Trust

(Via Robbertopoli.deviantart.com)

(Via gothicspork.deviantart.com)

The Starks are screwed. Of that, we are all aware by now. While I do not actually know the exact manner of said screwing, I know that their trust of these two is completely misguided.
Varys has absolutely no reason to help them, other than it would be the right thing to do. Ned Stark seems to be unaware that Varys is completely unconcerned with what is the right thing to do. He is a collector and seller of information, and they by nature tend not to stick to any single side.
Littlefinger, on the other hand, believe will help them because of his long-burning crush on Catelyn. The fact that she is already married suggests that an end in which Catelyn is left widowed and vulnerable is what he is looking for.
The Starks are not the only ones who are putting their trust in the wrong hands. I was surprised when I found out Jorah was giving the crown information about Dany's status. In hindsight, it's obvious that he has no real reason to care about Dany and the Dothraki, and that selling them out would be a fast way back to his coveted home, but it didn't click in my head until after the reveal.
Robert Baratheon, on the other hand, may have too little trust in him. He rightly distrusts his in-laws and "son", but is not trusting Ned when Ned is all he has on his side, really.
Who do you think deserves and does not deserve trust? Do you agree/disagree with anything I've said?

T.V. Series VS. Book

This question is for those of you who have seen the T.V. series of The Game of Thrones. So far, I believe that the show has been pretty accurate towards the book. What Scenes do you guys like better in the book or the show? Not only that, but how do you think the characters change from the book to the show and which one do you like better?

So, I just want to talk about Catelyn  for a second. I know that we had a whole post talking about her already. But that part where she was on her way to the Eyrie and stopped at the tavern gave me the tingles. She had really been a strong person until then, but to me that just displayed her ability to work for herself even more than any of her actions previously. (I can understand hating her on Jon Snow's behalf, but you have to admit she has no problem standing up for what she believes in)  I like that she had enough evidence for herself. Tyrion/ the Lancasters had supposedly attacked her kid and she was not going to stand for it, especially not when they were responsible for his fall and resulting injury. I just love that she's so fearless and yet she knows the consequences of her actions and fully accepts whatever they may be, just so that she can protect her children.

Important Message

Hope Everyone had a Merry Christmas. But you have to remember that we still need to be posting on the blog and I'm not exactly sure what page we're supposed to be on. We might not get a good grade if we don't continue the conversation, but I'm not sure where everyone else is in the book and don't want to spoil anything....

I feel like we haven't had a legitimate conversation about the book in the while, so let's pick a new character to focus on: Daenerys Targaryen. Obviously, it seems she was thrown into this new life with Khal Drogo quite abruptly, and it seemed that Illyrio had some ulterior motive for wedding the two beyond Viserys's wishes. But she begins really timid and she's never had any moment in her life be as scary as being wed to a fierce Dothraki. Now, she's basically queen (excuse me, Khaleesi) of an entire horde of Dothraki men, women, children and slaves. Literally overnight they all now have to trust her, and being really young and naive, she's going to let this new found power go to her head. Her only loyalties now seem to lay with Viserys and one of her three women aids (I forget her name). I'm wondering what you guys think of her at this point in the book and what are your predictions for her path through the book. Noting that she is across the Narrow Sea, she isn't anywhere close to seizing the Iron Throne, but it still takes immense courage and leadership to transform into a Khaleesi and also to withstand Drogo, as he is intimidating, rowdy, and seems to make love in a furious and uncanny manner. Poor young Dany.

Language of the Khal

So guys.  For the show, HBO hired some people to create an actual Dothraki language with real words and verb tenses and a dictionary, and I recently found out that the dictionary is available online, right here!

http://docs.dothraki.org/Dothraki.pdf

So, happy vocabulary hunting and messing around with funny Dothraki words.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYNeT2nzEgA&safe=active

Joffery getting slapped for10 minutes Courtesy of Bella ^.^

Tony is the newest Stark

I had to add this pic after seeing Bella's post. It is the definition of awesome.

I found another thing.

SAM LOOK I FOUND IT AREN'T YOU PROUD OF ME.

Sorry for the immaturity there, but Sam and I were talking about this picture today and I hadn't seen it before but this is hysterical.

Not looking forward to this.

Just found this picture.  I died a little inside.

I love the outcasts!

