Background for the Episode (Spoilers of Books and Show)
I didn't put the spoiler tag because it's in the title. So I noticed the story is a bit hard to understand if you are new to the series so I decided to write a brief background, of course with spoilers.
What is Game Of Thrones about?
That is a hard question but to narrow it down it follows multiple tales of people, in a medieval setting playing the Game of Thrones, sometimes not even wanting to. It usually contains a lot of sex but this episode there was none(And I'm perfectly okay with that!).The most powerful seat is the Iron Throne in King's Landing. Game of Thrones is a dangerous game of lies, deceit, death, and so much more. It's a very complicated thing, but it usually involves a struggle for power, where trust is limited, and anybody could be a threat.
So Who Am I?
You play as Gared Tuttle, Mira Forrester, and Ethan Forrester. It seems to be based around this Forrester family, but it also goes to another, Gared Tuttle, who is on his way to the Wall to become Night's Watch. I can bet that next episode you will play as different characters but maybe you will play the same ones again with some new ones.
Ironrath
I don't think much was said about this place in the books or show. But from what I know it's a small town/city in the North, vassal of House Stark but quickly replaced by the Boltons. They have Ironwood trees that are very good in military equipment. I don't know much about the "North Grove" but it sounds like something surreal, maybe there is something of mythical like, or something powerful that must be protected.
Why were people fighting at the beginning? What is the Red Wedding?
You start off in a camp outside the Twins, a bridge to the South half of Westeros. It is during something called the Red Wedding, because of all the blood spilled. So basically, House Stark is the main House that controls the Northern half of Westeros, and I'm pretty sure the only way to get to the other side was crossing the Twins. The father and Lord of House Stark's name is Eddard Stark, who went to King's Landing(Capital City, located in the South) to be the King's Hand(Second most powerful person in Westeros who advises and aids the King). I won't go into too much detail but he was jailed, and his son Robb in the North called his armies to save him.
To get his armies there he needed to cross the Twins, but the Lord, Walder Frey allowed him on one condition. That he marry one of his daughters. Robb agreed and he would marry after the war. But unfortunately he fell in love with another girl and married her. Walder instead says that his Uncle, Lord Edmure of the Riverlands can marry her. So they all attend the wedding, and Walder pretended he was not angry that Robb broke his promise, but he was. He sent his men and murdered anyone he could at the wedding in the Twins, and camping outside the Twins where Gared was. Henceforth known as the Red Wedding.
The Kingsroad, and The Wall
The Kingsroad that Gared travels on is a long road that goes from the Capital of King's Landing in the South to The Wall a really really big wall where an order of men called the Nights Watch guard it from wildlings a barbarian like people, and mythical creatures called White Walkers, though most believe they do not exist because no one has seen one in a long time.
The White Walkers were last seen 8000 years ago during the Long Night, a winter that lasted an entire generation. But the men of the North managed to fight them back until the White Walkers were forced to retreat to the Lands of Always Winter.
Thanks to EpicMustacheGuy for the info!
The Night's Watch is made up of mostly criminals sent to serve their lives guarding the Wall as punishment for crimes. If you have done anything, the Wall is an option that can spare many criminal's lives. Some are royalty, and some just common people who have volunteered but in those people, there are little. You cannot leave the Wall, if you do you will be hunted down and executed. But you can go Beyond The Wall, but most people don't because it's dangerous so they live in forts along the Wall.
Ramsay Snow & Bastards
Ramsay Snow is the bastard of The Dreadfort, one of the Vassals of the North belonging to the Starks. Their lord Roose was named the new Warden of the North, leaving the Stark's demoted I suppose the word is. If you did not know, bastard means one of your parents is your real father/mother but the other parent is not. In this case, Roose Bolton is his father, but his wife Walda is not his mother. Ramsay is fairly psychotic as you can see. The name "Snow" is the last name given to bastards in the North. Reach bastards would be Flowers, Dorne would be Sand, Stormlands being Storm, Riverlands being Rivers, Westerlands, Crownlands, and Iron Islands I'm not sure.
