The post More activity on season 8 sets, and another thing appeared first on Winter is Coming.
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Tuesday, October 31, 2017
More activity on season 8 sets, and another thing
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Baltimore County “Hell House” Visit, 2000
Scott’s extremely scary visit to HELL HOUSE!
By Scott Huffines
(The Mobtown Shank, 10/31/2000)
On Sunday, Oct. 29th, 2000, I visited HELL HOUSE, “a spiritually-based adventure that takes people on a 7-scene journey, each scene depicting the hell and destruction
that Satan and this world can bestow on those who choose to not serve Jesus Christ.” HELL HOUSE has become so popular that the church in Denver that originated the concept has packaged the program and sold it to churches throughout the country. This year it made its debut in Baltimore. I stood in line for an hour at the Kingsway Christian Center with other devout Christians waiting to see the horrors unfold.
After our chilling wait we are introduced to our “Personal Demon,” bedecked in devil’s robe and white “ghoul” makeup with “666” painted on his forehead. He even has “devil” contact lenses — the same ones all those wacky goth kids are wearing these days. We are led to the first scene of Hell House: a funeral parlor, where a teenager has died of AIDS. We are seated in real church pews, with an organist and a minister preaching. It’s like “Scrooge” — they don’t notice us, and they don’t notice our “Personal Demon” making a mockery of the funeral. “Out of the closet and into the casket!” he taunts as the mourners cry and wail. We hear a 12-year old girl in the group mutter “My uncle was gay and he’s not going to hell!”
Next we are led to the ‘Abortion Scene.” A spread-eagled teenaged Christian portrays a “knocked-up” “’ho” covered in blood. A doctor with a forceps twiddles between her legs occasionally pulling up a piece of bloodied liver and tossing it into an oversized mixing bowl as she screams and cries out. At this point we realize we weren’t the only non-Christians in the group as we hear cries of “This is SICK”! Our “Personal Demon” tells us that “a few beers, a few joints, and now THIS!” as he laughs demonically. “That was the next Billy Graham” he exclaims, pointing to the mixing bowl of bloodied parts and leading us into the next room.
Hell House documentary. Although this did not take place in Baltimore the script is the same.
We are next led into a high-school cafeteria where a group of teens are studying their Bibles during their break. In storms a short, 12-year-old Trench Coat Mafia clad youngster who breaks into an utterly amazing rant about how he hates his parents, his life, God, and especially those annoying Bible-studiers at the next table. He pulls out a handgun and holds it to a girl telling her she must renounce the name of God or die. “I can’t!” she pleas. He pulls the trigger as flames shoot from the gun and we are all deafened by the noise. She falls over dead on the floor with a huge bloody gunshot wound to the head.. Luckily she wore her earplugs on the way to school that day.
Next we see the drunken-driving scene with a real wrecked car! Dad is sprawled on the hood, mom is dead in the passenger seat, and a bloodied baby doll is in the back. Our “Personal Demon” laughs about how many lives Satan takes due to booze cruises and suddenly Dad falls off the car and comes to life! “Our Baby!” he cries. “This Bud’s for you!” our personal demon retorts!
We next enter a dark room to the strains of Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.” A frustrated teen sits in his room staring at his black light “Korn” poster. He throws his homework in the air and suddenly a backwards-masking demon appears, putting suicidal thoughts in the teen’s head courtesy of Metallica’s music, obviously downloaded from Napster. The teen is overwhelmed by the demonic voices telling him to “Do it!” and suddenly in the darkness w e see a flash of light and a loud bang from a gun as the teen falls over dead.
We are next led through Hell, which is a long corridor with teens in ghoulish makeup screaming behind prison bars. “Please help me! No one told me it would be like this” they scream as they reach out towards us and try to grab us as we stumble through cobwebs and strobe lights..
We are then led to the lair of Satan himself, sitting high on a throne decorated with a goat’s head 20 feet in the air! He recounts all we have just seen, in a soliloquy even better than the Columbine kid’s. His throne is hydraulically lowered and he comes towards us and stands inside a fluorescent pentagram. I notice his red face paint and prosthetic Lucifer chin. He looks just like the Satan on Underwood Deviled Ham! He continues his rant, getting right in the faces of people. The 12-year-old girls continue to scream: “My uncle’s gay and you can’t say he’s going to hell!” Our “Personal Demon” and a Christian security guard hover over her and tell her to “Be Quiet!”, while Lucifer himself directs his teen pregnancy barbs at this group. “You thought it would be a party!” A mid-40’s lesbian couple yells out: “What’s wrong with you people? We want our money back! This is DISGUSTING!” Satan only pauses briefly, and then directs his outrage at them. Suddenly Jesus himself appears – a middle-aged white guy in a choirboy’s robe with sparkle make-up.
Jesus then leads us to “Heaven” which is a room draped in white sheets with a pulpit and some chairs. This is the scariest room of all, as we are asked to bow our heads and pray! The middle-aged lesbians scream “You are all a bunch of ASSHOLES! We want our money back! How the HELL do we get out of here!” The preacher says “We are not forcing you to stay, here is the exit.” The 12-year-old girls follow. I devoutly bow my head in prayer hoping to see more action, but alas, that is it for Hell House. They pray for 30 seconds, tell us they hope our life has been changed, and try to push tracts and church schedules on us. I leave the church laughing my ass off.
HELL HOUSE costs $5 and is located at Kingsway Christian Center, 7403 Gum Spring Road, near Golden Ring Mall in Baltimore County. Tonight, MONDAY OCT 30th, is the very last night. I SUGGEST YOU GO! Open 7-11 pm
—
Atomic Books, “Literary Finds for Mutated Minds”
1806 Maryland Ave, Baltimore, MD 21201 * 410.625.7955
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from Baltimore Or Less http://www.baltimoreorless.com/2017/10/baltimore-county-hell-house-visit-2000/
Monday, October 30, 2017
Sunday, October 29, 2017
Watchers on the Wall Awards Season 7: Best Dramatic Scene – Preliminary Round
We have a huge Watchers on the Wall Awards category for you all to mull over, this sleepy Sunday! Best Dramatic Scene celebrates the greatest Game of Thrones scenes of the year, the most pulse-pounding, heartrending, memorable moments that had us all glued to the screen. Our readers provided dozens of suggestions for Best Dramatic Scene this year, and now it’s in your hands to narrow our choices down to five! Which scenes left the biggest impression on you? Make your choices!
