Westeros

David Peterson, creator of the Dothraki language, has written an article for CNN revealing that the producers of Game of Thrones hired him to create two dialects of Valyrian, the ancient language of Valyria: High Valyrian and Low Valyrian. Though it’s light on specific details, it gives a great sense of the process of differentiating one version from another.

Having watched the first four episodes, we can say categorically that Peterson’s done a fantastic job. It sounds quite remarkable in the mouths of the actors who speak it at length.

Continuing our series of interviews, this time it’s Iain Glen on board. Playing Jorah Mormont, he may be rather (a lot) different from the character in the novels, but the dignity and gravity he brings to his performance is a terrific counter-point to Daenerys Targaryen’s youthful energy and determination. In the below interview, we touch on topics such as his luck in filming locations, his views on the violence in the show, and just how Jorah feels about Daenerys.

Interview

How is this season for Jorah and Dany this season?

Want the rest? Read the interview!

The nominees for the 2013 Hugo Awards are in the process of being announced. Last year, Game of Thrones won in the Dramatic Presentation - Long Form category… but perhaps not unexpectedly, this year it did not garner sufficient votes to end up in that category. Instead, it seems enough people nominated a specific episode—“Blackwater”—to win it a place in the Dramatic Presentation - Short Form category. This episode, written by George R.R. Martin himself, is widely considered a crowning achievement for the series to date.

Here’s the full list of nominees in the category, the winners of which wll be announced at Lonestar Con 3, this year’s World Science Fiction convention.

Last week, we received the first four episodes of season 3 of Game of Thrones to review, courtesy of HBO. While our individual episode reviews and coverage will be held until the corresponding episodes air, it has become something of a tradition to share our general impressions of those early episodes. We did it for the first season, and we did it for the second season, so it seemed only right to do it again. The process of discussing even vague impressions will probably reveal some semi-spoilers, so reading on isn’t going to be a good idea if you prefer to stay unspoiled!

But lets just give a general summing up first, and get into the nitty gritty after: these four episodes are on the whole quite good; not perfect, but they may well be the strongest first four episodes as a whole for the series to date (certainly, they’re stronger as a unit than last season’s first four, though none of them are as good as “What is Dead May Never Die”). Some of our biggest fears going into this season seem, so far, to be unfounded. But there are some issues, such as the fact that a number of the anticipated new characters are rather underwhelming when they finally hit the screen and that there are one or two (largely invented) storylines that don’t really feel like they’re gelling for us.  Still, each subsequent episode goes from strength to strength, each one better than the last. So why do we feel cautiously optimistic? We recall that last season, too, the third and fourth episodes impressed us the most and left us pretty excited about what was to come… and then the cracks started to show and real problems developed that led to some major disappointments. Four episodes in a show like this is not enough to really gauge how the rest of the season will be, especially in terms of how well they’ll translate what’s in the novels to the screen.

Want to read the rest? Read it here!

... of HBO’s opening of the traveling exhibit in New York City (more details below), our intrepid reported Ameli captured some pictures of the cast who were present, as well as some of the exhibits (plus a great photo of herself on the Iron Throne—much better than the one I have, from when I visited the set!). And more than that, she had a chance to ask some of the cast members a few quick questions as they shuffled along the carpet. See their answers below!

Now up is the third in our series of actor interviews leading up to the premiere of Game of Thrones on March 31st (April 1st in the UK, Scandinavia, and elsewhere). This time around, it’s an interview with the always-personable Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, who plays Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer. Read below as he discusses Jaime’s relationships with Cerseia and Brienne, the ways that Jaime defines himself, and more!

And as it happens, this is also our third interview with Nikolaj to date, and he remains as charming and entertaining as always. The interview transcript below doesn’t really go very far to indicate just how engaging he can be to talk with, and how funny. Despite the provison from HBO that details for season 3 were not really permitted to be discussed, Nikolaj provided some small suggestions about how the story may go in the course of discussing the series, his character, and the fans.

Interview

So, what can you tell us about the new season?

Want more? Read the rest!

This morning, Linda was on Swedish national radio station P3, on the PP3 program, to discuss Game of Thrones. For Swedes—and Scandinavians and others who can understand Swedish—you can listen in to the program here. Linda’s appearance starts 18 minutes into the program.

