Everyone’s jumped on the Game of Thrones bandwagon these days. It’s a geek’s dream come true because we finally have a serious attempt at transforming a well known fantasy series into a watchable TV show. Most shows end up doing a horrible job like the terrible “Legend of the Seeker” based on the Sword of Truth books. This is a trend. TV shows usually end up mauling the source material. So when geeks see a classy production closely following the Song of Ice and Fire book series, they go overboard praising it. And they’re right to do so. HBO makes awesome shows and it’s clear they’ve done Game of Thrones with a lot of love and respect for the source material.
Unfortunately none of that can make up for the shortcomings of the series itself. Warning: I’m not shy of giving away lots of spoilers, so read this at your own risk and peril. So here’s why the entire story line of Game of Thrones (Song of Ice and Fire) sucks hard.
Good Guys ALWAYS Lose
I keep hearing how this series is a “breath of fresh air” where Martin isn’t afraid to kill off his main characters and that in “real life”, the good guys don’t always win etc etc. This is true. In real life, the bad guys win some and the good guys win some. Except that in Martin’s world, the good guys never win. Character after character bites the dust without gaining a victory. Ned, Robb, Catelyn, Bran…they all get shitty deals. All of them without exception betrayed. Even our darling Arya gets royally screwed.
And the baddies? While some shit happens to them, they’re essentially self goals. Joffrey gets his comeuppance not at the hands of any hero, but from within his own side. Cersei self destructs. Tywin gets it in the gut from his own son. In other words, revenge is tragically missing from the entire Game of Thrones series. All the good guys (and wolves too!) die horrible and humiliating deaths and the bad guys essentially slip down some stairs and break their neck. Like I said in “real life”, both goodies and baddies will have victories. But Martin is just a sadist.
I get the feeling that whenever Martin feels like his plot is losing its way or is in danger of being resolved, he just sits down and thinks “Hmm..this can’t happen. Let’s kill someone!” In other words, he uses the death of his characters as a substitute for plot development and for sheer shock value hoping that others will laud him for being “gritty” and “real”.
No New Engaging Characters
I wouldn’t mind Martin polishing off his characters if he comes up with new ones at the same rate with which they exit the stage. But he doesn’t. Instead, he gives us lame creatures like Davos who no one really cares for. And then he kills him too! So who the hell is left? Brienne?
So while the initial books were riveting for the sole reason that tragedy and betrayal abound, Martin pays the price for his carelessness by not having a plot to carry the story forward. No wonder he took five years to come out with “Dance with Dragons” and openly admitted that he was working on other stuff in the meantime. He didn’t know what to do with the story! He’d killed off or crippled every single person of interest to us on Westeros so what more was left?
Moral of the story: Don’t be so casual with your main characters. We were emotionally invested in them and you chose a single big payoff by disposing of them at the cost of future story lines. Congratulations. You now have colorless remains. I haven’t even bothered to pick up Dance with Dragons because I saw nothing in the previous book to interest me further. My wife started reading it, and gave up halfway. Too boring. Did anyone expect differently? When your main characters are missing it’s like trying to squeeze water out of a rock.
It’s not Real Fantasy
At the most, we can say that the series has a passing acquaintance with magic elements. A couple of dragon scenes and veiled references to “walkers” do not a fantasy make. I initially picked this up because I was told it was one of the best fantasy writings ever. The truth however is that it’s basically fictional history. The fantasy elements are kept down to a minimum or are even non existent. I felt pretty cheated.
So much potential. All wasted by lazy storytelling. The solution to the current hysteria is to have more good fantasy novels converted into TV series with the same attention to detail and production quality that HBO is showing the with Song of Ice and Fire series. Only then will we get a sense of perspective and finally stop mooning over Game of Thrones simply because it’s all we have to look forward to at the moment.
in my opinion GoT sucks completely, its like a penthouse version of dungeons and dragons
In reply to Steve
“ts like a penthouse version of dungeons and dragons”
Have you ever actually played a game of Dungeons and Dragons? Of course not, Steve or you wouldn’t make that stupid statement!
Absolutely agree. A friend of mine said it was like a grown-up version of Lord of the Rings, but I think he failed to understand what makes that series enjoyable. I think one of the dangers of being genre savvy is the potential to fall for the erroneous belief that following a recognizable arc renders a work invalid. I’m all for killing off a primary character – maybe even all of the primary characters, but this device is far more satisfying when it is used to set the stage for a greater victory down the road.
I guess it has been wildly successful, so by that heuristic alone I have to concede there is merit. But there will never be a resolution that makes any of it worthwhile, and in the end – much as they were with Lost – people will find themselves put off by incomplete storytelling for the purposes of keeping the story going.
In reply to Alan
What we seem to be getting is a fictionalized history with no real emphasis placed on the central actors. Characters die. We all get that. But then you should be prepared for people to just lose interest if you don’t create equally interesting ones to replace those you threw away. And that in my opinion is where Martin fails.