The standard rules: Select up to FIVE nominees from the poll. You can choose fewer if you like, but you cannot choose more than 5. (Visit the initial WotW Awards post for a complete explanation of the rules and process.)
At the end of 72 hours (Wednesday 11/01/17 at 5PM Eastern Time), whichever five scenes have the most votes will continue on to the finals. The results of the poll will be revealed when it’s time to choose the winner of Best Dramatic Scenes in a few weeks.
Thanks to Greatjon of Slumber for tallying up the initial nominee suggestions. Time to vote!
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Saturday, October 28, 2017
Emilia Clarke sends good luck wishes to ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ contestant as Daenerys Targaryen
Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen. Photo: HBO
When you’re competing on a nationally televised show, you’ll likely take all the well wishes you can get. But “Good luck!” texts and phone calls pale in comparison to a video direct from Westeros and the Mother of Dragons herself, Emilia Clarke.
Clarke appears to have made the video in her trailer on the Belfast set of Game of Thrones — where Season 8 filming commenced this week– for comedian Susan Calman, a contestant on the BBCs Strictly Come Dancing, a competition that pairs celebrities with professional dancers. Clarke, her newly-dyed blonde hair hidden under a hair wrap, recorded the message upon learning that Calman and her professional partner will perform a Thrones-themed routine this week — and that Calman will be in full Daenerys Targaryen costume.
“Susan, my sources tell me that you are playing the Mother of Dragons this week on Strictly Come Dancing,” Clarke intones, staying in character as Dany. “As the Mother of Dragons myself, I wanted to wish you luck because you are my favourite.”
Tonight I’m Daenerys Targaryen on @bbcstrictly. I just got a message from Daenerys Targaryen herself. Seriously. It’s actually her *swoons* pic.twitter.com/GOuohvSqt9
— Susan Calman (@SusanCalman) October 28, 2017
“My dragons and I will be watching, waiting patiently to see you win,” Clarke continues. “I believe in you Susan, you go get them!”
For her part, Calman was ecstatic with her special message, and posted the video on Twitter, captioning it: “Tonight I’m Daenerys Targaryen on @BBCStrictly. I just got a message from Daenerys Targaryen herself. Seriously. It’s actually her *swoons*.”
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Enter to Win a NYCC Exclusive Lyanna Mormont Funko Pop Figure!
One of the most anticipated additions to the world of Game of Thrones toys this year was Funko’s Pop! Vinyl rendition of fan favorite Lyanna Mormont, played by Bella Ramsey on the show. Unveiled in August as an exclusive for New York Comic Con, the Pop! Lyanna depicts the youthful and famously fierce head of House Mormont in her season 6 costume, when audiences first met the lady of Bear Island and her 62 men.
Not everyone was able to snag this exclusive so we’ve decided to offer one up for grabs! For the next week, we’re accepting entries in a worldwide giveaway. To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment here! (See below for more entry methods.)
The Official Rules
How do you enter? You can enter in 3 different ways, earning up to 3 total entries!
Method #1: Simply comment on this post!
Method #2: WotW Twitter: Follow our Twitter, WatchersOTWall, and retweet the Lyanna Mormont Funko Pop Giveaway tweet (you must do both for the extra entry). If you already follow us, no problem. Simply retweet the contest post.
Method #3: WotW Facebook: Like the WatchersontheWall Facebook page, and Like and Share the Lyanna Mormont Funko Pop Giveaway Contest post (you must do both for the extra entry). If you already Like our page, again, no problem. Just share the contest post and you are entered!
Entries are accepted for seven days, closing the giveaway for entries on Saturday, November 4th, 2017 at 12PM ET. The winner will be randomly selected and announced shortly thereafter on Saturday.
**The contest is worldwide** One (1) winner will be selected from among entrants by random drawing. The winner must respond within 72 hours of notification or will forfeit their prize and another winner will be selected. Winners may be responsible for local taxes/importing fees. The winner must have a valid shipping address.
Funko, Twitter and Facebook are their own entities and are in no way associated with this giveaway.
Good luck to all who enter, thank you for reading, and Happy Halloween!
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Friday, October 27, 2017
Kit Harington Reflects on ‘Thronesmania’ and Revisits the Unaired Pilot
In an interview with The Guardian, Kit Harington is wistful, in his reverence for the show that has largely been his career highlight for the past 8 years. He was a recent graduate of drama school when he signed on to what is now a worldwide phenomenon. Still, it took a wild to build: “Maybe the most special year was the first,” says Kit. “We weren’t being recognised in the street, we didn’t know what we were doing, we were having a great time.” Eight years and seven seasons have passed since he filmed that pilot, however. But as we’ve heard time and again, the original pilot wasn’t exactly considered a masterpiece…
“They [the pilot] made a lot of mistakes. It didn’t look right, didn’t feel right, had nothing different about it.”
Reportedly, in the pilot he was clean-shaven with a wig.
“They say [David and Dan], if I ever piss them off too much, they’ll release it on YouTube. Every now and then, they send me a screengrab, just as a threat.”
YouTube reaction videos were the talk of the town during Red Wedding and Mountain vs. Viper seasons (3 and 4) but can you imagine if Kit recorded himself watching the unaired pilot? It would be a sight to behold.
While this interview was conducted before the eighth season began filming, he reflects on how Jon will react once he finds out his lover is his aunt:
“I really hope that he just nods slowly and goes, ‘Damned right.’ Something really horribly inappropriate, and you find out Jon’s had a really sick mind the whole time. That’s the way I’d love to play it. I’ll try it for one take, anyway.”
Photo credit: Kit Harington by Norma Jean Ray for Esquire
He goes on to talk about the level of fan fervor and how it’s gotten to be quite a distraction when leaving the hotel for film shoots:
“Like, being in Spain and there being a crowd of 500, maybe 600 fans camped outside the hotel every day, and you have to get through them. It feels like being Bieber or something.”
While his new drama Gunpowder has just started airing on BBC1 in the UK, the question looms as to whether any future project Kit does will reach hype worthy of GoT level. For the full interview, and more from Kit on his new project, check out the full interview.
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Thursday, October 26, 2017
Details released for ‘Game of Thrones: The Touring Exhibition’ in Barcelona, and Ian Beattie reveals a surprising fact about Meryn Trant’s demise
A line of Unsullied costumes is only one of many features of ‘Game of Thrones: The Touring Exhibition,’ which makes its global debut on October 28 in Barcelona.
