Until the BBC, in league with HBO, decided to tackle Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, it remained one of the greatest, unfilmed epic adventure stories in modern literature. There was, granted, an attempt in 2007 with The Golden Compass...
We are going to look back on the final season of Game of Thrones as one, six-part series finale because, essentially, that’s precisely what it is, riven with concluding arcs and beats for its huge ensemble of characters. SPOILERS follow, so...
The end of April saw two of the biggest pop-culture entertainment events of the decade in one weekend, and something strange has become apparent through the other side of them: we have become obsessed with death. SPOILERS follow for Game of Thrones...
It would be remiss of me, as an enormous Game of Thrones fan, to let the final season go by without sharing some thoughts week on week. I’m conscious, however, that full and in-depth critical analysis won’t truly be possible until the finale has...
DAENERYS TARGARYEN: I am Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, of the blood of old Valyria. I am the dragon’s daughter, and I swear to you that those who would harm you will die screaming. The first season finale of Game of Thrones starts with the...
NED STARK: You think my life is some precious thing to me? That I would trade my honor for a few more years… of what? I grew up with soldiers. I learned how to die a long time ago. Numerous precedents are set by Game of Thrones with ‘Baelor’...
VARYS: Ah, the children. It’s always the innocents. One of the interesting aspects of ‘You Win or You Die’, which I failed to mention in my analysis of that episode, was how the children were completely eliminated from view, at least the...
CERSEI: When you play the game of thrones, you either win or you die. There is no middle ground. If ever you wanted to point to an early episode of Game of Thrones which would serve as a mission statement for the iconic series to come, outside of...
VISERYS TARGARYEN: Who can rule without wealth, or fear, or love? As we move into the second half of Game of Thrones’ debut season, two of the most central concepts of George R.R. Martin’s saga begin to assert themselves in deeper ways: children and...
NED STARK: “Jon was a man of peace. He was Hand for seventeen years, seventeen good years. Why kill him?” VARYS: “He started asking questions.” Halfway into the first season of Game of Thrones and establishment is beginning...