Game of Thrones

[Arcadia]

I don't know. I've never heard that before, but that doesn't mean much; there's a lot I've never heard.  

All I remember is that Tolkien established that men and elves had a different fate, and I think there was something different for the dwarves too? I don't recall him ever addressing what happens to hobbits. Or what hobbits themselves think will happen. That's a bit odd, now that I think about it. Maybe we're just to assume they share the same fate as men?

 

[Carol the Dabbler]

2 hours ago, Arcadia said:

I don't recall him ever addressing what happens to hobbits. Or what hobbits themselves think will happen. That's a bit odd, now that I think about it. Maybe we're just to assume they share the same fate as men?

Well, he does state that hobbits and our type of humans are "cousins," so to speak.  So it sounds reasonable that they would share our fate -- whatever that might be in Tolkien's universe.

 

[Arcadia]

Does he? Good, I thought I'd read that but wasn't sure. Could've been something Peter Jackson made up.  

[Caya]

Hoibbits are descendants of humans, iirc, so yeah makes sense that they Go Beyond too. No idea about dwarves, since they weren't Planned, and while we're at it no idea about Ents, orcs, trolls either (orcs especially are an interesting case since they were made from elves iirc). But since there is so much talk about how Elves Are Different in that they are Bound to Fate and whatnot, my guess would be that they alone go West when they die and everyone else leaves Arda and Goes Beyond. Well, except for Tuor.

[Carol the Dabbler]

Tuor? 

 

[Caya]

Elrond's grandpa from his father's side, who was human but married to an Elf, Idril, and who was accepted into the West together with her iirc. Bound to be one of the major characters in any Silmarillion screen adaption, like all of Elrond's family really.

[Carol the Dabbler]

1 hour ago, Caya said:

Elrond's grandpa from his father's side, who was human but married to an Elf, Idril, and who was accepted into the West together with her iirc.

Did he become immortal -- or did he just live out the rest of his natural life there, like Bilbo and Frodo?

[Caya]

Nah, he's the only mortal who ever became immortal - sorta the reverse of Luthien, who was immortal and then moved Beyond with Beren (told you Elrond's family got a lot of interesting folks - those two are great-grandparents on the maternal side).

[Arcadia]

Yeh, I was wondering about the Ents too. But then it occurs to me that maybe eventually they just became trees and that was sort of it.  

[Carol the Dabbler]

I believe that Treebeard said that was already happening to some of the Ents.  He seemed to consider that abnormal, but maybe he thought they were too young for that just yet.

But then what happens to trees when they die?  Do they simply become mulch?  (Though I can certainly think of worse fates )

 

[Arcadia]

Well, yeah, their bodies do, but so do ours, more or less. 😁 The tree spirits, however, become one with the wind and spend eternity dancing through the leafy tops of their descendents. Sometimes they tap dance and then we have storms.

[Van Buren Supernova]

Gah..what happened to this thread. I don't understand a single thing.

And good god, we have tree spirit and tap dance. :O

[Carol the Dabbler]

Don't worry, VBS -- Arcadia made up the part about tap dancing.

[Van Buren Supernova]

But to be honest, I might want to check up Tolkien if there are indeed tap dancing tree spirit....

Anyway, for those of you who find GoT books to be too troublesome, there are interesting novellas as well, short and easy to digest, and it could be enjoyed separately without waiting for GRRM to write again. It's also written around GoT time, a century before or the times when dragons are still abundant. (Spoiler alert: no tap dancing tree spirit though..sigh...)

The Tales of Dunk and Egg, The Princess and The Queen, The Hedge Knight come to mind and there are others.

[Arcadia]

Okay, maybe there's no dancing tree spirits in Tolkien. But there is Tom Bombadil, which is almost the same thing.

GRRM is a good writer, methinks. I should probably check those out. As soon as I finish the 153 other books on my list.....

[Carol the Dabbler]

6 minutes ago, Arcadia said:

Okay, maybe there's no dancing tree spirits in Tolkien. But there is Tom Bombadil, which is almost the same thing.