There’s little else that fans of Game of Thrones love more than getting to peek behind the curtain at the ins and outs of the world’s most popular show – and those lucky enough to visit “Game of Thrones: The Touring Exhibition” can experience the most up-close-and-personal view of Thrones that you can get without actually being a part of the show. As we reported in September, the exhibit will make its global debut in Barcelona on October 28, and today we learned more detail about what it will include – and got a few tidbits from former cast member Ian Beattie (Meryn Trant) at an inauguration event for the exhibit.
The 10,000-square-foot interactive exhibit contains costumes, authentic props and more and guides attendees through 10 settings against backdrops that recall the majestic scenery of Westeros:
Setting 1: Pre-show
Visitors begin their experience with a pre-show that includes a montage of dramatic scenes from the show, culminating with the reveal of the Winter Forest, the formal start of the exhibition.
Setting 2: Map Table
Maps and markers used by nobles to plot strategy and war remind visitors of the competing Houses and what has unfolded over the course of the story so far.
Setting 3: The Kingsroad
Highlights include costumes worn by Arya Stark and Sandor “The Hound” Clegane and Needle, Arya Stark’s sword.
Setting 4: King’s Landing
Featuring set decorations, props, and costumes from Joffrey Baratheon’s fateful wedding to Margaery Tyrell, this chamber features the wedding gown of Margaery, the wedding attire worn by Joffrey and his sword, Widow’s Wail, and the litter used to carry Joffrey throughout King’s Landing.
A replica of Jaime Lannister’s golden hand is featured in the King’s Landing room.
Setting 5: The Noble Houses of Westeros
Visitors can explore the noble houses of Westeros, with a multitude of props, costumes, and weapons used by House Bolton, House Baratheon, House Greyjoy, and House Martell. Highlights include costumes worn by Stannis Baratheon and the red priestess Melisandre, the silk costume worn by Ellaria Sand, the leather armor worn by Oberyn Martell, and Shireen Baratheon’s toy stag, carved for her by Davos Seaworth.
An up-close view of Melisandre’s necklace, on display in the Noble House of Westeros room.
Setting 6: The Targaryen Chamber
The giant skull of an ancient dragon guards the entrance into Essos, where the Mother of Dragons and her attendants and armies are showcased. This chamber includes costumes worn by Daenerys Targaryen and Missandei, armor worn by the Unsullied warriors, dragon eggs given as a wedding gift to Daenerys, and Khal Drogo’s arakh.
Costumes worn by Daenerys and Missandei, as well as Unsullied armor, are on view in the Targaryen room.
Setting 7: The House of Black and White
This setting is the Hall of Faces, lined with the preserved faces of the dead, ready to be worn by the Faceless Men. Visitors can see costumes worn by Arya Stark and Jaqen H’ghar, and features a unique photo opportunity that allows visitors to add their face to the others preserved in the Hall of Faces.
Setting 8: The Wall and Castle Black
Visitors can visit the ancient stronghold of the Night’s Watch, Castle Black, where they can explore costumes worn by Jon Snow and Alliser Thorne, Jon’s sword Longclaw, and an interactive photo feature that captures them scaling the Wall.
Visitors can see costumes from Jon Snow and Alliser Thorne in the Castle Black room.
Setting 9: Beyond the Wall
In the frozen lands beyond the Wall, visitors can view costumes worn by Bran Stark and the costume and harness worn by Hodor, the costume worn by the Night King, wildling daggers, White Walkers’ swords and spears, and dragonglass daggers.
Setting 10: The Throne Room
The final setting of the tour features the structured leather dress worn by Cersei Lannister when she took the throne, the costume armor worn by Joffrey Baratheon during the Battle of the Blackwater, and — most exciting of all — an exact replica of the Iron Throne.
The exhibit runs from October 28 to January 7, 2018.
While the exhibit officially opens to the public on Saturday, an inauguration event was held on October 25, which was attended by Ian Beattie, who played the ill-fated Kingsguard Ser Meryn Trant, and Tom Wlaschiha, also known as the mysterious Jaquen H’ghar. Los Siete Reinos interviewed the two, and while the Wlaschiha story won’t be available until tomorrow, the website released several quotes from Beattie about his time on the show.
“There is an interesting dichotomy,” Beattie said. “The knights of the Kingsguard are supposed to represent courage, chivalry, and many other values; Meryn has none of them. It’s a reflection of how bad King’s Landing is doing, how bad the system’s doing. It’s a great detail the ‘Game of Thrones’ creators are very much aware of.”
Beattie also touched on Trant’s death at Arya’s hands in season five, saying that “one of the points of that scene isn’t just ending this pathetic guy, but that while we’re cheering for his death we begin to worry about Arya’s future. It’s one of those twists; yeah, he deserves it, but then you it makes you think.”
In the interview, Beattie also revealed a surprising bit of information about Trant’s demise.
“I was on set in season two and D&D told me they had plans for my death in the future. I thought I was going to die that very season, but Benioff and Weiss told me: ‘You’re going to die later. Arya’s going to kill you.’ I told nobody for three years,” he said.
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Watchers on the Wall Awards Season 7: Best Supporting Actor – Preliminary Round
Watchers on the Wall Awards preliminary round voting continues this week with another great category- Best Supporting Actor! But before we start celebrating our favorite supporting men of season 7, let’s get another category sorted: Best Leading Actor. For Leading Actor, we’ll be skipping the preliminary voting, because there are just four candidates, based on our readers’ nominations, the characters’ season 7 storylines and their screentime. They’ll be going straight to the final round (taking place in a few weeks). The nominees for Best Leading Actor are: John Bradley, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, and Kit Harington. Congrats, fellas!
Now, onto the voting for Best Supporting Actor:
The standard rules: Select up to FIVE nominees from the poll. You can choose fewer if you like, but you cannot choose more than 5. (Visit the initial WotW Awards post for a complete explanation of the rules and process.)
At the end of 72 hours (Sunday 10/29/17 at 1PM Eastern Time), whichever five actors have the most votes will continue on to the finals. The results of the poll will be revealed when it’s time to choose the winner of Best Supporting Actor in a few weeks.
Thanks to Greatjon of Slumber for tallying up the initial nominee suggestions. Time to vote!