Some people like it. Other people think it is just ok. And there are people who hate it.
That is just how it is. People have different taste and i think that all have to accept that.
If you don’t like the books it’s your opinion, that’s fine. But at least try to tell the truth in your article, you write about stuff you apparently have no clue about.
In reply to Liam
Such as?
In reply to bhagwad
The Tyrells were never on Joffs side.
Cat gets revenge by killing Freys after her revival.
Tyrion got revenge on Shae and Tywin.
Davos isn’t dead yet.
There’s plenty of magic in book 5.
Book 5 was much better than 4.
In reply to reek
Let’s see. Tyrion killing Shae and Tywin – self goal as I mentioned. Lannisters killing Lannisters. The Tyrells were never the “good guys”. Joff getting killed was hardly satisfactory or the good guys getting revenge.
Walder Frey is still alive. Until he’s dead, there’s no revenge.
In reply to bhagwad
“It’s not real fantasy.”
There is high fantasy and low fantasy. High fantasy is stuff like Lord of the Rings for example, with gods, elves, magic and sh!t. Game of Thrones is low fantasy without all that. No one ever stated that it was high fantasy, it’s just historical fantasy, a realistic omage on the European medieval with hints on fantasy which grow with every book (dragons, white walkers, etc.). You obviously had the wrong expectations.
“The good guys ALWAYS lose.”
The books aren’t even finished yet. Success and victory aren’t waiting on every corner, you already mentioned that Martin just wants to be realistic. “Martin is just a sadist.” If you read closely and follow the plot you notice that the death of every character has is purpose for the ongoing story. And there are enough chapters where the bad guys get what they deserve. Yes, Joffrey dies on his own accrod, but just out of authenticity. What else should have happened? Jon Snow charging King’s Landing and butt-f^cking Joffrey until he dies? If you’re looking for a fairy-tale where prince charming rescues the princess and everybody lives happily ever after – you’ve come to the wrong place.
(And for your consideration, Davos is not dead.)
“No new engaging characters.”
That’s not a fact and not an objective statement. It’s a matter of personal taste if you don’t like the new characters, but saying that there are no new interesting persons is plain wrong. Davos, Brienne (her POVs are boring, I have to admit), Jaime as soon as he gets POVs, same with Cersei, Ramsay, the Greyjoys, the Martells, the people surrounding Daenerys in the later books, etc. If you don’t find any of them interesting or exciting to read about it’s just because you don’t want to.
The way A FEAST FOR CROWS and A DANCE WITH DRAGONS are seperated was a bad idea from Martin, that’s true, but still – that has nothing to do with “lazy storytelling”. The arcs that took place in books 4 & 5 are not even finished yet. You and me and no one else has a clue to know if those arcs are heading to nowhere.
As I said: If you don’t like the books (and/or the show) that’s your issue. But your “review”, as far as I dare call it this way, is just picking random stuff you don’t like about books you obviously don’t completely understand.
Best regards
In reply to Liam
“If you’re looking for a fairy-tale where prince charming rescues the princess and everybody lives happily ever after – you’ve come to the wrong place.”
Most people defending game of thrones fall into the trap of a false dichotomy. Either it has to be sadistic and filled with unrealistic despair, or it has to be a fairy tale. There is a middle ground. The golden mean. Extremes are bad.
And yes, this is my opinion. Hardly surprising is it? And in my opinion, the series sucks hard.
In reply to bhagwad
” Either it has to be sadistic and filled with unrealistic despair”
What level of despair is “Unrealistic”? Nazi Germany? North korea? Clearly you seem to think making a very dark fantasy series is “unrealistic” in some way that you never really explain.
In reply to Liam
“It’s not real fantasy.”
There is high fantasy and low fantasy. High fantasy is stuff like Lord of the Rings for example, with gods, elves, magic and sh!t. Game of Thrones is low fantasy without all that. No one ever stated that it was high fantasy, it’s just historical fantasy, a realistic omage on the European medieval with hints on fantasy which grow with every book (dragons, white walkers, etc.). You obviously had the wrong expectations.
Yeah and this just proves that he was trying to write the next Pillars of the Earth found out that Ken Follett did a better job. If I want low fantasy then I will read Conan the Barbarian, or any Ann Rice novel.
so it’s overrated because the story doesnt go the way you want it to and none of the “good guys” get revenge?
Since they all have their own houses and own loved ones, they are all “good” from their own persepctive. Did you mean the more honorable ones? Well newsflash, honor like that doesnt exist that much today, hence them dying off, get it?
