Game of Thrones | Song of Ice and Fire

Although HBO has attempted to stop  Game of Thrones  leaking this year by not releasing early review copies of each episode, somehow episodes have still found their way online before the official broadcast. First of all, the sixth season’s debut appeared online just hours before broadcast. Now, the fifth episode, titled  ‘The Door’ , has leaked, according to  Torrent Freak . The initial upload occurred more than 24 hours before the episode was set to broadcast on HBO, and soon after a high-quality video appeared on Torrent websites. Ironically, the leak hasn’t been traced back to hackers but to HBO themselves – keen fans noticed the episode had been uploaded early to HBO Nordic. A screenshot of the episode available on the website has appeared online. View image on Twitter In recent weeks, HBO has reportedly been sending pirates warnings about illegally downloading their show, while online links have also been taken down within minu...

If there is one thing Machiavelli’s  The Prince  needed, it was more dragons. Alas, it would have been so easy! All he had to do was mention Saint George. Although the closest Machiavelli came to discussing these mythic beasts was a brief shout-out for Chiron the centaur , such omissions make HBO’s  Game of Thrones  and George R. R. Martin’s  A Song of Ice and Fire  all the more interesting in today’s classroom. After all, if Daenerys Targaryen were a Poli Sci major today, she’d have every reason to throw down her textbooks and demand: “Where are my dragons!” Where  are  her dragons? That’s a good question. I say they belong in her classes alongside Hannibal’s elephants. It may sound ridiculous to reference works of fantasy in order to better explain politics, but such a practice is as old as Plato’s dialogues on Atlantis. After all, what is a well-written fictional character other than a device for better understanding ourselves? One...

Alfie Allen and Sophie Turner star in Game of Thrones: The Red Woman   CREDIT: HBO Some major cliff-hangers were left unresolved The tension was incredible as  Game of Thrones  season six opened with the camera swooping low over Castle Black, alighting on the scene of noble Jon Snow’s bloody run-in with the traitorous Night’s Watch. Alas, the Bastard of Winterfell (Kit Harington) was, for the time being at least, staying very dead indeed , as confirmed by a haunting close-up of his waxy visage and the pool of scarlet arranged like a skewed halo. S hort of spelling out “He’s Dead!” in huge flaming letters it’s hard to see how much more emphatically show-runners David Benioff and DB Weiss (they also wrote the episode) could have driven the point home. W as this a sadistic riposte to fans who have spent the best part of a year constructing elaborate conspiracy theories as to when and how the grumpy heartthrob will return? Or a s...

Unless you’ve been held captive by the High Sparrow and his band of sanctimonious goons for the past eight months, you know that  Game of Thrones Season 6  will premiere on HBO this season. For the first time, even book readers are mostly clueless as to what might be in store, as most of the storylines in David Benioff and D.B. Weiss’ acclaimed adaptation are past the point where that George R.R. Martin has reached in his ongoing series of novels. Obviously, the big question on everyone’s mind is whether or not  Jon Snow is truly dead . Naturally, the Internet has some interesting theories about the newest Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch – as well on just about every other character that probably survived season 5. So check out our list of the best  Game of Thrones  Season 6 predictions  in the gallery below. But be careful – spoilers are coming: 1. Coldhands Rides Into Our Lives Coldhands is a mysterious (and probably undead)...

With the sixth season of  Game of Thrones  premiering on Sunday, fans of both the show and the related book series are likely to soon learn the answer to a hugely important mystery — is Jon Snow, who was apparently  stabbed to death  at the very end of season five, really gone for good? Viewers of the HBO series have had to wait nearly a year for the resolution of this shocking cliffhanger. But that’s nothing compared to the wait experienced by readers of George R.R. Martin’s book series, who have been in suspense about Jon’s fate since  A Dance with Dragons  was published nearly  five   years  ago. And since Martin  didn’t finish  the next book in the series in time to stay ahead of the HBO show, the early episodes of the new season are set to resolve this dangling thread for both groups of fans — one of the biggest cases in which the show will be “spoiling” future books. However, there’s long been a near-universal consens...

It’s the female characters who are seeking revenge in the new series of the hit HBO show Game of Thrones begins a new series on Monday and it’s set to be a violent affair. Trailers show tension mounting in every scene – with dragons, fire, threats and battles aplenty. With so many characters wronged in the first five seasons, who will be seeking revenge in series six? Margaery Tyrell Cersei wasn’t the only one to fall from grace in season five – Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) briefly became queen after marrying the young King Tommen Lannister but then found herself imprisoned by the Faith Militant for lying about her brother’s sexuality. Although still in her cell at the end of season five, Dormer has said viewers can expect to see a very different side to her in the new series. “It’s very liberating to play someone who’s losing their sh*t,” she told the  Radio Times . Daenerys Targaryen Emilia Clarke’s Dany, the Mother of Dragons, has been on one of the lon...

The sixth season of HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’ has many surprises in store—some that are more likely to happen than others. [Warning: Spoiler Alert] Game of Thrones ’ fifth season was, in the eyes of many, one of its least graceful, what with the  gratuitous sexual violence , the meandering character arcs, the de-emphasis on political intrigue and…whatever Dorne was supposed to be. But with Season 6 a tantalizing 24 hours away and  George R.R. Martin’s  books now (mostly) in the rear-view, fans have renewed hope for Westerosi greatness. Here are the eight most exciting storylines to look forward to and the nuttiest fan theories that now, somehow, actually seem plausible. Needless to say, spoilers up to Season 5 lie ahead, along with irresponsibly rampant speculation for what  may or may not  happen as Game of Thrones  approaches the beginning of the end. Jon Snow Will Rise Again (and We’ll Discover His True Lineage) http://giphy.com/embed/2L...