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Elizabeth Sandifer

Elizabeth Sandifer created Eruditorum Press. She’s not really sure why she did that, and she apologizes for the inconvenience. She currently writes Last War in Albion, a history of the magical war between Alan Moore and Grant Morrison. She used to write TARDIS Eruditorum, a history of Britain told through the lens of a ropey sci-fi series. She also wrote Neoreaction a Basilisk, writes comics these days, and has ADHD so will probably just randomly write some other shit sooner or later. Support Elizabeth on Patreon.

10 Comments

  1. Matt Marshall
    April 26, 2015 @ 11:30 pm

    an obviously fake Aegon Targaryen

    Oh man, that is sacrilege in some corners of the 'net!

    I mean, he totally is though, isn't he!

    Reply

  2. encyclops
    April 27, 2015 @ 8:13 am

    I dug Arya's scenes, but I always dig Arya's scenes. I think it'd be easy to overestimate her — and the audience — in terms of what she's going to pick up on and what she isn't. We know a lot about the House of Black and White because we've read the books, but there are probably a lot of people, including Arya, who thought she was coming to assassin school. And she is, but she isn't. Also remember she's the only one who can ask questions in that house, so there's probably going to be more "what's it all about, Doctor?" before we're through.

    I don't know if I could rank the episodes. You said of Orphan Black that it's best binge-watched, that the episodes themselves don't exactly stand alone, but I think that's also true of Game of Thrones to some extent; I can rank the treatment of the storylines, but for me the episodes are largely containers to put those in. Maybe you're seeing more unity to them than I am.

    My favorite comedy moment from the episode was the one where we go, "oh, which one of these people is going to turn out to be the High Sparrow? Maybe the one played by Jonathan Pryce?"

    Reply

  3. quislibet
    April 27, 2015 @ 10:26 am

    "The transition is by hard cut, from Cersei looking angry to Bolton men outside"

    Thanks to your blog, I've been paying attention to the transitions, and what struck me here was a sort of transition by sound, from the high mocking laughter of Margaery and her attendants to the whinnying of the horses at Winterfell.

    Reply

  4. Elizabeth Sandifer
    April 27, 2015 @ 10:32 am

    Oh, that's good. That's very good.

    Reply

  5. A.L.
    April 27, 2015 @ 1:11 pm

    "…via the excising of an ill-advised subplot about an obviously fake Aegon Targaryen."

    I actually don't think this is true. I don't think they've excised this subplot and I'm not sure he's fake. I think they've consolidated this subplot with the Dornish plotline. Whether Aegon will turn out to be real or not, I think on the show we will learn that he has been under the protection of his uncle, Doren Martell (as opposed to Griff/Jon Connington in the books). In fact, I suspect Doran's "heir" Trystane (introduced in episode 2), will be revealed to be Aegon, and it will be Jaime Lannister who discovers this (as opposed to Tyrian). Otherwise, why focus so heavily on Dorne in the TV show, where nothing of any real consequence happens in the books? It's a way of consolidating the Aegon story line in a way that, frankly, makes more sense, but also has the benefit of introducing fewer new characters and streamlining Tyrion's trip to Mereen.

    Reply

  6. SpaceSquid
    April 28, 2015 @ 2:54 am

    I like this idea a lot, though I tend to think the chances of Aegon being real are pretty damn small. I just don't see any reason for Varys to have risked the switch; what could he possibly gain from handing over the real Aeron as oppose to another Valyrian-blonde baby? There's no DNA testing in Worlderos; actually trying to grab him seems to me all downside.

    Reply

  7. Froborr
    April 28, 2015 @ 5:58 am

    I noticed with some interest and surprise the burning heart symbol in the House of Black and White. It interests me because the last couple of books seem to have been setting up a dichotomy between death gods (the Many-Faced God, the Drowned God, the Stranger) and gods of life (the Old Gods, the Lord of Light, the rest of the Seven). The choice to associate Rhllor with the death gods thus strikes me as a possibly notable departure by the show.

    Reply

  8. Froborr
    April 28, 2015 @ 6:00 am

    To clarify, I don't think it's setting up a MORAL dichotomy. I just noticed it seems like the gods are broadly classifiable along those lines, and the books seem to place some emphasis on that classification, hinting it may have relevance down the line.

    Reply

  9. Daru
    May 4, 2015 @ 12:45 am

    Yes I've been paying more attention to the transitions due to this blog too.

    Reply

  10. Daru
    May 4, 2015 @ 12:48 am

    I really enjoyed the dialogue with Varys and Tyrion where he rants about how there are kings everywhere and every pile of shit has a flag in it. Brilliant.

    Reply

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