Previous Video - George RR Martin on his Problems with the Media: • George RR Martin on Hi... A song of ice and fire author/game of thrones creator Interview
@@lordodysseus I guess I'm pretty glad he's doing the best he can with his power, his privilege and his platform, though. However, I still kinda want him to come back to acting, eventually.
Jesus christ the word 'Priviledge' really triggers people. He has the obvious priviledges that comes with being a world renowned actor. You guys know that having priviledges doesn't mean you haven't earned them?
I remember hearing my professor describe Richard II and I thought “oh that sounds like Joffrey,” and then she described Richard’s uncle John of Gaunt who advised him and tried to properly run the kingdom, and I said “oh there’s Tyrion”
It amazes me that the majority of people can't separate an actor from his role. How it's so hard to believe Jack Gleeson is a good guy doing a phenomenal job. So much so they threaten him on the street and drive him to quit acting...
thats how vile the character was written and portrayed that just seeing the actor gave them a reaction lol, its actually a testament how good the actor and how good george wrote the character
You're the first person I've come across that feels this way, but me too! I never felt like Ramsey was enjoyable to watch. Not the actor's fault at all, he did great with the material he was given, but Ramsey was poorly written in my opinion. Joffrey was more nuanced and interesting.
Gleeson did that character SO much justice. He knew exactly how to make him believably young, believably vile and cruel, and in the end believably terrified. He's legitimately one of the single most talented and intelligent actors I've ever seen.
@@MCShvabo Don't know about that. He was just around the wrong people, and not given all the information. I don't think he was wrong to execute Ned. Given that, as far as he knew, his "Father" / King, was murdered by Ned in a plot to seize the throne. Joffrey believes Ned to be a traitor.
@@JonCombo I don't think that's the connection anybody who was in the throne room at that time made. At worst, he may think that Ned tried to use the situation after that happened, but he has seen the letter.
Jack Gleeson is so ridiculously good at acting that in the scene Robert is talking to him on his deathbed, the fear and sadness in Joff's eyes make you forget he's such a horrible person for a little
Many people don't realise how intelligent Joffrey actually is. His evil nature makes people overlook his intelligence. Many of the things he said that instantly got shot down by Tywin were things that eventually brought the end to their families grasp on the throne.
To a small extent Joffrey also reminds me of Nero. Nero's mother, Agrippina was a lot like Cersei in that they both thought murder and incest were the norm. Agrippina also tried to control her son when he became emperor after she poisoned her uncle/husband Claudius, but eventually Nero sent the Praetorian Guard to kill her when he had enough of her shit. I imagine killing Cersei did cross Joffrey's mind at least once when he became king.
The Truth hurts What the fuck are you talking about? Maybe if you read a few more history books you wouldn’t make such stupid, ignorant and RACIST statements.
The Truth hurts What history books are you reading? Mine had the holocaust “White people” the trail of tears “White people” and many others. Plenty of examples of bad white people. Maybe you should have payed attention to your history books more? Then you wouldn’t be so misinformed.
Jack Gleason was absolutely brilliant. If I recall correctly, I believe he quit acting to study more. Good on him for doing what he feels is best, but what a shame to lose such a class actor.
The show was perfect for as long as Gleeson and Dance were around. We can all argue about when the show turned sour and exactly how bad that last season was, but after the loss of Tywin and Joffrey the show was never quite top tier again. That family unit of Tywin, Cersei, Jaime, Tyrion and Joffrey was the best thing in the show - immaculate casting and incredible performances and their family dynamics were infinitely captivating and moving.
It was important to my parents growing up that I knew the difference between forms of entertainment like television and the real world, apparently the people who send death threats to the actor have not received this lesson, nor the one of self restraint so that they might not make such fools of themselves. It’s sad that when an actor or actress plays a great villain that it is oft met with death threats.
Draven Flores-Rios I’ve often wondered this too. My dad made it quite clear that they were all actors and on a film set. When James Gandolfini would talk about people on the street asking him if he wanted to whack somebody, or why he killed Christopher, etc it really made me consider the mind state of the average person. It’s no wonder people get sucked in to tribalistic news and politics
The Caretaker We live in an age where our phones are getting smarter but the vast majority of people are getting dumber. That is actually a fact. IQ scores are dropping in all 'developed' countries.
There is an interview where he said that acting was something he wanted to try, and that he was dissapointed with it, so he too was happy when jeoffrey died because then he could do something else
GRRM isn't a machine that writes a book. For an author, it is more important quality of the writing rather than quantity. We should understand that this fantasy requires both quality and quantity, which means very much time to write the books. You and other people bother me because you want that book so much because GOT had an awful ending. I understand you, I am also disappointed about that ending, but I want to ask you something: Is it more important for you to have the book quickly and poor written or do you want quality, which requires time? I want you to be honest. I will wait for the books no matter how long it takes to be written. Just because I respect GRRM and his work :)
@@KADETUL9 A fancy way of saying lazy. None denies the great writing prowess of GRRM but the amount of laziness is astounding. You seem to think every great writer would be hella late like GRRM. Nope. They are not . Don't believe me ? Here are two names for you - Brandon Sanderson and Stephen King. And no it's not because of the ending of the show. We have been waiting for the books even from before that. I am really sad that we bother you such . It would have been great if it would have bothered GRRM same way and he would stop wasting his time with damn HBO prequel show and actually write the book.
@@rockgamiasedes677'' None denies the great writing prowess of GRRM but the amount of laziness is astounding'' How can you say that GRRM is ''lazy'' when he wrote thousands of pages? And each page is pure masterpiece.Does he look like a lazy person? Does he behave like a lazy person? He is fat, but it doesn't mean he is lazy. And how can you compare other authors with GRRM? Not because he is something special, just because each author has his own style and writing rhythm. His books have a complicated story which requests TIME to write the storyline. And by the way, Stephen King and GRRM are good friends (just in case you didn't know). I am pretty sure that when he began writing the books, he had the ending of the story in his mind, as many scenes in the books suggest this thing. It's just a matter of time until he publishes the books. You can say whatever you want, but he is the author of the books and he will publish they when he considers it's the right time (and not because he is lazy). Did you follow every moment in his life to form the opinion that he is ''lazy''? I didn't do it and I am sure you didn't too. In my opinion, all this thing with the ''time'' is a strategy created by GRRM: He knew that GOT will have a terrible ending if he isn't part of the writing team (Dumb and Dumber) from this HBO production. Terrible ending and the books aren't finish. What does it mean? The books will be oversold when he publishes they. Sounds quite logic, doesn't it?
@@KADETUL9 Never said fat = lazy. Don't put that in my mouth . Did I know Stephen King and GRRM is friend ? Yes I did . And so what ? Does this friendship make his astounding slowness ( if that's what you want to call it or super awesome delaying tactics ) not a slowness ??? And who cares about what he thought about show ? I was purely talking about books itself . Don't really care about the show . And lastly no you don't need to follow a person in life to see if they are lazy or not . You see their output . When was A Feast Of Crows ? 2005 When was A Dance with Dragons ? 2011 6 years gap Now its 2019 and what did we get for 8 years ? Couple of pages of teaser. We got hope when there was of tweet saying that GRRM has locked himself in isolation for finishing up the next book. But then boom ,next tweet confirming he has started working on "Blood Moon" as a consultant and creative writer. Oh !! almost forgot here are two friends on their writing style . The whole interview is awesome if you haven't seen it yet. ua-cam.com/video/xR7XMkjDGw0/v-deo.html
@@therenx8385 bro its been months its still one of the greatest shows of all time and the final season is still better than the best seasons of other shows
He says it in such a matter-of-fact way too, as if it's a completely normal thing to him. It's reasonably shocking to the audience, as nobody in real life ever talks like that and legitimately mean it. You'd have to be pretty messed up in the head to actually want to serve someone's father's decapitated head as a "wedding gift." As one can imagine, Joffrey is pretty messed up in the head. I mean, he was born with an utterly scrambled sense of morality, let alone a distorted and egotistical grasp of reality. (Oh, that kind of rhymed.)
@@unovasfinest2623 I would say yes, but we can only assume, as George RR Martin hasn't given out an official diagnosis of Joffrey's mental state. We can only assume what's really wrong with him. My guess is that his mental state was the result of a genetic fault caused by his parent's incestuous relations. Many inbred children in real life tend to have both physical and mental disabilities which stem from their genetics. Then again, Martin has confirmed that the genes of Westerosi "humans" work differently than real life Earth humans. After all, the GOT world is technically a completely separate world, with it's own separate evolutionary path, which coincidentally has people that look exactly like humans, who all speak a lingua franca the coincidentally sounds exactly the same as English... But we're getting off topic. Essentially, because of his incestuous background, as well as his childhood upbringing, he has developed very psychopathic tendencies.
@@unovasfinest2623 those personality traits are usually found tightly intertwined within the same individual that possesses one or the other...truly a nasty combination...
