How can anyone say it "didn't go anywhere" or that it wasn't important? The magic has been the central driving point in the Stannis plotline so far and has far reaching consequences in the entire kingdom. Complaining that there is magic involved there seems so strange, that's the whole point.
It "didn't go anywhere" because Melisandre has had about three minutes of screentime (none in the last five episodes or so) in the whole season, yet has arguably been the most important plot-motivator on the show.
I don't care how close this is hewing to the source material, it's just bad TV. This is a TV show.
I honestly don't even understand the arbitrary complaint of "If event X had not happened, other stuff would have occured!". How was any of it lazy writing?
Because it's too specific. It's saying, "I need to plot be unfold like this, other than the organic way the story is already progressing, so I'll send this random plot-demon to correct the course. And then I'll never mention it again, or explore how it came to be."
We'll have to disagree there, I don't think it's bad TV and I don't think Melisandre should get too much exposition yet. She's supposed to be aloof and mysterious
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
We'll have to disagree there, I don't think it's bad TV and I don't think Melisandre should get too much exposition yet. She's supposed to be aloof and mysterious
I would accept "aloof and mysterious." Right now, she's more "absent and undeveloped."
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y2jake215certified Flat Birther theoristthe Last Good Boy onlineRegistered Userregular
I can see both sides of this. You can't really comment on how well it's been explained without waiting for the entirety of the series to air. However, you can't just handwave away any and all criticism of the storytelling by saying, "hey, they'll probably explain it later." Especially if you only know so because you've read the books (which the show may or may not end up adhering to)
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
Any person's negative opinion is valid, but I know I and many others stopped bothering to post here because it is just one unending complaint.
Pages and pages of how bad the show is? Why bother watching? Why bother complaining? Why not talk about what you like about it, what you are looking forward to, what you are scared might happen to the characters?
I figure I could take a bear.
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
I can see both sides of this. You can't really comment on how well it's been explained without waiting for the entirety of the series to air. However, you can't just handwave away any and all criticism of the storytelling by saying, "hey, they'll probably explain it later." Especially if you only know so because you've read the books (which the show may or may not end up adhering to)
And as for that latter part, I'd really appreciate it if anyone who has read the books would refrain from posting in this thread.
There's already a thread for that, and in this thread things are frequently said or referred to that plainly did not arise from the show, routinely used in rhetorical discourse. It's a little frustrating.
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y2jake215certified Flat Birther theoristthe Last Good Boy onlineRegistered Userregular
My only complaint with the show so far is I want to know what happens next enough that I'm tempted to just read the books. But then watching each episode wouldn't be as great
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
Any person's negative opinion is valid, but I know I and many others stopped bothering to post here because it is just one unending complaint.
Pages and pages of how bad the show is? Why bother watching? Why bother complaining? Why not talk about what you like about it, what you are looking forward to, what you are scared might happen to the characters?
Every episode post-mortem I write has a long section called "The Good," in which I post all the things I like about the episode.
It's other people here getting hung up on my criticism. I'm not a unifocal source of negativity.
My only complaint with the show so far is I want to know what happens next enough that I'm tempted to just read the books. But then watching each episode wouldn't be as great
Yeah, wait reading the books until afterwards. I've only read book 1 myself but it worked well enough to see the show first and then read the book.
Thats no hole. Its a dank, dark, demon spewing vagina.
Magic seems to be the one thing everyone should be worried about, but no one believes in. Some seriously bad magical shit is coming everyone's way, and none of them have a clue. Hell, even the magic users/believers don't know thier magic/magic problems are weak sauce compared to whats coming.
The Game of Thrones should be the least important subject for all the players. The Game of not getting creme brulee'd by the dragon riding pissed off hot blonde chick, not getting stabbed by jizz powered shadow demons, and not being eaten/zombified/turned clorox white should be the Game of every-fucking-body.
Forget winter coming. The land is already blanketed by head up ass syndrome. Winter might be a good thing.
