While we wait with bated breath for the season’s first trailer, here are a few Game of Thrones news items to tide you over.
- The show added another award to its impressive collection, winning Outstanding Action Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Television Series at the SAG Awards this week.
- Throne Con II went off without a hitch in London last weekend. Finn Jones, Rory McCann, Kristian Nairn, Gemma Whelan, Josef Altin, Miltos Yerolemou and Daniel Portman made appearances and mingled with fans. According to this article covering the event, Rory McCann performed “Hound Dog” on a ukulele for the audience!
- The Experts, an online trivia show pitting superfans against each other on their favorite subjects, premiered on Monday. The first episode features a Game of Thrones fan taking on experts in *NSYNC and the NFL.
- The newest episode of A Podcast of Ice and Fire features yours truly as a guest host. Ashley, Amin and I chat about the latest promotional photos and discuss two chapters from A Clash of Kings in depth.
There’s one more interesting tidbit that contains spoilers for season 3, that we’ve hidden beneath the cut. Proceed with caution!
- Our sources tell us that during the filming of the bear pit scene, the extras sang ‘The Bear and the Maiden Fair.” With a real bear and the song, this scene is shaping up to be pretty epic.
Ours is the Fury: Fun fact: I will always pronounce “maester” as “my-ster.” Every time. No matter what Cogman says.
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59 Comments
first. anyway, I’m quite happy that ‘the bear and the maiden fair’ is making it into the show :D.
also, it is pronounced ‘may-ster’ according to GRRM
Ser TahuQuote Reply
‘I called for a knight but you’re a bear’
I always think of this version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6VMSYIXCCY
Also, great to see a shoutout to the guys at A Podcast of Ice and Fire. It’s a great forum over there for book readers and the podcasts are truly…. unique. :D
Maester Ch’vyalthanQuote Reply
Just so long as the song sounds kind of like drunken banter I’m fine. It’s nice to see them incorporate the little things like this though.
The Dear HunterQuote Reply
I’ve always pronounced it ‘may-ster’. I mean, that’s how it’s written. ‘Maester’. Is there a language that pronounces ‘ae’ as ‘i’?
Can’t wait for the bear scene!
Lazlo WoodbineQuote Reply
Lazlo Woodbine,
Yeah, maestro. The closest word to “maester” that most English-speakers will ever see or hear.
Ours is the FuryQuote Reply
Maester sounds Latinesque, and as Spanish has their roots in Latin, I will always pronounce Maester as I would pronounce it in Latin or Spanish, more or less
MA (like madame or march)-ES (like in escalade or established)-TER (like in tergiversate or terminal)
Javi MarcosQuote Reply
Does his mean girls named “Mae” are called “My”?
John-MichaelQuote Reply
I hope we also get to hear </Butterbumps sing it when QOT questions Sansa. I just loved that scene in the book.
MrsWunQuote Reply
MrsWun,
I’d also love to see that, but I think it wouldn’t work having that song playing in the middle of an important conversation. It is too distracting. Still, the song could be play before the conversation begins, with Sansa and Olenna just listening to the bard.
Anyway, this is great news! I hope they put all the songs from the books in the show. I’d love to see a bunch of wildlings gathered around a large bonfire singing “The Last of the Giants”. It would work better in a calm camp than during a march.
NezzerQuote Reply
Maester Ch’vyalthan,
It will be weird for me to the show’s version because that Youtube guy’s version is SO definitive for me haha. Even more so with his “Dornishman’s Wife”
PhilQuote Reply
From what I’ve seen in the show, residents of the North pronounce it as “may-ster”, whereas Southron people use the pronunciation “my-ster” (although there are some exceptions to this, but I explicitly recall Lancel Lannister saying “my-ster”).
Ser Serrington SersQuote Reply
Indeed, they have a big job challenging these youtube versions !
Hope to get an “official” version of it too… like we did for the “Rains” sung by the Nationals.
And a version of “The last of the Giants” would be truly amazing !
ArkashQuote Reply
Jack White for the Bear and the Maiden Fair! Do it HBO!
Joshua TaylorQuote Reply
Southerner Tyrion Lannister called Maester Aemon, May-ster… although IIRC, in Peter Dinklage’s accent it sounded like a cross between Mayster and “Meester” but not My-ster.
MaryS-NJQuote Reply
OH MY GOD SO MUCH AWSOME (new movie with peter dinklage, danny pudi and ryan kwanten) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyougFDZ7zU
(sorry if someone already posted this, didnt check)
The Butcher’s BoyQuote Reply
Totally never thought of that! My brain does have holes in it that let out all kinds of useful information, mind.
