New house videos: Baratheon, Lannister, Targaryen … and much more!

Interesting dialogue of Robert and Cersei:

Robert: Sometimes I don’t know what holds it all together.
Cersei: Our marriage.

Winter Is Coming: feyrband, I got an email that says it is already up On Demand now. At least for Comcast. Can anyone confirm?

could be, comcast does tend to shell out cash for exclusivity to all sorts of other content. i went ahead and checked again since i hadn’t since yesterday, Uverse still doesn’t have it. at least under Inside Series, Series, or Specials.

It’s interesting that they seem to be trying to promote Cersei as sympthatetic. But I guess they have to so that they don’t have any spoilers to the general public.

Okay so that’s Starks, Baratheons and Lannisters down. C’mon House Targaryen!

ethelred,

if you have a smart phone… did you try the skyfire browser?

feyrband,

I’m on an iPhone, unfortunately.

Somerville,

You sure as heck don’t need an account. Great find!

Somerville: Winter Is Coming, 12 new (to me) videos on xfinity tv (comcast online). Bunch of ‘portraits’ of characters including Sansa, Drogo, Jon etc. And some longer ‘Craft’ videos on weapons, costumes and stunts.You can see them here but probably need comcast account to view them.http://www.fancast.com/tv/Game-of-Thrones/106696/clips

BI-WINNINGx6

I can’t run any of those videos. Are they restricted to USA or something?

Bummer. Hopefully someone will put them on youtube …

Sigh, regarding the fancast ones, they are not available outside the U.S. :(

Don’t forget to support the bottom, so please guys: youtube! ;)

For the love of god please youtube them. All 16 of them.

@Alexander Dubrovsky and @biliki use Hotspot Shield. I’m in Germany and now i can watch the clips

Franny Bee: Hell to the no! They’re trying to make us sympathize with Cersei’s plight?!

Couldn’t agree more! All gold in these new house videos… apart from the way they’re portraying Cersei! I get they need to sell to non-fans, and this is possibly appealing to female non-fans, making her relatable, but no, just no.

There’s no evidence in the books that she ever loved Robert, she only tells Ned about R’s whispering Lyanna’s name, and that’s just to evoke sympathy, and play for time. It was a marriage of ambition and convenience to wed together the kingdom – even taking Jaime out of the equation, Rhaegar was the King she wanted, Robert barely a consolation prize.

Of all the -gates (if this isn’t one yet, surely it will be!) this is the only one to actually matter to me: Cersei is a complex character, does have pathos and can evoke sympathy, but when it comes to Robert she’s a stone cold bitch, end of!

That besides, fantastic to get a glimpse of a bloody, dirty, lion-armoured Tyrion, in the aftermath of the Battle of The Green Fork (just reading it this morning, and there it is!)

Well, I managed to..err, “get around” the international viewing restriction, but now I see someone is uploading them on youtube…Thanks a lot! :)

Oh great! That really supports my bottom! Always!

Whoa, let me just say that the individual portraits are just pure fandom nerdgasm. Lovely tidbits here and there; the books are really coming alive :)

Winter Is Coming,
Bottoms up!

Bran and Arya are so cute in the Bran vid. Sansa is already annoying with her stupid fantasies, they’ve definitely got her right. Sophies acting seems a bit stilted but hey I ain’t gonna pass judgment on a 5 second out of context clip.

Nick:
Sophies acting seems a bit stilted but hey I ain’t gonna pass judgment on a 5 second out of context clip.

I noticed it, too. It’s the first time I’ve questioned the acting ability of any of the cast. The ‘Please, please! It’s all I’ve ever wanted.’ line was not well delivered.

Sam scrubbing the table with an effort is fantastic!

Awww… Maisie, i love you!

It seems she will provide a bit of the comic relief of the show. And it fits her character quite well.

Of all the -gates (if this isn’t one yet, surely it will be!) this is the only one to actually matter to me:Cersei is a complex character, does have pathos and can evoke sympathy, but when it comes to Robert she’s a stone cold bitch, end of!

I don’t agree at all !!!
It is clearly said in the novel that it happens that Robert hits Cersei, and what he did during their wedding night (calling Lyanna) was humiliating. Cersei is not a very sympathetic character, but she has reasons to hate her husband.

Eric DeBruin,

Actually, it might seem like semi-bad acting because Sansa probably IS delivering some semi-bad acting. She’s being teenage dramatic.

Overload! I think there is a serieus chance I won’t survive this :o

Noticed that John calls Robb the heir of the throne isn’t that weird… well of course he’s gonna be king in the North, but still

I shivered when I heard ‘Littlefinger’ spoken out loud XD

And I seriously think I’m going to like Cat a lot more than I do in the books

The Reader: Anyone else notice Tyrion’s different colored eyes in his xftv video?

Yup!! Definitely different colors.

Wow!! wow, wow, wow, wow WOW!!

I love these!

This is just brilliant of HBO to put these up and help people get more familiar with the characters and overall story arcs. Very impressive!

Some notes: (and minor quibbles – but VERY minor, No deal breakers here)

- I wish Tywin was bald
- Bran is PERFECT
- Arya is MORE perfect!
- Hodor!!
- Septa Mordane!
- Dany is HOT
- Grandma, er, Catlyn is too old
- Sophie Turner will not be winning any Emmys
- Ned’s grown fat! LOL
- and finally… I’m actually wondering, for the first time, if Lena Headey will NOT be so great as Cersei. When I first heard she was cast I was thrilled, but… Now, I’m not so sure. I’ve yet to see a single clip that screams: THAT’S CERSEI!!! (Like I have with Bran, Jamie, Ned, Arya, etc)

Again, no deal breaker, but I’m certainly not as enthralled with her as Cersei as I once was.

Longtime lurker here who just can’t sit still anymore, too much awesomeness!

About Tywin – do we now have a sideburnsgate and a baldgate?

And as for the Sansa clip – guess we won’t have any trouble hating her character after all.. snobbish, hysterical little bitch. Sophie Turner is really lovely though.

And Viserys! Asbolutely, utterly MAD! Love it!

I believe the opening to the Khal Drogo vid is Viserys crowning

TARGARYEN HOUSE FEATURE:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZlCSUUquFw

The Sana “portrait” is the only one I’m letting myself watch at work, but it looks like Sophie’s nailed it. Personally I don’t think she’ll be unsympathetic or hateful at all, but then I love the character. Sansa has to start out shallow (though even through this, I mostly understand where she’s coming from) so she can evolve as beautifully as she eventually does.

I love seeing the Hound wearing his helmet in the Sansa Clip

Perma-grin. My co-workers must think I just got laid. These glimpses have wiped any doubt from my mind(not that there was much). Just saying.

Zoinks, did you guys see The Hound in the Sansa video in his full helm?? OMG

My favorite so far is Cersei, Lena Heady is really playing the Cersei that i had in my head. She’s weary and not always so put together, i love that she doesn’t look too glossy but rather rough around the edges sometimes…makes it all a bit more real.

i’m loving all these bits and pieces we’re getting, it’s like the marketing plan is fully on at the moment and there must be more to come. Exciting times.

Altaïr,

Valid points perhaps, but going back to the text you can’t say she doesn’t provoke Robert into hitting her, and as for whispering Lyanna, we’ve only Cersei’s word that that actually happened, and it was the perfect information to evoke sympathy in our honourable Ned, at a very precarious time – you could argue its instrumental in keeping Ned on the back foot, making her seem the ‘wronged woman’ and making him feel she’d do the ‘womanly’ thing (i.e pack up and get out of Dodge)

Anyway, back to the TV series, its simply that these glimpses of Lena’s motivation don’t match the character at all (in my eyes) and make me worry that she’s not got a proper handle on the character

That said, its a behind-the-scenes declaration, and so long as the same isn’t ham-fistedly proclaimed in the actual series, that’ll be fine!

Blackfish Blues,

The Tyrion scene is probably from when he is on his way back from the wall and he stops at Winterfell.

Since I read these wonderful books, I’m devoted to House Lannister but… Gosh!! Now I loooooove Arya, I adore that little precious girl. What a talented and cute and amazing and endearing child.

From what I have seem so far, a LOT of characters I don’t care about before, now they are becoming truly favourites for me. HBO, D&D, and all the rest of the team, they indeed have done a fabulous work. Oh, I’m so excited I don’t know how to express myself , I need more words! lol
AStB

Gahhh so much so fast! I had a spastic fangirl moment and didn’t know what to do with myself for a while!

Franny Bee,

I really like everything you said about the two house videos and definitely agree with you about Cersei. It seems like these videos are trying to make us sympathize with her, but I just can’t. The only aspect of Cersei that I can feel any sort of positive reaction to is that she WANTS to challenge the male dominance in society. However, she goes about it in all the wrong ways.

Lannister – Loved Lord Tywin; he looks almost exactly like I imagined him. Also love Tyrion’s face when Tywin passes by. When I first saw Jack Gleeson as Joffrey, I wasn’t thrilled. Now, however, I’m excited, because I think he’ll play him really well.

Baratheon – It’s great to finally see Renly and see that he doesn’t look as bad as initial screencaps led me to believe. He actually looks quite good. I think Mark Addy has a really good grasp on playing Robert, and I really like the chemistry between him and Sean Bean.

Character Videos
Arya – Probably my favorite. Maisie just gets it. The way she explains Arya sounds like something an adult would say, especially when she’s talking about how Sansa is blinded by Joffrey’s good looks but Arya understands he’s not a good person. She is adorable and her scenes are all captivating…the bit where she hit the target over Bran’s shoulder! And when she flung food at Sansa. Perfect. :)

Sansa – She comes across as a little more whiny/spoiled-sounding than I imagined while reading the books. I also imagined Sansa as being very floaty, almost ditzy, lost in her own little fairy tale world, but for the most part, not really assertive in any way. But when she’s talking to Catelyn about marrying Joff, she sounds like a straight up spoiled teenage girl. Sophie’s acting paled in comparison to Maisie and Isaac’s, but everything is also out of context. I did quite like her reaction to Arya at the feast…I thought that was spot on.

