"Game of Thrones Returns to Grown-Ass Dragons..." Topic

… and a Broken World.
(SPOILER ALERT).

"The fourth season of Game of Thrones is finally here, and our resident Westeros fanatic is back to chronicle the TV adaptation of George R. R. Martin's vast and complex world, how each episode differs from the books, and what it all means. Valar dohaeris…"
Full article here.
link

Do you enjoyed the new chapter?

Amicalement
Armand

It was the first episode of the tv series I've seen and I loved it, though I'm a bit annoyed that the Greyjoy plot involving Euron/Victarion seems to have been ignored, even though its seemingly a major component of the books.

I am DELIGHTED that the Greyjoy diversion has been ignored. It is even more pointless than the Sand Snakes wandering.
Martin dug himself a hole with those side stories, and now he has to finish two books and take those (and more uninteresting and unimportant) diversions into account.
He could do that when he was just writing to please himself. He now has the goons of HBO breathing down his neck.

How is it a 'diversion'… you have a potential usurper of the throne of the Iron Islands sailing with one of the largest naval fleets in existence to meet up with Daenerys in order to ostensibly court her in the name of his brother and in the process create a political alliance between the Targaryens and Greyjoys. Of course, he doesn't seem quite interested in doing that and instead seems intent on courting her himself and using her dragons to depose his brother… regardless of how that plays out, that could be a huge game changer in the story, particularly when Daenerys is in need of a fleet to transport her army to Westeros, or do you intend for them to swim there?

So far, I see no evidence that the Iron Islands storyline is, in fact, going to be dropped from the show.

They might just have decided to push it into the fifth season, for logistical and/or storytelling reasons. You usually introduce new characters when they are about to do something that impacts the story of the main characters, not before.

GRRM basically did the same: chronologically, the early chapters of the Iron Islands and Dorne storylines belong in Book Three, but instead appear in Book Four, in order not to split the arcs between two books.

I also don't understand how these storylines could possibly be seen as "uninteresting and unimportant" "diversions". They are obviously closely interwoven with the rest of the story, and have already impacted other storylines in a big way (the Dorne plot in particular). Much more is to follow in the next book, to judge by the preview chapters.

They make the books drag, and they will make the TV series 12 years long. That is why they are "uninteresting and unimportant" "diversions".
What the do MY intentions have to do with landing her army? Do I look like GRR Martin? We don't even KNOW from the books if she ever gets to Westeros in the first place! Right now all she is doing is liberating slaves and failing at nation building! And I will not even throw in the Book 5 SPOILER CLIFFHANGER ALERT on where she ends up at the end.
In any event, there are plenty of cities in Esteros willing to buy her off and give her ships so she will stop liberating them. Who knows? She may get tired of being a failure at ruling and just want to get to King's Landing and kick ass. Or burn ass.
Just how many Dothraki or Second Sons of Unsullied could Victarion's ships ferry over? They are not transports, they are a war fleet.

Asha/Yara has gone off to the Dreadfort to rescue her little brother, on TV. One preview I have seen in one of many trailers shows Theon striding manfully about in armor. So much for advancing her claim to the Iron Throne. Good riddance to BORING sidetracks.
There is much precedent to dropping these side excursions. Ask the actor who played Tom Bombadil.

As for the relevance and interest of these storylines, I guess we have to agree to disagree there, John. I look very much forward to what the Ironborn and Dornishmen are up to. I'm not bored at all.

She may get tired of being a failure at ruling and just want to get to King's Landing and kick ass. Or burn ass.

With the exception of "King's Landing", that's pretty much the gist of the last Daenerys chapter in ADwD.

That said, one of the prominent themes of ASoIaF has always been that winning a throne is much easier than ruling a kingdom, and I expect this to be explored further in books six and seven.

Just how many Dothraki or Second Sons of Unsullied could Victarion's ships ferry over? They are not transports, they are a war fleet.

Well, it is stated that the Ironborn have captured various traders. Also, there are more fleets en route (e.g. the Volantenes).

Well the Iron Fleet is the largest one in existence (that we know of at any rate) and they certainly aren't above expanding that fleet using less that legitimate means (i.e. – capturing and taking them as prizes), so I would imagine that the fleet might expand some…

I think, though I have no real basis for this, that John might be one of the anti-Greyjoy subsets of the fanbase, who for whatever reason (though I admit its not entirely unjustified) absolutely loathe the Iron Islanders and the Greyjoy line and see them as the equivalent of Nazi's within the setting (despite the fact that they are arguably no better or worse than any other population shown thus far), hence his dislike of the subplot. It seems that people, such as myself, who actually LIKE the Greyjoys and Ironborn and think them the coolest faction present in the setting are a very small minority.

AcrylicNick – Well they haven't shown Victarion or Euron to even exist within the setting of the show, while they were originally included in the family tree published on the shows website I believe they were later removed. They could just write them in later I suppose, or just rewrite it with a combination of new/existing characters (introduce Euron and replace Victarion with Theon possibly?), but otherwise I suppose you're right, it might fit better towards the end of this season or as an element in the next season, I suppose I am jumping the gun a bit.

John – As for the buying her off thing, I believe they already tried that once or twice and she found the fleets they offered her to be too inadequate to actually utilize for her goals… hence the need for a larger fleet, like say… the Iron Fleet. If there is *any* fleet in Westeros or Essos or wherever capable of getting the job of, its the Greyjoys, I don't think anyone else really even comes close.

The Greyjoys make the Lannisters look like a poetry and pansies appreciation society.
You can actually find decent Lannisters! Kevan, Aunt Genna, Myrcella, etc.

I LOVE Aunt Genna.