Sunday 21 June 2015

Devil in the detail - Daredevil episode 10: Nelson v Murdock


"Are you even blind?"

Picking up where we left off from the last episode of Daredevil, poor old Foggy Nelson is caught in the middle of having discovered the extent to which his best friend has been hiding the truth from him.

Confronted with the battered and bruised Matt Murdock, revealed to somehow be the vigilante who has been terrorising the underworld despite being blind, Foggy does the only thing he could possibly do: he takes care of him.

He calls in Claire to patch up Matt's wounds, all the while torn over how much he can trust his friend - but when Karen rings and Foggy snarls about how she deserves to know, he goes along with Matt and lies to cover his injuries. He doesn't lie very well, but hey, this is Foggy.

How the friendship was formed


"Was anything ever real for us?" asks Foggy.

And so we take one of several leaps into the past of our comrades-at-law. We learn that Foggy learned Punjabi to impress a girl - we also learn that Matt learned Spanish "to snuggle up to... whatshername... that Greek girl". That'd be Elektra, no doubt.

We've already seen how the two first met as roommates in the episode, and we see how Matt has always covered for the whole truth. In a drunken conversation about getting dizzy with booze, he almost slips saying "It's even worse for me because my senses are so..." and then he trails off. Foggy questions him asking him what he means but the moment has passed.

But the drunken pledge of "Murdock and Nelson, attorneys at law!" by Foggy is countered by "Nelson and Murdock," from Matt. "It sounds better."

As the conversations progress, Foggy learns about Matt's abilities - how he can hear a heatbeat to tell a lie, how he first went into action as a vigilante, seeking to protect a young girl from her abusive father. The truth comes out piece by piece, and that's not always a good thing.

Spot the references

As we follow our buddies through times old and new, let's take a quick break away for this episode's geeky references. We've already seen hints at Elektra, and if you don't know who she is then don't on any account watch the movies of that title. Awful. Just awful.

Elsewhere in the episode, there are passing mentions on Randolph Cherryh, a corrupt poilitician from the comics. Also mentioned is a chap called Van Lunt - presumably Cornelius Van Lunt, who was the supervillain Taurus and led the Zodiac syndicate. There's a fleeting mention of someone called Richmond too - the only noteworthy Richmond from the comics would be Kyle Richmond, who became Nighthawk and was a member of the Defenders. My mind would boggle if that's anything more than an Easter egg.

Lastly, and bringing us back to our friends and their flashbacks, we have a glimpse back to their corporate law days and villainous megacorp Roxxon is at the root of things in the case highlighted. They're a long-standing collection of creeps who've menaced all manner of heroes over the comic book years.


"Saying it means it's true."

These words aren't spoken as our friends weigh up what they can say to each other, but it certainly has parallels. Instead, the words are spoken by Ben Urich, as he and Karen Page go at her behest to look at a nursing home for Ben's ailing wife. He is on the verge of throwing his hand in with the investigation into the Kingpin, because he needs to pay for his wife's care. Karen prevails upon him to visit a specific home, but on arrival he asks what are they doing there - it's way beyond his paycheck. She urges him to have a look around - and leads him to a room containing the Kingpin's mother.

It's good to see Karen leading the way here - she hasn't been wonderfully served all the time as a character in episodes - and the revelation that is uncovered here about how "it wasn't his fault. Wilson just wanted him to stop" reinvigorates Urich and sets him back on the path of the investigation.

And finally...

It seemed as if the Kingpin was back in charge, only for tragedy to strike. At a recetion, the drinks are poisoned. As people begin to collapse, the realisation sets in that something is very wrong, but not before Vanessa collapses into the Kingpin's arms.

And lastly back to our friends. If they still are friends. It was Matt's morality that led them away from corporate law, now it is Foggy whose morality is the line that Matt has crossed. After tending to Matt's wounds, he walks away. And the sign he created that binds the two together as hapless, penniless, legal musketeers? That lies in the trashcan as the credits roll...

Episode nine's Devil in the detail here.

Tuesday 16 June 2015

The answer to the riddle - or how blood and power works in Game of Thrones.

And another thing...! The season finale of Game of Thrones clearly left its mark on guest blogger Ricardo Victoria - who returns to discuss the matter of power in the series. 




The season finale of Game of Thrones (and the article I wrote and I hope you didn't hate) got me thinking. With all the hints towards the power of the royal blood - both in the finale and in the season in general, made me ponder how power works in Game of Thrones and how it has affected what most consider the three main protagonists of the show: Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister and Jon Snow at the outset of Season 5 and A Dance With Dragons.

Before I continue, let me say that the post is dark and full of spoilers.

With that out of the way, I open with this video:



In this scene, Varys makes the point that power resides where people believe it does. And that is quite an important line in terms of implications for the the story. Because in a world where ancient myths are coming back to turn everybody into human popscicles, dragons flying around and a subtle magic system that works around believing in a particular deity, belief is more than just a human fobile.



While it is known that GRR Martin likes to subvert typical fantasy tropes, it is also known he is studious of history and mythology. And one of the most common monomyths in human history is the belief of the power of blood. Be it the sangreal of yore of the medieval legendarium asking for ties with Jesus Christ or the claim made by many royal houses all over Europe and Asia that they were meant to rule by divine decree, blood ties always played an important role. Another example is in the Pre-Columbian times where blood sacrifices were common among certain cultures (but not as maligned as revisionist history made us think). Well, even in our modern fan worshipping culture of vampires, blood makes might (readers of Anne Rice will remember the link between blood and the vampire powers made in Queen of the Damned).

