Game of Thrones featured in TV Guide’s Cheers and Jeers of the Year

32 Comments

1. Hodorlicious.

2. I wonder if the dragons are gonna get bigger this year, I mean Drogon was pretty fucking huge last year

3. Nik and Lena look gorgeous as usual in those shots. I imagine that’s Cersei’s mourning dress for Tywin?

4. Mormont,

   I hope so.

   Hopefully, when we see Drogon his size will be a shock. I also hope HBO won’t use him in any of the marketing, that should make Daznak’s Pit scene even more exciting.

   Judging by how much they’ve grown between each season, I think we should expect Drogon (which was already a lot bigger than Rhaegal and Viserion) to be 2-3 times bigger. Since R&V are caged, I don’t expect them to have grown a lot, I think they’ll be a litle bigger than season 4 Drogon

5. Gonna miss Rose & Rory. Great that the clip they used had them and Pedro. Also a woopwoop for Outlander (sorry my other epic read now tv addiction)

6. It is still the same mourning gown she has been wearing during season 4 for Joff

7. So are Nikolaj and Lena promoting Season 5 or is this just footage from Season 4 promotion that TV Guide is releasing now? But if I recall correctly, Kit Harington was the only one who did promotion for Season 4 in TV Guide last year.

8. Balerion The Cat,

   Definitely!

   Daznak’s Pit will be so intense! Plus, given the leaked pics, it seems like Dany will have a lot more company on the pit floor, escaping from an ongoing (Harpy?) attack. Who will survive Drogon’s breath in such close proximity? S5 season enders will be riveting!

9. Yep, same old mourning dress. I don’t recall Nikolaj wearing exactly that outfit but it is similar to one he wore in S4.

10. Sue the Fury,

    so do you think this is just season 4 promo footage that they’ve been hoarding or season 5 promotion? because to be fair they do repeat outfits quite a lot.

11. I dont think the season 5 promotion has really begun for the actors.

    Too early for that, I think interviews will start droping around february.

12. Arkash,

    magazine promotions starts earlier than february

13. Rygar Returns,

    i just wanna know if we can expect more season 5 news soon lol

14. Off topic but I was just blown away by finding out about Varys original plan.

    So essentially Varys’ original plan was for fAegon to save the realm from Khal Drogo. that makes so much sense.
    Makes it clear why Illyrio sold Dany to Khal Drogo in the first place.

    Just stumbled upon this piece of information from reading a history of Westeros podcast Q&A on reddit.

    Here’s the text

    historyofwesterosHistorian of Westeros
    Great question. It’s hard to be sure, because Varys is very complex, but I think there are a few different reasons that influence his lack of action in this area. It’s notable that Tyrion never really did anything to LF either, despite knowing it was him who screwed him over re: the dagger lie.
    Varys may like the fact that Littlefinger’s schemes distract from his own. The chaos LF is good at generating may also be something Varys is good at making use of, though clearly not always… as in the case of Ned’s execution, which Varys didn’t want, at least not so soon.
    Since a key part of Varys’ endgame is fAegon on the throne, and part of that plan is fAegon being a “savior” (original plan was for him to save the realm from Khal Drogo), whatever Littlefinger stirs up could actually help.
    Finally, Varys may actually see Littlefinger as useful in the new regime. he knows that LF isn’t trying to set himself up as king, so in that sense he’s probably not a threat to fAegon. He may expect that LF will see the writing on the wall and join fAegon’s cause, which would make him an ally. Not a very trustworthy ally, but perhaps a useful one, of sorts.
    A dangerous game, but Varys is no stranger to that.

15. aurane waters,

    If I were you I wouldn’t expect something interesting within the next 15 days
    It’s holidays time 🙂

16. Turncloak,

    I get the LF stuff but the Khal Drogo scheming? That is exceptionally long-term, improbable and highly-dangerous thinking, indeed!

17. Hodor’s Bastard,

    improbable which is why it didn’t work out as they planned :-). I can’t think of a better reason why

    Illyrio would sell Dany to Drogo if they already have plans of crowing fAegon

18. Turncloak,

    Plans A thru E(gg)…I wouldn’t be surprised if Illyrio/Varys had backup plans for their backup plans!

19. Rygar Returns:
    who cares????

    Lol

20. Why was my comment deleted?

21. I believe that was an accident, I confused you with someone else. Sorry about that. I will restore it.

22. Dame Pasty,

    Thanks. That was me at my most profound and I’m grateful its restored. 🙂

23. Hodor’s Bastard,
    Turncloak,

    The model also is inconsistent with what is in the books. There, we read that

    the Golden Company originally was supposed to join up with Viserys and a Dothraki army. The GC planned to fight with the Dothraki, not against them. They planned to be working for Viserys, then for Daenyrs. If Varys & Illyrio intended them to come into the fight later to “rescue” Westeros from the Dothraki, then they never would told them those stories: eventually, they would have leaked. Instead, they probably would have been assembled on some other pretext, only to be handily present to save the day.

