Game of Thrones - Raines of Castamere...

[shadowkat]

Eh believe it or not, this scene was far gorier in the books. Sort of glad they didn't go there.

But in both cases it upset me, because of Arya mostly...and the fact that Robb and Catlynn had finally grown on me. It also deadened me to anything that could happen afterwards.

Weird that his wife was there and pregnant. She wasn't in the books. But I now know why - to explain why Robb is rendered defenseless and doesn't run.

Forgot the Blackfish was there...thought he wasn't. And they didn't do the scene with Edmund Tully in the bath with his new wife, who warns him when the song begins. Did it here - with Catelynn recognizing the song and seeing Lord Bolton's expression and the closing of the gates.

Oh well at least Theon wasn't on. But I missed the Lannisters quite a bit. Even though it's made clear by Lord Bolton that Tywin Lannister was behind it - when he says, "The Lannisters send their regards" - when he stabs Robb through the back.



ETA:..there be spoilage in the comments thread.

Comments

[shadowkat67.livejournal.com]

Agreed.

And Robb's death was also based upon historical events. GRRM a history buff - based the Red Wedding directly on two events The Black Dinner and Glencoe Massacre (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/05/game-of-thrones-red-wedding-black-dinner-real-events_n_3393099.html).

Also this was set-up very well. And occurred for multiple reasons. Unlike Tara's death which occurred to turn Willow evil, or just killing people off to be Shocking! - the Red Wedding was a political and war maneuver set up by three people Tywin Lannister, Roose Bolton and Walder Frey. Frey did it due to a slight. Tywin - because he grown tired of fighting Robb and realized this was a perfect way to get rid of Robb and his entire army - by setting both his alleged supporters against him (diabolical but clever move - lost Tywin nothing - no men, or resources). And Bolton - because out of this deal he gets Winterfell (a better property than Harrenhal - no one wants Harrenhal). In the book this made a bit more sense - since in the book, Robb wasn't headed to Casterly Rock, he was headed to Winterfell which the Bolton's were trying to acquire. Here - the fact he's headed towards Casterly Rock - gives Tywin even more reason to take him out, not that he needed any.

Say what you will about GRRM - he doesn't pander to his fans. It's actually why he's endeared me to him, as has Neil Gaiman. He seems more laid-back about the whole thing.

[flameraven.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have to say, the more I watch Whedon, the more I think he sometimes uses character deaths as a lazy, cheap way to move the plot along. Like, writing ongoing relationships with conflict is hard, so why do that when you can just kill someone off and have tragic drama instead? I do think there's something to mephistopheles' comment above, that Whedon thinks the world is random so people should die randomly... but he does also seem to do it in order to end relationships (so it's not really random). I sometimes think "no one is allowed to be happy" in Whedon's world because he doesn't know how to write happy characters.

As you said, GRRM seems to be a bit above the fan reaction; he clearly enjoys people's reactions, whatever they are, but I always get the sense that he simply writes what he had planned, without worrying about what fans think.