Westeros presents an interesting take on this monomyth. Here the gods are fickle and often absentee landlords (unless you follow the Many-Faced God, but only because Death is more present in this story than in other one else). But unlike our reality, people know of their existence because from time to time they make their presence be felt, be it by the resurrection powers of the Lord of Light, the disguising tricks of the Faceless men and the weirwoods of the Children of the Forest (I would like to add the Drowned God and the weird stones at the Ironborn islands, the necromancers of Asshai by the Shadow or the Lion of the Night of Yi Ti, but those are too obscure fro the regular fan of GoT unless s/he has devoured the World of Ice & Fire that Martin recently published). If any, the Faith of the Seven is the most subdued religion of all with barely a hint of miracles with the dreamcatcher-esque object that Catelyn was making for her sons (interesting to note that the Faith of the Seven is an expy of the Catholic Church, where miracles are important but also analysed before being declared as such). The only gods that we know really nothing of but are germane to the story are those of Old Valyria (whose only action seem to be the Doom). The only hint we have of them are three of their names, which were the names of the three original dragons of the Targaryen during Aegon's conquest.

However in Westeros, well in the whole world, there is no mention of a messiah begotten by the gods to deal with the wicked. Yes there are the legends of the Last Hero and Azor Ahai (which I believe were two different people). There is the prophecy of the Prince that was Promised and of course the foundational myths of each of the great houses (particularly the Starks with Bran the builder and their warg powers and the original rulers of the Reach, the Gardeners who claimed to be descendants of the equivalent to a fertility god not unlike Dyonisius). As you can see, there is no single hero or messiah created by the gods, just mythical people with certain abilities.

Thus where power comes from? How is that royal blood is so powerful to create shadow babies and infuse leeches with death powers? Why is that Melissandre has such an obsession with blood? (See note 1, below)

For this I submit the following hypothesis, derived from the video above: since power resides where people believes it does, blood power resides on those whose personal history, beliefs, lineage or actions generate enough faith (or fear) on the common folk and allies alike to be empowered. Basically this is the same hypothesis proposed by Sir Terry Pratchett in Small Gods. Deities acquire their powers if they have enough worshippers and if they don't, they disappear (Neil Gaiman uses the same idea in American Gods). And to explain my idea I will use the following examples with the three main characters of the story and the house that started this mess, the Baratheons.

The Baratheons:


Never trust a woman in red. Specially if she only wants you for your blood.

I start with them since it was Melisandre, working for Stannis, who introduced the concept of power in the blood to the audience. The Baratheons are related by lineage and by recent blood ties to the former ruling house of Westeros: The Targaryens. After all it was Orys Baratheon, the best friend of Aegon the conqueror (and rumored half brother) who founded his house on the ruins of House Durrandon (original lords of the Storm Lands) by marrying the daugther of the last Storm King. And the grandmother of the Baratheons we meet in the story (Robert, Stannis and Renly) was of Targaryen stock, but they are not rulers until they take the throne by force. So in that regard, the House is full of power. We are reminded of such with the use of Gendry's blood for the leech ritual (in the books it was Edric Storm, same result), albeit the result can not be exactly attached to the ritual, yes, rival kings died, but by more mundane methods such as poison or assassination. Only with Renly's death we see the true power of a blood ritual, one that drains Stannis of much of his power and forces him to later commit acts that will cost him all. That is our first indication that power resides in the blood. But was it because they had magical power or because they were believed to be powerful just by virtue of position? While it is not clear, Melisandre seems to think that Mance Ryder's blood has power too when she attempts to sacrifice him or his son. Remember that Mance was originally a crow, a member of the Night's Watch that became King beyond the wall by sheer force of personality, not by birthright or lineage.

Thus lies the first hint that the power contained in blood by certain persons or families is granted by the belief that comes with a position of power to lead men. Basically if the people accept you as their leader in the form of a kingship, your blood starts to absorb that power and mixes with it. The more people believe in your right to rule and has faith on you, the more power (be it spiritual or mental) absorbs. Here we can see a reference to the Fisher King myth of the medieval era, where the ruler had in his blood the power to create an everlasting paradise. Here instead of a divine boon, is a power granted by your followers. Which takes me to the next example, probably the most important one: Daenerys.

Daenerys Targaryen, Stomborn, Khalessi, Queen, Mother of Dragons:


If this doesn't screams 'cult of personality' I don't know what will does. That or she was in a concert.


Going into a Starbucks for her must be such a nightmare, but lame jokes aside, Daenerys present an interesting take on my hypothesis and the one that made me think on this essay in first place. But before talking about here, it is important to make a clarification.

Originally the Targaryens weren't rulers. In fact they were a minor family of the Valryian Freehold, that was ruled by some kind of oligarchy were the landed gentry had a vote and carried weight based in their lands, slaves and more important, dragonriders, as they proved the strong links of that house with the dragons that formed the core of the Valyrrian culture. The Targaryen would be an equivalent of a family not unlike the Kennedy or the Rockefeller under that system). They were the only powerful family to escape the Doom and came to power by taking it. They believed that power was on those fit to take it by fire and blood and their storied ruling proves that point. So how come that their blood is so full of power? Because they managed to acquire it by any means until they impose their personalities. And that is something that Dany has proven again and again to be quite adept to do.

When season 5/A Dance With Dragons ends, she is somewhere lost in the Grasslands. And as such her blood power is infectual... or is it? Just look at the scene with these three men.

They look like the cover for a soulful powerballad record. 
Here we have three guys that with an absentee queen, they are planning how to keep her in the throne she earned (and is still learning to use). If it were Westeros (the continent, not the setting), a lot of them would be pouncing at the empty spot. However here in Mereen, things are run differently. Dany has built around herself a nifty cult of personality than can be divided in three subsections:

Those who want her: in other words, the guys that are interested in her romantically, which are Ser Jorah of the Friendzone and Daario. Both of them came to her in circumstances that boded ill for the Queen (one as a traitor, the other as captain of a rival army). Both saw something in her that won their alliegances and favours, making both fall in love with her (with only Daario progressing beyond that) and working in her favour, even if they know that they are not a fit consort for a Queen, as Tyrion bluntly pointed. They don't believe in her cause, they believe in her personally. Their faith is in her as a person, not unlike apostles.

