The SONG OF ICE AND FIRE Thread

[Kimarhi]

Book spoils. 

Spoiler

Of the book canon Ser Arthur Dayne and Barristan Selmy were amongst the baddest mofos alive. 


But the book has so many characters that were badasses that have not appeared yet or aren't going to appear.

You also can't discount Eddard Stark like that one guy is doing. His band of eight entered the tower of joy against three kingsguard holding Lyanna back in a time when the Kingsguard positions weren't political and actually involved skill and only he and Howland Reed survived.  He also fought with a bastard sword which takes time to master and survived every campaign against the Mad King.  I don't think Eddard sought glory and thus his battle skills are often looked down upon.  One of those opponents was Ser Arthur Dayne said to be by Barristan Selmy the best knight he'd ever seen and Selmy is pretty damned good.

But then there is also characters only mentioned in passing like the Smiling Knight who was the first big test for Jaime and who crossed swords with Ser Arthur Dayne where if Dayne hadn't had valerian steel then the results might have been different.   

There are also the surviving characters list which Dayne wouldn't be apart of.

And people who aren't even in the show would would make the list.  Like Garlan Tyrell (who trains by fighting multiple opponents) and Balon Swann.

Also Rhaeger was pretty beastly as well.  He went from a nerd who only read books, to reading something in his books about the need for warriors, and transformed himself into a pretty bad dude.  When Robert Baratheon met him on the trident it was champion vs champion as in his heyday Baratheon was a manimal.

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[Xenodog]

Spoiler

I just remember in the comment section on a YouTube video, this one,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN30YMzja6Y#ws

and people were saying that the Hound was in the top ten of most powerful fighters, but then in the show he got f**ked up by Brienne who didn't even make the list. The list was comprised of a bunch of book characters I didn't even know, so I just feel like he needs some more justification.

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Along with the stuff Kimarhi said, the Hound was also sick from an infection from a bite. Plus he was dominating the fight until he fell.
In the books Jaime, from his own POV, is said to be the greatest swordsman in Westeros, but Jaime is highly arrogant and his book / season 3 is all about his arrogant beliefs about himself being torn down. he's not the best at all, only says and thinks he is. GRRM said somewhere that in the show that he thinks Eddard probably would have won their S1 sword fight.

The Greatjon is also said to be very powerful. And if Robb or Jon chose their respective direwolves as weapon then your not going to win that fight. 

Also :

Spoiler

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[Vepariga]

  holy shit hahaha

[Kimarhi]

very minor book spoils

Spoiler

Jaime was pretty skilled swordsman.  Top ten percent of westeros to be certain. 

Probably second only to Ser Barristan in skills on the kingsguard.  Even if he considered Moore to be the second most dangerous because you could never tell what he was thinking. 

Didn't he kill a multitude of people in the battle of whispering woods in the book as well?

But there are other people mentioned to be skilled fighters in passing that you only hear about once or twice and never see fight.  One of Stannis men was considered for the Kingsguard as well but Cersai had him blacklisted and skipped over for someone else.

Edit: just read the synopsis of the battle and once Jaime thought the battle of whispering wood was lost he tried to fight his way to robb stark in single combat slaying three of Robb's personal guard.  So he wasn't mediocre.

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[Xenodog]

He slayed the Karstark sons and...someone else. Never said he was mediocre. Just no where near as good as he thought.

[Kimarhi]

He might have an overinflated sense of ego but he was still very skilled. 

Barristan mentions later that one of the guys he's training in Mereen is the best natural swordsman he's taught since Jaime Lannister.  That's a lot of time that has passed since Jaime was a squire to when Barristan is training these young kids in Mereen.

Of course at this point its moot since he's had his sword hand sliced off. 

[Shasvre]

Just watched the finale.

Spoiler

Brienne Vs. The Hound was a welcome addition.

Everything with Tyrion, Shae and Tywin was good. Perhaps Shae went a bit too quickly. Not as brutal as I imagined it to be. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to spending some time with Tyrion and Varys on the run together. I'm assuming Varys is going to take over Illyro's role.

Sorry, but the skeletons didn't work for me. It wasn't scary. It was Army of Darkness.

Stannis & Co arriving in style.

Melisandre and Jon meeting. A Song of Ice and Fire.

No Lady Stoneheart? Bullshit.

Spoiler

SHAZAM!

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[Xenodog]

Just watched the finale.

Spoiler

Brienne Vs. The Hound was a welcome addition.

Everything with Tyrion, Shae and Tywin was good. Perhaps Shae went a bit too quickly. Not as brutal as I imagined it to be. On the other hand, I'm looking forward to spending some time with Tyrion and Varys on the run together. I'm assuming Varys is going to take over Illyro's role.

Sorry, but the skeletons didn't work for me. It wasn't scary. It was Army of Darkness.

Stannis & Co arriving in style.

Melisandre and Jon meeting. A Song of Ice and Fire.

No Lady Stoneheart? Bullshit.

Spoiler

SHAZAM!

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You didn't mind Tysha being completely left out of everything?

[Shasvre]

No, not exactly.

I did enjoy seeing Cersei stand up to Tywin though.

[Tangakkai]

Btw book question:

Spoiler

Isn't Coldhands to show up before they meet the children

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?

Spoiler

If they were following the books verbatim, he should have showed up as far back as last season to rescue Sam and Gilly from Craster's and then been passed off to Bran at the Black Gate.

The way I see it is, there's two options. Either Coldhands' entire purpose in the books was for him to lead Bran to the Three Eyed-Crow and his story is done, in which case he's just been written out of the show. I personally believe, however, that the more likely option is that because his true identity/purpose has yet to be properly revealed in the books they're holding off until the right moment to bring him in the show so that he doesn't just have to stand there doing nothing for the next season or so.

This season, for example, would have been radically altered if he was there. The Night's Watch mutineers would never have been able to take Bran and company. Capturing Bran is clearly something that the showrunners wanted to do, and if they had no cplans to reveal Coldhands' identity this season why have him around just to mess with their intended story?

Maybe he'll show up if/when Bran and company leave the cave down the line.

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Thanks for the thorough answer... you could be right. I think though they might just ignore the book in this regards then... probably no purpose then.

[Xenodog]

No, not exactly.

I did enjoy seeing Cersei stand up to Tywin though.

I don't like the way the show runners seem to love portraying the Lannisters in a more sympathetic light (except Tywin). His scene with Cersei also made him look weak and delusional I.M.O.

[Kimarhi]

Jaime isn't shown in a more sympathetic light.  He's much worse than the book Jaime.

[Xenodog]

Jaime isn't shown in a more sympathetic light.  He's much worse than the book Jaime.

On that S4 scene, maybe. But Book Jaime is a repeated asshole to Brienne throughout everything. IIRC his final words to her were 'now get out of my sight.' You also get more of his arrogance in-book.

[Kimarhi]

or when he killed his cousin to escape in the show which didn't happen

[Tangakkai]

He is still the guy who threw off a young boy from a tower... he is still the guy who fornicates with his sister and poses bastard children as kings, he is still the guy who attacked Ned Stark on the streets.

Only because he has got a few sympathetic scenes like the one in the bath with Brienne or rooting for Tyrion dooring the trial doesn't make him less of an asshole...

Assholes are not alwaysy assholes, the have a heart as well. We might not agree with many of their actions, but that doesn't mean they have to be horrible throughout...

Joffrey is another calibre, he was a psychopath.