We have an amazing treat for you all today! Game of Thrones: The Complete Collection and the all-new Game of Thrones Season 8 on Blu-ray/DVD arrives on December 3rd- that’s in a week, just in time for the holidays. Today we have the pleasure of previewing one of the six new Histories & Lore features from the home release: “The Greyjoy Rebellion,” narrated by Thrones stars Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Pilou Asbaek. The video features vivid illustrations detailing the ill-fated uprising of Balon Greyjoy.
The animated Histories & Lore also include:
Siege of Duskendale, with Conleth Hill as Varys
The Blackfyre Rebellion with Conleth Hill as Varys
King’s Landing with Conleth Hill as Varys
Maegor The Cruel with Conleth Hill as Varys
The South with Kristofer Hivju as Tormund
Enjoy your exclusive preview of “The Greyjoy Rebellion”:
The Complete Collection and the Season 8 home release will feature new audio commentaries for every episode of the final season, from a variety of Thrones talent. The lineup includes:
Episode 1: Winterfell – Dave Hill (Co-Producer & Writer) and Deborah Riley (Production Designer)
Episode 2: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms – Bryan Cogman (Co-Executive Producer & Writer) and Dan Portman (Podrick Payne)
Episode 3: The Long Night – Miquel Sapochnik (Director), Sean Savage (Camera Operator) and Fabian Wagner (Director of Photography)
Episode 4: The Last of the Starks – David Franco (Director of Photography), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), Jacob Anderson (Grey Worm) and Pilou Asbæk (Euron Greyjoy)
Episode 5: Bells – Miguel Sapochnik (Director), Fabian Wagner (Director of Photography) and Conleth Hill (Varys)
Episode 6: The Iron Throne – Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Dan Weiss (Executive Producer/Writer/Director), David Benioff (Executive Producer/Writer/Director)
HBO is loading up the Blu-rays for the final season and pulling out all the stops. We’ll tell you more about it tomorrow…when we launch our massive Game of Thrones home release giveaway!
It’s so sad to see such a post and not wanting to buy the DVD after reading it. The only thing that may be of interest to me is what Bryan Cogman has to say.
I love Emilia Clarke, but why would I want to hear her thoughts of an episode where Daenerys dies? She’s barely in that episode. It’s all about Starks, Tyrion and fan service. 🙄
It would’ve been far more interesting to hear Emilia’s thoughts about what Daenerys went through after the deaths of Jorah, Rhaegal and Missandei.
Nina,
If it was about fan service, you’d be happy, right? That’s the intent of fan service. So I don’t think it’s that.
Nina,
Listen to Dax Shepards podcast. She talks about Dany for a while in the interview.
I’ve think GoT/HBO has generally done a very nice job with their Histories & Lore pieces, summarizing these pieces of in-universe history with really nice animation and great narration. This was great to see 🙂
Banish the naysayers to the Red Waste!
I have a new blu-ray player and am awaiting the S8 blu-ray with keen anticipation. So far I’ve only had the DVDs, so this will be special.
Loved all of their previous animated series, so bring it on. Will we hear more about how Jorah watched a drunken Thorros breach the gates of Pyke during the siege? 🙂
Same! Can’t wait to buy multiple copies to support this masterpiece of a show and Mr. Benioff and Mr. Weiss.
Nina,
I mean, she lost the majority of people who she was closest too who she still entirely trusted with her life and another one of her children. I wish the season would have gone deeper into her pov as well as others.
But in regards to fan service? I think a majority wanted a Dany/Jon reign and the rest wanted to see Jon taking the throne for a least a hot minute. So I disagree that any of it was fan service. I knew since Dany’s vision at the House of the Undying she was never gonna get to sit on the throne, and the entire series was about the Starks comeuppance after the crap they endured, so I at least expected them to come out of it with some wins after all of their losses. I never expected a King Bran though. I had actually envisioned a sort of Parliament with Tyrion at the helm. But c’est la vie.
6thofhisname,
I mean Tyrion is kind of in charge. To me it seemed like he was going to be doing much of the work in the end.
Fireandblood87,
True.. I get the feeling Tyrion oversees the more day-to-day business and Bran only rolls in for the really important stuff. Much like Robert Baratheon’s small council were running things while he was off hunting whores and fkng boars.
It’s on my holiday wish list but it would be awesome to win. I really am very curious how the long night looks as compared to the hbo compression.
I’m more interested in When Winter Falls and Love is the death of Duty documentaries. And Special Cast Reunion ofc.
I already listed to D&D and Emilia’s commentary.
From D&D’s commentary
Peter’s last scene was when Tyrion talks with Jon before going to find his family.
The alternate ending was Jon and Tormund holding hands on their horses.
They talk about why shooting in Dbrovnik now is hard on the city because they would lose money having to shut down Old Town for them to film. Earlier it was not that big of a deal.
Lena and Nikolaj were supposed to have to be dead except Barry Gower’s prosthetics were so good they didn’t need them.
Coffee cup talk. It was Established coffee and not Emilia’s coffee. Best coffee in more than Belfast according to Emilia. And she always gets a cappuccino.
They were worried about Kit being kicked in the head at some point in the episode
Camilla Naprous came on partially because Emilia almost fell off her horse on the first day. They brought her on to work with the actors for two weeks and then they kept her on because she was so good with them.
Emilia loved the dragon wing shot which is the correct opinion.