Those who worship her: basically all the Unsullied she freed, Missandei her confidant and all the former slaves that see her as Mhysa, the 'Mother'. For them, Dany, the one that commands three dragons, is the closest thing to an archetypical messiah. They don't care about her personal goals or history. They believe in her because she fought for them and gave them the most precious thing she could have gave them: freedom. Their faith in her is in her position, like followers of a religion.

Those who choose her: the smallest but possibly the most dangerous group. These guys believe in Dany not because she has awesome skills as leader (she has, but is not perfect), not because she has three dragons (although it helps to be in the side with the equivalent of a nuke in this world) and certainly not because of her lineage, albeit that is part of the reason. Ser Barristan Selmy went to her because he wanted to serve a worthy ruler,s a Targaryen loyalist and was a staunch friend of Rhaegar, Dany's elder brother. Varys is an unknown quantity, but seems to be a Targaryen loyalist and thinks that a strong, decent ruler that knows how hard is to earn the faith of your followers is the kind of ruler Westeros needs. I wouldn't put it past him that he knows about the White Walkers and the prophecy and is working towards that, since is the other character of the story that has had a close experiencie with magic, during the rite were he lost his manhood and thus is possible to argue that he knows more than he lets know about certain prohecies and powers. You don't last as Master of Whispers by ignoring those kind of things..

Dany all her life has been surrounded by destiny, by magic, by prophecy, to the point that she has bought her own publicity (which has given her more headaches than needed). If someone is prone to absorb power from these sources by sheer willpower, it is her. Hers is the case of a powerful ruler that has the power because she not only believes she has it, but has convinced others that she has it and acts in accordance. People either fear, love or follow her because they think of her as this magical ruler, not unlike King Arthur that will save the realm  (see note 2). And everybody buys it except one person.

Tyrion:


Tyrion looks like he is coveting power. Vote for him.

Tyrion, former hand of the King and plumber supreme, technically could fit with the third subsection of Dany's followers, albeit not enterely. He has no loyalty to her House, has barely known her for a few days and has been the only one capable of seeing under her facade as a strong leader and see the scared girl lying behind, trying to make her way in an uncaring world the best she could and following a developing code of honor. And yet he decided to cast his lot in Mereen while she returns, trying to keep the peace of a city almost as bad as King's Landing, while he could easily go somewhere else.

Being a fugitive for kinslaying is a powerful motivator, but not the major one for Tyrion. In some way, he represents the perfect servant, the ideal ruler in the ancient Roman terms where he was but the first of the people and worked for the people. Of all the rulers in Westeros, he is the one that should be in power, that should have the faith of all to do so because he has vision, mercy and intelligence to be an effective ruler. Sadly for him, his role is that of the classical antihero (like Ulysses), the one that gets by with smarts rather than feats of power. And in this world, being intelligent is seen by people as a sign that you are evil. Add his personal defects and the issue of his size and you can see how he will never get into the throne (he could sue for discrimination actually). So for him - an addict to the power, who has actually held power in his hands but had no real followers (and only a couple of friends) and as such becomes powerless unless backed up by someone that has the faith of others - Dany is a means to use that power for what he believes is the best way to rule a realm. Following this hypothesis, if Tyrion by some means manages to become king and does an excellent job, he would be en route to creating one of the most powerful (in terms of blood power as well as political power) families ever. No wonder he is often hinted at as the third head of the dragon.

Jon Snow and the Starks:


He knows nothing of the power of his blood. Maybe that's what Ygritte was talking about.

Dany has proven to be a ruler adept at earning power through a mix of resourcefulness, lineage, luck, personality and destiny. But she is not the only one that was on that path (until the finale - see note 3). Jon Snow was her reflection.

Like her, he is cast away (although in his case was by something resembling choice). Like her, he is of a powerful lineage. The Starks were heroes in the ages of yore, wargs of powerful capacity (we saw that with Bran) and the closest thing to the Fisher King in the imaginarium of the Northerners. And we are to believe the R+L=J theory (see note 4), he is powerful through two noble lines. Even Mellisandre seems to think so when she offered herself to him (in the books she is starting to think he is Azor Ahai, her messiah) or when she ditched Stannis to return to Castle Black exactly the day Jon got into his very own Ides of March on the show. Jon managed to be charismatic enough to get a valyrian sword, deal with the wildlings, win an election and inspire a rescue and a last stand. He could have gotten more if he was aware enough to realise that his inborn power was rubbing off the wrong way on very dangerous people (he really needed a Tyrion-style advisor here). Jon is not only the closest to the typical hero (see note 5), but the closest to the Good King in the mold of Arthur or Aragorn. He and Dany are sides of the same coin.

It is my personal theory that he will play such an important role at the end that Shireen's unwilling sacrifice did work, but not for Stannis, but to ensure that Jon is going to make it alive. I don't think it is coincidence that Melisandre changed her mind just because sellswords deserted Stannis' army, After all, she was a zealot that stayed with him even after Blackwater. I think she realised that Azor Ahai is Jon and that her presence was needed at the Wall (this being a setting with magic is not impossible). Neither I think is a coincidence that the last shot made such an emphasis in the blood of a bastard if he weren't to have a special destiny.

In conclusion:

In regards to the original riddle, yes power resides where people believe it does. In a world with blood magic, that place is in the vital liquid of the rulers that have gathered enough faith around themselves to infuse it with mystical propierties. Power resides with those who decide to create it for them, like Aegon, like Dany. It can be passed through bloodline, like with the Baratheons and the Starks. It can be lost when people lose faith in you as ruler, like what happened to Stannis (and Jon to a certain degree). And can be only gained by faith of your followers in you, not just by holding power due to a political position, otherwise Tyrion would be the most powerful being on Westeros (he still has time). In that regard, power resides in the faith of people that creates their own 'gods' and by those that decide to take on the challenge to ascend to such 'godhood'. The ultimate Nietzschean dream.

