Archive for the ‘Opinion’ Category

Wights, Wards, and the Wall. What’s Up with that?

Posted: July 4, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , , , , , ,
17

Season Seven of Game of Thrones is looming on the horizon, like the Wall itself.

I’ll be talking about that Wall, and details from Season Six (and earlier) so if you’re not caught up, you are taking the risk well-warned of spoilers.

In the finale of the sixth season of Game of Thrones, Bran Stark’s undead uncle Benjen escorted them from the far northern locale of the deceased Three Eyed Raven, to within site of the Wall. Before placing Bran next to a weirwood tree, Benjen announced that he was leaving.

(more…)

Game of Thrones: Magic of Ice and Fire

Posted: June 27, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , , , , ,
8

This post will be talking about magic, but not really Harry Potter magic. I’ll be addressing some supernatural underpinnings in HBO’s Game of Thrones. If you’re not up on the show, I wanted to state up front that I’ll definitely be discussing plot points.

The blogger would make an awful maegi. One is supposed to make vague statements  and trick the reader into stumbling onto curses and naked spoilers.

No one disputes that there is magic on display in Game of Thrones.

Daenerys Targaryen was given a brief lecture about magic and dragons by the Warlocks of Qarth, while in their House of the Undying.

When your dragons were born, our magic was born again. It is strongest in their presence, and they are strongest in yours.

This post will be about magic and specifically how Daenerys represents a magic that had gone away from the world, and which is now returning in force. I’ll also discuss that there’s a magic that never went away, a passive but persistent kind of magic. As a counterpoint to Daenerys, there’s a character who is the central focus for that type of supernatural element. (Narratively or symbolically speaking. Yes, it’s going to be one of those posts.)

(more…)

Defending Ramsay Bolton

Posted: June 13, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , ,
21

This post will be about Game of Thrones and its reprehensible monster of a villain, Ramsay.

Reprehensible? Me??? – Well, I suppose that’s fair. Carry on.

Game of Thrones is a rare story in that so many of its villains have sympathetic traits, and its well-intentioned heroes more often-than-not struggle with the consequences of questionable choices.

(more…)

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword

Posted: June 11, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Movie Review, Opinion
Tags: , , , , , , ,
9

Recently, I took my daughter to see a movie about superhero royalty. No, I didn’t take her to see Wonder Woman (we’ll see it soon, I assume) – instead I took her to see Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

If you’ve not seen King Arthur: LotS, this post will be spoilery, so I’ll just strongly recommend the movie to you and send you on your way. It’s not a typical King Arthur movie though. It’s a very specific genre-mashing of Arthurian legend and Ritchie’s Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels style.

(more…)

Game of Thrones: the Four Feuding Families

Posted: May 30, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , , , ,
8

As the name of the post implies, I’ll be talking about Game of Thrones. If you’re not up on the show (or the books, the excellent books) then consider this your spoiler warning.

The events that take place in Westeros largely concern themselves with the interaction of four prominent families: the Targaryens, the Baratheons, the Starks, and the Lannisters. I’ll make my apologies to the Greyjoys, Tullys, Arryns, Tyrells, and Martells right up front for implying that they’re not important.

But the show’s opening title card has no krakens, trout, falcons, roses, or suns-with-spears displayed prominently. Just a dragon, lion, direwolf, and stag.

(more…)

Game of Thrones Season Seven Trailer Breakdown: Unnecessary and Obsolete

Posted: May 27, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: ,
9

To be clear, the trailer for Season Seven of Game of Thrones was great!

My post is technically unnecessary and obsolete, because the trailer came out a few days ago and instantly a plethora of podcasts, YouTube videos, and professional/semi-professional online articles were released talking about the trailer.

But this blogging hobbyist can’t be silent. And I can’t listen to these podcasts or read the trailer articles until I got my thoughts down, so after diligently screen-shotting each frame (more or less) from the trailer (thank you YouTube and the PrintScreen button) here’s my analysis.

(more…)

Thoughts on the Alien Franchise

Posted: May 25, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Blogging, Movie Review, Opinion
Tags: , , , , , , ,
7

Alien: Covenant is now out in theaters, but I haven’t seen it yet. (So no worries about me spoiling that movie here.)

I noticed the other day that I was coming up on my blog’s 300th post.  Yay me!

I felt it would be appropriate to recognize that milestone with some thoughts on a movie series (since that’s why I started blogging in the first place) and since there was an Alien franchise movie in theaters, here are some of my observations with those movies.

(more…)

The Drowned God and the Tides of Religion

Posted: May 23, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , , , , , , ,
7

Game of Thrones is still over a month away, but there’s no reason not to keep blogging about it. If you’re up on the storyline and have any interest in some off-beat comparative religion talk, you have come to the right forbidding, chilly seaside.

Don’t listen to him! I drown people who are interested in comparative religions! (To be fair, I drown everyone I get my grizzled hands on.)

Located west of the Riverlands across Ironman’s Bay, the last stretch of dry land before one enters the endless Sunset Sea, you’ll find the Iron Islands.

Before the advent of dragons in Westeros, the Ironmen of those rocky metal-rich islands held tremendous sway over the people of Westeros. The Riverlands and all people who lived within the sound of the waves paid tribute to keep axe-wielding torch-brandishing reavers from their doorsteps.

The Ironmen consider themselves a breed apart from the other inhabitants of Westeros, with cultural differences that include a specific faith not followed on the mainland. The Ironborn do not hold with the Old Gods or the New, but instead worship the Drowned God who dwells beneath the waves.

(more…)

Bran Stark: the Wolf with Wings

Posted: May 16, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , , ,
21

If you don’t know who Bran Stark is, then you’re not familiar with HBO’s Game of Thrones, or the book series A Song of Ice and Fire that it’s based on. I won’t forbid you from reading my article (because it’s great, yo) but it’ll end up spoiling details of the plot. I recommend you binge-watch the show and come right back.

The most recent season of Game of Thrones marked the return of Bran Stark, the little lad who climbed too high, saw things he shouldn’t have seen, yet lived to tell the tale. Well, he would have told the tale, if he didn’t have traumatic amnesia.

(more…)

Northern Politics: the Stark Candidates

Posted: May 2, 2017 by patricksponaugle in Game of Thrones, Opinion, TV
Tags: , , , , , ,
14

Whoa, it’s the month of May, and there’s still no new Game of Thrones? Fine. (Pronounce that the way my teenage daughter might…)

So hopefully you’ll enjoy a short essay on the politics of the kingdom of the North, an area usually associated with the rule of House Stark. (Spoilers within if you’re not watching the show/reading the books. But you already know that.)

robb_1x10

Politics? I hear you cry out. Don’t we have enough of that going on in the real world? Yup. We do. But I’m still going to write about Westeros and politics. (My family gets less worried about me when I’m talking about kings and not presidents.)

(more…)

Older Entries
Newer Entries