I heard Neil Gaiman writes fight scenes like turn based strategy. I wouldn't know, I haven't read any of his books. But I really like the fight scenes in A Song of Ice and Fire. It's incredible to say the least. This scene was really cool. Not my favourite, but certainly up there.
My favorite fight scene is hands down Brienne against Biter posing as the Hound. The way GRRM describes Brienne leaping at Biter, the intensity of the fight, the setting, and the gruesome consequences really makes it for me
first I thought I just didn't like fighting scenes in movies, only to realize I just didn't like bad fighting scenes in movies then I thought I didn't like fighting scenes in literature, only to find out here that I really only dislike bad ones
In the book it was better. Viper totally owned the mountain. The snake jumped over the mountain. The only time the mountain landed a shot was at the end when he caved his head in.
In my opinion, the writer who writes fight scenes best (especially chaotic battle or brawl scenes) is Joe Abercrombie. One of his books is literally just a 3-day battle and it's great.
You nailed your style very early on your channel's life cycle, I feel. If I have to give constructive critiques (I know shouts of praise feel good but don't really help with improvement): -The font used in this video is very difficult to read and follow along with, especially from a distance. I know it's a cool Game of a Thrones font, and it will be fine for most people, but for the 1 in 5 people with dyslexia, this will alienate them and make it difficult for them to comprehend what you're saying in addition to trying to read, which makes them not really listen to the video, thus not engage with it, thus not enjoy it, and not stick around for your channel, generally. That's the sort of accessibility thing that is very very often overlooked but can be vital to a content creator's growth. I have mild dyslexia and kept having to pause and rewind the video to get what was happening due to the text blending together; if I had been in a different mood I probably wouldn't have done that extra work to follow along with the video. -The text often gets out of sync with your voice-over, which similarly distracts and confuses the audience and makes it hard to read and follow along. I know it's a very annoying pain to get the text to sync with the VO, but it's really worth the extra effort. A good example of this is 6:22 -There are long sections with only text on white background. This is just my opinion (as with everything), but if you interspersed some images between the text more often it might help with engagement. Varying the visuals is a huge deal in UX.
Great video, however I think you might remember the events in the books wrong. I don't recall when Arya first meets the Hound in the show, but in A Storm of Swords she's already been hanging out with the brotherhood without banners since almost right after her escape from Harrenhal, long before the Hound becomes a part of her storyline. In that way, the fight would still change the story even if Dondarrion actually died.
Something that occurred to me while watching this is that Martin describes the fight physically, but in such a way that it hints as to what the characters are thinking at that moment. It's a very subtle touch, but it keeps you invested in the characters without having to have either dialogue or an inner monologue.
What happened to Lord Beric's shield? I thought the Hound had lost his and caught on fire and therefore assumed that Sir Beric would follow up on his advantage. Instead he gets hit by the Hound's sword. What? Why didn't Sir Beric bring up his shield? Did he lose it and I missed it somehow?
I know this is late, but I’m pretty sure the Hound destroyed it. Sandor fights hard, preferring to bull over his foes. So in all likelihood (been a while since I read the scene) he hacked Beric’s shield to splinters.
Beric wanted to go for the killing blow, in a last ditch rabious attempt, the hound struck with all his might, Beric tried to block the hit with his sword but, probably due to the heat, it shattered
I remember the fight between Bronn and whoever when fighting as Tyrion's champion was a pain to read. And I think in general, action is just difficult to read if not boring, be it big battles, duels, or a car chase... The best example of how to write a fight scene, is actually in a movie: Luke VS Vader in RotJ. I really suggest going over Bronn's fight to make a follow-up to this video. It's much more focused on specific moves, whereas the Hound fight tells us less about the individual attacks.
Well, if I am not mistaken, the Bronn fight was three books earlier than the Hound/Beric fight, so Martin had a lot of time to improve. A common problem I have with fight scenes is that the winner is often obvious. That was painfully apparent in the Bronn fight, for example. I never expected Bronn to lose and Tyrion to die because of it. That is what I loved about the Oberyn/Mountain fight. I never thought Martin would kill off Oberyn so quickly and turn over Tyrion's life in such a significant way.
Is what's shared in the video here the entire fight scene from the book? Because the Hound landing the "fatal" blow after his shield is destroyed with his arm still ablaze seems really... sudden, especially when his foe's defense seemed so strong at first.
"Movies can get away with having basic punches and kicks"... I disagree. I think the same rules apply. Look at the fight scene between Max and Furiosa in Fury Road, and compare it to, say, any punching-fest between a pair of giant robots in one of the Transformers movies.
I think the fights from something like JoJo's Bizzare Adventures would translate well to a novel because they're not fights but complex Sherlock Holmes level chess games of strategies and "oh snap" moments of brilliant plans being revealed.
Favourite fight scene is definitely The mountain vs The Viper or Brienne and the Hound. Jaime vs Ned is good as-well but no one really wins and ends with a random stabbing Ned, so it doesn’t have the same weight, Bronn vs The Night from the Vale who’s name I can’t remember is really good aswell.