Maesters
Trained in a place called the Citadel far in the Southwest of Westeros in a city called Oldtown. They usually wear a grey robe, and a chain with things called links on the chain. Different links mean different things they studied in like healing, magic and other stuff, and like Ortengryn mentions, he wishes there was one for warcraft. Maesters are pretty much the doctors of Game Of Thrones. They are very wise, and there are usually one for every House. They provide information and council about anything.
My Rating
As a fan of the show and books I give this a 10/10. It really blew me away. I loved the graphic style, how it brought characters that I knew and how they didn't change. But that's just my opinion. I'm a big fan of Telltale Games, and Game Of Thrones so my two favorite things just got mixed. I just really enjoyed this game, and it's one of my favorite Telltale Games game so far(No offense!). For some people it might not be so good, but this is just my opinion. I hope this helped, and I hope you enjoy/enjoyed the episode!
If you think I should add anything else let me know!
Comments
Thanks Raging!
Thanks Raging, that helps a lot.
I'm thinking about reading the books, or watching the show. Perhaps both? lol
No Sex = No buy
I never said I was not okay with it, you just thought that I wasn't. I was just saying it wasn't as the same because there was none. But k.
Don't "k" me skrub.
No problem B]
It depends if you like books, but I honestly loved them. Some parts are a little bit boring but it was worth it for me. The show is pretty great as well. I recommend both.
Your opinion. I think there might be some in later episodes, I mean they did it with TWAU Smoke and Mirrors XD.
Please Green, you use "k" all the time.
Doesn't mean he can use it on me though, lol.
Thanks Raging, this can help get into this series more and have a better understanding of it.
You're welcome Creeping!
Thank you very much.
No problem
Thanks!
A good summary
One tiny little detail isn't true, however it's just one number:
The White Walkers were last seen 8000 years ago during the Long Night, a winter that lasted an entire generation. But the men of the North managed to fight them back until the White Walkers were forced to retreat to the Lands of Always Winter.
I have a couple of questions:
1) Why was the wall built and what is beyond it?
2) There seem to be lots of lords: is it possible for a woman to be head of a house? Or is this forbidden by law?
3) Another gender one I'm afraid - what are the laws on women fighting etc?
I'm afraid I have forgotten why the Wall was built but what the main thing beyond the wall is a civilization that is known as Wildlings, but they like to call themselves Free Folk.
They can be a Lady, not a Lord. They have certain powers like most high-borns but the actual leader aka Lord is always the next son or male in the family. You see that with Ethan in the game. He takes Lordship instead of his mother just taking control of the House.
I don't think there are any laws against woman fighting. Brienne of Tarth is one, and she is pretty badass IMO. Arya Stark is a good warrior too in the series. The Wildlings don't seperate men and woman as much as the rest of the Houses and all do so there are woman wildlings in the series fighting.
Note: I know you hold gender equality pretty high Flog, and I respect that. It's nice to see people who do. But also note it wouldn't make sense for GRRM to make gender equality as high as it is nowadays in this series because it doesn't fit well in the universe/setting that the story/series is supposed to take place in.
I'm not that good at lore, but I'll try to answer as best as possible. If any other fans want to help answer or correct me that would be great.
The Wall was built after the White Walkers were driven past it so that they couldn't cross back to Westeros. They're very dangerous, and almost ended the world, or something like that, they're very dangerous creatures. Whatever the purpose was, I'm pretty sure it was to keep something out, and the most likely thing would be the White Walkers, the wildlings which I assume were already living there, and children of the forest(Not really sure about these guys I don't know much about them.)
Beyond the Wall seems to be the most Northern part of the world. It's very cold, and there are a lot of trees. The only thing known to be Beyond the Wall is the wildlings, a uncivilized people that lives in villages, one mentioned in the book called Whitetree, and one being owned by a man named Craster, called Craster's Keep.
