I posted this in the general area and it was recommended I post here. So here ya go spoiler forum peoples!

I was trying to find some "book club like" discussion questions I could use for each book to help stir up chatter about the books with friends. Does anyone know if something like that exists somewhere? Or perhaps has some ideas of good questions I could use that would spur discussion besides "so and so was my fav" or " I loved it when..."

Appreciate the help!

Have you checked out Tower of the Hand yet, that I had recommended in the other thread? If not do so.

Here are a couple to get you started...

What is the significance of the seasons and their lasting for years at a time?

What kind of relationship do the Stark children, Jon and Theon have with each other? Which ones changed and how through the scope of the book?

What do you think Eddard's promise to Lyanna was?

Who were the two men Arya overheard speaking when she got lost in the castle chasing the black tomcat.

Who was Jon Snow's mother?

Does Catelyn ever think things through or does she always act from a place of heated emotion? Cite examples.

Whose side is Varys on?

Another overlooked question for book #1 that I think gets overlooked a lot is:

- Looking at the character of Sansa, how does your opinion of her change when you compare her to social expectations for a medieval or Renaissance woman instead of a modern woman?

(And BTW: "Who is Jon Snow's mother" often goes nowhere as a discussion question until someone actually starts to challenge the assumption of who his father is.)

ktom said:

You mean, Rhaegar? :-P As his mother is clearly Lyanna. Discussion over. Double :-P

RJM said:

Well, did you come up with the Rhaegar/Lyanna thing before or after you questioned Ned's relationship with Jon? You know RJM, a lot of people read the first book and never question that Ned is Jon's father.

ktom said:

Yeah, sorry for the cheeky reply. Internet humor is hard to convey. It really is a fun line of conversation. Although, personally, I'm always one to look for things to be more than they seem and as soon as the strange reflections of Eddard on his sister and refusal to talk about Jon's mother that set off the alarms in my head. But I guess that would still constitute going through the line of reasoning as you suggest. ...Perhaps just skipping a few pages of internet conjecture. :-)

RJM said:

Yeah, but for the people who haven't gone through it before, those pages of internet conjecture are part of the fun.

I've seen people so desensitized to the incest thing because of the Targaryens that they come to Lyanna as the mother WITHOUT questioning Ned as the father....

See, I figured because there is little reason to really question Ned's fathering Jon at first glance, asking them who his mother is gets people to start questioning his parentage. The follow up question would be who is his father. Actually that isn't how I'd phrase it at all. I'd ask it more along the lines of Roberts bastards and the incest twins. Something more along the lines of, given thyat Catelyn's children with the exception of Arya resemble her, and given what we know of Robert's bastards and Cersei and Jaime's children is it possible that Ned is not Jon's father? Either way, does that make you change your thoughts on who his mother might be?

I never once thought twice about Jon's parentage when I first read the series. it wasn't until my mother-in-law pointed out that Lyanna died "in blood," which is a term often used for childbirth, and she brought up the mystery of Jon's parentage and Eddard's promise that any of us thought twice about it -- and we all came to the Rhaegar conclusion.

And this leads into whether Lyanna was a willing participant...and how far her and Rhaegar may have taken it. Ktom and I had one amazing discussion about this once, and I think there were a few others weighing in on the topic as well.

Other questions to bring up include topics like Eddard's honor vs. family duty, Littlefinger's motivations, the grey nature of the book vs. traditional black and white/good and evil when it comes to fantasy novels, and why no one is clued to the threat of the Others, except the Night's Watch, and even then only a little. That's my favorite part of these books -- all these schemes for who will get the throne, and all the while the Others are gathering strength to destroy the continent.

Question: Wights and Others, are they the same or different(and if so how)? This is an inquiry not a trivia.

Egg said:

If you are seriously asking as opposed to offering a topic for others, the answer is: Very Different.

