The HBO series Game of Thrones is famous for brutal, gory sword fights mixed in with dire wolves, dragons, and quite a bit of kinky sex. Based on the A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels written by George R. R. Martin, the television adaptation has largely remained faithful to the books thus far. And for the most part, the television shows have been dazzling. Martin has published five novels. The television series has now run for five complete seasons. However, the novels and "seasons" of the show haven't matched up perfectly -- events occurred in the most recent novel that have not happened onscreen, and not everything in the books made it onscreen. In the final episode of season 5,, one of the few remaining heroes in the broad saga, Jon Snow, was murdered,  which (according to my wife and son, who read them) also happened in the most recent novel. Readers of the books will remember that Jon was brought back from the dead in that same novel in which he was killed, because he's become an essential character in the overall story. Clearly, the word "ice" in the title for the series refers to Jon Snow, just as "fire" refers to the dragon queen Daenerys Targaryen. Yet in response to speculation coming from fans of the books, HBO president of programming Michael Lombardo has been quoted by Deadline Hollywood as saying, "Dead is dead as dead as dead. He be (SIC) dead. Yes. From everything I’ve seen, heard, read, Jon Snow is indeed dead." The problem is that the show really won't make any sense or have much of a future without Jon Snow. Therefore, I … [Read more...]