29 / 128
LIMITED EDITION BLU-RAY™ BOXSET
OWN IT FOREVER ON BLU-RAY
™
NOVEMBER 16
AT
10/18/16 3:29 PM
characters, even the
major players, are prone
to dying violently on
this show, often without
warning.
There is also a
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
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"
(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
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
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
29
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
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
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.