Shout out to the VFX crew because they had the outside people, then the stair people, and then Maisie in a third place
Longest non-English speech for Emilia
Emilia came up with a wrap gift for D&D: tapestry of a family tree (weirwood) and then their characters weirdly smiling with made up names (Grey Worm was Gary Worm)
Peter tossed the hand pin perfectly on his first attempt
About Jon and Tyrion “if you like him so much, why don’t you marry him?” (I’m down for it)
D&D’s first day on set was at Dune Castle in Scotland. Monty Python castle and the castle with the French insults. First scene was trying to get the raven to land. Re-shoot was at a set in the Paint Hall and then it moved to Bainbridge and they’ve had multiple great halls
Now it is time to gush over Kit and Peter in their first conversation (and now mocking Kit for complaining about his costume)
Okay, they love teasing Kit and then Tobias did something funny with his sword in the “great council” scene and they kept it in because it was an ongoing problem
DP LOVE TIME
D&D questioning Emilia’s decision to have a watch party for the final episodes. D&D did not watch every episode as they came out (missed five and six) because they had watched them about 200 times BUT THEY DON’T CARE DERP
Can we have Kit impressions forever?
Kit had a hard time with everyone wrapping in Spain and was very emotional with them all finishing (which is probably why he went)
Emilia was saying rude things to Iain at times at the funeral pyre
Documentary love and Emilia got excited whenever she saw her brother. They liked the documentary because it showed everyone how gritty it was. They had a sheep trailer at one point and Peter pretended to be a sheep.
She has a video of Kit mouthing along to a Jamie XX song.
D&D and Emilia gush over Kit playing a character on emotional lockdown and what he does with his face.
Drogon appearing from the ashes is another favourite shot. And then there is a $10 000 staircase
Turns into jokes about Emilia wanting to have had “ass to iron” instead of just touching it
Kit is known as Keith not Keeeet (they call him Keith sometimes by accident)
Kit and Emilia found the death scene being really hard to shoot.
Emilia didn’t know how bad the damage was because she hadn’t scene the devastation of King’s Landing which helped her with the acting in the scene.
Emilia states that they take the piss out of Kit because he takes it so well, but they admit he has a really tough job and then they want to pinch his cheeks because he is so cute
And then they talk about how to Kit aged backwards once he cut his hair and shaved
Daenerys dying was some closure for Emilia to say goodbye
Jokes about Drogon melting Keith/Kit
Drogon took Dany to Hawai’i
Eight people wrapped in Spain
D&D will miss the cast and crew the most. They will see a lot of the cast in the future on projects, but it won’t be the same
Joe wanted Arya to notice how hot Gendry looked u/gayeld
Peter hated the beard because it was so hot. Hair department does not touch the beards, that is on makeup
They say Tobias was perfect for Prince Philip in The Crown. Having watched the whole season, I agree with them
They gush over everyone in this scene. They love John and Sophie and say John and Gwen are hilarious in real life
Dan’s brother is really good at playing Scrabble.
Nina made sure to only cast good people because they needed people they really loved. David? would look around a room and realize there is no one he didn’t love in there
And they all love “taking the piss” out of each other
The Jon and Dany fall out came in something like the prep for season three.
EMILIA THOUGHT IT WAS IMPORTANT THAT THEY DID NOT KNOW THE ENDING EARLY ON FOR THE ACTING PROCESS
Emilia wants the dragon buck to be a theme park ride…turns into an idea for an adult theme park!
Final scene before Christmas break was the second Jon/Tyrion scene (Emilia gushes over the acting and again, I agree Emilia)
They joke about Kit’s beard being made by pubic hair; Emilia loves this joke
They knew most people figured out that the Kit/Lena picture was not a scene
Ramin Djawadi gushing
Now time to gush about Jacob’s skills as a musician
Dan’s favourite seasons were 4/6/8 and then David points out that 4 was great because they were in their groove, but not close to the end
Production got more difficult by season 6 because of the scale. 4 was peak fun, but 5 and 6 was fun because of Spain. They also loved Iceland in season 2 partially because Kit and Rose fell in love shooting there (cue Emilia awwing)
D&D point out that an experienced director would have taken way less time shooting the writing scene (three days instead of three hours). Gwendoline actually wrote the book. Saoirse Ronan asked them if that was normal.
They didn’t make fun of Kit’s drama school; Emilia was simply mocking them for not keeping their drama schools straight
Nikolaj fell off his horse when he left Winterfell. Dan was the first one on the scene (David was sleeping that night)
Emilia talks about fans telling her Targaryen dragons eat their riders and they think that Drogon would not eat his mom, but have fun with the idea anyways
Emilia thinks everyone will do a good job in their new jobs as do D&D.
They shot Castle Black first because they thought they might lose access to it in November
David points out that the Wall is weeping when Jon rolled up
Arya the Explorer is now a thing
Dan’s kids were cold and bored filming the Freefolk kids. Mission accomplished. David’s oldest daughter Frankie made fun of Kit the whole day for having a pink barrette in his hair. Dan “extra badgering the lead actor for the whole day”
They joke around that Sophie is going to wear her QinT crown at her wedding.
Emilia says they made something really magical and D&D correct her and say they all did.
Took them forever to put the final bit of the FF leaving because they filmed three different ways
It was all crew kids at the end and all the trees were fake. They loved the kids just being kids
They predict Kit will grow his hair out again and then make a Dad Joke and call him Keith Hairington.
Not only that, the ending was a total Stark coup. Sansa rules the North independently while Bran rules the other six, with Jon as the defacto King Beyond the Wall. It really didn’t take much convincing at the Dragonpit to make this happen either.
