My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 2

Thursday is theory day now.  

This is the second article of the series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right. 

Prepare for part 2. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously.

The Boiled Leather Audio Hour #14

Prophet Motive: The Geopolitical Impact of Prophecy 

Can you co-host also be your special guest? We’re about to find out, as Sean interviews me about my essay “Under the Bleeding Star: On the Role of Prophecy in Songs of Ice and Fire.” Before you do anything else, click the link to read it in its entirety at Nerdstream, where it’s been posted as a preview of the forthcoming essay-collection ebook Tower of the Hand: A Flight of Sorrows, featuring contributions from a whole bunch of snazzy TotH and A Podcast of Ice and Fire regulars. 

According to Sean, my essay attacks the issue of prophecy in the books from a novel and rewarding angle. Rather than another attempt at interpretation or an examination of prophecy’s literary or philosophical import, the essay traces prophecy’s direct impact on the story and on the world therein, through the observable deeds of the books’ major players. As I methodically lay out (Sean's words, again) how belief in prophecy has influenced such prominent political leaders as Daenerys Targaryen, Cersei Lannister, Aeron Greyjoy, Stannis Baratheon, and Rhaegar Targaryen, it becomes strikingly clear that without prophecy’s influence, the world would be a very different place. Reading the essay was a “eureka” moment for Sean, and were both excited to explore insights ourselves.

So go, read the essay, listen to our discussion of it, and buy A Flight of Sorrows when it hits Amazon this Saturday! 

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So, I finished Diablo III the other day... Part 2/2

In my first post on the topic of Diablo's storytelling quality, I gave a rough introduction on how the story of Diablo II worked, letting the blank player character chase behind the Dark Wanderer(tm) and his companion Marius, a notorious disciple of the Stockholm Syndrome. In the end Diablo, whose mortal form had been destroyed once already, was beaten again and his spirit form crushed with it, too. Now, would you have seriously anticipated that the story's finished with that? Me neither. I didn't expect the continuation to be so sloppy, though. It starts easily enough, I grant you, with the star falling on Tristram, you arriving in New Tristram and engaging in some meet and greet with various monsters and NPC. The first Act of Diablo III is very neatly built, full of rich details and interesting. You can pick up lore about the monsters you slay, you can find additional quests, and the surroundings support the overall ambience. Gameplay elements like destroyable walls and falling chandeliers are carefully set and fit in. 

Seriously, do you expect someone to live here?

A Flight of Links

Monday is Link-Day, as usual!

- Some guys produced a hilarious short film about the Euro crisis, depicted as a relation breakup, with even more hilarious accents: A Very European Breakup. In case you don't recognize them, in order of appearance: Greece, Germany, Italy, Great Britain.
- I don't know whether to root for this guy. He's incorporating many bad nerd clichees, even going on about "I`m a badass Klingon security guard" (seriously?) and delivering his lines with such an easy aura of arrogance, but on the other hand...well, I don't know. What do you think? Let me know in the comments.
- It's funny, but googleing for the final picture of the Diablo-articles I found this very well founded article that also complains about the story of Diablo III. To my credit, it was hard to find; I had to use "Diablo III story" as keywords.
- There was a flashmob playing "Star Wars" in Cologne, consisting of an entire orchestra.
- Yahtzee talks Black Mesa.
 - Cracked offers four ways that Highschools kill your interest in reading. So true!
- I don't know why so many people have a problem just with the looks and casting of Lone Ranger, I think it looks like decent enough popcorn cinema.
- The upcoming S.H.I.E.L.D. series features many female protagonists, tells Alyssa.
- Sean T. Collins goes over some length about the differen themes that can be found in AFFC and ADWD. Extensive work, take a look!
- If you ever wonder how to convey sex best in television, Alyssa explains you how to do it propely.
- Grantland has an excerpt of an upcoming book about the history of Marvel.
- The Republicans in  Maine attack a Democratic contester for the Senat seat for playing World of Warcraft, claiming it "raises questions" for her maturity. Hillarious side-note: since she's playing an Orc rogue, this is taken as evidence that she's an evil backstabber. It'll be interesting to see whether this posse has any outcome of the election, since it shows us whether or not gaming has changed in the public mind - to the better, that is. 

Awkward worldbuilding in "The Hunger Games"

Warning: Contains spoilers for the movie "The Hunger Games". Obviously.

