Game of Thrones: Thoughts on "Spoilers."

GAME OF THRONES

Season 4, Episode 4

"Oathkeeper"

I only used quotations around the word "spoilers" in the title because my husband insisted that what happened on Sunday night's Game of Thrones episode, Oathkeeper, was not a spoiler because it hadn't technically even been written, yet.

I disagree, so I Googled the definition of spoilers, because that is a thing you can actually do now.  Here's what Wikipedia said:

A spoiler is an element of a disseminated summary or description of any piece of fiction that reveals any plot elements which threaten to give away important details concerning the turn of events of a dramatic episode. Typically, the details of the conclusion of the plot, including the climax and ending, are especially regarded as spoiler material. It can also be used to refer to any piece of information regarding any part of a given media that a potential consumer would not want to know beforehand. Because enjoyment of fiction depends a great deal upon the suspense of revealing plot details through standard narrative progression, the prior revelation of how things will turn out can "spoil" the enjoyment that some consumers of the narrative would otherwise have experienced. Spoilers can be found in message boards, articles, reviews, commercials, and movie trailers.

Suck on THAT, husband.

Anyway, this post on my unpopular blog isn't so much a recap of Oathkeeper, but more a discussion with myself of, not only the spoiler at the end of the episode, but also of the what-the-hell-is-happening-here? story line that is currently taking place with Bran Stark.

I'll begin there and work my way up to the spoiler that my husband says isn't a spoiler and is wrong about.

So.  Bran, Meera, Jojen and Hodor are at Craster's place with the crazy, possibly cannibalistic rapists.  When last we visited Craster's, the crazy, possibly cannibalistic rapists had made the decision that murdering both Craster and also Jeor Mormont was a good idea.  They put that plan into action, Sam RUNNOFT with Gilly and her baby to face down white walkers in the woods and the usurpers were left to it.

Comparatively speaking, Craster's daughter-wives had it way better when he was still kicking around.  They are being pretty regularly raped and beaten, probably starved - who knows what else?  At least Craster seemed less consistent.  Fortunately, we don't spend a great deal of time having to make ourselves too familiar with the atmosphere at Craster's.  It's rape-y.  We get it.

Anyway, back to Bran.  So, someone leaves the baby boy of Craster's daughter-wife in the woods for the white walkers, because that's what they're supposed to do.  Bran and his group are not far away and hear the baby crying.  Bran goes to investigate, via Summer, who then falls into some sort of trap that I'm not certain these guys holed up in Craster's would be capable of making, because I'm not sure that they're capable of much of anything.

Long story short, Bran, Meera, Jojen and Hodor end up being captured by That Guy Who Drinks From Jeor Mormont's Skull and he demands to know who they are.  His friends outside are getting all stabby with Hodor, which makes me sad and is requiring Kristian Nairn to do more acting than they've let him do since the show started.

Jojen has a conveniently timed seizure, which prompts Bran to admit that he's Brandon Stark of Winterfell so that T.G.W.D.F.J.M.S. won't slit Meera's throat, or something.  The vagrant rapists are pleased by this development.

The thing is: none of this shit ever happened.  Like, ever.

I don't remember if Bran and Company are ever anywhere near Craster's while they're traveling, but they sure as hell don't go there and get captured.  You know what else never happened? Jon Snow going back to Craster's to dispense with the rabble.  Jon gets back to Castle Black after he leaves Ygritte and the Wildings and that's that.  He doesn't leave again, friends.

I can only assume that this is being done to elongate Isaac Hempstead-Wright's appearances in the upcoming seasons, because Bran is completely absent throughout all of A Feast for Crows, along with lots of other POV characters.  Martin did this because the timelines were becoming copious and Bran shows back up in A Dance With Dragons, along with all the other missing people.  Still, I hate it when they go so far off into left field and fabricate things that never happened.  I realize GRRM is working with HBO and I'm sure he had a had in it all, but yeah.  None of that happens.

Now on to the spoiler.  Frankly, it isn't as if logic wouldn't lead you to this conclusion on your own.  Why in the world would white walkers be killing babies, after all.  It only makes sense that they would be taking them to make more white walkers out of them.  But, still.  That revelation has not been written or even approached in any of the books, so far.  It hasn't been written.

And, in the aftermath of the episode, I have seen a lot of take-that-you-smug-book-readers type comments and blog posts.  So, let me focus on the "smug book readers" part for a second, because while that is sometimes meant in jest, it's oftentimes meant as a shot at the people who have read the books.  This, because we always know what is coming up and like to do things like film your reaction to The Red Wedding.  Here are my personal solutions to this problem:

1.     If you've read the books and your friend/spouse/partner/grandma/whatever has not and they are watching Game of Thrones with you, don't be a douche.  Sure, it's fun to see their reactions to things like The Red Wedding and the sweet, sweet justice of Joffrey being poisoned at his wedding, but tone it down.  Discuss it with them them afterward, maybe.  Don't say shit like, "oh my god you're going to freak out after this episode."  That spoils the fun of the surprise.  Sure, they don't know what is happening in this episode, but now they know that something is happening, and that takes some of the fun out of it.  And don't be a smug asshole on purpose.  There's no reason to act like you're better than anyone because you know the plot and they don't.  That doesn't even make sense.

2.    If you've never read the books and your friend/spouse/partner/grandma/whatever has, please keep in mind that this is fun for us.  If I had to guess, we probably encouraged you to read the books, right?  We told you that they're really good and you should try them out and you just weren't into it for whatever reason.  So, this T.V. show is a way for us to share a really good series of books that we really like with you.  Now, we get to see how you react to things (the same way we would if you were reading the series, I might add) and we can discuss things with you up until a certain point.  This is cool for us.  We may be a little overzealous, but we don't mean to be (most of us, anyway). 

Now, the spoiler itself in this episode was problematic for me because of the fact that it's something Martin hasn't actually included in any of the currently published books in the series, yet.  So, clearly, it's meant to be revealed later on in an as yet unwritten (or, at least, unpublished) book in the series.  This is an issue for me because I read the books, first and foremost.  My loyalties, I guess you'd say, lie with them, not the T.V. show.  So, when the T.V. show which hasn't even made it all the way through the fucking third book starts dropping spoiler bombs on revelations that haven't been written into the series yet and are major fucking information, regardless of how logical a conclusion it might have been - I have a problem with that.

I understand HBO's concern that they're going to catch up with GRRM considering the glacial pace of his book publication.  A Dance With Dragons was published in 2011, for Christ's sake.  If you look back at the publication dates in the series, Martin clearly has no problem with leaving his readers hanging for five or six years at a time.  But, that's another post for another time.

Anyway, I was thrown out of my comfort zone by the revelation in Oathkeeper and still haven't quite settled in.  I don't like the idea of the T.V. show giving me more information that the books themselves, but I suppose it's obviously something that is possible and, if I want to keep watching Game of Thrones (which I do), I'll just have to get on board.

Fandoms is hard.