Game of Thrones premiers tonight at 9pm on HBO

[Pengo]

I always thought one of the more interesting parts of this series was the way "magic" and other crazy shit was slowly introduced. I'm glad that it already was renewed for the book 2 season, as it just keeps getting better and better. Though I don't really remember if much crazy magical-type stuff happens in the 1st or 2nd book?

All I can think of early on is hints of the

Spoiler

white walkers and that the dire wolves growing up was pretty cool.

Other than that, mainly whats happening is political maneuvering which might be boring to a lot of people.

 

[Fool]

The slow introduction is cool, but it can also be problematic. For instance they keep saying "Winter is coming" and supposedly it's going to be a bad winter that lasts a lifetime. But we're already 4 books in and winter hasn't really hit yet. Worst case it's only winter for a book or two.

 

[Obibun]

how can winter last a lifetime? growing food wouldn't be possible, everybody would simply die

 

[Fool]

Refrigeration and spices yo

 

[Benzer]

I always thought one of the more interesting parts of this series was the way "magic" and other crazy shit was slowly introduced. I'm glad that it already was renewed for the book 2 season, as it just keeps getting better and better. Though I don't really remember if much crazy magical-type stuff happens in the 1st or 2nd book?

All I can think of early on is hints of the

Spoiler

white walkers and that the dire wolves growing up was pretty cool.

Other than that, mainly whats happening is political maneuvering which might be boring to a lot of people.

I think it was really smart for GRRM to

Spoiler

have the "magicians" or whatever he called them down in King's Landing that could set the river on fire. The fact that they were making something like napalm, which also explained the magical flaming sword, really makes the reader think "ok, how much of this is going to be REAL magic or just magic from the point of view of the people in the story."

 

[Rurouni]

I think it was really smart for GRRM to

Spoiler

have the "magicians" or whatever he called them down in King's Landing that could set the river on fire. The fact that they were making something like napalm, which also explained the magical flaming sword, really makes the reader think "ok, how much of this is going to be REAL magic or just magic from the point of view of the people in the story."

how are they gonna explain

Spoiler

melisandre and giving birth to the thing that killed renly

 

[Obibun]

Refrigeration and spices yo

yeah but human food stockpiles cannot possibly endure that long, even with refrigeration and spices

we're talking ~50 years ++ of absolutely no food production whatsoever, assuming this winter is as long and winterish as people say

50 years of stockpiled food is pretty much impossible even today, but especially in a fantasy/medieval setting

it can't possibly be a plot device in these novels? (haven't read)

 

[PhrenzY]

how are they gonna explain

Spoiler

melisandre and giving birth to the thing that killed renly

Spoiler

I was fixing to say; the only true "magic" we've seen so far in the series comes from either The Others or Melisandre.

 

[Benzer]

how are they gonna explain

Spoiler

melisandre and giving birth to the thing that killed renly

Spoiler

There is obviously real magic going on, but there is also fake magic going on as well. Melisandre is legit magic. You can't just give birth to a murderous shadow baby. You can't explain that.

 

[Anguish]

yeah but human food stockpiles cannot possibly endure that long, even with refrigeration and spices

we're talking ~50 years ++ of absolutely no food production whatsoever, assuming this winter is as long and winterish as people say

50 years of stockpiled food is pretty much impossible even today, but especially in a fantasy/medieval setting

it can't possibly be a plot device in these novels? (haven't read)

You can still find game and fish in winter. They have a long enough autumn to store grains. It's talked about in the books frequently. Strong rationing and blahblahblah.

by the end of the series winter is there, bro. its snowing gtfo.

 

[Obibun]

You can still find game and fish in winter. They have a long enough autumn to store grains. It's talked about in the books frequently. Strong rationing and blahblahblah.

by the end of the series winter is there, bro. its snowing gtfo.

uh

how do game and fish eat in winter, do they also have 50 year stockpiles of food? couple rabbits with a kilometre squared warren full of nuts? deer with secret underground warehouses full of grass?

and no "long enough autumn" can store 50++ years of perishable grains. perishable being the key word here, even accounting for the fact 50 years of food stockpile would take enough space so as to be completely impractical and impossible to manage/keep away from pests, disease, etc.

it's would still be pretty much impossible for us in the year 2011, with refrigeration, freeze drying, vacuum sealing all other manner of shit to stockpile 50 years worth of food. how a bunch of guys living in castles stabbing eachother with swords would manage it is beyond me

 

[Obibun]

I mean you do realize just from history we see that these enormous, enormous stockpiles of grain and food during winter (ancient/medieval era) were fucking huge and still had massive issues with perishability and pests. but they were big enough that they needed lots of space and could be found throughout the cities/etc.

and those stockpiles were for 3-4 months

you're telling me that 200 times that amount would be possible? for every single small house you had in the city, you'd need like, 2 enormous fucking warehouses full of food. your cities would be 90% warehousing and 10% other buildings.

 

[Obibun]

I don't know I haven't read the books

but a winter lasting decades would wipe out the entire world quite quickly

 like nuclear winter 

 

[mandarb]

I don't think it actually covers the entire world though. There are plenty of tropical parts that wouldn't be affected by winter and could in theory, supply food to those parts that had snow.

And there are some species of animals that live in permafrost conditions, so hoofed stock and small rodents would probably be adapted to living in that situation.

 

[Obibun]

I don't think it actually covers the entire world though. There are plenty of tropical parts that wouldn't be affected by winter and could in theory, supply food to those parts that had snow.

if this is the case then it makes sense

otherwise there's absolutely no plausible explanation

And there are some species of animals that live in permafrost conditions, so hoofed stock and small rodents would probably be adapted to living in that situation.

yeah but not near enough to last through 10 years of constant human hunting, let alone 50.. animals living in permafrost conditions aren't exactly well populated and plentiful

 

[Tessien]

The winter only goes nuts in Westeros.

 

[Gow]

I've not read the books in a good while but in the first book Tyrion tells Mormont that he was born during a three-year winter and that it was considered unusually long by the maesters. I believe the last truly long winter (decades/generations) was way back when the Others came south, before the wall was made. I could be wrong though

Spoiler

I also think magic is supposed to be linked to the existance of dragons? They are back and now it's really starting to creep back into the world.

 

[Kaiser]

I've not read the books in a good while but in the first book Tyrion tells Mormont that he was born during a three-year winter and that it was considered unusually long by the maesters. I believe the last truly long winter (decades/generations) was way back when the Others came south, before the wall was made. I could be wrong though

Spoiler

I also think magic is supposed to be linked to the existance of dragons? They are back and now it's really starting to creep back into the world.

I haven't read it in awhile either, but I remember that "winter" lasts a few years.

 

[Pengo]

I've not read the books in a good while but in the first book Tyrion tells Mormont that he was born during a three-year winter and that it was considered unusually long by the maesters. I believe the last truly long winter (decades/generations) was way back when the Others came south, before the wall was made. I could be wrong though

any reference to extremely long winters is referring to the  white walker invasion from 1000 years ago, where almost everyone did die . though i seem to remember someone saying there was a ~7 year "winter" within the last ~50-100 years? that could also be somewhat of an exaggeration or generalization where it just never really became a hot summer season...

  I was fixing to say; the only true "magic" we've seen so far in the series comes from either The Others or Melisandre. 

 There's a ton of magic by the end of book 3-4. The fire illusionists climbing fire ladders, the magi's blood magic with daenerys/drogo, bran's crazy 3rd eye, etc. Pretty much everyone except Westeros residents seem to be swimming in magic now. 

 

[JudgeU]

I always pictured it like an ice age. Our world didn't get wiped out when we've had ours.