One of the real pleasures of the press junket this year was getting to talk to a member of the cast I’ve not met previously… and perhaps no cast member has really excited me as much as Gwendoline Christie, the imposing Brienne of Tarth.

The actress seemed practically born for this role, and she made quite an impression in her all-too-brief appearances in the second season. The third season promises to give us a lot more of the Maid of Tarth, as she travels through the dangerous, war-torn riverlands trying to deliver Jaime Lannister to King’s Landing as Catelyn Stark commanded her to do.

Interview

What can you tell us about this season of Game of Thrones?

Want more? Read the rest of the interview!

For those who drop by Georgerrmartin.com—Martin’s official site on the web—will have discovered that it has now gotten something of a facelift. It contains all the great features—the essays, the photos, the miniatures, and more—that make it stand out as uniquely Martin’s personal site, but it’s been given a much more modern design. 

You know, we knew about plans for this for… well, a long while, we won’t mention how long exactly. ;) But glad to see it’s finally come to fruition.

HBO has just released a long video, focusing on the wildlings on the show, including commentary from George R.R. Martin. Some glimpses of some of the new cast members, as well, such as Kristofer Hivju as Tormund:

HBO has created a brand new way for fans of Game of Thrones to immerse themselves in its world, by creating a family arms generator at Join the Realm. Given that the Citadel’s heraldry section was one of the only things the nascent Westeros.org had many, many years ago, we entirely approve of this approach. The family arms and words are a terrific aspect of the novels, and it’s only a shame that the show can’t (presumably for reasons of budget and ease of storytelling) really embrace it as fully. But HBO’s crack marketing team? No limits for them, Seven bless them!

So go ahead and join the realm!

An excellent new interview with George R.R. Martin has been published by the UK newspaper The Telegraph. Conducted and written by Jessica Salter, the article takes us into Martin’s home—some very nice pictures of his collection of ASoIaF-related art, and (for us) a rather thrilling look at one of the stained glass windows he commissioned for his “Library Tower” (thrilling, because the design is very familiar)—as he discusses his life and his work.

It’s definitely worth reading.

The Guardian has published a very good article by popular historian Tom Holland, ahead of the premiere of Game of Thrones. He discusses in some detail the historical antecedents of a number of characters and events in the novels, but goes on to explain why he feels Martin’s approach to creating and populating his world is essentially second only to J.R.R. Tolkien’s (high praise indeed) despite being far less rigorous. A very entertaining read, especially as it starts by considering the series in relation to the Booker Prize-winning historical fiction of Hilary Mantel.

BBC Magazine has a new piece out focused very much on Game of Thrones and the fans it inspires. As with most mainstream media takes on these things, it focuses a fair bit on the more extreme expressions of fandom, but on the whole it covers a wide range of fan expression pretty well. The only thing it really lacks is attention to the Internet fandom and social media part of things, which has been such a big component of the show’s “viral” success, we think.

We know interviews with cast and crew of HBO’s Game of Thrones are going out there fast and furious right now, but we’re going to dive in and add to the plentitude. Each day, from here on toward the premiere on March 31st, we’ll feature an interview with a different actor from Game of Thrones season 3. You’ll see interviews from old favorites like Iain Glen, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, and Kit Harington… and plenty of new faces, as well, whom we’ve never had the pleasure of interviewing before, such as Maisie Williams, Sophie Turner, Gwendoline Christie, and Rose Leslie.

To kick off the series, you can read the interview with Michelle Fairely that we’ve just posted. Some hints about what’s going on in season 3, some thoughts about some of her fellow actors and the process of working on the show, and more!

Check in tomorrow evening when we’ll post another interview. Haven’t quite decided who we’ll post just yet—so hard to choose.

You’ve asked for it, and now it’s here. The A World of Ice and Fire app—a handy, dandy, official and art-filled guide to the novels that Linda and I helped provide the majority of the content of (with oversight from GRRM)—is now available for Android at Google Play (unfortunately, for the time being, it’s US only).

There’s a deal of new content along with this version of the app, content that will be included in the iOs app when it gets its next iTunes update. These include:

Presently, it is US only—that’s the only caveat.
• Profiles for the Men of the Night’s Watch, Brotherhood Without Banners, and the Free Folk
• 30 new illustrations for key places
• The ability to search for characters by alias
• Further improvements to the anti-spoiler and map functionality

We’re aleady running a contest to win tickets to the Stockholm premiere, thanks to the Swedish branch of HBO Nordic... but we’ve also gotten the opportunity to run a contest for the Danish fans out there, for a chance to win VIP tickets to the premiere of season 3 of Game of Thrones in Copenhagen. We’ve 10 VIP tickets to give out, and these tickets cover yourself plus a companion.