Bran – LOVE THIS. First of all, direwolf puppage action!!! <3. Bran climbing, and Isaac's explanation about having an "easy life" and "being a Lord's son." It's spot on, but also tremendously sad for anyone who has read the series. He's also really great in the execution scene…in past cuts of that, I hadn't noticed his nervous fidgeting. I especially love how he replies, almost as though it's routine, "Our is the Old Way" to Ned's question.

Ned – Sean Bean is great as usual. One moment that stood out was when he defended Bran after Jon/Robb laughed at his terrible archery. I just can't wait to see the relationship between Ned and his kids unfold on film.

Jon – Aghhh the tension between Jon and Cat. I could never really sympathize with her for being so terrible to him.

Catelyn – Michelle Fairley's portrayal seems good and actually, more grounded than the Cat I imagined from the books. That could just be because we're not inside her head.

Daenerys – I LOVE YOU EMILIA. What a perfect portrayal. I love her look – she definitely captures the almost "otherworldly" Targaryen beauty. She has a very ethereal look to her. And her voice. Perfect. I just love her explanation of Dany, her passion and enthusiasm. Cannot wait to see her in full scenes!

Viserys – Harry Lloyd is brilliant. I think he will definitely give one of the best performances of Season 1. He so perfectly captures crazy. I liked about half of his explanation of Viserys (the part about him considering the Dothraki to be his people, even though they don't give a shit about him). However, I didn't really agree with some of the things he was saying…the parts about Dany being a "sullen child" and how Viserys needed her to do something for him, instead of how he'd been doing everything for her for the entirety of her life. I never picked up that sentiment from the books. I got the impression that he at least cared about her, and would teach her and confide in her about Westeros and their family. But I hardly see him as a self-sacrificing protective, well-meaning older brother. Dany was his only constant link to Westeros, to his family and to his throne, and moreover, she was meant to be his future bride.

Drogo – HAHA, Momoa describes him as, "a lion…crossed with a silverback." Like how he talks about slowly falling in love with Dany/warming up to her. That was my favorite aspect of Drogo.

Tyrion – I don't even want to waste time, because anything I say is going to be repetitive of everything I've said since the beginning. In short: Peter Dinklage is pure awesome.

Cersei – As stated above, I think Lena Headey wants us to sympathize with Cersei, but I just can't. I like the scene where she gets up from the dais after Robert says something about pissing himself…a very nice subtlety showing how she loathes his presence.

No Jaime? Really?!

Rinoa De la Pica,

Please, how can I edit my message, guys? I can’t find the bottom, I mean, the button anywhere!

Lord Willum,

Lord Willum:
Altaïr,
Valid points perhaps, but going back to the text you can’t say she doesn’t provoke Robert into hitting her, and as for whispering Lyanna, we’ve only Cersei’s word that that actually happened, and it was the perfect information to evoke sympathy in our honourable Ned, at a very precarious time – you could argue its instrumental in keeping Ned on the back foot, making her seem the ‘wronged woman’ and making him feel she’d do the ‘womanly’ thing (i.e pack up and get out of Dodge)

Do you hit your wife/girlfriend when she makes you mad ???? There’s no good reason to beat ones wife !
And as for the Lyanna thing, the simple fact that Robert goes immediatly in the crypts to see her tomb when he arrives in winterfell pleads for the veracity of the anecdote.

Cersei is not sympathetic, but Robert is neither. A real catastrophe, this mariage !

The swords/armor video is amazing. You really get to see the detail they put into the pieces and the thought behind it. I didn’t care for the gold cloaks or Lannister armor before, but now I get it. Really top notch.

Also, the last few seconds of the video is full on Hound. I need a screen cap of that to make my desktop.

Some damn fine videos. I really liked the Momoa one the best: I’ve got the longest, haha!

Also really liked Cersei, Heady explaining that Cersei and Tyrion are the most alike. Heady is trying to sympathise her character because everything bad she says about the character is in fact a spoiler (fucking half of the family, plotting to kill her husband etc.).

Totally overdosed right now, feeling bad for Ran screencapping al this madness.

Thanks, WiC and Co. I’ve been doing nothing else today but watching videos, but you’ve relieved a really shitty day.

Live comments as I was watching:

Jon Snow:

Chilling gaze from Cat.

Love the interaction with Jaime. Nikolaj gave me a Jeff Bridges vibe with that smirk.

Love Jon & Sam!

Sansa:

Hee, Robb’s brotherly warning gaze at Joffrey!

Cersei’s expression hints at the future complex relationship between her and Sansa.

Jeyne Poole? Septa Mordane?

HEE! Arya plays with food!

Still very impressed by Joffrey. He can switch from Prince Charming to brat with ease.

Bran:

Lovely child. Cat is so sweet with him, and Ned suitably stern.

PUPPIES.

Fun with Arya – hee!

Cat:

“My love”, sniffle. Sweet bed scene.

I truly love these two characters and seeing them together.

RODRIK’S BEARD.

Arya:

Pure awesomeness, every skinny bone of her. HEE, she almost blinds Jon with her hug!

Ned:

LOVE his interaction with the children. Little bit of water-mudding with Jon?

Ned & Robert, HEE!

Sean Bean rules.

Viserys:

The great revelation of this series for me.

Love the delivery of “You don’t want to wake the dragon”. Light but deadly underneath.

Hello, the Dothraki wedding custom.

Ooooh, Jorah!!! Stunning voice and delivery. And Iain Glen is gorgeous. I want a featurette for him.

Daenerys:

She comes across consistently as a little powerhouse in the making.

“A Khaleesi.” Yeah.

JORAH. Real chemistry between them.

Drogo:

Poor Viserys!

Momoa is funny out of character, nice smile.

That’s all with Drogo?…

Robert:

What’s up with Addy’s beard?

HOUND! BARRISTAN!

Ned was gifted Winterfell? WTF?

Cersei:

Whoa! The Jaime-Slap now gives
me a Han Solo vibe.

Love Tyrion’s smirk.

No time to watch Tyrion, sigh.

only half through these but man they’re all great! Tyrion exchange with Theon is awesome. Also spotted pregnant Dany.

it’s getting more and more evident that Lena hasn’t read the books.

i understand her process and how she approaches the adaptation..and hopefully it doesn’t damage the performance…but someone should really clue her in on cersei’s back story and true motivations.

Altaïr,

Now there’s an accusation to throw about lightly!! Of course there never has nor will be a valid excuse for a man to beat his wife (or vice versa), but in the setting of a quasi-medieval fantasy series, I’m guessing spousal abuse would more prevalent, not to mention he’s the damned King (you think Aerys, or the previous Targaryen Kings would have stood for such challenges to their authority in the presence of their Hands/oldest friends?)

His trip to the crypts is simply proof that he did love Lyanna, and of his disregard for Cersei’s feelings by this point, nothing further.

Not arguing that he’s pretty unpleasant to her, but she’s worse to him – he always speaks to Ned with a hint of regret that its turned into the marriage it has, she’s only poisonous about him (can’t remember the phrase, but the bit about disposing of his child is horrific)

I’m not saying he definitely didn’t say Lyanna’s name on their wedding night, but – given the source (she’s well known to be manipulative) the timing (rather key in the scheme of things) and the fact that GRRM has made it plain through other characters’ misrecollections that what we see/hear isn’t always gospel – I’m surprised you don’t have some doubts that this happened

Ice reminds me of Cloud Strife’s buster sword; in that it is big, obviously, but mostly because it strikes me as iconic…an integral part of Ned’s character.

I had some pretty hearty chuckles during the stunt vid. Pretty entertaining, that one.

Altaïr:
Lord Willum,

Do you hit your wife/girlfriend when she makes you mad ???? There’s no good reason to beat ones wife !
And as for the Lyanna thing, the simple fact that Robert goes immediatly in the crypts to see her tomb when he arrives in winterfell pleads for the veracity of the anecdote.

Cersei is not sympathetic, but Robert is neither. A real catastrophe, this mariage !

Robert at least seems to be regretful and sad about what his life has turned into. He knows he is a joke. In addition, his undying devotion to Lyanna shows that he did deeply love her. These two aspects of his character are what make me sympathize with him. On the flip side, I don’t see Cersei demonstrating either of these qualities. First, I don’t read her as being sad about her marriage and wishing she could make it work. Conversely, she is angry. She hates the fact that her father arranged her marriage, she loathes Robert and she hates the hand she was dealt in life.

In addition, I would have a hard time showing how Cersei has ever even LOVED anyone. My first inclination would be to say Jaime, but look at how she treats him in AFfC – so scornful. Even her “love” for her children is questionable: Is it actually a mother’s true love? Or does she protect them out of a desire to: (1) put them on the Throne and control Westeros; and (2) desperately try to prove Maggy the Frog’s prophecy wrong, both out of spite and self-preservation?

I feel a little bad for her in that Robert called her Lyanna on her wedding night. That sort of thing would hurt any woman. However, their marriage wasn’t for love, it was for politics, so it’s not an insane notion to think either of them would love someone else. It was just an overall unfortunate situation, but in terms of morality, I think Cersei is far far far FAR worse than Robert.

This is just stupid awesome. The portraits are nerd-a-licious. We get to see some Arya/Syrio action with Ned! Jorah speaking! A Drogo portrait?? I’m not sure if MoMoa saying that whoever has the longest hair is the biggest pimp is consistent with everyone else’s monologue but so be it. During the Cercei part I LOVED the Tyrion smile. And then Tyrion portrait…come on, we all knew he was going to kill this part but to see more and more of him…just fantastic. Best line is a no brainer in….”Close the door!!”