Why would it take much convincing? Bran the Broken had the best story of them all and is the keeper of all information. He is an unbiased ruler who can make sure Westeros doesn’t make the same mistakes again.
Jack Bauer 24,
So, you’re saying that Bran is going to make Westeros great again? 🙂
Gulp………………….
Anyway,
Why was it so easy for the lords at the Dragonpit meeting to agree on Bran being king? None of them know what a Three-Eyed Raven is nor do they have any connection to the Old Gods up North. Bran also has no claim to the throne.
Tyrion said they should ignore the line of succession because the sons of kings/queens are often terrible like Joffrey. Ending the line of succession is “breaking the wheel”. It’s stopping a bad system. However, this could also lead to more conflict.
Tyrion said that each new king would be chosen by the lords of Westeros, meaning that every time a king dies, there would be a new uncertainty. At least with the old system there was some stability. Now anyone can be king, so it could turn into a free-for-all every time a king dies.
Right after this, Sansa stated that everyone would be ruled by Bran, but the North would be ruled by Sansa. It’s a total Stark coup. How is everyone just going along with this?
Sansa also set a precedent for kingdoms to secede, so there could easily be rebellions in the future.
Yara wanted the Ironborn to be granted independence in season 6, yet by the end of season 8 she kinda forgot about that and was completely cool with being ruled by Bran. This makes no sense.
Dorne also has a long and proud history of being independent, and they should be in a strong position at the end of season 8 since their armies went untouched in the recent wars, but this random unnamed prince just handed over Dorne to the Starks?
This whole show was about ambitious noble families fighting and scheming for power, but now, in this one scene, all the great houses agree to give up their power to a strange psychic kid because he “has a good story”.
Mr Derp,
Bran isn’t going to make it great again. It is however a step in the right direction.
mau,
I did too. Emilia is very funny through the entire thing.
Didn’t Thoros and Jorah have a conversation in S7e6 about “the bravest man” Jorah ever saw actually being the drunkest? Thoros was in an alcoholic blackout and didn’t even remember running through the breach waving his flaming sword. 😜
6thofhisname,
”…the entire series was about the Starks comeuppance after the crap they endured, so I at least expected them to come out of it with some wins after all of their losses.”
But the Starks didn’t get their “comeuppance” (i.e., karmic punishment) at the end. They came out on top: ♿️ Bran = King, 🧚♀️Sansa = Queen, and 👸🏻 Arya = Pirate Queen. (And Aegon Targaryen fka Jon Snow = King Beyond the Wall.)
Mr Derp,
I just saw you already wrote what I just did. 🤦🏻♂️
Jack Bauer 24,
I’m still waiting for the punchline, Jack.
Well in Bran’s defense, “probable true villain underneath everyone’s noses” is a pretty good tale. That’s at least what I do to make sense of it; either that, or my preferred headcanon where the last three episodes were an extended death dream.
hahhahhhaaahahaaa! You made me laugh.
Why would the South (and the rest of Westeros) simply agree to be ruled by a northern boy that they have never seen before? Because Tyrion (accomplice to a mass murderer) said he had the best story? This is the Westeros Comic-Con?
IT. MAKES.NO.SENSE.
Sad.
Mr Derp,
I totally agree with you. I have thought a lot of decisions characters make in the show or their motivations or their logic, etc… Much of them make no sense to me compared to their characters in the books or history of westeros. the bottom-line is this quote from D&D that” they wanted to make show and story their own story”. So, I don’t try to analyze characters of story based on their characteristics in the books or history. the westeros created by D&D is completely different from GRRM’s westeros. at least for last seasons. So, if dorne being OK with independence of north is strange to you, forget about the history of Donre and martell family and watch it again. Same of yara and greyjoys, or bran being a king that way, or the counsel with unnamed lord to choose the king. or davos not being sure to have a right to vote, but voting anyway. or arya having right to vote, etc.
So what does GRRM really have in mind then… I’m going to write this out as a thinking exercise to see what might make some sense…
1) Are the Children of the Forest actually sinister and they are just using Bran as their catspaw? That would be an interesting twist wouldn’t it. I could see a final scene where the weirwoods’ roots and branches start intertwining with everything kind of like the vines in War of the Worlds (The Tom Cruise version).
2) I doubt it will be a Stark coup in the books. I don’t think Sansa will rule the North, since the books are going in a different direction with her character.
3) I don’t think Tyrion will be in chains and then suggest that Bran should be King.
4) I think it’s logical that GRRM will see the Iron Throne as the Ring in LOTR. The show definitely goes this route with Drogon’s melting the Iron Throne very much like the ring melted. So, I do think that GRRM will get rid of the Iron Throne. The question is how Bran will come up as a choice to rule. One thought is that Bran has damaging oppo research on every other candidate through his weirwood net, so he wins by default. That’s probably not the route GRRM will go. Perhaps Bran won’t rule from Kings Landing and he’ll just rule from the trees and send his orders to his various warden’s and wardnesses. OK now I’m rambling. It is pretty hard to think of how Bran would end up as ruler!
5) It’s part of a prophecy. I’m not familiar enough with all the prophesies to figure out which one fits Bran. I think Jon is likely to be AA and he will fulfill the Nissa Nissa prophesy by killing Dany. I think the order of events may be different in the books where Jon has to kill Dany first and lightbringer is born. Lightbringer will be used to defeat the Others somehow… But still, how does Bran fit into all of this???????????? This really doesn’t make much sense that Bran is king…
6) GRRM’s message is that power corrupts, and like the show Bran doesn’t crave power, so it makes some sense he would be the right one to rule. But there are probably nice people in flea bottom who don’t crave power either, so what’s so special about Bran? Yes, he does have a good grasp of history, but why would this make him a good ruler?
