Race for the Iron Throne
You Win or You Die – Historical and Political Analysis of Game of Thrones by Steven Attewell
Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Bran IV, ACOK
“Open your eye…the crow gave you the third, but you will not open it.”
Synopsis: Bran discusses the greensight with Jojen and Meera, and then with Maester Luwin.
SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.
“Video” Podcast of Game of Thrones, Season 2, Episode 1, “The North Remembers”
After dealing with a strange WordPress error, SEK and I are now live with our breakdown of the first episode in HBO’s troubled second season over at Lawyers, Guns, and Money.
Guest Post on Tower of the Hand: The Blacks and Reds, Part I
The long-anticipated first part in a new essay series on the Blackfyre Rebellions has arrived! In this essay, I explore the origins and causes of the First Blackfyre Rebellion, both on a geopolitical and personal level, which houses fought for the Black Dragon and which for the Red, and unveil my Leo Longthorn Conspiracy theory.
Enjoy!
“Video” Podcast of Game of Thrones, Season 1, Episode 10, “Fire and Blood”
As promised, we are back for a second podcast in as many days, which you can listen to here.
This completes our run of Season 1 reviews/recaps. Starting tomorrow, we will be starting our run of Season 2 recaps, although we will not be putting them out once a day like we’ve been doing – rather, we’re going to have an honest-to-the-old-gods-and-the-new regular release schedule. Podcast episodes will go up Tuesday evenings (as we noticed a large number of people putting off listening/commenting until they got home from work), every week from now until Season 5 begins in mid-April.
“Video” Podcast of Game of Thrones, Season 1, Episode 9, “Baelor”
AND YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN!
Completely stunning the oddsmakers, SEK and I (now both of us of Lawyers, Guns, and Money) have finally started podcasting again, and not only that, we’re going to be releasing one episode a day for the next three days. So this week, we’ll be burning off the last two episodes of Season 1 of HBO’s Game of Thrones, the two episodes that arguably launched the show into the stratosphere, and then launching into the troubled Season 2 and trying to figure out how HBO survived the growing pains.
And you can listen right here. (We’re working on getting the video uploaded and embedded for those of you who prefer to look at our weird visages)
X-Posted from Tumblr: Tywin’s Economic Policy
As someone who’s very very interested in the intersection between ASOIAF and public policy, I’m kind of amazed I haven’t gotten to this topic before, so many thanks to Joanna Lannister for reminding me.
I’ve been interested in Tywin’s tenure as Hand for a long time, and I was quite pleased to see that the WOIAF gave us a lot more detail, which has allowed me to revise and extend my thinking.
Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Daenerys II, ACOK
All the colors that had been missing from Vaes Tolorro had found their way to Qarth; buildings crowded about her fantastical as a fever dream in shades of rose, violet, and umber.
Synopsis: Daenerys and her dragons arrive in Qarth to rapturous applause. Dany takes up residence at the house of Xaro Xhoan Daxos, gets an invitation from Pyat Pree to visit the House of the Undying, and receives word that Robert Baratheon is dead.
SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.
Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Arya VI, ACOK
“The Lannisters had taken everything: father, friends, home, hope, courage…”
Synopsis: Arya and co. meet Ser Gregor, the Tickler, Raff the Sweetling, Chyswick, Weese, and the rest of the gang on the road to the Happiest Place in Westeros.
SPOILER WARNING: This chapter analysis, and all following, will contain spoilers for all Song of Ice and Fire novels and Game of Thrones episodes. Caveat lector.
Status Update
Hey folks, just wanted to update you on some things coming up:
- New essay series at Tower of the Hand: “The Blacks and the Reds,” examining the Blackfyre Rebellions, will start this week with a mammoth Part I, examining the causes of the First Rebellion and who fought for which side.
- Associated with that, I’m hopefully going to be collaborating with the awesome people at History of Westeros Podcast on a couple episodes of their series on the Blackfyre Rebellions. Look for that in the next month or so.
- Season 2 Podcasts! Knocking on wood that the fates do not conspire to prevent Scott and I from recording, we’re planning to knock out 3 episodes tomorrow, to get all of Season 2 finished before Season 5 starts!
- A Clash of Kings Chapter Analyses: I’ve got outlines for Arya VI through Catelyn III written and now that B&R I is done (which was necessary for me to do the History of Westeros thing), I can start writing them up.
- Telltale Game of Thrones Episode 2: I have the game downloaded, and this weekend I will play and recap this. I know it’s late, but it’s been a really busy week and I’ve been looking forward to it since it launched. I will do it, I promise.
- Some Exciting Future Announcements: I’ve got a LOT, and I mean, a lot of really cool announcements about the “Analyzing” book, Volume II of Race for the Iron Throne, and more that are in the works. Can’t wait to share some of this stuff with you. RFTIT is really going to explode (in a good way) in 2015!
- Tower of the Hand – Hymn for Spring: pre-orders go live 3/15, book goes live 4/15! Really can’t wait for people to finally read this thing.
Chapter-by-Chapter Analysis: Tyrion VI, ACOK
“Lannister…all I’ve done has been for Lannister…”
Synopsis: Tyrion shares some good news with Cersei, sends a peace offer to Robb, sends men to the Wall, chats with Varys and Littlefinger, and deals with a traitor. Busy day.