Game of Thrones: the boardgame is also full of blood power. Mainly that dripping from the nose of your former friend that has just betrayed you for a slice of pizza. 


Notes:

1. It is necessary to remember that she is originally from Asshai by the Shadow, the utmost frontier east of Essos, the so called city of necromancers.
2. Imagine what Melissandre could do with her blood. The Red Witch would go mad with power as it would be the equivalent of enriched uranium. Interestingly enough, the third red priest that appears in the books, Moqorro, and the girl that appears in the show in Volantis preaching to the masses seem to believe that Dany, not Stannis is Azor Ahai. Is Melisandre wrong when she sees now Jon Snow? Or the PtwP and AA are related propechies being read wrong.
3. Kit Harrington and the showrunners can say whatever they want, I don't believe them. We know that Jon will be back. As much as Martin likes to subvert tropes, he is aware enough to not screw with his own story by killing a character that will be a lynchpin in his endgame. My bet is that like with Bran, they will take Jon of the table for a season and he will be back by season 7, alive (or similar) and back for vengeance.
4. Basically it says that Jon is no bastard son of Ned and a wench/Ashara Dane, but the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lianna Stark, who was not kidnapped but voluntarily decided to give the Targaryen prince a third son to fulfill the prophecy of the Prince that was Promised and the three headed dragon.
5.  In fact, his character is following to a T the Hero's Journey. Let's see if Martin respects it or subverts it.

You can follow Ricardo Victoria on Twitter here - as he plunges through fandom following Tyrion, Green Arrow and Turtles.

Previously on the blog, The Storytelling of Game of Thrones


Monday 15 June 2015

Rolling the dice on the Game of Thrones: Mother's Mercy

Still traumatised by this week's Game of Thrones finale? Join our guest blogger, Mexican writer and roleplayer Ricardo Victoria, as he takes a mischievous look back at the episode, and puts the game into Game of Thrones. Should you have managed to avoid the shrieks and wails of friends on Twitter and Facebook who have seen the episode already, then be warned: Spoilers are coming. 



Last night, after watching the fifth season finale of Game of Thrones, I thought I should write a review. But there are many of those across the wide web, ranging from the serious analysis to the foam-frothing-from-the-mouth angry-at-the-messed-with-the-books/characters variety. So rather than that, I will take a more fun approach - comparing GoT to the most enjoyable pastime ever: playing roleplaying games. And it fits because GoT is a story were you have multiple parties dancing to the tune of a very cruel Dungeon Master (or in the case of the show, two very cruel DMs). And it fits with the title. With that said, I open my first contribution on Altered Instinct with this first entry of Game of Dice (or the Dice Gods are the Many Faced God).




Maybe it's just us - but we're beginning to think the 
dice rolls of anyone connected with the Stark family
are just cursed... 
(Picture from ebay seller here - not connected to AI)

As an opening, we start seeing a trend among almost all the players: a massive loss of Charisma stats. Those that got away unscathed, supported that with lots of Wisdom and random luck.

Let's start with Stannis: any commander worth his stripes must be charismatic enough to rally his forces through the gates of Hell. Heck, Alexander the Great could have done miracles with Stannis’ forces. But alas the second Baratheon brother is not the Great, nor is he charismatic. Paying the price for his dreadful decision to hold a family barbecue (too soon?), he went from one of the most decent and liked characters of the show to one of the most despised, by fans and soldiers alike. Whatever magic +1 boon  he got from this act, it didn’t work, on the contrary, it altered his core stats (basically dranining him of his Charisma base stat, which wasn't as high to beging with).

Renly put it better, no one likes Stannis because he is that classic rule-lawyering player that sucks the fun of the session by not being flexible enough to even work along other players in the game (if he had supported Rob Stark or even his baby brother, the game may have had a different end). And as a result, he not only lost half his army and all the horses, but his wife (there goes House Florent) and then Mellie the psycho witch ditched him. So when it come to casting the dice to make a saving throw and rally his army behind them, Stannis rolled a Critical Miss and with him he took into smothering flames what was left of House Baratheon. Way to blow the only thing you were tasked with in the game.

In gaming parlance, what he did was betray his character aligment and the gaming gods don't look favorably upon those who decide to do that. Ironically, it wasn't because it was totally out of character, but because in his narrow view of life, Stannis commited the most common mistake of any player: think that this game can be only won by hacking and slashing. The lesson is to always have a plan B (maybe seek the support of other northen houses in taking out a despised common enemy? Not for Stannis, who wanted to hack his way to the throne)
. In any case, Stannis versus the Boltons wasn’t a battle, it was a massacre. That's is why is also good to balance your character sheet.

And to add salt to the literal wound, Brienne, she of the unfulfilled oath (two more seconds and she would have seen the light on the tower), had an Iñigo Montoya moment with Stannis, who was flat-footed and with no Armour Class. Easy pickings for Brienne, who may be the lousiest bodyguard of the seven realms. Maybe she needs to reconsider her choice of class.

One of the interesting results of the battle was Sansa’s daring escape, aided by Darth Theon who, in true Return of the Jedi fashion, dropped Myranda off the wall. I don’t think any cleric could heal that smashed head. There is a time when a session is resolved by casting the dice, but there are others, and usually are those that end in the legendarium of the campaign where good roleplaying and actual talking can do more good and change things for those involved. And that is what Sansa did with her speech. Like Stannis, she decided to be true to her character, but she had enough in her Charisma stat to wake up something in Reek and help him come back to the light side.  In any case, Sansa and Darth Theon started their escape with a literal leap of faith. And it was the only time that Sansa acted like a true Stark. The DM should reward that… albeit this is GoT, so she might get a worse thing, like frostbite. Sometimes I think the Stark players are gaming with loaded dice against them. Also I wonder if this will be door to the apparence of Lord Manderley and certain meat pies. 

