HBO adaptation of Game of Thrones - will this be just for nerds? (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

are we to assume lancel would have told high sparrow james lingk about cersei banging jaime?

that's bound to be worth a few more hail marys.

it does seem weird that suddenly there's this institution with more power than the royal family, it just feels abrupt

makes me wonder what power is really based on in King's Landing

pryce imprisoning cercei seems pretty dumb too.

― Mordy, Thursday, May 28, 2015 11:50 AM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

well he is a religious fanatic

he speaks so reasonably tho. he seems like a pragmatic fanatic.

it does seem weird that suddenly there's this institution with more power than the royal family, it just feels abrupt

― Οὖτις, Thursday, May 28, 2015 11:51 AM (35 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and prob extremely short lived no

aren't there still plenty of ppl w/ loyalty to the lannisters / on their payroll?

not really. theyve spent a fair amount of time building margaery and the tyrells up as having a folk hero/benevolent dictator status to the ppl of king's landing and much of westeros, whether that's entirely earned or unearned is another matter but ppl def love them and only ever feared the lannisters

fear is a powerful thing of course but as soon as ppl think they dont have to feel it they cease to, in a general sense.

also, ppl think that the tyrell army beat back stannis much more so than tywin's army (even tho it was really tyrion and company and then the tywin/tyrell joint effort)

It may have been more logical to have some guards escorting Cersei, only to be slaughtered by the faith militant in that scene when they take her to the dungeon.

cersei has jaime, qyburn, that thing qyburn is creating in his lab and lannister soldiers who are loyal to the house over all. (and roose bolton but its not gonna do her much good.) the tyrells have their own sizable army, enormous wealth that isn't running out and could have p much the entire country and kind of already do, and

i'm gonna start saying LOOK AT MY FACE at people on the subway

*and yea that family is basically cooked.

IT'S THE LAST THING YOU'LL SEE BEFORE YOU GET OFF AT BROADWAY LAFAYETTE

Also remember Cersei's rep is largely emasculating/possibly manslaughtering a popular king, and mothering a hated one.

I think it's perfectly conceivable that they'd have plenty of potential allies in the city even if just Lannister soldiers and the goldcloaks but Cersei has been so fierce in shielding Tommen that virtually nobody with any sense or foresight has had access to him and the power he commands as king.

Cersei in her infinite wisdom then had to go and convinced him that any military action would end in the deaths of the ones imprisoned so I don't see that being pursued.

it does seem weird that suddenly there's this institution with more power than the royal family, it just feels abrupt

― Οὖτις, Thursday, May 28, 2015 11:51 AM (35 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and prob extremely short lived no

― lag∞n

yeah, the way it's come out of nowhere suggests it's just a fun little sidequest while martin types out the future. i'm sure you can point to several foreshadowing events over the first 4 seasons but basically it just seems like it's come out of nowhere in season 5

yeah but lancel looks so different now, 90% of watchers would be all WTF?

is it the same actor, even?

― p:s nerds know (dog latin), Thursday, May 28, 2015 4:00 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

same guy

remembered almost none of this http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Lancel

haha yeah me neither. Feel like this show has a habit of suddenly rendering minor, unmemorable characters somehow significant to the larger story(ies)

it's nothing compared to the books, but the books have lists and charts and maps

from season 2:

Tyrion has had Grand Maester Pycelle arrested for breaking his confidence and feeding information to Queen Regent Cersei Lannister.[9] Cersei sends Lancel to Tyrion with a warrant for the release of Pycelle. He arrives late at night and Tyrion invites him for a drink and Lancel refuses. Tyrion wonders why Cersei did not come herself. Lancel says that he does not care and Tyrion continues to question him. Tyrion establishes that the order came directly from Cersei and then asks why Lancel waited to deliver it. Lancel says that he came immediately and Tyrion wonders what he was doing conferring with Cersei so late at night. Lancel improvises and says that Cersei often works through the night, and Tyrion retorts that she must be glad to have Lancel helping her at all hours. Tyrion notes the scent of lavender oil on his cousin and says that it is a favorite of Cersei. Lancel asserts his position as a knight, and Tyrion jokes that he is an anointed knight. Tyrion asks if Cersei had Lancel knighted before or after she took him into her bed. Lancel furiously calls that a lie, but when Tyrion threatens to tell Joffrey, he collapses into a chair, aghast. Lancel claims that it wasn't his fault, and Tyrion asks if she took him against his will. Lancel insists he was following Tywin’s orders to obey Cersei in all things, but Tyrion counters by asking him if Tywin ordered him to sleep with her as well. Tyrion points out the benefits Lancel has received and threatens to go straight to Joffrey at which Lancel falls to his knees and begs him for mercy and offers to leave the city. Tyrion says that Lancel must act as his spy to buy his silence. Tyrion asks Lancel to beg Cersei’s forgiveness and agrees to release Pycelle but refuses to reinstate him to the council.

tyrion is the best

jeez, i forgot that cersei punched lancel's arrow wound during the battle of the blackwater! that probably made him really mad at her

I easily remembered all the Lancel scenes because he was previously just there to be humiliated by the other characters.

yeah, having spent several seasons as a hapless pawn, it makes total sense dude got religion

His best scene is Tyrion telling Lancel to ask Bronn to kill him if certain circumstances occur and Bronn replying "it would be my pleasure".

https://youtube.com/?#/watch?v=3Yyw7Iyvy2E

I just listened to Grantland's GoT podcast and their "expert" guy claimed that Littlefinger was definitely talking about Lancel in that "handsome young man" line. If that's the case then that is some championship level shitty writing.

Long shot but it could be Gendry

nah, it's probably the witness against Loras.

Otm

Littlefinger had a chat with Lancel after he joined so I assumed it was him, though I don't think he was the one who pushed him to talk about the incest to Pryce.

Littlefinger seems to have two big bases covered right now but I'm not sure what his gameplan is for if Stannis takes Winterfell. Presumably Sansa is some level of insurance there but I don't know why Stannis would exactly give a shit, other than out of pragmatism.

Stan is kind of a stickler about rightful heirs.

Yeah you can bet the house on Stannis instating Sansa as the Stark in Winterfell if he wins this fight (unless her marriage to Ramsay has somehow invalidated this? idek, we're so far off the edge of the map now wrt the books that I'm finding it increasingly difficult to read these characters), but does that help Littlefinger particularly? Surely Sansa is gonna be pretty pissed at him for riding off into the night and leaving her with Ramsay the psycho

Sansa is sort of hot for Littlefinger and believes he's her protector of sorts, her mother's best friend, etc.

That might change after Brienne slices Ramsey in half and tells the real story though.

What does Brienne know since she last met Sansa?

i was not under the impression that sansa was in any way sort of hot for littlefinger

Guys, nothing in that story makes any sense at all.

I did not see that episode coming

and it was fucking great

tyrion/dany scenes were so so so so so good

and then whoaaaaa battle time

"arise my undead children" part was amazing

as they floated away at 0.000000001 knots/hr

that was red wedding level unanticipated terror

I feel they have made up for the last two episodes. Gonna be a dead sprint downhill from here.

yeah best episode in a bit. lots of dénouement on the horizon. still guessing stannis will be the major plot character to eat it this season since he's been so sympathetic lately

Goddamn that was insane.

love the final stare down that lasted 4 minutes and all the while the boat has not advanced a bit.

i thought he was going to freeze the entire bay at first.

took them long enough but yeah, that was an A+ budget-busting set piece of a sequence of a variety that's been sorely lacking.