Game of Thrones, part 2??

I mean... if that's what you're into...

 

I'm still hoping we may one day get a show or movie set during the Age of Dragons, or the Doom.

As for, shall we say, darker skinned Valyrians. Judging by geography, I'm surprised there's any white ones. At the very least, you'd expected them to be medium bronzed.

I'm being tongue in cheek there. Clearly, Valyria is inspired by the legends of Atlantis (Greek/Mediterranean/possibly North African or Middle East). And based on it's being pretty much on the equator in southern Essos, you could reasonably expect darker tones. Black? Who knows? Other than silver hair and purple eyes, GRRM never really describes Valyrians other than the Targaryans. So anything is possible.

But for practical purposes, having POC play the Valaryons gives the casual viewer an easy way to distinguish who is who. There's enough characters already without trying to figure out which ones are House Targaryan and which are House Valaryon (since otherwise they'd look largely alike). Especially as they keep replacing characters with the time jumps. You and I could. But the average viewer? At least until we get the Greens and Blacks and different lines are drawn. It also will make certain parentage glaringly obvious.

It doesn't bother me. I'm more bothered that NONE OF THEM HAVE PURPLE EYES!!!!

He's killing it. And, well,

Spoiler

he's no longer Hand now...

I can't believe the goofiest looking Dr. Who ever is Daemon.

 

I didn’t even realize that was him. Damn he’s good!

 

Just got caught up tonight. This show is getting good.

 

(Leaving everything intentionally vague as hell)

A friend of mine that knows nothing about Westeros history, or this specific story is telling me about how much he likes this character. Thinks that character is a good person. And another character is probably going to <insert theory>.

And my response was

He's like, what? What part am I wrong about?

Ummmm... almost all of it. Rule #1: there ARE NO "good guys." Oh, there may be characters you'll root for, or even like. But they won't be "good." (Like, say, Daemon. GREAT character. Fun character even. So easy to get behind. But chaotic neutral at best, to downright evil at worst) They're all horrible people in one way or another. And many of them are sympathetic or even heroic at other times. But if you're looking for a Saint, you're not going to find one.

 

Loving Daemon’s character. Dude needs a stand alone series.

The green Hightower beacon was an interesting twist. Looks like we’re about to get a huge time jump next week.

 

Dunk and Egg stories are good. More short story format than novel. And they give you just enough background color to put later events into perspective.

"Egg? Egg? I dreamed I was old!" Maester Aemon's last words. Same Egg. Aemon's younger brother, Aegon V. (Aemon really was OLD)

Dunk is Ser Duncan the Tall. Eventually Lord Commander of the King's Guard, but not yet in the stories. Starts out as a no name hedge knight (who wasn't even actually knighted). One of Bran's favorite heroes ("You always liked my stories of Ser Duncan the Tall"). And popular fan theories have him as Hodor and/or Brienne's grandfather or great grandfather.

The Civil War Brice is talking about is the Blackfyre Rebellion. Not the Dance of Dragons (which the show will be about). The Blackfyre Rebellion came later.

Most of them are kept in the Dragon Pit in King's Landing. Some roam free. They're fed livestock, or whatever they prey on when roaming... and the bodies of fallen enemies.

From what I understand, most of the (female?) dragons can lay eggs. They can live for centuries. The large dragon skull you keep seeing? Notice there's still flesh on it the rats chew on? He died relatively recently. He was Viserys' dragon, Balerion the Black Dread. The oldest and largest of all the Targaryan dragons. He was already centuries old when Aegon the Conqueror first came to Westeros. Note: he isn't the largest known dragon. Some in the days of Valyria were much larger, and older. You may even see a wild one eventually on the show who's older and bigger. No one knows how old they can get. What we do know is they never stop growing.

Dragons will only accept one rider at a time. Once they bond to a rider, they won't accept another until after that rider dies. There's currently one of the original 3 dragons that came with Aegon a century ago still alive. Vhagar, who is the largest the Targaryans currently possess. You'll see Vhagar soon enough. There's no rider at this time for Vhagar... yet. Not everyone with Valyrian (or even Targaryan) blood can ride a dragon. But no one without that blood can.

I'm not sure how many are alive at the time of where the show is now. More than you've seen, but not sure the number. Right now, there's only 4 known dragon riders though. That will soon change. And there'll be a good number of dragons born over the next few years.

By the time of Game of Thrones, the dragons are thought to be extinct. Everywhere in the world (although there's rumors some still live in Asshai). Yes, a good number of them will die in the upcoming conflict. And something mysterious happens after because they don't seem to grow as large, nor seem as healthy. Their numbers and strength slowly decline until they're all gone. The last of the dragons were little bigger than dogs. There's a lot of theories as to why that happened, and HOTD may or may not add fuel to those theories.

 

Then he's nailing his role. Viserys is SUPPOSED to be an indecisive, milquetoast, oaf. Nice guy. Terrible king.

 

Kind of a difficult episode to watch. Not that it was bad, but it was almost like starting a completely different series with all the recasting and different characters.