I think a woman to be the head of the house is possible. Minor Spoilers A little island north of Ironrath called Bear Island is lead by a woman. A man by the name of Jeor Mormont would have been Lord but he joined the Nights Watch, leaving his son Jorah who was exiled. That left his wife, and five daughters, so his wife Maege Mormont became Lord there. Also Cersei is Queen Regent as of now, but I'm not sure if that make's her a Lord. She's in power right now, but once her son comes of age(or marries?) he becomes King. Also in the most southern part of Westeros called Dorne, any child of the Lord will become Lord. Currently their ruler Doran Martell's oldest is Arianne Martell so she will inherit the Lordship of Dorne once he dies.
I'm pretty sure women are allowed to fight. There is actually a main character by the name of Brienne of Tarth also know as "Brienne the Beauty" mocking her ugliness. She dresses up in men's armor and is a really good fighter. Even the Mormont women of Bear Island, like Maege, and her oldest Dacey Mormont fight alongside Robb Stark the Lord in the North in the War Of The Five Kings. There is also the people of the Iron Islands, the daughter of the Lord Balon Greyjoy named Asha Greyjoy leads an attack on the North, and he trusts her more then his oldest son. So I don't think there are any laws against women fighting.
I'll try to answer your questions as best as I can without using spoilers.
1) The Wall was built by Brandon the Builder, the founder of House Stark, with the aid of some form of magic. The Wall was built to protect the South (anything south of the Wall) from the horrors held beyond the North, such as wildlings, those who live beyond the reach of the Seven Kingdoms, and mystical, forgotten magic such as White Walkers. Basically to keep bad things out. As for what is beyond it? After a certain point, no one knows. Hardly anyone goes north, except for the Rangers, a subclass of the Night's Watch, those who are sworn to man the wall for life. Rangers travel north to scout wildling movements.
2) Generally, lords ruled the households. It was however, not unheard of for women to possess great power within their own houses while the male remains a figure head. This is seen in several houses, such as the Tyrells (Margery's house) where the house is ruled by Margery's father, Lord Mace Tyrell, although his mother, Lady Olenna Tyrell still wields considerable influence over the affairs of the house.
House Mormont, a Northern lesser house under House Stark, is ruled by a woman as well, Lady Maege Mormont, sister of the former Lord Jeor Mormont, who left to serve as Commander of the Night's Watch. She rules the house, because frankly, there's no one else who can. Jeor Mormont's son and only heir, Jorah fled to the Free Cities to escape execution by Ned Stark after he attempted to sell robbers into slavery, which explains why there is no male lord of Hourse Mormont.
There is the Queen of course, Cersei Lannister, who has taken power effectively after the death of her husband King Robert Baratheon, as the Queen Regent, under the ruse that she will rule until her son Joffrey, becomes of age. Once Margery marries Joffrey, Cersei's power will be no more as Margery will be the new Queen. Cersei is not the lord of her house though, that's her father Tywin Lannister, who is Hand of the King. Her brothers are Jamie Lannister, captain of the Kingsguard, the King's bodyguards, and Tyrion Lannister, the master of coin. Because Jamie is of the Kingsguard, his vows restrict him from inheriting or marrying. Because Tyrion is...well...Tyrion, a dwarf viewed as despicable by the majority and his mother died giving birth to him, Tywin refuses to name Tyrion his heir, and does the same for Cersei because she is a woman, holding out hope that Jamie will renounce his vows to become his heir in the end. So there's that. From what I've seen, the structure of power within a house goes like this: Lord->Eldest son-->Any other son-->Lady-->Eldest daughter-->Any other daughter.
There's also another house, House Martell of Dorne. They hold no prejudice against having a woman inherit the lordship. For example, the current Lord is Doran Martell, and his heir is his eldest daughter, Arianne Martell.