And George would be one of those lesser writers as he goes on to slight Tolkien. George is incredibly arrogant. His fantasy is sub par. His best book is Fevre Dream which is basically a historical horror novel.
@@toddherklotz5970 He doesn't slight Tolkien in any way, he's obviously greatly inspired by Tolkien, respects him and loves his work. Look at his name even, George "RR" Martin..
@@toddherklotz5970 You're completely misunderstanding him. Its an oft talked topic of fantasy writers that Tolkien was so great and famous that his work created a template that, for a long time after, most fantasy writers followed. You know, that whole "group of adventurers go off on a perilous and righteous quest to defeat the big bad and save the world" story. We're seeing a big turn in that recently, but for a long time, fantasy stagnated in Tolkien's success. Did you watch the video? He elaborates on this for quite a bit.
The black dinner happened up in Scotland, I live in Lancashire which is pretty close to Yorkshire. If you can even believe it there is still some sort of animosity to each other. Not a lot tho, we still keep the roses as our flags
It also reminds me of Xenophon's Anabasis. Greek officers, who had been fighting for a Persian claimant, attended a feast by a rival claimant's general. The Greeks were seized and executed treacherously.
Some very obvious inspirations taken from English history down the names of the main factions at the beginning of the story, I guess George liked the War of the Roses enough to once again take inspiration from it while creating the Dance of Dragons which is more similar to that war than the one we see in the main story.
GRRM has cited both the Black Dinner and the Massacre Of Glencoe as the main inspirations for The Red Wedding. Speaking of lasting animosity, my family is descended from the clan responsible for the Glencoe massacre and my mother went to a Scottish games here in the states a few years back and bumped into a guy descended from the clan that was ambushed at the massacre. And from how she tells the story, when she told him about who our ancestors were, there was real tension. Totally unexpected. (She didn't know the Glencoe story until she got back and we looked it up.) Anyway, a Scots grudge can last forever.
You know the actor is terrific when you loathe him! Brilliant commitment to his character development and ability to becoming the villain. Health Ledgers Joker!
@@92brunod how so? I said I didn’t like the character Joffrey. That doesn’t mean I can’t like the actor that portrayed him. He really played that part well.
@@WiredLain_ I do, that's how I know 'but' doesn't make sense in that sentence. Maybe follow your own advice. You probably didn't even understand what I said, like the other person there.
That bit at the end really bugged me the first time I read it, I remember wanting to be so happy that Joff died, but from Tyrion's PoV it's just a terrified kid clutching his mother as he dies. He does the exact same thing for Cersei and her walk of atonement, she is such a vile character in the books and you've wanted to see her get what was coming forever, and about halfway through the walk you can't help but feel bad for her, and it's like DAMNIT! I've wanted this since she killed Lady, and now it's here and I can't even enjoy it
I was really bummed when Joffrey died. Very rarely have I so _Loathed_ a human being, fictional or otherwise. Jack Gleeson was so incredible as that little Whoreson that people actually hated the Man as well as the Character. Now, that doesn't say a lot about those folks, but it speaks volumes about his performance. Perhaps he'll come back to the screen one day.
He also vaguely reminds me of the Roman emperor Caligula, who likewise became a ruler at a fairly young age (though he wasn't a boy) and was an uncontrollable, degenerate despot drunk with his own power. Caligula also was assassinated at a public event. He also had a more reasonable and very well-educated uncle in an administrative position (Claudius) who, like Tyrion, was kind of the butt of everyone's jokes, including Caligula's. But I think Caligula was even more insane than Joffrey. Also, unlike Tyrion, Claudius was not blamed for Caligula's death, and succeeded him as emperor.
Him taking his time and it being slow is probably why the world is so well crafted and why all the characters are so dynamic. Although the time he is taking for the next book is ridiculous, feel like he kind of abandoned it
@@loki3836 I think he certainly lost interest in finishing it, especially after he started getting TV deals. Back then the logic probably was "Well I'm sure the show will have a conclusive end, maybe that will be good enough for people." But since the showrunners bungled the ending now he probably feels more obligated to at least give people an ending that isn't as abysmal.
@@criert135 I think the distractions of stardom and fame do not pair well with his writing style, which is to be a cautious perfectionist. Some distractions might be OK if you can still churn out a couple chapters here and there but GRRM has a tendency to frequently delete stuff and start over. Compare to an author like Stephen King who writes a chapter and it's set in stone. Granted King's stories are generally far more simple than an entire universe like GOT
The way the interviewer said "No" as George was describing what a good kid Jack Gleeson is makes me believe she is one of those people who sent the poor kid death threats
I've never taken more pleasure in watching a character die than watching the light leave his eyes. I hated him so much. What a character, the most loved hated character ever. Missed him when he was gone tbh
Robb is the most underrated character in the series because seriously, He was one of the MOST badass and everything about him ;-; he didnt deserve this
In show they didn't show, but in Books Robert always knew what a Monster Jeoffry will be. He Even had conversation with Ned about this They should have kept it in the show too
One interesting thing about Richard II is that it’s believed his first wife was a wonderful, calming influence on him and helped his rule to be more stable and that after her death, both his natural inclinations and his grief combined to make even worse. Even though Joffrey was a psycho, I wonder if Maergery could’ve been at least somewhat of a similar influence on him had he survived their wedding.
I wish he had a bigger role in the book. His story with Margaery would have been fascinating, it would have been cool to know why he killed Ned. Also during the Blackwater he commanded the trebuchets amd saw the whole battle until he escaped. Oh god if ACok had Robb and Joff PoVs it would have been really cool.
John Arnold it had Catelyn which was enough to be Robb’s. But I still would like to know how Joffrey thinks. I assume it’s like Cersei in AFfC where it’s all me,me, and me, oh and yeah my kids.
He killed Ned because Ned very publicly, in front of everyone in the throne room and through writing his letter to Stannis, called him a bastard born of incest. Even someone not as viciously ill tempered as Joffrey would have taken that as a huge blow, as an identity shattering insult, especially in the world of feudal Westeros with it's obsession over name, family, and legitimacy.
@@darrynmurphy2038 Exactly, Joffrey didn't have any sort of master plan going on. Its silly to assume he ever had any sort of long term forward thinking ability.
I always thought the Mad King was based Caligula and Joffrey was based on Nero. Caligula: Mentally insane emperor who ends up being killed by his own personal guard. (*cough* Kingslayer *cough*) Nero: Spoiled brat who gets placed on the throne by his mother who hopes to rule by controlling him. His mothers plan backfires because Nero has no intention of listening to anyone and simply does whatever he wants. The timeline matches as well, as it is 1. Caligula 2. Claudius 3. Nero and 1. Mad King 2. Robert 3. Joffrey Unfortunately, Robert and Claudius have very little in common, except for the fact that they both ruled for 17 years in between two tyrants and that they were both killed by their wives.
@@Carabas72 True. He was absent. And his treatment of Cersei definitely left a bad impression of Joffrey. Though. Cersei was the one who coddled him, praised him excessively, and said he could do no wrong. She's the reason for his grossly inflated opinion of himself and his own power.
@@Carabas72 oh please! Robert was a king in a quasi medieval setting. He was not expected to be a doting father like a 21st century dad. Almost all highborn boys were shipped off to other lords to be fostered (even Robert and Ned were sent off to the Eyrie to be fostered by Lord Arryn). Fathers weren't typically concerned with the upbringing of their sons as a modern dad would be. Hell even highborn mothers weren't as involved. Which is why wetnurses and septas were mostly responsible for the upbringing and education of royal/highborn children. And this is also true in real life - Queens (and Kings) did not always have a direct involvement in their child's upbringing unless they specifically desired so.
@@Carabas72 and even then, Robert cannot be blamed for how Joffrey turned out to be. Cersei literally manipulated him from birth to be the psychopath he became in later life. We can blame genetics and inbreeding all we want, but Cersei's twisted upbringing and shitty moral code cannot absolve her of her role in making Joffrey what he became.
It's funny that the actor for Geoffry is really nice. Apparently the guy that played Draco Malfoy is also a sweet heart. Lol I guess all the pent up meanness comes out in the form of acting. Lol
Koodos to Jack Gleeson for his BRILLIANT portrayal of Joffrey. Just feel bad that he had quit acting. HE was so good in that role, he literally recieved hate mail/feath threats, although, that's more to do with people being delusional- not being able to separate the actor from the character- than it is jack's acting necessarily
This is true for all characters that G.r.r.m fleshes out, but I can't hate Joff. A lot of his characters are the same. My way of judging it, is that if I were that character, what would I do? I don't mean if *I,* as in, *me,* were that character. Rather if I was the character. The same gender, born with the same brain cells, every synapse developed in the same environment, and every action reinforced by the same culture, the same people, would I do the same thing. What I love about G.r.r.m, is that for every character he really develops, down to the bone, I feel like I would have done the same thing in their shoes. Of course, these stipulations would basically make me, them. Such strict rules would mean no shred of my identity remains, so I'm basically saying nothing, other than the characters actions make sense. If that sounds insignificant, you've never tried to write realistic characters.
