Did you think I was kidding about the flood of Game of Thrones promotion? Dive in and soak it up: we’re officially in-season now and it feels so good. Today’s new material: cast members and showrunner D.B. Weiss talk to Entertainment Weekly about their major increase in screen time for season 7.
“When I first read this season I thought: ‘Damn, I gotta learn some lines!’” Emilia Clarke says to EW. “We’re actually filming longer now. I don’t know how that’s happening.”
Peter Dinklage agrees, saying, “I’ve worked more days this season than I have in quite some time.”
But with the season only running for seven episodes this year, how did this come about? Everyone was afraid they’d be seeing less of their favorites. But when Weiss explains it, it all comes together.
“You kill a couple dozen characters, the people who are left by default need to carry more dramatic weight,” Weiss points out. The all-around bloodbath of season six freed up screen time to spread around to other main characters. He also notes that, “As the worlds start to converge the characters who haven’t met each other before start to meet each other and there are more main characters together in each other’s storylines than ever before.”
Visit EW to read the complete interview and see what else Weiss and the cast have to say about season 7!
Hurr the durr
I mean, duh, right?
Hold the floodgates !
The S7 updates are causing sensory overload. Too much in one week to process. (It’s great, isn’t it ?)
Oh, and a big thanks to Sue and everyone else at WoW for giving us all of this information as soon as it’s released, along with great articles and commentary.
well duh
Call me when Bran gets more screentime though.
Another interesting takeaway from the EW article (before the web page froze on me): Filming for seven-episode S7 took just as long as ten-episode S6.
The runtime for the Season 7 premiere (Episode 61) has been posted on the official HBO schedule. It’s listed at 58 minutes.
http://www.hbo.com/search?type=schedule&seriesIds=PMRS1663&q=Game%20of%20Thrones
We may be getting fewer episodes this year, but hopefully this means that most of them will run closer to a full hour (and with luck, the finale at least should be longer). None of this 50-51 minute nonsense. 😉
At this point, the narrative really should condense down to the main characters. We have gotten fewer and fewer “side scenes” to fill us in on what is happening elsewhere in the last couple of years: hopefully the next two will be almost completely devoid of them, as it will be hard for them to be anything other than “filler” at this point.
LOL.
Jared,
I agree. Utter nonsense indeed 🙂
Nice!
Great news.
Here’s hoping they don’t waste scenes with unimportant characters like The Hound. His scenes in season 6 were just fillers titled WHO CARES.
Ten Bears,
Given that they are shooting less material overall, they have the luxury of doing more takes in the time allotted. If you let directors have their way, then they’ll often film the same scenes a gazillion and two times….
Why, diehard fanboys & fangirls, of course! Seriously, I agree: they could have cut all of that stuff, and just have the Hound appear with Beric and the Bannerhood (as their new drummer or something) this season.
Ha, i think 58 min is still too short. A good chunk of last season was around this time. I was hoping for 65+ minutes given the shorten season and the fact that so many storylines are coming together.
(But obviously i am happy with anything they can give us!)
Wimsey,
Well, though those scenes could easily be cut, it was very entertaining to watch and fills The Hound’s story and arc out a bit more.
Sounds exciting!
It shouldn’t be difficult at all for Tyrion to have more screen time in Season 7 compared to season 6
and I hope Tyrion is alot more Tyrion in season 7
6 hours to 50 days …. season 7
The increase in screentime makes a lot of sense given the massive cull in season six. We have far fewer places/people to check in with, and those left are apparently going to be crossing paths meaning instead of getting five minutes with character x and five with character y, we’re getting ten minutes with both of them.
For example, in episode one it is feasible that we could get 10-15 minutes in Winterfell with Jon and Sansa, 10-15 minutes with Daenerys and Tyrion’s crew, and 10-15 minutes in KL with Jaime and Cersei – and still be able to drop in on another three locations (Bran, Arya, Sam, maybe?).
