Yesterday we offered a exclusive preview of the Game of Thrones Season 6 Blu-ray boxset, with the story of the “The Great Tourney at Harrenhal” narrated by Ellie Kendrick in character as Meera Reed. We weren’t the only ones, however: For a few days now, “Histories & Lore” extras and behind the scenes features have been flooding the net.
Below the cut, you’ll find the histories of Riverrun and the War of the Ninepenny Kings (with a nice surprise!), as well as a behind the scenes look at the Battle of the Bastards.
From Time4Play, we get to hear Clive Russell as Brynden “The Blackfish” Tully tell us the history of Riverrun, from its conception until the siege depicted in season six:
Westeros offers the history of The War of the Ninepenny Kings as told by someone who lived it —Brother Ray, played by none other than Ian McShane. If you recall, the character is an amalgamation of two priests from “A Feast for Crows”, Septon Meribald and the Elder Brother —With some McShane charm thrown into the mix. Though Brother Ray had a wonderful monologue in the show, it wasn’t what many book readers were looking for —That would be Meribald’s “Broken men” speech. As part of the “Histories & Lore” series, the following video must focus on being more informative than lyrical, but it still echoes much of the language from the original speech:
Finally, Vulture shares a brief extract from one of the boxset’s most exciting features: An almost half an hour behind the scenes feature on the Battle of the Bastards. This snippet focuses on the impressively long one shot just as the battle begins:
In the Blu-Ray, you will find 16 more “Histories & Lore” pieces; three documentaries on “The Battle of the Bastards”, “Recreating the Dothraki World”, and the three units filming together for “18 Hours at the Paint Hall”; 13 commentary tracks with the cast and crew, the most commentaries ever recorded for the show; 4 deleted scenes; and more.
History & Lore !
Love it!
I need a gif of Kit swinging that sword xD
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKlBU49KI5s
New interview with D&D.Very interesting.It was done before comic con I think.
Getting my Blu Ray tomorrow
Looking forward to it
Wish the Ninepenny Kings was told by Ser Barristan actor though, and from his perspective
Dude! Luka, tell me true…do you have time for anything besides GOT right now? It amazes me that you guys can continually crank out info like this. I spend some spare time looking at whatever I can and it sucks you in completely it’s maddening sometimes lmao!! My kids are 8, 6 and 1 and my husband and I are such big fans that our kids want to watch it (which of course there is too much they can’t see in it) but they have a strong love for fantasy and dragons especially already! I admit I have let them see the dragons and have let them watch some of the lore videos with them peeking over my shoulder. What cracks me up is my 1 year old smiles huge at me every time she hears the opening theme music…let’s just say I watched a LOT of GOT being up with her so much in the first year. But as obsessed as I am with everything GOT what you guys do there is truly amazing to me. Thank you for keeping us entertained while we wait!!!
Arya Serious,
You’re welcome! As for how I manage to crank out reports at this rate, having no kids to take care of or a full-time job helps. I’ve got tons of free time! Sue has no such ease, I don’ think. She’s just that good! 🙂
In fact, for this report she did all the groundwork, all the information gathering. I just wrote it up. Usually, Sue deserves most of the credit 😛
These new H&L videos are getting better and better!!
Jenny,
So S7 Drogon would be 2-3 times bigger than season 6 size, omg
Thanks so much for the round-up, Luka. I’ve seen one of those three so I’m glad you guys had us covered!
Happy holidays everyone!
My husband and I eagerly watched a ton of the special features last night when we came home to our delivery of the Season 6 blu rays.
I have to note, there’s a huge lack of Rhaegar in these H&L stories for season 6. They didn’t mention him much in the story of the Harrenhall Tourney, or in the Robert’s Rebellion story. Even in the Dayne story, young Ned talks about Dayne defending his prince until the end, but to a casual viewer it wouldn’t make much sense, since so many seem to think that Jon is either a Ned/Lyanna or Robert/Lyanna bastard. I’m positive the only reason my husband gets it is because I’m a superfan now for the books and the show, and every piece of information I can find. I’ve had to explain why the war of the ninepenny kings and the tourney at harrenhall were important at all, more than once.
I’m wondering if they’ll explain Rhaegar more in the coming season, or just spell it out for the viewers. Brief mentions in seasons 1, 5 and 6 have not sunk in with the huge majority of casual fans who already have to track a lot of stories and characters once a week. Unlike a lot of fans I’d prefer not to actually see him in a flashback and let people imagine what he must have looked like – since his shadow hangs over everyone, and every event so strongly. I’d venture to say he’s the most important character in the entire series, which is impressive for someone who’s not even there. I certainly hope D&D go more in-depth about this in season 7. There must be a reason why the H&L on these blu rays is so vague about him, right?
