Game of Thrones Creator : HBO's Iron Throne "Not What I Want"

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PunkRex

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Different medium, different take. Although that throne in the picture does look bad ass, maybe he should be more worried about his artistic endeavours, in other words...

Get your ass back in the study a write us some books!
 

Kargathia

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Halyah said:
Eleima said:
It's fairly common that movie or series adaptations of novels don't quite live up to the original work, and Game of Thrones is no exception (Eragon and Wing Commander also come to mind).
The Iron Throne in the novels is massive, huge, twisted, asymmetrical and has steep steps. It's also uncomfortable, you can't lie back in it or you'll be cut to shreds. FrozenCones is correct, Joffrey does cut himself at one point in the books, and there are a few cautionary tales about previous kings cutting themselves as well (I remember one character in particular saying that Aegon had a deep gash on one of his forearms once because he got careless and tried to use the armrest).
Would be a bit of a problem if the actors sitting in the chair constantly needed to get stitched up.
If the throne is that dangerous then why haven't they simply made pillows and other such things so that those using it don't end up killing themselves on it? Seems rather stupid to me.
The thing was made with the express intention of making the King uncomfortable in it - he shouldn't be lounging about in a fancy chair, he should be busy conquering stuff.

And while I certainly can understand Martin as imaging something somewhat more imposing, I'd say HBO made the right call here. A throne 5 meters high would be a ***** to build, incorporate in a set, and film. Just imagine filming dialogue when one character is all the way up there.
 

Revolutionary

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Yep Making a throne like that would be awesome, but probably not very practical. Different mediums call for adaptation having someone sitting in a chair that f'n huge makes it hard for them to talk to anyone.
 

J Tyran

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FrozenCones said:
J Tyran said:
DugMachine said:
Didn't previous kings cut themselves on the chair? That's brutal
One was actually killed by it, or so the rumours at court suggested. Might have been a good cover story for someone that murdered him.
As I recall from the book, Joff cuts himself on it in front of an entire court full of people and starts crying.
Joffery cuts himself in the book and TV show, Aerys cut himself all the time and Maegor was killed by it. The mythology of it is supposed to be that the throne attacks unworthy Kings, which is why in the book and the TV series everyone stood with their mouths open when the Joffery cut himself.
 

Baresark

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There are characters from the books that never make appearances, for instance, on account of there simply not being enough time to include every person ever introduced into the literary version of Westeros.
This is actually because his characters are shit, so he writes too many of them to make up for the fact that none of them are very good. I'm just saying.

OT: Yeah, I can see his complaint. I mean, that is kind of the icon that represents the kings of Westeros. It should reflect the royal lineage and be a representation of what they are. The HBO one looks cool, but it definitely pales into insignificance compared to the one depicted above.
 

Lovely Mixture

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I always thought the HBO Throne looked really silly actually, it didn't fit well. But I understood what they were going for so I never really criticized it.

I like Martin's involvement with the series. He's even given HBO plot points in case he dies.

Diegolomac said:
The version on the painting looks to me like something out of Dark Souls, actually.
My thoughts exactly, it's like a larger, messy version of what I imagine Gywn's throne room to look like. The lighting even makes it look lke Anor Londo.
 

Something Amyss

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TheAmazingHobo said:
In the actual blog post, Martin points out that he understands and approves of all the decisions leading to the TV version of the throne (size, practicality etc). He also states that he actually "loves" the design.
OP simply choose to not mention this and instead deliberately made it seem like Martin was somehow pissed at the TV version.
*slaps forehead*

I should have expected as much, really. I've gotten good about checking the Escapist's sources. I guess I just got lazy.
 

RedEyesBlackGamer

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Eleima said:
It's fairly common that movie or series adaptations of novels don't quite live up to the original work, and Game of Thrones is no exception (Eragon and Wing Commander also come to mind).
The Iron Throne in the novels is massive, huge, twisted, asymmetrical and has steep steps. It's also uncomfortable, you can't lie back in it or you'll be cut to shreds. FrozenCones is correct, Joffrey does cut himself at one point in the books, and there are a few cautionary tales about previous kings cutting themselves as well (I remember one character in particular saying that Aegon had a deep gash on one of his forearms once because he got careless and tried to use the armrest).
Would be a bit of a problem if the actors sitting in the chair constantly needed to get stitched up.
The mad king was actually described as having heavily scarred arms from where he would constantly wave his arms around carelessly in rages. At least, I thought I remember reading that.
 

TakerFoxx

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FalloutJack said:
George, get back to writing the damn book. We don't need to see you slacking off and talking to the camera while your high-grossing show is catching up to your successful book series. Just keep writing and let other people do THEIR job while you do yours.
Snowblindblitz said:
This. This.

The show is going to overtake the book series at this rate, and if they can keep Daenery's rolling, unlike the fifth book, we might be onto something.
PunkRex said:
Get your ass back in the study a write us some books!
Whelp, I guess it's time to roll out the immortal words of Neil Gaiman. In song! :p


I'm sorry, but I've always wanted to use that. The opportunity was just too great.
 

TakerFoxx

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FalloutJack said:
That was hilarious and well-timed, though the irony here is that the one bitching is really George.
Eh, not really. If you read the actual blog post, he says that while the show's Iron Throne doesn't measure up to the one in his mind, he acknowledges that his version wouldn't be practical, understands why they made the changes, and says that the new design is still pretty awesome and even has one of its paperweights on his desk. He just doesn't people to forget how incredibly imposing the throne from the books is supposed to be.
 

PunkRex

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TakerFoxx said:
Whelp, I guess it's time to roll out the immortal words of Neil Gaiman. In song! :p


I'm sorry, but I've always wanted to use that. The opportunity was just too great.
I don't actually read the books, I was just having abit of fun, still this song is genius!
 

Kittyhawk

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That's cool, George, but you can't always get what you want. As much as I love the books, tv is a different medium and HBO might not be able to adopt everything from the books for their own reasons.

No use griping about it, as I'm sure he's been paid handsomely for the adaptions of his books. On top of that, many new fans are created who will also check out his other works.

Sure, I love your iron throne more (looks really cool), George, but don't count your blessings, man. Many other authors would love the attention, money and exposure, you and your works are getting. It'll all be over one day.
 

Olas

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Honestly, almost everything about the TV show looks lame compared to how it's described in the books. That's part of why I stopped watching it.
 

Hades

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I think some posters are misunderstanding George. He's generally really happy with the show. He even allegedly said ''My god, they got it exactly right'' when entering the set. Like TakerFox said, he's not actually all that unhappy with the tv throne.

Book throne looks like a deathtrap. I'd get the feeling that if a fat king like Robert would sit on it for the long he would have died due the thing collapsing which I think would get him impaled by all those swords.

I don't think I could take any king using that throne entirely seriously.
 

The Wykydtron

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Well now it makes sense when they say that one king has died to the Iron Throne... Shit son. Are those stairs made of swords? Awesome!

How would you even get down from that monstrosity? With great care and no sudden movements...
 

Fdzzaigl

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Don't have much of a problem with the current one, but the more faithful depection in that painting does look much more impressive and intimidating.
 

Aurion

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First I read the op, and thought "Okay, yeah, that seems a bit silly even though the throne in the picture is boss".

...

Then I read the actual blog post by GRRM that sparked the story, and facepalmed at the OP being pretty darn misleading.