3) It's generally frowned upon for women to be fighting and doing things "only males can do" in most places. This is evident early in the TV series in Ned Stark's two daughters, Sansa and Arya. Sansa excelled at doing all the "girly" things, knitting, poetry, singing, etc, etc, and was praised and seen as an attractive suitor for having the traits of an acceptable woman. Arya is Ned's wild child and prefers sparring with her brothers to the typical girly things. Ned lets her get away with it, because she reminds him of his sister and he wants his girls to be happy.
Season 2 of the show introduces a woman named Brienne who, because of her unattractive face and her masculine figure, left home to become a knight. She is constantly ridiculed for being a woman in armor and at how ugly her face is. She holds herself in high honor though, and tries not to let their words bother her, despite the harshness of their insults.
In a place called the Iron Islands, ruled by House Greyjoy, Lord Balon Greyjoy's eldest daughter, Asha Grejoy holds some power, but she is also forced to fight against others when the time comes for an heir to be chosen. She has considerable fighting prowess and is not afraid of a fight, although most of the people of the Iron Islands claim that a woman's fight comes in the birthing bed.
In the books, a woman named Dacey Mormont, daughter of Lady Maege Mormont, serves in Robb Stark's armies and is generally accepted as an equal in their armies.
I hope I helped clear some things up for you!
Good work there Raging Blades!! It's really good someone did this since there's a lot of people that, by not being into and not being incentivated to, do not play such amazing video game as this one. I hope the iniciative is proven effective.
Well, the universe is what it is written as, surely, and women can be written as soldiers.
If you are saying women can not be soldiers in fantasy 'medieval-style' fiction...then I point you to Dragon Age.
Awesome answers, thanks a lot!
A couple of subsidiary questions if you do not mind:
1) If Cersei is Queen Regent as Joffrey is not of age, why is Lady Forrester not Lady Regent of the house? Surely Ethan, being 14 (I think) is not of age?
2) House Martell sounds awesome. Are they presented as being progressive? How do other houses react to their less-sexist way of determining birthright?
3) Are there any other 'peasant' women in Ironrath? I noticed that when judging the thief, there were around 20 men and not one women outside of our immediate family. Is Ironrath just a castle and not an actual village/settlement, which surely would contain women?
4) Can women be sent to the Wall?
5) Does the writer ever show the fact that there should be many more women alive than men, due to the nature of warfare?
Thanks again for the answers!
This story is sounding far more progressive than I had imagined. Perhaps I should watch the show. I pray that the standards in Dorne expand into the north, as is what usually happens with progressive ideas.
I played this game today thanks to the base knowledge given by Raging here, and really enjoyed it
Flog, Dragon Age isn't suppose to be a good representation of this age. I know Game of Thrones isn't either but it's better, Women like it or not were oppressed back then and in GoT it's taken down by a large margin.
Your welcome
.
Yeah the beginning is kind of boring, but the first ep is starting at the interesting parts. Also I would recommend the show.
You've just answered your own point. All fantasy games are not representative of Earthen history. That's the point of low fantasy.
GOT isn't a historical examination of the human race on Earth. It's a fantasy series with its own universe, its own history, its own lore.
True enough my good friend, still though, in the GoT world it tries to recreate a sense of the medieval times which means oppressed women.
It doesn't really though does it. The season are different, there's freaking dragons, wood that is impervious to fire...
It seems odd that such fundamentals of human existence can be altered, and people have more difficulty with the concept of women being as respected as men.
Flog like you said, the lore. Women are oppressed in that world, like it or not that's not going to change...Not going to stop some from being awesome and loved characters.
...Oh...How I wish dragons weren't just lore. :P
I know they are oppressed in this game, but he said
Which contradicts itself, as there is only gender inequality in the universe because he chose to put it in. I was just saying that gender inequality was very much a choice of the auther, and was not necessitated by the theoretical era it is set in.
Flog, it's in the damn story, he's not changing it. I know you feel strongly about this issue but not every story has to have damn equality.
AND FOR FUCKS SAKE FLOG...YOU NEVER ANSWERED ME ABOUT DRAGONS. :P
I'm just messing with you with the whole caps lock thing...Seriously though...wouldn't dragons be so cool.