7) A Weirwood tree becomes the new throne and Bran becomes part of the tree forever. Bran appoints a small council to keep things working and Bran lives forever so no need for a successor. Or it just has to be the next 3ER to take his place. The last 3ER was 1000 years old wasn’t he? This could be a possibility.
8) Bran would need some way to keep power. Perhaps Bran is able to warg into one of the dragons and the dragons become his nuclear option if people don’t agree to peace and having Bran in charge in his tree throne.
Wow, this really is mind boggling. It’s tough because there have only been a few Bran chapters in the books. It came out of the blue in the show, because Bran was such a minor character in the show. Bran has great potential with his powers. I do think it will be a cool twist if the COTF used Bran as their catspaw somehow and the show ends with TCOTF really being in charge…
I guess that’s it for the stream of thoughts for tonight…. I’m not sure if I’m any closer to what’s really going to happen..
Tron79,
Same as you, I have no clue how GRRM will make bran king. Him ruling westeros from KL in the show did’t make much sense to me because there is no KL left after what daenerys did. All people are dead. A destroyed city empty of population. Why would they stay there to rule westeros. they have to rebuild it which will cost a fortune and who is gonna pay for it. and after rebuilding that city, who is gonna live there? are they having migration plans for people of the north or dorne? or they will bring slaves from essos to fill that city with people? or it will be just a castle with no people around, just for king to rule from? I believe COTF have some pivotal part to play in the books which will be somehow connected to bran being king. Maybe bran will be chosen as the king as part of a new pact between COTF, others and men since bran is connected to all of them. I don’t know.
Tron79,
Interesting ideas.
Surprised (or am I?) that only those 6 cast members did commentaries…? Geez, I hope they’re real juicy. (And how are they being heard already?) I have the Complete Series Blu-rays pre-ordered from Amazon (would’ve gone with DVD but was concerned there might be content missing from them.) Felt a bit bad and conflicted doing it, but a) 70 eps are worth owning and b) it’ll be a fun Christmas gift. Actually, it’ll be hard to make the recipient wait three weeks. We can start with the S8 bonus features.
100% with Nina, Mr. Derp, TB, Marbery, & Mango, though. And Tron & Mass had some good thoughts re: Bran.
Jack Bauer 24,
I will too. Mr. Benioff and Mr. Weiss deserve every support.
Mr Derp,
“Right after this, Sansa stated that everyone would be ruled by Bran, but the North would be ruled by Sansa. It’s a total Stark coup. How is everyone just going along with this?”
I never understood how is it that the North didn’t want to be ruled by a Stark; would Sansa refuse to obey to Bran? The Northern independence with a Stark in the new IT makes no sense for me.
mass,
Good point that KL rebuilding would be very expensive. The Lannister gold mines had dried up. The Iron Bank could issue loans but how would Bran pay them back.
I can’t believe they would bring in slaves as part of a new world order.
I think in the show they had Bran say he didn’t “want” anything anymore. Perhaps that is why GRRM is thinking he can’t be corrupted by the power. But that’s a problem for me. Without some “wants” or motivations the world may just stagnate. There is religious thought as well as Star Trek teachings that espouse people need wants and desires or they would never do anything. Some call it the evil inclination in all of us. The idea is that it must be in balance to be successful as Kirk found out in TOS The Enemy Within. And Picard found out in TNG Tapestry. So I would say Bran would be an awful King. TCOTF on the other hand would have the desire to rebuild their culture. GRRM as a student of history would have to know that people will continue to fight over resources. So I can’t see that Bran’s rule would last unless he has power to back it up like warging into dragons. So I’m still stumped. I do think GRRM wants to show how power corrupts so perhaps he will go with Bran being incorruptible since he doesn’t want anything. But the world would probably crumble into chaos or everyone will just sit around figuring out how to smoke milk of the poppy all day.
There would be no urgent need to rebuild Kings Landing. The government could be based elsewhere.
Ten Bears,
I used comeuppance in hip-hop terminology, as in they were on the “come-up”. lol
Mr Derp,
“Yara wanted the Ironborn to be granted independence in season 6, yet by the end of season 8 she kinda forgot about that and was completely cool with being ruled by Bran. This makes no sense.”
Yara at that point was in no position to seek independence. Euron took most of their ships and Dany destroyed the fleet. They barely have trees in the Iron Islands to rebuild, and the land is pretty barren and isn’t good for crops (and we all know they do not sow lol) . They wouldn’t really be able to sustain themselves and would need the help of the other kingdoms.
For His Dark Materials watchers…..
I just watched episode 4 and for the first time I am extremely excited. As soon as
Lin-Manuel Miranda hit the screen it was like a totally different show. His hare/bunny daemon was a perfect match.
Lyra came to life this episode. Some great Bear scenes happen and its fitting that Old Bear Moremont gets a chance to show some range of emotions. I’m glad I stuck it out and kept watching. The series started improving last week with The Spies and this week it really felt exciting and like a different show. It honestly felt a little more like GOT because I felt more invested in the characters. Lin-Manuel Miranda got
Things started with showing us an interesting character with some excellent banter. He had a good connection with Lyra as well.
Tron79,
I haven’t seen the whole episode yet but from what I’ve seen, I agree 🙂 I’m excited to get back to it!
Multiple copies damn, I will need to save a lot of money before I can buy even one copy.