Back to Dorne, the place where nothing really happens, we see the Dornish Prince sending the Lannister party in their way back to King’s Landing. There, Jaime and Myrcella had a really nice chat about incest and family love. Too bad that the DM decided that the Sand Snakes should finally do something and we are left with a distressed Jaime over a dying daughter. So much for Jaime being charismatic enough to earn Ellaria’s forgiveness. It is a shame the showrunners decided to drop all the political undertones of the Dorne plot, because this arc felt like one of those sessions where the DM is just going through the motions in his attempt to set up a major conflict (a war between the Lannister and the Martells) but ends up boring half of the table and the rest is just thinking in what to have for dinner.

Arya did what Arya does: jump from the pan to the fire. Yes she killed Meryn Trant in a very messy and sadistic way, but got punished for that. Arya in that regard, and in a similar venue to Stannis, is the kind of player that overplays her hand, thinking than just by being awesome she will get away, while ignoring the constant warnings of the DM to listen to the plot. She got basically railroaded for jumping without thinking. It remains to see if her player decides to learn the lesson. Also, on the matter of the serial mask pulling that would put Scobby Do to shame, I have the personal theory that Jaqen H’gar is actually an avatar of the DM (or the very real Many Faced God) and he is being used it in subtle ways to set up important pieces in the near future.

Dany got lost with her unruly son (Drogon) and in her usual way of screwing things up by not thinking ahead, she got him annoyed, failing her check in animal husbandry (at least she didn't roll a Critical Fail or she would be toasted). And to make his point clear, about how Dany doesn't think things through, she was left surrounded by a khalassar, which might remember her as the former Mrs Drogo. In that regard, Dany is the opposite of Stannis, the well-liked player that thinks she can get her way just by being who she is. But no matter how high her Charisma stat, from time to time you have to learn to use your other skills, otherwise you are not playing a character, but a McGuffin or even worse a Mary Sue and those make poor characters and die fast without a supporting party.  If you can see another pattern, most of the players of this game like to jump first, ask question later, which leave them facing serious consecuences. Let's hope that she can get a Critical Hit on her Charisma saving throw to get out of this one.



With a stunning performance, Lena Headey faced one of the most
gruelling moments in the show - Cersei's Walk of Shame


With that said, let’s go to the meaty parts of the episode. First we have Cersei, finally broken (up to a point) and confessing to the High Sparrow (which is your D&D garden variety version of an evil cult leader that the heroes will have to take down in the next session or two), but only confessing to minor crimes. The Sparrow, being more cunning than his pirate version, noticed that, so he went for a very fashionable walk of shame (that or the DM has serious, serious issues). They say that karma is a bitch and here she went the extra mile (incidentally, kudos to the awesome Lena Heady, who also went the extra mile. She is by far one of the best things of the show). Cersei ends bleeding and with penalties to her many stats, showing that even the lowborn of King’s Landing are assholes too. Which makes me wonder: usually NPC's are the least remakably thing in a gaming session: they are either there to give info, flavour of being the character version of the lousy jokes that the DM think are funny, truly few are remarkable. But here in GoT most of the NPC that you actually remember are those that make you want to put their heads in a stake. I mean, for four and a half seasons, we really hated on Cersei, but now we have someone even worse than her by being exactly her opposite. Good thing for her that she has her own lich and Frankenzombie warrior to exact vengeance on the Faith Militant. If anything, what Cersei lacks in Intelligence and Wisdom stats she compensates in Charisma and enough Gold Pieces to build her followers.




Will his friend be fine without him? Sam doesn't look so sure...

On the Wall (not the Michael Jackson’s album), Jon sends his only friend, stud and hero to us chubby folks, Sam, to become a maester. Even if he knows that Sam really wants to do the dirty deed with Gilly on the way. And in there he commits an uncommon mistake on rpg games, split the party willingly. Usually when you split yours, you do it in a balanced manner to deal with two concurrent problems or because the DM forced your hand as he needed it for his plot. But here Jon does neither. It is not like Sam would actually help him in a mutiny, but Jon is running out of friends and supporters for being the closest thing to a classical fantasy hero.

Think of it on this way, the character that usually no one likes in the party is the paladin, since he is usually played with strict adherence to its code of honor (whichever this is), aligment and because paladin players rarely know how to deal with situations where being a straightfoward hero barely works, such as diplomacy (despite being one of their main skills). And GoT is the kind of setting that rewards lateral thinking (or thinking like a villain if only to avoid being taken by surprise). Jon is a paladin. One that can see the real problem in front (the White Walkers) but to the cost of annoying the other players on the table. He also has another common flaw in a player: believing that everybody thinks like him and will see his reasons without actually explaining and you know... roleplaying. Jon is so immersed in the bigger picture that he forgets that is surrounded by criminals and people with grudges, not members of an ancient tradition.

And then he falls foul of a lousy trick and that annoying kid who shares a name with the greatest superhero of all, Olly (Readers may notice a Green Arrow fan here - Ed), and ends in a pool of blood with the last shot very reminiscent of the end of Lost. Good thing that the con artist known as Melissandre came back to the wall at the same time as Ser Davos, which might mean that Jon could survive this. It is always good to have a thief that can abscond with your body and a healer than can bring you back your lost Hit Points. Even if she is a lousy con artist who ditched her former leader when she saw that she overplayed her hand. However, it is not uncommon even for the most experienced and loved player of all to roll a Critical Miss and basically kill the hero and doom the whole campaign. Maybe we need to create a new character, because basically the DM killed the hero of the campaign for giggles.

And one of the most interesting parts of the show is that the three amigos: Ser Jorah of the Rash, Daario of the recast actor and his magnificence Lord Tyrion (seriously, Peter Dinklage is the other best thing on GoT) get into a verbal sparring match which ends in two new buddy shows. Ser Jorah and Daario start their sidequest in search for her queen (very D&D) while Tyrion is left to guide Missandei and Grey Worm in ruling Mereen, the city that should be burnt by now.

