Aug 23, 2012
Episode 86: Beyond the Wall Finale
Episode 86 for the week of Aug 5th, in which we complete our Beyond the Wall ranging project. In this episode, we are joined by guest host Susan Vaught, author of the article The Brutal Cost of Redemption in Westeros. Or, What Moral Ambiguity? We chat about her article, Twilight, and a variety of other topics.
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20 Comments, Comment or Ping
James
hello,
I’ve been waiting for this episode for so long! Thank you for making it:D
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Aug 23rd, 2012
Medi
For a second there I actually believed the mysterious guest would be Charles Dance. Goddammit Amin…
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Aug 23rd, 2012
FTWard
Hey guys, great to have a new episode. I really enjoyed it.
Overall my opinion about Ms Vaught’s article remain the same as in the thread. I find her insights on the characters to be exceptionally compelling and interesting, even more so during this conversation than they were in print. I really could have listened to another hour of her analysis of characters.
But I just do not buy her thesis on the cosmology of ASoIaF. That unity, selflessness and cooperation are “good” and that disunity, selfishness and discord are “bad” and that the characters fates are determined whether they choose the Summer(good) path or the Winter(bad) path.
Didn’t Kevan Lannister selflessly seek unity and cooperation?
Isn’t the question of what constitutes unity more ambiguous than Ms. Vaught seems to consider? Neither Bowen Marsh or Jon Snow are particularly selfish or ignorant of Winter but questions of unity and cooperation can be more complex.
Any way major FAIL on not having Vaught’s Parrot as part of the show. Pretty sure Bran would have quorked out some spoilers if given the chance…
Looking forward to Mimi exploring her daddy issues in the Charles Dance interview
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Aug 23rd, 2012
KR
Thanks for the episode and props to Susan, she’s my favorite of all the Beyond the Wall guests.
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Aug 23rd, 2012
theLostCastamere
jamie beat cthulhu by killing his cultists before they could summon him :-
)
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August 23rd, 2012 at 5:13 pm
My bad. Jaime made it to the finals, where he got balefired by Rand al’Thor.
But oh god what was I even saying. “….salvation….um….uh…..personal violence BREATH granted BUT I aaaaaehehhhh….AHAHA um…..yeah.”
Great job fielding these guest hosts, guys. Very profesh. Looking forward to future interviews.
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Aug 23rd, 2012
Tom 162
The thing that really gets me about Twilight is how the vampires form a clique and don’t contribute anything useful back to the rest of the world. Except Carlisle, but even then, the good he does as a doctor is offset by his stock market rorting.
As for the main topic, I liked this guest’s contribution. The contrast between selfish squabbling and the greater good is a prominent theme in ASoIaF.
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Aug 23rd, 2012
jesicka309
So does that mean that CHARLES DANCE is confirmed as a future guest??? OMG!
I don’t know if you’re trolling us. You probably are. Damn you guys! :p
Great episode though, really enjoyed the discussion.
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August 23rd, 2012 at 7:45 pm
Damn. I just got to the part where you proved you were trolling us. WHYYYYYY
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Aug 23rd, 2012
Christina
What the hell was that bit at the end? Sounded like a clip from an audiobook…
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August 24th, 2012 at 10:25 am
It’s from “Lords of the Realm II”
By far, my favorite strategy game circa 1997…
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Aug 24th, 2012
Matt
That is exactly how I got into the series back in 05, just by perusing the fantasy section for the longest books I could find and see if they sounded interesting
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Aug 24th, 2012
brynden
thanks again for the great episode. I really enjoyed Ms. Voight inside, she made a very good guest. I laughed so hard when she found out that it was not video and all – that was really funny. And A Dance with Charles would be great…
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August 24th, 2012 at 12:14 pm
brynden said “I really enjoyed Ms. Voight inside”
Please be a typo. Please be a typo. Please be a typo.
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August 25th, 2012 at 5:44 am
insight.
Yes – typo – sure. I don’t know Ms. Voight.
The problem of not being a native – missing such typos when checking quickly…
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Aug 24th, 2012
Zeyik
Another great episode guy…probably gonna buy this book because its brought up some great discussions on the podcast. Sad that your travels beyond the wall are over.
Why must you torture us Amin!!! lol I thought it was Hodor but now I’m assuming you guys got GRRM or Brian Cogman
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Aug 25th, 2012
Emily
Massive thanks to Susan for presenting a moral framework for ASOIAF that actually (sorta kinda) works! Great discussion and loved the Charles Dance tease at the end…
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Aug 30th, 2012
Inkasrain
Really thoughtful discussion, I enjoyed it very much (especially as one who has read and despised TWILIGHT.) I would dispute Susan’s assertions as far as her assessment of Catelyn goes, though. Catelyn’s actions toward Jon are misconstrued as criminal by many readers, and I really scratch my head at this assumption. While it’s indisputable that Cat *could* have been nicer to Jon, it is by no means certain that she *should* have been. Catelyn’s behavior is on Ned, and he is equally– if not more– responsible for the negative consequences. (Though ironically, it’s a pretty damn good thing for the realm that Jon is/was stationed at the Wall, something that likely would not have come to pass had Catelyn been more circumspect with her feelings._
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Sep 3rd, 2012
rpawson
Just chiming in to say that the ‘Beyond The Wall’ episodes have been very interesting listens. They are decidedly different in tone from typical episodes, but they are very engaging discussions and exchanges that are well worth listening to.
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Oct 8th, 2012
Lex
Just catching up on a backlog of episodes.
I thought you guys did a great job, interviewing Ms. Vaught (and the other Beyond the Wall contributors). Thanks for asking her my question!
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Feb 7th, 2013
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