I'm sorry that will never be one of the great booktubers/ youtube writers. It's just my predictions. You will never be great to the masses. How ever that doesn't mean you are not great, you will grow a large fan following/ cult following. I am one of those members of that cult following and I thank you for your content. It has been instrumental in my own thought process of writing and i thank you far that. Greta video bruh.
(random comment 3 years later lol) Savage Books: praises George Martin for real danger he puts his characters in, where every mistake leads to mortal danger. George Martin: this guy gets killed but then he's not killed, lol gotcha!
Ditto all this for sex scenes. There are a lot of boring tepid pointless inconsequential box-ticking obligatory sex scenes out there that really didn’t have to suck except the writer didn’t view them as an actual component of the story.
Yeah like look at something like a sex scene in a generic action movie versus the one in anomilisa. The characters are clay puppet's yet they feel more human than the majority of humans you'll see in Cinema.
"Fights need consequences, but those consequences don't always have to be death."
That's a quote to keep!
"The dirt drank his blood" is one of the coolest sentences I've ever read
You don't listen to much metal, do you?
WexMajor82 As a Maggot, I resent that comment
It is. And it's amazing how Martin did that so systematically that the world feels cruel af.
I heard Neil Gaiman writes fight scenes like turn based strategy. I wouldn't know, I haven't read any of his books. But I really like the fight scenes in A Song of Ice and Fire. It's incredible to say the least. This scene was really cool. Not my favourite, but certainly up there.
Never read his books but I already think I’m gonna nitpick his fight scenes just for being inspired by turn based
My favorite fight scene is hands down Brienne against Biter posing as the Hound. The way GRRM describes Brienne leaping at Biter, the intensity of the fight, the setting, and the gruesome consequences really makes it for me
first I thought I just didn't like fighting scenes in movies, only to realize I just didn't like bad fighting scenes in movies
then I thought I didn't like fighting scenes in literature, only to find out here that I really only dislike bad ones
TindraSan It’s rare to find someone who dislikes dumb fight scenes
What kind of real fights do you prefer to watch
Oh Flameo Hotman, you entertain us so
"Im completely gender inclusive when it comes to my violence" *pause*
Lmaooo
Favorite fight scene?
The Mountain and the Viper
That scene is any other fight scene on steroids.
I don't think I've ever been more tense watching a fight scene than watching that one for the first time. Hell, the 2nd and 3rd time too.
In the book it was better. Viper totally owned the mountain. The snake jumped over the mountain. The only time the mountain landed a shot was at the end when he caved his head in.
Marcie Ross exactly. Every time I watch that fight I feel like Oberyn might win when I know damn well how it ends
Thank you for this. It was really helpfull for editing my fight scenes and, I´m sure, writing new ones in the future.
Fight scenes are the hardest things to write! Thanks for making this I needed the advice
In my opinion, the writer who writes fight scenes best (especially chaotic battle or brawl scenes) is Joe Abercrombie. One of his books is literally just a 3-day battle and it's great.
This channel is going places
You nailed your style very early on your channel's life cycle, I feel. If I have to give constructive critiques (I know shouts of praise feel good but don't really help with improvement):
-The font used in this video is very difficult to read and follow along with, especially from a distance. I know it's a cool Game of a Thrones font, and it will be fine for most people, but for the 1 in 5 people with dyslexia, this will alienate them and make it difficult for them to comprehend what you're saying in addition to trying to read, which makes them not really listen to the video, thus not engage with it, thus not enjoy it, and not stick around for your channel, generally. That's the sort of accessibility thing that is very very often overlooked but can be vital to a content creator's growth. I have mild dyslexia and kept having to pause and rewind the video to get what was happening due to the text blending together; if I had been in a different mood I probably wouldn't have done that extra work to follow along with the video.
-The text often gets out of sync with your voice-over, which similarly distracts and confuses the audience and makes it hard to read and follow along. I know it's a very annoying pain to get the text to sync with the VO, but it's really worth the extra effort. A good example of this is 6:22
-There are long sections with only text on white background. This is just my opinion (as with everything), but if you interspersed some images between the text more often it might help with engagement. Varying the visuals is a huge deal in UX.
Great video, however I think you might remember the events in the books wrong. I don't recall when Arya first meets the Hound in the show, but in A Storm of Swords she's already been hanging out with the brotherhood without banners since almost right after her escape from Harrenhal, long before the Hound becomes a part of her storyline. In that way, the fight would still change the story even if Dondarrion actually died.
Damn now I really want all the fight scenes in an archive or something
Something that occurred to me while watching this is that Martin describes the fight physically, but in such a way that it hints as to what the characters are thinking at that moment. It's a very subtle touch, but it keeps you invested in the characters without having to have either dialogue or an inner monologue.
Sneaking in an avatar reference. Nicely done Hotman!
What happened to Lord Beric's shield? I thought the Hound had lost his and caught on fire and therefore assumed that Sir Beric would follow up on his advantage. Instead he gets hit by the Hound's sword. What? Why didn't Sir Beric bring up his shield? Did he lose it and I missed it somehow?
