Game of Thrones begins....

[Martinus]

Yeah, I always thought it rather funny that in fantasy worlds, history seem to be taking comparable real world events and multiply their duration by ten.

So a dynasty rules not for 300, but 3000 years, a plague lasts not 5 but 50 years, and so on.

That being said, Westeros is not that bad. Aegon's conquest only happened less than 300 years ago, so the timeline here is not so insane. I think only Starks (and possibly Greyjoys) have such long claims to power.

How much documentation do they have for those dates? It probably didn't happen has far back as that.

The Citadel of Oldtown predates the Andal Invasion, and I assume the written history is at least as old as the Citadel.

[Faeelin]

Yeah, I always thought it rather funny that in fantasy worlds, history seem to be taking comparable real world events and multiply their duration by ten.

So a dynasty rules not for 300, but 3000 years, a plague lasts not 5 but 50 years, and so on.

That being said, Westeros is not that bad. Aegon's conquest only happened less than 300 years ago, so the timeline here is not so insane. I think only Starks (and possibly Greyjoys) have such long claims to power.

How much documentation do they have for those dates? It probably didn't happen has far back as that.

They joke about this in the most recent book, IIRC, when the fat kid says that the dates in the Watch archives don't mesh the chronology, but he only finds a few centuries added. We're still talking about a society which is more stagnant than anything comparable in human history.

[Solmyr]

R'hllor is clearly Allah.

[The Minsky Moment]

R'hllor is clearly Allah.

Ahura-Mazda. 

[The Brain]

Sauron is Hitler.

[Berkut]

I thought Tywin Lannister skinning a dear in gruesome detail was really, really lame.

I don't think Tywin spends much of his time on such things.

[Valmy]

I thought Tywin Lannister skinning a dear in gruesome detail was really, really lame.

I don't think Tywin spends much of his time on such things.

Yeah I did not get that either.  I figured great lords would think that sort of thing was beneath their dignity.  Especially one as obsessed with dignity as Tywin Lannister.

[Berkut]

I thought Tywin Lannister skinning a dear in gruesome detail was really, really lame.

I don't think Tywin spends much of his time on such things.

Yeah I did not get that either.  I figured great lords would think that sort of thing was beneath their dignity.  Especially one as obsessed with dignity as Tywin Lannister.

No kidding. The dude is completely uptight and rigid. Would never spend his time on such a pedestrian activity. Hell, he is probably the kind of Lord who doesn't even hunt himself anymore.

[The Brain]

Maybe his passion for skinning will be discussed at length in the new book?

[Viking]

I thought Tywin Lannister skinning a dear in gruesome detail was really, really lame.

I don't think Tywin spends much of his time on such things.

The skinning the


I can't imagine why anybody might want to make a clear excruciating point about that? Unpossible!

[Slargos]

I thought Tywin Lannister skinning a dear in gruesome detail was really, really lame.

I don't think Tywin spends much of his time on such things.

You mustn't forget that this is TV. Visuals matter far more than in a book.

Skinning an animal sets the tone for the modern viewer who isn't used to getting so personal with the meat. Calmly discussing the proper way to destroy your enemies while carving an animal's skin off creates a certain aire around the character which I think works very well.

[Berkut]

I thought Tywin Lannister skinning a dear in gruesome detail was really, really lame.

I don't think Tywin spends much of his time on such things.

You mustn't forget that this is TV. Visuals matter far more than in a book.

Skinning an animal sets the tone for the modern viewer who isn't used to getting so personal with the meat. Calmly discussing the proper way to destroy your enemies while carving an animal's skin off creates a certain aire around the character which I think works very well.

I thought it was just stupid. Like it was trying to set up Tywin as some mafia butcher, like the dude in Gangs of New York.

I thought it made him look rather pedestrian.

[Berkut]

I thought Tywin Lannister skinning a dear in gruesome detail was really, really lame.

I don't think Tywin spends much of his time on such things.

The skinning the


I can't imagine why anybody might want to make a clear excruciating point about that? Unpossible!

But it wasn't a lion skinning a dear, it was a Lannister skinning a dear. Half a metaphor doesn't make much sense, or have any real impact.

The effect it had on me was to make me think "Gee, I guess Tywin Lannister cannot afford a decent butcher, and has to do it himself..."

[Slargos]

He conformed to my image of Tywin. A hands on kind of guy, who isn't afraid to get a little blood on him.

It elegantly establishes what kind of guy he is without spending too much time on it, since I wager a majority of the viewers are sufficiently removed from the process of slaughtering an animal to be a bit grossed out by it.

[Berkut]

But Tywin isn't a hands on kind of guy. He is a super practical, use the right tool for the right job kind of guy. He isn't out riding around with Gregor Clegane, for example - he has hounds to do a hounds job. His job is to lead, because that is what he is good at.

Butchering animals? He would not do it - not because he is above it personally so much as simply because

1. It is not befitting his station, and
2. He has more important things to be doing.

He would no more spend a few hours butchering a deer than he would spend a few hours banging the dents out of his armor, or shoeing his horse, or mucking out the stables.