My only complaint with the show so far is I want to know what happens next enough that I'm tempted to just read the books. But then watching each episode wouldn't be as great
Yeah, wait reading the books until afterwards. I've only read book 1 myself but it worked well enough to see the show first and then read the book.
I lot of people have told me that the show has started to deviate from the source by quite a way.
From what I've heard they're switching a few things around to accomodate actors and such. So some events that would probably happen in the future might happen sooner or later than in the books
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
From what I've heard they're switching a few things around to accomodate actors and such. So some events that would probably happen in the future might happen sooner or later than in the books
From reading the post-episode reviews at Alamo Drafthouse's blog, they're saying the show is approximating a lot of the assumed events and interactions that aren't explicitly detailed in the source because due to their unconventional 1st-person framing device they may not be shown at all.
I think that the reason people are getting defensive is that they feel the plot is being attacked, rather than the show's adaptation of it.
That said, I don't think one can wholly judge a piece's coherency without first seeing the whole picture. A lot of books and movies make little to no sense until the very end, where there is a big 'aha!' moment.
@Capt Howdy: The series is a metaphore for global warming, the game of thrones representing the petty power struggles our governments engage in instead of standing as one against the bigger threat. You heard it here first folks. I may not be entirely serious.
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible." - T.E. Lawrence
Thats no hole. Its a dank, dark, demon spewing vagina.
Magic seems to be the one thing everyone should be worried about, but no one believes in. Some seriously bad magical shit is coming everyone's way, and none of them have a clue. Hell, even the magic users/believers don't know thier magic/magic problems are weak sauce compared to whats coming.
The Game of Thrones should be the least important subject for all the players. The Game of not getting creme brulee'd by the dragon riding pissed off hot blonde chick, not getting stabbed by jizz powered shadow demons, and not being eaten/zombified/turned clorox white should be the Game of every-fucking-body.
Forget winter coming. The land is already blanketed by head up ass syndrome. Winter might be a good thing.
IMO, the show needs to have Hot Pie as King, with Hodor as his Master of Whispers, Ros as the Master of Coin, and a Small Council rounded out by Sam, Brienne, Davos, A Man, and Tyrion. Meanwhile, Arya and Tywin can go on an epic road trip to find Dani and her dragons, teach them the meaning of friendship, and save the world.
Shadowhope on
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
It's not "rich people" who are let go if they leave the watch before they say the words. It's any non-criminal.
Joining the Watch gives a full pardon, but only if you actually join and say the words, that's it. There's still free will and always a choice. You still have that choice right up until the end. Join the Watch, or face another type of punishment. As a free man not saying the words, they have no power over you. You can leave. As a criminal, you still have that choice. You can leave, but in that case, you haven't technically been pardoned yet, and remember, even the 'criminals' say that they choice the Wall. Hand cutt off or be sent to the wall? Cock cut off or be sent to the wall? Execution, or be sent to the wall? Basically everyone at the Wall chose it. For some it was a choice of honor, for others it was the better part of a shitty ultimatum.
I think that the reason people are getting defensive is that they feel the plot is being attacked, rather than the show's adaptation of it.
That said, I don't think one can wholly judge a piece's coherency without first seeing the whole picture. A lot of books and movies make little to no sense until the very end, where there is a big 'aha!' moment.
@Capt Howdy: The series is a metaphore for global warming, the game of thrones representing the petty power struggles our governments engage in instead of standing as one against the bigger threat. You heard it here first folks. I may not be entirely serious.
I have a copy of the last page of the script here.
The camera pulls back to reveal that we watching a video in an auditorium. It pulls back further to show we are in an auditorium. It pulls back even further to show AL GORE coming on stage.
GORE
Thank you everyone, I hope we have given you a lot to think about tonight.
Cut to title card:
"Inconvenient Truth 2: Global Winter IS coming."
