And thus concludes Game of Thrones season 6.

[DoPo]

I have a feeling that Jamie is going to turn on Cersei at this point. That she's gone so far over the edge that even he can't support her any further. I could be wrong there, given the things he's done for her and their children, but all the children are dead now, partly due to her actions, and she did something that he wouldn't allow the Mad King to do (blow up a goodly chunk of King's Landing), so he might see that as going too far. *shrugs*

Exactly I mean again the look on Jamie's face when he saw Cersei's coronation. It was not enthusiam but a stern look.

I very much agree. Not only that, but I don't feel the random mention of "HEY, REMEMBER YOU KILLED A KING?! EVERYBODY, THEY CALL JAMIE THE KINGSLAYER, BECAUSE HE BETRAYED AND KILLED THE KING HE WAS SERVING." in the party...wasn't random.

I thought the episode was good but I don't know if this is intensified was because of how weak the rest of the season was. Well, I certainly hope the next season would be better. They've shaken things up now, so maybe they won't face the same pitfalls as now and can keep the story moving.

Anyway, I wanted to ask two things:

1) Am I remembering correctly - there are no more of the young Lannisters? All the children are dead now, right?

2) Does anybody know what was up with Varys? I wasn't sure if him going from Dorne to besides Denny was an ommission, or maybe they didn't show the passage of time well, or perhaps it was supposed to imply something I missed (dunno - magic for him to "appear" as if he's in two places?).

EDIT: forgot to mention in relation to the episode: I was quite glad the writers decided to terminate the High Sparrow's contract and fire him. Yes, pun intended. But still - he was just so annoying to watch all the time with the whole smug "ha-HA! I'm 17.3141592 moves ahead of you once again!" thing he had all the time.

A shame for Margeary, though. I feel they wasted her entire plotline this season. It was always suggested he had some sort of ace up her sleeve about the whole "embrace the faith" situation but...that was it? She didn't really get more than that for the entire time. A-a-and, now she's burnt to a crisp.

Then again, knowing the writers, I'll not be surprised if she managed to survive and shows up again next season. With the amount of resurrections there've been of late, it starts to feel like a comic book universe.

 

[The Raw Shark]

Is it me or do all ASOIAF threads anywhere always consist of ultra hyped loonies (No offense), Citizens of The Kingdom of "Meh" (No offense) and Edgelords who never stop going on about "The Good Guys Can Never Win! Blah Blah Blah Dark Fantasy, Tropes, Natural Selection Blah" (No regrets if offense is taken)?

On Topic: Yeah, that whole thing was pretty nutballs.

A shame Cleganebowl will forever remain hype at this point seeing as how I doubt Martin would pull that for any reason at all in the books. (Oh well, as the motto of House Cleganebowl goes: "What Is Hype May Never Die!")

Also, who told Jon he could be Geralt of Rivia now? "THE WHITE WOLF!" My ass. Where the hell did Ghost piss off to now anyways?! But back to Jon. Look man, I like you bud, I really do. But you do you, not Geralt.

Though is anyone REALLY not looking forward to any of the bitches from Dorne being involved? I'm happy as hell Olenna put the stooges in their place but seriously I'm still pissed that they're still there. Please tell me they'll die quickly in the next season and be done with so that we can just ignore the entire Dorne plot in the show and go back to worrying about it in the books.

Though if we're gonna talk about all the plotpoints coming to a close or a focus, is anyone else disappointed we didn't get more of the Brotherhood? I mean I'm kinda genuinely curious how Berric, Thoros and Sandor are going to go about the whole "The Love Child of Darth Maul and Elsa Is Coming To Wreck Our Shit With An Army of Ice Zombies" conversation.

 

[Terminal Blue]

My favourite (but also least favourite) part of the episode was the realization that Arya has way too much time on her hands. I mean, cooking your enemies' loved ones and serving them to them.. classic, Eric Cartman would be proud. But when you start getting shortcrust pastry involved it's clear you've put way more effort into this than you needed to..

I have a feeling that Jamie is going to turn on Cersei at this point.

I think you're right.

