A Game of Thrones - TV Show Discussion Thread

[Berzerker]

So, what, you'd give him life in some country club prison? A mental hospital? They don't exist. Dungeons are cold, dark and dank, and you get gnawed on by rats - except in the Eyrie, where it's cold and windy, and you might roll over in your sleep and fall to your death.

Or would you send him back to the Wall, closer to the Others? He's so afraid, he'd just run away again. Beheading is probably the kindest thing. It's over quick, and he doesn't have to live with his fear and shame.

I never would have put him in prison for "poaching", much less make him guard a wall or behead him for running from the monsters.

Oh come on Berz. No, execution as punishment for desertion isn't really compatible with modern sensibilities, but this is a medieval society and in context it's perfectly reasonable.

We're talking about guilt and innocence, not medieval "morals" or moral relativity. The guy didn't deserve to lose his head...

Well berz is right in that there's an obvious parallel there.

Thank you

[Bosh]

Well berz is right in that there's an obvious parallel there.

[Asher]

Even in WW2, soldiers were executed for desertion. Even on the allies.

[Kuciwalker]

Oh come on Berz. No, execution as punishment for desertion isn't really compatible with modern sensibilities, but this is a medieval society and in context it's perfectly reasonable.

[Lord Avalon]

So, what, you'd give him life in some country club prison? A mental hospital? They don't exist. Dungeons are cold, dark and dank, and you get gnawed on by rats - except in the Eyrie, where it's cold and windy, and you might roll over in your sleep and fall to your death.

Or would you send him back to the Wall, closer to the Others? He's so afraid, he'd just run away again. Beheading is probably the kindest thing. It's over quick, and he doesn't have to live with his fear and shame.

[Berzerker]

Given the medieval setting of the story, do you think they were going to give him a pat on the back and a cookie?

I dont expect anyone today arguing he should have been beheaded

[Lord Avalon]

so the guy killed an animal belonging to some "Lord" and is sentenced to serve - the "oath" was coerced and therefore morally non-binding - and yet he's beheaded by Ned for suffering from shock while running away from an attack by the bogeymen. The dude's "crime" was bogus and so was the sentence, that aint "just". And I doubt it's a coincidence Ned took his head and then lost his own...

oh yeah, the night's watch at the wall are not his own people if he was sentenced to be there.

He didn't have to take the black - he could have taken the punishment for poaching. And they don't take the oath right away, only after training. If he didn't want to swear, I suppose he could still opt for the original punishment. And once he is a sworn brother of the Night's Watch, who have no families, I'd say they are his people. His life there was probably better than what he had before.

As far as "suffering from shock," initially yes, and if he had just run away to the Wall, he would have not been a deserter. But he kept running, well away from the Wall, so the initial shock must have worn off. Given the medieval setting of the story, do you think they were going to give him a pat on the back and a cookie?

And as for "... 'oath' was coerced ... morally non-binding ... 'crime' was bogus ... that ain't 'just' ... ", come and see the violence inherent in the system! I laugh in your general direction. It's a story FFS.

[ColdWizard]

CW: have you always had that avatar? I momentarily thought UR had returned...

I had an Infogreed avatar for civ3. Otherwise mostly this one.

[Kuciwalker]

CW: have you always had that avatar? I momentarily thought UR had returned...

[Berzerker]

"Technicality," my ass. Lord Stark & co left Winterfell at daybreak to ride to the "holdfast in the hills," outside of which the deserter had been taken. The book doesn't explicitly say, but it seems they made it back to Winterfell the same day. So if that's only half a day's ride, then the deserter was well south of the Wall, and desertion = death.

As far a the poaching, he was a previous criminal whose sentence was commuted to life in the Night's Watch. As Ned says of a deserter:

Hence, the execution, which was just.

Ned's execution was a stupid boy king disregarding the wisdom of his elders and pandering to the masses.

so the guy killed an animal belonging to some "Lord" and is sentenced to serve - the "oath" was coerced and therefore morally non-binding - and yet he's beheaded by Ned for suffering from shock while running away from an attack by the bogeymen. The dude's "crime" was bogus and so was the sentence, that aint "just". And I doubt it's a coincidence Ned took his head and then lost his own...

oh yeah, the night's watch at the wall are not his own people if he was sentenced to be there.

[ColdWizard]

More time for book 6 then.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Five. The plan is to split book three in twain.

[ColdWizard]

Yeah, and throw in the horse-fetishists and the ice-zombies all on the march and it quite clearly is not going to be resolved in the last hour.

Let's face it, we're all going to have to read the books rather than waiting another five years for the TV series to get made.

4 years for the books that already (allegedly) exist. Then if he doesn't finish book 6 in timely manner, there could be an even longer wait.

[OzzyKP]

Only one episode left?!? Crap.

[Cort Haus]

Yeah, and throw in the horse-fetishists and the ice-zombies all on the march and it quite clearly is not going to be resolved in the last hour.

Let's face it, we're all going to have to read the books rather than waiting another five years for the TV series to get made.