In fact there are only a handful of people who know what actually happened in that tent and who would believe them? It's not shitty writing it's just a trickle of the supernatural. What character could reasonably bring it up?
This is really what it is. Only a few people know "it" happened at all. It has never happened before, no one knows anything about how or why the fuck it happened, not even Stannis. No one knows who Melisandre was or where she came from. And now she performed a ritual which if they gave it more time, yes, you'd see freaks Davos out considerably and permanently.
And yes, it is a crack in the dam or "reality", and 'weird shit' is beginning to leak out, and the crack is widening.
We'll have to disagree there, I don't think it's bad TV and I don't think Melisandre should get too much exposition yet. She's supposed to be aloof and mysterious
I would accept "aloof and mysterious." Right now, she's more "absent and undeveloped."
It's only been like 2 episodes in a story that will be about 80 or more, total. Jeez, give it time. There are like 10 main characters. Stannis himself doesn't even get much screentime. The plot as a whole would not be further improved by more of Melisandre's religious warblings about the night and its terrors. She's a zealot. That was all she was until she drank poison and brought a demon into the world through a dark ritual that no one believes possible.
Some people read the book and watch the show. Shocking, I know.
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible." - T.E. Lawrence
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
I don't understand the need for separation. It is not as if I wrote anything about what happens in the books in these threads.
I can - get this - read the book and discuss the show without bringing up the book.
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible." - T.E. Lawrence
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
Book readers are absolutely welcome here. I've been maintaining this thread forever and I'm current on the books. We're really not supposed to be discussing the scope of this thread anymore. More talking about the show, less about the thread!
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
Book readers are absolutely welcome here. I've been maintaining this thread forever and I'm current on the books. We're really not supposed to be discussing the scope of this thread anymore. More talking about the show, less about the thread!
I agree. It's just that everytime some mentions some point of lore not discussed explicitly in the show or rebuts an argument with a, "Oh, just wait until . . . .," that's frustrating and goosey.
Yeah, some people have a hard time not spoiling things. For example when people get into arguments about some fact, some guy will enter the fray with some factoid that is clearly coming straight from the books and it'll spoil some aspect of the show. Or people who have read the books will be able to infer things from the stuff shown in the show that a normal viewer would probably never puzzle together
From what I've heard they're switching a few things around to accomodate actors and such. So some events that would probably happen in the future might happen sooner or later than in the books
From reading the post-episode reviews at Alamo Drafthouse's blog, they're saying the show is approximating a lot of the assumed events and interactions that aren't explicitly detailed in the source because due to their unconventional 1st-person framing device they may not be shown at all.
Ya, a lot of stuff is revealed in peoples thoughts in the books. That's one reason that I love the show so much, they are doing an awesome job of creating whole new scenes and interactions to get the same point across but in a totally different way. The show is very different and yet, the story is essentially the same.
We'll have to disagree there, I don't think it's bad TV and I don't think Melisandre should get too much exposition yet. She's supposed to be aloof and mysterious
I would accept "aloof and mysterious." Right now, she's more "absent and undeveloped."
I agree. The book people forgive it because it makes sense in the books, the story is told from the first person perspective of a limited number of characters. Melisandre isn't one of those characters so it seems perfectly normal to only catch glimpses of her because you know from the start of the chapter that this chapter isn't about her. In the TV show,
I'm not really sure how anyone expects you to suddenly see a shadow monster crawl out of her vagina and NOT want to know more about her.
I think part of the problem is that they are cramming too many characters into limited screen time. It really needs more episodes per season imo.
Daenarys seems to be in somewhat of a crisis and we haven't seen much about her. Melisandre expelled a shadow demon from her vagina and then vanished. Renly was murdered and his lover kind of pouted for a bit and then I guess went home and forgot about it?
I'd like to see these characters more but at the same time, I don't want to see any of the ones that are getting the screen time any less.