The post Watchers on the Wall Awards Season 7: Best Supporting Actor – Preliminary Round appeared first on Watchers on the Wall.
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Game of Thrones Season 8 deploys huge siege engines for a likely battle sequence
We have only seen trebuchets once before; mounted on the slavers’ ships in the siege of Meereen
Whatever it is the Game of Thrones production is building next to their studios, it’s big. You don’t build an entire castle set for a quick appearance — the only times sets of this magnitude have been built, they were either permanent locations, such as Winterfell and Castle Black, or structures specifically designed for a battle sequence, such as the battlements of King’s Landing built in Magheramorne for the Battle of Blackwater Bay.
Considering the next season will also be the last, permanence is not a likely quality for any set, so it must be the alternative: the kind of 360º cohesive set designed for a dynamic action setpiece. And if there was any doubt, now a new siege engine has appeared nearby. They are preparing for a battle. Or a siege, at the very least!
Filming for Season 8 looks to be almost underway. #GameofThrones pic.twitter.com/DANw5t6WHQ
— Paulo Ross (@paulorossradio) October 25, 2017
Watchers on the Wall commenter Apollo brought these new photos to our attention, taken by Northern Irish reporter Paulo Ross, which not only show the trebuchet but also offer a much better sense of the distribution of the new castle set. Here’s a closer look:
Judging by the shipping containers around it, the trebuchet appears to be about 25 foot high!
There is an opening between the walls with a rise at their end; perhaps for a gigantic entrance
Though the trebuchet is near the new castle set, it’s currently not in the exact same location, so there is no way to know if they will belong to the same sequence. However, there is little doubt the trebuchet will be moved somewhere, as shipping containers weren’t really a thing in the Middle Ages, so it’s likely that the siege engine will end up as one of the many props in the larger castle set, which is on the other side of the road.
With each new photo we form a better picture of what this new set is supposed to be: initial reports suggested that the sequences set here would involve a controlled fire; two massive defensive walls seem to headline this elaborate set; and now a siege engine has materialized nearby. It very much looks like a castle is going to be sieged in season eight, and the sequence will be big enough to warrant building all of it!
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Wednesday, October 25, 2017
Massive New Castle-Sized Set Built on Belfast for Game of Thrones Season 8!
A new set is being built on Belfast — But which castle will it depict?
Just as the Winterfell set underwent a major expansion to include the stronghold’s walls and towers, a mysterious new set appeared next to the Game of Thrones production’s Paint Hall Studios. It was intriguing enough, as it didn’t have any distinguishing features yet that could give us a clear clue as to what the structure would eventually depict, but it didn’t look like a major set for season eight. We were wrong. So, so wrong!
Yet again it was Los Siete Reinos who got a hold of new photos of this set:
Previously, this new construction only included some sort of defensive wall with a staircase leading to the top and a windowed wall with a gate. We didn’t know how these pieces would connect, or even if they would, but now it’s become clear they not only do connect but they are, in fact, but a small part of a much larger complex, which as far as I can tell is only rivalled in size by the Winterfell set in Moneyglass. Take a closer look:
The work isn’t nearly over, and yet the new set has already tripled in size, at least. As it hasn’t been dressed yet, it’s difficult to guess which castle or stronghold it’s supposed to be but, whatever it is, it’s important enough for season eight that the production saw a need to build a whole, cohesive set, a privilege only Winterfell has earned before.
At this point, for the last season, I can only imagine one reason to build such a massive structure: there’s going to be significant action going on here. In fact, the need for a totally new interconnected set may imply a battle sequence. But where in Westeros? Are we going to see more of the actual Red Keep besides gardens, a courtyard and the throne room, at last? The abundance of windows doesn’t suggest a Northern castle, but could it be White Harbor? Or another stronghold taking on unprecedented importance?
Your guess is as good as mine. And please, do share your guesses in the comments!
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The Ghosts of Westeros
Dragons, the walking undead, Frankenstein’s- err, Qyburn’s monster, actual giants, mind-controlling tree wizards, bloodthirsty trees with faces, face-changing assassins: Westeros has seemingly every horror trope you’d want. The smallfolk can be the terrified teenagers running from these fantasy butchers. But there’s at least one horror villain the average people don’t have to deal with: ghosts, those spooky, disembodied souls wandering the earth giving people the willies.
Well, I’m sorry to say there is no escape from ghosts even in George R.R. Martin’s world. However, they are probably not what you would imagine.
There may very well be disembodied spirits running around Westeros. There is this spooky line of thought from the disgraced Maester Qyburn:
“Do you believe in ghosts, Maester?” [Jaime] asked Qyburn.
The man’s face grew strange. “Once, at the Citadel, I came into an empty room and saw an empty chair. Yet I knew a woman had been there, only a moment before. The cushion was dented where she’d sat, the cloth was still warm, and her scent lingered in the air. If we leave our smells behind us when we leave a room, surely something of our souls must remain when we leave this life?” – A Storm of Swords, Jaime VI
Bran, his young mind running wild with Old Nan’s stories, imagines all sorts of spooky scary ghosts around him. This is especially prevalent while in the dark and foreboding Nightfort.
“There are ghosts here,” Bran said. Hodor had heard all the stories before, but Jojen might not have. “Old ghosts, from before the Old King, even before Aegon the Dragon, seventy-nine deserters who went south to be outlaws. One was Lord Ryswell’s youngest son, so when they reached the barrowlands they sought shelter at his castle, but Lord Ryswell took them captive and returned them to the Nightfort. The Lord Commander had holes hewn in the top of the Wall and he put the deserters in them and sealed them up alive in the ice. They have spears and horns and they all face north. The seventy-nine sentinels, they’re called. They left their posts in life, so in death their watch goes on forever. Years later, when Lord Ryswell was old and dying, he had himself carried to the Nightfort so he could take the black and stand beside his son. He’d sent him back to the Wall for honor’s sake, but he loved him still, so he came to share his watch.” – A Storm of Swords, Bran IV
These are all just stories though, right? We’ve never actually seen a ghost on the pages of the books or on the screen in Game of Thrones. However, we have seen the dead rise, the mysterious magics of skinchanging or warging, and the power of greensight. In these cases, the soul is a real, physical thing with an existence separate from the body. With the undead, the soul of a person is (probably) shoved back into a corpse. With wargs, their soul leaves their own body to inhabit another being.