You know how in every gaming group there is this grizzled, cynic player that has been around the block for a while, knows the rules and when you think he might be odious you realise he is actually a delight to play with, always making the appropiate sarcastic remark or joke to break the tension and at the same time bring the whole party's focus on the same spot. The kind of player that always has a plan B because he has learned his lessons from years and years of studious play of the game. And the one that in order to enjoy the game after many campaigns creates a character that from the outset has serious handicaps but he uses just to enhance the actual skills of the character and shows you that he is the only sane man in the assylum. Well, that's Tyrion. He is the ultimate experimented player's character. To play alongside him is a delight and a test - the best roleplaying sessions combine hack and slash with wits and actual roleplaying.

To enforce this point, this player is the only one that manages to make his character look like a cat that always lands on his feet, no matter how dire was the situation previosuly. Tyrion is that cat, who from despised Hand of the King, he ends as de facto ruler of a city as corrupt and evil as King’s Landing. If only he had an allied master of whispers to help him clear the place for when and if Dany comes back (if not Tyrion should become a king and be done with all). Lo and behold: Varys is back! Now we have the best comedy duo of magnificent bastards trading barbs and insults back and forth. As Tyrion said: I missed you. And since now they are actually on the same side, it will be interesting to see how King Tyrion and The Amazing Teleporting Varys will start their rule. Now that is a massive level up. You can see who are the favourite players of the DM. And they are the favorite because these two grizzled players make the gaming session a joy to behold and not a chore for every other Friday night.

On the miscellanea of the session report, the only two happy persons on this session of GoT were the players of Kevan and Pycelle, as they are not dead. Then again they didn’t play either. But this being Westeros, I doubt that will last. It was clear that the showrunners' intention was to clear the board of the extra pieces and set up the massive downfall of Westeros. However they basically forgot the Tyrells (and their very dangerous general Randyll Tarly, who is rumoured to be cast for next season) and by returning Mellie to the Wall just in time to - what most believe - save a certain Lord Commander.

My final thoughts:

- After that finale, both the series and the books are now entering uncharted territory. Which one will start to draw the map of the campaign will depend on how fast Martin can finish the next book (stop laughing back there, I’m serious, now pass another slice of pizza). If the book is out by the end of the year, readers will have the advantage again, though the show must be wrapping up filming by then.

- I have a major desire: to see Ser Davos (probably the only decent man still alive) stealing several ships, taking all the wildlings (which so far are the most decent inhabitants of Westeros), Brienne, Podrick, pick up Jaime and Bronn on the way as well as Sansa and Darth Theon and getting the hell out of Westeros, maybe towards Mereen or even Southoryos (yeah I know, that is the forbidden continent with Lovecraftian features that belongs to another campaign, but it can’t be worse that what’s coming), because as it stands now, most of Westeros deserves to be frozen alive.

- This was a very uneven finale for a very uneven season (at times downright boring) whose only three true milestones were Tyrion working his Charisma stats on Dany, Drogon rescuing his mommy in a superman-like fashion and Jon rolling a Critical Hit with his Vorpal +1 sword against a White Walker. This season/session wasn’t one of plot moving, but one of plot setting. Let’s hope the next one is better now that the showrunners have to create their own stuff.

You can follow Ricardo Victoria on Twitter here - as he plunges through fandom following Tyrion, Green Arrow and Turtles.

Previously on the blog, The Storytelling of Game of Thrones

Saturday 13 June 2015

Devil in the detail - Daredevil episode 9: Speak of the Devil




It's perhaps a measure of how grounded Daredevil has been as a show that the opening of this episode - with our hero fighting an honest-to-goodness ninja - comes across as a little startling.
Not just any ninja, either, but the previously-met Nobu, who is asked by Fisk to deal with the masked man who is proving an obstinate obstacle to Fisk's plans. Nobu, a man of honour, decides to deal with it personally, explaining the opening sequence in which he fights Daredevil with a wicked blade.
He's also clearly a leading member of the Hand, long a presence from the comics. We end the fight unresolved early in the episode and jump back to the build-up to it, and a very important question.

Is it right to kill?

Our first sight of Matt Murdoch out of costume in this episode is at church, where he discusses with the priest questions of morality. The priest tells a tale from a mission of a man who fell foul of local warlords. The man was so good that he won over those sent to kill him, and the leading warlord asked to meet him in person, this man who so impressed his men. Then the warlord killed him in front of everyone. The devil exists, says the priest, and he takes many forms. Murdoch asks what if he could have stopped him. The priest asks how. Later, we see in a discussion between Murdoch, Foggy and Karen the thought is troubling our hero. "We're not going to stop him with a deposition," he snarls. A return to the priest sees him confronted with the question directly. "The question you have to ask yourself is are you struggling with the fact that you don't want to kill this man but have to, or that you don't have to kill him but want to."

Things get worse

So long, Mrs Cardenas, we hardly knew ye. The client who has been the face of the team's legal case is found dead, and the clues lead to Fisk's door. Fisk, however, boldly uses her death to say this is exactly why he is doing what he is doing, that he mourns Mrs Cardenas but that the city deserves better. A bitter Karen reflects that she hopes that the man in the mask will rip Fisk's head off. Matt returns home, deliberates for a long time, crosses himself and dons his Daredevil outfit. Out to the streets he goes, to shake down information that might lead to Fisk's guilt. In doing so, it's hard to tell he's a hero, the way he beats on people. Also in doing so, he comes to face Nobu. The fight is brutal, leaving Daredevil cut and bruised - but at the last, he is able to defeat Nobu, who goes up in flames and dies. Did Daredevil mean to kill him? That's unclear, and we don't have time to dwell on that, because the Kingpin arrives, thanking him for removing Nobu and tacitly admitting his role in Mrs Cardenas' death. "I'm going to kill you," Daredevil declares. "Take your shot," says Fisk. After all the choreography of the fight against Nobu, Fisk instead is savage, a wall of a man whose fists swiftly bludgeon Daredevil and leave him broken on the floor. "Disappointing," is Fisk's verdict as he walks away, leaving Wesley to finish things off, but Daredevil is able to make a break for it and escape.