My money was always on Jaime being the "little brother" of Cersei's prophecy. The prophecy specifically mentions hands around her throat, and Jaime has that golden hand which would be super appropriate to strange someone with (gold being strongly associated with the Lannisters makes it even more appropriate). It's a cool image and would be a cool twist to her delusional conviction that it has to be Tyrion.

And isn't this series supposed to end badly? Like the good guys don't win and get to be heroes trope. I figure Dany is hell bent on getting King's Landing, and it likely gets burnt to the ground (Maybe Cersei does that). Did the show touch on the Valonquor(sp?)?

Dany is not really a "good guy" though. They gloss over it in the show, but she actually has one of the highest body counts of any character, because she's basically destroyed several nations and reduced them to ruin to satisfy her own personal dislike of slavery. One thing I kind of like about Emilia Clarke's portrayal of her is that they really bring across that's she's somewhere on the Targaryen madness spectrum and could probably flip and go full inbred God-queen at any moment without people around her to keep her grounded in reality.

Also, who told Jon he could be Geralt of Rivia now? "THE WHITE WOLF!" My ass. Where the hell did Ghost piss off to now anyways?! But back to Jon. Look man, I like you bud, I really do. But you do you, not Geralt

Ahem..

Elric of Melnibone is extremely disappointed in your taste in derivative fantasy.

 

[FirstNameLastName]

Overall I liked this episode, but I do have some rather mixed feelings about certain aspects.


Arya's assassination of Walder Frey:<\br>I get that this is some long-time-coming fanservice that many have been waiting for, but I didn't really feel anything from it. Part of that might just be because I didn't really hold a grudge against him, seeing as he isn't really any more evil than most of the other characters, and because I found him amusing. But mainly it was because I was under the impression that, over the course of this season, Arya was beginning to realize the pointlessness of her bloodlust and potentially dropping her list so she can move on with her life. I guess she wouldn't have much to do if she wasn't out seeking revenge, but I was actually rather happy when I thought she wasn't going to turn into yet another quip spouting badass. This is also one of many instances of characters traveling across the globe off-screen in an indeterminate amount of time and the audience having to just go with it and assume the chronology works.
The Sept of Baelor's nuking:<\br>I found the actual scenes well done (although I'm still a little unsure of why Lancel was chasing the child), and I found them rather satisfying in the moment, but I was ultimately left with a feeling of oh, so I guess all those characters and plot lines are gone now ... okay then.
I'm glad Daenerys is finally heading back to Westeros. Lets hope they don't stop for ice-cream along the way again, and get stuck in Essos again. Although, considering how much time is left I don't think they'll be able to fit in anymore padding.

This makes me curious how GRRM is going to write the book. Stuff is finally happening after things just slowly rolled on and on.

And isn't this series supposed to end badly? Like the good guys don't win and get to be heroes trope. I figure Dany is hell bent on getting King's Landing, and it likely gets burnt to the ground (Maybe Cersei does that). Did the show touch on the Valonquor(sp?)?.

I honestly don't know how the white walkers arc is going to end, the only thing I can think off is either Jon being a big hero, or the walkers fuck shit up and bring about a battle between Dany and themselves (by invading further south). Then the land is so desolated by that war that Westoros is a wasteland.

Winds of Winter is gonna be gud.

I actually kind of hope the show fucks with the book's lore even more to the point that its ending is substantially different in almost every way. I read through ASoIaF between S4-S5 (I think, it could have been S3-S4) and while I enjoyed the more in depth story, having already seen the show up to season 4 made it somewhat tedious to read. Being slowly told a story you're already familiar with is kind of irritating, and since the show will surely conclude before the books, and since it's practically impossible to avoid spoilers for the show without going off the grid and living as a hermit for the next decade, if I do read the following books it'll be after seeing the show's version of those events.

I'll take a worse show if it means the books are spoiled less.

 

[The Raw Shark]

Ahem..

Elric of Melnibone is extremely disappointed in your taste in derivative fantasy.

Well tickle me surprised, I didn't think He-Man could look any gayer- I kid, I kid.

I've never heard of this series before, would you put it down as Highly Recommended by chance? I'm building up a list of things I really want to read and if there's anything I'm missing out on I'd like to know.

