The Real Events That Inspired the Greatest Show on Earth
This article contains spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 2. Growing up abused and unsure of his place in his father’s household, is it any wonder Ramsay doesn’t want any rivals? The scene will chill your blood. Not only does Ramsay kill the father whom he appeared to love so deeply, he feeds his stepmother and baby brother to his dogs. As Ramsay coolly explains to Walda moments before her death, “I prefer being an only child.” But,…
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What does Home mean for the various players in the Game of Thrones? For Dany’s dragons, home is not their current prison. For Sansa, it is being united with someone who she can trust and maybe having the chance to find her sister. For Ramsay, it is never going back to the nightmare of being a bastard, or a second son. For Arya, it is losing enough of her identity that her Faceless family will accept her again. For Cersei, home…
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Melisandre has been behind some of Game of Thrones worst moments. She introduced the concept of burning heretics and king’s blood to Stannis and his followers. She wanted to burn Gendry (or Edric Storm in the books) — and would have if Gendry hadn’t escaped. She facilitated the burning of Selyse’s own brother on the beach at Dragonstone. She set Mance Rayder to the torch. And, she urged Stannis to burn his daughter Shireen to secure his victory at Winterfell….
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Can Jon Be Saved? Finally, Game of Thrones is back for Season 6. At the beginning of the season’s first episode, many characters – Stannis, Sansa & Theon, Myrcella, Jon Snow — had unknown fates. Daenerys was in the wind and Arya was left vulnerable in Braavos. The Wall Jon Snow is definitely dead. Can Melisandre bring him back? When last season ended, Jon’s men – including Night’s Watch leaders like Alliser Thorne — had stabbed him in a Caesar-esque,…
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On the Game of Thrones Season 5 DVD’s segment “The Real History Behind Game of Thrones,” George RR Martin admitted something that nibbles at the edge of his stories: he LOVES Richard III. And, Martin admitted his passion with such a nice smile. I’ve wondered for years whether GRRM is a closet Ricardian. After all, some of his storylines present a very kind interpretation of the man formerly known as Gloucester. You see traces of GRRM’s love for Richard III everywhere in…
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Today HBO is releasing the Season 5 Game of Thrones DVD, which includes interviews with George RR Martin and a few other folks talking about history and Game of Thrones. I have to admit that I’m very excited — and somewhat terrified — to see the DVD because I’m one of the people HBO interviewed. (Thanks again, HBO!) I’ve never been on TV before and I’ve never been to New York city, so I was pretty nervous during the interview. (Think Deer/Headlights.)…
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