In the past, it has been customary for characters to skip one or two episodes per season (with a few exceptions) and in season six, for example, nobody appeared in more than eight episodes. This year, I don’t see major characters like Jon, Daenerys, Tyrion, Cersei, Jaime etc., skipping even one.
Makes absolute sense, “FEWER” characters are around and less locations and man I cannot wait for this to become my weekly ritual, even though it is only for 7 weeks I cannot wait!
Flayed Potatoes,
I would be happy enough if Bran is treated as an actual character and not just a time traveling television 🙂 .
Very excited about new character interactions as well as reunions. It’s what I am looking forward to the most.
Jared,
Thanks! Eager to see what the episode titles are as well.
ghost of winterfell,
re: bran…..We shouldn’t get our hopes up.
As for reunions…. I am looking forward to Jon/Tyrion and for Jon to meet Varys for the first time (I wonder if Varys will suspect something you know), Arya/Bran (we actually don’t know if they have a scene together) and I want Jon and Gendry to befriend each other and Arya and Brienne to be awesome together and Bran to see Sam again because they’re cute and intelligent and I love them.
“Please sir, I want some more Bronn.”
— Oliver Twisted
This is amazing… I am so excited. And thanks to Jared who posted the run time for the premiere!!!!!!! Is this confirmed or a default entry?
I haven’t watched the trailer yet, as I said in the other thread. I am too depressed my boyz lost last night 🙁 DOUBLE OVERTIME GAME 7 I aged 546546546 years… MY HEART CANT TAKE ANYTHING ANYMORE, I think the trailer will make things worse.
Does this mean the episodes are longer? 😩🙏🏼
No, they couldn’t. Those scenes explain why he’s still alive and the change in his character that leads to him joining the Brotherhood. Having him just exposit about that in a couple of lines wouldn’t be nearly as effective. Show, don’t tell.
I expected this but it is great to hear for sure.
Hear, hear!
With what those 5 are payed per episode, there may not be much money left for the other actors, LOL. And yeah, Sandor’s not top tier, but hes sure as hell popular, and S6 viewers really enjoyed the surprise of seeing him alive and tussling with Brother Rey and the yellow cloak guy. And him pissing in the river to say LS wasn’t coming back! Such side-scenes could have big effects on others (Arya? Beric & Thoros? John? Gregor & Cersie?) and the whole shebang.
ghost of winterfell,
I doubt Bran will be treated like a proper character, sadly. The fact that after the cave scene we get basically nothing about how Bran is feeling as a consequence of Hodor and Summer’s deaths, is really a shame. Summer was basically an extension of Bran’s identity. He had the closest relationship with his wolf of all the Starks. Summer was killed off for seemingly no valid creative reason (it was budget, I’m assuming), and Bran doesn’t seem to have any feeling about the event.
He’s nothing more than a flashback device.
Bran’s seemed alot different in season 6… one of my least favorite characters.
This is good news, I’m looking forward to see more screen time of all the characters instead of like 5 minutes for each that leaves you wanting more. Hopefully all the episodes have a longer run time as well
The Hound is not one of the main characters, so he doesn’t really have an arc or a part in the story. His role is to push characters like Arya & Sansa along their arcs and help them create story that way. He could have continued to do that by re-appearing this year. Gendry might well be doing that, too.
Are those feelings relevant to the story? At this point, Bran seems to have accepted that he has to adopt the mantle of the 3-Eyed Raven, and that means putting those things behind him. What we got was a show of Bran’s determination to push on with that: and that is perfectly fine dynamic character development.
In this case, neither show nor tell. What the Hound has been up to is utterly unimportant. What is going to be important is however he affects Sansa and/or Arya: and as they were not there to watch the Hound at the Hippy Commune, none of that is going to be important. Again, that was purely for a certain class of fanboys/girls: they might care, but the general viewer (and a lot of the other fans) do not.
Of course he was different: he’d spent a year plugged into trees learning how to be a tree god. Apotheosis has that sort of affect on people.