Others are (apparently) supernatural creatures or, at the very least, something other than human. They are the ones that look like pale, unearthly man-shaped things that aren't quite men. They wear a strange iridescent, shimmering armor and wield weapons that seem to be made of ice. It is always cold around them (although whether they bring the cold or follow it, no one is entirely sure). They have an odd vulnerability to obsidian (e.g. dragonglass). It has also been hypothesized (by readers, not in the books so far) that they may also have a special vulnerability to Valyrian steel (aka "dragonsteel"). In the first book, the best description of the Others comes in the the prologue. They are the creatures that kill Ser Waymar Royce.

Wights are the animated corpses of creatures, usually men, killed by the Others. Like the Others, they have glowing blue eyes and pale skin. But the similarity stops there. They only wear what they died in and don't use weapons in fights too much. They are mindless and apparently incapable of strategy, but still seem to have enough memory of their prior lives to know, for example, which are the important people to kill first. They just keep coming until they are hacked apart (like a zombie movie). They are the creatures with black hands and no blood. They do not have any special vulnerability to obsidian (making the brittle glass all but useless against them). In the first book the best descriptions of how Wights come about are in the prologue (when Waymar Royce stood up after he was killed and went for Wil, he was a Wight) and in the Jon/Night's Watch chapters where Ghost finds the two dead men in the snow, corpses for all intents and purposes in the light of day, that stand up and start killing people at night until they are brought down by fire.

So yeah, very different, but easy to confuse when you get caught up in the story simply because there have only been 2 or 3 encounters with actual Others instead of Wights in the books so far.

~ And then there is Coldhands....

ktom said:

Who to my best guess, is Benjen Stark.

~See, because I thought Coldhands was your mom.

Seriously Benjen Stark is the most obvious answer, which is why I'm pretty sure it isn't. Nope, no other reason. Well, the whole supernatural bit, riding an elk, able to control ravens. IMO Benjen hadn't been missing long enough to have mastered some extra special Northern magic unless something about the blood of the First Men accelrated the development of these abilities (or he had his own private Yoda). It is of course entirely possible, right now though I'm leaning away from it because it seems so obvious to me.

dormouse said:

Haha. I always knew there was something special about my mama.

But yeah, Benjen is sort of "too obvious". But we always don't have much of anything else to go on whatsoever. Could be explained more an some sort of magical 're-birth' or awakening of abilities after he died or nearly died or whatever.

Yep.

Let me put it this way. If I were in Vegas and were going to bet on this, I'd bet with the House, ABB (Anybody But Benjen), regardless of the fact that I may also think it is Benjen. It is like betting against Mike Tyson. You are pretty sure he was going to win, but the odds are so tempting because everyone thinks he is going to win, that $10 you are betting is going to turn into $5,000 so why not?

Some really good stuff so far, thanks all!! We are wrapping up the first book and I'll be using many of these to get discussions going I'm sure will help a ton.

One key point, I too have only finished the first book so I'm trying to be very careful with spoilers. Since we plan to read them all if there are questions best for X book if you could let me know I'd very much appreciate it!

I have compiled questions posted above and just wanted to chime back with what I came up with. The only questions I'm really lacking now are some to help discuss Tyrion.

Good stuff and thanks!

1. What is the significance of the seasons and their lasting for years at a time?

2. What kind of relationship do the Stark children, Jon and Theon have with each other? Which ones changed and how through the scope of the book?

3. What do you think Eddard's promise to Lyanna was?

4. Who were the two men Arya overheard speaking when she got lost in the castle chasing the black tomcat?

5. Who was Jon Snow's mother? Often goes nowhere as a discussion question until someone actually starts to challenge the assumption of who his father is. Given that Catelyn's children with the exception of Arya resemble her, and given what we know of Robert's bastards and Cersei and Jaime's children is it possible that Ned is not Jon's father?

6. Does Catelyn ever think things through or does she always act from a place of emotion?

7. Whose side is Varys on?

8. Looking at the character of Sansa, how does your opinion of her change when you compare her to social expectations for a medieval or Renaissance woman instead of a modern woman?

9. What are Littlefinger's motivations?

10. Why is no one clued in to the threat of the Others, except the Night's Watch, and even then only a little?

11. Wights and Others, are they the same or different (and if so how)?

12. What do you think are the ramifications of Sansa's direwolf "Lady" being killed?

13. Whats the impact to Arya's losing her direwolf "Nymeria"?