Game of Thrones begins....

[Admiral Yi]

Why did they have to gay up Oberyn?

I hadn't really formed a mental image of the Dornishmen from the books, but i certainly didn't see them as Sinbad the Sailor with a Spanish accent.

[Neil]

Why did they have to gay up Oberyn?

I hadn't really formed a mental image of the Dornishmen from the books, but i certainly didn't see them as Sinbad the Sailor with a Spanish accent.

They needed a gay character to make the activists happy?

He seems broadly in accord with the mental picture I had of Dorne.  The character is supposed to be this free-ranging adventurer from an exotic, arid country.  Spanish is exotic.

[Valmy]

Why did they have to gay up Oberyn?

I hadn't really formed a mental image of the Dornishmen from the books, but i certainly didn't see them as Sinbad the Sailor with a Spanish accent.

Well they are supposed to be like the Moors. 

[Queequeg]

Why did they have to gay up Oberyn?

I hadn't really formed a mental image of the Dornishmen from the books, but i certainly didn't see them as Sinbad the Sailor with a Spanish accent.

Oberyn and a lot of the Dornishmen are bisexual.  The sexual morality is just different down there.  The Rhonyar are weird. 

I think they are as much Basque or Welsh as anything.  Absolute cognatic primogeniture is a Basque thing the Rhonyar practice, and the light armor with throwing spear or short sword sounds vaguely Cantabrian

[Valmy]

I think they are as much Basque or Welsh as anything.  Absolute cognatic primogeniture is a Basque thing the Rhonyar practice, and the light armor with throwing spear or short sword sounds vaguely Cantabrian

Yeah because when I think about sand and desert people I immediately think of the Basques or the Welsh.  Dude GRRM is loosely inspired by Medieval history but you have to be a pretty big nerd to know the succession traditions of the Basques.

[katmai]

I think they are as much Basque or Welsh as anything.  Absolute cognatic primogeniture is a Basque thing the Rhonyar practice, and the light armor with throwing spear or short sword sounds vaguely Cantabrian

Yeah because when I think about sand and desert people I immediately think of the Basques or the Welsh.  Dude GRRM is loosely inspired by Medieval history but you have to be a pretty big nerd to know the succession traditions of the Basques.

Some might say completely irrational.

[Berkut]

Obvious first episode, lots of setup.

The scene with Arya murdering Polliver though...that was excellent. Just...chilling.


"Something wrong with your leg boy?"

[crazy canuck]

The scene with Arya murdering Polliver though...that was excellent. Just...chilling.


"Something wrong with your leg boy?"

Agreed

[garbon]

I think they are as much Basque or Welsh as anything.  Absolute cognatic primogeniture is a Basque thing the Rhonyar practice, and the light armor with throwing spear or short sword sounds vaguely Cantabrian

Yeah because when I think about sand and desert people I immediately think of the Basques or the Welsh.  Dude GRRM is loosely inspired by Medieval history but you have to be a pretty big nerd to know the succession traditions of the Basques.

CK2 makes a big point of calling out the basques as the one culture to allow women to inherit on same basis as men.

Of course, whether that's historically accurate, I've no idea.

[Habbaku]

Why did they have to gay up Oberyn?

  He's pretty clearly bisexual in the books.

[Queequeg]

I think they are as much Basque or Welsh as anything.  Absolute cognatic primogeniture is a Basque thing the Rhonyar practice, and the light armor with throwing spear or short sword sounds vaguely Cantabrian

Yeah because when I think about sand and desert people I immediately think of the Basques or the Welsh. 

They are the weird peninsular people with bows and spears who are dark and were only with difficulty integrated in to the Westerosi mainstream and have substantially greater rights for women.  They also maintain some weird pagany religious practices, and are the classic "other" of Westerosi society.

Welsh and Basque.   

EDIT: In the case of Dorne, yes, Wales was definitely an influence, for all the reasons you cite. But there's also some distinctly unWelsh elements down there. South of the wall of mountains you have a hot, dry country more like Spain or Palestine than the cool green valleys of Wales, with most of the settlements along the seacoast and in few great river basins. And you also have the flavor given the culture by the great Rhoynar influx led by Nymeria. I suppose the closest real life equivilent to that would be the Moorish influence in parts of Spain. So you could say Dorne is Wales mixed with Spain and Palestine with some entirely imaginary influences mixed in. Or you could just say it's Dorne....

Dude GRRM is loosely inspired by Medieval history but you have to be a pretty big nerd to know the succession traditions of the Basques.

I prefer "History Hipster" to nerd, thank you very much. 

[Queequeg]

I think they are as much Basque or Welsh as anything.  Absolute cognatic primogeniture is a Basque thing the Rhonyar practice, and the light armor with throwing spear or short sword sounds vaguely Cantabrian

Yeah because when I think about sand and desert people I immediately think of the Basques or the Welsh.  Dude GRRM is loosely inspired by Medieval history but you have to be a pretty big nerd to know the succession traditions of the Basques.

CK2 makes a big point of calling out the basques as the one culture to allow women to inherit on same basis as men.

Of course, whether that's historically accurate, I've no idea.

It's a simplification.  Basque inheritence laws were all kinds of weird.  There was a tribal structure and an avoidance of private property and feudalism that was pretty unique to the Basque country.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baserri

[jimmy olsen]

I think they are as much Basque or Welsh as anything.  Absolute cognatic primogeniture is a Basque thing the Rhonyar practice, and the light armor with throwing spear or short sword sounds vaguely Cantabrian

Yeah because when I think about sand and desert people I immediately think of the Basques or the Welsh.  Dude GRRM is loosely inspired by Medieval history but you have to be a pretty big nerd to know the succession traditions of the Basques.

These days you just need to have played CK2

[Valmy]

They are the weird peninsular people with bows and spears who are dark and were only with difficulty integrated in to the Westerosi mainstream and have substantially greater rights for women.  They also maintain some weird pagany religious practices, and are the classic "other" of Westerosi society.

Welsh and Basque.   

EDIT: In the case of Dorne, yes, Wales was definitely an influence, for all the reasons you cite. But there's also some distinctly unWelsh elements down there. South of the wall of mountains you have a hot, dry country more like Spain or Palestine than the cool green valleys of Wales, with most of the settlements along the seacoast and in few great river basins. And you also have the flavor given the culture by the great Rhoynar influx led by Nymeria. I suppose the closest real life equivilent to that would be the Moorish influence in parts of Spain. So you could say Dorne is Wales mixed with Spain and Palestine with some entirely imaginary influences mixed in. Or you could just say it's Dorne....

Dude GRRM is loosely inspired by Medieval history but you have to be a pretty big nerd to know the succession traditions of the Basques.

I prefer "History Hipster" to nerd, thank you very much. 

Um he said Moorish with some Levantine stuff.  Hardly Basque.  Though ok on the Welsh stuff.  And the First Men are just as "other".

[Valmy]

These days you just need to have played CK2

True but that was a tall order in 1996