I can see both sides of this. You can't really comment on how well it's been explained without waiting for the entirety of the series to air. However, you can't just handwave away any and all criticism of the storytelling by saying, "hey, they'll probably explain it later." Especially if you only know so because you've read the books (which the show may or may not end up adhering to)
And as for that latter part, I'd really appreciate it if anyone who has read the books would refrain from posting in this thread.
There's already a thread for that, and in this thread things are frequently said or referred to that plainly did not arise from the show, routinely used in rhetorical discourse. It's a little frustrating.
But, what if I'm posting to talk about stuff specific to the show and to say that I totally agree with you?
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AtomikaLive fast and get fucked or whateverRegistered Userregular
I think a good comparison for GoT is a bit like Babylon 5 for better or worse.
In that it has mysteries that they don't explain right away and a bigger story then it might seem at the start and the resolution might not come when we expect it.
Its kind of hard, but you have to accept that we are still in the setup phase of a much larger story. This isn't old school television where everything is setup and resolved in 45 minutes, its not even modern television where everything where each season is its own story.
This is season 2 in what is hoped will be a seven season story. If they are all 10 episodes long, the total story will be 70 episodes. Renly's murder occured in episode 15 about a little over 20% into the story. This signifies to me that the huge war we are seeing isn't the important part, that the real Game of Thrones will be a much bigger deal. And Melisandres type of magic will be the important part of it.
The White walkers in episode 1, the Magic shaman lady, The birth of dragons. We have repeatedly been given hints that magic is real, but rare almost unknown. The Maester of Winterfeld talking about trying/failing to use magic(which was an important backstory explanation on magic in Westoros).
We have been led to believe GoT is about knights, but its really going to be about wizards. That its about Low magic fantasy, when its really about high magic Fantasy. Ross wanting a full on explanation, is really him wanting to be spoiled about the true nature of the plot.
The sky was full of stars, every star an exploding ship. One of ours.
Magic seems to be the one thing everyone should be worried about, but no one believes in. Some seriously bad magical shit is coming everyone's way, and none of them have a clue. Hell, even the magic users/believers don't know thier magic/magic problems are weak sauce compared to whats coming.
This is my favorite part about how magic is depicted in the show. When a magic system is well defined and understood, it ceases to be magic. In Game of Thrones, when magic is used, it's surprising, mysterious, and terrifying. It gives a real sense that there are much larger forces at play than any of the characters understand. If the precise mechanics of queef-demon production were explained, it would lose a lot of what makes it effective in the story.
Why isn't magic everywhere, being used all the time? I assume because it's difficult. We've seen immense cost associated with the magic used so far, it's not a huge leap to presume that using it is not an easy thing to do. I don't understand demands to have it all laid out -- honestly, I'd rather it isn't. I like the possibility that a touch of magic here and there can so drastically alter the course of the story, and I like that we don't know how or when that might happen. Anyone can be killed.
Magic seems to be the one thing everyone should be worried about, but no one believes in. Some seriously bad magical shit is coming everyone's way, and none of them have a clue. Hell, even the magic users/believers don't know thier magic/magic problems are weak sauce compared to whats coming.
This is my favorite part about how magic is depicted in the show. When a magic system is well defined and understood, it ceases to be magic. In Game of Thrones, when magic is used, it's surprising, mysterious, and terrifying. It gives a real sense that there are much larger forces at play than any of the characters understand. If the precise mechanics of queef-demon production were explained, it would lose a lot of what makes it effective in the story.
Why isn't magic everywhere, being used all the time? I assume because it's difficult. We've seen immense cost associated with the magic used so far, it's not a huge leap to presume that using it is not an easy thing to do. I don't understand demands to have it all laid out -- honestly, I'd rather it isn't. I like the possibility that a touch of magic here and there can so drastically alter the course of the story, and I like that we don't know how or when that might happen. Anyone can be killed.