I never read "The Hunger Games". My wife did. She also devoured "Twilight", which I hate, so when she pushed me to watch the movie adaption, I was semi-enthusiastic, to say the least. After all, I went into the first Twilight-movie with her, and even she admitted it sucked. But the book is great! she never misses to tell me. This might be, I answer. Might be in a sense like it might be that all atoms in a given pebble simultaneously move in the same direction, lifting it up. Might be. So, when the next edition of what seemed to come from the same "girl stuff" direction came up, I expected a similar disaster. Upon watching the trailer, I was very sceptical whether they would be able to make a rather stupid premise halfway believable. I know that "Battle Royale" didn't, and this seemed to be essentially the PG-13 version of it. When I get into these moods about franchises my wife loves, she gives me this look of "I burn your Song of Ice and Fire books", so I know it's time to shut up and at least to pretend to be open-minded toward the franchise, if I can't avoid getting in touch with it. I really was determined to be open-minded, unlike with "Twilight". Perhaps "The Hunger Games" was somewhat decent, who knows. Surprisingly, it turned out it was. I like it better than "Battle Royale", by the way, which omits any attempt of world building just to see school children slaughter each other. "The Hunger Games" at least try. They fall short on multiple occasions, and I want to talk about them here because I should work, and this is the next best thing. 

Could it be a love triangle? That's something I haven't seen before in this kind of movie!

A Flight of Contests

Press release from the Tower of the Hand: 

With a little over two weeks to go until the big day – October 13th, for those who may have forgotten already – we’re happy to announce that Tower of the Hand: A Flight of Sorrows now has its own Facebook page. You can find it here:

https://www.facebook.com/FlightofSorrows 

Even more exciting, however, is what having our own Facebook page means: contests. Lots of them. Every single week for the next several weeks. And the prizes will make any hardcore Song of Ice and Fire fan frisky – or so we hope, at least. We’ll be giving away free copies of the ebook (before the publication date!), the chance to have your own analysis featured prominently at Tower of the Hand, exclusive content literally available nowhere else, and a guest host spot for a future episode of A Podcast of Ice and Fire. And there may be a few more surprises thrown in for good measure, too. Just sayin’.

What’s the first contest? Ten lucky winners will get an exclusive sample of another one of the book’s essays: “You Win or You Sit the Bench: Power Ranking – NFL-style – the Top Contenders in the Game of Thrones,” by fantasy author Douglas Cohen. You’ll get the chance to read it in its entirety and then have your thoughts and reactions posted online for all of the Song of Ice and Fire community to see. Agree with Doug’s picks? Disagree? Think he’s way off for the story’s endgame? The whole world will get the chance to know.

So what do you have to do to win? It’s a very complicated two-step process:
 1. Like Tower of the Hand: A Flight of Sorrows’s Facebook page.
2. Post a comment on the page. Anything you like – “hullo,” “I love A Podcast of Ice and Fire,” “I think your book’s dumb because…” Whatever you want. We just want the chance to get to know you better.

The ten winners will be chosen completely at random. The contest starts now and ends Sunday night at 11:59 pm EST.

My stance on various ASOIAF conspiracy theories, Part 1

This is the first article of a new series. Since there are a lot of theories floating out there and I'm asked often enough what I think of them, I thought I write it down. You can then laugh about me when I am totally proven wrong by "The Winds of Winter" or something like that. Rules are as follows: you put a question about any theory or plot element (really, let's stress "theory" a bit for the sake of interesting questions) either in the comments of any theory post or by mail (stefan_sasse@gmx.de) and I will answer them in an upcoming post. And if you now ask "Stefan, isn't this a shameless rip-off of Sean T. Collin's "Ask me anything"?", I would tell you to shut up, because you are right. 

Prepare for Part 1. Spoilers for "A Song of Ice and Fire", obviously.

Do players own the stuff they find in Diablo III?

Intriguing thoughts.

I have written about a related issue some time ago, but unfortunately in German. For those who never learned one of the most complicated languages in the western hemisphere, here's a quick breakdown: the existence of digital properties will pose some serious questions in the future when the first big company goes bust. Imagine, for example, Facebook defaulting and a Chinese state-controlled hedge fonds bidding to buy all these nice servers full of information. There would be at least some debate about whether to allow the transaction. Imagine Valve declaring bancruptcy and shutting down Steam. Seriously, I paid for these games, and now I can't play them anymore? I demand a buy-out like they did for General Motors! Save Steam so I can play on. Amazon being a goner would at least affect all those who ever purchased ebooks or used the library services, and so on. How much of these digital goods do you actually own? And are you feeling a bit uncomfortable now? There's some stuff for lawyers ahead, to be sure.

