STACK #145 Nov 2016

quoting will finally make sense, too, like "Winter is coming" (in Westeros, seasons last decades and winter portends the coming of the sinister White Walkers) and "You know nothing Jon Snow"

characters, even the major players, are prone to dying violently on this show, often without warning. There is also a

offer a richer and more detailed experience, but showrunners

David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have done such a remarkable and faithful job in adapting them for television, the show can stand alone. If you want to do both, however, the best and most rewarding way is to watch the first two seasons and then start reading. Not only will you be amazed at how faithful the series is to the first two novels, A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings , you won't need to constantly flip to the appendices at the back to keep

plethora of despicable villains you will love to hate, most notably the callous boy king Joffrey Baratheon (Jack Gleeson), the sadistic Ramsey Bolton (Iwan Rheon), and queen bitch Cersei Lannister (Lena Heady). You'll be itching for them to get what they truly deserve, but in GoT it's usually the righteous that are punished – often at a wedding. Nuptials usually end in bloodshed and death, with the infamous 'Red Wedding' being a prime example. You'll also be spellbound by the triumph of imaginary world- building that is Westeros and its surrounds. Like Tolkien's Middle-earth, Westeros has its own distinct cultures, cities, religions, languages, diseases, and architecture, with location filming in Croatia, Iceland, Northern Ireland and Morocco bringing this vast world to vivid and exotic life. It's a massive realm with a huge population of leading and supporting characters, but don't be intimidated – after a season or two you'll become familiar with the geography and the players. Expect to spend a lot of time in places called Kings Landing, Winterfell, The Wall, and Meereen. A lot of those lines your GoT -addicted friends are constantly

(he actually knows a great deal, but his girlfriend Ygritte believes otherwise). There are two more things you need to know before you begin your journey into the

Many-Faced God only knows when we'll finally get books six and seven. But thanks to the miracle of DVD and Blu-ray, A Song of Ice and Fire can continue to be enjoyed, cherished and binge-watched while George slowly taps away at the keyboard. Season Six of Game of Thrones offers new thrills, players and unexpected twists for readers and fans of the series alike. It's arguably the best season to date, gaining momentum toward an endgame that will be both spectacular and bittersweet when it finally arrives. But if you're reading this, that's still a long way off and you're in the envious position of experiencing one of the all-time great television series and fantasy masterworks for the very first time.

Seven Kingdoms and beyond. One is that GoT seasons rarely end with cliffhangers – the penultimate episode of a season is usually where the all heavy stuff goes down. The other is to avoid the internet and social media during a new season, where plot spoilers abound. WHERE TO START

track of which House is which, or the map at the front to remind yourself where Dorn is – the series has already done the groundwork. Moreover, you'll better appreciate the creative licence taken by Benioff

and Weiss, who frequently trim the fat and use existing players rather than introduce new ones (as Martin does) to further the narrative. The majority, however, will dive straight into the series, which has now overtaken the books. Martin writes at a snail's pace, so the

Now that you're ready to play the game of thrones, you'll obviously start with season one. Or you can read the books first. Both complement each other, and there are story arcs and characters that are exclusive to each. Of course Martin's doorstop- sized volumes

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