HBO's Game of Thrones to reveal future book spoilers

[Homerboy]

Well this is a crock of shit.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/23/game-of-thrones-ending-books_n_6922748.html

Sorry book readers, but "Game of Thrones" creators D.B. Weiss and David Benioff are going to deliver the spoiler of all spoilers.

The two showrunners for the HBO series are some of the few people who know the ending to George R.R. Martin's still unfinished The Song of Ice and Fire book series, which "Game of Thrones" is based on. Last year, they revealed to Vanity Fair that the author explained the ending for "every character" in Westeros. Martin, who recently announced he's skipping fan conventions to finish Book 6, The Winds of Winter, said in 2013 that the the odds of the show catching up to the books "are very long." HBO programming president Michael Lombardo also echoed Martin at the time, telling Entertainment Weekly, "Let’s all hope and pray that’s not going to be a problem."

But while speaking at the Oxford Union, Benioff confirmed that spoilers are most definitely coming soon. "We’ll eventually, basically, meet up at pretty much the same place where George is going," Benioff said. According to the co-creator, there will be parts of the show that stray from the books, as we already know about Season 5's altered storylines and surprising deaths not in Martin's work. "I kind of wish there were some things we didn’t have to spoil, in terms of the books," Benioff continued, "but we’re kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place. The show must go on."

The showrunners have expressed their hope multiple times for "Game of Thrones" to run for only seven seasons, but HBO recently revealed that they want more, if possible. If the show extends beyond Season 7, that would give Martin more time to complete his final book in the series, A Dream of Spring, and avoid spoilers in the show for a while longer. But as Benioff said, "We can't put the show on hiatus [...] so we have to kind of keep pushing forward." Watch the full Oxford Union address below.

 

[Jaskalas]

Well this is a crock of shit.

Martin was too slow. Either the show must end, or it must go on with the story. Of course there are going to be spoilers.

 

[DesiPower]

I dont get it, the the TV folks are changing the story line then what's the big deal? The book will be different anyways... I hear bitch whining all the time about how the TV show is nothing like the book, TV show is blasphemy of the book... when why whine now?

 

[smackababy]

I dont get it, the the TV folks are changing the story line then what's the big deal? The book will be different anyways... I hear bitch whining all the time about how the TV show is nothing like the book, TV show is blasphemy of the book... when why whine now?

The problem is a lot of characters can't be concealed and story lines can't really be retconned like in books. Look at Reek and Theon. They couldn't stick with the book, due to the audience knowing that was Theon from the get go.



Edit: I should also note that I think the only people who are actually upset by this are fucking idiot blowhard bookreaders who want to be superior to the strictly television viewers. Omg! They know something you don't now! Omg!

 

[Newbian]

The only thing I am upset about is how slow martin takes to write the damn things.

 

[Newell Steamer]

I never understood the outrage over spoilers.

Nonetheless, they should be respected - and this announcement is pretty much a spoiler warning. So, if you don't want anything spoiled, don't watch the show.

 

[KeithTalent]

I thought we have known this for a while now. :hmm:

KT

 

[Triumph]

George needs to hurry the fuck up. He probably thinks he's the next Tolkien, trying to create an expansive universe that is internally consistent. Well, your universe isn't that good, George! So just finish the damn books!

 

[The Boston Dangler]

"how many children does scarlet o'hara have?"
-grrm

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I thought we have known this for a while now. :hmm:

KT

We've all known it had to happen given Martin's writing pace. Now we OFFICIALLY know it's happening and that it's happening sooner than expected. Most of us assumed that it would be necessary in season 6 as they had all of A Dance With Dragons to fill season 5. The fact that there will be spoilers in S5 is a surprise.

 

[KeithTalent]

We've all known it had to happen given Martin's writing pace. Now we OFFICIALLY know it's happening and that it's happening sooner than expected. Most of us assumed that it would be necessary in season 6 as they had all of A Dance With Dragons to fill season 5. The fact that there will be spoilers in S5 is a surprise.

I guess so, but they have been plucking things from future books (as in books that were technically past where we were in the show) for a while now, so it only made sense to me that they would need to start branching off into the unwritten stuff very soon. Maybe I heard wrong, but I thought that I already learned they were starting it this season.

KT

 

[SandEagle]

i really hope they finish it off soon. 5 years is too long ready.
why cant they just show 52 eps a year instead of 10?

 

[smackababy]

We've all known it had to happen given Martin's writing pace. Now we OFFICIALLY know it's happening and that it's happening sooner than expected. Most of us assumed that it would be necessary in season 6 as they had all of A Dance With Dragons to fill season 5. The fact that there will be spoilers in S5 is a surprise.

We didn't even have to be told things for them to be spoilers. Look at them combining and omitting certain characters. That means the book characters aren't central to some plot or really significant in any way. Or, the omission of scenes everyone has hinged as part of some big "Jon's heritage" story. That not even being hinted at in the show should tell volumes of what that meant in the book.

i really hope they finish it off soon. 5 years is too long ready.
why cant they just show 52 eps a year instead of 10?

Because they don't have infinite money? What kind of stupid question is this?

 

[The Boston Dangler]

i really hope they finish it off soon. 5 years is too long ready.
why cant they just show 52 eps a year instead of 10?

they work year-round in multiple countries to make 10 episodes a year and would dearly love to 12 or 13, says weiss and benioff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhDGkSqtOzE

it's not like they're making a game show that produces 5 or more episodes in 1 work day.