Nearly none of his characters are the same. The closest one's are Robb and Ned (honorable, just, etc) or Brandon Stark and Robert Baratheon(Lusty, strong, handsome warriors). Even then, there are distinct differences in similar characters.
@@brandondavis7777 Sorry, I formatted that statement poorly. What I meant was, I can't hate Joff, and the same goes for a lot of his other characters. I didn't mean to imply his characters are the same. That's just poor sentence structure, that's my bad.
@@legrandliseurtri7495 oh yeah I know but he slept with her even though he knew he was supposed to marry the Frey girl. He acted before thinking. And I think it is more honorable to respect his promise and his duty as the head of house stark ! :)
Richard II is a great comp actually. Always loved studying that era of history. Gleeson also seems unbelievably likeable. Feels like he'd be a great mate to have.
He embodied the role so well, that he became the character for a while.. that's next level acting, many loved and praised actors in Got didn't come close to his level of mastery. People need to get their heads out of their asses and understand that fiction is not real.
Richard Biggs, the actor who played Dr. Franklin on Babylon 5, mentioned how some people couldn't seperate the actor from the role. But he said scifi fans were better at it. He'd been on a soap. also playing a doctor, and said soap fans who hated an actors character also hated the actor.
Fun facts: - Richard the 2nd was basically The Mad King. - Richard the 2nd was gay and did not attempt to hide it at all despite no one liking it at the time. - When he was captured he was starved so much he began eating the skin on his arms. He still starved to death.
Richard ll wasn't gay.You're thinking of William of Orange. Richard ll was killed with a battle-ax. Three men were sent to kill him and he fought valiantly until one of them got behind and split his skull. (Always watch your back) And he wasn't mad either. 😡
@@Ciara1594 Yes he was. Although literally sleeping with men wasn't seen as gay at the time, he did caress and show much affection for men he was interested in (including physical). He even showed affection at the funeral of one of his lovers which the surrounding people didn't like. And he was captured and starved to death Henry Bolingbroke aka. Henry the 4th threw him there - you're confusing him with someone else.
I always saw jofferey as yes a bully but rather more so as he was given the world by his mother and being the son of the king of the seven realms being the only grey area of him. I always saw it as you told someone everything is thiers and you own it all. Then it would be natural to see them act like him as why would anyone talk down to him as the world should bend to him. Understandable but not justified i always say. Same with rob breaking alliances as a natural end to his story
ivanbluecool alliances he should not have owned in the first place, until catelyn tully messed up by playing smart but nonetheless he did not forsake his personal honour for the good of the realm, while his own father and even Jaime did that precise thing
@@hypatiakovalevskayasklodow9195 yeah he forsook his personal honor for another's. which ultimately cost him and his supporters. but how was he to know that the frey's would go to such extreme lengths. when the freys let them in rather then automatically renounce the allaince like the karstarks (who he should have rounded up and executed as deserters) or emidiately switch sides. he was just a boy in the books aswell
Lord Solar Matthius Oh, so you're talking about Robb. How is that forsaking personal honour? Forsaking personal honour for the good of the realm would be not marrying Jeyne Westerling but marrying the Frey girl. A marriage pact is a sacred contract in the seven kingdoms, they were already expecting a retribution cause they knew they deserved it. They basically said "your daughter will be a queen if you join our side in this war that is basically treason against the crown oh wait no she won't even though you joined our side and gave us some army we will not make your family a family if a queen" That is why Catelyn was so eager for them to eat at the Twins, to have the guest right, because they were rightfully scared. To be real, Catelyn was the one that messed up in the first place, Freys were her father's bannermen already they owed them to join on their side, but the crazy lady went to negotiate with a guy that is well known not to respect women because she was as always so full of herself and didn't use even ana ounce of that smarts that she so firmly believes she has and she does display some cleverness in her but no wisdom whatsoever. But that's another story My point is that forsaking a marriage pact with a lord of an important house in order to marry a girl just because you slept with her is choosing personal honour of you and that girl iver the good of the realm His father forsake his love for Ashara Dayne in order to do what was the greater good. He forsake his honour when lying that he is a traitor in order to keep peace. Jaime forsake his personal honour FOREVER in order to save thousands and possibly even hundreds of thousands of innocents Robb could have given the command to any of the more experienced lords, but noooo he didn't want to be a craven cause he is the lord of winterfell so he had to do what on the surface looked as a more honourable thing even though it was not the smart thing for the greater good
Well with an evil manipulative mother in Cersei and two fathers who couldn't give two damns about him, is it any wonder Joffrey turned out the way he did?
GRRM ability to write the most likable and the most hated character shows his writing skill. He made me hate cersei, then when she get arrested he made me like her, and this is just one example, George can do what he wants with a pen and a paper.
I’m glad that he appreciates Tolkien but he’s missing a huge part of Tolkien’s work, reducing his concept of good and evil to the creatures that are objectively evil, as if Tolkien didn’t have any characters that wrestled with both in any of his works. Sméagol is a big one that toes the line, and struggles with the good and evil inside of him. Boromir is the inverse of Sméagol, who has very good intentions but struggles with doing the right thing and clearly can be manipulated into evil himself. But on main point of LOTR is that Tolkien decided to present evil in a physical, holdable manner: the Ring. Evil is evil. People are not only evil though. But evil (the ring) can manipulate people and therefore, we absolutely get this struggle within the hearts of EVERY character in the lord of the rings. I’m glad the Martin is a a decent writer but his analyses of Tolkien is extremely surface level and basic, kind of like how a teenager would interpret it after reading it once. Which is kind of a disappointment to see here because he’s clearly smart
I can't understand how some like George could think LOTR is black and white, while Morgoth, Sauron orcs etc. are the representation of evil, the mortals in the story are what adds the grey to it. It's also a bit ironic that George calls Sauron one dimensional when Joffrey and Ramsey are far more one dimensional then Sauron, at least Sauron has motives for his actions, Game of Thrones seems to be full of people who love to torture and murder people for no reason other then, they like it, Game of Thrones major flaw is it's so cynical is borders on the ridiculous.
@@RavagersPrey Thats Game of Thrones, the tv show. A Song of Ice and Fire-the books- is a lot less ridiculously cynical. After all, one of the biggest themes is myth and legend coming to life even in a grimy human world. I do agree his comments about Tolkien are misguided. I wonder how long its been since he actually read Lord of the Rings or the Silmarillion.
@@RavagersPrey I was pondering this myself. It seems that although the majority of the characters have both good and evil in them, there are some that seem to be just pure evil. And maybe not so much in the books like this other commenter has stated but he had a huge hand in the making of the show and if this was such a big deal to him, so important that he felt the need to misguidedly reduce another author’s work to prove his point, then I don’t see how it can be justifiable that he allow characters like Geoffrey and Ramsay to be portrayed in a purely evil light in the show, especially considering how he praises the portrayal as “perfect” by the actors.
@@eileen8787think about Ramsey for a second. He was Roos Bolton's bastard but was legitimatised because he impressed his father. The family sigil is a flayed man, so if you were Ramsey what's the most obvious way to impress your father? And remember you never see him from his own perspective. There's been loads of people through history who've seemed to enjoy cruelty but there's a lot of times it's just because it was something that made them feel powerful. Joffrey really is a mummy's boy and he knows it. Exerting power would probably make him feel masculine, most of the time in the books you see him from Tyrion's perspective
@@sandormacneil7580 I’m not saying there aren’t psychological reasons behind WHY Ramsay and Joffrey are evil. But to say that they aren’t purely evil just isn’t true. He didn’t write any real moment of redemption for either characters, at least not that I remember, he didn’t have them be multi-faceted in their motives. But that’s okay! They’re good villains nonetheless. You don’t have to have relatable villains for them to be good. I’d be hard pressed to find anyone who can REALLY relate to Ramsay on an authentic level. But where Martin writes the reasonings behind his villains to be more psychological and Freudian, Tolkien writes his villains to be written with a philosophical and theological rounding out of the characters. But that’s not to say that he doesn’t write characters with their own Freudian backstories. We can easily look at Boromir and Faramir for this. We can also look at Aragorn, and Denethor, or Sméagol, and Theoden and Eowyn for this psychological reasoning behind their actions. However, if you are looking at LOTR with a surface level perspective, you would stop at the big flashy monsters and say “he just writes bad guys without any depth.” Well, if those are the only bad guys you see, then I can see how you came to this conclusion. But that would be like looking at Game of Thrones and saying that because a big villain in it is the White Walkers, that the villains have no complexity. The reasons this is said more about LOTR than GOT is because more time in the show is focused on the characters and there is very little diversity to the fantasy creatures in that world. So you notice the characters first. But to be completely fair to Tolkein, his books are much more character focused and you can see all of this depth in each character in the books. This can also be seen in the movies if you can look beyond the fantasy creatures (which I remind you, still have their own reasoning, and narrative depth through philosophy and theology, as opposed to psychology) you would not have too hard of time seeing this in Tolkien’s narrative and characters
The 'general glee' we experience over Joffrey's death is the Joffrey within us coming to the surface. Just because Joffrey, as a character, epitomizes it completely doesn't mean we don't, at times, do so as well. Joffrey just gives us a license to act like him that is socially acceptable. I believe not acknowledging this truth is a subtle way of skirting responsibility for our own inner Joffrey, and this lack of accountability is the very thing that creates it. You could even make a case that Joffrey is an asshole on our behalf. If I was a scapegoat for humanity's shitty vileness, I would be a shitty vile person, too. I don't think many have what it takes to look squarely at the Joffrey in the mirror. As a result we will continue to subtly deny personal culpability in our shitty vile humanity, find comfort in grouping with other likeminded individuals, collectively scapegoat outgroups for humanity's shitty vileness, become unwilling to accept any dissenting voices from ingroup members, demonize and banish anyone who tries, and continue to model this behavior to the next generation until we eventually destroy ourselves in the process. Am I thinking too deeply? Maybe. Am I wrong? I don't think so.