Kadrogon,
Speak for yourself. The Hound is one of my favorite characters.
Bran’s feelings show his humanity, his character, and affect the decisions he makes and actions he takes (or doesn’t take.) So I would argue that they are very much relevant to the story.
Most general viewers that I know, who don’t spend hours posting on fan sites every week and just watch for fun, very much care about Sandor. His character is one of the most liked from the show. Even this ‘fangirl’ can see that.
Wimsey,
You’re obsessed with what is “important” to the story in a very strict sense.
Writers also like to explore themes and ideas because they are INTERESTING, even if they have no direct bearing on the story or the plot.
Bran is a character we should care about. It’s difficult to care about someone who has been utterly deprived of any human moments to reflect on what has happened to him.
GRRM always deals with the emotional and psychological aftermath of major events, and I much prefer that style to the Cliff Notes version of the story that you want, which only includes the most indispensable narrative elements. The world and the characters need to be rich and engaging for me to care about the story and the plot. Vacuous humans don’t make for interesting protagonists.
Characters are the heart of all fiction. Without them, what’s the point ? Why even care about the story if the people involved aren’t treated as compelling and three-dimensional human beings ?
Your philosophy is utilitarian to the extreme, and not the standard used by any great writer.
Pigeon,
You get it. Thank the Seven there are people like you to remind our friend Wimsey that not everyone shares his philosophy.
Sam the Slayer,
Agreed. If we’re talking filler, how about no more lame ass Tyrion joke scenes. Or Iron born in random whore house just to show BOOBIES.
How long until we start to get episode titles?
Pump your breaks, kid. Tyrion is a national treasure. 🙂
Besides, I “must needs” know how the “jackass and a honeycomb in a brothel” story ends.
Sean C.,
THANK YOU.
Seriously. What’s up with this blasphemy?
To echo other posters, it’s not just a certain class of “fanboys” and “fangirls” who love the Hound (and certain other second-tier characters). Saner Half, who is watching the show for the first time with me, also loves the Hound and was really peeved about what happened to him. He’ll be stoked when we watch S6!
Markus Stark,
Now this is really important.
Correct: and the fact that Bran is not showing them is showing where he is right now. He is focused on the task of becoming (or being) the 3-Eyed Raven. Summer was important to the boy, but dealing with the White Walkers (or the truth behind the White Walkers) is the priority right now. This is an extension of “Kill the Boy, let the tree-god be born.”
In a very real way, what this showed us is that Bran has evolved into the sort of person who can be a very good tactical leader. One thing good tactical leaders know is that there is a time to act on grief: Bran knows that this time has not yet arrived. If they are taking Bran’s character in the direction that they appear to be, then it would have undermined it to show him blubbering overmuch.
Yes, the Hound does have an arc — it’s about the gradual turning away from the childish nihilism he sunk into following his brother’s traumatic assault, and moving to try to redeem his earlier harsh acts and adopt a more heroic role.
In a well-written series, prominent characters (which the Hound is) do, even if some are obviously more important than others. The story is not, as you regularly claim, solely about a couple of people.
No, it is important, because it’s important to understand his character development (as well far more satisfying on a plotting level, since we need to understand how he got from where we last saw him to where he is now).
Sorry, but this is classic false equivalency on two scores. One, the duration of both scenes combined was very small compared to what they gave to the Hounds Hippy Holiday. (Wasn’t that most of an episode? I haven’t rewatched the season, so I do not recall off-hand.)
Two, both of those scenes were backdrops to some important stuff for two main characters. We got to see both Tyrion and Theon struggle through the cons and cons of different aspects of alliances: and that was the story last year. The Hound isn’t a main character. He could just show up again without explanation other than: no, he didn’t quite die. (That will be self-evident.) IF it is important that Arya or Sansa know what he was doing (and I doubt that it will be), then some explanation will have to be offered regardless of whether it was shown. After all, how Sansa or (much more probably) Arya react to seeing the Hound probably will be important to whatever the story is this year. I am leaning heavily towards Arya because she has a strong love/hate relationship with the Hound that was well-developed on TV, to which they have subsequently referred, and of which the audience can easily be reminded.