The relationship between Jon and Tyrion is one of my favorite relationships in the book so far. Tyrion doesn't allow Jon to pity himself, but he also doesn't allow Jon to see himself other than how he really is. That is a unique gift in this book, especially since almost everyone in this book seems to have some sort of secret or hidden agenda.

In my opinion, Tyrion is so perfect.

Anyone wanna collectively hate Joffrey?

Okay, so we've all seen that he's an indignant little four-letter-word-that-starts-with-S (avoiding profanity because this is a school thing, after all...).  It's out there, he's obnoxious, and everybody hates him.  I've heard spoilers about numerous other reasons to hate him, and I have to say that he's the only character I've ever gone into a series I didn't know already hating.  You know about Draco Malfoy being a bad guy before you read the Harry Potter series, you know likely about President Snow being evil when you start reading the Hunger Games trilogy, but seriously.

Granted, I've spent a lot of time trying to acquaint myself with the world Game of Thrones takes place in, and am trying my hardest to understand what seems to be to be a difficult and twisted plotline, and the spoilers I've found only make me more confused.  But there is one thing that every wikia page or GoT blog I stumble across has in common: they all agree that Joffrey Baratheon is the most hated character in the entire series, surpassing Cersei and Jaime and Sansa.  I've even seen a few blogs that argue Joffrey to be the most hated character in all literature, and are astounded by just how horribly a person can be written to be.

So, guys.  Let's talk Joffery and how nasty he is.  (Also kudos to Jack Gleeson for acting Joffrey's part in the HBO series, I watched a few episodes today.)

On the Topic of Catelyn Stark (née Tully)

She struck me as a good character in the beginning of the book (well, she is a good character...) but as the story progressed and I learned more about House Stark and its dynamics, I began to have less and less respect for Catelyn.  

In the beginning, when she goes to Eddard in the weirwoods at Winterfell (I believe they were somewhere near the Heart Tree at that) and she talks to him for a while, I thought that she seemed like a caring mother and wife, all in all a good character in the making and a generally good human being.

As the story progresses, though, and you learn about Jon being a bastard child and you see more of Catelyn around Jon himself and just the concept of him, she just sort of loses my respect because she's so unnecessarily cruel to Jon and was so confrontational about his existence with Ned.  The scene when Jon is about to leave to go with his uncle Benjen to the Wall, and he stops to say goodbye to a sort-of comatose Bran, Catelyn just tells him to leave and is positively vicious and stubborn on the whole topic of his presence there.  What's especially offensive about this part is when Catelyn tells Jon to leave (for sort-of the third time, notably.) and immediately follows it up with, "We don't want you here."  That was so wholly unnecessary and cruel to Jon, that she spoke for his unconscious half-brother (who had always treated him like a full-blooded brother, to my knowledge) and said something of that nature.

It's understandable that Catelyn is hurt by Jon's existence, as he was born a bastard while she was married to Eddard and he was away at war or something of the like, but she has no reason to be angry at him.  He didn't ask to be born a bastard; if anyone deserves her malice over such a thing, shouldn't it be Eddard instead?  Eddard was the one who couldn't keep it in his pants while he was away, and that's not Jon's fault, he just happens to be the result of it.  

The whole issue of Catelyn wanting Jon sent away is a bit strange, from my point of view, though I can understand the logic behind it, it's sort of an archaic way of dealing with something like that... I don't know. My take on this is that she should take Ned's insistence that Jon live with them at Winterfell as some sort of reassurance that he honestly loves his children (...of which he happens to have four by her, I believe), and while she doesn't necessarily have to love Jon as her own or anything of the like, or even at all, I think she should at least treat him like a fellow human being.

But that's just my take on the whole thing... what's yours?

If you read by the computer like I do...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BRaGFb64wg

Listening to this while I was reading was actually pretty interesting, it helped me to sort of visualize everything in the world of Winterfell and such, since the bits I've read have been almost devoid of elaboration on setting or characters' appearances.  Personally, I find the lack of description annoying, but perhaps it will change later in the book.  (I only started reading it recently, and am just beginning the third chapter, but I'll be caught up for Monday.)

So, we should be to page 150 by Tuesday, correct?
Also, who do you think will be the first three to die of the main characters?
My bets see on Baratheon, Lord Stark and his brother.

It's HBO, not porn!

Guys, this video is so funny. You should totally check it out, though I think that Bella's seen it already.


http://hbowatch.com/its-not-porn-its-hbo/

The Game of Thrones series with each death of a character marked in post it notes!