@Antonio Sapienza Maybe not direct real life inspiration but there has been a few sadistic people with a great military mind. I can't think of a lot of european figures but for example look at Jamukha (main rival of genghis khan during the unification of mongolia), his main example of execution was to boil his oponents to death in cauldrons. Another who was cartoonishely evil is Timur or Temarlane, who did everything from riding over children under 7 to burrying people alive because he said he wouldn't spill their blood, to killing an entire city and pilling up almost all of their skulls in piles. So yeah historical figure similar to Ramsey Bolton existed.
@@brucetucker4847 Ramsay was not a 'pretty competent ruler', though he was a very formidable tyrant. He was good at seizing power through force, fraud, and treachery, but his own father Roose points out he's not much for thinking. His sadistic hedonism made him ill-suited for keeping peace or ensuring prosperity. Things like girls going missing for his hunts, very public mistreatment of the girl everyone believes is Ned Stark's daughter, and even slaughtering animals put aside for breeding so he can feast while winter is coming... Ramsay fomented dissent with every pointlessly cruel action. We just haven't read his proper comeuppance yet.
No. He didn't. He referenced the other death at a feast and mentioned the pie that was the cause in that reference. The similarity is the feast not the pie, it was in the wine.
He have talked about basing stannis on the character Tiberius from I Claudius, so there isn't a non possibility that other characters are based on characters from the same show
KaineTheLongshot Power does not corrupt, power reveals Plus Joffrey did feel the times where the small folk rioted and he was attacked from all sides and then for sure he did not have absolute power
@MinutemanSam Power does corrupt, inorder to be a ruler you'll need to use methods which are highly immoral. To lead a country one must do the same. When people say power corrupts, they do not mean, that one only does evil for personal gain... you can be evil while serving your country/people. If you haven't already, read Niccolo Machiavelli's "The Prince".
Jack Glesson was such a phenomenal actor. I think he actually makes the character way more interesting that his book counterpart.
He had Oscars in his future. Absolutely amazing actor. Too bad he quit.
@@lordodysseus I guess I'm pretty glad he's doing the best he can with his power, his privilege and his platform, though. However, I still kinda want him to come back to acting, eventually.
You know an actor is great when they make you hate them whenever they portray an antagonist.
@@vitormelomedeiros what do u mean by privlage
Jesus christ the word 'Priviledge' really triggers people. He has the obvious priviledges that comes with being a world renowned actor. You guys know that having priviledges doesn't mean you haven't earned them?
I remember hearing my professor describe Richard II and I thought “oh that sounds like Joffrey,” and then she described Richard’s uncle John of Gaunt who advised him and tried to properly run the kingdom, and I said “oh there’s Tyrion”
and what did she say? bro you cant just leave us hanging like that
LPF7 read history bub
@Toronto Rangers hahahahahah MORE mature dude lol niec
@Toronto Rangers always some asshole trying to make it political
@@Levi-hd5db I think he meant how did the teacher respond to the comparison assuming he said it aloud.
It amazes me that the majority of people can't separate an actor from his role. How it's so hard to believe Jack Gleeson is a good guy doing a phenomenal job. So much so they threaten him on the street and drive him to quit acting...
Really? Omg, how stupid ppl can be?!!
Thats how great of an actor Jack Gleason is, amazing job with that role!
@James 1137 What does homosexuality have anything to do with people sending an actor threats for doing his job
Choli Xbox ignore him. Probably a 12 year old being ‘edgy’ on the internet.
thats how vile the character was written and portrayed that just seeing the actor gave them a reaction lol, its actually a testament how good the actor and how good george wrote the character
I was almost sad when Joffrey died because I enjoyed Gleeson's performance so much.
I'm glad he didn't make it to later seasons. Can't imagine what he would become in S07 or S08.
@@otakarbeinhauer they will butcher his character too of he lived too long.
They'd have made him a good guy😂
He pulled off the best acting forsure. But as character wise he had to go lol
You're the first person I've come across that feels this way, but me too! I never felt like Ramsey was enjoyable to watch. Not the actor's fault at all, he did great with the material he was given, but Ramsey was poorly written in my opinion. Joffrey was more nuanced and interesting.
Gleeson did that character SO much justice. He knew exactly how to make him believably young, believably vile and cruel, and in the end believably terrified. He's legitimately one of the single most talented and intelligent actors I've ever seen.
Jack said one of his main inspirations for his performance in GOT was Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus in Gladiator. I can definitely see the comparison.
@@galanakagalactus903 omg i’ll always think of that now. i can totally see that
I saw him in a interview and he seems really nice.
Sure, he was unlikeable as hell, but let's face it, he was a perfect villain.
Am i a joke to you ?
@@pixelhunter5709 Lord Baelish is much more gray in my opinion. Joffrey had no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
@@MCShvabo lul
@@MCShvabo Don't know about that. He was just around the wrong people, and not given all the information. I don't think he was wrong to execute Ned. Given that, as far as he knew, his "Father" / King, was murdered by Ned in a plot to seize the throne. Joffrey believes Ned to be a traitor.
@@JonCombo I don't think that's the connection anybody who was in the throne room at that time made. At worst, he may think that Ned tried to use the situation after that happened, but he has seen the letter.
Jack Gleeson is so ridiculously good at acting that in the scene Robert is talking to him on his deathbed, the fear and sadness in Joff's eyes make you forget he's such a horrible person for a little
Many people don't realise how intelligent Joffrey actually is. His evil nature makes people overlook his intelligence. Many of the things he said that instantly got shot down by Tywin were things that eventually brought the end to their families grasp on the throne.
"Daenarys is dangerous" Ding.
"We need a standing army" Ding.
Cersei robbed him of competence as well as sanity.
To a small extent Joffrey also reminds me of Nero. Nero's mother, Agrippina was a lot like Cersei in that they both thought murder and incest were the norm. Agrippina also tried to control her son when he became emperor after she poisoned her uncle/husband Claudius, but eventually Nero sent the Praetorian Guard to kill her when he had enough of her shit. I imagine killing Cersei did cross Joffrey's mind at least once when he became king.
She slapped him once.
The Truth hurts What the fuck are you talking about?
Maybe if you read a few more history books you wouldn’t make such stupid, ignorant and RACIST statements.
The Truth hurts What history books are you reading? Mine had the holocaust “White people” the trail of tears “White people” and many others. Plenty of examples of bad white people. Maybe you should have payed attention to your history books more? Then you wouldn’t be so misinformed.
@The Truth hurts maybe its because of people like you that non whites are demonised. I mean your proving them right .
The Truth hurts whoa calm down black hitler
Jack Gleason was absolutely brilliant. If I recall correctly, I believe he quit acting to study more. Good on him for doing what he feels is best, but what a shame to lose such a class actor.
He'll be back.
Decade or two.
He went on to study Linguistics in Ancient Hebrew & Gaelic
He is such a superb natural actor, that it’s a bit sad that he’ll not continue to act. What an amazing performance he gave.
He may be back later.
My fav character in the show, Jack Glesson conveys so much by his facial expressions and tone of voice. One of the best villains ever.
I wouldn’t really call him a villain, he was just a spoiled brat who happened to be king. The real villain was Tywin Lannister.
The show was perfect for as long as Gleeson and Dance were around. We can all argue about when the show turned sour and exactly how bad that last season was, but after the loss of Tywin and Joffrey the show was never quite top tier again. That family unit of Tywin, Cersei, Jaime, Tyrion and Joffrey was the best thing in the show - immaculate casting and incredible performances and their family dynamics were infinitely captivating and moving.