Dolorous Bread,
Most casual fans have to see something for it to sink in and get a grasp of it. I would guess, given Isaac’s response to the finale flashback scene(He only mentioned that Bran found out who Jon’s mom was and that he didn’t know who the father is yet), that we will see Rhaegar in a flashback at some point. I don’t necessarily think it is something D&D have done wrong, as they have consistently mentioned both Rhaegar and Lyanna throughout the series. It’s just that in a visual medium, with most viewers only watching once, they need to see something to truly grasp it.
Tyrion Pimpslap,
Yes, this is true. I’d be happy with “seeing” him, but not really seeing him due to camera angles and lighting. I think there are ways to approach such a scene where the message is made clear, where they can do a “show, don’t tell”, while still keeping him as this larger-than-life figure. Maybe i’m afraid he’ll just look like a Viserys-type guy and lose that mythical feeling about him.
While D&D mention Rhaegar and Lyanna here and there, I think it goes over the heads of a lot of fans who already struggle with the names of characters they watch all the time.
Tyrion Pimpslap,
I don’t know. You might be correct, but I think the show has made point of mentioning lyanna and rhaegar together with enough hints sprinkled in since season 1 that it was fairly obvious after the season 6 reveal. Now maybe before that flashback ppl wouldn’t have made the connection just via those subtle hints, but after I think it was clear. And I didn’t read the books until season 5 started being mediocre and I had to check out if the source just went downhill too.
Dolorous Bread,
Tyrion Pimpslap,
I do agree that the shadow of Rhaegar pervasively hangs over our heroes and heroines. But I disagree that he hasn’t been discussed enough or that the show has not stressed enough his importance. What the show has given us is fragmented and contradictory stories about Rhaegar and Lyanna, dispersed among other stories/moments. They have hidden them in plain sight.
However, I do agree that the casual viewer might have missed these clues and, when the time is come, the showrunners will probably give us a more tangible hint about the whole Rhaegar/Lyanna/Jon affair. I just hope it’s not in a form of a flashback.
TheLannistersWin,
Rhaegar has come up, in the show, in the pilot briefly (when the audience had no idea who anyone was, let alone someone who’s not an active character), a rant or two from Robert with Ned, briefly with Littlefinger and Sansa, and briefly with Dany and Selmy. I really can’t remember other occurrences and I know who Rhaegar is. That’s a huge expectation for the audience to retain that information while also expecting them to track multiple storylines and characters. Hell, I remember that before I really got into things I was constantly confusing Theon/Robb, and Stannis/Roose, and forgetting multiple minor character names. Rhaegar would have sailed right over me.
Lots of people who only watch the show and don’t deep-dive like we all do, will often confuse Rhaegar with the mad king, and had no idea what the actual ToJ reveal WAS regarding Jon’s father’s identity. Tons of fans who only casually watch the show think he’s Ned’s or Robert’s child (I know, I know, but it’s true). They don’t understand what set off Robert’s Rebellion besides that the Mad King was mad. They don’t know about the tourney at Harrenhal. The show has done a much better job at explaining Lyanna than solidifying Rhaegar as a character in peoples’ heads.
A Dornish Tyrell,
This is definitely the point I’m trying to make, in so many words! I really hope they do. The reveal went over more peoples’ heads than we care to think.
Dolorous Bread,
The reveal went over EVERYBODY who is not inmersed in the world! I´ve heard people say : who is Rhaegar? Jon is Lyanna and Ned´s?!! Ewwwww!!!! Robert Baratheon is Jon´s dad! Is the Mad King his father?
AlexG,
The most outlandish comment I’ve read was from a viewer who thought that Jon was Lyanna’s and Arthur Dayne’s son… But then again, you have countless crackpot theories from obsessive book readers that claim that Jon and Meera are twins, or that Jon is Ned’s and Ashara Dayne’s son… or that Dany is Lyanna’s and Rhaegar’s daughter… 😀
Jenny,
So glad you found this. It is an extremely intelligent interview (Parts 1 and 2 run almost one hour) and the interviewer from Idaho Public Television certainly did her homework. Did you know that David Benioff was a graveyard-shift (=overnight) radio DJ in Moose, Wyoming? Both showrunners are obviously at ease and discuss the writing and running of the show through Season 6 and beyond.