How about a Rickon portrait?? :-) Just a 20 second one of him and Shaggydog whipping some ass.

Where are the golden whiskers on Tywin’s face in the Lannister video? Hope it’s an early cut…

HBO, I am thoroughly impressed. WINTER IS COMING, hot damn!

Maisie is awesome. I can’t help but smile everytime I watch a clip of hers.

Katja,

Yea, we don’t really see too much of him until Cat’s PoVs towards the end of CoK, if I remember correctly.

Wow so great. I’m pleasantly surprised by Momoa as Drogo. He was pretty great. Lena Headey is wonderful. I think if they followed the books 100% this show would be stale as hell. I hope it was just the scene, but the Sansa video doesn’t have the best acting…

Eric DeBruin,

Well, we see him at the Whispering Wood and Riverrun towards the end of GoT. And there’s the time he was ruling Winterfell. But that part focused on Bran, and obviously we never get Robb’s POV. But because of that I think he might develop more on tv.

for some reason the videos are not working for me

Yes, it is true Robb is not a POV character…but he does feature so prominently in the storyline that when I was reading the books, it wasn’t until a certain Spoiler-That-Shall-Not-Be-Named in the 3rd book that I actually realized he wasn’t a POV, and hadn’t been one all along.

GRRM himself has sounded pleased as punch with the girls. I’m sure they’l prove their worth. We already all love Maisie, who is more Arya than anyone oculd have dare dream, but I think Sophie will win us over.

I’m glad to see people are finding themselves more likely to feel favorable towards Catelyn after the videos. I always thought readers gave her short shrift. She does the wrong thing often, but she does it for the right reasons; she just doesn’t have the knowledge the reader does, and no one EVER listens to her when it matters most.

Pure Awesomeness: Rory McCann as The Hound, Sandor Clegane (towerofthehand.com all-time favourite character No 5)

http://yfrog.com/h2pzdbp
http://yfrog.com/h3min2p
http://yfrog.com/h0918p

On all the other stuff: HBO does it right!

Blackfish Blues –

I’m assuming that Addy’s beard is trimmed differently because they’re shooting a flashback scene there, most likely the battle at the Trident (note the water in the background).

What’s interesting about Sansa is that she’s not a hated character. She’s a polarizing character. Many, many people I know name her their favourite, me included. And most everyone who doesn’t despises her.

A little worried about how imperious she comes off, I’ve always imagined Sansa more dreamy, but Sophie definitely understands her and I’m looking forward to seeing more.

Hot damn, if you add up the time of all of these videos and the previously released ones, it is about as long as an episode. That’s just too much! I wish I could stop myself from watching them, I feel like I am diluting the goodness now. They need to just start airing already.

OMG, this is COMPLETE OVERLOAD. I can’t even comment on all I am seeing here. Just under House Lannister alone are 5 features-a 9 minute one (9 Minutes!) of HOUSE LANNISTER, then the individual features for Jaime, Cersei, Tyrion and Robert.

When I’ve read Game of Thrones previously, I’ve always treated Viserys as no more than an afterthought but Harry Lloyd’s portrayal of him is just stunning. Just from the few clips, I find him a more captivating character than I ever did in the books.

Dinklage is Tyrion, it’s that simple. The added scene with him and Jamie really fits.

I also agree with the hesitation people are feeling about Headey’s understanding of Cersei. However, it appears they don’t want to give away the twincest just yet and it’s kind of difficult to explain her character without that.

Also, did anyone else notice in the weapons vid there’s a shot of Payne giving Ice a few practice swings? Wonder what scene they were filming there…

oh snap! way too much stuff! it’s going to take me forever to watch each of these videos a dozen times….

yes this seems the perfect day to not be able to watch videos on the internet. I’m just happy as a peach here

This really is overwhelmingly awesome. I was wiggling in my chair and laughing like a madman.

lol @ Cersei’s vid:

“she loves her brother and she’ll stay with him as long as he’s faithful *wink wink* and loyal…”
rofl :D

Franny Bee,

Is that the crowning scene, or perhaps the belt-lashing scene with Dany? He does look more terrified, but has a little bit of the furious shock look to him too.

Wow, this is… unexpected! After the two videos on Sunday, and the Maester’s Path on Monday, the last thing I expected was a slew of new videos.

Well, I guess I know how I’m spending my morning! Time to watch.

Lord Willum,

SPOILERS, if anyone cares

Robert might have loved Lyenna, but she clearly did not love him. And when she would not meekly bow down to his demands of marriage, he started a war to take her back by force. He admits as much to Ned, the war was about Lyenna and nothing else. I suspect that had he gotten his will, Lyenna would have turned hated him as much as Cersei does.

I find Robert nearly as reprehensible as Ned, both cause more misery and death by their stubborn pride and refusale to compromise than Arys Targaryen could ever have managed in the days he had left.

How is it a bad thing to kill one man because of jealousy, but kill thousands and you are suddenly a hero?

What a ride!
I have been watching these for two hours.
To many things to swallow.

Highlights (after the first watch) for me:
Maisie Williams as Arya!
Puppies and Isaac.
Finally Tywin.
Theon Greyjoy speaks!
Tension between Cat and Jon, tension between Jon and Tyrion. Well done Kit!
Hound s helmet.
and Harry Lloyd! Oh, yes Harry Lloyd.

Skyweir:
Lord Willum,

I find Robert nearly as reprehensible as Ned, both cause more misery and death by their stubborn pride and refusale to compromise than Arys Targaryen could ever have managed in the days he had left.

Well, considering before Jaime killed him, he planned on burning down the largest city in the 7 kingdoms to die with him, purely out of spite for his enemies, Aerys could’ve surpassed that measure fairly easily.

and one more thing. we all KNOW Cersei never loved Robert, so either they’re going another way with that, or Lena doesn’t know her history.

either way, it’s a bit disturbing to me.

Franny Bee:

Hell to the no! They’re trying to make us sympathize with Cersei’s plight?!

I completely disagree with your notion that it’s incorrect to give a reasonable explanation for Cersei . She’s certainly not just a victim, she is a hard and ruthless person, but Robert never wanted her and never seems to have let that go unnoticed. He was always one to sleep and whore around and he never stopped so any woman not being Lyanna (and perhaps her too as he would probably only have stopped for the perfect Lyanna that exists in his mind) would probably have grown to contempt him. Cersei’s nasty sides are also well explained from her being ambitious and capable but never being seen as more than just a woman by her father. I think AFFC explained her character very well in a light that wasn’t just an evil bitch but rather a woman who’s horrible deeds came from human and motherly sides.

For me the strongest part of the books is that most important characters aren’t as single dimensioned in my eyes as you seem to think of Cersei (unless I misread you, which is a possibility).

*in Spaceballs the movie line* HOLY MOOOOLLY!

Gensanta!!!

What an overload!! Hard to sort the info out. Man, this is going to be frakking awesome!!

TYWIN!!!

Tyrion has different coloure eyes! And “Close the door” is just perfect.
And Arya with the bow is just hilarious.

Everything today=pure win!! When you go to the portrait videos on youtube look at all the other links on the side and check out how many views they all have. HBO needs to go ahead and confirm season two they absolutely have a SMASH HIT on their hands.

Cersei lovegate, + actors seemingly not knowing their characters

One thing that really stands out in the series is ambiguousness. Characters say one thing and mean another, our narrator is always a PoV character who is clouded. It’s an excellent example of an unreliable narrator, a slew of them in fact. There’s plenty of room open for the actress portraying Cersei to believe that perhaps she did try and make the marriage work in the beginning. As long as the script is not definitive, the differing interpretations of the character can add to the performance rather than take away. Viewers will wonder if she ever did love Robert or if she really has always been a hateful bitch. It will divide viewers just as much as the book seem to divide readers. They can have the same discussion we are having now, of whether Robert or Cersei are more reprehensible, and if either of them have any redeeming qualities.

Under the hood, actors having a different interpretation of the books characters than some of us might, can actually be a good thing. And even though GRRM wrote the books, there is really no definitive person who can judge whether a portrayal is right or not. We’ll just each have to judge whether we like that portrayal when it actually comes around.

The same goes for other statements the actors say about their characters that might not ring true. If the nuance is played right within the rigidity of the written script, I believe that all of the brilliant actors, with their own colored interpretations of their characters can help to bring about the ambiguousness that the POV approach did in the books.

What remains to really be seen, and what still has me slightly worried, is the script itself. Out of context, a lot of lines seem to either fall flat, or be overdramatic. I’m increasingly concerned with the “cheeky response + dramatic exit” that seems to be very common. Hopefully in context these moments happen infrequently enough not to feel repetative.

Sigh, I think we would be better off without all of this advanced viewing, since its so disjointed, out of context, and could dilute the awesomeness that a cold viewing of the series would provide. Of course I didn’t have to watch them hehe.

Finally managed to actually watch all the videos. A few thoughts-

-Agreed about “Close the door!” A simple line, but it’s just very Tyrion in the delivery.
-Jon Snow’s video is my favorite, I’m totally sold on Kit Harington. Also digging the peeks of Samwell we’re getting.
-I think that Lena Headey is going to be not quite the same Cersei as the books, and that’s okay. Book-Cersei gets to be a little tiresome, frankly.
- I love Coster-Waldau’s smirks. That IS Jaime, big nose and all.
- I’m still dying to see and hear “HODOR!”

My last remaining doubts were blown away by this. They really nailed it. The best parts? How about really seeing the Imp come to life? What about Robert Baratheon being the boisterous drunken fool I love to pity? Or perhaps seeing poor Theon being mocked? Or (finally) the glimpse of the hard ass that is the Lannister patriarch? No, the tension in the scene with Catelyn and Jon must surely take the prize? Or the sincere praise Michelle Fairley heaps onto the story (no more whining about her please or I will seek you out and feed parts of you to the goats)? Or Harry Lloyd nailing the wonderful creepiness of Viserys? And Daenerys! I am no Khal Drogo, but please Dany, marry me! And Jon Snow, marry me too!