So, I finished Diablo III the other day... Part 1/2

In the current case, "the other day" was some months ago, but don't let that keep you from reading on. I anticipated Diablo III for quite some time, although not as much as I waited for Starcraft II. Taking part in the Open Beta, I was sceptical, but then again, it was Blizzard, and they never published anything remotely bad. So, when my copy of Diablo III arrived, I started playing, finished the first run-through quickly in Single Player so I could experience the storyline (not really possible when playing multiplayer since someone always wants to race along) and then quickly paced through the other difficulty levels with friends. When my Barbarian Shagga, Son of Dolf, reached Level 60 and I entered "Inferno"-Difficulty, I finally understood what kind of game Blizzard had made with "Diablo III" and how mistaken I had been.

Look at my works, ye mighty, and despair!

A Flight of Links

- Obviously, Lego can be used for serious stuff too - portraits, in this case. More of it, please!
- The Wertzone reviews Deadwoond Season 1. If you haven't seen it, start today.
- Good news, everyone! The Warp Drive may be possible.  
- If you want to see how visual compositions work in TV, start reading this blog which offers great thougts and a layout giving you eyecancer.
- Really can't wait for Assassin's Creed 3. There is a new preview in The Escapist to keep the Nerdgasm running.
- Interesting question: Should Assassin's Creed 3 get sequels?
- Playing games in coop actually makes players cooperative in later tasks. 
- NBC makes a drama series about Thomas Edison, set in a setting like the Sherlock-Homes movies in which Edison produces gimmicks for the police. Sounds interesting, but I'm sceptical, to be honest.
- There is a webcomic called Homestuck, which you really should check out, and PBS explains you why.
- Pop-Culture-Celebreties engaging in the election can be really fun.
- German state parliament banishes laptops, Pirate party comes in with typewriters in protest. 
- Is Germany's advertising culture racist? 
- Watching Star Wars in the "Machete Order" supposedly makes more sense and the movies better.

Game of Thrones vs. American Politics

I'm not quite sure whether I would sign Renly and Santorum as a pair; besides the smirk, there isn't really much there (although Midwesteros is a great joke). Balon and Ron Paul are great, and Tyrion and Colbert as the great pranksters also work for me. Daenerys and Palin is really evil, but considering the latest chapter in ADWD and Julianne Moores performance in "Game Change", it might come true. The Clinton/Gore comparisons are harmless and let me smile a bit, but not more. So, that's me, what's your opinion? Have at it! 

What's culture, anyway?

When you try to analyse works of popular culture, be it the "Song of Ice and Fire" or "Battlestar Galactica", "Breaking Bad" or "The Walking Dead", you can be sure to get only a sneer by those who are sure that anything of cultural value can be enshrined only by the covers of two books. Preferably, old books. It is something that continues to drive me mad. I started to hate the phenomenon when I studied German literature (a subject I'm currently teaching). At university, a universal ruleset seemed to form itself, at least to me:

1) Only books can be precious and "culture". 

2) The fewer people understand the given text because of its complicated structure, the better it must therefore be. 

3) The less entertaining a text is, the better it is. Only fools and jesters aim at entertaintment, the real artist bores his audience to death. 

4) The older the text is, the better it must be. 

Of course, this is a very bitter and exaggerated ruleset. You read contemporary texts, too, but this violation of rule 4 is almost always compensated by restraining the choice of text to rules 2 and 3. I am ashamed to say that back in school and when I started studying at university, I prided myself of liking this sort of stuff and even tried to write "sophisticated" texts of my own, just to prove how long my literary penis was. About halfway through university I came to hate it more and more. Today, I still love to read and to analyse, but I sure as hell also love to watch stuff and analyze it. I have broadened the definition of what is worthy of analysis, so to speak. This leaves the question of what exactly belongs to "popular culture" and what doesn't, and what measuring instruments I use to decide the question.

He's long dead, so his work must have been great!

Pic: Stark Children and their Direwolfs

Now, isn't that just sweet?

Playing for keeps

Warning: Contains spoilers for the second season of Battlestar Galactica. 