Really, the one thing that did save the Hound episode from being complete filler is that it did fit the story: the Hound winds up joining in with the band that murdered all of his friends after he euthanized the ones that did it. That was the story writ-small last year.
Sean C.,
Again, excellent points.
(waits anxiously for Ten Bears to materialize and go full Mama Grizz in defense of our mutually beloved canid)
No, not at all.
He couldn’t do that and be developed as a character, which was the point of those scenes. The Hound’s time amongst the faithful, culminating in his decision to join the Brotherhood, changed him (as is also fairly strongly hinted at in the AFFC chapter that this is derived from, which is why GRRM devotes a solid chunk of a chapter to it).
Thank you, Pigeon. Someone wrote they felt Sandor’s time in Season 6 could have been labeled “who cares.” Well, I care – I thoroughly enjoyed the cold-open of that episode, loved seeing that he was indeed alive and flourishing and actually had made a valued friend. After his long stint following that little beast, Joffrey, he was getting a taste of true humanity at its finest and most hopeful, and it had a profoundly positive effect on him. That effect allowed him to be convinced by Beric to spend his talents helping humanity and ride north with them.
Showing this change was a necessary bit of transition – we would never have believed it of the Hound who fled Kings Landing, who was at first hell-bent on turning in Arya for a reward. We needed to see him changed. I don’t care whose arc he props up, I like the character and am giddy thinking of reunions with Sansa and Arya.
I wrote my little blip before I saw yours, yours is really great.
Unanswered questions:
Will Melisandre decide the color blue is more her style?
Will an obscure Scottish pop musician play Wun Wun’s much shorter and stouter cousin Four By Four?
Will Alex Jones insist that the show is filmed on the moon by Stanley Kubrick?
Will Tormund finally admit that he’s attracted to Brienne but Edd is more his style?
Will Gilbert Gottfried have a cameo as Cersei’s new court jester?
Flayed Potatoes,
In addition to the ones you listed
I am especially interested to see Varys’ reaction to Jon. I don’t think he knows anything, but he might suspect.
Hi Sue – saw your bit in the Grauniad just now, representing for the GoT fandom. Good on you! Fame and fortune are sure to follow. Thank you for all your hard work.
It’s almost painful to watch someone as brilliant as our witty philosopher-king stumble this badly. He must’ve really hated that side-story with Ray.
“The Hound isn’t a main character.”
The irony of making this statement in the context of Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire is difficult to describe in a few words.
“After all, how Sansa or (much more probably) Arya react to seeing the Hound probably will be important to whatever the story is this year. I am leaning heavily towards Arya…”
I agree with all of that, but it misses the main point of The Hound’s return.
If The Hound can be redeemed, then any character in this story can be redeemed, which is especially important in a story hurtling toward a climax wherein either all of the characters work together, or they all die.
Wimsey,
Sean C.,
Thronetender,
IMO, those who call Sandor’s scenes in S6 a filler fail to be paying attention. Apart from givinig us sume character development, these scenes were a clear setup for some S7 twist involving the infamous lemon cloak. The released photos showed Sandor wearing it; moreover, the actor who plaid Lmoncloak tweeted that Sandor was wearing his cloak which was very strange taking into account all the securty measures and non-disclousure arrangements surrounding GOT. I bet it was done on purpose and that the showrunners wanted us to pay attention. BUT in the show Sandor only took Lemoncloak’s boots!
Inconsistency or twist? I would bet on the later (and take boots as foreshadowing). Someone somehow will take Sandor for Lemoncloak and accuse him and the Brotherhood in killing peacefulf folk, which will have all sorts of ramfications, including an effect on his anticipated reunion with the Stark girls. Like, if he is brought to them as suspected murderer, their trust may be shattered at least temporarily, and Littlefinger will be able to make use of it, etc. Something along these lines, though we’ll see how it plays exactly.