Ser Lurkalot:
… please Dany, marry me! And Jon Snow, marry me too!

Well, the dragon does need three heads…

lol @ Robb getting the shaft again

Abyss: Do I just see things or does Dany have colored eyebrows in this screenshot?

Yes, and coloured eyes too?!?

Edit: they seem purple, but in all the other close-ups they’re definately not.

I am speechless and salivating!!!!!!!!

This is odd – the video ‘box’ on this website AND on youtube is a blank black box….nothing to click on. (I tried almost all of them..)NOT a white box. But,I can watch the videos at http://www.fancast.com/tv/game-of-thrones/106696/clips. Dunno if anyone else is having this problems,but at least there’s one place that works. I’ve never had problems with vids on this site, not HBO, nor youtube…..til now…..just in case someone get frustrated……………;o)

Now that I’ve seen them – Holy Cow!!! They really are gonna give this ol’ lady a heart attack! I was one of those (few?) that was not too excited about a ‘movie’ of ASoIaF. I much prefer books and am/was very doubtful that anyone could come remotely close to the character depth in the books. After watching all these clips, it finally clicked in my brain that they are apples and oranges. The book series is terrific and the HBO shows will be too. I will not compare the two. They will each hold their own. NOW I’m really getting revved up!!!

Oh my! – Kit IS Jon Snow (and oh so sexxxxyyyyyy…..ulp. ‘Scuse me, he’s young enough to be my grandson but I’m not dead, ya know!)

Everyone looks and sounds utterly fantastic………..

Franny Bee: Hell to the no! They’re trying to make us sympathize with Cersei’s plight?! She never gave RB a chance. She was ‘committed elsewhere’ from an early age *cough*. I mean, who /wouldn’t/ hate hubby whoring & drinking, but for her it is less about ‘heartbreak’, and more about ‘public humiliation’. We know she put nothing into the marriage and saw it as an irritation from the start.

She never gave him a chance? Seeing how their marriage started out with him drunken and on top of her calling out another woman’s name, *he* didn’t give *her* chance. And not only is he a whoring drunk, he also abuses her. Seriously, if I were Cersei I would engineer his downfall and cuckold him too. And if I had NCW for a brother I wouldn’t let that stop me from some twinly bonding either.

Did I see a shot of Tyrion and Bronn after the Battle Green Fork? That’s greatness! Harry Lloyd seems to be a scene real stealer.

Franny Bee,

It’s good that you hold by your beliefs, I’m not trying to say you are wrong, just that my opinion differs. I too love discussion!

I seem to remember Cersei thinking that Robert was handsome etc before they married so it actually seemed like she was on some level open to it. Robert of course disappointed her right off the bat by calling out another woman’s name on their wedding night, and kept on with his gluttony and promiscuity (and even abuse), so I think that brought out all her bad sides. Of course the capacity for those bad sides were already there but I imagine it’s hard to be much else if you are very unhappy in your marriage and you live in a place ripe with intrigue. Add to that the fact that her father don’t see her capabilities and that her actions has brought her children she loves but also put those children in great peril.

I actually think both the Lannister twins are bad guys in part due to circumstance. Jaime has in my eyes also embraced his bad sides because that’s what everyone expects from him after the kingslaying, and they won’t let him forget that. He’s so strong in himself so the bad things don’t really get to him the way it does Cersei.

These facets are part in why I hold those two characters as some of the best in the series after four books.

Good lord, Maisie is my favorite ever. Arya is gonna rock.

OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!OMG!
Soooooo happy right now! *_*
Amazing! I love all the videos.
We finally get to hear Sansa!
And dear lord I love Harry Lloyd as Viserys <3 I mean, I love all the casting, but my god he's perfect.

Blackfish Blues: Renly finally looks kind of regal. Broochfest!

I’m putting Joust Hooligan Gate on hold. He’s certainly looking fine in these new shots, though I’m still not a fan of the cropped hair and beard. I’d prefer shaven with a flowing black mane.

Knurk,

I don´t think so. I guess it´s just the light or something. But you are right, they look a bit different…

clemintine,

I still must respectfully disagree. She was screwing Jaime long before she wed Robert, and never had any intention of stopping. In fact, she agreed to marry Robert in the belief that Jaime would get to come to King’s Landing, so they could carry on as per usual AND she’d get to be queen too. No sacrifice required. Still can’t feel bad for her. So he called out another name? She was already fucking her brother, and never stopped, and never had the intention of stopping. Not just infidelity, but treason too.

(I do feel bad that Robert is violent with her. That is sick.)

Anyways, in the book, Robert didn’t want her, but she didn’t want him either. Not for a moment. Any sob story she told Ned was precisely that. A sob story told for empathy, to manipulate him or to buy herself time. She was a scheming, evil, selfish woman with no regard for anyone but herself from when she was a youth.(Melara/Maggie the frog…) And that story is straight from the character’s PoV.

Kana mentioned that Lena Headey is taking her character’s side (pov) about things, so maybe that’s where her ‘empathy unto herself’ is coming from. I can love the show either way (justifiably upset Cersei or whack-job psychopath Cersei, or some melange of the two).

But Cersei is vile in the books, while also having been manipulated & used by the #1 abuser in her life: not Robert, but her father.

Just my opinion, though. :)

Jonathan Leard: I’m glad to see people are finding themselves more likely to feel favorable towards Catelyn after the videos. I always thought readers gave her short shrift. She does the wrong thing often, but she does it for the right reasons; she just doesn’t have the knowledge the reader does, and no one EVER listens to her when it matters most.

Yeah, exactly! She’s put in very difficult situations, but maintains her inner strength and resolve all the way through to do the best for her family. I always liked her, and I love Michelle Farlay. She’s beautiful and strong and wise and everything I think Caitlin should be. UnCat might be a different matter, since who knows how much of the live Cat is still left in there. She’ll be very interesting to see on screen.

I see some people have made mention of it but I wanted to emphasize: if you have Comcast cable, watch the clips on your tv – they are WAY longer and loads of additional footage. We see Tywin talking several times, Jon and Robb shirtless, LOTS of Robb talking, Robb & Jaime profiles, and sooo soooo soooo much more.

re: Cersei – Villains are rarely villains in their own mind. More than likely she thought she WAS going into her marriage with an open mind. Robert’s behavior – piggish from the start – gave her the excuse she needed to behave the way she was going to ultimately anyway. And also gave her “poor little me” ammo for the future.

PSA Moment: It is NEVER ok to hit a spouse/SO/child, kids. Even if she is really, really, really asking for it!

Smegma: Jon and Robb shirtless

… Oh.

Maybe I’ll order Comcast when I get home tonight.

purplejilly,

Can’t wait to see your illegal picture. It’s not a gate-company truck is it? XD

PS: I feel your pain. Looking forward to having you to dive into the fray :)

MetalgoddessAMB,

Why all this Cersei hate without the Robert hate? He’s a wife-beating, whoring, drunken idiot pig! I’m not saying she’s clean of crime, but I find him far worse and more vile than her. Maybe she cheats on him with one person, but he cheats on her with every whore and takes advantage of peasant women (perhaps even rape).

Cersei is a woman born before her time. She’s an intelligent and ambitious woman living in a world where women are seen as breeders and little more, and men hold the power. Not even her own father sees her gifts. Cersei is product of her era, showing the prices women pay in a sexist society, how women with great minds are wasted, and how the society twists them. A woman cannot have any power in her world without dirtying her hands first.

The Rabbit,

2:02 of the Lannister video.

purplejilly,

Skip his crowning ??! Are you mad ?! That is one of the great pivotal/provocative moments in the book !

Murf,

The Hound got promoted in Joffrey’s first audience, at the same time Barristan is put out and Sansa pleads for Ned.

In the Daenerys clip at 36 to 39 seconds I believe we see parts of her last scene in the book…

Best birthday presents ever for me! 18 great little gifts :)

I think all of this stuff is fantastic, and everything looks great, EXCEPT for two things.

Cersei- just not feeling it. I picture her as acting more like..and having the facial expressions.. of Atia on Rome. I think that actress would have been perfect for Cersei if she looked a little different.

Sansa..tiny sample but acting seems pretty bad, and she had the least actual footage from the show of all the featurettes.

Everything else I love..get a better feel for how the show will be after seeing all these videos and I like it.

Gormryjk,

clemintine:
MetalgoddessAMB,

Why all this Cersei hate without the Robert hate? He’s a wife-beating, whoring, drunken idiot pig! I’m not saying she’s clean of crime, but I find him far worse and more vile than her. Maybe she cheats on him with one person, but he cheats on her with every whore and takes advantage of peasant women (perhaps even rape).

Cersei is a woman born before her time. She’s an intelligent and ambitious woman living in a world where women are seen as breeders and little more, and men hold the power.Not even her own father sees her gifts. Cersei is product of her era, showing the prices women pay in a sexist society, how women with great minds are wasted, and how the society twists them. A woman cannot have any power in her world without dirtying her hands first.

Because she has no honor.

Are you saying Cersei should be some kind of role model for women? How preposterous! I’m all for women having power, but she never achieved it by doing anything the right, proper or honorable way. Intelligent? Most of Her decisions aren’t based on any intelligence, but on greed and the need to hold the power. She makes hasty and damning decisions without thinking them through. And her decisions get stupider and stupider as the story goes on. She obviously gets in way over her head, and her lack of real smarts is exactly what gets her there. No, No, I would much rather look up to a strong woman character who gets there NOT by scheming and plotting and removing all obstacles by brute force, but by being smart, fair and honorable.