In reply to karim
Meh, Game of Thrones is decent but there is a shallowness beneath the sheen of its veneer. Excellent acting but uneven writing. I think many of its “savy” fans fall into the trap of of thinking it mature or realistic because it eschews some of popular fantasies heroic tropes for a darker worldview. Moral ambiguity taken to the point of meaninglessness or endless suffering and violence is no more “real” than Prince Charming riding in to save the day. The medieval world was tough. Perhaps tougher than anyone living in the but it was not all piss, shit, mud, rape and murder. There were some rules and some order and there were limits on even a kings power. Oh and go visit your local military academy and you’ll find plenty of honorable men and woman still living today. Breaking Bad did the morally broken but still relatable character study much better because Vince Gilligan was never afraid to judge Walt and it made his story much more compelling then just wallowing in shit.
wow just discovered your “blog” today. wish i hadn’t really. half the stuff you write is just to poke the bear “(in order to get the measly views that it does), and the other half is complete trash that sounds like its coming from some half-baked college student. wait a second, you got your MBA in Hyderabad (wonder how hard that was)… well that explains a lot. please kill yourself. your wife’s uglier than a camels taint and should leave your smug ass. please stop being so verbose in your articles, it doesn’t change how uneducated you are
with much love – your #1 hater
ps. i didn’t know that someone could be so uncultured before i visited your “blog”
pps. Game of Thrones is amazing, you suck horse balls, RON PAUL 2012
In reply to Bhagwad
You sir need therapy. Wanting someone to die because they dont like your favourite tv show is a clear sign of tinypenislivinginparentsbasementosis.
I have to agree here. I watched 2 seasons and it’s extremely boring. There is no direction with the plot. They sort of just put every episode together with random stuff.
You mention in your article that the ‘good guys’ always loose. However, in Game of Thrones, there are no entirely ‘good’ characters and this realization is, at least in my opinion, one of the points of the whole story. Ned Stark might be classified as the most moral of all the characters and, you are right, he simply lost. However, Catelyn Stark hated Jon Snow and treated him terribly for which she partly hated herself. Still, she didn’t change her behaviour. Robb Stark isn’t that prominent in the books so we can’t really talk about his character that much. Bran was pushed from the tower which is highly unfortunate. BUT that gave him the opportunity to develop extraordinary skills which he might not have discovered otherwise. Every character in the story became who he or she is due to past events and occurences. When those are discovered and explained, the viewers perception of a character might actually change due to that for example with Cersei’s character. Characters are also given the opportunity to develop and discover a new side to themself when supposed ‘bad’ things happen to them like in the cases of Jaime, Sansa or Bran. What’s so good about the story in my opinion is that the reasons for each characters action are explained, are pretty valid and make sense as they refer to past events. Just as in the real world, most people are neither purely ‘good’ nor ‘evil’. Everyone has traits of both inside of them.
Game of Thrones is vastly over rated. I see ratings of 9.5 everywhere and I havent seen one episode that is even an 8! I agree with you on the three points, but there are a number I could add. I have been watching the TV show only, so I can’t comment on the book.
1. There are just TOO many characters. Some of them are fairly well developed, but others are very one dimensional. The actors are fine, but there just isnt enough time and effort put into the characters. Compare G.O.T. to HBO’s “Rome”, which is far better in terms of characters, or even “Spartacus” and you will see how the characters have more depth.
2. There is no contrast between good and evil. For me, there needs to be a good character, or a likable character, or even a bad guy with some redeeming features- there has to be someone on screen who you are rooting for, and then the peril or death they face becomes relevant. Most of the time, I couldn’t care less if the characters die or not. They are just random faces in a sea of violence, sex and swearing. Sean Bean (only because of his previous movies) was one character whose death affected me, but after that I didn’t care about many of the other characters. The only other character that really stands out as being interesting and likable is the midget. I am sure they will kill him off soon.
3. The violence and sexual abuse is trivialised. If you are going to have violence and sexual abuse, then don’t trivialise it- look at the terrible effect it has on the victim and (more importantly) the culprit. Otherwise, all the beheadings and deaths seem a bit silly.
4. The show is long enough, so why not have a bit more of back story- explain WHY the characters are evil, etc. Also, nobody is 100% bad! All villains have redeeming features, and even moments where they question their behaviour and decide whether to continue along their evil path. The likes of Joffrey, the evil Queen mother and Stanis dont seem to have this depth- they are just BAD, BAD, BAD
5. The names! All the names are standard fantasy names but then they throw in “Brandon” and “Jamie”!
The Wire, Sopranos, Breaking Bad and far, far better than this show in my opinion, but I am still pleased to see a more adult take on the fantasy genre. In future I hope to see not just violence, sex and bad language but an adult level of characterisation and believability
Thank God someone else agrees. This was recommended to me as great adult fantasy… It’s not. Character s are fairly one dimensional; the plot creeps along and then suddenly races through the interesting bits; as you say it hints about fantastical creatures but doesn’t deliver.
Would be OK if it was aimed at teens but compared to people like Richard Morgan or Joe Abercrombie it is not adult literature