Lazlo WoodbineQuote Reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8U6mtBUKP3k
We all know this is the correct version of the song. (I almost died of laughter the first time I heard it)
MyBFFTheHoundQuote Reply
Lazlo Woodbine,
Ours is the Fury,
In German, Meister (~ master, champion, cf. in the Champions League anthem “Die Meister, die Besten, Les grandes équipes, the champions”) is pronounced [ˈmaɪ̯stɐ] (IPA) which is approximately my-stah in weird English phonetic writing. Generally, all “ei”s are pronounced like the letter I in English. Is that what you meant, Lazlo?
varysthespiderQuote Reply
And in Latin, “ae” is pronounced like the letter I in English.
varysthespiderQuote Reply
MyBFFTheHound,
YES 100x. I honestly haven’t heard a version of BAMF (holy shit it spells bamf haha) that I truly like. But seeing how wonderful Rains was… I’m so exicted! GAH!
The InstrumentalistQuote Reply
The Hound played and sang “Hound Dog” on a ukelele in public and nobody has posted it to YouTube yet???? A woman is bereft.
Mrs. H’gharQuote Reply
Yes! I was hoping for The Bear and the Maiden Fair! Love it in the books. :)
IcebirdQuote Reply
This version rocks. Literally. Still waiting for THE version, tho.
EDIT: Ow, and since we’re talking songs; my favourite Dornishman’s Wife is, although poorly recorded, this one. I hope they include the song this year. Mance needs to sing something.
PepiQuote Reply
who is meant by the Bear and the Maiden? Jorah and Dany???
sorry for this question, i don’t know the books and am a game of thrones fan newbie ;)
SammyQuote Reply
Maester Ch’vyalthan,
I’m happy that they’re putting in more aSoIaF songs into the show but also unhappy,
Their is no way the show’s version will beat this one. It’s perfect.
Nick_ScryerQuote Reply
Was anyone else shouting out the answers whilst watching Experts? XD
katanaQuote Reply
No, please no! As much as I love Roy Dotrice (especially for his cameo as the pyromancer), I’m not sure how much I can take of his slobbery pirate voice that crops up in his audiobook so many times.
Same here! The first time I found his rendition of ‘The Dornishman’s Wife’ I found myself humming along to the tune and singing the words all day long. Wish HBO would contract them to do some music for the show as bards at a wedding in Season 4 perhaps?
Maester Ch’vyalthanQuote Reply
I believe that is not correct. In Latin “ae” is pronounced like short, sharp “a”, but absolutely without “y”. If you (I mean all of us people posting here) aren’t sure how it should sound, here you have Latin in use with subtitles. For example, in 17:00, there we have “Per omnia saecula saeculorum”. That should clear this case.
Now, I don’t know if GRRM intended word “maester” to sound like in Latin, I myself “read” that word like in “maestro”.. What do you think..?
redbutterflYQuote Reply
I did just the same while reading. I’m Polish so my language has roots in Latin, too.
redbutterflYQuote Reply
“Maester” for me is just one of those words from the series that frustrate me to no end because I can’t ever be sure of how they’re pronounced, but “Arya” annoys me above all, ’cause the other characters have their own different ways of saying it…is it “ar-YA” or “ari-YA”…I prefer the latter though, I hate the way Michelle Fairley pronounces it (the former), even if that might be the correct pronounciation…
SerKenjiGerrardQuote Reply
Wait, what? Polish has Latin roots? Where did you get that from? (Irrelevant and off topic, but I had to comment, sorry everyone.)
Hear Me RoarQuote Reply
Sammy,
Just know it is a song – watch and learn S3!
Patchy FaceQuote Reply
MrsWun,
That is one of my favorites as well – I re-read that one recently & hope that scene is in the show, it’s very entertaining!
BiobiQuote Reply
As for the “maester” debate… being French, I go for “Ma” – “Eh” – “Ster”.
ArkashQuote Reply
In classical Latin, ‘ae’ is always pronounced like an ‘I’, and even like ‘ai’. Hence, words like praetor are pronounced like pry-tor. Since I took Latin all through high school (maaany years ago) this is how I always pronounced maestor in my head. (and a ‘c’ is always pronounced hard like a ‘k’ , never like a ‘ch’ or an ‘s’.)