 

[Terminal Blue]

Well tickle me surprised, I didn't think He-Man could look any gayer- I kid, I kid.

Sometimes, we all need to be reminded that the 60s were an innocent age.. an age when long haired albino men could straddle grinning monsters with expressions of quasi-orgasmic bliss on their faces and mystical energy emanating from their loins and people wouldn't read too much into it..

I've never heard of this series before, would you put it down as Highly Recommended by chance? I'm building up a list of things I really want to read and if there's anything I'm missing out on I'd like to know.

Honestly, I didn't get on with it. I get why it was important at the time, because at the time it seems like there was nothing like it, but nowadays we've kind of done the whole DARK FANTASY thing to death, and unlike ASOIAF there isn't enough thematic meat on the worldbuilding bones for me.

However, it stars a character with albino appearance, nicknamed "the white wolf", who suffers from a curse which is also the source of his strength and who relies on herbalism and special potions to mitigate the harmful effects of said curse. Said character is also a cynic inhabiting a morally grey universe in which they are sometimes pushed to act as a hero despite not really caring about anything beyond themselves and their loved ones.

To be fair, there are also many differences, and all of these things would probably be completely okay if Andrzej Sapkowski had simply come out and said it was a homage or reference (there are actually a bunch of things in ASOIAF which are probably ripped from Moorcock as well, but they're more subtle and GRRM has acknowledged the influence, the two are apparently good friends) but Sapkowski never has and it's caused a bit of internet controversy.

Note: I'm not alleging plagiarism, which is something a bit more specific than just borrowing concepts and themes, but it's polite I think for an author to acknowledge their influences.

 

[Shock and Awe]

That was probably the best episode of Game of Thrones since the shows inception. It was fantastic in every way. The camera work was perfect, the score set just the right mood, and my oh my a shit ton of main characters bit the dust.

Spoiler: Hopes and Dreams

Now lets just all look forward to Jon and Dany shacking up. She alluded to marriage alliances and the North is the only possible place that could require a marriage alliance. Dorne and Tyrell are already in her pocket, Lannister and Baratheon aren't happening, House Tully is done, and Varys will never let her marry Littlefinger. A marriage with Jon is the most logical move both politically and plotwise.

Spoiler

Except that they are 1st cousins, so they would run close to the same issue that Jamie and Cerce have, that whole incest thing. Yeah it was common in those days to some degree in the royalty, but the show makes it pretty clear that most of their society frowns on such couplings. And I doubt they're going to do that with the show, given the modern day squikyness about incest. Though I guess they could go the whole "marriage of politics and no mating" route, but most of those political marriages are sealed by a mingling of bloodlines.

On the finale, I just really didn't care too much personally. It felt too much like the show devs are just shaving off plot threads so they can streamline the story, so they remove a ton of characters in one fell swoop. All I'm left asking is "Well what was the damn point of all of their plotlines then?" It just felt like wasted screen time for something that is ultimately irrelevant.

I mean, on one hand, I'm kind of impressed they went there, but it ends up just making me think that a lot of the last 2 seasons of plot and intrigue was essentially filler, because they couldn't come up with a plot thread to work with that would stay.

Spoiler

They're Targayens, that family is used to sibling marriages. Also worth mentioning were dealing with more...antiquated views on extended family marraiges in GoT. Also, shes his Aunt, not his cousin.

 

[Terminal Blue]

-Arya becoming a faceless man after all even though she never finished her training and shouldn't be able to use faces, or even have one (did Jacquen give her a box of faces as a parting gift? And what is all that about the faces being poisonous if you're still "someone", which Arya still is?).

The most obvious answer is that she did finish her training, hence why Jacquen finally told her she was noone.

Of course, he could still be right. We'll have to wait and see if there's anything left to being Arya Stark beyond killing people, I guess. While, given Arya's popularity as a character, it would be pretty ballsy to have her story end with her returning to the house of black and white, it's still an interesting possibility. I'm not sure she really has a place as a member of Westeros' high nobility.

As for where she got the face.. think about it.