This is explained nicely by Mance to Jon with the warg Orell. (Note: wargs means a skinchanger that specializes in wolves; the show changed the definition for simplicity. In the show, the terms skinchanger and warg are the same.)
From the book example of a wildling character known as Varamyr Sixskins, a warg can leave their own body as a disembodied consciousness for some time.
The white world turned and fell away. For a moment it was as if he were inside the weirwood, gazing out through carved red eyes as a dying man twitched feebly on the ground and a madwoman danced blind and bloody underneath the moon, weeping red tears and ripping at her clothes. Then both were gone and he was rising, melting, his spirit borne on some cold wind. He was in the snow and in the clouds, he was a sparrow, a squirrel, an oak. A horned owl flew silently between his trees, hunting a hare; Varamyr was inside the owl, inside the hare, inside the trees. Deep below the frozen ground, earthworms burrowed blindly in the dark, and he was them as well. I am the wood, and everything that’s in it, he thought, exulting. A hundred ravens took to the air, cawing as they felt him pass. A great elk trumpeted, unsettling the children clinging to his back. A sleeping direwolf raised his head to snarl at empty air. Before their hearts could beat again he had passed on, searching for his own, for One Eye, Sly, and Stalker, for his pack. His wolves would save him, he told himself.
– A Dance with Dragons, Prologue
From this example, there could be literal “ghosts” as we know them. Varamyr’s body was dead and yet he persisted as something else, being borne on by the wind and flying through the earth. However, this would be a very brief ghost.
That was his last thought as a man.
True death came suddenly; he felt a shock of cold, as if he had been plunged into the icy waters of a frozen lake. Then he found himself rushing over moonlit snows with his packmates close behind him. Half the world was dark. One Eye, he knew. He bayed, and Sly and Stalker gave echo. – ADWD, Prologue
If you found a warg before they entered their second life (after death they live on permanently sharing the body with an animal), it would be ghost-like. A being separated from its body that somehow can still see and hear without its sensory organs. Yet extremely short lived, as from Varamyr’s example he had a short time before his soul began eroding into the true death. In a panic he warged permanently into one of his wolves for his second life- like a candle glowing brighter right before it goes out.
There’s another source for the ghost stories that are told to the children of Westeros, and that is the power of greensight. The show more or less depicts that power accurately. A greenseer is a type of warg that can see far beyond mere animals.
Jojen Reed explains the basics: a greenseer like Bran can throw his consciousness far and wide. Through the eyes of the weirwoods, places he’s never been, even backwards in time. However, when a greenseer goes somewhere, they can sometimes be heard or seen. A whisper on the wind, a movement in the corner of the room, a pair of eyes you can feel but can’t see.
And Bran has been noticed three times.
The first is when he sees his father Ned Stark at the Tower of Joy.
Contrary to the protests of the Three-Eyed Raven, Ned did hear Bran. He turned, confused, and looked for the shout he heard behind him.
Another time: when Bran accidentally brain-damages the boy Wylis into becoming the man we know as Hodor.
As with Ned Stark, Wylis is aware Bran is there. He sees the boy suddenly appear in the middle of the Winterfell training yard. Imagine these encounters from the perspective of Ned and Wylis. Ned hears something behind him, a person speaking, but cannot see anyone. Wylis sees an unknown teenage boy materialize from nowhere: exactly the same sort of experiences people who see ghosts claim.
The third time is when the Night King sees and actually touches Bran, leaving a mark on the boy’s skin.
As the viewer and reader, we know there’s an explanation for what they heard or saw. The characters themselves do not. One person sees a greenseer and makes their grandkids eyes roll as they spin their yarn about that ghost they saw once. It’s like in real life when cityfolk move into the country and freak out hearing the wild animals around them. All it takes is one person who misunderstands what they heard or saw, to have that story passed on and you have “ghosts” in place of the reality. The same could be happening throughout the history of this world, as there may be nearly no limit on how far back a greenseer can see through the weirwoods and beyond the trees.
As of yet, book Bran hasn’t demonstrated that he can see beyond the trees like show Bran. However, in this line from Bloodraven it is heavily foreshadowed that book Bran will have similar if not identical abilities to his show counterpart.
A weirwood will live forever if left undisturbed. To them seasons pass in the flutter of a moth’s wing, and past, present, and future are one. Nor will your sight be limited to your godswood. The singers carved eyes into their heart trees to awaken them, and those are the first eyes a new greenseer learns to use … but in time you will see well beyond the trees themselves.” – ADWD, Bran III
The scene with Ned happens in the books as well, although in a different location.
“Winterfell,” Bran whispered.
His father looked up. “Who’s there?” he asked, turning …
… and Bran, frightened, pulled away. His father and the black pool and the godswood faded and were gone and he was back in the cavern, the pale thick roots of his weirwood throne cradling his limbs as a mother does a child. A torch flared to life before him. – ADWD, Bran II
This demonstrates it’s not an invention of the show, rather a key possibility of greensight that exists in both mediums. So far in the show, we know Bran visited the Tower of Joy, the marriage of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, Winterfell when Wylis became Hodor, and the King’s Landing throne room when Littlefinger said “Chaos is a ladder”, among others. In the books, he sees deep into the past, hundreds, maybe thousands of years.
After that the glimpses came faster and faster, till Bran was feeling lost and dizzy. He saw no more of his father, nor the girl who looked like Arya, but a woman heavy with child emerged naked and dripping from the black pool, knelt before the tree, and begged the old gods for a son who would avenge her. Then there came a brown-haired girl slender as a spear who stood on the tips of her toes to kiss the lips of a young knight as tall as Hodor. A dark-eyed youth, pale and fierce, sliced three branches off the weirwood and shaped them into arrows. The tree itself was shrinking, growing smaller with each vision, whilst the lesser trees dwindled into saplings and vanished, only to be replaced by other trees that would dwindle and vanish in their turn. And now the lords Bran glimpsed were tall and hard, stern men in fur and chain mail. Some wore faces he remembered from the statues in the crypts, but they were gone before he could put a name to them.
Then, as he watched, a bearded man forced a captive down onto his knees before the heart tree. A white-haired woman stepped toward them through a drift of dark red leaves, a bronze sickle in her hand.