When the Battlestar Galactica encountered the Battlestar Pegasus in the vastness of space, the joy soon turns bitter for the crew of the Galactica, as they have to face that the Pegasus is something like a jagged, dark mirror image of their own. Pegasus is what would have become of Galactica if Adama would have had his way back in the pilot episode, where he wanted to go to war against the Cylons and was only persuaded by President Roslin that he needed to protect what was left of humanity. Pegasus went through this initial thought and forced everything under a very narrow interpretation of military needs, going so far as to putting people against the wall and shoot them to force valuable personell to leave their families to die in ships stripped for valuable parts. Admiral Cain, the commanding officer on Pegasus, sees herself as fighting a war, and in war, the needs of the few must submit to the needs of the many. Unfortunately, there are not that many left, but Cain acts under the illusion that there were and that humanity needs to, somehow, strike back and bring the fight to the Cylon. If you would ask her why, she would tell you something about war and how war works, but the truth would be that she doesn't know. The logic of war has swept away all other considerations. 

Just one Battlestar between salvation and oblivion.

A Flight of Links

- Borderlands 2 is out, and the Escapist reviews it.
- Marvel really does make "Guardians of the Galaxy", starring a racoon and a tree. I'm really excited to see how this turns out.
- Yahtzee shows you how to make a game in which you play death interesting.
- Germany in numbers, for those interested in my homeland, provided by the Guardian. 
- Steven Spielberg still cashes revenue from "Star Wars" because of a stupid bet of Lucas'.
- If you're intelligent, you don't support Conservatives. Thanks for clearing that up, Rick Santorum.
- A German posse over a pirate politician's book whose publisher prosecutes pirating has reached The Escapist. The story isn't exactly right as depicted, but be that as it may. 
- This new BBC series just looks great. 

Under the bleeding star

Warning: Contains heavy spoilers for all books from "A Song of Ice and Fire" up to and including "A Dance with Dragons".

Note from the editor: On October 13, our first essay book, Tower of the Hand: A Flight of Sorrows, goes on sale at Amazon for $5.99. The ebook contains eight original essays about A Song of Ice and Fire, written by Tower of the Hand editors and contributors, and our frequent collaborators. All of us have worked hard these past few months assembling a collection of essays that are original, fun, and revelatory. There's something in this book for everyone, from first time readers to the most hardcore fans of George R. R. Martin. If you enjoy the essays we offer here on Tower of the Hand, we're sure you'll appreciate A Flight of Sorrows just as well. Here's an exclusive look at one of the essays that will be included in the book, written by Stefan Sasse.

Under the Bleeding Star

On the role of prophecy in songs of ice and fire

"You wear your prophecy like a suit of armor. You think it keeps you safe, but all it does is weigh you down and make it hard for you to move." Littlefinger (paraphrased)

If there is one topic that really engages fan speculation, it's the subject of prophecies. They can be found in the books as early as A Game of Thrones, when the Dothraki dosh khaleen prophesizes the arrival of "The Stallion Who Mounts the World" in the incarnation of Daenerys Targaryen's son, Rhaego, and they stay with us until the long-awaited pages of A Dance with Dragons, where Quaithe makes another appearance and a red priest named Moqorro utters dark phrases to anyone who listens. One of the most memorable scenes of Dany's whole character arc, the House of the Undying, is littered with prophecy.

Series I stopped watching

Warning: Contains mild spoilers. 

I have watched quite a bit of series. Some of them I stopped watching in mid-season. I don't like to stop watching something, as I don`t like stop reading something. Not only do I then not know how it will end - which in some cases really doesn`t matter that much - but my inner demon tells me that then everything before will be wasted time, and who wants to waste time, right? Nonetheless, there is some stuff I didn't finish, and now I will take the time to tell you why, and you may stop reading anytime and consider what you've read up to this point as wasted time. I also chronicle the series I finished watching. I use the following formula: 

 

The title of the show

Seasons: How many seasons there are at the point of writing.

Watched: How far did I get? This obviously colors how deep my critique can go, so handle with care. 

Elevator pitch: What is the show about, in two or three sentences.

Main draws: What is good about the show. A few high points, as they appealed to me. This needs to be graded on a curve; bad shows obviously have very minor points here.

Main problems: What is bad about the show. This needs to be graded on a curve; good shows obviously have very minor points here.

Would try picking up again: Would I try and finish the series? And if not, why?

Rating: I'm giving a rating between 1 and 5, with half-points in between. 1 is absolute garbage, 5 is absolutely stellar. 3 is basically watchable without pain, but nothing special.

A vision of an emancipated world

Warning: Contains mild spoilers about Battlestar Galactica. 

There are quite many Fantasy and Science-Ficion-settings that claim to show a world that has moved beyond the discrimination of the female gender. Especially role-playing games often do this; sometimes it's regarded as especially progressive to turn the table and simply mirror role models, which usually makes for a shortcut into the uncanny valley. I know only one show and setting that ever convinced me with its vision of an egalitarian world. This show is, you might have guessed, Battlestar Galactica. This may sound a bit strange because the show surely is no stranger to show boobs and slender female bodies in order to appeal to a certain audience, but there are several elements in it that contrast the show from other comparable settings. Or better, there are certain things lacking in BSG that can be found on other shows. 