Consequences

The broken Daredevil is discovered by Foggy. His secret is revealed to his best friend. He has faced his enemy and lost, now he must face his friend and hope not to lose him. We'll find out more about that next time...

Easter eggs

A few more this time - Foggy mentions Captain America, the guys who attacked Karen are Joseph Pike and Stewart Schmidt - bit part players from the comics who were lowlifes at Josie's Bar, and was it just me that was amused when Matt meets Vanessa when he goes to buy art/size up his opposition, he refers to his apartment as a bit stark? Yeah, yeah, I know. Also, in genuine easter egg territory, when beating up various hoodlums, Daredevil finds some drugs marked with a symbol - that symbol is of the Steel Serpent, a resident of K'un L'un and linked to Iron Fist (who of course has his own Netflix series down the line). Lastly, in the comics, when members of the Hand die, they go up in smoke. Well, the same happened to Nobu, I guess, even if his flames were for a less mystical reason.

Podcast review: Building blocks of history, space dogs and Russian photography

This week's podcast review was originally published in The Tribune's Weekend section on June 12: http://www.tribune242.com/photos/galleries/2015/jun/12/06122015-weekend/

How important is a box?
The answer is that it is more important than you think – especially when that box is large enough to be a shipping container.
That question and others to do with the development of infrastructure are pondered in a recent episode of Backstory, a history podcast that aims to bring a historical perspective to modern events.
Shipping containers knocked the cost of sending items from one place to another down from dollars to pennies, and the modern container we see stacked in port today is the outcome of years of negotiation so that merchants know for certain that their goods can get from A to a very distant B.



Infrastructure is plainly shown by the expert podcasters – who cram a lot of information into a very clearly explained hour – to be an important aspect not just of modern life but of the development of the American nation. Lighthouses are a key element of that, one of the first federal infrastructure components, and the historic influence of infrastructure is pointed out by the fact that there are only few early developments that run north-south, venturing across more troubled political lines in the US in the days of the Confederacy. In areas where slavery continued, roads, railroads, power lines, communication lines and more that might have headed north were not built, the podcasters contend.
For a podcast that begins with recollections of blackouts, Backstory is an illuminating hour – bringing us in the end to that modern reflection, looking at oil pipelines so controversial today, and how even the first one was similarly contentious, but this time from the perspective of oil baron Rockefeller, who tried to buy up land in the path of the pipeline that would take his business away.



Laika, the Russian dog that became the first animal to complete an orbit of the Earth

Dogs in space are the focus of our next history podcast – Footnoting History. When space exploration got under way, there was a very notable split in the approaches of the US and Russia. While the US leaned towards using various species of monkeys for their early flights, Russia plumped for dogs. Part of this was because dogs were previously used by Russia for various experiments – the most famous example being Pavlov's experiments with training dogs to expect food at the ring of a bell, conditioning them to the point that they would salivate at the ring of a bell even when food wasn't present. But more than that, dogs were chosen because their emotional reaction was more similar to a human reaction than the more panicky monkeys.
The podcast takes us through some of the unusual side effects of this project – the increase in pet ownership through the USSR partly driven perhaps by pride in these animals representing the nation, and the ability in a secretive world to anthropomorphise the animals and be able to talk about them as representatives of the nation and not having to talk about the scientists leading the project.
The most famous dog of all was Laika – who was actually called a variety of names such as Kudryavka or Limonchik and became the first animal to complete an orbit of the Earth, earning the nickname Muttnik in the Western press.
There are heart-rending details for animal lovers of the treatment and outcome for many of these animals. Laika herself died from heat exhaustion only hours after the launch. Her death prompted a debate on the morality of using animals in testing and many years later, scientists expressed regret about their usage. This is an intriguing podcast on a chapter of space history many of us have heard of but perhaps have not examined in detail.


Sticking with Russia, we delve quickly into the bite-size insights provided by 15-Minute History. Their latest podcast looks at the foundations of amateur photography in the Soviet Union. In the times of Stalin and Lenin, photography went through a turbulent passage – being encouraged initially, then discouraged, then encouraged again. Host Christopher Rose prompts expert guest Jessica Werneke in the right ways, making this a snappy discussion that lifts the curtain on a world as it wrestled with the artistic and documentary possibilities of photography, and the tensions between the amateur, professional and political fields.


Friday 12 June 2015

Sinking our teeth into Jurassic World - a non-spoiler review

Guest poster Brent Harris steps inside the gates of Jurassic World to bring a non-spoiler review. 



Jurassic World really wanted to be Jurassic Park for a new breed of teenager that is already accustomed to seeing CGI-laden movies straight out of their embryos. Fourteen years later, Colin Trevorrow delivers on that CGI spectacle. But there is an ominous undercurrent of proper criticism here, as one character aptly says, just as all dino-hell is about to once again break loose, “They never learn.”
Much of the movie’s chaos is comfortably held behind goliath gates for the first two acts of the film while it takes its time to wonderfully develop its tone and themes. There are quite a few touching homages to the original Jurassic Park, and where World is fully aware of itself and pays respects to Park, the movie is truly at its best. The third act was clearly written by an eight-year-old playing with a bucket of plastic dinosaurs.
Jurassic World continues the theme of control which Jurassic Park author Michael Crichton so deftly crafted in his original tale. Are we ever really in control? Or, as this movie asks, are we the ones just used to being the monsters? 