Unfortunately, in George’s world, it’s very hard to win that way.

as for Robert, he has many unlikeable characteristics. But frankly, he isn’t around long enough for me to even care So I neither like him, or dislike him.

I hope those spoiler tags work, it’s the first time I’ve used them.

I didn’t view Sansa’s acting as bad – in fact I thought it was a great way to show how ridiculous she was being. She’s playing a role and it’s obvious because she’s too young to know that everyone sees right through her. Just my take on it.

Franny Bee: So she very unreasonably expected to be Queen and have the King love her while she loved/showered elsewhere. Narcississtic much?

Just a note from the psychological brigade: A sociopath doesn’t care about whether everyone loves them or not. They simply want to be acknowledged as being better than everyone else. Which is one of the many reasons that I argue that – while she is clearly narcissistic and likely bi-polar – Cersei is NOT a sociopath. ;)

MetalgoddessAMB: I’m all for women having power, but she never achieved it by doing anything the right, proper or honorable way

And just what is exactly the right, proper and honourable way for a woman to gain power in Westros?

I’m not saying she’s a role model by any means, and I’m not saying she good and righteous. I’m saying that born in a vacuum, or say a society where women aren’t discriminated against, she would turn out to be good. Even though she makes villainous choices, I can’t hate her because I see her negative traits as coming from the society around her, and not for within her.

Please somebody upload the longer version of the videos!! In Europe we are about to die!! Please!! PLEASE!!

That was such an overload. I sat here opening up 18 tabs with Youtube and was giggling for most of the time :)

Arya: Such a darling. She seems so natural in her acting and will steal most of the scenes she’s in.

Dany and Viserys: I don’t think the viewers will have trouble connecting to all the stuff happening on “that other continent”. There’s some good chemistry there and Harry Lloyd obviously seems perfect (I especially liked his scene on the stairs in the Daenerys-clip… and all others) and I think Emilia is just perfect… as Dany :)

Sansa: To me Sophie has captured her essence for the first book. She’s the teenager acting all melodramatic in the scenes shown.

Cersei: I don’t really see her saying things like “Cersei is a purely evil woman who wants to get rid of her husband so she can continue having sex with her twin brother, meanwhile plotting to get rid of the hero and kill his household” in an interview. Lena is a mother herself and I think it’s good that she has seemingly bonded with the character she’s playing. I don’t think the viewers will have a hard time hating her even so.

Wolfheart,

Yes, Ned used Ice in combat. I suspect the weaponsmith in the video says that because it’s only used ceremonially during the actual story, plus that you mainly only used such large swords to destroy pike/spear formations and such in history, not for normal man to man combat.

McSherrie,

if only we could use Charlie Sheen as a promotional tool: Winning, or dying, duh! HBO would have a million subscribtions extra in a day.

Apparently there’s more we are missing. A quote from Westeros

‘Huh. Forum goer says Comcast On Demand includes Tywin speaking, added Robb and Jaime videos… and shirtless Robb and Jon?!”

And the videos we see are longer there. And only available to Comcast on demand subscribers.

DAMN!

greenie88,

Arya doesn’t need to have a great scene for Maisie to steal it :)

I don’t see Sansa becoming a villain. I haven’t read the last books since AFfC came out but to me she’s the Stark that is most likely to continue and restore the Stark-name (Bran and Arya seems to have other directions they’re going in, and Rickon probably wouldn’t know what to restore).

Wolfheart:
Apparently there’s more we are missing. A quote from Westeros

‘Huh. Forum goer says Comcast On Demand includes Tywin speaking, added Robb and Jaime videos… and shirtless Robb and Jon?!”

And the videos we see are longer there. And only available to Comcast on demand subscribers.

DAMN!

Yes, that was me that posted that there – and I posted it here too, above. There’s A LOT of footage in the tv versions that are not in the online versions. If I had a way to upload these I would…but I have no clue how to even begin something like that.

I may watch them again later and do a write up on the added stuff – there’s several minutes worth in each of the house videos that are not online, and then the Jaime/Robb profiles.

Kana,

I completely agree. What we are seeing from the actor is Cersei’s point of view from inside her own head. As an actor, how do you make a 3-dimensional villain instead of a cackling caricature? You justify your actions to yourself. You were wronged, you are being treated unfairly, and if only you were treated right you wouldn’t have to do the things you do. The most sympathetic picture of Cersei is going to come from inside Cersei’s own head, or in this case the actor playing Cersei.

Of course that doesn’t mean we have to agree with Cersei’s view on why things happened. :) And the more ambiguity or the stronger the opposing perspectives from different characters, the more meat there is to the story as a whole.

Yeah weird, comcast’s on demand section has videos listed for both Jaime and Robb, but they aren’t in the “clips” section and I can’t get them to play. Has anyone figured out how to watch them?

purplejilly: Okay folks I am home from work – so here is my promised picture! A truck who knows a secret about Game of Thrones!

That’s very cute….I love it….nice pic…

Thrilled with everything!! Seriously, HBO really delivered with these. I can’t wait until my birthday!! It will be an amazing birthday gift to watch the premier!

Elena Amici,

Yes, it only works if you have Comcast as your cable provider though. It is NOT in the HBO section though. Go to the On Demand service, select Top Picks and there will be GOT listed. Don’t watch the HD versions because there’s only a couple of videos there (last I checked) but there’s tons of stuff in the regular one. Several minutes of additional footage in each of the House profiles and a Jaime and Robb portrait as well.

Wolfheart: The new Lannister banner pennon with the Lion in walking ‘statant’ heraldric position looks awesome!

I believe the walking pose is the lion passant; the lion statant is immobile, with all four feet on the ground.
(That said, I’m thrilled to see it just the same!)

I laughed out loud at CLOSE THE DOOR line since I imagine Jaime returning to close the door with a funny expression in his oh-so-gorgeous face. So sweet.

Hey, there are a lot of beautiful people in these series. I’m in love with too many characters right now.

Smegma:
More mentions of Aerys and a lot more in depth coverage of what made Jaime a Kingslayer and why he did it and how he feels people should be thanking him

Thanks so much, smegma! Hopefully all these extra features will either eventually be available on HBO’s website or they’ll go on the DVDs (man, I had a choice of RCN or Comcast when I recently moved and now I’m kicking myself for going with RCN :(

I’m not sure I like that Jaime is going around telling all and sundry why he became the Kingslayer and what he feels about it. I think it would ruin the impact of the great scene in the Riverrun dungeons and the way that he finally tells Brienne the entire full story about why he did what he did. Guess I will reserve judgment until I see how it plays out.

Regina Thorne,

It was actually NCW talking about Jaime’s reasons – not Jaime :) Sorry I should have clarified

Interestingly, in the clip we get of Arya-Syrio, Arya is using her right hand and it’s clearly the source of the early photo.

Soooo they establish her using her left hand but goof up in one shot?

In regards to Cersei and Headey trying to portray her (at this time) as a sympathetic character…. don’t forget that new viewers will be watching. Not everyone knows the back story of Cersei, there are a lot of spoilers in regards to her character. An actor wouldn’t want to give away spoilers of their characters in a featurette before the series began, would they? No.

And from a story standpoint, as a TV show kicking off… I think they want to take the audience for a ride with Cersei. Make you sympathasize with her, like her, and then reveal that she’s really a bitch and you’re like “AGH!” You know? More dramatic that way.

And lastly, don’t forget that an actor sees things (or attempts to see things) from their character’s perspective. I’m sure Cersei doesn’t see herself as an evil person. She is right, everyone is wrong. Correct? So of course Lena is going to sympathasize with her own character, see what is going on in her character’s head… no matter the outcome and the result of the character’s actions.

More stuff from the additional footage:

A shot of the dead stag

Ned asking why his daughter was not brought to him at once, Cersei saying how dare you speak to your king like that and Robert telling her to be quiet (the scene after Joff is attacked)

Something many people may not like: A scene with Ned and Catelyn in bed where Ned is talking about belonging up north, not in the rats nest down south and Catelyn says “I won’t let him take you”

Sansa and Joff walking in the woods, where they come upon Arya and Mycah swordfighting and Sansa and Arya argue

GRRM talking about why Jon is called “Snow” and a bit more of the backstory – Ned bringing Jon home from the war, etc.

Jaime telling Ned that his brother and father were good men and that no one deserves to die like that and Ned says “you just stood there and watched” and Jaime replies “500 men just stood there and watched”

More expose about Benjen and being the First Ranger

Robb saying “I’m not your boy, Lannister, I’m Lord of Winterfell while my father is away” and Tyrion replying – “then you might learn a lord’s courtesy”. Would need to check but that also sounds straight out of the book

Robb telling Bran to relax his arm while holding the bow

Luwin talking! Telling Catelyn that several positions need appointments and Cat saying she doesn’t care about the appointments and Robb saying that he will make them

Jaime and Jon interacting – him telling Jon that when you cut a man you realize we are all just sacks of meat

Jaime saying that “when he watched the mad king die, I remembered him laughing at your father burning. it felt like justice. Ned replies “is that what you tell yourself at night”.

Jaime telling Tyrion “don’t leave me alone with these people” which is the Ros scene

Oh and Here’s a TERRIBLE of Robb and Jon Sorry the quality isn’t better – it’s a weirdly lit scene where Jon is about to get a haircut (Jon is on the right and Robb on the left). Maybe someone can improve the quality? Regardless, I can assure everyone that they look AWESOME

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/8485/jonandrobbshirtless.jpg

Awesomeness…though I’m a little disappointed that Drogo has his own profile thing while Joffery, Robb and Jaime do not have one and all three are not only more important characters than Drogo but infinitely more interesting and I’m more curious to see actually scenes with the three(not really awaiting to see Drogo grunt and kill stuff…The only way he interest me is in the way Dany plays off him)..