Except it isn't terrifying. A lot of my suspension of disbelief is tied up in the fact that there was magic even before the dragons were dead, REAL magic, yet the ignorant medieval peasants were and are LESS worried about evil spirits and faeries and demons than real-world peasants in real-world medieval Europe. Only when someone gets up-close and personal with some seriously nasty magic do they start to care at all. This is ridiculous, gargoyles were invented specifically to ward off evil spirits, witch hunts, the woods are full of monsters, curses, giants, demons...magical thinking ruled the world back then.
It's like when Jim Butcher's characters wax poetic about how no one in the modern era believes in magic and I think of those polls that occasionally show up that show, even if you strip out the "magic" that is one of the Abrahamic religions, a majority of people believe in some brand of magic, be it ghosts, psychics, or leprechauns.
This is a 7 season epic, at minimum, and it's already written. Not every little thing is going to be fully explored in the second season. The writers have a very detailed roadmap and they're following it. This isn't Lost where you have to worry if they're pulling shit out of their ass with no idea how to tie it together.
This is a 7 season epic, at minimum, and it's already written. Not every little thing is going to be fully explored in the second season. The writers have a very detailed roadmap and they're following it. This isn't Lost where you have to worry if they're pulling shit out of their ass with no idea how to tie it together.
No, see. You acknowledged the existence of the books therefore: spoilers
Ha, yeah, for better or worse I was going to bring up Lost, which had its own smoke demon that nobody knew about for ever and ever.
We still have two episodes in this season, and potentially like 70 more in the show.
If we're complaining about the presence of magic and its potential to drastically alter events, I think we've already covered that. It's magic in a magical show - this stuff is going to happen. More than likely it's going to get worse, and since barely anybody in the show has much experience with overt magic we're probably going to learn about it at the same pace they do. If that's indeed the issue you might want to bail out now before the series becomes frustrating.
If we're complaining about a lack of screentime for Melisandre or Stannis, I can agree that there isn't much. I want to know about Melisandre too - she's freaky as hell, is skirting close to devil-worship for all I can tell (and it works!), and she seems to be pulling the strings of a dude who's about to drop some pain on the Iron Throne. But I'm also willing to accept that I don't need to have every possible character trait and motivation laid out for me before said character starts moving and shaking in the plot.
What do we want to know about her? What is so pressing about her character that, without it, the story is currently falling apart? Where, even if it is explained later, too much damage is done?
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It "didn't go anywhere" because Melisandre has had about three minutes of screentime (none in the last five episodes or so) in the whole season, yet has arguably been the most important plot-motivator on the show.
I don't care how close this is hewing to the source material, it's just bad TV. This is a TV show.
Because it's too specific. It's saying, "I need to plot be unfold like this, other than the organic way the story is already progressing, so I'll send this random plot-demon to correct the course. And then I'll never mention it again, or explore how it came to be."
I would accept "aloof and mysterious." Right now, she's more "absent and undeveloped."
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
Pages and pages of how bad the show is? Why bother watching? Why bother complaining? Why not talk about what you like about it, what you are looking forward to, what you are scared might happen to the characters?
And as for that latter part, I'd really appreciate it if anyone who has read the books would refrain from posting in this thread.
There's already a thread for that, and in this thread things are frequently said or referred to that plainly did not arise from the show, routinely used in rhetorical discourse. It's a little frustrating.
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
Every episode post-mortem I write has a long section called "The Good," in which I post all the things I like about the episode.
It's other people here getting hung up on my criticism. I'm not a unifocal source of negativity.
Yeah, wait reading the books until afterwards. I've only read book 1 myself but it worked well enough to see the show first and then read the book.
Thats no hole. Its a dank, dark, demon spewing vagina.
Magic seems to be the one thing everyone should be worried about, but no one believes in. Some seriously bad magical shit is coming everyone's way, and none of them have a clue. Hell, even the magic users/believers don't know thier magic/magic problems are weak sauce compared to whats coming.