One way or another, if I am right, all the scenes Sandor had in S6 will be absolutely necessary to present the upcomming twist in the right way. And in general, it’s very hard to find filler in GOT. All the scenes serve some purpuse even, if the payoff comes several seasons after.
I’m not sure any of us can definitively say that what the Hound was up to, and how it changed him, is utterly unimportant. D&D, who do know what happens, thought it was worth spending a chunk of an episode in a tightly packed season with the Hound. You’re right that they could have re-introduced the Hound in a less time consuming way, and yet they chose not to. Why? Filler? Fan service? If so, they went to great lengths for a bit of meaningless filler. Pretty much everything they put in the show has payoff later, and I suspect this will too.
Thronetender, Pigeon, Wolfish,
I couldn’t agree more and I share your love for Houndie. Count me in!
Kadrogon,
Austen,
Understand where your coming from, The Hound isn’t one of the main characters but I love another character who isn’t a main character Jorah Mormont, whenever he comes onto my screen I get excited but also depressed because in the last few seasons his scenes have been pretty sad. But I do think all the characters who aren’t main are all important in other ways and their storylines will all impact the main characters in due time and for the most impact it’s important they aren’t one dimensional like they would be if they didn’t get their own small sorry arcs.
3eyes,
I don’t know if the link has been given before but here it is
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2017/may/24/tv-fan-sites-game-of-thrones-doctor-who
Pigeon,
Markus Stark,
Wolfish,
Sean C.,
I completely agree with your comments on character moments in regard to Bran and most especially The Hound. I don’t support the philosophy that this season and next should be about the main 5 or or 6 or whatever at the expense of every other storyline. IMO, The Hound’s journey is part of what makes GOT such a rich, compelling tale.
More screen time, but the same old 50-60 run time. So much for those 60+ min episodes that were reported here a while back
No such thing was reported as fact. It was common speculation. At any rate, the season premiere WILL be the longest in years. Only season 4 equals it, and only the series premiere in season 1 was longer.
Yeah for more screentime for everybody ! Not surprising one bit but yeah all the same ! 🙂
I do agree that.
I am sorry to say, Wimsey, but I thoroughly enjoyed the “hippy commune” scenes. In my opinion, not only was Brother Ray a superbly well-written character, elevated by the ever-fantastic and always-naughty Ian McShane, the themes explored in his exchanges with the Hound provided a glimpse into what could potentially be the future of Westeros.
Gregor and Ray agreed on a basic premise : violence is violence is violence… One can try to legitimise one’s own personal brand of it to salvage one’s self-image but, whether it is Ned allowing himself to decapitate a deserter out of a self-righteous sense of duty or Joffrey allowing himself to have Ned beheaded out of a self-righteous sense of revenge (and fear), it ultimately all boils down to the same visceral result : one opposing another gives one the right to hurt / kill another (and vice versa).
However, in spite of their similar observation, the Hound and the Brother had come to opposite conclusions. Gregor’s approach was, as Sean C said, “nihilistic” (since everyone is a “killer” anyway, might as well be one too) while Ray’s philosophy leaned towards moral absolutism (reject all and any violence so as not to spread it).
Eventually, both ideologies, for lack of a better word, proved unsustainable.
Gregor’s “dog eat dog” (ha ha !) worldview led him to being defeated by Brienne and abandoned by Arya; Ray’s “flower power” prevented him and his people from knowing how to defend themselves against violent aggressors.
Thematically, what it may lead to, for the Hound on a micro-level but also for the whole of the story’s environment on a macro one, is the discovery of a third, more functional option. One in which violence is seen as an occasional necessary evil. A proportionate, measured, carefully considered, occasional necessary evil.
Not to be viewed as glorious or honourable but not to be entirely dismissed either.