Here, the committee of story-tellers give us the uptight control freak, Claire Dearing, played by Bryce Dallas Howard, as the Hammond-clone who has successfully managed Jurassic World for an unspecified number of years since the incidences which shut-down the first Jurassic Park.
And, since the park operates so smoothly and attendance has plateaued, it’s time for something with more teeth. “A child looks at a stegosaurus the same way they look at a rhinoceros in a zoo,” Dearing explains. We have to build something bigger. And here’s where the film oddly parodies its own past success. You can almost hear Trevorrow say directly to the audience, “We have to outdo the last CGI movie. We have to get the audience’s attention.”



That’s when this amusing ride breaks down. The film takes a tour of themes involving sexism, rights of cloned animals, the possibilities and dangers of genetic modifications and then makes a bizarre detour toward a burdensome plotline involving the sinister use of dinosaurs for military purposes. “Makes you wonder what else Ingen was up to,” Grant pontificates in the third film of the series. These themes are certainly fine to explore, but the film only ever scratches at the surface without sinking its teeth into any one of them, only to abandon all pretext of any story by the time dinos rampage across the screen in the final act. Jurassic World strives to do too much, without ever doing any one thing well.

For Spectacle, I give it: 5 out of 5 Fleeing Humans
For Story, I give it: 3 Ian Malcoms out of 5.

Brent Harris is a dinosaur enthusiast, a writer and is known to lie around like a shirtless, injured, Ian Malcolm. One of his first short stories, a Fanfic of Jurassic Park, involved a heavy portion of the plot to Jurassic World, written twenty years ago. He wonders when his royalty check will be posted.


Thursday 11 June 2015

Devil in the detail - Daredevil episode 8: Shadows in the Glass

After taking something of a mid-season break, you might say, a resumption of reviews of the Daredevil Netflix series - and returning to a top-notch episode. 

This may just be the finest episode of a TV show I have seen all year. And Vincent D'Onofrio is the reason why.
This episode of Daredevil explores the titular hero's nemesis, and if you want easy answers for a black-and-white world, there are none to be found here.



Haunted by his past

We begin with the morning routine of Wilson Fisk. He wakes, he gazes at the painting he bought from Vanessa, reading into its empty spaces and nebulous shapes whatever he reads into it, he chooses the same colour suit, he chooses the same cufflinks... and he sees a vision of a boy covered in blood. Who is the boy? We don't have to wait long. It's Fisk himself.


The boy who became the Kingpin

We meet the young Wilson, growing up in a small home with a father running for city council who is handy with his fists and wanting to make his son in his own image, handing him beer and telling him to be a man, while getting in debt with Rigoletto of the mob - the man the Kingpin replaced in the comics - to fund his election bid. "Gotta spend money to make money" is the justification. 

But his son is not the man his father wants to be yet. He buckles under the actions of the neighbourhood bully and sitting at home in tears, his father tells him to get his coat and out they go to confront the bully, who has been knocking down the election signs. The confrontation gets violent and suddenly Fisk Sr is beating the bully with a baseball bat. He uses this as a learning moment and tells his son to kick the bully. Again. And again. And again. At this memory, the older Fisk wakes up gasping, in tears, and gazes once more at the soothing face of the painting. 

Leftovers from last week

Detective Blake is still alive despite being shot by Bullseye - the man who doesn't miss? If that indeed was Bullseye, as the episode seemed to be hinting. While the Black Sky child that was despatched off camera by Stick is referred to as "rare", suggesting that we might not have seen the end of that thread. Blake's return to consciousness is the pressing issue for the modern story here, with his partner asked to kill him, and picking a price tag that helps him overcome his conscience when the Kingpin asks of the years spent working together, "How much are each of those years worth to you? In round figures?"

When the partner goes to kill Blake, Daredevil intervenes to get what information he can out of the hospitalised cop, but not in time to save his life. The blame, again, is pointed at Daredevil, escaping from the hospital window. 

The Owl and the Gladiator

Leland Owlsley is getting fitted for a new suit - so Mr Potter makes an appearance. He was mentioned in an earlier episode as the man who makes the Kingpin's suits, and Melvin Potter is The Gladiator in the comics. Here, Mr Potter measures and tests fabrics, while a poster in the background reads "Revenge of the Gladiators". Not many other easter eggs this episode that I could spot, but this one was a nice, understated moment. One other nice moment is the revelation that The Kingpin speaks the languages he has been getting his staff to translate. There's a nice parallel here with the scene earlier in the series where Daredevil speaks Spanish, but says he likes to hear Karen say it.

The man who creates The Kingpin

Did I say that looking at the painting was soothing? Oh, the brutal tragedy of it. As a child, Wilson is forced to look at the wall while his father beats his mother. A wall that looks very similar to the painting he owns in later life. When he looks at the painting, it seems to be transporting him back to that time, and to the very specific moment where he stops his father beating his mother. With a hammer. A hammer that kills his father. Just like he was told to kick the bully again and again, so the young boy keeps swinging the hammer again and again. His mother pulls him to one side after the attack... and tells him to get the saw.

...and the woman that may save him. 

In his darkest moment, outmanoeuvred seemingly on all sides, Vanessa comes to the Kingpin. She reminds him he told her he wouldn't lie. And so he tells the truth, tells about how he killed his father, how they hid the body, and why he still wears his father's cufflinks - "...to remind myself that I'm not cruel for the sake of cruelty, that I'm not my father, that I'm not a monster!... Am I?" D'Onofrio is a towering force of nature as he says that, a trembling wall, a man ready to explode, to destroy the world or maybe just himself.

Vanessa accepts him for who he is. But at the same time, she changes him. We see his morning routine again, but this time Vanessa is there too. She pushes him to pick another suit, she stands in the way when he would have looked to see his younger self, she places her hand over his father's cufflinks. He changes. And just as it seems others are closing on him, he changes the game, he stands publicly and announces he wants to save Hell's Kitchen. And everyone else's plans go to hell.

Read the episode seven article here.