It was important to my parents growing up that I knew the difference between forms of entertainment like television and the real world, apparently the people who send death threats to the actor have not received this lesson, nor the one of self restraint so that they might not make such fools of themselves. It’s sad that when an actor or actress plays a great villain that it is oft met with death threats.
It is a little disheartening, but if your performance as an actor cause people to send you death threats; then you're a pretty damn good actor.
some people are fucking nuts!
Draven Flores-Rios I’ve often wondered this too. My dad made it quite clear that they were all actors and on a film set. When James Gandolfini would talk about people on the street asking him if he wanted to whack somebody, or why he killed Christopher, etc it really made me consider the mind state of the average person. It’s no wonder people get sucked in to tribalistic news and politics
Only in America.
The Caretaker We live in an age where our phones are getting smarter but the vast majority of people are getting dumber. That is actually a fact. IQ scores are dropping in all 'developed' countries.
Jack Gleeson is a wonderful actor. Too bad he retired.
Elizabeth Michelle why ??
Because people were threatening him because of the actions of his character.
There is an interview where he said that acting was something he wanted to try, and that he was dissapointed with it, so he too was happy when jeoffrey died because then he could do something else
hes doing another show now in 2020
Sometimes an actor is too good to be any other character, Gleeson’s role as Joffrey is iconic
Can someone get GRRM some super life extending vitamins?? We need him to live forever! He’s a national treasure🎊
He wouldn't finish Winds of Winter even if he lived for 100 years.
GRRM isn't a machine that writes a book. For an author, it is more important quality of the writing rather than quantity. We should understand that this fantasy requires both quality and quantity, which means very much time to write the books. You and other people bother me because you want that book so much because GOT had an awful ending. I understand you, I am also disappointed about that ending, but I want to ask you something: Is it more important for you to have the book quickly and poor written or do you want quality, which requires time? I want you to be honest. I will wait for the books no matter how long it takes to be written. Just because I respect GRRM and his work :)
@@KADETUL9 A fancy way of saying lazy. None denies the great writing prowess of GRRM but the amount of laziness is astounding.
You seem to think every great writer would be hella late like GRRM. Nope. They are not . Don't believe me ? Here are two names for you - Brandon Sanderson and Stephen King.
And no it's not because of the ending of the show. We have been waiting for the books even from before that.
I am really sad that we bother you such . It would have been great if it would have bothered GRRM same way and he would stop wasting his time with damn HBO prequel show and actually write the book.
@@rockgamiasedes677'' None denies the great writing prowess of GRRM but the amount of laziness is astounding'' How can you say that GRRM is ''lazy'' when he wrote thousands of pages? And each page is pure masterpiece.Does he look like a lazy person? Does he behave like a lazy person? He is fat, but it doesn't mean he is lazy. And how can you compare other authors with GRRM? Not because he is something special, just because each author has his own style and writing rhythm. His books have a complicated story which requests TIME to write the storyline. And by the way, Stephen King and GRRM are good friends (just in case you didn't know). I am pretty sure that when he began writing the books, he had the ending of the story in his mind, as many scenes in the books suggest this thing. It's just a matter of time until he publishes the books. You can say whatever you want, but he is the author of the books and he will publish they when he considers it's the right time (and not because he is lazy). Did you follow every moment in his life to form the opinion that he is ''lazy''? I didn't do it and I am sure you didn't too. In my opinion, all this thing with the ''time'' is a strategy created by GRRM: He knew that GOT will have a terrible ending if he isn't part of the writing team (Dumb and Dumber) from this HBO production. Terrible ending and the books aren't finish. What does it mean? The books will be oversold when he publishes they. Sounds quite logic, doesn't it?
@@KADETUL9 Never said fat = lazy. Don't put that in my mouth .
Did I know Stephen King and GRRM is friend ? Yes I did . And so what ? Does this friendship make his astounding slowness ( if that's what you want to call it or super awesome delaying tactics ) not a slowness ???
And who cares about what he thought about show ? I was purely talking about books itself . Don't really care about the show .
And lastly no you don't need to follow a person in life to see if they are lazy or not . You see their output .
When was A Feast Of Crows ? 2005
When was A Dance with Dragons ? 2011
6 years gap
Now its 2019 and what did we get for 8 years ? Couple of pages of teaser.
We got hope when there was of tweet saying that GRRM has locked himself in isolation for finishing up the next book.
But then boom ,next tweet confirming he has started working on "Blood Moon" as a consultant and creative writer.
Oh !! almost forgot here are two friends on their writing style . The whole interview is awesome if you haven't seen it yet.
ua-cam.com/video/xR7XMkjDGw0/v-deo.html
Jack deserved an Emmy for his work on GOT.
George: Jack Gleeson is the nicest kid in the world
Reporter: No
3:20 when you’re that good of an actor
when the reporter is an idiot
The reporter didn't meet Jack, she only saw Joffrey
She’s not a reporter she’s a restaurant Critic
@@manubishe so ? She just assume the person is the same as the character he plays ? That is next level of stupid.
@@khaalmalki4039 seems like that to me.
the actors for Ramsey and Joffrey were just soooo good. It is hard to get you to really hate a villian without good acting.
My poor show..... destroyed.
Get over it
@@montecarlo8325 we love it too much to get over it so fast, give us time
@@montecarlo8325 never. Our life mission is to stay salty and grieve
I mean there's still like 6 really good seasons still it was just the last 2 that sucked imo
@@therenx8385 bro its been months its still one of the greatest shows of all time and the final season is still better than the best seasons of other shows
"Im gonna serve it [Robb's head] to Sansa at my wedding feast"
"A joke! Joffrey meant nothing by it"
".... yes i did :/"
truly a nasty individual
He says it in such a matter-of-fact way too, as if it's a completely normal thing to him.
It's reasonably shocking to the audience, as nobody in real life ever talks like that and legitimately mean it. You'd have to be pretty messed up in the head to actually want to serve someone's father's decapitated head as a "wedding gift."
As one can imagine, Joffrey is pretty messed up in the head. I mean, he was born with an utterly scrambled sense of morality, let alone a distorted and egotistical grasp of reality. (Oh, that kind of rhymed.)
Eli Esh
So basically Joffrey is a sadist AND a psychopath 👌🏿
@@unovasfinest2623 I would say yes, but we can only assume, as George RR Martin hasn't given out an official diagnosis of Joffrey's mental state. We can only assume what's really wrong with him.
My guess is that his mental state was the result of a genetic fault caused by his parent's incestuous relations. Many inbred children in real life tend to have both physical and mental disabilities which stem from their genetics.
Then again, Martin has confirmed that the genes of Westerosi "humans" work differently than real life Earth humans. After all, the GOT world is technically a completely separate world, with it's own separate evolutionary path, which coincidentally has people that look exactly like humans, who all speak a lingua franca the coincidentally sounds exactly the same as English... But we're getting off topic.
Essentially, because of his incestuous background, as well as his childhood upbringing, he has developed very psychopathic tendencies.
@@unovasfinest2623 those personality traits are usually found tightly intertwined within the same individual that possesses one or the other...truly a nasty combination...
What a phrasing "he left a bad template for lesser writers", in regards to J.R.R. Tolkien. So incredibly true.
When I read Sword of Shannara at age 14 my disappointment carried through the ensuing decades.
the key being "lesser"
And George would be one of those lesser writers as he goes on to slight Tolkien. George is incredibly arrogant. His fantasy is sub par. His best book is Fevre Dream which is basically a historical horror novel.
@@toddherklotz5970 He doesn't slight Tolkien in any way, he's obviously greatly inspired by Tolkien, respects him and loves his work. Look at his name even, George "RR" Martin..
@@toddherklotz5970 You're completely misunderstanding him. Its an oft talked topic of fantasy writers that Tolkien was so great and famous that his work created a template that, for a long time after, most fantasy writers followed. You know, that whole "group of adventurers go off on a perilous and righteous quest to defeat the big bad and save the world" story. We're seeing a big turn in that recently, but for a long time, fantasy stagnated in Tolkien's success. Did you watch the video? He elaborates on this for quite a bit.
For anyone who doesn't know the Black Dinner inspired The Red Wedding. Don't know much about it though. Then there's the Yorks and the Lancasters.
The black dinner happened up in Scotland, I live in Lancashire which is pretty close to Yorkshire. If you can even believe it there is still some sort of animosity to each other. Not a lot tho, we still keep the roses as our flags
It also reminds me of Xenophon's Anabasis. Greek officers, who had been fighting for a Persian claimant, attended a feast by a rival claimant's general. The Greeks were seized and executed treacherously.
Some very obvious inspirations taken from English history down the names of the main factions at the beginning of the story, I guess George liked the War of the Roses enough to once again take inspiration from it while creating the Dance of Dragons which is more similar to that war than the one we see in the main story.