Considering what we have witnessed of Planetos so far, from the abject and disproportionate brutality to the utter disregard for even the merest suggestion of non-retaliation, such a novel approach would be quite the step forward in the civilisation process !
Who knows ? Westeros may someday be a place where it is not considered respectable to decapitate a man for running away (hi Ned !), behead another for badmouthing you (oh, hello Jon !), have a man devoured by dogs for being a sociopath (hi there, Sansa !) or dismember and cook two men to feed them to their father before slashing his throat for being scummy murderers (cheers Arya !)
Aim high, Westeros ! 😉
Inga,
I am so glad I was not the one bothered by the comments of Hound’s time on screen being filler – far from it. I didn’t like his character to start but as time went on I came to understand him. And seeing come back to life much as jon did brought the same feeling posters above felt – redemption is indeed possible. And that will be very important to those who he reunites with.
Certainly mistaken identity has been used often in literature (Shakespeare in particular wrote many of his plays based on this) I could see happen here; just hope if it does that the resolution happen quickly, so its not a distraction to the rest of the story as it ends.
Reply to Wolfish 5/26/27, 8:24 pm comment + other Hound comments:
I’ve been waiting for the Forum section to be up and running again to posit a lengthy, three-part assessment of The Hound’s importance. For now, I’m going to try to extract a barebones, abridged version of Part 1 in rebuttal to the suggestions that The Hound “doesn’t really have an arc or a part in the story”; that “his role is to push characters like Arya and Sansa along their arcs and help them create story that way”; or that “what the Hound has been up to is utterly unimportant.”
I’ve always found Wimsey’s analyses to be brilliant and insightful. I’ve learned so much from his posts about narrative techniques and the novel-to-teleplay adaptation process, that I’m tempted to address him as “Professor.”
I confess that I’m an unabashed Hound/Rory McCann fanatic, and admit I may be prone to confirmation bias when it comes to The Hound’s significance to the story. Nevertheless, I’m compelled to respectfully disagree with Wimsey’s suggestion that The Hound’s only purpose is to propel the arcs of other characters.
I’ve gone back over the ~ 60 hours of S1-S6 to try to prove I’m wrong, but every time I do, I become more convinced that I’m not cherry-picking insignificant tidbits to support a fanfic interpretation of Sandor Clegane. Instead, I see deliberate uses of repetition, foreshadowing, and conspicuously hung guns in neon lights, all of which signal that The Hound is not merely a colorful but ultimately insignificant character.
It’s not just my own view: the only trustworthy characters in the show itself have explained that Sandor is critical to the denouement.
If he weren’t, the showrunners would’ve truncated his story or prematurely killed him off, e.g. Barristan, Doran, Mance; left him “dead”; or brought him back just long enough to promptly kill him, eg, Blackfish, Rickon, Osha. [For the latter, I can’t get out of my head Groucho Marx singing “Hello, I must be going”.]
And if trope-subverting GRRM and the showrunners intend to avoid “pulling a Lost” – the term coined by GRRM to describe a crappy, disappointing conclusion to a promising series – the ending to GoT can’t be a retread of the tired old cliche involving the revelation of the true identity of a secret or exiled Prince or Princess, who emerges from obscurity to save the day.
I’ll take GRRM at his word (from an April, 2011 interview): “I’m deliberately disguising who the major characters are.” The delicious twist that’s been set up – on the show at least – is that the anti-social misanthrorope who repulses and is repulsed by humanity, may very well be the hero who saves it: the real “hero” has been hiding in plain sight all along, in the guise of a monster.
#Sandor Ahai
#THELittleBrother
#WorstSh-tinthe7Kingdoms
# ThinkI’llTake2Chickens
To be continued (with illustrative examples and quotes).
I want to believe Emilia when she says it…but after last season iam not getting my hopes up..
Hound is secondary character ..I won’t say he is unimportant to the story .his story is attached with both arya and sansa who are main characters ..