“No,” said Bran, “no, don’t,” but they could not hear him, no more than his father had. The woman grabbed the captive by the hair, hooked the sickle round his throat, and slashed. And through the mist of centuries the broken boy could only watch as the man’s feet drummed against the earth … but as his life flowed out of him in a red tide, Brandon Stark could taste the blood. – ADWD, Bran III
The greenseers are always watching, a step behind anyone and everyone they want. Sometimes they can seen or heard. Theon Greyjoy in the books becomes convinced he’s being haunted by Bran’s ghost.
A leaf drifted down from above, brushed his brow, and landed in the pool. It floated on the water, red, five-fingered, like a bloody hand. “… Bran,” the tree murmured.
They know. The gods know. They saw what I did. And for one strange moment it seemed as if it were Bran’s face carved into the pale trunk of the weirwood, staring down at him with eyes red and wise and sad. Bran’s ghost, he thought, but that was madness. Why should Bran want to haunt him? – ADWD, A Ghost in Winterfell.
Bran is actually watching Theon live through the weirwood using greensight. Imagine the terror of realizing it’s true! There’s no privacy in Westeros, no secrets, no such thing as being alone. Anywhere, at any time, a greenseer like Bran, Jojen, the Three-Eyed Raven, humans that came before them, the Children of the Forest themselves- any may be watching. As Theon says:
There are ghosts in Winterfell. And I am one of them.
– ADWD, The Turncloak
They are always there, and they are always watching. It’s likely that every major character in the story has been tailed at some time by one of these formless phantasms. Imagine Bran sitting in the black cells with his father Ned keeping him company. The invisible eyes watching as Jon dies in the snow of Castle Black. Jojen watching his father Howland Reed kill Arthur Dayne only for Ned to receive the praise. The Three-Eyed Raven seeing his lost love and reliving his own errors in ruling Westeros over and over and over again. Bran watching his sister being married off to a monster in human skin and every cruelty Ramsay inflicted on her. In King’s Landing, they watch the silent throne room of the Mad King Aerys as he burns Rickard Stark alive and Brandon Stark strangles himself trying to reach a sword to save his father. Every dark, private, horrifying moments of peoples’ lives of it going back and back and back.
This is the other major point, a greenseer can visit another time and place but they sometimes cannot see each other. Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven seemingly can interact because they are traveling the sands of time together. Bran visits the Tower of Joy at least twice, and the second time does not hear his own voice or see himself and the Three-Eyed Raven standing there. There could be hundreds of future Brans standing there, thousands even, as many times as he visits this time and place. Beside them an army of Three-Eyed Ravens watching in somber silence. Hordes of Greenseers from throughout history all watching this pivotal moment.
There are ghosts in Westeros; they are everywhere and more real than nearly any character in-universe knows. Every creak in the floor, whisper on the wind, the something just out of sight- it’s not the dead people fear but those deep in the haunted forests of their nightmares. The greenseers watch lives play out before them like a fantasy Truman Show. Personally, I’d find that far more terrifying a reality than any spooky ghost making a ruckus in the basement. A studio audience to every moment of your life. Happy Halloween!
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Tuesday, October 24, 2017
Joe Dempsie, Hannah Murray and More Spotted in Belfast Ahead of Season 8 Filming
With the onset of season 8 filming, the cast of Game of Thrones is once again filling up Belfast, Northern Ireland, home to the show during most of filming every year. Shooting began yesterday, with Kit Harington, Nathalie Emmanuel and more spotted back in town. The real fun started two weeks ago though, with the season 8 read-through! The whole cast headed to Belfast to read the new scripts, and to rehearse for the week before filming resumed. Just released today are new images from last week of some actors in the city- before filming started, but still exciting nonetheless as it provides confirmation of more returning cast members!
PAP4U shared the new photos on Twitter this morning, showing Joe Dempsie, Hannah Murray, Jacob Anderson and Liam Cunningham on a Belfast street.
#Irishthrones #Watchersonthewall #GameofThrones Members of the GOT cast in Belfast for the read through. pic.twitter.com/BFQjMlYjLo
— pap4u (@PAP4U) October 24, 2017
A closer look:
Liam and Jacob were spotted before, but it’s great to have Dempsie and Murray officially back in action (not that we really expected otherwise). Season seven was a good one for Gilly and for Gendry; here’s hoping they all wind up at Winterfell in season 8!
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Monday, October 23, 2017
Game of Thrones 2017 Halloween Guide!
With Halloween just around the corner (Winter is Coming after all) your friendly neighbourhood Watchers have a handy guide to all things spooky and Game of Thrones related!
If you fancy making an impressive statement as everyone’s favourite giant, the Official HBO Shop has just added a brand new item in time for Halloween. This fantastic Wun Wun replica mask is based on hundreds of on and off-screen images and was personally approved by the producers at HBO. Order by the 25th of October to receive your mask in time for the festivities. ($59.99)
If you’re stuck for time and need a ready-made costume there are some brilliant unlicensed versions to choose from (ah, Renaissance Prince and Dark Northern King, my two favourite characters) at HalloweenCostumes.com.
Going the DIY route can be fun and inexpensive. If dressing as one of the Night’s Watch sounds like your style, you can go for true authenticity with a fabulous Ikea sheepskin rug, available here. Ikea have even provided handy instructions on how to assemble the rug into a Vinter Skuldervarmer so you can brood as warmly as Jon Snow!
Those of you who enjoy messing around with face paint and liquid latex are in luck as there are some amazing YouTube make-up tutorials out there. From earlier this year, here’s one of my favourites, a five-minute video with a Night King transformation! There’s an unedited version in the video description if anyone fancies giving it a go themselves!
No Halloween party is complete without some spooky tasty treats! These Ned Stark cake pops are just the thing, and who hasn’t dreamed of one day consuming Sean Bean’s decapitated head on a spike (or is that just me?).
Alternatively, you could vent your Season 7 feelings by consuming a House Sigil in delicious cookie form, make up for a lack of Ghost appearances this year by baking yourself a tasty direwolf cake or simply let the Night King melt into your cocktail, with these fabulous Night King Ice Cubes from the HBO Official Shop.
If you’re more a treat-yo-self kind of celebrator this year, CultureFly’s new Game of Thrones subscription box is the way to go. The boxes come packed with GoT collectibles, apparel and special merch for fans looking for something unique this year. ($49.99 per box, quarterly/$44.99 per box, annual)
Finally, if you’re in need of some costume inspiration, check out our previous year’s costume and pumpkin compilations here, here and here! Happy Hallowe’en!
