#the very definition of - ‘she (book!jon) looked absolutely beautiful….and he’s (show!jon) there 😐’

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

Remembering how Game of Thrones tried and failed to make a convincing argument that Jon Snow was “the true king all along !1!1”, mostly because they removed all the myth and wonder that makes this trope land in the books. Because, don’t get it twisted, I absolutely believe the books are getting to this in some way. But it works because GRRM is intentionally recreating King Arthur’s origin story, with all its magic and whimsy front and center. GRRM knows and intends for Jon to be the clichéd fantasy protagonist: he’s got a magic pet, a magic sword (that’s about to be even more magic soon), magic powers, a magic lineage, and an obvious magic destiny. Book!Jon is the very idea of fantasy, the quintessential fantasy character - and like, THAT’S THE POINT! It’s why he’s literally every classic fantasy trope mixed into one. But none of this is present in the show. He’s got no magic, neither does his very normal pet, his magic lineage means nothing, and his magic destiny is laughably pushed to the side because the writers need to subvert expectations. Show!Jon is just some guy whereas book!Jon is meant to be THE guy. All signs in the narrative point to this.

And I think one of the biggest indicators of the show runners just not getting itᵀᴹ is the Tower of Joy sequence, which is meant to serve as a masterclass for fantasy protag myth building 101. The book version has: the most legendary sword known to man, the most legendary knight of all time, the leader of a legendary band of white knights, a powerful noble, a princess queen of love and beauty in a tower, a newly risen king, the shadow of a dead prince who was heir to the throne, obvious messianic imagery (e.g., three wise men witnessing the birth of a promised king), several metaphorical falling stars (Arthur, Ashara, Dawn disappearing for years afterward), etc, etc. So when the narrative beats it over our heads that Jon is “le true king”, it makes sense because the imagery and symbolism has been injected into the story to back this claim up. From a genre perspective, it’s not so much avoiding a trope but reinforcing it (though with several twists). The show version of Jon’s birth is some random dudes (names not provided) fighting for vague reasons (they cut out all the meaningful, character building dialogue). Show!Jon’s birth is not a mythological event heralding a king. But the show runners want to cheat and claim Jon to be the true king without doing any of the legwork. It just doesn’t land at all, and this pattern bleeds into them trying to claim Jon as tptwp…except show!Jon has no magic powers to back up that claim, unlike book!Jon who is a walking power plant. So even if they did come to a (mostly) correct assumption - that Jon is the king - how it’s written is so mind-numbingly bad that it doesn’t even matter anyway.

#jon snow #asoiaf #game of thrones #books vs show #the very definition of - ‘she (book!jon) looked absolutely beautiful….and he’s (show!jon) there 😐’ #reason 1456789997643 why show!jon sucks donkey balls #I have a lot more to say in this topic but I’m too tired so I’ll just leave things here