Okay, like most people who blog, I get delighted when I get comments. I am rarely delighted however when a spam comment makes it through WordPress’ otherwise excellent spam filter. A few days ago, I was delighted.
I Totally Look Like This When I’m Blogging, Just Ask My Wife.
My email let me know that my blog post Defending Magic in Game of Thrones had a comment waiting for moderation. Right on. It’s a great post! (I might be biased.) But I was unprepared for the effusive praise in the comment.
Season Four of Game of Thrones, HBO’s excellent adaptation of George RR Martin’s saga A Song of Ice and Fire, kicked off in the first week of April. I’m pretty excited. Stupidly excited.
People following my blog are aware that I’d published over a dozen Game of Thrones-related articles last year, and at the beginning of this year I set myself a challenge to crank out a GoT post every week in preparation for the new season.
Now that the new season has started, I’m taking a break from posting new articles (I’m too busy reading everyone’s reactions to the current episodes), but I wanted to package up links to my 2014 pre-season postings, like I did for my 2013 collection.
This post will be touching on magical plot points covering the first three seasons of HBO’s excellent series, Game of Thrones. If you are caught up with the show, there won’t be any spoilers here.
Although HBO’s Game of Thrones was relatively light on magical elements in its first season, the show is undeniably a fantasy as we approach its fourth season.
Dragons, witchcraft, curses, illusions, face changers, resurrections, and creepy bald headed warlocks have all made their way on screen.
The question is, are all these elements good for the show? Game of Thrones operates masterfully as a quasi-historical epic, without magic. If magic can be used to dramatically change the equation of power between the competing factions, then doesn’t this lower the stakes? How can we become invested in the story if magic can be used, a la deus ex machina, to slay or save one of the characters without warning?
If you’re up to speed on HBO’s Game of Thrones, at least a few episodes into Season Three, then this post won’t be spoilery.
Too Magical For Eyebrows!
I want to state up front that I’m not siding with the Warlocks of Qarth against plucky Daenerys Targaryen. I can’t defend their nefarious plot to abduct her in order to draw power from the Silver Queen and her dragons.
Instead, I’m defending them against allegations that they are an over-powered drama-breaking element in the show.
Well, obviously she’s attractive, that’s not my point.
This post discusses elements from the first three seasons of HBO’s Game of Thrones. There will not be any spoilers regarding future plot points from the books. If you are up to date on the show, this post should not be considered dark and full of terrors.
Game of Thrones can loosely be described as a realistic fantasy (moreso in the beginning admittedly), there are fantasy elements but they are usually more behind the scenes. The average person of Westeros might hold superstitious beliefs while never seeing anything supernatural.
I Can't Possibly Be Wrong All the Time 