New Game of Thrones trailer

[Supply Side Jesus]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZ5p18wIQEI&feature=player_embedded

April 17th!!!!

Can't wait to see The Wall....it's going to look awesome!

[Mojambo]

1. Whoa. That trailer REALLY gets the juices flowing

Haven't anticipated a show this much since TWD.

[Supply Side Jesus]

2. K&R

For the fans

[realisticphish]

3. I so want this to not suck

the casting is good in some places, meh in others. Sean Bean as Ned Stark is brilliant. Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister? I'm not seeing it. Don't get me wrong, I love Lena Headey; she was brilliant as Sarah Conner. But I always pictured Cersei as this soft goddess of beauty (who conceals her vileness very well), and while Lena is very attractive, and certainly can pull off the regal aspect of it, she just doesn't fit it for me. I can actually see her fitting Catelyn Stark far better.

Emilia Clarke as Daenerys looks great in the stills... very close to my mental picture. Kit Harington as Jon Snow is excellent as well.


Anyway, I can't wait to see this... maybe It'll make GRRM get his damn ass in gear and finish the series

[Lucian]

4. I can't wait.

But it's sad that the tv show is coming out sooner than A Dance with Dragons. How long has GRRM been working on Dance for now? Five years?

I hope he doesn't go all Robert Jordan on us before he finishes.

[realisticphish]

5. he claimed it would be done for xmas

...and it wasn't. But he's been claiming that for years, so who knows

[Lucian]

6. He also claimed in 2007 he'd have it done by 2008.

It's 2011 and it's still not out.

[Xithras]

8. He didn't claim that. himself.

Martin hasn't made a claim himself since early 2008. His publisher stated that the book was "nearly done" last year, and that it would be out by xmas. She claimed, at the time, that all but five chapters were finished, and that those were partially done.

[realisticphish]

9. true

but if his publisher was spouting bullshit, wouldn't he correct it?

I guess it'll be done when its done, but I have low hopes for him finishing the series if he's dragging his feet this much on book 5 of 7. I'm no author, and the intricacy requires lots of work, I certainly understand that. But he wrote the first three books within a span of, what, 6-7 years?

[Supply Side Jesus]

17. Martin was in the hospital during holidays

He got E-coli, got out right before new years. According to his blog, he was on the verge of "something big." So it sounds like the publisbers were correct in saying that completion is finally at hand.
Sure a lot of people whine about it, but I would rather have it done right than rushed and be shb-par.

[realisticphish]

18. You're right about rushing it

but 6 years?

I guess my complaint is the uncertainty of him finishing it. If he just said, "you know what, I'm done; I'll leave my notes and someone else can finish" or something like that; even just "I'm done, bitches" and walking away. Fine. Rip the bandaid off. It's dragging it out that hurts

Or if he said, "here's why it's taking me a long time: I'm sick of these characters," or "my health is poor at the moment," or "I have writer's block." But it's just silence, and reassurances from his publisher

[Supply Side Jesus]

19. he has been giving updates at events

I'd have to dig up the links, but he has been giving updates updates at public engagements. Last I read he had a difficult time with plot knots. One major one dealt with dany in meereen. Guess it took him like a year to untie it. He does other stuff too. Wild cards and other editing. Martin made it clear he wasn't going to rush it and enjoys globe trotting about meeting fans. I cant blame him for enjoying his success. But......fuck I,m dying for book 5!!!!

[realisticphish]

20. well, that's good to hear (I guess)

I just wish it was posted more publicly... of course, I'm also not an obsessive fan, or something, so I tend to just hear whats going on from the periphery

[Xithras]

7. Screw the movie...when the hell will A Dance with Dragons be released?!?!?

When Martin released A Feast For Crows in 2005, he explained that he'd split it in two because it was too large, and that he'd simply pulled the stories of a few characters from Crows and would place them in the new book instead. He said, at the time, that Dragons was already "half written" because so much of it will consist of material pulled from Crows.

