"Sean Bean can do no wrong!"

My readers know my obsession for a certain Aussie actress. But I recently discovered that anyone can worship an actor. My mother-in-law started watching Game of Thrones and when my wife asked her what she thought of it, she replied: "Sean Bean can do no wrong!" I thought that was funny, and kind of true. Even when the rest sucks, Sean Bean is great. So I decided to add it here as a new great unknown line.

A portrait of Stannis Baratheon

Today, as I am on a bank holiday Monday and have plenty of time to spare and it is cloudy outside, I am doing a bit of a medieval fantasy marathon.So that means I am watching Game of Thrones episodes (I just finished watching the last one) and I might watch the last Hobbit movie (although I was underwhelmed by the second one). If I could, I would play Dungeons&Dragons as Game of Thrones gets me in the mood for it and it would be a perfect day for gaming. But instead, I am blogging and sharing my geekiness to the world.

So today I have decided to upload here a portrait of Stannis Baratheon, drawn by artist and fellow Quebecker Magali Villeneuve. I did it before for her portrait of Tywin Lannister. Like for Tywin, I started appreciating the character of Stannis because of his portrayal on the show by actor Stephen Dillane. Stern, ruthless, even merciless, but with a sense of justice that is sometimes misplaced, Stannis is a fascinating character. I would love to have one like him in some of our D&Dr games, either as a friend or foe. I think Magali captures perfectly the hardness of the man in this portrait.

A Game of Chairs

Since the fifth season of Game of Thrones has started and I eagerly watched it tonight, I thought about uploading here the parody from Sesame Street. It is very funny, surprisingly very accurate, but also more surprisingly (given that it is a children's program) makes not so subtle allusions to very grim and bloody events of the show. It can be enjoyed for people who never watched the show or read the books, but it is even funnier for the initiate, because of these allusions. I often find children's educational programs as stupid as they are unfunny for adults. Not this one, at least not this time.

A portrait of Tywin Lannister

I love Game of Thrones and I have been following the TV show since the end of last year. I have also started reading the novels, albeit less assiduously. I have here a confession to make: because mainly of the quality of the acting, I do prefer the TV series. It must be the thespian in me. And my favorite villain in the show and (so far) books is Tywin Lannister, played with such an amazing ease by Charles Dance. Because I have been watching the Tv series before reading the books, I sometimes have difficulties imagining the characters as described, shame on me. Well, not all, but Tywin Lannister, because of the incredible malevolent presence of Charles Dance on the show, I have difficulties imagining any other face for the head of House Lannister.

Which leads me to this portrait. I have been looking for different pictoral renditions of these characters I associate too much with the actors playing them, to exorcise their interpretations of the roles. And I found this portrait of Tywin Lannister by Magali Villeneuve. I think it is a brilliant depiction of the character as he is in the novels, cold, ruthless, calculating. And given her name, the artist is a fellow Quebecker, so I was proud to see her work on fan sites, card games and so on. Of all the portraits of Tywin I saw, this is by far my favourite. So this is is this image that will remain in my mind when I read the books. Or at least it will help me think about another face than Charles Dance's. Am I right to think it's a great portrait?

House Odin

As my readership knows, I am following assiduously Game of Thrones, which I discovered last November and I absolutely got hooked on it. The series's website has a page where you can make your own sigil. I decided to create my own and of course I chose as a sigil a black cat. It is easy to know why, and why I called my virtual noble house House Odin. Odin was there with me when I watched back to back the first two seasons of Game of Thrones, he spent a lot of time sleeping next to me or at the feet of the TV set. I was then living the Odin saga, watching a fictitious saga. I thought about it when I watched today this video from YouTuber Comic Book Girl 19, about the first episode of season 4, which I watched recently. She has adopted a black cat too, who is very much present in the video. It made me sad, thinking about all these moments with my own black cat. So this is the sigil of House Odin anyway: a black cat on a blue backdrop (that is supposed to represent night, or evening) and its motto is: Swift as a shadow. Very fitting.

Arya Stark and me

I recently answered some silly questionaire/quiz about which character of Game of Thrones I am. I have watched eagerly the TV series (and I am now up to date in the episodes) and I have even started reading the books. I am not a die hard fan or anything even approaching it, but I enjoy the stories and universe of George R.R. Martin and I am hooked enough. I have a confession to make and I hope any fan reading this does not get angry: so far I prefer the series to the books, on the whole. I do not find Martin that great of a writer and I find the quality of the acting on the show to give some depth and intelligence to Game of Thrones. Anyway, as my readership knows, my favourite family is House Stark. So I was not entirely surprised that according to this questionnaire, I am Arya Stark, played by Maisie Williams. Well, it was either her or Robb Stark. But I admired Arya from earlier on than Robb. I found it a bit strange that I am a girl in this fantasy universe, but hey, it was only one silly questionnaire, about a fictitious character in a fictitious world. I do not know if I am all that much like Arya, I am more of an intellectual than her and not nearly as physically active, but I admired her. A tomboy lost in a man's world (and a nasty man's nasty world at that), a loner and an underdog, who goes through a hellish time with courage and resourcefulness, she is just a lovable character, a good guy (well, a good gal) without being soppy.

The Bear and the Maiden Fair

Since the beginning of my trip and because it has eben freezing outside, I watched the third season of Game of Thrones in a marathon. It made me discover The Bear and the Maiden Fair, a bawdy song about, well, a bear and a maiden. I found a cover on Facebook that I really enjoy and thought I would upload it here.

The King in the North!

As I recently mentioned on this post, I became (to my surprise) quite addicted to Game of Thrones, which kind of calms my other addiction to D&Dr. Sadly, I cannot buy the third season yet.I will not surprised anyone that I root for the House Stark. Yes, they are the stereotypical good guys, but while I love to root for the villains sometimes and find them fascinating, I relate a lot more to the Starks. They are Northerners, they have a dire wolf as a sigil and their motto is "Winter is coming". So I relate to them a lot. And, well, talking of D&Dr, my character is a ranger, who has wolves as follower animals, so this is another reason I relate to them more. And there are scenes like this one I have decided to upload, that really get me. (Spoiler alert for those who haven't seen it, don't read any further). This is where Robb Stark, freshly new leader of his House after his father's execution, an execution that lead him to the path of war, is hailed by his men King in the North. However manipulative, it is a powerful scene.

Winter is Coming

Well, it certainly feels like it. I have heard it is snowing in Québec, but not here sadly. That said, here it is cold. It goes below zero in the night and although mornings can get mild, temperatures go down in the afternoon very quickly. So I am getting in a winter mood (which means I long for snow, but I am not thinking too much of Christmas yet). I discovered recently, thanks to a colleague to whom I borrowed the first two seasons in exchange of season 2 of The Wire, the TV series Game of Thrones. And thus I discovered the motto of House Stark, which is "Winter is Coming". I am well into the second season now, I find it quite addictive. And I find it fitting in many ways to watch this when winter is indeed coming. It also sort of makes me miss a bit less playing Dungeons & Dragons, something I used to do a lot in winter. In a way, Games of Thrones is the kind of TV series I wished existed when I was younger, it has enough drama, action and larger than life characters AND a medieval fantasy setting on top of that to make me survive winter. And inspired me for D&Dr. So anyway here is the opening credits, which I uploaded here just for kicks.