    Now, Varys obviously is playing a tricky game: but it seems to be one where

    he is keeping attention on Daenyrs and Viserys in order to deflect any possible attention from Aegon. Stories were bound to pop up (and given that Aegon looks so much like Rhaegar that even blue hair doesn’t prevent Tyrion from recognizing him, so those were going to be hard to prevent!), but people pursue rumored threats only if there are not known threats apparent.

    This just seems like too convoluted a plan to have been a long-term one. Instead, it looks like they were trying to take advantage of presented opportunities.

24. Wimsey,

    I’m amused that Varys has all these backup plans.

    Viserys -> Dany/Khal -> fAegon -> Dany/? But is he a Targ fan or a Blackfyre fan? Does he care? I wonder how BR feels about the GC (and if he knows about Varys)? I also would like to further explore JonCon’s association with Varys (and his great lie). But alas, we probably get none of that in GoT…just maybe the GC.

    I simply like the GC because of their association with the various past Blackfyre rebellions and that they are all associated with well-known exiles. They fit well with fAegon’s story (and Dany’s story for that matter). I knew nothing of this original (almost desperate) Khal Drogo plot outlined by Varys & Illyrio (that Turncloak distributed). Can you imagine letting the seasick khalasar somehow get to Westeros, doing their raiding thing, then killing off the khal after supposedly taking KL? Who would think of that (and how is this known)? 🙂

    Btw, where has Varys hidden all the “lost” dragon eggs?

25. Wimsey,

    …trying to take advantage of presented opportunities.
    Ha, now that I agree with, every plan in a storm (of swords) you can get!

26. Erinyes,
    Warning! The testosterone fueled may skip the following:
    Double woopwoop! Love Outlander! I re-read all of the books after watching (original read was soooo long ago) and am looking forward to another season of screen-sizzling hot Scots! I need to get the hubby a kilt.
    Now back to regular programming…

27. Ashara D:
    Erinyes,
    Warning! The testosterone fueled may skip the following:
    Double woopwoop! Love Outlander! I re-read all of the books after watching (original read was soooo long ago) and am looking forward to another season of screen-sizzling hot Scots! I need to get the hubby a kilt.
    Now back to regular programming…

    Yes!! I love my Outlander books & now the show too!! That’s all I’ll say about that.

    Re a seasick invading khalasar: their weakness means they’d likely do less damage than usual before fAgeon & GC subdue them. Is it plausible that the GC would hang back & “rescue” Westeros from the Dothraki, with fAgeon leading them?

28. Hodor’s Bastard,

    Ah, but what evidence is there that

    any Blackfyres are still alive? All the evidence for it is essentially circular reasoning. People assuming that Aegon is not really Rhaegar’s son decide that Aegon is a Blackfyre instead: but who are Aegon’s parents? Why does he look so much like Rhaegar? Why is there no hint that Maelys the Monstrous had offspring, or that he had unknown siblings or cousins? People infer that Varys is a Blackfyre: but, again, what evidence is there that any survived? Sure, it seems like he had blondish hair: but, then, so do a lot of people, particularly from areas where there are a lot of Valyrians still. It all becomes a house of cards where the different hypotheses explain not details from the books, but other things that we don’t know to be “true.”

    (Full disclosure: I am one of those people who was posting “YES” on the old “is Aegon still alive?” thread in the 1990’s; I’ve been expecting him back for a while, and my jaded view is that the whole “fake Aegon” thing is just sour grapes from the people who guessed wrong!)

    (Second full disclosure: I also was one of the ones predicting that he’d turn up in Swords…. 🙁 )

    That’s my problem with this model:

    what the books give us contradicts this. If the Golden Company was a secret mop-up plan to unseat Viserys and Daenyrs after they unseated Robert, then Ilyrio would not have told them that they were supposed to be waiting for them. Loose lips sink ships, after all. Now, clearly Varys has been working a long time to put the Golden Company where Aegon could use them. However, he could not plan on a Khal Drogo ever turning up. Obviously, Viserys spent a lot of time trying to raise an army from somewhere to no avail: but those armies would not have been the sort to inspire a “rescue” from anyone but the two Targaryens: and replacing them with another seems an odd rescue!

    In short, I simply do not think that this was Varys’ plan.

