Warning: Full spoilers for Game of Thrones: Season 5 follow...
Even before Game of Thrones' fifth season began, many fans knew this would be the trickiest road, to date, to navigate. The last two Song of Ice and Fire books (of the five released thus far) were A: not considered the best of the pack, B: filled with quite a few new main characters, and C: crippled by a weird, fold-over timeline that made it so that almost every big, shocking moment happened at the very end of the fifth book, A Dance with Dragons. Truth be told, these two tomes were one book that Martin strangely separated into two by characters, not chronology.
So what were the solutions? Firstly, a lot of the new characters introduced in the books were eliminated (or delayed) and their stories were handed off to existing characters, many of whom had storylines and arcs that dwindled dramatically in the books at this point. And secondly, new off-page moments were created to keep the thrills going throughout the season, so that these 10 episodes didn't wind up being completely end-loaded (though that sort of happened anyhow). Because if you ask book fans what the biggest moments were from the two novels, most would say Daenerys' arena dragon ride (and Dothraki drop-off), Cersei's walk of atonement, and the murder of Jon Snow by his Night's Watch brothers. Yes, still all huge moments from the final two episodes.
Continue reading…
Continue reading...
Even before Game of Thrones' fifth season began, many fans knew this would be the trickiest road, to date, to navigate. The last two Song of Ice and Fire books (of the five released thus far) were A: not considered the best of the pack, B: filled with quite a few new main characters, and C: crippled by a weird, fold-over timeline that made it so that almost every big, shocking moment happened at the very end of the fifth book, A Dance with Dragons. Truth be told, these two tomes were one book that Martin strangely separated into two by characters, not chronology.
So what were the solutions? Firstly, a lot of the new characters introduced in the books were eliminated (or delayed) and their stories were handed off to existing characters, many of whom had storylines and arcs that dwindled dramatically in the books at this point. And secondly, new off-page moments were created to keep the thrills going throughout the season, so that these 10 episodes didn't wind up being completely end-loaded (though that sort of happened anyhow). Because if you ask book fans what the biggest moments were from the two novels, most would say Daenerys' arena dragon ride (and Dothraki drop-off), Cersei's walk of atonement, and the murder of Jon Snow by his Night's Watch brothers. Yes, still all huge moments from the final two episodes.
Continue reading…
Continue reading...