You Win or you Die!

It’s been a long time since I have put an entry here and for anyone who cares I apologise. Onwards!

For the last 5 years I have been watching a show that has went from being “that thing with Sean Bean” to one of the greatest if not the greatest TV show I have ever watched. It is a story of death, tragedy and treachery. A show that tells of the Starks, the Targaryens the Lannisters, the Baratheons and every man woman and child caught in between!

Valar Morghulis 

All Men are mortal. There is no more a defining line in the series that describes how this show works. You will hear many fans of the show and the books say repeatedly to all of their friends or people who have never come across it before that you should “never like a character because as soon as you do they are dead”. Well this isn’t exactly wrong but it isn’t right either, There are many characters that are simply brilliant. For those of you who have never read or watched Game of Thrones you won’t know any names but you should at least try to understand just how good each and every character in this show is and how they all have a rich backstory and how anyone that is still alive still has a role to play that could change the future of everything with one action.

Just a few days ago on Reddit I was reading that a guy had just introduced his brother to the series and that halfway through Season 1 he made the prediction that Eddard Stark (Sean Bean) and Daenerys Stormborn (Emilia Clarke) would end up in a battle to the death to save Westeros and Ned would end up becoming the new King. Well to be honest that is why I wish I could go back and experience this show from the beginning all over again because after having just watched the ending to Season 5, I no longer have that precious innocence, I am now a hardened, emotionless shell of the man I was before I began. King Theoden in the Lord of the Rings sums up perfectly my mood when it comes to what i’ve seen:

“So much death. What can one man do against such reckless hate”.

Now talking about the show so far you are probably thinking, “holy christ what are people watching these days?”, well you’re kinda right but then I did say it was the greatest show on television. Read on!

Dracarys!

The characters that we follow mostly are the highborn families of Westeros, the rich and powerful who have been there for countless generations!

The Starks – Descendants of the First Men they are Northerners, a giant area of Westeros that is the hardest to tame due to the wilds and the frozen North! Winterfell is their home and they have a saying that has become more and more true as the show goes on… Winter Is Coming.

The Lannisters – Blonde haired and the most filthy rich of the entire world, except the Iron Bank perhaps. They are schemers, and master tacticians at maneuvering around their enemies to get exactly what they want which involves the Iron Throne! Their saying is “Hear me Roar” or perhaps most often heard ” A Lannister always pays His Debts”.

The Baratheons – This house is the one that has the Iron Throne at the beginning of the show after leading a rebellion against The Mad King Aerys Targaryen and usurping the throne from him after he tried to kill the entire populace with Wildfire. They technically have the biggest claim to the throne but are reckless and angered easily.

 The Targaryens – This family has been the rulers of Westeros for hundred of years. They are known as the Dragons because in the days of old they rid mighty dragons into battle! They cannot be burned by fire and they posses great knowledge and power not seen for generations! They went almost extinct after King Baratheon’s Rebellion against them and what remains of their family is now across the Narrow Sea regaining power day by day.

These families and their bannermen (other families who march to war with them) are the main storytellers, for 5 years I have watched them change grow or shrink and I find myself hating and loving them all at the same time. The Starks are the family everyone loves, and for good reason they are noble and honourable unlike the Lannisters who are always sneaking around and being deceitful, but even for a family you are supposed to hate there is one or two of its members that you cannot help but love and that brings me to:

The Lord of Light wants his enemies burnt. The Drowned God wants his enemies drowned. Why are all the gods such vicious cunts? Where is the god of tits and wine?

Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) is a man I knew nothing about until I watched this show, but the fact that acting talent that good hasn’t really been discovered until now is just shocking. Dinklage is possibly the best character in the show, Tyrion is nothing but devoted totally to his family, having saved Kings Landing (the world’s capital) at the Battle of Blackwater using Wildfire to disastrous effect for Stannis Baratheon’s troops to trying to keep order amongst the chaos that is his sister Cersei (Lena Headey) and his nephew Joffrey (Jack Gleeson). But of course no one member of his family respects him for all of his fantastic accomplishments except his older brother The KingSlayer! Knowing where Tyrion is now he has come so far and I want to see him succeed because the sacrifices he has made have been emotional, I find myself with tears in my eyes at times watching his story unfold and the dark twist it takes in Season 4.

The War for Cersei’s Cunt!

Kingslayer! Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster Waldau) is someone you can’t help but despise in the early seasons, hes a cocky fucker who thinks he knows it all just because his father is Tywin Lannister. Of course in Season 3 he realises that just because he says his father’s name doesn’t mean he can get his own way all of his life, when he loses something of great value to him as punishment for trying! It is from that moment on he fully understands the gravity of who and what he is. There is a bath scene where he explains why he killed The Mad King, the scene is so powerful and you really feel for him when he tells you that his last words was “Burn them, burn them all!”. Chilling. Jaime has his moments of cockyness always popping up here and there but he has really stepped into Tyrion’s shoes and started acting more honourable to save his family’s legacy.

The theories of certain characters, like who they are, who certain people’s fathers or mothers may be and so on are rife since the author of the books hasn’t yet finished writing this epic tale, and for me it has been extremely difficult to not run online and find as many spoilers as I could because that is all part of the fun, each year we get a look into the world of Game of Thrones and we find out more twists and turns and moments that make your adrenaline pump and your emotions run rampant. Having talked with my friend over and over about this and that and what we think is going to happen has made me fall in love with this series more and more as the time goes on, and I cannot wait to see what happens from this point forward.

For anyone who doesn’t watch the show. You should start. It starts out as a show you’ll be talking with your friends about who will end up sitting on the Iron Throne when it’s all said and done, but once you watch Season 5 you will realise one thing. The Iron Throne does not mean a thing given the threat that stirs in the North. Beyond the wall something is coming, and all the squabbles and fighting over a chair will mean nothing when the Stark words ring true. Winter. Is. Coming! There are many many more characters than I have not named here but where I am at right now having started the show from the beginning again I thought I would mention my favorites and I will write more on the show in future, so watch this space! Thanks for reading guys! Ill write more in the coming week.