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Sunday, October 22, 2017
Glass Candle Dialogue: Lady Olenna, Queen Margaery, and Ser Loras Tyrell (and Mace)
This week in the Glass Candle Dialogue, Luka and I eulogize the Tyrell family. We discuss the Machiavellian machinations on which House Tyrell was founded, chat about LGBT representation, and try to find some catharsis in the tragic end this family faced.
Petra: For me, and I think for a lot of people, House Tyrell was the family I wanted to be a member of the most. The Starks were probably the most realistic family unit but the Tyrells were the most appealing. So it was really unfortunate that they got blown up.
Luka: They seemed to get along with each other better than a lot of the Westerosi families but I wouldn’t say their dynamics were completely healthy. Olenna was very manipulative and controlling. It’s understandable, of course. As a woman, “soft power” was the only kind of authority she could really wield but that doesn’t change the fact that she practiced the same kind of political machinations on her family as Tywin did.
Petra: They were a very ambitious family, to be sure. Their sole motivation the entire time seemed to be just to rise as far as they could. They never had any particular goal to achieve with their newfound power or internal conflict to put to rest, right?
Luka: Yeah. Determination to climb the social ladder seems to have been an inherited ambition. The Tyrells started out as the stewards of the Gardeners and, when Aegon the Conqueror showed up, they took advantage of the situation and ended up on top. Three centuries later, the family was still doing more or less the same thing.
Petra: Maybe it’s fitting that their sigil is a plant. A vertical rise has been their sole motivation for their entire history. “We Grow Strong: It’s All We Know How To Do.”
Petra: Olenna is kind of like the sassy grandma we wish we had.
Luka: Except for the murder and the assassinations.
Petra: Hey, as long as it worked to my benefit and I didn’t get framed I wouldn’t necessarily refuse her help. Anyway, as much as she fits the archetype of the loving, sharp-tongued grandma, your comment does make me wonder how different her demeanor towards Margaery would have been if she hadn’t shared that ambition.
Luka: Don’t get me wrong, I very much enjoyed her character. They seemed more modern, for good and ill. The Tyrells generally displayed a more Renaissance-era mindset than the other Westerosi families, particularly in the sense that they excelled in discreet political machinations and poisonings rather than outright military action.
Petra: Well, the first book and the TV show are both titled “Game of Thrones,” in reference to Cersei’s phrase for high-stakes political intrigue held at court. The Tyrells were far from unique in that sense, though they were better at it than, say, the Starks. But I agree that they’re Renaissance-era in terms of aesthetic appreciation. They prized beauty, fashion and architecture on a level beyond the other Westerosi families. They were also far more socially progressive and inclusive than most others.
Luka: Along with the Martells.
Petra: Oh, true, we talked about that just last week! Okay, so the Tyrells and the Martells were the most progressive, particularly in terms of sexuality. It’s implied in The World of Ice and Fire that Aegon the Unlikely’s son, Daeron, was gay. He never married, “preferring the companionship of Ser Jeremy Norridge, a young knight whom he had befriended when they were squires at Highgarden.” I think it’s funny that the shorthand for LGBT in ASOIAF could be Highgarden. Like “friends of Dorothy” is “friends from Highgarden” in Westeros. But I do appreciate how inclusive the Tyrells were. I love that scene between Margaery and Renly where Margaery takes him totally off guard with her honesty. “Hey, I’m your queen and you need to put a baby in me. We can get my brother involved if that’ll help you. Whatever you need. I’m flexible.”
Luka: And Renly was so repressed he was absolutely shocked that she was talking about it so freely. His brain short-circuited. It’s worth noting, though, that we’re talking about the sexuality of these characters in very modern terms. We have classifications and vocabulary for sexual orientations that people in our world didn’t have until very recently. I’m wondering whether Westerosi society has our modern classifications for sexual orientation, even if their values prohibit anything non-heteronormative, or if their view of sexuality is more nebulous as it was for the bulk of human history.
Petra: Good question! Yara and Oberyn’s openness suggests that Westeros has a better handle on same-sex attraction than historical medieval Western Europe did, but then the characters never discuss sexual orientation explicitly. It all seems to fall under Jaime’s observation to Brienne: “We don’t choose who we love.” That said, I think there’s a significant difference in the way sexuality is presented in the books and the show. To me, Game of Thrones takes a more progressive stance than ASOIAF. I get the criticisms against Loras’ characterization in the show, in that he’s “the gay character,” but in ASOIAF, with the exception of women having their servants go down on them, we don’t have any overt same-sex relations. The nature of Loras’ bond with Renly is left in between the lines. When Renly dies Loras says, “When the sun has set, no candle can replace it.” At least, in the show it’s clear that they were in a relationship.
Luka: Martin veers too far into the logic of “In Westeros, which is inspired by medieval Western Europe, they would keep it secret.” Yes, of course they would, but … come on, that’s no excuse not to feature a non-hetero POV when you have so many characters, or at least someone who is close to one and thinks about it explicitly. (Well, except for Jon Connington, but again that’s implied and we never get the kind of detail about his orientation and experiences we would get if he was a heterosexual man.) In the show we actually got to see Renly and Loras together. We saw the dynamics of their relationship.
Petra: I think the show has been doing a pretty good job at addressing “modern” (the quotation marks can’t be stressed enough) issues in a “medieval” context insofar as characters love who they love despite heternormative cultural values and it isn’t really framed as an issue until the High Sparrow takes power. Loras never seemed to have any internal conflict about his love for Renly prior to his incarceration. Poor, poor Loras.
Luka: I never really got the love for Loras, to be honest. I know you like him. I don’t dislike him; I just don’t find him interesting. He’s more compelling in the books, certainly, just because there’s more of him. Or there’s more to him, at least.
Petra: He’s certainly more of a character in the books. He’s an arrogant young man that Jaime sees as a younger version of himself, which is really cool and I’m sad that they didn’t incorporate that into the show. I do agree that in the show he was treated as a “gay character” whereas in the books he was a character who happened to be gay.
Luka: The show emphasized his sexuality above all else, that is true, but to say that in the books he’s “a character who happens to be gay” is a bit of a stretch. He’s a character who, if you really read into it, is involved with a man, but his sexual orientation or his romantic relationships aren’t parts of his character that’re ever explored.
