With Game of Thrones entering a season widely promised and expected to have massive changes from the novels, things are bound to get controversial. And, to be honest, I didn’t know how to best deal with it. I am a fan of the novels, yes, but also of the show. Fascinatingly, it was the news a few weeks back of George R.R. Martin’s original A Game of Thrones outline that managed to resolve whatever qualms I had. Game of Thrones (and A Song of Ice and Fire) is a living story.

A living story means that, regardless of initial plans, the story has changed and will change based on the interest of the writers, the budget, popularity, continuity mistakes, etc. It means that it becomes much easier to reconcile the fact that I now see Oberyn’s duel with the Mountain as the staging from the show, or that King Robert’s tragedy is granted depth by his non-book conversation with Cersei. The mild disappointment I have with the Dorne of A Feast for Crows, meanwhile, can coexist with the simple, excellent intrigue of A Game of Thrones and my excitement for the remixed version of the story in Season 5.

How did this happen? Read on….

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It’s the end of another week full of Game of Thrones news. Did you miss anything we posted? Not to worry, here is the round up of our Top Ten Posts of the week.

It’s WiC Weekly time! Have you seen the new Season 5 poster? Check our analysis here: http://t.co/LIhz38aAUy pic.twitter.com/Zcs5wf4Fp2

— Winter is Coming (@WiCnet) February 28, 2015

More below!

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HBO has released a new poster for Season 5 of Game of Thrones, and, well, let’s just admire that for a second.

Some analysis after the jump….

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HBO’s Three-Eyed Raven Snapchat-style viral marketing scheme to promote Game of Thrones has finally come to an end. Once again, your final “vision” depended on who you were. Some people saw Brienne and Pod–a pair of characters we have the least amount of information on. Others saw a snippet of Jon and Mance Rayder.

These were a big change up from the other “visions” we’ve had. It wasn’t a set of instantaneous clips of Season 4 footage flashing before our eyes, ending with a single image from Season 5. Instead we got a pair of full-dialogue clips from the upcoming season. Also, for the first time, we heard people speak.

Videos of both clips below.

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Catch the Throne Vol 2

Killswitch Engage has posted a snippet of their song “Loyalty” via their official Instagram page. “Loyalty” will be the group’s contribution to the upcoming Game of Thrones: Catch the Throne Volume 2. The song is written for House Martell, and the lyrics, from the snippet, are the words of House Martell: Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken.

Listen to the song after the jump.

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Earlier this month, Maisie Williams and Aidan Gillen sat down with The Hollywood Reporter during Berlinale, AKA the Berlin International Film Festival. Gillen was there to promote his starring turn in the film You’re Ugly Too, which was part of the festival line up. Williams didn’t have a movie to promote (I suppose Berliners aren’t that into Channel 4 productions.) Instead she was sent by the British Film Council as the UK’s representative for the European Shooting Stars program. Though neither of them were there to promote Game of Thrones, as always, the subject came up.

Pictures of Maisie dressed in Fitriani at the event hit the web to high approval from fashionistas. The Hollywood Reporter also noticed and asked her about having to play a tomboy all the time on Game of Thrones.

Video of Maisie’s answer, plus Aidan Gillen’s acting advice after the jump….

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“Words are wind” is a common phrase in A Song of Ice and Fire, usually used to say “talk is cheap.” But that’s a view that underestimates both the power of words and wind themselves. In this “Words Are Wind” column, contributor Scott Andrews discusses some of the more important words in the world of Game of Thrones.

“It wasn’t for murder the gods cursed the Rat Cook, or for serving the King’s son in a pie. He killed a guest beneath his roof. That’s something the gods can’t forgive.”
–Bran Stark

The Red Wedding remains the biggest turning point in the entire Game of Thrones series. The Lannisters, with the Freys and Boltons as their new allies, annihilate the Starks and win the War of the Five Kings. In the process, they murder some of our favorite characters.

All because Robb attended a wedding.

But was Robb acting naive, as his father might have, and trusting too blindly in the honor of dishonorable people? Did he walk into a trap so obvious it might as well have been a giant box labeled TRAP with a stick propping it up? Before you condemn him or his mother for the Red Wedding, you need to consider the concept of guest right.

Learn all about guest right after the break.

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Jonathan Pryce as Cardinal Wolsey in Wolf Hall

Jonathan Pryce will be making his Game of Thrones debut this season, as the High Sparrow. Pryce was interviewed by Liverpool Echo, while he was in Liverpool for a BBC Showcase featuring the actor’s current show, Wolf Hall.

See what Mr. Pryce has to say about his role on Wolf Hall and

Game of Thrones, after the jump.

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Following the popularity of their “In Memoriam” video from after Season 3, HBO has published Game of Thrones: In Memoriam yesterday, a small book dedicated to the characters from the show who’ve perished on-screen. It retails for $14.95 in the United States, and £9.99 in the UK.

I was sent a press copy of the book to review, and while I find the book quite charming, I have some concerns…

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IMAX Game of Thrones Season 5 trailer gets an R rating

After Game of Thrones came to IMAX in North America last month, overseas fans–and there are a lot of overseas fans of Game of Thrones–demanded to know when they’d have the chance to see it on the big screen. We’re now getting the first confirmation of Thrones in IMAX outside the States.

The Odeon cinema in Milton Keynes, near London, is opening on February 26th and including Game of Thrones at the center of their opening ceremonies. They have an exclusive release of the final two episodes of Season 4, “The Watchers on The Wall” and “The Children.” We knew that Thrones had been successful in IMAX here, and this news indicates that the success has not gone unnoticed. The big question is whether this is a one-time event or if we’ll see more than one theater–or theatre, as it were–or if this will remain exclusive.

A few different sites are reporting the news and offering chances to win tickets. Here’s MKWEB and DIY Magazine. Flicks and the City is running a contest as well. If you spot some others, let us know in the comments and we’ll put up links to those contests as well.

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A reader sent us this wonderfully dedicated supercut they made from all four seasons of the Game of Thrones DVDs. For anyone who has watched the episode commentaries, you know that George R.R. Martin has a habit of bringing up the books and comparing what’s happening on screen to, you know, the source material. This video is a supercut of every single time he does that.

It’s really fun. Check it out below.

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Do you have questions about the upcoming fifth season of Game of Thrones? This is what we at Winter Is Coming know—and we’ll be updating this regularly as Season 5 approaches.

Last Update: February 24th, with news of Theon, our guide to the Great Houses of Game of Thrones, and George R.R. Martin’s promises of surprise deaths.

When does Season 5 air?

The season premiere of Season 5 of Game of Thrones in the United States will be April 12, 2015. It will air weekly after that. If HBO takes Memorial Day weekend off, as they have the past two seasons, the finale will be June 21st. If not, June 14th.

Where’s the trailer?

The first full trailer was released on January 30th alongside the IMAX release of the final two episodes of Season 4. Watch it here!

HBO has also released a series of mini-teasers via their Three-Eyed Raven site, and included some clips of Season 5 in their 2014 year-end video.

The network also aired a special on the filming of Season 5 called “Game of Thrones: A Day In The Life” on February 8th. See its trailer here, and our live-blog here.

What parts of George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels are being adapted?

It appears that Season 5 of Game of Thrones will be primarily adapting the entirety of the fourth and fifth books in the series, A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons. This may sound like a lot, but the situation is complicated….

Read more after the jump….

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