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shipperxYou know it's a complicated fictional 'verse when they can go to this extent explaining a fictional religion.
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Date: 2011-12-20 04:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-20 05:56 am (UTC)A Not Too Spoilery (Fanmade) Trailer:
Basically it takes place in a world that's a rough equivalent of Medieval Europe. Except in this world, nature is somewhat out of balance. Summers and winters can last for decades...at random. All they really know is that the longer the summer, the longer the winters. And it's been ten years of summer at the start of the series. (The weather is somewhat metaphorical, so it's not entirely coincidental that the years of summer have coincided with the years of peace.) And Winter is Coming...
Also 'not of this earth', the kingdom of Westeros has a huge ice wall separating it from the North which is maintained by "The Night's Watch". Again, it being dark ages, history is sketchy for them sometimes. They have all sorts of legends and tales of what lies beyond the wall, but most of these stories are considered just that -- legends. Except...erm... the reader/viewer knows that it's not all legend. From the opening scenes we know that there are "white walkers" beyond the wall. And while we don't know exactly what that means or entails... it involves zombies.
There's also legend/history that there were once dragons. They even have the bones, much as you' see t-rex bones in the museum. But the last of the dragons died out ages ago. Which brings it back to the political story that's the gist of the novels.
The Targareyn family ruled Westeros (the country) for a thousand years, not coincidentally, because they were said to have/control/are mystically connected to dragons. But, again, dragons died out ages ago. And with the Mad King, the Targareyn family was overthrown (and largely slaughtered) more than a decade before the book starts. Two Targareyn children, survived, however, and were spirited away 'across the narrow sea' (Viserys and Danerys). They are the 'last of the dragons' (the Targareyn family sigil), and the brother is willing to sell his sister to warlords in his determination to return to Westeros to reclaim the throne which is currently held by...
The Baratheon family. Robert Baratheon is the current king. He won the throne in the civil war that overthrew the Targareyn family. He has two brothers. Stannis (described as 'having the personality of a lobster) and Renly (who is quite popular... and quite-- though secretly -- gay) Once king, Robert married into the richest and most powerful family in the country. The Lannisters.
The Lannisters are basically... the de Medicis . They're smart, wealthy, powerful... and schemers of the first order. They manage to look out for their own interests first. The father is Tywin. His children include Robert's Queen Cersei. Plus his sons, Jaime and... the drawf that Tywin is ashamed of... Tyrion. (Cersei has three children as well -- Joffrey, Myrcella, and Tommen).
Then there are the Starks. King Robert's friends and who were -- in earlier times -- the Kings of the North (the area closest to the wall dividing them from whatever lies to the North). Ned Stark is Sean Bean, and the primary protagonists are rounded out by his brood, his wife Caitlyn, his sons Robb, Jon, and Bran. And his daughters Arya and Sansa.
The entire country is on a slow, inevitable slide into r civil war, and the Winter -- and the White Walkers -- are coming.
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Date: 2011-12-20 06:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-20 10:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-20 07:05 pm (UTC)With the bands encircling 'the sun' giving a sigil laden history of backstory (you see the Dragon (House Targareyn) breathing fire. You see the Stag (House Baratheon) and the Wolf (House Stark) at war with the dragon. And you see the Wolf (Stark) and the Lion (House Lannister) kneeling to the stag and the symbol "Game of Thrones" is flagged by the sigils of the Dragon, Stag, Wolf, Lion (there are other houses that you're eventually introduced to but those are the central four).
The books have the tendency to segueway into elaborate history lessons such that by the time of Book V you not only know the history of Westeros but of
the fall of Romethe fall of the ancient civilzation. And there are more religions than just the one in the clip I linked to first (which was the "Sevin" and the "Old Gods". There's an up and coming, zealot-filled relgion on the "Lord of Light" (which can raise the dead), there's thePirates/VikingsIron Island's worship of the Water God, and then there's the "House of Black and White" thathas ninja assassinsworships death, but those are introduced somewhat sequentially through the story and as of Season 1 they only have the Seven and the Children of the Forest/Old Gods.There is magic in the verse, but it's used sparingly. Most things have to happen pragmatically.
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Date: 2011-12-20 07:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-21 03:56 am (UTC)Two warnings:
The books are long. Like in excess of 1000 pages (each) long.
Second, the books are dark! Very, very dark. I actually would advise taking breaks between books because over the winter/spring/summer I read them back to back to back and somewhere around the end of 3 beginning of 4 I felt like I was drowning in darkness. The couple of month breaks between 4 & 5, I think, made 5 much more enjoyable.
That said, my favorite characters are Tyrion Lannister (http://youtu.be/F-7YcN8xmhQ) and Arya Stark (http://youtu.be/pUP5N56ibFQ) (don't be misled by the lightness of the character vids, the series is dark.
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Date: 2011-12-21 05:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-21 07:23 pm (UTC)Being in Sansa's POV can be trying because she sooooo naive and childish that it takes her a long time to realize what's going on around her. I often had to remind myself of just how young she is. As she matures (and she is forced to) it gets better.
Sansa's younger sister Arya kicks ass though. (And her arc is one of the more action-packed in the series. But boy, she has to go through a hell of a lot).
I've found the actress playing Catelyn in the show has made me like Catelyn more in the show than in the early books. Though by Book III I was really feeling for Catelyn.
Dany probably has the most overt victim to heroine arc, going from chattal to warrior queen.
As the series progresses they also introduce Brienne (a female knight on her own quest) and Asha (a female heir to the Iron Island's throne who is a bit of a pirate and/or viking (according to how you interpret the parallels to Iron Islands culture).
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Date: 2011-12-22 03:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-28 01:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-23 12:02 am (UTC)But I'd rec reading it in e-format. These books are heavy.
And Tyrian, Arya, Dany, Jon ... all rock.
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Date: 2011-12-20 11:10 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-20 09:30 pm (UTC)