The Game of Thrones should be the least important subject for all the players. The Game of not getting creme brulee'd by the dragon riding pissed off hot blonde chick, not getting stabbed by jizz powered shadow demons, and not being eaten/zombified/turned clorox white should be the Game of every-fucking-body.
Forget winter coming. The land is already blanketed by head up ass syndrome. Winter might be a good thing.
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I lot of people have told me that the show has started to deviate from the source by quite a way.
From reading the post-episode reviews at Alamo Drafthouse's blog, they're saying the show is approximating a lot of the assumed events and interactions that aren't explicitly detailed in the source because due to their unconventional 1st-person framing device they may not be shown at all.
That said, I don't think one can wholly judge a piece's coherency without first seeing the whole picture. A lot of books and movies make little to no sense until the very end, where there is a big 'aha!' moment.
@Capt Howdy: The series is a metaphore for global warming, the game of thrones representing the petty power struggles our governments engage in instead of standing as one against the bigger threat. You heard it here first folks. I may not be entirely serious.
IMO, the show needs to have Hot Pie as King, with Hodor as his Master of Whispers, Ros as the Master of Coin, and a Small Council rounded out by Sam, Brienne, Davos, A Man, and Tyrion. Meanwhile, Arya and Tywin can go on an epic road trip to find Dani and her dragons, teach them the meaning of friendship, and save the world.
Joining the Watch gives a full pardon, but only if you actually join and say the words, that's it. There's still free will and always a choice. You still have that choice right up until the end. Join the Watch, or face another type of punishment. As a free man not saying the words, they have no power over you. You can leave. As a criminal, you still have that choice. You can leave, but in that case, you haven't technically been pardoned yet, and remember, even the 'criminals' say that they choice the Wall. Hand cutt off or be sent to the wall? Cock cut off or be sent to the wall? Execution, or be sent to the wall? Basically everyone at the Wall chose it. For some it was a choice of honor, for others it was the better part of a shitty ultimatum.
But for everyone, the Wall is a choice, always.
I have a copy of the last page of the script here.
This is really what it is. Only a few people know "it" happened at all. It has never happened before, no one knows anything about how or why the fuck it happened, not even Stannis. No one knows who Melisandre was or where she came from. And now she performed a ritual which if they gave it more time, yes, you'd see freaks Davos out considerably and permanently.
And yes, it is a crack in the dam or "reality", and 'weird shit' is beginning to leak out, and the crack is widening.
It's only been like 2 episodes in a story that will be about 80 or more, total. Jeez, give it time. There are like 10 main characters. Stannis himself doesn't even get much screentime. The plot as a whole would not be further improved by more of Melisandre's religious warblings about the night and its terrors. She's a zealot. That was all she was until she drank poison and brought a demon into the world through a dark ritual that no one believes possible.
Just wait.
This is exactly the goosiness I'm talking about.
Why? Why are book readers in this thread?!
But you have your own thread.
I can - get this - read the book and discuss the show without bringing up the book.
Others seems to be having trouble with it.
And why would you want to discuss the show here in this thread? It doesn't make any sense.
I agree. It's just that everytime some mentions some point of lore not discussed explicitly in the show or rebuts an argument with a, "Oh, just wait until . . . .," that's frustrating and goosey.
I want to talk about the show. Only.
Ya, a lot of stuff is revealed in peoples thoughts in the books. That's one reason that I love the show so much, they are doing an awesome job of creating whole new scenes and interactions to get the same point across but in a totally different way. The show is very different and yet, the story is essentially the same.
I agree. The book people forgive it because it makes sense in the books, the story is told from the first person perspective of a limited number of characters. Melisandre isn't one of those characters so it seems perfectly normal to only catch glimpses of her because you know from the start of the chapter that this chapter isn't about her. In the TV show,
I think part of the problem is that they are cramming too many characters into limited screen time. It really needs more episodes per season imo.