May I present the kind of character they chose not to introduce.

A Flight of Links

This will be the first link-collection post. I plan on doing them every Monday, so let's see if I can live up to that. If you find any interesting articles fitting the blog, by all means, post them in the comments or mail me.

- The Internet Meme Database has some WWII-style propaganda posters for social media for you.

- MovieBob goes on about what the new Superman movie will most likely be like.

- The Escapist offers a review of the astonishing mod "Day Z" which basically seems to take all my critizism from last week to heart.  

- 10 characters whose genders where switched in main production.

- Dirk Benedict really is kind of a self-centered jerk.

"A Flight of Sorrows" revealed!

For the past seven years, ToweroftheHand.com has prided itself on being a premiere source of A Song of Ice and Fire analysis, information, and speculation. There has been nearly a metric ton of essays, forum posts, and encyclopedia entries logged at the site to date, all designed to give the hardest of the core fan the most rewarding experience possible while reading George R.R. Martin's seminal novels.
And now the editors are taking all those years of mastery and applying them to an ebook.
Tower of the Hand: A Flight of Sorrows takes five of the site's most prolific authors - including its two founders - and draws out their best, most in-depth work yet. Unlike other Ice and Fire compendiums, the focus of these essays is on the narrative, character, and thematic elements of the story itself, as opposed to the literary aspects surrounding the books.

A Flight of Sorrows is coming out a month from today, and to celebrate, we’re letting you all in on a little secret: the book’s complete lineup (which, we’re delighted to finally share, includes a few more friendly faces from the Ice and Fire community). Here we go:

- Foreword – Phil Bicking, editor-in-chief of WinterIsComing.net And Now It Begins… 

- Introduction – Marc N. Kleinhenz, editor All along the Watchtower 

- “Under the Bleeding Star” – Stefan Sasse, essayist at Tower of the Hand and co-host of the Boiled Leather Audio Hour On the role of prophecy in songs of ice and fire 

- “Daggers in the Dark” – Miles Schneiderman, essayist at Tower of the Hand The ultimate fates of protagonists, from A Game of Thrones to A Dance with Dragons 

- “The Prince That Illyrio Promised”- Alexander Smith, co-founder of Tower of the Hand Exploring the identity of – and the aim of the conspiracy around – Aegon Targaryen 

- “A Game of Beds” – Amin Javadi, co-host of A Podcast of Ice and Fire Marital infidelity, adultery, and fandom theories in A Song of Ice and Fire 

- "Every Case Is Different, Every Case Is Alike” – John Jasmin, co-founder of Tower of the Hand Investigating murder investigations in Westeros 

- “You Win or You Sit the Bench” – Douglas Cohen, author and former editor of Realms of Fantasy magazine Power ranking – NFL style – the top contenders in the game of thrones 

- “The Narratives of Winter” – Marc N. Kleinhenz, editor Discerning the structure of Martin’s saga and teasing out its final act 

- “The Telltale Knight” – Mimi Hoshut, co-host of A Podcast of Ice and Fire The narrative parallels and foreshadowing of the Tales of Dunk and Egg 

- Afterword – Chelsea Monroe-Cassel, co-author of InnattheCrossroads.com and A Feast of Ice and Fire Just Desserts 

- Appendix I: What’s a Game of Thrones without the Tower of the Hand? 

- Appendix II: The Creaking Door of House Manwoody

As you can see, it’s a packed house, and we’re excited to squeeze you into the nerdfest, as well. (Note: the two appendices are previously published material – one at Corona’s Coming Attractions, the other at Tower of the Hand itself – that interviews the respective braintrusts behind TOTH and A Podcast of Ice and Fire. It’s collected here to heighten the reader’s enjoyment of these two wacky-but-popular ASOIAF staples.)

A Flight of Sorrows releases on Saturday, October 13^th, 2012 at the price of $5.99. It will be available exclusively at Amazon.com and is edited by Marc N. Kleinhenz, a freelance journalist who has written for 19 sites, including IGN, Comic Related, and Westeros.org. Other books he has written or edited include It Is Known: An Analysis of Thrones, Vol. I, another travelogue to Martin's novels and television series, and the upcoming Green Switch Palace: A Year in the Life of Nintendo Fandom.