Archive for the ‘Game of Thrones’ Category

Tyrion Lannister: Wives, Warfare, and Witness Stands

Posted: January 11, 2019 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , ,
0

2019 is finally here, with the final season of Game of Thrones on the horizon. I’m hoping to write feature articles for the Game of Thrones fan site Watchers on the Wall during the last months of the hiatus and then while the show is airing. (I can put out one a month until the show comes back, but then I’d better go weekly, exploring some insight from each episode.)

Over on Watchers on the Wall, I currently have a feature article speculating on what might be happening with Tyrion Lannister in Season Eight, by looking at significant events that have already unfolded in his narrative and then applying the performance Rule of Threes.

(more…)

Advertisements

Here Lies Melisandre…

Posted: December 6, 2018 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , ,
2

We’re a month closer to the premiere of the final season of Game of Thrones! Since I’m trying to get something Westeros-related written every month until the show airs (when I hope to have weekly content) – this month I was inspired by the longer and longer December nights to write something about Melisandre of Asshai, for the Watchers on the Wall website.

In her last appearance on the show, Melisandre hinted about a significant event that’ll be happening – most likely – in Season Eight, and I did some exhausting (if not totally exhaustive) speculation on that.

(more…)

Pug Film Festival 2018: Baahubali the Beginning and Conclusion

Posted: November 15, 2018 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Movie Review
Tags: ,
1

Months ago, on the Fighting in the War Room podcast, one of the co-hosts (I am sure it was Da7e Gonzales) talked at length about the Indian cinematic epic Baahubali.

Several weekends ago I had some free time, so I decided to treat my dog Chi Chi and Willow to a movie. (Or rather, I comfortably watched Baahubali via Netflix with my dogs next to me on the couch, so I could prevent Willow from trying to crush Chi Chi with her affection.)

Because I’m so classy, when the dogs and I watch foreign films, I declare it to be the next in a series of Pug Film Festivals (because of Chi Chi the Pug. Look, you’re not here for why I do things, I understand.)

(more…)

A Political Post In November! (Relax. It’s about Westeros and Game of Thrones)

Posted: November 12, 2018 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , ,
0

It’s November and the ongoing (thanks to the extended and legal counting of all the votes) Mid-Term Elections in the United States have been on my mind. But no one needs to know my thoughts on that hot mess, so I wrote a post tackling several political points in Game of Thrones for the Watchers on the Wall site.

I give an overview of the political landscape going into Season Eight of Game of Thrones (I even have a shout-out for the delightful Lollys Stokeworth.) And I definitively tell you who is ending up on the Iron Throne. Hopefully I avoid referencing political cliches.

Jon Snow: Hashtag I’m With Her. IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN!
Me: Keep it real, son.

(more…)

In Triple Aspect: Witches of Macbeth and A Song of Ice and Fire

Posted: November 1, 2018 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones
Tags: , , ,
0

 

Here’s a special treat for Game of Thrones fans and Shakespeare lovers – an essay discussing witches and their significance in A Song of Ice and Fire. (Everyone should be aware of the work Shakespeare Of Thrones is doing. She’s the best.)

Shakespeare of Thrones

Witches.

One of the most easily recognizable archetypes in literature, yet transmutable into so many varying forms. Old, young, wise, prophetic, repulsive, tempting, ugly, beautiful–for every one witch characteristic, there seems to be a corresponding opposite.

Macbeth’s three Witches are old and ugly hags, endowed with the gift of prophecy. They begin and end the play—indeed serving as a centerpiece of the story—as they feed Macbeth’s ambition.  Lady Macbeth is, likewise, a witch figure. She is young and mortal, bereft of prophetic powers, but aligns herself with the Witches and has seductive power as she impels her husband to do wicked deeds.

In A Song of Ice and Fire, there are many more types of witches. Melisandre comes to mind  as the most prominent, plot-driving witch in the story, but there is also Maggy the Frog, Mirri Maz Duur, Ghost of High Heart, Lady Stoneheart, and even Cersei.  Quite…

View original post 2,895 more words

Double-Crossing Devils and Mocked Gods

Posted: October 6, 2018 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , , , ,
5

Happy October everyone! Over on the Watchers on the Wall site, I have a new feature that hopefully is in sync thematically with this spooky, Halloween-focused month.

My feature talks about haunted Harrenhal and the blood-soaked bargain forged between Arya Stark and the mysterious and mercurial Jaqen H’ghar. One of those two was getting in over their head – and I suggest that the one out of their depth wasn’t Arya.

(more…)

Defending Dead Direwolves: Part 5 of 5

Posted: September 23, 2018 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , ,
0

This is the final post in a series talking about the direwolves on Game of Thrones (with some references to their analogous narratives in the books of A Song of Ice and Fire.) For more info on what this post is about, you can check out Part One. I tried to constrain myself to a five-part series, but part four was split up among two separates posts, because I was too verbose.

Nymeria hates verbosity as much as she hates Lannisters.

If you’ve wandered here without having read any of the previous essays talking about the direwolves, here’s the Too Long; Didn’t Read summation.

The direwolves on Game of Thrones appear to be an endangered species, and though it might not be correct to say that I’m okay with that, it is entirely fair to say that I’m not not okay with that. If there’s weakness in the adaptation of the direwolves’ narrative (which is hard to say definitively since there are more of the books to come out) then that weakness is probably on par with the other shortcuts taken in adapting A Song of Ice and Fire.

(more…)

Older Entries
Newer Entries