But, what if I'm posting to talk about stuff specific to the show and to say that I totally agree with you?
Agreeing with me is always allowed. ;-)
In that it has mysteries that they don't explain right away and a bigger story then it might seem at the start and the resolution might not come when we expect it.
Its kind of hard, but you have to accept that we are still in the setup phase of a much larger story. This isn't old school television where everything is setup and resolved in 45 minutes, its not even modern television where everything where each season is its own story.
This is season 2 in what is hoped will be a seven season story. If they are all 10 episodes long, the total story will be 70 episodes. Renly's murder occured in episode 15 about a little over 20% into the story. This signifies to me that the huge war we are seeing isn't the important part, that the real Game of Thrones will be a much bigger deal. And Melisandres type of magic will be the important part of it.
The White walkers in episode 1, the Magic shaman lady, The birth of dragons. We have repeatedly been given hints that magic is real, but rare almost unknown. The Maester of Winterfeld talking about trying/failing to use magic(which was an important backstory explanation on magic in Westoros).
We have been led to believe GoT is about knights, but its really going to be about wizards. That its about Low magic fantasy, when its really about high magic Fantasy. Ross wanting a full on explanation, is really him wanting to be spoiled about the true nature of the plot.
Why isn't magic everywhere, being used all the time? I assume because it's difficult. We've seen immense cost associated with the magic used so far, it's not a huge leap to presume that using it is not an easy thing to do. I don't understand demands to have it all laid out -- honestly, I'd rather it isn't. I like the possibility that a touch of magic here and there can so drastically alter the course of the story, and I like that we don't know how or when that might happen. Anyone can be killed.
No one here is writing things that I, having not read the books, already agree with.
*Strange Shadow Demon appears without warning.*
"Hey maybe we should wait for an explanation as surely this is part of some overarching theme. I'm sure the show will come back to it."
"OH God Spoilers!"
Except it isn't terrifying. A lot of my suspension of disbelief is tied up in the fact that there was magic even before the dragons were dead, REAL magic, yet the ignorant medieval peasants were and are LESS worried about evil spirits and faeries and demons than real-world peasants in real-world medieval Europe. Only when someone gets up-close and personal with some seriously nasty magic do they start to care at all. This is ridiculous, gargoyles were invented specifically to ward off evil spirits, witch hunts, the woods are full of monsters, curses, giants, demons...magical thinking ruled the world back then.
It's like when Jim Butcher's characters wax poetic about how no one in the modern era believes in magic and I think of those polls that occasionally show up that show, even if you strip out the "magic" that is one of the Abrahamic religions, a majority of people believe in some brand of magic, be it ghosts, psychics, or leprechauns.
This is a 7 season epic, at minimum, and it's already written. Not every little thing is going to be fully explored in the second season. The writers have a very detailed roadmap and they're following it. This isn't Lost where you have to worry if they're pulling shit out of their ass with no idea how to tie it together.
No, see. You acknowledged the existence of the books therefore: spoilers
We still have two episodes in this season, and potentially like 70 more in the show.
If we're complaining about the presence of magic and its potential to drastically alter events, I think we've already covered that. It's magic in a magical show - this stuff is going to happen. More than likely it's going to get worse, and since barely anybody in the show has much experience with overt magic we're probably going to learn about it at the same pace they do. If that's indeed the issue you might want to bail out now before the series becomes frustrating.
If we're complaining about a lack of screentime for Melisandre or Stannis, I can agree that there isn't much. I want to know about Melisandre too - she's freaky as hell, is skirting close to devil-worship for all I can tell (and it works!), and she seems to be pulling the strings of a dude who's about to drop some pain on the Iron Throne. But I'm also willing to accept that I don't need to have every possible character trait and motivation laid out for me before said character starts moving and shaking in the plot.
What do we want to know about her? What is so pressing about her character that, without it, the story is currently falling apart? Where, even if it is explained later, too much damage is done?