 

[bunnyfubbles]

George needs to hurry the fuck up. He probably thinks he's the next Tolkien, trying to create an expansive universe that is internally consistent. Well, your universe isn't that good, George! So just finish the damn books!

not that good, yet good enough that you can't wait for it

 

[Skel]

I look forward to finally being able to read the show's thread without some asshat knowingly posting book spoilers just to piss people off.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

George needs to hurry the fuck up. He probably thinks he's the next Tolkien, trying to create an expansive universe that is internally consistent. Well, your universe isn't that good, George! So just finish the damn books!

Who said Tolkien was internally consistent? His world was not all that consistent and it was only a fraction of the size and scope of Martin's. Even with a much more limited narrative Tolkien relied on a lot of deus ex machina moments and inconsistencies to get himself out of corners he had written himself into. I think given the complexities of Martin's world he's doing a much better job of keeping things together than Tolkien did. I just wish he'd do it faster.

 

[smackababy]

Who said Tolkien was internally consistent? His world was not all that consistent and it was only a fraction of the size and scope of Martin's. Even with a much more limited narrative Tolkien relied on a lot of deus ex machina moments and inconsistencies to get himself out of corners he had written himself into. I think given the complexities of Martin's world he's doing a much better job of keeping things together than Tolkien did. I just wish he'd do it faster.

In Martin's defense, he has a great resource to keep his world consistent that Tolkien never did: a rabid fanbase. He has stated in interviews he will use his fanbase to research characters and their traits he already wrote.

 

[LevelSea]

Who said Tolkien was internally consistent? His world was not all that consistent and it was only a fraction of the size and scope of Martin's. Even with a much more limited narrative Tolkien relied on a lot of deus ex machina moments and inconsistencies to get himself out of corners he had written himself into. I think given the complexities of Martin's world he's doing a much better job of keeping things together than Tolkien did. I just wish he'd do it faster.

I don't know why the eagles just didn't fly someone over to Mt. Doom to drop off the ring and come right back.

 

[smackababy]

I don't know why the eagles just didn't fly someone over to Mt. Doom to drop off the ring and come right back.

Exactly! When they had the meeting, they could have just invited one of them and been done before supper!

 

[JamesV]

Well George RR's books are crocks of shit.

Fixed.

Have you guys actually read them, or are you basing your love for his work from the TV show?

I've been reading fantasy since I was eight years old (now 44), and have never come across a more verbose writer. I think every time he had writers block, he said "Let's add another character arc!!!".

Some of his characters are good, and there are interesting moments, but his books read more like TV Soap Operas than fantasy, or maybe even take some Shakespeare and add a full new chapter between every sentence of the original work.

 

[Newbian]

I don't know why the eagles just didn't fly someone over to Mt. Doom to drop off the ring and come right back.

 

[smackababy]

Fixed.

Have you guys actually read them, or are you basing your love for his work from the TV show?

I've been reading fantasy since I was eight years old (now 44), and have never come across a more verbose writer. I think every time he had writers block, he said "Let's add another character arc!!!".

Some of his characters are good, and there are interesting moments, but his books read more like TV Soap Operas than fantasy, or maybe even take some Shakespeare and add a full new chapter between every sentence of the original work.

I disagree. Mostly, because I think due to Martin's non traditional style and depth of the story, it isn't really verbose. He doesn't overdescribe things nor does he ramble on. The issue is that his grand story is very involved. It is many sides fighting for power and rather than leave people in the dark about what is happening, he is telling everything.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

I don't know why the eagles just didn't fly someone over to Mt. Doom to drop off the ring and come right back.

The eagles are of course the major problem with Tolkien. He knew using them was stupid and lazy and admitted as much in some of his personal letters. But still, he used them anyway. And then used them again.

I think Gandalf and the role of magic was an even more glaring error. It was amazing that his knowledge and wisdom were nearly limitless when convenient and almost complete absent when necessary. He was able to perform amazing feats of both magic and physical prowess in an emergency, but was little more than a carnival sideshow charlatan with the magical might of Merry and Pippin when his spells would have solved a problem that could be tackled another way. There was absolutely no consistency in what magic was and was not capable of in Tolkien's world. It was exactly as powerful or as weak as it had to be for a given scene and then it changed to something else the next scene.

That's one of the things I like about Martin. Magic is always a major problem in fantasy as making it too powerful dominates the story and making it too weak makes it seem silly. Martin almost manages to avoid it all together. He could have eliminated it entirely and the story would not suffer for it. It plays such a minor role that anything done so far with magic could have been done without magic or eliminated entirely.

 

[Grooveriding]

Fixed.

Have you guys actually read them, or are you basing your love for his work from the TV show?

I've been reading fantasy since I was eight years old (now 44), and have never come across a more verbose writer. I think every time he had writers block, he said "Let's add another character arc!!!".

Some of his characters are good, and there are interesting moments, but his books read more like TV Soap Operas than fantasy, or maybe even take some Shakespeare and add a full new chapter between every sentence of the original work.

I describe Game of Thrones to my friends who enjoy the show as exactly that; a medieval soap opera. I get the appeal the show has, but it's a pretty crap show all round in the context of some of the better television out there.

One of the worst shows HBO has done.