I wonder if part of it is that the dialogue loosened up some. It was more informal and a lighter mood. Lyra was more independent and resourceful too. I think you will enjoy the rest. I got a kick out of Mrs Coulter’s northern wardrobe. Lyra also seemed to have fun picking out a new winter coat. It was just more fun all around even though the serious subject matter was still lurking in the background with the creepy priest characters.
6thofhisname,
Well, in the official scripts it’s mentioned that yara is OK with bran’s kinghood because she knows theon died defending him, and theon would be glad to see him as king. This is official. As for lack of trees in iron islands. They had the same problem when euron came in, but d&d somehow managed to give him 1000s of ship and entire fleet. They could do it again.
Tron79,
I love HDM too. I haven’t read the books yet, but the show is doing great. It’s slowly building up to a epic conclusion. E4 was great, story-wise and especially visual effects. BTW, as much as I follow the comments and reviews, I can tell you that book fans are largely satisfied with this adaptation and find it true to the original story( for now of course).
There are people here who believe that book readers( for any book) are always critical to adaptations and always whining and complaining how bad adaptations are. HDM’s fresh experience shows that people actually are able to recognize differences between good and bad adaptations. As they do for HDM and they find the show a good adaptation, while they believe that the Golden compass movie was a failure. Same goes with GOT. Majority of book fans are grateful of D&D for early seasons and their brilliant adaptation, at the same time they can see the fall of story afterwards.
I haven’t read Pullman’s books yet. I’ve heard great things. I read GOT after the show was over and there many times while reading I applauded D&D for their decisions. There were other times where I would have liked to have seen the book version. I found it very interesting how D&D would often combine characters. And even more fascinating and confusing is where the same scene and dialogue happens in the books but by a different character in the show. I just started a new rewatch adventure today. I’m just about at the end of episode 1 with Dany’s wedding night. This is one scene I much preferred in the books.
I’m just about to finish the episode now! Yeah, I already noticed the lighter tone too, which I think is a nice diversion from the intensity of the first three episodes — it’s nice seeing Lyra more assertive (trying to convince Scoresby to join them, managing to steal his bacon ;D) and I do enjoy me some Mrs Coulter! And now the story is starting in on the intercision storyline!
I think you may enjoy the books too if you want to skip ahead when this season ends! They’re not as lengthy as ASOIAF and there aren’t as many characters to keep track of, I found them to be pretty great reads with really interesting themes!! 🙂
I’m so glad you’re getting into it now! HDM is one of my favourite series!
Speaking of creepy priest characters, can you imagine if your daemon was a big a$$ beetle like the one that priest character had in episode 2? I did like what LC Farder Coram said in episode 3 — that if you don’t like the shape your daemon settles as, it indicates some sort of unease with yourself. The priest in ep 2 didn’t seem so uneasy with himself and has… a beetle… 😉
Then again, I do know people who love insects. My friend in Malaysia enjoys texting me some “nice” surprises she finds in her daily travels 😧😧😧🕷️In turn, I “accidentally” text them to my aunt 🙂 🙂 🙂
I’ve been saving up for this for a while. I already have 3 copies preordered. Hopefully good sales will help HBO/House of the Dragon and future projects for Mr. Benioff and Mr. Weiss. I hope you’re able to snag a copy my friend.
Yes, I’m in need of something new to read, so I might just go for those.
It’s funny about the insects. My daughter has a huge collection of stuffed caterpillars of all shapes and sizes and she still carries them around sometimes or wears them like a scarf. She’s in her mid twenties but she hasn’t given them up yet. It’s very much like she has a daemon (or several). They often emote her different moods or help her root for different sports teams depending on their colors. They all look friendly though. My daughter does have some social anxiety issues, but she has gathered quite the collection of caterpillars. She stores most of them in my son’s old room and they took over his bed. Sounds like the start of an interesting novel now that I write this doesn’t it…
Tron79,
”Yes, I’m in need of something new to read.”
• It’s been years ago, but I remember really enjoying reading “King Rat” and “Shogun” by James Clavell.
• You may like “Gone to Texas” & “The Vengeance Trail of Josey Wales” by Forrest Carter; and then, if you haven’t seen it yet, watch the 1976 movie “The Outlaw Josey Wales”, an adaptation of “Gone to Texas.”
Tron79,
https://www.amazon.com/Josey-Wales-Westerns-Texas-Vengeance/dp/0826311687
I’m not advertising these books. Just wanted to give you info if you were curious: Both books in paperback volume for $15 from Amazon.
Thanks! It’s funny, the first thing I thought of was watching Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven again. Great movie!
Will Munny: I’ve killed women and children. I’ve killed everything that walks or crawls at one time or another. And I’m here to kill you, Little Bill, for what you done to Ned.
Tron79,
Eh. “Unforgiven” is a cheap imitation of “The Outlaw Josey Wales”, and won the awards and acclaim that should’ve gone to “Josey Wales.”
The Outlaw Josey Wales has it all: Action, drama, comedy, historical fiction, anti-war and anti-prejudice themes, and classic lines.
This isn’t even among the best, but here’s Josey Wales upon being confronted by a bounty hunter looking. for him…
“Dying ain’t much of a living.”