He will be one among the 10 to 12 secondary characters but he will not be leader or main character..
Those who are expecting him to turn out to be the ultimate hero and leader who will be the chosen one will sadly end up disappointed
Ten Bears,
I’d like to read that now! Mods, any chance he could post that (if he so chose)
Tensor (Not Conor) the Mage,
I second your post!
Ten Bears,
I don’t know that the Hound (or anyone else) will be the hero; if GRRM does stick to his trope-busting form for the ending, there will be no single savior. I do, however, agree with your assertion that Sandor “will be critical to the dénouement” of the story. After all, D&D are not alone in “reviving” his character and spending time on him; in the books (which, I am aware, you have not read) it is strongly, strongly suggested that he’s still alive and the transformation and growth of his character are continuing.
Like you (and several other commenters), I simply can’t imagine that so much time is spent on the development of a non-POV character for the sole sake of enriching two other characters’ story arcs.
dragonbringer,
Last season was one of the best for Dany and Emilia with a very good writing. Same goes for Jon, Sansa or Cersei. Don’t be greedy.
ghost of winterfell,
Leaks
Hey, Catspaw…you omitted the most important question: “Will Arya give me my dagger back?” Four by four! Pun intended,no doubt.
Wimsey, your reminder that secondary characters deserve less time is–strictly speaking– quite correct. And that he is important to Arya and Sansa’s arcs is too. I think the hippy commune scenes underlined an existence of innocence and religious sincerity we hadn’t seen before. That an unabashed killer like Sandor seeks answers to deep questions and tries to atone was revealing. And his groping towards redemption by (temporarily) rejecting his nihilistic outlook may not only eventually help him lift up Arya and Sansa, but other crusty, nail-hard warriors as well. GoT is full of people who would as soon kill you as see you. Sandor is at least trying to beat his sword into a plowshare. If Cleganebowl does occur, his new insights may give him the moral weight to kill Gregor. Even if he doesn’t survive the Great War, it’s attitude adjustment in people like him that will make rebuilding possible.
Ten Bears, keep up the Sandor work. You’ve made a terrific start. IMO, Sandor isn’t the hero but is one of the heroes. As Beric and Brother Ray both say (from different religious viewpoints), the Lord isn’t done with him yet.
looking forward to it!
Not to pile onto Wimsey, whose comments are one of the highlights of this blog, but minor or supporting characters can, and do, have arcs in epic stories. In fact, the use of character arcs for non-main characters is often the sign of superior storytelling.
My favorite example is the (very downward) arc of Agent Harris in The Sopranos. Harris is a very minor supporting character, who indeed begins as a stock character in American crime fiction: the straight-arrow, law-and-order FBI agent with a few endearing quirks. He ends in utter moral bankruptcy (ironically, not from associating with mobsters, but by the War On Terror) and helping rival gangs of criminals to kill each other in a bloody street war. His arc both makes the story more interesting, and actually helps to determine the ending. Perhaps the same will ultimately be true of The Hound.
Ser Not Appearing in this Series,
Thanks – I should have put it up, but didn’t think of it. Proud of our Sue.
Stark Raven’ Rad,
I didn’t mean to imply that I thought Sandor will emerge as THE hero. Far from it. Jon Snow is likely the Prince that was Promised, who’ll help unite and lead all of the “squabbling houses.” Daeny and Tyrion are obviously “major” players. And (in my view) Bran holds the key to all of the “mysteries.”
Like you said, I can’t fathom the showrunners devoting so much time to Sandor Clegane; and the scriptwriters sprinkling in so many “Easter Eggs” and call-backs, if the Hound’s character is just going to be window dressing.
Anyway, I’m still trying to condense all of the dialogue I’d extracted into something that’s manageable. (It doesn’t look like the Forum section will be coming back any time soon.)
Oh, before I forget: I was hoping to impose on the collective wisdom of commenters here to answer what might seem like a frivolous question about geography. (I realize some “book” knowledge may be required.)
