By Chris Wright, aka James Rivers, with Petra Part 2 of our Game of Thrones fandom survey results finds three strong women — Daenerys, Cersei and Sansa — among respondents’ favorite AND least favorite characters. And a question gauging the morality of 40 characters reveals that a man normally associated with “black and white” comes […]
Continue reading →All of us at Watchers on the Wall had a blast at this year’s Con of Thrones. Maybe we had too much fun. When we arrived to our Watchers podcast on the third and final day of the convention, during the first morning hours, it was after a night of partying with other attendees and […]
Continue reading →By Chris Wright, aka James Rivers, with Petra Results of the Game of Thrones survey posted in April here at Watchers on the Wall — and discussed Sunday at Con of Thrones — support the idea that A Song of Ice and Fire readers find the show’s more recent seasons less compelling than do non-book […]
Continue reading →In the first episode of Game of Thrones, young Brandon Stark climbed to the top of Winterfell’s walls with a specific purpose: the retinue of King Robert Baratheon was nearing Bran’s home and the young Stark wanted to enjoy a bird’s-eye view of the approaching southern royal host. Years later, Bran Stark is back at […]
Continue reading →“We do not sow” Paraphrasing Olenna Tyrell, those are words that strike fear in the heart, because violence is implicit in them. These aren’t farmers who work the fields nor traders who will come to negotiate with you. When the Ironborn arrive to some place, it is to take everything they can by force, and […]
Continue reading →Fire and blood, the blood of Old Valyria, the three heads of the dragon. In Westeros, the Targaryens are the pinnacle of dynasties; they made kings surrender their ancient crowns or die screaming in dragonfire. Aegon the Conqueror made a mockery of even the most powerful king, Harren the Black, ending Harren and his line […]
Continue reading →Interpersonal bonds tend to be, uh, fraught on Game of Thrones, to say the least. In a show famous for its complexity and brutality, we’ve watched plenty of (fairly) conventional relationships break down over the course of seven seasons. In this video essay, however, I take a look at the bonds that have survived thus far and, more specifically, examine how hitting […]
Continue reading →Through seven seasons, Game of Thrones has boasted a huge ensemble cast of memorable characters, and though many of them are fan favorites or integral to the plot, the most important of them all (the ones the “Song of Ice and Fire” surely alludes to) are Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen. Both of them had humble […]
Continue reading →“Violence is a disease. You don’t cure a disease by spreading it to more people.” “You don’t cure it by dying, either.” The world of Game of Thrones is a brutal one, there is no denying. It is a consequence of George R. R. Martin’s portrayal of a fantasy world that is more realistic than […]
Continue reading →When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground. Cersei Lannister said those words midway-through the very first season of Game of Thrones, after Lord Eddard Stark revealed his suspicions about Robert Baratheon not being the father to Cersei’s children. Suspicions that the queen decided to confirm […]
Continue reading →