For some reason my DVR didn’t record the last HDM episode; it still says “coming up.” :/ Weird. I started watching because…well, show me talking animals and you’ve got me. The daemon concept sounded and is awesome; I wish we had them. (Although I do have to wonder about those who have, y’know…elephants? Giraffes? Hippos? Rhinos? Etc., etc…xD) I generally like insects (beetles are pretty cool, caterpillars cute), though if I absolutely had to have one (instead of the dog I’d want, or fish–which would you force you to always be near water I guess, so that could be tough…I’ll stick with wanting the dog!), I’d want something pretty, like say a rosy maple moth or a bluet damselfly or something. But the remark about somebody being disappointed with having a Poodle daemon–I couldn’t fathom! And I mean, it’d be in the top 10-15 breeds I’d choose if you could pick. Although I do feel about 99% sure, if I know myself and considering how well I related to my “dogter,” that I’d get my #1. x-3
Cersei would definitely have an Elephant daemon!
If you DVR didn’t get it, you could use HBO GO on demand. If you have an HBO subscription on cable, you should be able to load HBO GO (if you use a Roku, firestick or pretty much any other streaming thing you can load the HBO GO app)
I did see this movie a couple of times… I remember the dog alot…
I have two good friends who’d die over your daughter’s collection, they love anything butterfly or caterpillar related!
Your daughter sounds really cool! Her caterpillars representing her emotions and helping her root for different sports teams! I really like that!! 🙂
It does sound like the start of an interesting novel!
Sometimes, I feel like my irritating cat is my daemon at home. She’s a ragdoll cat so she’s one of those cats who follow you around and are always by your side T___T I think she’s also got some of the same issues I do — skittish, dislikes when people come home, sits like an old man with a beer and a beer gut, likes vacuums, fears brooms… I raised her at art school, must have been the various fumes 😉
Right, that was mentioned in the books and on the show I think? In the first book, it explained how this man became unhappy due to this limitation of having a dolphin daemon…
I like this conversation about daemons!! 🙂 I don’t know what I’d want but I like the idea of a butterfly daemon — light, small, and able to flutter a bit above you to see what you can’t. Or a bird of some kind to do the same thing! I’d love an ermine though, what Lyra’s daemon often is, because they are so cute ;; <3
Very funny. Your cat sounds awesome!
One last thought about my daughter and dust… Thinking about HDM and dust, my daughter had some extreme allergies to dust mites when she was younger causing health issues, so having stuffed animals was a major problem for her. We found that if you put them in the freezer overnight, it would kill the dust mites and problem solved. We would do this every couple of weeks. But this was quite traumatic for her when she was younger to have to put her friends in bags and put them in the freezer overnight!! It helped once it was winter below freezing and they could just sit out on the porch overnight. She used to have a favorite polar bear (again a HDM connection). I remember her saying that her polar bear didn’t mind the freezer…
Tron79,
Thank-you for sharing that about dust mites and how to deal with allergies!
And thank-you for telling me this story about your daughter! What a very sweet part to this story, this part about her favourite polar bear and her not minding her polar bear in the freezer <3 And yes, your daughter sounds like she'd fit in the world of HDM!!
I listened to a very recent Nov 3 2019 interview by Philip Pullman (it’s here, if you like!) and he talks a bit about Dust and the idea of Dust — innocence vs. experience and the process of a deamon settling, transitioning a child from innocence into a more experienced state — and how this is viewed and worked with in literature, this concept of growing up. It’s a nice listen! And I think it’s interesting how this concept of innocence vs. experience, Dust, and daemons interacts with the ideas of souls — represented by daemons in Lyra’s world! 🙂
She hates my dad — my dad likes to deliberately irritate her 😉 He’s a physicist (who calls himself my ‘MPU’ — “male parental unit”) and as a proclaimed dog lover, wrote up an entire (fictional) lab report to explore the hypothesis, “Curiosity killed the cat,” on my cat — including an abstract, intro, method, and results. His conclusion: “Curiosity did not kill the cat. Damn.”
I don’t have a 4K TV yet, but it almost makes me want to get one to see “The Long Night”. I’m guessing it’s going to be amazing as compared to the HBO streaming compression I get viewing it on Amazon Prime. I do have blue ray and 1080p. I know the 4K box comes with both 4K and blue ray (and digital). If anyone has a 4K TV and gets the 4K season 8, I would be interested on how The Long Night looks for them.
Sounds like your family life also has built up some good material for your own novel!
That’s a mean paper!! Hopefully he didn’t do any actual experiments… oy…
My father-in-law was the opposite about cats. He got allergy shots so my mother-in-law could adopt a cat. So there are some cat lovers out there…
His initials were UAP (for Un-Authorized Purchases). He would be the first to come home with lots of random gadgets, tools, you name it… A store like Costco was a major problem with lots of impulse buys… My wife and my mother-in-law would give him a hard time… “Not another UAP!!”
Thanks for sharing about your dad (MPU).
Adrianacandle,
I think I want to read the books first before watching the show. Couple of questions:
– How many books are there out now? And how many pages ca per book?
– Is the book series done or like asoiaf still waiting for a book?
– Is it as good as asoiaf when it comes to character building, and the way of reading, like you really get to know the characters and thoughts and feeling the world you follow is real?
kevin1989,
The original trilogy is:
1. Northern Lights (retitled The Golden Compass in the USA)
2. The Subtle Knife
3. The Amber Spyglass
It is complete in itself, but ….
Philip Pullman is working on another trilogy called “The Book Of Dust”. Two books are completed. The first book is a prequel set about 10 years before the events in Northern Lights/TGC. It is called “La Belle Sauvage”.
Second part has recently been published. “The Secret Commonwealth” is set about 10 years after the events in The Amber Spyglass. We await the third part.
There are also a couple of short spin-off books.
