The other GAME OF THRONES adaptation

[starwolf_oakley]

Dynamite Entertainment put out an adaptation of "A Game of Thrones," written by Daniel Abraham and art by Tommy Patterson. This is issue #2. Since it was a series of graphic novels, they were able to skew closer to the book. Including one interesting point about Tyrion Lannister.
Trigger warning for Ableist Language.








Tyrion can kick ass when need be, but he isn't this athletic on the TV show.







The comic series allows flashbacks and examples of how HUGE the buildings are. A lot have massive statues indoors, including Castle Black. The Iron Throne is towering compared to the one in the TV series. Also, we get to see flashbacks to events only mentioned on the TV show. (The TV show has had only one flashback so far.)

Fans have many theories about characters and events in the series. But I wonder why in-universe characters don't have similar theories, given how fast (true) rumors fly in Westeros. Most of them involve certain characters being alive. Many fans think "R + L = J." But does anyone in-universe have a similar theory?

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/79775-a-compendium-of-theories/

Comments

[doodleboy]

I heard an interview of David Benihoff once about Game of Thrones. I think during a lunch meeting before they got the show, George asked him and DB Weiss who Jon Snow's father was. They gave their guess, and then George smiled and winked I think. They got permission to do the series shortly after.

Eh I imagine most of the small folk in Westeros have incomplete or faulty information. I remember the Viper talking to Tyrion about visiting the Red Keep when he was born and being dissappointed Tyrion didn't have a tail.

[flint_marko]

George actually said he regretted Tyrion's somersault.

"Ahm... Wait... What would I like to change? Well, I might like to change the scene where Tyrion Lannister is first introduced; the scene where Tyrion jumps from the top of a gate; it isn't possible. By then I had very few references about people of his condition and it was later when I came to know more extended details about his physical challenges. So that's one of the things I would change."

[icon_uk]

That's a relief, because it didn't feel "right" to me just looking at this (I've never read the books and am more than a little behind on the TV series)

[reveen]

Yeah, one of the things that irritates me about the show is how dour and spartan a lot of the sets and costumes are, I know budget is a concern but I would have liked to see some opulence once in a while.

Also, I think the reason no one gossips about John Snow is because very few people south of the Neck know who the hell any of the Starks are other than Eddard the guy who help lead the rebellion, because Ned doesn't go down south much. And most people in the North respect Ned too much to gossip about his bastard.

[locuatico]

i think the books even mention Ned inviting every once in a while some peasants to have dinner with him so he could talk to them and see how better serve his people.
If the people of the south respected Ned half as much as the north did, i think Jaime's execution of him would have been an even bigger screw-up

[laughing_tree]

Per Book 1, Ned would regularly invite a member of his staff to eat with him and his family, a different person each time.

[kamino_neko]

Joffrey's execution of him. I'm not sure Jaime was even in King's Landing at the time, and he certainly didn't have the power to have Ned executed.

[locuatico]

Someone with a J

[cyberghostface]

Not sure what warrants the trigger warning. Bastard? Dwarf?

As messy as the show has become I think the series works better than the comic. The art in general doesn't do much for me but more than that it moves at a snail's pace when read in monthly installments. It took them a little less than three years to adapt the first book. The same thing with Marvel's 'The Stand'.

Many fans think "R + L = J." But does anyone in-universe have a similar theory?

Well the thing is only Ned would know and as far as everyone else is concerned Jon is just an insignificant bastard. The stuff that tends to travel involves major figures, like for example how Tyrion is viewed as a depraved monster in different areas.

[starwolf_oakley]

I thought "dwarf" was an abelist term. Am I wrong? Political correctness has ruined me!

Yes, it does take quite a while to finish one book. Actually, I'm surprised the TV series has "caught up" to the books the way they have.

I hadn't thought about rumors only involving famous people. I thought everyone gossiped about everyone in Westeros.

[cyberghostface]

http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2004/02/23/daughters_dwarfism_propels_writer_on_unexpected_journey/?page=full

Reading this, 'dwarf' is ok, 'midget' isn't.

It's kind of sad in retrospect but GRRM thought books 4 and 5 would be enough for 2.5 seasons of the show and instead they just threw most of it out the window and made up the rest. Brienne's travels with Podrick and Tyrion meeting up with Jon Connington, 'Young Griff' and Penny for example. Not to mention all the stuff with the Martells and Greyjoys.

[locuatico]

hey! but at least they kept the ramsey rape (and ONLY the rape) by just replacing the character with Sansa, sure am glad that was kept in the show...

[jekylls_salvation]

I would like to have been in that room. "Well, he has to rape somebody."

[icon_uk]

Interesting read. If asked, I'd have thought that midget was acceptable, as midgets were those with restricted growth, rather than dwarfism.

[alicemacher]

My understanding is that "midget" is considered offensive because it's widely associated with the exploitation of little people in "freak" shows. P.T. Barnum didn't coin the word, but he apparently had a hand in popularizing it.

[jekylls_salvation]

My downstairs neighbor (not a euphemism) prefers dwarf. I say little person just in case. Eggshells. Eggshells.

[laughing_tree]

Yeah, the comic is such an unfailingly faithful adaptation, which is nice in its way, but it means the only thing new it offers people who've read the books is the visual element. And, unfortunately, this guy's art doesn't work for me, either.

As I recall, this came out around the same time the TV show did. I have to wonder, if it'd come out later, after the show already became a hit, would it have been able to pull in a bigger name artist? A big opportunity might have been missed.

[richardak]

As to why more people do not think in-series do not seem to think R+L=J, it may be that they have no reason to think that. For them, it just seems obvious that of course Ned is Jon's father, and they have no reason to think otherwise. Psychologically, they may prefer to think that Jon is Ned's bastard, because it lets them think of Ned as being not so honorable after all.

Personally, I don't buy the R+L=J theory myself, for a simple reason. Ned stayed at the Tower of Joy long enough to tear the place down. Given their technology level, it's not as though he could have dynamited the place or even hit it with a wrecking ball. He would have needed his army to go at with sledgehammers to tear the place down. That would have taken at least weeks and probably months. If he was caring for an infant that whole time, someone would have noticed. If he and Howland Reed had returned to his army's camp from their confrontation with the last of the Kingsguard, people would have noticed. Then there probably would have been talk. That may also be why people in universe don't think R+L=J.

After leaving the Tower of Joy, Ned traveled to Dorne to return Ser Arthur Dayne's body to his sister. He then left Starfall, at which time Ashara Dayne killed herself, and Ned was noted to have an infant, apparently Jon, with him. I think that's why people most people think that Ashara Dayne is Jon's mother, and Ned is his father. Moreover, if Jon's true parentage ever is revealed, I hope it turns out to be Ned and Ashara, because at this point, that would be the surprising twist. R+L=J would seem predictable and conventional.

[starwolf_oakley]

In retrospect, Robb and Jon take after Ned in that their hearts (and groins) get in the way of their duties. Jon's feeling for Ygrette complicated matters.
Robb's feelings for Jeyne Westerling/Talisa Maegyr cost him his life. Ned being in love with Ashara Dane and that "ruining things" makes a lot of sense.

"Love’s not always wise, I’ve learned. It can lead us to great folly, but we follow our hearts ... wherever they take us."

Other thing: Some fans thought Talisa Maegyr actually WAS Jeyne Westerling, but that's a moot point now.