But yeah, soooooooo soooo excited. Man these videos are great.

In an early trailer Jon asks “It this a trick question?” and in the new Tyrion video he asks at the very same moment “Is this a trick?”
I, for my part, like the first version much better…

Seeing so much material is really interesting, but I must say I am not quite convinced by the acting yet. Escpecially Sansa and Dany are not that impressive. Buuut… I guess they have many episodes to get more used to their roles and might grow with ‘em…

purplejilly,

LOL, We now have confirmation, thanks PJ for the scoop.

“CLOSE THE DOOR”!

DH87: I believe the walking pose is the lion passant; the lion statant is immobile, with all four feet on the ground.
(That said, I’m thrilled to see it just the same!)

My mistake. You are correct ser! They are close in look. I forgot the leg up is Passant and all four legs down is Statant.

Franny Bee:
Smegma,

Holy mother of Jon! That’s a Lordling of Winterfell DOUBLE-shirt-off-omg-ABS scene! I guess I secretly wanted it but I can’t believe they DID it. Pretending they both suddenly needed shirtless haircuts in the filthy (yeah nasty!) barn, both glistening with sweat after some fueled-up training outside… simply legendary! ThankyouthankyouHBO!

(If Kit and Robert aren’t legal age, I’m going to jail, aren’t I? Have as long as the ‘edit’ button to find out. Go!)

They are :D
24 yo, i think

pleas, please, please, tell me from which video is that picture from.. ive not time to watch them all, my sister wants to watch american idol -_-”
:D

Smegma:
Elena Amici,

I can’t remember if it was the Stark or Robb video – but definitely one of those two – think it’s the Robb one though.

finally :D
fangirlmodeon: **
/fangirlmodeoff

Franny Bee:
Smegma,

Holy mother of Jon! That’s a Lordling of Winterfell DOUBLE-shirt-off-omg-ABS scene! I guess I secretly wanted it but I can’t believe they DID it. Pretending they both suddenly needed shirtless haircuts in the filthy (yeah nasty!) barn, both glistening with sweat after some fueled-up training outside… simply legendary! ThankyouthankyouHBO!

(If Kit and Robert aren’t legal age, I’m going to jail, aren’t I? Have as long as the ‘edit’ button to find out. Go!)

*Richard* not Robert. I was still seeing stars.

There is a Robb video? Where? Is there a Jaime one too?

Smegma,

Thanks so much for the further detail. I always had the impression from the books that Ned despised Jaime for breaking his vows and killing Aerys while respecting the others who didn’t break their vows, but from this it sounds like Ned is just angry that Jaime didn’t kill Aerys sooner. (How he would have done this is unclear!) I … don’t think I like the sound of this. Jaime never tries to make Richard and Brandon Starks’ deaths his reason for killing Aerys (he disavows this to Catelyn at Riverrun) and he pretenses not to care at all what Ned thought so this seems kind of smarmy and weirdly conciliatory of Jaime here.

Y’all can keep your Robbs and your Jons; even aged up a bit they’re way too young for me! I will stick to age-appropriate Ned, Petyr and most of all Jaime :). NCW is HOT.

Gah, my other comments didn’t come out right for some reason…

Does anyone know if the videos that aren’t on fancast will find their way online?? I really want to see them. More footage, plus two of my fav characters getting profiles! I want!!

Josh,

Look up thread, I describe a decent amount of the Robb/Jaime stuff – there’s more that I will get to later though – or maybe someone else can fill in the blanks.

Smegma:
Josh,

Look up thread, I describe a decent amount of the Robb/Jaime stuff – there’s more that I will get to later though – or maybe someone else can fill in the blanks.

Yeah they’re awesome thanks but I still want to see/hear for myself.

We just need someone crafty. People find ways to get on demand stuff online all the time…

Josh,

I was responding to your post about describing, not putting the stuff online. :)

I have no idea how to do something like that – I imagine you would need some kind of HDMI cable or something and hook it up to your computer – I do not have that. Even then not sure if that’s going to work with the on demand stuff.

Okay it’s way more complicated than just having an HDMI cable :) http://www.ehow.com/how_2015344_record-tv-computer.html

Hopefully someone will do it soon for everyone!

I have no problem with them giving Cersei more depth/a reason to be so paranoid. Crushing unhappiness is a terrific basis for her later behavior.

Try to be open, people.

Knurk,

And sadly enough, their chief operations are SNOW removal here in the NorthEast!

So what I am missing from all this preview overload, is a sense of anv chemistry at all between Jaime and Cersei. Perhaps this is necessary spoilers. But I am not feeling it yet. I’m feeling the Robert/Cersei hatred/tension/let’s dance around the fact that we both aren’t really happy in our marriage. I’m feeling the Ned/Catelyn solid established couples’ love and relationship. I’m gettin the ‘freaky’ undertone on the Dany/Viserys relationship (man, those crazy eyes) But nothing yet for J and C. Perhaps as more is shown. Perhaps their charisma was in their younger days and is now waning?? I always felt like J and C were written as passionate in present time, but I am not seeing it on screen.

purplejilly,

In the books, I kinda got a owner/dog vibe between Cersei and Jaime. I see more of a ‘friendship/casualness’ in the TV show. But yes, I think they are hiding it. These two are gonna be kinky as heck, if not romantic in the least, but they’ll have to turn it on and off like a switch.

I think we’re gonna get many a surprise & hurried sex scene between the two of them (+1000 points if they do it with Robert drunk and passed-out in the room *lewink*)

I think these videos are meant to provide insight into the characters as a fan is expected to see them going into the first episode. There are a lot of changes in the way the characters will be perceived as the story progresses, but you can’t really include that stuff in a preview without spoiling the story. For example, almost every reason they could show in a preview as to why Cersei is hated has to do with events that would be spoilers for some one who has not read the books. I think that is the reason she is being portrayed the way she has been in the previews so far.

Regina Thorne:
MetalgoddessAMB,

Cersei is a character whom I find fascinating and repulsive almost in equal measure, but I’m not really sure I believe that anyone is born bad (guess I just don’t believe in Original Sin etc., etc.)I think Cersei is a solipsist to an alarming degree; everything is about what Cersei wants/needs/believes to be true and later on this will seem almost willfully blind to what goes on around her because she lacks the ability to think about anything outside her own perspective.

The character I guess I would compare her to is Lysa Arryn, who also ends up being completely insane and crazy and someone who precipitates (or helps Littlefinger precipitate) a war by poisoning her husband and lying to her sister and brother about what happened.Again, Lysa had something horrible happen to her – that was the result of her father’s actions directly, of course – but are you saying she was also born bad?She had everything too – she would have surely been married to a great lord, and she was, eventually, married to a hugely powerful man, but she cheats on him and carries on an affair with a man who was raised as her brother, although they were not blood relatives.Moreover, like Cersei, Lysa has two siblings with a relatively normal sense of morality (although Jaime’s is highly questionable to say the least – is it worse to not have a sense of right and wrong or is it worse to know what you’re doing is wrong – as Jaime does – and do it anyway?)Is Lysa ALSO just a bad seed from the beginning?I don’t know – I just think she and Cersei make a fascinating study in contrasts, because by Cat’s account, Hoster Tully was a great father.

Well, I don’t believe in original sin either, but I definitely believe there are certain people in society who are born bad. Like little children who come from stable, normal families who torture puppies and grow up to be serial killers. I think evil is real, but its a human trait (as opposed to coming from some outside source like the devil or something equally ridicules). But Evil is real, and we’ve all seen it. Where it comes from, how it inflicts some and not others, well, I don’t know. Maybe it’s something genetic that hasn’t been identified yet. Maybe it’s some kind mental illness, but yeah, I think they’re born with it.

this is just my theory BTW.

I also believe that there are certain extraneous outside circumstances that can cause good people to go bad. These are people who that with the right help and guidance can be redeemed and can be good again.

As far as Lysa goes (ha, another character from the series I don’t much care for) I think is definitely emotionally disturbed. We have a clearer picture of an incident that happened in Lysa’s formative years which obviously scarred her, and probably set her on a course of mental illness because she had a fragile emotion state to begin with. She was pretty batshit crazy towards end there wasn’t she? So I definitely think she has some kind of mental illness, and if that’s the case, well then it would have more to do with “being born with it” than anything in her upbringing. But whatever Lysa has it is something that manifested later in life, whereas with Cersei, I think her mental deficiency manifested much earlier. there is some speculation she killed her best friend when she was a teenager

As for comparing her to Cersei, there are some similarities, but if I had to guess, I think Lysa’s actions lean towards something like manic depression, whereas Cersei leans towards one of the psychopathic diseases. that’s just an observation, I am by no means any psychiatric expert. (although I do have mental disease in my family and have observed it for 40 years).

purplejilly,

Maybe they can’t show any of the Jaime-Cersei chemistry since it would be a really strong spoiler for the events of the first episode. So far, they’ve shown us a lot of backstory and some weirdly antagonistic relationships but we don’t know WHY Ned is confronting Cersei.

I actually really liked the beginning of the House Lannister video where Jaime and Cersei are talking like a *gasp* quasi normal brother and sister instead of a treasonously incestuous couple. It stands to reason that sometimes they’d just have a normal convo, but we don’t get to see those given the limited POV structure of the books.

Something weird I noticed:

In at least one of the interviews Emilia Clarke had noticeably lighter eyebrows and I’m pretty sure she had lilac eyes.

There’s also an interview with Peter Dinklage where he has mismatched eyes and lighter hair.

Then there is actual footage of Theon with both light hair and dark hair.

Dany definitely doesn’t have lilac eyes in the actual footage and Tyrion doesn’t have mismatched eyes so I wonder if they tried / tested out the book descriptions and chose to move away from them or what.