I know this is late, but I’m pretty sure the Hound destroyed it. Sandor fights hard, preferring to bull over his foes. So in all likelihood (been a while since I read the scene) he hacked Beric’s shield to splinters.
Beric wanted to go for the killing blow, in a last ditch rabious attempt, the hound struck with all his might, Beric tried to block the hit with his sword but, probably due to the heat, it shattered
reading this was so cool, i felt like i was right there and could hear the wind coming from the sword slashing right next to my ear. awesome video 👍
"I'm completely gender-inclusive when it comes to violence" love that 💀💀
I almost just read this scene, it was really great to experience for the first time.
soon you will belong to the big bois
I remember the fight between Bronn and whoever when fighting as Tyrion's champion was a pain to read. And I think in general, action is just difficult to read if not boring, be it big battles, duels, or a car chase... The best example of how to write a fight scene, is actually in a movie: Luke VS Vader in RotJ.
I really suggest going over Bronn's fight to make a follow-up to this video. It's much more focused on specific moves, whereas the Hound fight tells us less about the individual attacks.
Well, if I am not mistaken, the Bronn fight was three books earlier than the Hound/Beric fight, so Martin had a lot of time to improve. A common problem I have with fight scenes is that the winner is often obvious. That was painfully apparent in the Bronn fight, for example. I never expected Bronn to lose and Tyrion to die because of it. That is what I loved about the Oberyn/Mountain fight. I never thought Martin would kill off Oberyn so quickly and turn over Tyrion's life in such a significant way.
bitzibaerlie well put
@@bitzibaerlie In the show it's boring, but in the books even if there isn't much suspens either, it still tells a good story
Let us not forget that the hound is deathly afraid of fire this entire time
My favorite fight fromt the Song of Ice and Fire? Bronn vs Ser Vardis Egan.
beric vs the hound was easily my favorite fight in the show
Is what's shared in the video here the entire fight scene from the book? Because the Hound landing the "fatal" blow after his shield is destroyed with his arm still ablaze seems really... sudden, especially when his foe's defense seemed so strong at first.
"Movies can get away with having basic punches and kicks"... I disagree. I think the same rules apply. Look at the fight scene between Max and Furiosa in Fury Road, and compare it to, say, any punching-fest between a pair of giant robots in one of the Transformers movies.
*Ong Bak 2 and 3 compared to Ong Bak 1
Finish your rewrite of the battle of winterfell bro:)
As an aspiring writer, thank you. I'm loving these videos! What subreddit do you keep mentioning? I found you from TH-cam not from there.
I think the fights from something like JoJo's Bizzare Adventures would translate well to a novel because they're not fights but complex Sherlock Holmes level chess games of strategies and "oh snap" moments of brilliant plans being revealed.
Bell club 😎
The Hound in the tavern with Polliver is the best fight... don't know who directed the episode though...
This video was really helpful. Thank you. Also does anyone know the music from 9:20? Is it from Thrones?
He has the title even put into the description
AlexWehpunkt you coulda just told me but thanks
Favourite fight scene is definitely The mountain vs The Viper or Brienne and the Hound. Jaime vs Ned is good as-well but no one really wins and ends with a random stabbing Ned, so it doesn’t have the same weight, Bronn vs The Night from the Vale who’s name I can’t remember is really good aswell.
All the fight scenes with the Hound is great
“George RR Martin does a great job of doing his work early” lmaooo if only
I'm sorry that will never be one of the great booktubers/ youtube writers. It's just my predictions. You will never be great to the masses. How ever that doesn't mean you are not great, you will grow a large fan following/ cult following. I am one of those members of that cult following and I thank you for your content. It has been instrumental in my own thought process of writing and i thank you far that.
Greta video bruh.
What makes you say that he won't be very popular? Don't be so sure that your tastes are uncommon.
(random comment 3 years later lol)
Savage Books: praises George Martin for real danger he puts his characters in, where every mistake leads to mortal danger.
George Martin: this guy gets killed but then he's not killed, lol gotcha!
Bernard Cornwell fight the best. GRRM said so him self
The viper and the Mountain! Great on the show even better in the books
I think the Mountain vs Oberyn is the best fight scene
my favorite fight it's on the tv show, the hound vs brienne
👍🏻
The prose you present is all in caps. The font is horrendous. The punctuation is illegible. And it's full of typos.
Very interesting ! My favorite fight would be Brienne and The Hound i think :P
Ditto all this for sex scenes. There are a lot of boring tepid pointless inconsequential box-ticking obligatory sex scenes out there that really didn’t have to suck except the writer didn’t view them as an actual component of the story.
Yeah like look at something like a sex scene in a generic action movie versus the one in anomilisa. The characters are clay puppet's yet they feel more human than the majority of humans you'll see in Cinema.
i will say no to that. all scenes are created equally. its just the limits of the author that makes them difficult
What da hell *is going on here*