Here’s the details on the event:

Date: March 27th at 6 PM.
Location: Odd Fellow Palæet, Bredgade 28, 1260 Copenhagen.
The will be a night in the spirit of Game of Thrones with a true-to-size replica of the Iron Throne and a screening of the first episode of Game of Thrones season 3. Nikolaj Coster-Waldau will be present and will entertain the crowds. There will be drinks and food and many hundred GoT fans present.

As to how to enter? Just comment on this post, and we’ll randomly select winners in the next few days!

Sean Collins of Boiled Leather has a very solid interview with writer and story editor Bryan Cogman, discussing the process of adapting and creating seasons past, present, and future. Some interesting thoughts along the way… and a reveal that he, David, and Dan hung out with GRRM in Santa Fe for a few days and apparently picked up yet more information about where Martin is taking the story as he works towards its conclusion. Definitely a must read.

Yet another preview video, courtesy of HBO. Now there’s something of a surfeit of these, I must say—in particular, this one is mostly footage we’ve already seen. But, hey, for those who’ve missed the earlier ones…

Our screencapping backlog is getting longer and longer. Too much to do, too little time to do it in!

The webcast of the panel featuring cast and crew members from Game of Thrones—including George R.R. Martin—is set to begin at about 7:40 PM Pacific time. You can watch it embedded below:

For those who’ve asked, it certainly looks like this webcast will then join the “Webcasts on Demand” that the Emmys’ site offers. We don’t know if there’ll be a log of hours or days before this happens, however.

From Marc N. Kleinhenz—who’s written for us before, and for many other sites bsides, comes a new volume of his work focused on A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones, including the transcript of a round table discussion in which Elio participated. This looks to be worth checking out, especially

http://www.amazon.com/It-Is-Known-Analysis-ebook/dp/B00BV8U58C/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1363471956&sr=8-3&keywords=marc+n.+kleinhenz/”>And now he has a new ebook out.

It Is Known: An Analysis of Thrones, Vol. II is a collection of nearly two dozen articles â`“ two exclusive to this release â`“ that delve into the very heart of the HBO series’s second season.  Covering not only what was changed from the novels, but also why, as well as offering commentary on the character and thematic development seen across the season, the book is an indispensable companion piece to Game of Thrones.

Here’s a complete list of its contents:

UPDATE: We’ve just learned that Rory McCann, who played the Hound, will be present at the premiere and the associated festivities!

Live in Sweden? Interested in being one of the privileged few who’ll watch the first episode of Game of Thrones on March 26th, almost a week earlier than everyone else? Thanks to HBO Nordic, you have a chance! See below for the full details (in Swedish, naturally):

This advertisment from Time Warner Cable is just about the cutest use of a baby weapon of mass destruction I’ve ever seen:

George R.R. Martin may be one of the panelists at the Emmy webcast tomorrow, but if you’re eager to read an in-depth interview with him, you can’t go wrong with this very interesting interview from the New Jersey Monthly, which goes hand-in-hand with their profile of “the King of Fantasy”.

Great to hear a bit more about Martin’s early life, a bit more about the origins of the series, and some of his thoughts on the television show. Here’s a quote:

A reminder that tomorrow evening—and by evening, we mean 7:30PM Pacific Time (10:30PM on the east coast, and if I’m calculating right 3:30 AM where we are)—there’ll be a live webcast of “An Evening with Game of Thrones”, a panel discussion with members of the cast and crew (including producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss, and creator George R.R. Martin) hosted by Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Here’s the full list of panelists:

• DAVID BENIOFF Creator/Executive Producer
• D.B. WEISS Creator/Executive Producer
• GEORGE R.R. MARTIN Co-Executive Producer
• PETER DINKLAGE Tyrion Lannister
• NIKOLAJ COSTER-WALDAU Jaime Lannister
• LENA HEADEY Cersei Lannister
• KIT HARINGTON Jon Snow
• MICHELLE FAIRLEY Catelyn Stark
• SOPHIE TURNER Sansa Stark
• MAISIE WILLIAMS Arya Stark