Jenny,
That moment when they’re asked about ‘gratuitous sex’ and depictions of rape: awkward!
Anon,
And yet they gave a great response that should make some of the critics look at themselves in the mirror .
Rhaenys Stark,
Second that! <3
A Dornish Tyrell,
Oh! I know!! I´ve read the outlandish theories out there 😉 but what I meant is that it is NOT OBVIOUS at all that RT is Jon´s dad to the main public and it will seem rushed and crazy when the reveal is done almost at story´s end…too little foreshadowing, if at all,in my opinion…ps. I Do wish for some sort of coherent flashback
The extra features are nice, but there are numerous continuity errors in them: much of the time they use the *book* description of scenes (Dave Hill wrote the animated featurettes) not taking into account how D&D changed the TV version.
For example, in the above clips….Meera gives the description of the Mad Kings from the books, that he looked visibly insane and had a waist-length scraggly beard.
Overall a very good crop of videos, though. Quite enjoy the Dothraki and Ironborn ones.
Jenny,
I can’t watch this right now, but do they say something about Jon and the future seasons?
These specific videos linked here say nothing about Jon.
Tourney of Harrenhal just reads off the story Meera gave in the earlier books. Yeah, the story might give background on Lyanna/Rhaegar, but nothing we didn’t know already from long before book four came out, and nothing which was revelatory.
Other videos I got through by now from the Blu-ray itself don’t seem to mention Jon either, though I haven’t seen the Sansa one.
I just got around to watching The Game Reaveled about Emilia doing the dragon riding. I love the part when she says, “It’s insane! It’s so good! You’re like ‘phew,’ okay good, cuz before it was just me in the green room going ‘WOOHOO,” and then you see it and you’re like, ‘oh shit, I’m a bad ass,’ and that’s awesome!” She’s so fun! 🙂
The Dragon Demands,
I was asking about the D&D interview posted here.
Why isn’t anyone talking about the HORRIBLE packaging? I’m appalled by this cheap piece of garbage I just spent $60 on. Where do I begin?
A) It’s slimmer than the rest, so it doesn’t match.
B) The plastic slip-on case is cheap, flimsy, and looks like crap. It doesn’t even cover the front of the box, it has a stupid hanging flap the doesn’t attach to anything, and all the text info is printed right on the back (instead of being on a removable piece of paper).
C) The discs are now stacked on top of each other.
C) There’s no insert or episode guide
It’s a real shame, because I LOVE the blue colour, and it’s one of GOT’s strongest seasons. But this is a cheap piece of garbage that I already regret spending money on. It’s BS to sell such cheap crap to fans, especially when it doesn’t match the other box sets they’ve spent hundreds of dollars on. Very disappointed.
Lex,
It only cost me $45, but nevertheless, I agree. It’s not the first time I’ve seen changes like this for this type of thing and I don’t understand it. Do these companies not understand that people want these things to have a level of consistency? It’s like buying a book series with all of the books a different size, shape, design, color… so much so that they don’t appear to be a set.
Of all the contests so far, this is the one I’d most love to win.
Oh wait…
Didn’t you hear? He shaved and got a manicure just before Jaime slayed him. He may have been mad, but even he knew one must look presentable in death.
(Either that or it’s a continuity error as you said. I don’t know how you can handle it. You should sue them for damages!)
Lex,
Maybe it’s because this time they released the blu ray and dvds earlier and they rushed the packaging ? They also didn’t do any exclusive box covers for individual houses this season .
Oh this is a perfect way to start my day off! 😀
Lex,
I guess they figure the show’s fan base is so large that they can cut corners on the packaging and still sell just as many copies. I’m having trouble even placing the discs back in place. And the lack of an insert/description of what’s on each disc is very disappointing.
AlexG,
It’s weird that even Jaime’s viewpoint of Robert’s Rebellion skipped over Rheagar too. This is too coincidental that they virtually erased all mention of Rheagar. At this point what flashback could suffice for Rheagar’s introduction? Tourney at Harrenhall? Even just a flashback where they condense Dany’s vision of him and Elia to him and Lyanna before he leaves Dorne. Instead of Aegon, unborn Jon is the “song of fire and ice”.
Wow! I’ve never regretted being poor more than I do right now. Gosh! It would be a joy to see all those wonderful extras.
the picture above looks very similar to the producers and creators of Game of thrones.