That was almost SIX YEARS AGO. The first three books were only spaced two years apart, and even Crows was released after a five year break. If Dragons was half written right out of the gate, why are we still waiting around almost SIX YEARS later, with no release date in sight?

We were originally told that the book would take less than a year to finish, and that it would probably be out in 2006 sometime. Then we were told that he was doing some rewriting and that it would be out in 2008. Martin himself published an update in early 2008 stating that he hoped to have it out that fall, and hasn't said a word about it since. His publisher, last year, said that the book would be done by last December. No book, and no updates, have been released since his publisher made those comments.

I like the story, but it's now been 15 years since he first released the series the series (and 20 since he started writing it) and there are only four books out! If he continues at this rate, the story won't be finished for another 20 years!

[realisticphish]

10. I'm just glad I recently found them

if I had been there from the beginning, I would be kind of annoyed by now

[Xithras]

12. I know more than a few ASoIaF fans who have abandoned the series because of it.

My brother in law, who introduced me to the books originally, donated his copies and has stopped following the story completely. He said that he'd pick them up again when the story was finished and he could actually read the whole thing, end to end.

I started reading the story right before Kings was released in 1998. I probably wouldn't have bothered if I'd known that I'd still be sitting here almost 13 years later, with only half the story done. "Frustrating" doesn't even begin to describe it.

[realisticphish]

16. I'm not sure what I'll do

your BIL may have the right idea. I have the same feeling about tv shows; often I'll wait until a show finishes a season, then watch the whole season, rather then wait it out between episodes.

It just seems like every book creates more and more loose ends... it's not even a matter of a few stories needing tied up, but a matter of DOZENS of story lines and the fates of various people all hanging out there

[Lucian]

11. If you check out his blog,

it seems as though he prefers traveling quite a bit rather than writing.

I don't have any hope on him finishing the series before he dies. I can see him going the way of Robert Jordan.

[Xithras]

13. You know, I've never actually read WOT.

But, from what I understand, Jordan at least left copious notes so that other authors could pick up his work and finish it off. It's my understanding that Martin isn't even that far along. If he clutched-chest and kicked the bucket tomorrow, the series would just die with him.

I think you're right. Martin probably won't finish the series. The parts of the series that he's already published have brought him great wealth, and he's been writing other material and traveling heavily for the past few years. It isn't exactly normal for an author, in the middle of his greatest series, to stop and write another unrelated book.

The even bigger danger, of course, is that he says Screw It and just wraps up the story to get it done and over with. Given the choice between "Great and Unfinished" and "Rushed and Predictable", I'll take the former.

[Lucian]

14. Excellent points.

Jordan did leave notes on his WOT series so Brandon Sanderson could finish it. From what I understand, GRRM didn't do that. He's not a spring chicken anymore. I'm worried he won't finish the series.

[realisticphish]

15. frankly

I wouldn't be surprised if he was sick of writing the same stuff. But when you set out to write a 6-7 book series, you KNOW it's going to take a while.

[cemaphonic]

21. That may be part of the problem.

He set out to write a trilogy. IIRC, he had the idea for the Red Wedding, and based the story around setting it up. Then it expanded scope along the way.

[Xithras]

22. He's said as much in several interviews.

He originally only wanted three books, but when he sits down and starts typing, he tends to develop additional storylines randomly to add more depth to whatever happens to be happening at that moment. Or he'll use a character, and upon re-reading it, he'll decide that the character is too flat, and he'll go back and develop an introductory storyline for them.

This has resulted in a triology spiraling out into a book series that will contain AT LEAST seven books (Martin has said that Dragons is the biggest book yet, and he may have to cut it again). In interviews, he's admitted that he never intended the series to get so long, and that he has other writing projects that he's working on and wants to complete. He still states that he wants to finish the series, but he's already in his 60's, he's famously set the series aside to work on other writing projects more than once, and there's a real question as to how dedicated he really is to finishing it. His increasing disdain for fan inquiries as to its status sort of reinforces those questions. It was a labor of love when he started typing it 20 years ago, but may just be "work" today. Nobody looks forward to going to work.