The second official trailer for Game of Thrones is now out. Quite a lot of new stuff here—including Tormund Giantsbane speaking, some quick looks at Daario Naharis, and more:

Must find time to screencap…

And yet another brand new Game of Thrones preview for season 3, showing fleeting glimpses of some new scenes we’ve never glimpsed before, including some of Stannis and Melisandre, Jaime and Brienne, Arya and Gendry, and more:

Well, hot on the heels of our NewNowNext Award nomination, we can reveal that the latest issue of Rolling Stone has a brief profile of yours truly (aka Elio). Yes, rather a surprise when they contacted us! It was nice to discuss our involvement with the website and the fandom and so on, although I do see that the hour-long conversation lost some things in translation when it was boiled down to the smaller article…

Nice—HBO has released a new tease for season 3…. which is all about war, naturally. It gives us our very first good look at Noah Taylor as Locke (a new character introduced to take over some of the function of Vargo Hoat). Is it just me, or is anyone else wondering if he has six fingers on one hand?

We learned this news last week, and it looks like we can finally share it with all and sundry: Westeros.org has been nominated in the “Superfan Site” category of LOGO’s televisied NewNowNext Awards.  To say the least, it’s an honor to be recognized by those who selected the nominees! For those wondering, LOGO is an LGBT-geared entertainment channel,a sister channel to MTV. The NewNowNext Awards have been running since 2008, and have seen the likes of Lady Gaga on their stage. The awards show don’t take themselves too seriously, suffice it to say!

Linda and I were invited to the award show, but alas, we won’t be able to make it (and we’re quite gutted—not often one gets invited to a red carpet event!) That said, since we’re in the running, it’s up to the fans and visitors to the site to take the time and vote for us! You can vote in one of two ways:

Go through this here image ....

Or if you’re on Twitter, just tweet a message containing the hastags #NNNAWesteros and #NNNAwards (must include both) and they’ll automatically register your vote.

Thanks to the Edelweiss publishing catalog, fans of A Song of Ice and Fire and Game of Thrones can get their very first glimpse at The World of Ice and Fire, the history and guide to the setting that Linda and I have co-written with George R.R. Martin. There are four sample pages... although if you peer at them, you may notice some fake Latin as some of these were just used to show layout. But, hey, some of the text—and some of the sort of information the text will reveal—can be seen, along with some of the art readers have in store for them.

The World of Ice and Fire is presently set for an Fall 2013 release, and can be pre-ordered from Amazon US and Amazon UK.

EW, with its bevy of exclusive interviews now being posted, has gone the extra mile: it latest issue is a Game of Thrones extravaganza, starting right with its cover featuring Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke in costume as Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen.

EW has more information about what to expect… including a nice, spoilerish synopsis of some season highlights:

Amazon.com’s Omnivoracious blog has a brand new interview with George R.R. Martin, discussing aspects of his work as the writer of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, as well as the Game of Thrones TV series. Note that it’s vaguely spoilerish, so if you’ve not read through at least the first three novels and your extremely paranoid regarding even the vaguest of potential spoilers, best avoid.

So, eager to hear a little bit about what the first episode will reveal to those watching? HBO teases the season premiere episode “Valar Dohaeris”, and runs through a lengthy list of notable returning and new cast members, in a press release they’ve sent to the media. As there’s spoilers herein, to some degree, we’re just going to put everything under the cut… so click on through!

Over at EW, James Hibberd has posted the first of fifteen exclusive interviews ahead of the March 31st premiere of Game of Thrones. The first interview features Gwendoline Christie—Brienne of Tarth on the show—discussing initial reactions to her casting and her character’s journey, with just a wee bit of detail regarding scenes she’s filmed for this season.

Check it out, and keep an eye on the #EWThrones hashtag on Twitter to learn when the rest of the interviews are published, as they will be once each weekday until the premiere.

Eager to make sure fans who’ve been waiting for the third season are fully caught up to speed, HBO has prepared a recap program that covers key story and thematic points of the last season, along with commentary from actors and producers along the way. Check it out below:

While the traveling exhibit is just about to open in Toronto (with special guest Rose Leslie, aka Ygritte), fans who won’t be able to make it to the locations can still get a taste of what you might see there thanks to the wonders of the internet.