Petra: That’s true. I wouldn’t qualify Loras in the books as LGBT representation since it’s all hidden in subtext. Basically, the themes explored through Loras are fundamentally different in the books and the show. ASOIAF explores arrogance, entitlement and Jaime’s development through Loras whereas Game of Thrones addresses sexuality and homophobia through him. There’s not much crossover.
Luka: I think Finn Jones did a good job with what he was given. He was a secondary or tertiary character, so of course he wasn’t really afforded an arc, in either the books or the show. We sort of saw the beginning of an arc when he was in prison in season six but all that potential was cut short by, you know … Kaboom!
Petra: I think my affinity for Loras is comprised solely of pity. It’s kind of like talking about Rickon. How do I feel about him? I feel sad. Just sad.
Luka: Finn Jones even looks like a sad puppy sometimes. In the books, I get the love insofar as media is starved of LGBT characters and so fans have a tendency to mine for representation in the fictional works that they love. That line you quoted, “When the sun has set, no candle can replace it,” seems like everyone’s go-to line when criticizing Loras’ characterization on the show in favor of ASOIAF’s version.
Petra: I only remember that line because it’s been quoted in so many articles.
Luka: Yeah, me too.
Petra: I don’t consider Loras a standout example of LGBT representation in either the books or the show. What really gets me about Loras on Game of Thrones is the sheer tragedy of his story. Finn Jones said in interviews that if he could have played any other character it would have been Theon. In the end, Loras did parallel part of Theon’s arc insofar as he snapped in a dungeon but whereas Theon’s had the chance to rebuild himself, Loras died at his lowest point. I just find that so unbelievably sad.
Luka: And right after denouncing his identity, his lover and forsaking all claim to his inheritance. It’s a bit like what happened to Ned. He compromised himself and everything he stood for and died immediately afterwards.
Petra: Something similar can be said about Margaery. She didn’t compromise herself per se but she’d been conning the High Sparrow all season, playing the long game, in order to protect herself and her brother, but in the end it was all for naught.
Luka: Margaery was really interesting, particularly in the way she was translated from the books to the show. The Margaery we got on Game of Thrones seemed to be based on the perception of her in ASOIAF rather than her actual characterization. We’ve never had a Margaery POV chapter, or even a chapter from the perspective of someone who knows her well. Most of the information we get about Margaery comes from Cersei’s perspective in A Feast for Crows, and she’s not the most reliable narrator at that point. She views Margaery as a schemer who uses sweetness as a front but we have no way of knowing if that’s completely true or if that’s mostly Cersei’s paranoia. We really don’t get much face-value characterization of Margaery at all. So, Game of Thrones basically transplanted Cersei’s perception of Margaery onto the actual character of Margaery and then developed her further into a three-dimensional character.
Petra: That’s a good point. By the time I got to Margaery’s introduction in the books I knew about her through osmosis and Tumblr gifsets. So I was like, “Oh, great! Now I get to learn about her personality and read all of her clever quips” and instead I just got descriptions of how pretty she is and how sad that she’s a thrice-widowed virgin. However, I really loved her character on the show. She was another interesting example of someone exerting “soft power.” I love the way she adapted to ingratiate herself with Joffrey and Tommen. She showed a fascination for torture and crossbows with her second husband then she was all into kittens with her third.
Luka: To be fair, I think dealing with Tommen was easier for her. She wasn’t a chameleon to the degree that she didn’t have values of her own. I certainly think it was easier for her to pet kittens than it was to pretend to be interested in torturing people.
Petra: Fortunately we also got scenes between her and Olenna in which she was able to be herself so we did get to know her true nature. Again, as you said, on the show she got to be an actual human being, not just a blank slate for Cersei to project on.
Luka: The first time I took notice of her was in that classic scene in which Littlefinger asks her if she wants to be a queen and she says, “No, I want to be the queen.”
Petra: Yeah, it’s sort of interesting to me that Margaery, and the Tyrells in general, are as endearing as they are, considering they are made of pure ambition, and their story doesn’t really deconstruct what it actually means to want power. Everyone else who achieves a degree a power is like, “God, this sucks.” Robert complained about how uncomfortable the Iron Throne is; Cersei told Tommen how boring the council meetings are; Daenerys realized conquering other civilizations is a complicated endeavor. It seems like the wisest (maybe not the smartest, but the wisest) people in Westeros are the ones who don’t crave power. Margaery seemed too wise to want to be on top.
Luka: Eh… [Shrug] Not when you consider that Olenna was her mentor. Margaery didn’t want to be the regnant queen; that was unprecedented, until Cersei. But the role of queen consort is another story. She could practice the sort of backroom manipulations her grandmother taught her and, in the event of negative repercussions, use her husband as a human shield.
Petra: That’s sounds like Margaery.
Petra: The advice Olenna gave Daenery was interesting: that the love of the people didn’t help Margaery in the end and that Daenerys should go ahead and “be a dragon.”
Luka: By the time she had that conversation with Daenerys she wasn’t the same person we’d known in earlier seasons. She didn’t care about the future. She was using Daenerys as a tool, essentially as a literal flame thrower, against Cersei.
Petra: I do think she was trying to give Daenerys good counsel, though. I agree that her motivations and worldview changed after her family was killed but I don’t think she was so blinded by grief that she was urging Daenerys to go on a suicide mission.
Luka: She definitely believed that she was giving good advice, but it’s not the sort of counsel that she would have ever given Margaery. I think my issue is that I disagree with her new worldview. She doesn’t have a long-term, so she doesn’t care about it anymore.
Petra: Ah, yes, I get that. Olenna’s end is really tragic, that this old woman outlives the rest of her family, and then dies in defeat.
Luka: At least she got to go in a poetic way. Part of what made Margaery, Loras and Mace’s deaths so upsetting (in a good way) was that their stories felt incomplete when they were cut short by Cersei’s madness. We’ll always wonder what Margaery would have done next, after the trial. By contrast, Olenna got to have a conversation with her executioner and deliver one final blow against Cersei. We’ll miss Olenna but we’re satisfied with how her story – and by extension the Tyrell family’s story – concluded.
Luka: Oh shit, we forgot about Mace. Anything to say about him?
Petra: Uh… I’ve got nothing, sorry.
Luka: Okay. So… NOT NOW, MACE!
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