Okay, I’ve had a busy day so I’m only watching the videos now (with a nice bottle of wine!)… but, wow!

Favourite bits:

-Tyrion saying “A Lannister always pays his debts” (I started cheering uncontrollably!)
-Arya throwing food at Sansa’s face, I laughed so hard!
-Viserys and Dany (“You do not command me!” “I wasn’t commanding you!”)… excellent acting.
-Tywin!

…looks like Fancast is slowly dropping more clips. There are now 34 listed, including an On Location feature, Portraits of Robb and Jamie AND longer features on the Lannisters and Targaryens. Maybe a lengthier House Stark cut will be released later this morning.

I’m rather late to join the party, and don’t have enough time to read through all the posts, but here are some of my observations:

1) At the end of the Arya video, where she says to Ned ‘I don’t want to be a Lady’, Maisie manages to put so much authority in her voice that it makes Mark Addy as Robert seem like a peasant! Truly, the girl is brilliant.

2) At the 1:12 mark in the Jon Snow video, you can see a very ‘bendy’ sword, which I declare sword-gate!!! :-)

3) The coldness in Catelyn’s face when looking down at Jon Snow sends shivers down my spine, and it stands in such contrast to the warmth she shows towards the ‘real’ Starks – what a great actress!

4) Even though I initially had doubts look-wise, Lena Heady as Cercei is fantastic, and I fear that I will actually start to like this character! Also, I’m very very happy they don’t reveal anything about the Cercei-Jaime relationship!

From the most prominently featured characters in these fantastic introductory clips, here’s my ranking of how well I believe the actors will become their roles:

1: Arya
2: Cersei, Catelyn, Littlefinger
3: Tyrion, Viserys, Ned
4: Sansa, Bran, Joffrey, Jaime
5: Daenerys, Robert Baratheon (Khal Drogo, Renley, Robb, Bronn, Jorah Mormont)
6: Jon Snow

(Khal Drogo, Renley, Robb, Bronn and Jorah Mormont are rather far down since we didn’t see too much of them yet so it’s difficult to judge. Anyway, rank 5 means that the acting is still ok, but not as awesome as that of those ranked higher. As for Kit Harington: nice to finally see him laugh at some point, but regardless the guy has such a negative aura that I find it very hard to accept him as Jon Snow, and I wish they had taken someone else for the part. Even in the interview he looks like he could commit suicide at any given time!)

Of course personal preference plays a big role in this, so feel free to share your views ;-)

A couple more thoughts:

1. Tyrion’s accent is fine in all these new clips. Maybe I’m just getting used to it, but I think accent-gate was blown way out of proportion.

2. Tyrion: “Close the door!” Hahahaha!

3. People are being too hard on Lena/Cersei. I think she’s got a good grasp of her character. Anyone who’s read Book 4 knows Cersei is not evil, just paranoid and short-sighted. And Lena herself called her “paranoid”.

These new clips are making me more excited and less worried. The acting seems great, and things feel right. Some of the actors seem almost too good to be true (Maisie/Arya, Sean/Ned, and Peter/Tyrion). I CAN’T WAIT UNTIL NEXT MONTH!!!

purplejilly,

What is lacking so far in my opinion is any passion in NCW’s acting or interviews. You girls might like him because he looks good, but he definitely hasn’t won ME over yet. So far he feels a bit like an empty box to me, just like Kit Harrington, or translated to Hollywood a bit like Tom Cruise: decent acting, but lacking in content… I hope that impression is wrong – especially from Jaime we haven’t seen very much yet!

KG:
Tar Kidho,

Are you kidding? Jon is the biggest emo wanker outside of 10th grade. KH is perfect.

I wasn’t kidding no, I really don’t like the look nor acting of KH…

MetalgoddessAMB:

userj,

So now she’s a feminist? More like a feminazi. If being dishonorable and despicable is the only way an ambitious women can get ahead, I want no parts of it. So if you are saying that Cercei is your idea of some model of feminism, well then I say she is the kind of women who gives feminism a bad name.

I can’t speak for userj, but my interpretation is that s/he was examining Cersei though a feminist lens, so to speak, to look at how sexism in society can shape/change/warp a woman. Of course Cersei is not a feminist, they didn’t have that in Westros! She doesn’t even have the option of it because there is no notion of women’s rights.

Indeed, Cersei grew up with privileges that other women didn’t. But a woman is still a women, and still has relatively few choices over her destiny, noble or not. Of course she had life easier and more comfortable than a peasant woman, but she had it worse than the men of her class.

An interesting comparison would be to examine the differing privileges between noble women and peasant men. A peasant man has freedom of movement, depending on his class (if he’s dirt poor he’s probably going to follow his father’s profession), but if he has the ambition and means he can be a minstrel if he wants, or a travelling salesman, or a tavern owner. If he has a burning desire to be a warrior (like Arya does) then he is free to do so. He’s probably never going to get raped, and there is no one censuring his manners or behaviour so he can act as crass as he wants (unless he’s in the company of nobles). On the other hand a noble woman will probably never go hungry, be able bathe and maintain a standard of cleanliness so that she doesn’t catch common diseases, and might even have common men who must obey her orders. But for the most part, with a few exceptions, any power a noble woman has is on lease from the noble men and is an illusion that can be taken away without warning. If she is to earn true power to choose her own destiny (like Brienne), and not bobbles the men of her class toss her way, she has to work freaking hard to get it. (As a former mayor of Ottawa once said, A woman has to work twice as hard as a man to be thought of as being half as good).

In some sense maybe some peasant women also have more freedom of movement than noble women, depending on the family. If Caitlin didn’t want to marry Brandon/Ned, perhaps then Holster would find her another match (then again he married Lysa to an old man), while Danny had no choice but to be raped by a man double (triple?) he age and no say in the matter. A peasant woman mightn’t have to get married off a 13-18 and make babies, and she can run her own tavern too.

All these shifting sets of privileges stem from the kyrarchy, oppressing different people of different classes/races/genders etc. in differing ways.

And please do not use the word feminazi. It is offensive to feminists and bundles up all the misconceptions of the feminist movement into one vial, offensive word. We aren’t man haters, we don’t think women are superior to men, and we are most certainly not anything like nazis who have committed some of the darkest acts in all of humanity. Those are just straw feminists people like to pin up to pull us down. Even though I identify as a feminist I acknowledge the main stream movement has some flaws (such as leaving out women of colour, and US-centrism), but it ain’t the typical, lazy straw feminists (such as us being a group of vicious man haters) that outsiders to the movement use to tear us down.

I’ve had most of the day to digest these videos, and my favourite part is still the 2 second glimpse of Lord Tywin.

Which is not to say there aren’t a hundred other nuggets of awesome strewn across Youtube right now in the form of new GoT vids, but Charles Dance is the most Tywin Lannisteresque person. Can’t wait to hear him actually deliver some lines; he was brilliant as Vetinari in Going Postal.

Luana:
MetalgoddessAMB,

Godwin’s Law. You lose.

Oh snap!

I happen to think they’ll have Dany’s eyes turn lilac after the birth of the dragons. When she comes out of the fire, she’ll be changed, and that’s part of it.

Someone called ‘ winduupbird’ uploaded Jaime’s video on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OowwxIQiJpg thanks!

Schlafmohn,

Yay! Thanks!!

Jordan Healey:
Has anyone outside the US tried watching them with altered computer location settings or a VPN with a US IP address?

Tried, didn’t work. Went so far as to locate a proper HTTP/SOCKS Proxy that would allow java apps to run and such, but no dice.
Being USA located might be necessary, but you still need a fancast login, which requires a comcast subscription.

Any ComCast customers want to take a risk and share out your Fancast login details?

Josh,

yes, or the extended House Lannister/Targaryen vids. I feel a bit addicted right now. ;)

Seven hells Harry Lloyd is good. I mean, all of the videos were good, but I can’t stop watching the Viserys Portrait!

Lloyd has always been a favorite of mine and I love what he did with Doctor Who and Robin Hood, but this is so much better! I love how he really understands Viserys and makes him sympathetic and charismatic. The way he explained the relationship with Dany and how it’s always been the two of them, only to be marred by the appearance of Khal Drogo, it’s amazing insight. Plus his nuances with his performance, especially in the way he delivers his iconic line (“You don’t want to wake the dragon, do you?”) with such softness and a chilling calm. I mean I think we all pretty much imagined that line to be stark raving mad with flashing eyes and a raised voice, but damn! Again this was so much better! Lloyd totally exceeded expectations with this portrayal and he’s poised to be the show-stealer in this. Like one of the above comments mentioned, his portrayal, plus the chemistry between him and Emilia Clarke, might just make their storyline more compelling than it was with the books.

Mark my words, forget about Team Jon and Team Robb…its Team Viserys shirts that will sell HBO!

Jordan Healey: On that Fancast thing I saw this =/ is this a frame from the Ravens teaser?

If so, how did we miss it !

Whoah, that wolf looks awesome!

Tar Kidho,
I think you’re right in that too – from what we’ve seen of him so far, not much passion. Just a good-looking shell. But I prefer personality to a good looking shell. Maybe once the show starts, he’ll deliver more. It could be we haven’t previewed any scenes where he gets to shine. But so far he seems much ‘cooler’ and ‘calmer’ in character than how I pictured him. He seems a bit aloof.

Smegma,

i can’t seem to make the link work… does anybody know a reason why?

Well, Poop. I guess it couldn’t last forever.

I can’t watch the vids anymore, cause I’m not an HBO subscriber.

Yet. :)

I’m surprised so many people are coming to Cersei’s defense. Although I guess I shouldn’t be, considering the grayness of George’s characters is what makes the books what they are.