“Lyra’s Oxford” is a short story set after TAG, and has some extras. As PP wrote, “This book contains a story and several other things. The other things might be connected with the story, or they might not; they might be connected to stories that haven’t appeared yet. It’s hard to tell. ”
“Once Upon A Time In The North” is a prequel story telling the backstory of two of the other characters in HDM. It also includes some extras.
No no, it was purely hypothetical ;D When my cat got an ingrown nail, he funded my (his words) “cat repair.”
The write-up was… not so favourable to cats… but it was pretty entertaining, especially with all of the latin terminology mixed in with my cat’s name (named for that brat “Lottie” in A Little Princess) XD I really really wish I could find it but I posted it on Facebook and I deleted my FB recently… I didn’t even remember to save it ;;
My aunt’s comment, another cat lover, was: “I fell asleep before I realized it was about a cat. Please put cat in the subject line next time.” XD
Yes, I think lives with scientists are good material for a book!
So there are cat-loving MPUs! And I love your acronym for unauthorized purchases XDDD
Grandmaester Flash answered most of the questions but I’ll add in my own thoughts too!
As Grandmaester Flash mentioned, there are three books (and this is a completed trilogy but he is currently writing another trilogy dealing with events before and after the events of His Dark Materials).
Book 1, The Golden Compass — 399 pages
Book 2, The Subtle Knife — 341 pages
Book 3, The Amber Spyglass — 518 pages
Yes, the book is quite well done in terms of world building, world exploration, character development and exploration because there’s our world and Lyra’s world. The daemon is the manifestation of a soul. In Lyra’s world, it’s outside their body whereas, in our world, our soul is within. I think you mostly get Lyra’s POV in the first book but then you start getting more and more POVs in the second and third, like Mrs Coulter’s — who I really like because I find her to be such interesting character, much like Lyra herself! I think they share some traits but Mrs Coulter is a villain while Lyra is more a hero-type character, yet I think they use their shared traits for different goals and different ideals.
But I totally recommend them! I think you may like them!
Grandmaester Flash,
Thank you, so the main story I can read. How many pages per book ca?
And the show is about the main books?
Adrianacandle,
Oh that’s a short read. That’s around 1,5 book of AsoiaF. And those 3 are the show? or does the show begin with the prequel book?
The show is based on the original trilogy.
Amazon usually gives details of books which includes the number of pages. That can vary between editions of course, but it’s a useful place to check.
Grandmaester Flash,
Then I put this one on my list, after I finish feast and Dance again I will read these.
And I have a question does anyone here read outlander books? I tried to get into it but I found the books lacking depth or how do you call it. I can’t really get into it. Or does that get better? I like the show, so I would like to read the books.
Ha, yeah!
If I couldn’t have a dog I’d be thrilled with any of lots of tropical fish, but would I need to tote around a container of water then? xD
Ermines are pretty too, especially in the white winter coats. And a flying daemon would also be neat.
I’d love a cat, but I’m the only one here who would, so I’ve never had one. Luckily we’re all dog people first and foremost. Alas we don’t share the same favorite breeds…not even close…^^’
Imagine Cersei with her elephant always tagging along…how hilarious GoT could’ve been if it took place in the HDM universe. XD
I do have HBO & HBOGo, though I never rememeber the login credentials that my dad set up. Dx I can’t understand why the DVR copy is unplayable. Guess PS Vue decided to just go out of business at the end of the year rather than fixing and improving itself. Sad.
THAT’S a visual!!!
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Right! Imagine how tedious it would be to always have a cross-body fish bowl just to keep your soul with you!
I totally relate! Whenever I go to my dad’s, I love his dogs but they aren’t really the breeds I’d pick for myself. I was only able to get a cat when I left home for grad school because my dad thinks they’re Evil Incarnates (pfft) and my mum dislikes cat fur everywhere.
So I got the fluffiest, squishiest, most sheddiest and evil cat I could find just because I could! 😉
Well, maybe not evil, she is kind of a blob of cat, but she hates my dad 💖💖💖
(He once pissed her off so badly that she went into his room, a room she always avoided, found his suitcase and peed in it. However, karma’s a b!tch because now it’s my suitcase).
Ditto. I’ve always been confounded about this essential change D&D made to Khal Drogo’s character.
Ten Bears,
Saner Half has told me on more than one occasion that The Outlaw Josey Wales (his favorite film) was one of the chief inspirations for his PhD research. He wrote his dissertation on Champ Ferguson, an infamous Southern guerrilla. It was subsequently published by the Southern Illinois University Press. I do wish I’d known him then… I would have done a far better job of copy-editing than SIU did. 😉
Ten Bears,
P.S.: Josey Wales was my first Clint movie, when I was 11.
Tron79,
Dude/Dudette…
At the very least, you need to write a short story that includes all these priceless tidbits!