1) I'm pretty sure Cersei declared herself Queen Regent. She wasn't appointed in any official manner. Lady Forrestor easily could have done the same I believe.
2) By Game of Thrones standards, House Martell is indeed pretty progressive. Their rulers are labeled as "Prince" or "Princess" instead of "Lord" or "Lady" that other Houses use. At the time the narrative begins in the show, House Martell has effectively shut themselves off from the rest of the Seven Kingdoms as best as they can, only interacting with the others when absolutely necessary. This is because of a deep-harbored resentment towards the Lannisters, who currently hold the throne, when Prince Doran's sister, Princess Elia, and her children, were brutally murdered at the hand of Lannister soldiers. Princess Elia was married to Rhaeger Targaryen, one of the family who previously held the throne before Joffrey and Robert Baratheon. The Targaryens were wiped out as a result of a Baratheon, Stark, and Lannister tri-attack. and House Martell grudgingly bent the knee to Robert Baratheon who claimed the throne, despite their hatred for the Lannisters. Wait, it gets even better. The king who ruled at that time was called Aerys Targaryen aka "The Mad King." He was known for his love of fire and it made him insane. He made Jamie Lannister (A young man at the time) stay with him in the throne room instead of fight outside. He ordered Tywin Lannister to bring his forces over to help protect him. When Tywin arrived, Jamie begged Aerys not to let him in, because he knew Tywin would kill Aerys. Aerys wouldn't listen and he let Tywin's forces in, so Jamie killed him, branding himself "the Kingslayer," and labeling himself in a horrible way forever. It is later revealed that Aerys had placed magical fire beneath the city that he planned to ignite, leveling King's Landing and killing everyone it. Okay, it's a bit of a mess, but the Martells hate the Lannisters. (Hint: Everyone hates the Lannisters, but everyone is afraid of Tywin Lannister and his money)
3) Well, there should be. I heard woman's voices in the crowds, I recall. That's strange, I don't remember seeing any women in Ironrath, now that you point it out. Ironrath most definitely has women, I can assure you of that.
4) No. The Wall is a band of sworn brothers. When a brother takes the vow to join the Night's Watch. He forsakes all birthrights he once had. He swears to never have sex with women. The vow to join the Night's Watch is a sacred vow and it's for life.
5) I have no idea. I have noticed though that in many instances however, some women are usually shown to have some degree of power that in some cases, far exceeds the power that men have, even though the men believe they have the power. There are a LOT of women shown in the story. Some serve no purpose other than "sexposition." Some you hate. Some you love. It just depends.
Okay, I'm sorry if point 2 went a little off topic, but the lore is beyond complicated when each and every character has their own motivation behind what they do and I'm trying to help you understand its history. Did you get all that? I'm not sure I would if I was a new fan of Game of Thrones haha.
...I know it's in the story (although he can easily change it: one house is already genderblind in select the next lord and the house hasn't collapsed), did you read mmy comment? The person I originally repled to said that gender equality couldn't be in the story because of the setting: I'm saying that gender inequality is PART of the setting, not a result of it.
And dragons are cool. And sometimes cute.
It can and cannot be... While there might be people pushing for it in the book and real life doesn't mean that it should happen. In the medieval times...Like I keep saying... Women were oppressed, with little or no hope of getting out, people fought it but most failed. GoT shows this very well, it's saying true to the real life events on this.
...I just want to pet it.
But it isn't at all: women DO fight in GOT, when they would not have been allowed to.
Also, if you don't think equality should happen in real life, what's the point in even discussing it? (You don't..actually think equality is a bad thing right?)
I really want to stroke it too. And scratch its chin.
Like I said, Women will fight it...Like some women in GoT
...Flog...I never said equality shouldn't happen in real life...No idea where you got this idea.
I got the impression you didn't support it based on this comment
I don't think my assumption was too far-fetched