I cannot like Cersei. I cannot sympathize with her. The only slight value I can see in her is her forward-thinking attitude about women, and even that is marred by her anger, spite and self-centeredness. Think about it this way: Cersei doesn’t want to liberate women or change society for women. She only wants to “liberate” herself and change society for herself. If Cersei saw another women gaining power and getting to do things that a woman usually wouldn’t do, what would she do? Probably try to humiliate her/murder her/all of the above. What did she do to Margaery Tyrell? Who wasn’t even breaking boundaries, but had just become a Queen in name!? There is no activist mentality in Cersei’s mind. She isn’t proactive; she is reactive and retaliatory. She is angry, bitter and spiteful.

Further, she is NOT A GOOD MOTHER. You can argue that she protects her children, but I cannot see her maternal duties as anything other than pieces in her game for power and self-preservation. 1. Her children on the throne -> she gets to play Queen. 2. Her children alive -> she proves Maggy’s prophecy wrong (which I still feel is only another bid for power; she wants to show that she has the power to discredit and invalidate Maggy and in general, prophecies/fate/destiny/etc). It would be much wiser to take her children far away from King’s Landing (esp. after Joff’s death!) and raise them somewhere they can be safe and happy, yet she insists on keeping them on the throne. But she won’t do that. It’s ironic, because if she were to keep her children from becoming kings/queens, she would still be invalidating Maggy’s prophecy, but that plan doesn’t fit into her lust for power.

Even another thing to rag on Cersei about…the way she treats Jaime. I do want to believe she loves him, but the way she treats him in AFfC makes me think she may only love him when he’s completely devoted to her power plays. As soon as Jaime takes a turn (for the better, I think we’d all say), Cersei turns on him. The irony is that he is completely faithful to her (even reprehensibly so – Bran! :(). I can’t help but feel that Cersei will just love whomever makes her feel as though they are a valuable ally and can protect her interests.

And a note on Robert: Everyone points out his wife-beating, whoring, drinking and overall general hedonism. However, I think the morally worst thing ever attributed to Robert is his attempt to have Dany assassinated, while pregnant, and like fourteen, for nothing other than her familial association. You could say he’s trying to do the same as Cersei, preserving his power, but I would argue it has nothing to do with that and everything to do with Lyanna. Underneath it all, I think Robert is a good person. He just never should have been king.

Best casting- Viserys
Worst- Jaime

“START THE DAMN JOUST BEFORE I PISS MYSELF”

Nice to see drunk Robert. I was starting to get a little weighed down by epic sounding one liners that make for good trailer clips.

Getting the “common man” aspect of the character down will be key.

Yeah, “Start the damn joust before I piss myself” was awesome.

Another one of favourite moments is Bron’s look when Tyrion says “everyone knows Lannisters always pay their depts”. Priceless. :)

JonJon,

Strawman argument, by the looks. Assuming it was intentional.

Blackfish Blues: What if the twins begin their relationship during the series’ timeline and not when they were teens? For example, what if Bran surprises them after their very first time? It certainly would change the novels heavily, and I’m not sure how “The things I do for love” would work in such a changed situation, but from the point of view of a TV dramatization it would be more intense.

I think they’re just trying not to give away a huge shocking part of the story before the show starts. They’ve given us a lot of information on backstory (the rebellion, Lyanna, Kingslaying, etc.) but they’re not telling us too much about what happens after the beginning of the books, and having Cersei and Jaime begin their relationship just before Bran sees them basically negates all the investigating that Ned does. Because then the kids are Robert’s and there’s no crime that can be proven for Cersei/Jaime to cover up. Plausible deniability is pretty strong in the absence of what Jaime calls “the three treasons” – Joffrey, Tommen and Myrcella.

Lina:
I’m surprised so many people are coming to Cersei’s defense.

I don’t like Cersei – I find her morally repellant and although, yes, she has a desperately unhappy marriage, nonetheless, that doesn’t excuse her hiring people to kill all of Robert’s bastard children, including a tiny baby, which happens long before she goes into her downward spiral in Feast. But I think there is dramatic value in having her not be played as a raving psycho beeyatch from the first time we see her. And I think having Robert as a husband is kind of terrible; he’s devoted to the ghost of a dead woman, but I suspect that Lyanna wouldn’t have been terribly happy with him either, since his bastard-fathering occurred long before he was married to Cersei. He’s not a bad in the way that many others in the series are, but he’s also not a good one. I think the only reason he and Ned are still friends is because they haven’t seen each other for years.

purplejilly: from what we’ve seen of him so far, not much passion. Just a good-looking shell. But I prefer personality to a good looking shell. Maybe once the show starts, he’ll deliver more. It could be we haven’t previewed any scenes where he gets to shine. But so far he seems much ‘cooler’ and ‘calmer’ in character than how I pictured him. He seems a bit aloof.

Couldn’t disagree with you more; there was one brief scene in “Game Begins” trailer that just TOTALLY said Jaime to me when Ned nearly takes Jaime’s head off, and Jaime has this awesome smirk that was SO how I’d always imagined him. Also, the “I’m too cool to care” persona is one that Jaime has carefully cultivated since the kingslaying; it takes a lot of emotional duress to make him drop that facade, and they can’t show the emotional duress of having Tyrion be Catelyn’s captive since that’s spoilery, just as the really big Jaime/Cersei stuff is spoilery too. But I never thought Jaime was openly emotional – he always seemed to put on this armor of snark and swordsmanship (and of course, he has to be relatively polite to Robert, etc.); until his POV chapters in Storm of Swords and especially the loss of his hand he does seem more the person who’ll hand out a snappy rejoinder and not say anything of great substance.

All this to say that NCW really fits how I have always seen the character, and the video they did for him makes me think he sees Jaime the same way. (Sorry for the long comment; Jaime is my favorite character in the series by book 4.)

Boy, I’m speechless.

This is really … yummy – looking. One month to go.

clemintine,

Wow, your reasonings are just brilliant! And so true… I bow to you.

You know, IMO the awesome core of these books are the complexity and richness of the characters. I love to meditate about the motives of all of them and why they do what they do. Some are better than others but in general I can ultimately understand the intricacy of their decisions and actions. What I don’t understand is all the *strong* hate that some readers feel towards certain characters. I suposse it has something to do with personal experiences, because apart from a few characters, there are no true evil in ASOIAF. As in the real world, where the vast majority of us are neither Teresa de Calcuta nor psychopaths.
Oh I adore these books!

Zack: So then why aren’t the other noblewomen in the series power-mad and murderous?

For the same reason why not all the of the noblemen in series are power-mad and murderous. Because they have different personalities. This ain’t the Wheel of Time where all the women are the same character with different names.

Rinoa De la Pica: Wow, your reasonings are just brilliant! And so true… I bow to you.

You know, IMO the awesome core of these books are the complexity and richness of the characters. I love to meditate about the motives of all of them and why they do what they do. Some are better than others but in general I can ultimately understand the intricacy of their decisions and actions. What I don’t understand is all the *strong* hate that some readers feel towards certain characters. I suposse it has something to do with personal experiences, because apart from a few characters, there are no true evil in ASOIAF. As in the real world, where the vast majority of us are neither Teresa de Calcuta nor psychopaths.
Oh I adore these books!

Thank you! I agree. I think there are very few main characters I could say with confidence who are pure good or evil, and even that might be debatable. Gregor probably pure evil, Bran probably pure good.

Zack: my point is that it’s difficult to pin the blame for someone’s vile deeds on societal factors when other women exposed to the same elements remain grounded.

But you could say the same for the men – Theon is largely raised by Ned Stark and he turns out pretty badly unlike Jon Snow, who would outwardly appear to be in a much worse social situation than Theon; Littlefinger apparently had a pretty good life with the Tullys until he “overstepped” his station and he turned out to be a manipulative schemer who plunged a nation into civil war and is at least as evil as Cersei.

But Theon and Littlefinger have many admirers (I’m one of Littlefinger’s, particularly since he’s played by Aidan Gillen) who point out the many indubitable mitigating circumstances in their lives. Thus, why can’t we do the same for Cersei?

She’s the daughter of, yes, a very rich and privileged, but simultaneously cold and emotionally withdrawn man who treats his children (all of his children, even Jaime the favorite!) as pawns in his games of power and that she’s queen, yes, but her husband is a lecherous sot who is willing to kill children in the maintenance of his own privilege (just as she herself and her brother are, of course.) These circumstances don’t turn Cersei into a misunderstood heroine, they just make her more complex than someone like Gregor Clegane.

That is to say, speaking strictly for myself, I don’t like her, I don’t think she’s a good person or a role model, but I can also see how circumstances helped develop certain aspects of her personality at the expense of others. And I’m all for the female villains being as well-rounded and multi-faceted as the male ones, so again, I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing that the show is giving us a more nuanced Cersei than the one that we only see through the eyes of people who hate her for the first two books. I must admit that while I was one of those people who generally loved Feast I was disappointed that Cersei turned out to be so one-note villainess in that book; I put it down to her mental imbalance after the deaths of her son and father.

JonJon:
MetalgoddessAMB,

I just read the entire forum, and nobody has claimed that Cersei was a feminist. What the heck are you talking about?

Sombody–I forget who–said something along the lines of “Try to look at her from a feminist point of view.” I believe they were saying look at the sexist existence she lived, from the point of view of modern feminism, but that Metalgoddess misunderstood them to be saying “look at Cersei as though she were a feminist.” Again, I am pretty certain that’s not what they were trying to say, but I can certainly understand how it could be misunderstood as such.

Best,

~~~~Random

In Ned Stark’s portrait, they use part of Littlefinger’s famous line about Brothels, I don’t know whether they didn’t want to use the second half of the line (the bit which makes it awesome) on the trailer because it’s kind of rude but I hope they use it in the show

“and when Pirates climb aboard, they pay good coin like everyone else”

xD

Absolutely

The Wire was full of amazing one-liners, and so is ASoIAF

hope they keep all of them ;)

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