Over at the official Making Game of Thrones production blog, propmaster Gordon Fitzgerald provides some great insight into the process of making props for the show, which certainly has some of the best production values in television (and, I have to say, one of the best crews in television):

And then, via Cat Taylor, we learn that concept artist Will Simpson now has a Facebook fan page where he’s sharing some of the art he has created for the show. Never seen his gift to GRRM before!

Last night, we posted about the Game of Thrones-themed Sports Illustrated Power Issue. We now have the podcast—hosted by Richard Deitsch—with GRRM, which you can find here along with a partial transcript of some of Martin’s remarks.

It’s very much sports-oriented, but there’s some remarks that touch on the characters and the setting (such as Martin’s comparison of knights to athletes).

We’ve placed this interview in the So Spake Martin collection, where you’ll find a great deal of links to interviews, correspondence, and reports from readings, panels, and conventions.

The annual “Power Issue” of Sports Illustrated is on its way, and this time around it seems the editors have chosen a Game of Thrones theme. Not only does NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sit on the Iron Throne on the cover, as he’s ranked the #1 most powerful person in sport, but artist John Hendrix provides this very cool depiction of the modern day sports empires re-envisioned A Song of Ice and Fire style. “The Land of Always Hockey” is particularly choice.

It also sounds like Richard Deitsch of SI will soon be posting a podcast with George R.R. Martin:

Told my podcast and Q&A with @gameofthrones king George R. R. Martin will post today. You’ll enjoy his thoughts on Bill Belichick.

— Richard Deitsch (@richarddeitsch) March 6, 2013

To learn more about the issue, visit the Sports Illustrated website.

At some point, I need to gather up all these interviews with actors that have been sneaking out the last month or two, and just make a big post with them all. Until then, however, here’s a interview with Rose Leslie, who plays Ygritte on Game of Thrones, courtesy of Access Hollywood. Nice to hear from her, as she didn’t get much in the way of attention for the second season when her role was something of a late entry into the series.

James Hibberd at EW has another scoop regarding season 3 of Game of Thrones. Just as with last year’s reveal that The National performed “The Rains of Castamere” for the show, indie rock band The Hold Steady are performing a rendition of—get this—“The Bear and the Maiden Fair”, a very popular bit of song in Westeros.

Hibberd quotes the producers:

So, that will be rather interesting to hear. I’m guessing it’ll be included on the official soundtrack for season 3, as well… and may well be released as a single before hand.

Over at “Not a Blog”, George R.R. Martin reveals that the success of the 2013 A Song of Ice and Fire Calendar, and the very promising work in Gary Gianni’s 2014 A Song of Ice and Fire Calendar (Pre-order) , has led Bantam to contract the amazing Donato Giancola to illustrate a 2015 A Song of Ice and Fire Calendar. One of the foremost artists working in SF/F, he has won multiple Chesley and Hugo Awards for his artwork.

We’ve always hoped Donato would illustrate characters and scenes from the novels in a more substantial body of work than he has previously—his Melisandre painting (Melisandre painting for the cover of Dragon Magazine2 #307 has been his lone piece of ASoIaF art for far too long. Finally, that’s being rectified. We’ve been fans of his work since his gorgeous “Joan of Arc” painting was used for the cover of Mary Gentle’s Ash: A Secret History (a fantasy series we very much recommend to fans of ASoIaF, by the way).

It’s now live, quite surprisingly—we had supposed it’d premiere on Sunday, but nope, HBO has given us a little early gift. Some nice new moments, though it’s not in fact a full 2 minutes long:

Valyrian Steel, makers of replicas based on the novels and the TV series, have announced the latest replica in their Game of Thrones line: the Stark infantry shield, an exact copy of those used on the television show. These are already available for preorder, and should be released for Spring 2013. Fortunately, they’re not a limited run (as the ASoIaF-based replicas, made with George R.R. Martin’s direct input, are) so there should be plenty of time to save your pennies and groats.

The official Game of Thrones Twitter channel has just started unleashing a series of official character posters for season 3, which shall soon see an extended version of the season 3 trailer hit HBO, HBO On Demand, and (we suspect) the internet.

These posters will begin to appear in print and outdoors promotion (think bus stops and buses, posters, etc.) from next week. You can see them all below: