My Game of Thrones Quiz

May 15th is another slow

history day, so I was going to fall back on that old standby, Game of Thrones,

which is quite medieval except for the dragons and Others and dyrewolves

and…Okay, maybe it is not so medieval.  But I decided that my Game of Thrones quiz

would make a better blog than a Facebook entry. 

First, I want to pass on an interesting bit of information.  George RR Martin wrote Sunday’s episode

himself.  He writes one each season; I’m

not sure which one he did in Season One but he did the Blackwater Battle

episode in Season Two.

     I hope this will

be fun for my fellow Game addicts.  

While we are all living in the Martin universe, we live on separate

continents; there are those of us who have read the books and those of us who

have not, preferring to watch the series without knowing what is coming

next.    So it will be tricky to pull

this off without telling the latter what they do not want to know.  But I have confidence we can do it.   The first SPOILER ALERT is for those who are

watching the HBO series but have not seen Sunday’s episode yet.  Read no further if you want to preserve the

suspense.    I found it interesting that

almost all of the scenes in this episode were not in the books, and even more

interesting that Master Martin penned them himself.   I really like the by-play between Bronn and

Tyrion.  I am still very worried about

Gentry.  I loved Tywin’s response when

bratty grandson Joffrey whined about having to climb all the steps up to the Hand’s

Tower.  Tywin said coolly, “We can always

arrange to have you carried.”   Joffrey

may be an idiot as well as a sociopath, but at least he has enough sense to be

wary of Grand-dad.   And I also loved Arya’s answer when asked who

her God was:  Death.    Rather sad, though, that this young girl

could make that sound so believable.

            Okay, now

we are into more dangerous territory.  I

want to ask a few questions about the characters.  Only some of my own answers come from the

books and we do not want to give anything away for our HBO-only brothers and

sisters.  So I suggest this.  In your own answers, do not specify WHY you

are choosing a particular character if his or her bad behavior has not yet

occurred in the series.    Just say; see

books.   Those who’ve read them will

understand and we won’t be spoiling the suspense for those who haven’t.  Here are the questions.

1)        Who do you think is the most evil character

in the Ice and Fire series?  For me, it

is Littlefinger, but my pick is based on what he does in later books.  So I am not going into detail about his many

sins.  This is a SEE BOOKS sort of pick.

2)       Who do you think is the most unlikable

character in the series?   For me, it is

Cersei.  My choice is based more on the

books than the series, especially the fourth book when we are allowed into

Cersei’s head—not a pleasant place to visit.

3)      Who

do you think is the character who has made the most remarkable

rehabilitation?  For me, that has to be

Jaime.

4)       Who do you think is the most sadistic

character in the series?    For me, it is

a dead heat between Joffrey and Theon’s torturer.  (Notice I do not identify the monster since

he has not be identified yet on HBO)  I’d

actually give him the edge over Joffrey, although it is a close race.

5)      This

is strictly an HBO question.  Which

character do you think makes more of an impact in the series than in the

books?   For me, it would be Margaery,

who did not make much of an impression on me on the printed page, but who

steals every scene she is in, thanks to the wonderful Natalie Dormer.   Same for her grandmother, the Queen of

Thorns, played by the incomparable Diana Rigg, who’d make a marvelous Eleanor

of Aquitaine in her winter years.   And

while I think Tywin is a strong character in the books, Charles Dance gives him

even more of an edge on screen. 

6)      Who

do you think is the character nowhere near as smart as he or she thinks?   For me, this is Cersei, based on both the

series and the books.

7)      Which

“good character” do you find the least sympathetic?   For me, that is Catelyn.  I can’t forgive her for the cruelty she

displayed to Jon Snow as a boy. 

      I

often found myself wanting to scream at my Angevins when they were about to do

something they’d greatly regret.  

Eleanor, maybe you ought to rethink this rebellion idea.  Richard, I think you forgot your hauberk;

want to go back for it?   Henry, for a

brilliant man, how can you be so dense as a dad?   Applying the lessons you belatedly learned

with Hal to Richard and Geoffrey is not going to work out so well for you.   You get the drift.  So here is my Game of Thrones question.   Which character did you want to grab and

give a good shake?  For me, this was an

easy one—the noble Ned Stark.  

9)      This

one is posed out of curiosity about your answers.  Who is your favorite character?  For me, it is Tyrion, both in the books and

as played by the brilliant Peter Dinklage in the HBO series.  

10)   Which secondary characters are you most happy

to see in a scene in the HBO series?  

For me, it would be Bronn and Ygritte and Brienne.    

11)   Lastly, what is your favorite scene in the

series so far?  And which one do you

think is the most shocking to date?   For

me, my favorite is the scene with Daenerys and the slimy slave trader, when she

trades one of her precious dragons for his Unsullied slave army and then pulls

a beautiful double-cross.   The most

shocking to me—especially since I had not read any of the books when I watched

the first episode of Season One—was when Jaime murmured, “The things I do for

love,” and pushed Bran out that window.

 

May 15, 2013