Some authors get cranky if you don’t pronounce words and names exactly like they intended them to (Robert Jordan immediately springs to mind), and some don’t give a crap. I’m not sure where GRRM stands on this issue, but until further notice, I’ll keep saying my-stor. :-)
FienixQuote Reply
Well, to not spoil anything for you, “The Bear and the Maiden Fair” is a funny, goofy song that various characters sing periodically throughout the books. At some point, it could be taken more literally, but mostly it’s used as comic relief. (think of the song “The Hokey Pokey” for instance.)
FienixQuote Reply
There are some really good versions of The Bear and The Maiden Fair on Youtube but I personally like Irish Moutarde’s version best. It just always struck me as a dirty, innuendo filled drinking song (he licked the honey from her hair? think about it) instead of some medieval renaissance thing
Icy FingersQuote Reply
I’m sorry to dissapoint you but polish is a slavic language, more exactly a member of the western slavic family (along with the czech lang. and slovakian) … it does not have latin roots, maybe some… words originating from latin?
while “maester” in romanian is spelled how is written. “Ma” (which is like “mom” without the last “m”) + “Esther” but the h is not heard.
And Romanian is a language with latin roots.
oh and btw: go to google translation, type maester, and the english version, (translation) will appear. and listen to the robot :P :))
AdrianAegonQuote Reply
This may-ster / my-ster conversation has me thinking of only one thing: Herr Burgermeister Meisterburger.
I say may-ster in my head when I read maester, but the maestro argument is a really good one. Now I’m back on the fence.
Khaleesi In TrainingQuote Reply
Because of the word “maestro,” I’ve always read “maester” as “my-stir” in my head when reading the books all those many years ago.
Only since the tv show has this shifted to “may-stir” when I re-read the books.
RyodinQuote Reply
Hear Me Roar,
AdrianAegon,
You’re right, not “roots”, that’s a bad word for it. Sorry. It’s just when I learn Latin in school almost all of the words mean the same?
Also, I wouldn’t recommend Google Translate – it reads “cycnus” (swan) like “sayacnus”..
Fienix,
I’m learning Latin right now in high school and our magistra never read “praetor” like “pry-tor”.. But I don’t know about this, maybe it’s different in different regions.
And “c” can definitely be pronounced like “c” in certain situations.
redbutterflYQuote Reply
redbutterflY,
Hmmm… I had the same teacher for all 4 years, and she instilled in us that a ‘c’ is always pronounced hard. It’s not sea-sir (Caeser), it’s kai-sir. And sis-er-o (Cicero) is key-ker-o. As for being pronounced different in different regions– honestly I guess it’s all speculation since Latin itself is a “dead” language. (didn’t we discuss this in an earlier post? I swear I’m having deja-vu.)
And try not to think of all the words meaning the same thing as you learn. It’s all in how the word is used. For example: poop, crap, doo-doo, shit. They all mean excrement, but it’s how it’s used in a sentence that gives it different meanings. (now, down the cloaca maxima!) ;-P
FienixQuote Reply
Fienix,
My, that “key-ker-o” sounds so wrong! :D
Oh, and there is no room for speculations when Latin was being used in churches for so long time. I guess. Where are you from?
redbutterflYQuote Reply
Fienix,
GRRM has come out as saying that, while he has his own pronunciations for everything, there are no official pronunciations and everyone is free to say things however they want.
Delta1212Quote Reply
For what this is worth: I had four years of Latin in a German high school and the “ae” combination was always pronounced as “e” (which is a continental European “e”, as in “set”).
In all continental European languages, the “ae” in “Caesar” is pronounced in that same manner. No trace of “ee” as in “street” (IPA: /iː/).
Check “saepe” in the chart on this page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latin_regional_pronunciation
The reconstruction of the original Roman pronunciation is a different matter, and it varied through time.
MXQuote Reply
‘The Bear all covered in hair!!!” yay!! Best S3 news ive heard!!! (i should comment more often)
gisizzlahQuote Reply
“GRRM has come out as saying that, while he has his own pronunciations for everything, there are no official pronunciations and everyone is free to say things however they want.”
Delta1212,
True. But he has on occasion said in front of crowds how he pronounces some of those words. MAY-ster and AR-ya (2 syllables, not 3) are a couple of examples that have been discussed above. A few more that have surprised a few people I know include SIR-say Lannister, Den-AIR-iss Tar-GARE-ian, Door-ANN Martell, Do-THRAK-eye(!?!) – personally quite happy Cogman didn’t take a stand on that one… So Spake Martin.