@@Sealdeam the Dance of Dragons is the Anarchy not the War of Roses. War of Five Kings is more War of Roses.
GRRM has cited both the Black Dinner and the Massacre Of Glencoe as the main inspirations for The Red Wedding. Speaking of lasting animosity, my family is descended from the clan responsible for the Glencoe massacre and my mother went to a Scottish games here in the states a few years back and bumped into a guy descended from the clan that was ambushed at the massacre. And from how she tells the story, when she told him about who our ancestors were, there was real tension. Totally unexpected. (She didn't know the Glencoe story until she got back and we looked it up.) Anyway, a Scots grudge can last forever.
You know the actor is terrific when you loathe him! Brilliant commitment to his character development and ability to becoming the villain. Health Ledgers Joker!
He was also in Batman Begins 😆
1:00 when you've lost your friend Neil in a large crowd
So sad the grief of losing Neil ended such a precious life... 😔
I couldn’t stand Joffrey, but Jack Gleason played three heck out of his role.
He was amazing
'but' doesn't make sense in that sentence.
@@92brunod how so? I said I didn’t like the character Joffrey. That doesn’t mean I can’t like the actor that portrayed him. He really played that part well.
@@92brunod use ur common sense.
@@WiredLain_ I do, that's how I know 'but' doesn't make sense in that sentence.
Maybe follow your own advice.
You probably didn't even understand what I said, like the other person there.
It's so sad he quit acting don't know why such a superb actor
That he made everyone collectively hate him with such passion, proves that he played the role perfectly.
That bit at the end really bugged me the first time I read it, I remember wanting to be so happy that Joff died, but from Tyrion's PoV it's just a terrified kid clutching his mother as he dies.
He does the exact same thing for Cersei and her walk of atonement, she is such a vile character in the books and you've wanted to see her get what was coming forever, and about halfway through the walk you can't help but feel bad for her, and it's like DAMNIT! I've wanted this since she killed Lady, and now it's here and I can't even enjoy it
I was really bummed when Joffrey died. Very rarely have I so _Loathed_ a human being, fictional or otherwise. Jack Gleeson was so incredible as that little Whoreson that people actually hated the Man as well as the Character. Now, that doesn't say a lot about those folks, but it speaks volumes about his performance. Perhaps he'll come back to the screen one day.
He also vaguely reminds me of the Roman emperor Caligula, who likewise became a ruler at a fairly young age (though he wasn't a boy) and was an uncontrollable, degenerate despot drunk with his own power. Caligula also was assassinated at a public event. He also had a more reasonable and very well-educated uncle in an administrative position (Claudius) who, like Tyrion, was kind of the butt of everyone's jokes, including Caligula's. But I think Caligula was even more insane than Joffrey. Also, unlike Tyrion, Claudius was not blamed for Caligula's death, and succeeded him as emperor.
Fisted a dude in the movie
I think GRRM is a genius, obviously we all wish he was a faster writer, but the story and world he crafted is just insane.
Him taking his time and it being slow is probably why the world is so well crafted and why all the characters are so dynamic. Although the time he is taking for the next book is ridiculous, feel like he kind of abandoned it
@@loki3836 I think he certainly lost interest in finishing it, especially after he started getting TV deals. Back then the logic probably was "Well I'm sure the show will have a conclusive end, maybe that will be good enough for people." But since the showrunners bungled the ending now he probably feels more obligated to at least give people an ending that isn't as abysmal.
“a faster writer” I think we just wish he was capable of writing literally anything more of the next book whatsoever.
@@criert135 I think the distractions of stardom and fame do not pair well with his writing style, which is to be a cautious perfectionist. Some distractions might be OK if you can still churn out a couple chapters here and there but GRRM has a tendency to frequently delete stuff and start over. Compare to an author like Stephen King who writes a chapter and it's set in stone. Granted King's stories are generally far more simple than an entire universe like GOT
The casting for Joffrey was perfect!
" I went to school with 5 or 6 Joffreys." We all went to school with 5 or 6 Joffreys and if you didn't you were Joffrey.
The way the interviewer said "No" as George was describing what a good kid Jack Gleeson is makes me believe she is one of those people who sent the poor kid death threats
She did apologize
@@shaylagogobean417 maybe so but her initial reaction was very telling.
It was a joke
@@JasperForge It was CLEARLY a joke.
@@rosalind1635 no it wasn't
I've never taken more pleasure in watching a character die than watching the light leave his eyes. I hated him so much. What a character, the most loved hated character ever. Missed him when he was gone tbh
I really enjoy all of the clips with GRRM because they provide insight. Great channel.
Robb is the most underrated character in the series because seriously, He was one of the MOST badass and everything about him ;-; he didnt deserve this
a good warrior but no, he was a fool and he died for it
Robb makes many mistakes as King and it costs him, his mother and his brothers their lives
@@Robert1991acosta he wasn't even a great warrior. A great tactition. Being bad at politics is forgiveable due to him being what like 14 or something
In show they didn't show, but in Books Robert always knew what a Monster Jeoffry will be.
He Even had conversation with Ned about this
They should have kept it in the show too
I always wanted Joffrey to end up on the Wall.
Forget the Wall, give Joffrey the Reek treatment.
Jeffery at the wall would have been hilariously satisfying.
I want to hear about ramsey.
In an interview George says Ramsay is a misunderstood fellow, he had a hard childhood after all.
(I mean he's joking when he says it but still xD)
Ramsay is a sociopath. Simply put. He's devoid of empathy, fakes emotions, and likes to torment people for shits and giggles.
@Gaming User I thought he was rather boring. The sausage scene and "aiming" at Brandon was funny though.
I prefer his father Roose Bolton.He's much better in the books than on screen.
Gaming User He's more a sadist than psychopath.
It goes over your head how good the actor/ writing combo is, precisely because of just how good it is.
Jack was great in that role, but he truly has seemed like a super nice guy when you hear him talk as himself.
One interesting thing about Richard II is that it’s believed his first wife was a wonderful, calming influence on him and helped his rule to be more stable and that after her death, both his natural inclinations and his grief combined to make even worse. Even though Joffrey was a psycho, I wonder if Maergery could’ve been at least somewhat of a similar influence on him had he survived their wedding.
I miss this poor beautiful boi! Gone but never forgotten.
I wish he had a bigger role in the book. His story with Margaery would have been fascinating, it would have been cool to know why he killed Ned. Also during the Blackwater he commanded the trebuchets amd saw the whole battle until he escaped.
Oh god if ACok had Robb and Joff PoVs it would have been really cool.
margaery was basically based in my opinion on anne boleyn so no i dont think things would turn out pretty.
John Arnold it had Catelyn which was enough to be Robb’s. But I still would like to know how Joffrey thinks. I assume it’s like Cersei in AFfC where it’s all me,me, and me, oh and yeah my kids.
Martin explains why. The point was that “you defied him at your peril. And to show how strong he was.”
He killed Ned because Ned very publicly, in front of everyone in the throne room and through writing his letter to Stannis, called him a bastard born of incest. Even someone not as viciously ill tempered as Joffrey would have taken that as a huge blow, as an identity shattering insult, especially in the world of feudal Westeros with it's obsession over name, family, and legitimacy.
@@darrynmurphy2038 Exactly, Joffrey didn't have any sort of master plan going on. Its silly to assume he ever had any sort of long term forward thinking ability.
Ironically Joffrey's actor is a super nice guy who raises pigeons
Everytime i hear G. R. R. Martin talk i learn something new, such a humble person and there is so much that we can learn from him 👏
Also, well done on finding all of the interviews and clips to edit it all together.
Actor is great .......he was great
I heard Joffrey was partially based on Caligula. Did GRRM ever mention that?
I always thought the Mad King was based Caligula and Joffrey was based on Nero.
Caligula: Mentally insane emperor who ends up being killed by his own personal guard. (*cough* Kingslayer *cough*)
Nero: Spoiled brat who gets placed on the throne by his mother who hopes to rule by controlling him. His mothers plan backfires because Nero has no intention of listening to anyone and simply does whatever he wants.
The timeline matches as well, as it is
1. Caligula 2. Claudius 3. Nero
and
1. Mad King 2. Robert 3. Joffrey
Unfortunately, Robert and Claudius have very little in common, except for the fact that they both ruled for 17 years in between two tyrants and that they were both killed by their wives.
Caligula was truly insane
@@sieversen1235 Claudius rules!!!
Sieversen
Ah. Very interesting. 👍
@@sieversen1235 Spot on
I always saw parallels with Caligula.
Couldn't have picked a more perfect actor for the role.
It's Cerseis fault for how Joffrey turned out, really. Also, in the books, he's thirteen.
Why isn't it Robert's fault just as much or even more?
@@Carabas72 True. He was absent. And his treatment of Cersei definitely left a bad impression of Joffrey. Though. Cersei was the one who coddled him, praised him excessively, and said he could do no wrong. She's the reason for his grossly inflated opinion of himself and his own power.
