike, there was just zero charisma in any of the various characters for me. Zilch.
My bad, the big breh looking Ogre is cool, I think.
Otherwise though? It's a charisma vacuum.
ROP? Durin, Elrond, Galadriel, Queen Regent, Elendil, I can tolerate the proto-hobbits.
AJUMP23
Member
Thanks. I didn’t remember them being influential at all.
Oof85
Member
Funny enough, it seems like the fallout from HOTD era shenanigans play a part in the Hightowers reduced role in ASOIAF.
Learned the lessons that the Starks always knew which is, the game of thrones isn't really a game and it's definitely not worth playing when you're already richer and more powerful than 99% of the people on earth.
Just be a little or big king/queen unofficially and reap the rewards, rather than risk it all for a just a little more adulation and pride.
Olenna learned this lesson way too late.
I don't really like rhaenyra as a character. Viserys was awesome, and I dont really get why people say he was a weak king. Maybe stepstones could have been handled differently, but apart from that he acted with integrity and saw the bigger picture through mercy.
Oof85
Member
They're very influential, as they rule the center of learning and a pillar of the faith.
They just rather stay in Oldtown, rather than be all in the mix.
What's there for them to gain anyways?
They're probably one of the only two Houses that can claim to be older than the Starks of Winterfell(other is possibly the Daynes of Starfall)and they're top 3 richest in the realm.
They're pinnacle already, for all intents and purposes.
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The Greens are a loose coalition of honorable families trying to uphold the law. So most of them are still around. The Hightowers themselves are a vassal family to the Tyrells of High Garden by the time of GoT. A few families do go "extinct" in the sense that all male heirs with the name get killed off.
The problem with this is that the King has absolute rule. He can, theoretically, kick you out or carve up your lands at a whim. Obviously, there is a vested interest for a King to NOT do this as he often needs support from those same Houses, but in the prime Targaryen era with dragons, they kinda can do WTF they want.
So trying to play neutral will just get you attacked by one side or the other and cut off any support from the Crown. Kings often need lands and titles to dole out to supporters so if they see a House playing both sides that's the place to threaten in order to get their direct support. Barring a vast geographic distance (like the Starks and the North in general) most Houses can't sit things out for long lest they get hit themselves.
thegame983
Member
I love the time jumps.
It's a bit like 'I,Claudius' which covered 78 years over 10 episodes.
edit: also it's ALL palace intrigue. Very 'I, Claudius.'
It's a bit like 'I,Claudius' which covered 78 years over 10 episodes.
edit: also it's ALL palace intrigue. Very 'I, Claudius.'
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Oof85
Member
Kinda disagree.
It's not playing neutral to just keep to your own lands and make sure they're running well, with disputes quickly settled and adjourned.
One of the reasons why Tywin fell out with Aerys was his constant push for Lannister advancements and the repute he gained with his administrative skills.
Which became entwined and eventually made Aerys realize just helping to run the realm wasn't enough for old Tyty.
And Oldtown at least is very remote in comparison to the Red Keep.
As long as the Hightower stands and burns bright, what can they really gain from being in the mix?
Older than everyone else and richer too?
All you're doing is putting a target on your back with every lesser lord/lady begrudging you your history and prestige.
We can agree to disagree but my stance is its better to maintain and consolidate your ancestral holdings vs get greedy by being in the mix.
DKehoe
Member
I was listening to an interview with Martin recently where he was talking about how much he loves the I, Claudius show and the books it's based on.
Tams
Member
Mate, I think you need to give it a bit of a rest in this thread.
I thought I was doing too much shitting on RoP for being shit in that thread, but you're taking the cake here.
"Staying in your lane" kinda works until the King asks for too much. If you just do as he says over and over you will likely be asked to cede land or money at some point. Getting one of the Small Council positions is how you gain influence to get better marriages for your kids and prevent other Houses from growing and eventually swallowing you up.
Just working to maintain the status quo is, in the long term, a losing proposition because eventually a border war, plague, or natural disaster will come along and wreck you, leaving you open to exploitation.
Some Houses could do this because they, like the Freys, sit on a valuable junction or like the Lannisters, on top of gold mines. Or someone like the Reeds, living in marshes, that have little to offer outside of their lands other than a few people. But ever since the concept of a High King was introduced to Westeros with Aegon these squabbling fiefdoms now have another rung on the ladder of ascent to fight over. Assuming Westeros was ever united, I'd assume they would war with Essos directly at some point because that is just the nature of men.
IDKFA
I am Become Bilbo Baggins
I was reluctant to watch this series. I'm a huge fan of ASOIAF and it's world, but really didn't enjoy GoT and thought it was a poor adaptation.
But this? This I like. Maybe it's because it's not based on a novel and on fake history, so there is a lot of room for creative changes that don't spoil the original work.
Just want to say, what they've done with Caraxes is amazing. The sound they gave the dragon is absolutely terrifying. Battle above the Gods Eye should be epic if done right!
But this? This I like. Maybe it's because it's not based on a novel and on fake history, so there is a lot of room for creative changes that don't spoil the original work.
Just want to say, what they've done with Caraxes is amazing. The sound they gave the dragon is absolutely terrifying. Battle above the Gods Eye should be epic if done right!