But as Delta pointed out, he always makes a point of encouraging fans to go on pronouncing these however they see fit before he gives his own pronunciations.
Arristan the OldQuote Reply
Loved hearing Fury on Podcast of Ice and Fire. Amin is a dedicated dude. And his Ros hate is strong.
(Like Fury… enh. I don’t mind ‘er.)
Fire And BloodQuote Reply
MX,
This, yes.
redbutterflYQuote Reply
I’d like to weigh in on this , briefly. There was an interesting published report from
NZ, and printed in Science Magazine ( vol 337, 24 Aug 2012 ), which may offer
some insight on the Indo-European language Family. The report lends support to
the relationship to Latin as an origin with a family tree of distribution. A theory
rejected by most I knew, years ago.
While I am not a linguist , and only took a couple of University courses( from
a research professor that was as controversial as the subject he taught–John
McWhorter ), language has always fascinated me. Loanwords and various
hypothesis abound, but mapping origins and expansions is a work in progress.
I may not remember much about Glottochronology, other than how to say it, tho
respectl the scientific approach to correlate proven data. The Anatolian Hypothesis
was perceived no more than abstract when I took classes, but like all science
which begs the question, the path to reproducible data eventually emerges.
After having lived near and visiting frequently the Detroit suburb of Hamtramck,
the article does make sense from the encounters with the Polish language
spoken by close friends, dual citizen residents and elderly family visitors.
Umm….. you don’t speak Klingon by any chance ? :D
WildSeedQuote Reply
Regarding pronunciation of Latin names, yes the original Latin must have softened it’s “c”s over the centuries. But I myself was surprised when I read Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series where at the back of the book she inserted a complete pronunciation guide.
The name “Cicero” is in fact a cognomen, or third /descriptive name. It means “chickpea”
Caesar by comparison means “a fine head of hair”. Some irony there given Caesar’s hair thinned prematurely, most likely from the Aurelii Cottae on his mother’s side.
Joshua TaylorQuote Reply
Lazlo Woodbine,
Yup, Icelandic! Although that’s æ instead of ae. Also, I’m not sure that’s relevant since I doubt that the English-speaking world knows about it.
þóraQuote Reply
Why isn’t anyone discussing Throne Con II? Please tell me someone has video! I am desperate to hear Rory’s rendition of “Hound Dog”, not to mention the discussions!
AprilQuote Reply
Because the trailer wait is redonkulous I have been on TWOP unspoiled speculation board and the discussion which is usually dead in the off season has been churning for about a month now. Anyway, they finally have their first troll or if not troll borderline “hatewatcher” :winterisfaking it. I actually suspect he may be a book walker in disguise.
So this board will much more interesting when season 3 debuts.
Joshua TaylorQuote Reply
Good question. I scrolled up to re-read the Subject post and realized again that
that I was quite ignorant of the content that was referenced. I clicked on the
Podcast and began listening to what was summing up to as an interesting
GoT discussion by Ours is the Fury , et.al, then the podcast quit about 7:08
minutes in. I couldn’t get it to resume, though the fault might be mine ( my
MacBook ), so I’ll try again later.
I’d also noted that a few commenters here expressed or joked about Rory McCain’s
singing ( ” Hound Dog ” ), so the attempt was made to carry out a collection of
comments, nonetheless…….. Which brings me to……………….
Do you have anything to add …….to the subject post ? If not , it would appear
that most simply lost interest and wandered expectantly to another subject.
I have no idea what Joshua Taylor is referring to, but I haven’t listened to
the Podcast in it’s entirety .
WildSeedQuote Reply
Off subject but, maybe just maybe, we will get that full blown trailer on Sunday. Looks like HBO is featured at the ESPN Superbowl party – in the form of the Iron Throne! Might be a sign for that air time on Superbowl Sunday.
Patchy FaceQuote Reply
WildSeed,
TWOP: Television Without Pity
Re: Completely Unspoiled Speculation board. Nothing from the podcast at all.
Joshua TaylorQuote Reply
Joshua Taylor,
LOL, I thought you meant ” The Winds of War”, LMAO :D
I agree, there will be much to discuss in depth here, at WiC , once season 3 GoT
premieres.
WildSeedQuote Reply
Wonder how the recent news concerning King Richard III affect GRRM, wasn’t he loosely basing elements of GoT on the War of the Roses.
tysnowQuote Reply
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