@@Carabas72 Robert is responsible too. And then he has the hypocrisie to wonder how he could create such a monster.
@@Carabas72 oh please! Robert was a king in a quasi medieval setting. He was not expected to be a doting father like a 21st century dad. Almost all highborn boys were shipped off to other lords to be fostered (even Robert and Ned were sent off to the Eyrie to be fostered by Lord Arryn). Fathers weren't typically concerned with the upbringing of their sons as a modern dad would be. Hell even highborn mothers weren't as involved. Which is why wetnurses and septas were mostly responsible for the upbringing and education of royal/highborn children. And this is also true in real life - Queens (and Kings) did not always have a direct involvement in their child's upbringing unless they specifically desired so.
@@Carabas72 and even then, Robert cannot be blamed for how Joffrey turned out to be. Cersei literally manipulated him from birth to be the psychopath he became in later life. We can blame genetics and inbreeding all we want, but Cersei's twisted upbringing and shitty moral code cannot absolve her of her role in making Joffrey what he became.
Here I thought he was GOT version of Andrew Wilson.
He's CEO of EA.
It's funny that the actor for Geoffry is really nice. Apparently the guy that played Draco Malfoy is also a sweet heart. Lol I guess all the pent up meanness comes out in the form of acting. Lol
Koodos to Jack Gleeson for his BRILLIANT portrayal of Joffrey. Just feel bad that he had quit acting. HE was so good in that role, he literally recieved hate mail/feath threats, although, that's more to do with people being delusional- not being able to separate the actor from the character- than it is jack's acting necessarily
What is this documentary thing this video is using? Like what’s the name of it?
This is true for all characters that G.r.r.m fleshes out, but I can't hate Joff. A lot of his characters are the same. My way of judging it, is that if I were that character, what would I do? I don't mean if *I,* as in, *me,* were that character. Rather if I was the character. The same gender, born with the same brain cells, every synapse developed in the same environment, and every action reinforced by the same culture, the same people, would I do the same thing.
What I love about G.r.r.m, is that for every character he really develops, down to the bone, I feel like I would have done the same thing in their shoes. Of course, these stipulations would basically make me, them. Such strict rules would mean no shred of my identity remains, so I'm basically saying nothing, other than the characters actions make sense. If that sounds insignificant, you've never tried to write realistic characters.
Nearly none of his characters are the same. The closest one's are Robb and Ned (honorable, just, etc) or Brandon Stark and Robert Baratheon(Lusty, strong, handsome warriors). Even then, there are distinct differences in similar characters.
@@brandondavis7777 Sorry, I formatted that statement poorly. What I meant was, I can't hate Joff, and the same goes for a lot of his other characters.
I didn't mean to imply his characters are the same. That's just poor sentence structure, that's my bad.
@@brandondavis7777 Robb and Ned are not the same. Ned wouldnt have broken the wedding with one of the girls of Frey because of its honor.
@@henrygaudart7557 Robb broke it for the honor of the girl. In the book, at least.
@@legrandliseurtri7495 oh yeah I know but he slept with her even though he knew he was supposed to marry the Frey girl. He acted before thinking. And I think it is more honorable to respect his promise and his duty as the head of house stark ! :)
Excellent writing, excellent acting
Gleeson was fantastic as Joffrey! 👏
Jaime Lannister is probably the best example of good and evil in all of us
The actor playing Joffrey is a doppleganger of the actual Caligula. He resembles quite closely to Caligula's marble bust.
Richard II is a great comp actually. Always loved studying that era of history.
Gleeson also seems unbelievably likeable. Feels like he'd be a great mate to have.
He was soooo good at this role it is ridiculous...
Joffry got what was coming to him. He wet our whistles for what was to come with Ramsey. Thank god the 2 of them never met.
That would have been interesting to watch.
As much as I dislike Joffrey, I still tend to believe he was less evil than Ramsay, if that can even be considered an exploit.
He embodied the role so well, that he became the character for a while.. that's next level acting, many loved and praised actors in Got didn't come close to his level of mastery. People need to get their heads out of their asses and understand that fiction is not real.
I want to give each crew member and the cast huge hugs for being at their best even with the crap writing that wasn't up to par with their work
Jack Glesson is an amazing actor, and was a great villain.
Look up Cleopatras brother Ptolemy who is exactly like Joffrey
The first brother or the second?
Darth Plato first
Richard Biggs, the actor who played Dr. Franklin on Babylon 5, mentioned how some people couldn't seperate the actor from the role. But he said scifi fans were better at it. He'd been on a soap. also playing a doctor, and said soap fans who hated an actors character also hated the actor.
Fun facts:
- Richard the 2nd was basically The Mad King.
- Richard the 2nd was gay and did not attempt to hide it at all despite no one liking it at the time.
- When he was captured he was starved so much he began eating the skin on his arms. He still starved to death.
Richard ll wasn't gay.You're thinking of William of Orange.
Richard ll was killed with a battle-ax. Three men were sent
to kill him and he fought valiantly until one of them got behind
and split his skull. (Always watch your back) And he wasn't mad either. 😡
@@Ciara1594 Yes he was. Although literally sleeping with men wasn't seen as gay at the time, he did caress and show much affection for men he was interested in (including physical). He even showed affection at the funeral of one of his lovers which the surrounding people didn't like. And he was captured and starved to death Henry Bolingbroke aka. Henry the 4th threw him there - you're confusing him with someone else.
I always saw jofferey as yes a bully but rather more so as he was given the world by his mother and being the son of the king of the seven realms being the only grey area of him.
I always saw it as you told someone everything is thiers and you own it all. Then it would be natural to see them act like him as why would anyone talk down to him as the world should bend to him.
Understandable but not justified i always say.
Same with rob breaking alliances as a natural end to his story
ivanbluecool alliances he should not have owned in the first place, until catelyn tully messed up by playing smart
but nonetheless he did not forsake his personal honour for the good of the realm, while his own father and even Jaime did that precise thing
Hypatia Ravenclaw Sklodowska no, he broke his personal honour to keep it.
Daniël Scheurwater who broke to keep what? I named three men in my comment to which are you referring to
@@hypatiakovalevskayasklodow9195 yeah he forsook his personal honor for another's. which ultimately cost him and his supporters. but how was he to know that the frey's would go to such extreme lengths. when the freys let them in rather then automatically renounce the allaince like the karstarks (who he should have rounded up and executed as deserters) or emidiately switch sides. he was just a boy in the books aswell
Lord Solar Matthius Oh, so you're talking about Robb. How is that forsaking personal honour? Forsaking personal honour for the good of the realm would be not marrying Jeyne Westerling but marrying the Frey girl. A marriage pact is a sacred contract in the seven kingdoms, they were already expecting a retribution cause they knew they deserved it. They basically said "your daughter will be a queen if you join our side in this war that is basically treason against the crown oh wait no she won't even though you joined our side and gave us some army we will not make your family a family if a queen" That is why Catelyn was so eager for them to eat at the Twins, to have the guest right, because they were rightfully scared.
To be real, Catelyn was the one that messed up in the first place, Freys were her father's bannermen already they owed them to join on their side, but the crazy lady went to negotiate with a guy that is well known not to respect women because she was as always so full of herself and didn't use even ana ounce of that smarts that she so firmly believes she has and she does display some cleverness in her but no wisdom whatsoever. But that's another story
My point is that forsaking a marriage pact with a lord of an important house in order to marry a girl just because you slept with her is choosing personal honour of you and that girl iver the good of the realm
His father forsake his love for Ashara Dayne in order to do what was the greater good. He forsake his honour when lying that he is a traitor in order to keep peace. Jaime forsake his personal honour FOREVER in order to save thousands and possibly even hundreds of thousands of innocents
Robb could have given the command to any of the more experienced lords, but noooo he didn't want to be a craven cause he is the lord of winterfell so he had to do what on the surface looked as a more honourable thing even though it was not the smart thing for the greater good
What an interesting guy
I'm glad George vouched for Jack's character, it was bullshit how poorly people treated him irl for just being a damn good actor
Surprised to hear that George RR Martin is still alive
I’ve never in my life have ever wanted to see a kid die....then Joeffrey happened lol
Well with an evil manipulative mother in Cersei and two fathers who couldn't give two damns about him, is it any wonder Joffrey turned out the way he did?
And the psychosis from having too much of the same D.N.A. :v
Jack Gleason is such a phenomenal actor!
GRRM ability to write the most likable and the most hated character shows his writing skill.
He made me hate cersei, then when she get arrested he made me like her, and this is just one example, George can do what he wants with a pen and a paper.
Jack gleeson left the show at the perfect time
George Martin is a sadistic individual, very easy to see how he got his inspiration.
Does anyone know where I can find the full interview/panel in the second part of the video?
