Fantastical Musings

So, as I've been watching Game of Thrones this season, I've been reminded, overwhelmingly, that everyone hates Tyrion Lannister. And, when I say everyone, I mostly mean his family. And, when I say his family, I mostly mean Tywin and Cersei. And when I say Tywin and Cersei, I mostly mean Tywin. I mean, Cersei's hatred for Tyrion is sort of understandable; she believes he killed her mother and killed her son. Even though both those ideas are incorrect, one can understand why she feels the way she feels. Tywin doesn't have that excuse. Tywin is a logical adult, perhaps one of the most consistently logical people in the series. Cersei was a child when Tyrion was born, so one can understand why she felt that he killed her mother (for the record, in case you didn't know, Joanna Lannister did die in child birth with Tyrion and Cersei thinks that this was somehow Tyrion's fault). Tywin, however, was an adult and as such could understand that Tyrion wasn...

Out of all the characters in A Song of Ice and Fire , Sansa Stark particularly intrigues me. I know that a lot of fans of the books think that she's a bit of a wimp, totally naive, and a little slow, but I disagree. Sansa is one of the few characters in the books that develops and changes. Like, I'm not saying that the other characters aren't now in very different places than when the books started, but for the most part, they're all still the same people. Sansa is different; in the first book she was this annoying little brat with all these nonsense ideas about chivalry, but she's grown a lot since then. As the series goes on, she learns how the world works and how people behave and she puts that knowledge to good use. One thing that Starks tend to have a problem with is not learning from their past. I mean, the Stark family is constantly doing things that they should know better than to do. Trusting the Freys? Trusting the Lannisters? And what pa...

Wow. Just wow. I think that was the best episode since the Purple Wedding! Mockingbird just killed it! It was so, so good! This was one of those episodes where you're watching and you're watching and you don't even realize that the episode is about to end and then it ends and you're like: "what??? that's it????". That was basically my reaction to this episode. Here are some other reactions: Favorite Moments: I've Only Loved One Woman...Your Sister - Wow! I knew this was coming, but it was still a major wow . Let me just say that Lysa Arryn was asking to be pushed out of that moon door. I mean, if you thought that Joffrey was crazy it was only because you hadn't meet Lysa Arryn yet. And this episode was not a disappointment. What I appreciated about this was that it was exactly the way it was in the books, right down to the last line: "I’ve only loved one woman, I promise you. Your sister". That's a great thing to say to someon...

Not to disparage the lovely and wonderful television experience that is Game of Thrones, but this week's episode was meh . Don't get me wrong, Peter Dinklage turned in a show-stopping performance for Tyrion's trail, but the rest of the episode had some serious issues. Actually, even the trial had some issues. I think the problem is that Joffrey died so early in the season. Normally, big events like that are pushed back to the end of the season, because after something like that, the tension sort of dissipates and the show has a tendency to meander. But anyway, the show must go on. Favorite Moments: Tyrion's Trial - Peter Dinklage is such a class act. He did a beautifuel job with Tyrion's trial; it was spot on. I loved his speech at the end when he said that he was really on trial for being a dwarf. At the heart of this trial, this is really just the Lannister family duking it out. Basically, this is where all their family drama comes to a boiling point and the...

So, a long time ago when I was first starting to read the A Song of Ice and Fire books, I was trying to convince my friend to read it and one of the first things she asked me about it was if there were any love stories. I had to stop and think about that for a minute because there are like thousands of character arcs, but, in the end, I had to tell her 'no'. I mean, I guess that you could argue that Catelyn and Ned Stark have a bit of a 'love story', but by the time A Game of Thrones opens, the exciting parts of their love story are over. The Starks are happily married with five children which, while one of the happiest stories in A Song of Ice and Fire, isn't particularly interesting. Personally, I would love it if George R.R. Martin wrote a prequel to a Song of Ice and Fire about Robert's Rebellion and how Ned and Catelyn fell in love (that book would also answer a lot of other pressing questions), but I don't think that's going to hap...

So, as sort of a continuation of my last A Song of Ice and Fire blog about Jon Snow's parentage, I've decided to go a little further in depth on this topic and tell you about my predictions for the three heads of the dragon. In case you're unfamiliar with this concept, the three heads of the dragon are a reference to the three headed dragon on the sigil of house Targaryen. This symbol dates back to the days when the Targaryens first arrived in Westeros; the three heads of the dragon represent Aegon the Conqueror (the first Targaryen king) and his two sisters and the three dragons they rode. Now, as you know, Daenerys Targaryen has managed to hatch three dragons. So, what is pretty obvious is that there is going to be a resurrection of the three headed dragon. It is well established in dragon lore that a dragon can have only one rider. Obviously, Dany, who is, after all, the mother of dragons, is one of the heads of the dragon and, as we've already seen, ...

So, after last week's underwhelming 'Oathkeeper', 'First of his Name' really got things back on track. I think we've reached a point in Game of Thrones where the producers are starting to run out of book to adapt, so they're reaching into the yet-to-be-written Winds of Winter for material. This worries me a little bit, but I'm just going to grit my teeth and make the best of what HBO has seen fit to provide. Here we go: Favorite Moments: 1. Long May He Reign - So, I loved the opening scene. Even though he didn't have any lines, the show is doing a really good job of setting Tommen up as a character. He's pretty flat in the books, so I love that they're fleshing him out in the show. That cute little smile between him and Margaery just says it all. In fact, aside from Sansa, Tommen must be the nicest , most innocent, most genuine person in Westeros. That's right, a nice person on Game of Thrones ! Anyway, I'm really looking forward...

So, as you probably know, one of the big questions of the Song of Ice and Fire series is Jon Snow's parentage. I'm not going to propose any crazy, new theories here like 'what if Jon's mother was actually Catelyn but she got amnesia and Ned made everyone pretend that she wasn't his mother so she wouldn't realize she'd forgotten'. Though, if that turns out to be true, it would create a lot of interesting and unresolvable issues. I am pretty much firmly in the 'Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen are Jon Snow's parents' camp. And, following in my tradition in which I weigh in on controversial A Song of Ice and Fire issues, I am going to tell you why I think Jon's is Lyanna and Rhaegar's son. I think that this theory makes logical sense on a number of different levels: 1) It would tie everything up very nicely. Lyanna is such a pivotal character in the pre-history of the series and yet all the information we have been give...