In S4e10, when Brienne & Pod encounter Arya and The Hound, Arya tells Brienne the Bloody Gate (to the Vale) is 10 miles away. After Arya leaves a grievously wounded Sandor, she’s next shown rising her white horse towards a port; when she gets there, she gives the captain her coin, and the season ends with Arya on the deck of the ship looking back at the shoreline.
Anyway… Is there any indication how far that port is from the place where Sandor was left for dead ? Or how long it would’ve taken Arya to ride there?
(I’m trying to determine if I’m hunting down a deliberately embedded Easter Egg, or looking at my own distorted image in a shiny piece of tinfoil like a distracted parakeet.)
I’m pretty sure all of S7 episodes will be around 60-65 minutes. Which is nice, considering how short some episodes of Season 6 were.
Ten Bears,
In the book Arya takes the ship from Saltpans, a very small port in the Bay of Crabs. I found a fun blog post on Winter Is Coming about a fan who estimated a number of distances between places in both Westeros and Essos; I’ve linked both the page with fun visuals and its accompanying PDF below.
Looking at the map of the South in one of my books and using aforementioned fan’s estimate that the distance from the Bloody Gate to the Eyrie is 70 miles, my rough estimate for the distance from the Bloody Gate to Saltpans is 280 miles.
Blog post on Winter Is Coming:
http://winteriscoming.net/2015/11/10/game-of-thrones-fan-tabulates-distances-between-places-in-westeros/
PDF with estimated distances (broken down by region):
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KAqa9wwODqaFkegqf8Si6fmuE55-M-GMIj0ZmcKUFxs/edit
Ten Bears,
P.S.: I think your last post was a response to me, not Stark Raven’ Rad… but that’s OK. I’m really enjoying his/her posts (among many others’ here). 😉
EDIT: I see that Stark Raven’ Rad and I both made the same assertion. Note to self: Look twice before posting, O Lupine One!
Stark Raven’ Rad,
Took me a while but I finally got the joke. Good one! 😉
I dont have a problem with screen time for the Hound or any other secondary character, I just really didn’t care for his ridiculously abbreviated story with Brother Ray. The storyline took place in ONE episode. No time for the story to have a believable impact on the character, let alone the audience. Brother Ray dead? Who cares, we knew him for like 2 minutes. It was also a fairly predictable revenge trope. And its not just the Hound, overall the show writer’s urge to rush from plot point A to B, just to get to the water cooler moments, is really annoying.
48 days to go!! More screentime for Arya please, and after all that sledding, Meera and Bran deserve their share of time!! Season 6 had a very short opening episode. I welcome the 58 minutes. I am excited Arya may get catspaw and I would be up for Meera having Dark Sister if Arya doesn’t get to wield her.
Sean C.,
Yeah, the last time we saw the Hound, he was a jaded asshole that punches old men for their silver. Now, he’s gonna be fighting for something important, we needed to see his time in that community.
I agree. We had amazing Dany scenes on Season 6. And i honestly know she is getting even more screentime in S7 and i love this so much, i can’t wait for all this glory!
Oh boy… More time for Daenerys to give her long stupid cheesy speeches.
Well, that’s a tad harsh…
Daenerys’s speeches are, I believe, intentionally clunky because it fits the character.
After all, the Mother of Dragons is in constant “representation” so to speak. She is quite obsessed with the idea of doing “what queens do”, which implies that she is following some sort of script or instruction manual that is external to her. She does and says what she believes a queen should do and say. She acts the part.
The speeches are an expression of that. She disserts, at times pompously so, on big concepts and notions (freedom, loyalty, duty, etc) because she feels this is what people in her position have to do. In that, she is absolutely correct. However, she has yet to reach a genuine and profound acceptance of said position. That is why her speeches, both in the books and on the show, sound more like a 6th-grader civics class presentation than the Gettysburg Address.
I, for one, find that endlessly amusing and moving.