Gleeson was absolutely fantastic. Absolutely Job done
I’m glad that he appreciates Tolkien but he’s missing a huge part of Tolkien’s work, reducing his concept of good and evil to the creatures that are objectively evil, as if Tolkien didn’t have any characters that wrestled with both in any of his works. Sméagol is a big one that toes the line, and struggles with the good and evil inside of him. Boromir is the inverse of Sméagol, who has very good intentions but struggles with doing the right thing and clearly can be manipulated into evil himself. But on main point of LOTR is that Tolkien decided to present evil in a physical, holdable manner: the Ring. Evil is evil. People are not only evil though. But evil (the ring) can manipulate people and therefore, we absolutely get this struggle within the hearts of EVERY character in the lord of the rings. I’m glad the Martin is a a decent writer but his analyses of Tolkien is extremely surface level and basic, kind of like how a teenager would interpret it after reading it once. Which is kind of a disappointment to see here because he’s clearly smart
I can't understand how some like George could think LOTR is black and white, while Morgoth, Sauron orcs etc. are the representation of evil, the mortals in the story are what adds the grey to it. It's also a bit ironic that George calls Sauron one dimensional when Joffrey and Ramsey are far more one dimensional then Sauron, at least Sauron has motives for his actions, Game of Thrones seems to be full of people who love to torture and murder people for no reason other then, they like it, Game of Thrones major flaw is it's so cynical is borders on the ridiculous.
@@RavagersPrey Thats Game of Thrones, the tv show. A Song of Ice and Fire-the books- is a lot less ridiculously cynical. After all, one of the biggest themes is myth and legend coming to life even in a grimy human world. I do agree his comments about Tolkien are misguided. I wonder how long its been since he actually read Lord of the Rings or the Silmarillion.
@@RavagersPrey I was pondering this myself. It seems that although the majority of the characters have both good and evil in them, there are some that seem to be just pure evil. And maybe not so much in the books like this other commenter has stated but he had a huge hand in the making of the show and if this was such a big deal to him, so important that he felt the need to misguidedly reduce another author’s work to prove his point, then I don’t see how it can be justifiable that he allow characters like Geoffrey and Ramsay to be portrayed in a purely evil light in the show, especially considering how he praises the portrayal as “perfect” by the actors.
@@eileen8787think about Ramsey for a second. He was Roos Bolton's bastard but was legitimatised because he impressed his father. The family sigil is a flayed man, so if you were Ramsey what's the most obvious way to impress your father? And remember you never see him from his own perspective. There's been loads of people through history who've seemed to enjoy cruelty but there's a lot of times it's just because it was something that made them feel powerful. Joffrey really is a mummy's boy and he knows it. Exerting power would probably make him feel masculine, most of the time in the books you see him from Tyrion's perspective
@@sandormacneil7580 I’m not saying there aren’t psychological reasons behind WHY Ramsay and Joffrey are evil. But to say that they aren’t purely evil just isn’t true. He didn’t write any real moment of redemption for either characters, at least not that I remember, he didn’t have them be multi-faceted in their motives. But that’s okay! They’re good villains nonetheless. You don’t have to have relatable villains for them to be good. I’d be hard pressed to find anyone who can REALLY relate to Ramsay on an authentic level. But where Martin writes the reasonings behind his villains to be more psychological and Freudian, Tolkien writes his villains to be written with a philosophical and theological rounding out of the characters. But that’s not to say that he doesn’t write characters with their own Freudian backstories. We can easily look at Boromir and Faramir for this. We can also look at Aragorn, and Denethor, or Sméagol, and Theoden and Eowyn for this psychological reasoning behind their actions. However, if you are looking at LOTR with a surface level perspective, you would stop at the big flashy monsters and say “he just writes bad guys without any depth.” Well, if those are the only bad guys you see, then I can see how you came to this conclusion. But that would be like looking at Game of Thrones and saying that because a big villain in it is the White Walkers, that the villains have no complexity. The reasons this is said more about LOTR than GOT is because more time in the show is focused on the characters and there is very little diversity to the fantasy creatures in that world. So you notice the characters first. But to be completely fair to Tolkein, his books are much more character focused and you can see all of this depth in each character in the books. This can also be seen in the movies if you can look beyond the fantasy creatures (which I remind you, still have their own reasoning, and narrative depth through philosophy and theology, as opposed to psychology) you would not have too hard of time seeing this in Tolkien’s narrative and characters
The 'general glee' we experience over Joffrey's death is the Joffrey within us coming to the surface. Just because Joffrey, as a character, epitomizes it completely doesn't mean we don't, at times, do so as well. Joffrey just gives us a license to act like him that is socially acceptable. I believe not acknowledging this truth is a subtle way of skirting responsibility for our own inner Joffrey, and this lack of accountability is the very thing that creates it. You could even make a case that Joffrey is an asshole on our behalf. If I was a scapegoat for humanity's shitty vileness, I would be a shitty vile person, too. I don't think many have what it takes to look squarely at the Joffrey in the mirror. As a result we will continue to subtly deny personal culpability in our shitty vile humanity, find comfort in grouping with other likeminded individuals, collectively scapegoat outgroups for humanity's shitty vileness, become unwilling to accept any dissenting voices from ingroup members, demonize and banish anyone who tries, and continue to model this behavior to the next generation until we eventually destroy ourselves in the process.
Am I thinking too deeply? Maybe. Am I wrong? I don't think so.
Gleason did such a great job, he mic-dropped and quit acting after his GoT job was done! Class act.
Joffrey was a great villain and I think people wanted to know more about.
So what about Ramsay? He seems more like Caligula to me.
Absolutely not. Caligula was just insane and delusional.
@Antonio Sapienza Maybe not direct real life inspiration but there has been a few sadistic people with a great military mind. I can't think of a lot of european figures but for example look at Jamukha (main rival of genghis khan during the unification of mongolia), his main example of execution was to boil his oponents to death in cauldrons. Another who was cartoonishely evil is Timur or Temarlane, who did everything from riding over children under 7 to burrying people alive because he said he wouldn't spill their blood, to killing an entire city and pilling up almost all of their skulls in piles.
So yeah historical figure similar to Ramsey Bolton existed.
Ramsay was a pretty competent ruler apart from being insanely sadistic. Caligula was just nuts.
@@brucetucker4847 Ramsay was not a 'pretty competent ruler', though he was a very formidable tyrant. He was good at seizing power through force, fraud, and treachery, but his own father Roose points out he's not much for thinking. His sadistic hedonism made him ill-suited for keeping peace or ensuring prosperity. Things like girls going missing for his hunts, very public mistreatment of the girl everyone believes is Ned Stark's daughter, and even slaughtering animals put aside for breeding so he can feast while winter is coming... Ramsay fomented dissent with every pointlessly cruel action. We just haven't read his proper comeuppance yet.
Uhhhhh, did George just confirm that the Strangler WAS in the pie and NOT in the wine???
I just thought the same thing.
Lol. Preston Jacobs fans rejoice!
No. He didn't. He referenced the other death at a feast and mentioned the pie that was the cause in that reference. The similarity is the feast not the pie, it was in the wine.
@@Dave_ja_vu amusing how much certainty you put in something we don't know
@@matthiuskoenig3378 it's the wine, Tyrion being blamed revolves around the pouring out of the wine. Its a huge plot point. We know
Terry Jones made a documentary on Richard I, II and III. It appears Richard II still had a lot of redeeming qualities.
Jack Gleason is like Tom Felton. Excellent actor who makes a convincing baddie. Love them both!
Another problem the royal families gene pool was more like a kiddie pool of inbreeding,so GOT pretty accurate on the bro and sis deal.
starts at 2:18
Joffrey will always be my one true king.
It’s funny how in real life he is so nice and humble
I see Caligula when i look at Joffrey
Natalee Oz I see Ramseyas Caligula. The psychopathic tendencies, the aggressive sexuality, the military mind.
@@huchlvr exactly! He even looks like him it's crazy!
Absolutely
He have talked about basing stannis on the character Tiberius from I Claudius, so there isn't a non possibility that other characters are based on characters from the same show
I...am not....TYYYEDDDDD!
I hope Jack Gleason acts again when people stop hating on him. He's a great actor. It's sad people are idiots, treating him like his character!
Loved Joffrey. I wished he could have stayed on for longer.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
KaineTheLongshot Power does not corrupt, power reveals
Plus Joffrey did feel the times where the small folk rioted and he was attacked from all sides and then for sure he did not have absolute power
Dark Wizard no what?
@@hypatiakovalevskayasklodow9195 Power does corrupt
@MinutemanSam Power does corrupt, inorder to be a ruler you'll need to use methods which are highly immoral. To lead a country one must do the same.
When people say power corrupts, they do not mean, that one only does evil for personal gain... you can be evil while serving your country/people.
If you haven't already, read Niccolo Machiavelli's "The Prince".