😂😂😂
Thanks Wolfish. (Dude btw)
My daughter does have elements of an excellent character for a story, and at least if I write it, I could help her work things out in the way I would want!!! I could write it where she likes taking advice from her dad! 🙂 That’s the ultimate control isn’t it! I had thoughts that she may write her own stories one day. She used to dictate some into her recorder when she was little. As her Dad, I find myself trying to tell Alice in Wonderland she has to think realistically. That’s not working real well and she’s getting older. My wife and I suspect she has elements of Asperger’s, but she’s never been officially diagnosed, and she’s not interested in it. I really identify with Arya, Alice in Wonderland, and other characters who don’t follow the usual path and ultimately find their own identity, because I think in some ways they remind me of my daughter. That’s my hope for her I guess (for her to find her way!) From writing this out I realize now that I need to be less like Helen Kingsleigh (Alice’s mom) and more like her dad (Charles Kingsleigh). We shall see if I can do it. She did bring out one of the smaller caterpillars last night. We have a tradition of singing songs after Friday night dinner (Shabbat dinner) and the kids always brought down a stuffed animal of their choice to help us sing. My son who is home from college for Thanksgiving got out his favorite Dory fish and my daughter had a small stuffed caterpillar. I have an older son who just got married recently, and I remember when his wife joined us for Friday night dinner and the animals came out! It’s a miracle they still got married. I think she thought us a bit strange with everyone bringing their own daemon’s to the table as we sang together. Anyway thanks for responding to my post. I may very well write some stories, because it helps work out some of the emotions of living it. If my daughter ends up setting sail one day on some of her own adventures, I would be absolutely thrilled. When I hear my daughter talk about her plans, I think of Alice in Wonderland’s line “Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”
Tron79,
Thank you so much for sharing!!! Truly. It’s been a nice respite in my rather vexing Saturday.
Right? And it’d be so fun to see everybody’s (though it would double the already ridiculous number of characters!)
Maybe I could have a walking catfish for a soul…xD
Yeah! My family tends to like other people’s cats, but they’re not into the idea of litter boxes, walking on countertops, etc.
Lol! Oh, your kitty sounds just lovely, in a devilish sorta way.
Then there’s my folks with their doggy picks–sheddy, smelly, messy, doofishly cute…I love ’em but my list is full of more elegant, catlike ones who’re a little more home-friendly and independent. ^^’ They like the scenthounds, I like the sighthounds, etc…
My most special ‘dogter’ was a Saluki…the first dog who was “mine” (and a show champ to boot.)
She had a pronounced wicked streak, but the *most* evil dog I ever had was a Maltese. Absolute demon–the kind from the underworld. Second was actually a Bloodhound. Bit unusual but totally true. x3
Also, I’m 32 and, um…if collecting stuffed animals, toting them about, sleeping and holding deep discussions with them, etc. etc., is wrong…then I never wanna be right. ;p
shelle,
Yes!!
And you never know what kind of cat or dog you’re going to get, they all come with various issues! I remember researching and researching and researching various breeds so my lifestyle (moving around, flying from school to home, trains, busses) would work for the cat too (ie. wouldn’t become distressed) because I didn’t want to return the cat (in my mind, once I adopted a cat, it was until death do us part ;D). Ragdolls seemed to be pretty adaptive, docile, and relaxed so I looked for one of those and spent some time slowly acclimatizing my cat to various modes of transportation. Still, a certain type of breed is totally no guarantee and I was so lucky she was a cat who was not stressed out by transportation. When I was going on longer flights to Europe, I’d fly from Toronto to Calgary (4 hrs) and leave her with my mum! She’s stressed out by other things (dish scrubbers, brushes, brushing) but not by moving around.
But damn, that was a stroke of luck O___O
OOOOOH!!! Those are beautiful and glamourous!! Those flowing ears!!! If a 60s mod model could be a dog, a Saluki would be it XDDDD She must have been so so gorgeous!!
My first was an American Eskimo dog! I loved him so much but he was not a good dog to have in the house and super mean to others 🙁 We didn’t train him properly so that was on us…
I also love Samoyed dogs. My ex-step mother had one and he was more bear than dog and had the sweetest disposition ;0; And Samoyed puppies!! They’re so fluffy, I don’t even know how they move 😭😭😭😭
Omg, one of my dad’s dogs is a Maltese and she is like a demon from hell. Like a gremlin after dark. She’s nice to me but not so nice to other people! Luckily, she’s small and easily restrained.
I relate!! XD
Me too!!
Adrianacandle,
It’s so true…each individual has his/her unpredictable quirks and issues and idiosyncracies…xD I’ve been very into animals, especially dogs, since forever, and there have always been at least two in the family.
Several years in a row I attended the big “Meet the Breeds” event in NYC to greet hundreds of dogs and cats in one place, which was awesome. The Ragdoll people demonstrated their floppiness and it was so cute. xD Traveling has always been one of my primary goals, so I can only hope that future animals are either naturally good road companions, or can be molded into them. ;p My girl eventually got over the tendency to hurl in the car. Yes, she was my gorgeous, wonderful model (and got that comment a lot!) ^^ Aw, Eskies & Sammys are cool! So white and soft. :3
When I was little, my parents made the error of buying us a Mini Schnauzer pup from a pet shop, but were unprepared at the time…tried to confine her to the laundry room where she tore up the linoleum, and before long they decided to rehome her to a lady with another Schnauzer. It’s good to know of another Maltese from hell…there must be a bloodline with evil running in it. XD Ours would actually become friendlier and manageable while in heat, so I’d take advantage of that. Occasionally she could be tamed with Cheerios.
shelle,
Model dog!! ;; With that long flowing hair!
That ‘Meet the Breed’ sounds awesome! But then, NYC is awesome… ;0;
LOL!!!! Smart! It’s nature doing you a favour XD
Cheerios??? This dog sounds evil and amazing at the same time!
Maybe Maltese dogs are actually gremlins…
I’m happy about you being able to find your Mini Schnauzer puppy a good home! Sometimes, I think that is the best thing for them. I believe my American Eskimo dog would have been way happier on a farm than in a tiny suburban house with a shoebox yard :/
I love these lore/extras on the Blu-ray very fascinating especially when narrated by characters from the show. I haven’t got around to watching them on S8 version yet but looking forward to it!