Game of Thrones: the best thing on telly at the moment!

[OracleInaCoracle]

I lurve it. am reading the book too, but trying to not peek ahead. I love Daenrys(sp) and Arya.

Oh yes that is him, Trillian (I should have been able to recognise Ian Glen) - Swiss Toni doesn't sound Swiss at all - let me see if I can find a clip on Youtube.

Here:

Stanis is Roberts brother. The rightful king. He was off somewhere and i don't think we saw him.

the younger brother, Renly appeared..having a gay affair with the knight......can't think of his name. Had the joust with "mountain" and won.

OK, thanks Trillian. I was afraid to go on the other thread just in case I read spoilers

Ser Loras Tyrell, the Knight of the Flowers.

He cheated though, he knew that the Mountain always chose bad-tempered stallions so he rode a mare that was on heat in order to distract the horse. (hence horse getting head chopped off by Mountain with 6ft long sword)

Yep. Ok with the 'mountain' but can't remember the name of his scarred brother apart from 'Mountain's Scarred Brother that is called Mountain's Scarred Brother.'

Yes I think we should say this is the NO SPOILER THREAD.

So - "yes we will see Lysa Arryn" is ok, you had no reason to think you wouldn't

If I were to say "we will see Ned again" that would be a spoiler because I would be suggesting that he isn't really dead or comes back from the dead or something. (he doesn't... or does he?)

"Gendry is Robert's bastard" is ok too I think because you are supposed to know that at this point

massive x post.

I did wonder how they could reveal Jon's parentage. The last thing Ned said to him as he rode off to the wall and Ned came south was that he would tell him about his mother next time he saw him. If Ned was the only one (other than the mother obviously) then who would be able to tell him. Unless Catelyn knows?

Jess Flynn as in Robson and Jerome. I was stunned when i first noticed. I had to stop and rewind just to be sure. Then when i read teh credits it was confirmed. shocked huh?

The Mountain is Ser Gregor Clegane.

His brother is The Hound, Sandor Clegane (not Ser). He's pretty damn big too, but not as big as the Mountain.

mounatins brother is "the hound" Sendor Cregane.

Ahh Trills - i knew he cheated but wasn't sure how. I either missed that entirely or it wasn't made clear

So that was the reason Mountain was annoyed with his horse. Seemed a bit harsh at the time. They are quite keen on chopping horses' heads off in a Godfathery kind of way.

I simply cannot wait for the books to arrive.
I want to know more about Shae, and how Tyrion will do as Kings hand, and and and and....well all of it really.

This is much more fun than work...

Any other people who need explaining?

I get a bit confused about the king's advisors - the eunuch and the old man who pretends to be more decrepit than he is. What are their names and back stories?

The eunuch is Varys, he is the"master of whisperers", he manages spies for the King (and for himself). We don't know a lot about his background.

The old man is Grand Maester Pycelle. Maester = a sort of doctor/scholar/learned person, they have a special university place where they go to study and they wear those chains and each link signifies a different type of knowledge.

There's also Littlefinger, who is master of coin, he manages the King's money (and does pretty well for himself running brothels).

Quite a lot actually, but I have to work

I'll leave you with: what is the big thing about the wall? It's keeping out nasty things, but why can't you do a tour of duty there and then leave it and get married and have babies, possibly with someone who's not your sister?

And Littlefinger and the eunuch - are they courtiers or do they have a claim to the throne? Does virtually everyone have a claim to the throne if they're brutal or scheming enough?

Oh, and Joffrey is another name I definitely have nailed. I am so looking forward to a painful and humiliating comeuppance but not looking for a spoiler.

x-posted.

The old man is Genial Harry Grout from Porridge but that doesn't help in this context.

I really must go now.

i love the little verbal spats between Littlefinger and Varys.

Where has the older knight ( was it Barristan?) gone? I felt he had a bigger part to play than he has so far.

No, I'm wrong. Genial Harry Grout is the blind man on the wall who's brother of the Mad King, isn't he?

Definitely going now

limited - no Harry Grout (Peter Vaughn) is Maester Aemon Targaryen. He is now blind and holding watch at the wall.

I think the rules about the brotherhood of the nightswatch is so that the men stay loyal to the wal and don't feel obligated, as Jon did, to go and fight for their families or flee the wall for other duties.

Don't hold your breath waiting to see Barristan the Bold again.

My theory is that Cersei knew he would place being honorable over doing as she said and so decided to get rid of him before that became a problem (as it surely would do).

Read the books!

Is it just me or are there more breasts in the series than I imagined!!

They did decide that the best way to do a piece of exposition was with some norks, didn't they?

I hate Cersei. From the books anyway, I can't imagine what it'll be like to witness her bitchery onscreen.

Interesting review on the women of Westeros

Thanks Trillian. Just what I needed to convince me that watching the telly can be an intellectually-rigorous pursuit.

Earlier, I realised I first saw Iain Glen in the '80s in a horribly pretentious British gangster show called The Fear and then felt guilty about the millions of hours of crappy telly I'd watched over the years when I could have devoted that time to something more lucrative noble.

Peace of mind restored