True.  Tom used to annoy me no end -- but now he's starting to grow on me (something like moss).

[Arcadia]

Yeah, it's easy to understand why he was left out of the movie. Poor VBS, she'll never be able to figure out what we're talking about.....  

Want to know how bored I am? I'm sitting here wondering why our little emotie friend there raises his hands. What is that supposed to signify? And why are his fingers still sticking out of his ears when his hands are in the air?

[Carol the Dabbler]

Those aren't his fingers, they're his arms.  That is, when he's waggling his fingers, he does seem to have his thumbs stuck in his ears (not that I'm at all certain he *has* ears), but then when he raises his hands, we're seeing his arms, which we couldn't see before because his hands were in the way.

Bored?  How could you be bored, with such fascinating conundra to contemplate?

[Arcadia]

13 hours ago, Carol the Dabbler said:

Those aren't his fingers, they're his arms.

Arms? Those squiggly things? What the heck is he, a bat?

[Van Buren Supernova]

[J.P.]

Have anyone seen S8Ep1?
A nonspoilery side note: I was reviewing S7 (and S6 is running on TV) and suddenly I realized how the Winter/Whitewalkers theme mirrors the Climate Change in our world. Especially the reactions to it being all from legends, stories, phantasy to lies meant to serve some evil purpose of those who are spreading the word.

"There always have been winters.
There is the Wall between the North and us and it lasted for centuries.
We can find a place to hide from it.
It cannot come that far south.
…etc, etc.

Funny that I never noticed it before, because once you see it, it literally jumps at you from every corner.

[Arcadia]

Er … I haven't even seen Season 1 ……...

[J.P.]

You could start now. You could be through all 7 seasons in time for the big finale.

[Arcadia]

That did occur to me. I could fast forward through all the rapes and deaths and gory bits, and wrap the whole thing up in an evening.  

[Van Buren Supernova]

On 4/19/2019 at 2:05 AM, J.P. said:

Have anyone seen S8Ep1?
A nonspoilery side note: I was reviewing S7 (and S6 is running on TV) and suddenly I realized how the Winter/Whitewalkers theme mirrors the Climate Change in our world. Especially the reactions to it being all from legends, stories, phantasy to lies meant to serve some evil purpose of those who are spreading the word.

"There always have been winters.
There is the Wall between the North and us and it lasted for centuries.
We can find a place to hide from it.
It cannot come that far south.
…etc, etc.

Funny that I never noticed it before, because once you see it, it literally jumps at you from every corner.

Errrr... I'm not sure if I get what you meant. About mirroring the real world, I see it a lot in hypocrisy of religion, xenophobia and the world is the playground for those in power where little people suffer.

On 4/20/2019 at 5:45 PM, Arcadia said:

That did occur to me. I could fast forward through all the rapes and deaths and gory bits, and wrap the whole thing up in an evening.  

Chicken!!

 

Anyway, episode two was great. I like it a lot, that is actually the essence of what I like about GoT, it's not a waste of time at all (like those who only like GoT for the actions are complaining about). It's the calm before the storm, and I think a proper goodbye for many characters that I'm sure will die in episode 3. Episode 3 is going to be heartbreaking, and those people will regret for not giving episode 2 more appreciation. It will be a nightmare, even when I no longer root for anyone, maybe I lie, maybe I still care for one of two of them; like Dolores Edd, Sam and Jamie, the Hound, Brianne, Tyrion and Tormund.

Best and nah plot of episode 2

Best:

- The Knighting. And yes it's canon in GoT world that any knight can knight (a verb?), it's explained in Dunk and Egg novella. Plus Tormund story, with Tyrion, Jamie and Brianne's reactions in the same scene.

- Tyrion and Jamie scene. I love all Lannisters except the kids.

- The last of the Nightwatchers. And Ghost! With all those dragons and battles, can't they spare budget for Ghost? It's outrageous we only see him now.

 

I don't care for Starks and Targaryen, but I'm glad that Jon told Daenerys the way it is. Thanks they don't drag it further.

And the most WTF,

This is my actual reaction for Arya and Gendry. Except mine is longer and with some gagging.