29. Wimsey,

    Indirect response:
    The GC was created by a Blackfyre (Aegor) to support the Blackfyre cause. Perhaps Bittersteel saw the desperate end coming for the Blackfyres and created this international option for their cause? They successfully asserted themselves in Qohor and their mission is fairly clear….BUT…Dany and Viserys (Targs!) were both held in Qohor for a while during their formative years. Coincidence? Was a general shift in GC priorities in the works or does the GC not distinguish between Targ/Blackfyre blood anymore? Is this an intentional GRRM misdirection?

    Now that Aegon/fAegon is clear and present in the tale, are the GC back to their original support mission or are they simply temporary pawns in Varys/Illryio’s hands, depending on Dany’s fate? Can they really be trusted given their past alignments?

    To me, a hidden Blackfyre (surviving Targ bastard/descendant) is just as probable as Aegon being saved and the secrets behind all those missing dragon eggs, Benjen=NK, BR’s lingering existence, etc… But I do agree that Aegon alive is the obvious path, in order to align with prophesy and keep the dance of dragons going!

30. Hodor’s Bastard,

    It almost has to be less probable that Aegon is a Blackfyre for several reasons. Consider what needs to be true for him to be Aegon Targaryen.
    1. Aegon Targaryen existed (Yes).
    2. Aegon Targaryen’s body never has been positively identified (yes).
    3. Varys needs the means and inside information to do what was necessary (very possible).
    4. He probably should look like one of Aegon Targeryen’s parents (Yes)

    Now, consider what needs to be true for him to be Aegon Blackfyre
    A. The Blackfyre line must still be around.
    B. The unknown Blackfyre line must have had a son around the same time that Aegon, Daeny, Jon, etc., were born.
    C. Varys had to get that child away from his real parents so early that Connington et al. wouldn’t know about this.
    D. The progeny from the unknown Blackfyre line has to look so much like Rhaegar that it’s hard to make him not look like Rhaegar.

    Now, 1 & 2 are true: we’ve read both repeatedly. 3 is true, although this does not guarantee that Varys actually did it. 4 is true. So, we are relying on three true events and one for which the requirements are true. (We can add to this that Martin has followed appropriate story-telling techniques, reminding us about once per book that the baby’s head was too crushed for anyone to identify, and letting us know that Varys is working for Targaryens in some capacity.)

    A supposedly is false. That does not make it necessarily false, but given that the Targaryens were very vigilant about the Blackfyres (much like Robert was about Daeny & Viserys), and given that Blackfyres cannot go long without rebelling, it is improbable that it’s true. (We can add to this that Martin should have given us some indication in the text that it was true, too, if we want to use story-telling criteria as well as what is in the text.) B and D are very improbable: what are the odds that a Blackfyre progney would be born at just the right time AND look much like Rhaegar that he can even fool people like Connington never mind Tyrion. C would be improbable, too. (We never read that the Blackfyres married sister-to-brother, and as mercenaries, it is not like they could even have had Valyrian wives from Volantis or Lys, as they wouldn’t easily marry into the upper classes; moreover, had they done so, then it would have attracted the attention of the Targaryens and Baratheons.)

    So, the latter means that we are relying on four improbable events for one scenario versus three known events and one fairly probable one. P[1&2&3&4] therefore is much, much greater than P[A&B&C&D]

    From a purely story telling perspective,

    it is much easier for me to imagine how Martin would engage in his usual “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” story-telling if Aegon really is Daeny’s nephew. For Daeny, that would provide a really mixed situation: she would feel loyalty to her kinsman, and there would be the issue of primogeniture: but, damn it, hasn’t she already earned a crown?!?!

    (That doesn’t mean that Martin cannot pull off something that is in keeping with his theory of story-telling: it is just much less obvious to me how he could do it. Maybe he’ll surprise me! In some ways, I almost hope he does: I like figuring things out in advance, but I love it when people can fool me.)

31. Wimsey,

    We shall see. Enjoyed the ideas, Wimsey. Happy holidays!

    ——–

    OT: Direct quote from from a blurb in this week’s Time magazine (2015 Preview, pg. 104):

    A Song of Ice and Fire: The Winds of Winter
    George RR Martin is almost done with the long-awaited sixth novel in the series that inspired HBO’s Game of Thrones.

    We can dream!

32. Hodor’s Bastard,

    And to you! May your (and everyone else’s) egg nog have some dragon’s breath to it!

    Hodor’s Bastard: We can dream!

    Actually, that’s the next book: until we learn that it’s divided into 2 parts! 🙂

    And on a geological time scale, he must be nearly done. That is the one scale where a glacial pace is pretty quick, after all.

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