The continuing theme of all the pieces magically falling into place for Daenarys. Ranted about that so many times I'm a broken record, so instead Ill go to another continuing pet peeve of mine: I still don't get why Tyrion is so infatuated with her.

Possibly because she's a magical flame-retardant Atlantean with power over mythical beasts..

I think this is the thing a lot of people hate about Danaerys. She's kind of important because of what she is, not particularly because of who she is, but that's kind of an explicit feature of her character. I wouldn't read it as "you make me believe again! I see you as the best ruler ever", more "you make me believe that impossible things are still possible, because you brought fucken dragons into my gritty fantasy setting". It does feel like they maybe skipped a few scenes, though.

-I thought Ser Strong was basically a golem and had no real desires or needs anymore? Maybe this is just book knowledge influencing me but just thought it odd he still feels up for some..whatever it was he did/is going to do to the Septa for the rest of her life.

To be fair, the books have never revealed very much information on Ser Strong at all beyond his physical appearance and Kevan Lannister's suspicions as to who he is. If he was actually a mindless automaton, though, how would he be able to interpret instructions or serve as a bodyguard, or for that matter how would he still know how to fight with a sword? It seems probable that some mutilated vestige of his original consciousness remains in there somewhere, and given what a horrendous human being Gregor was to begin with..

I know it's widely speculated that book Strong might be headless, but I think they were probably wise to avoid that as it could have ended up looking really silly.

 

[Frankster]

Game of Fan Theories

1)Re: Arya.
I suppose... Maybe this is just me being super anal and feeling that getting your degree at the uni of Faceless men should take a long time, having Arya just be a prodigy after one season feels too easy to me. I'd see it more as a process that takes many many years and would need a lot more killing and a lot more tests.. The only "hard" kill she ever had to do was Lady Crane and she failed at that. Heck she failed at killing that money lender dude too, so she failed all her actual assassination targets and the highest level of training she gets is learning how to fight blind and developing keener senses from it.
Yet killing the waif erases the mistake and lets her level up to full blown faceless? I dunno maybe its just me but I see Arya as Luke Skywalker leaving his training with Yoda mid way through, and thus isn't a full jedi yet (though that's probably a bad example since next time Luke returns he is declared to be a full jedi despite taking no additional trainning.. Yeah maybe its just a cinema trope that all you really need to do is pass the intro courses and can wing the last 1/2 to 1/3rd of your super elite training...).
When Jacquen said "now you are no one", I didn't take it as him saying "yup that's it, you're now a faceless!" but more "now you're finally ready to begin your REAL training".


As for the face, here's the possibilities I can come up with:
-Arya got a nice parting gift from the House of Black and White, a basket full of faces that she can use no problem and all that about the faces being poisonous if you're still someone is nonsense.
-She killed random people and got the new faces on her way.. This would be somewhat interesting I guess, I like Arya but I'm of the opinion she is quite the cruel psycho now, gratuitous revenge should have that effect at least imo.
-She took the faces of already dead people, but I find that "too easy", makes things like people giving themselves up to the faceless men seem somewhat pointless if they can harvest faces from the dead. Why would they need people who recently died in their care then?
-The only thing I can be 100% sure about is that she didn't get the face at the Frey castle, Walder Frey didn't recognize her.

2) That angle actually makes some sense I guess in that it explains the infatuation, though it still doesn't explain to me why Tyrion is so eager to help her conquer Westeros and assist in the downfall and possible deaths of the few people he still cares about.
Daenarys wants to punish Jaime for example, yet show Tyrion still loves his brother and is fond of westerosi like Pod.
Book Tyrion by contrast, wanted Jaime's head on a spike too right next to Cersei's, and didn't even trust Pod, it made sense there, he was so bitter and thirsty for revenge.
Yet Show Tyrion ilooks all eager and excited, is he really looking forward to killing Westerosi that much and unleashing dothraki, ironborn and mercenaries on his homelands? There's some meaty material there but it all gets swept under the rug.

3) According to the accounts of his fellow kingsguard, Ser Strong doesn't eat, drink, sleep or even go to the loo.
Thus I concluded he likely doesn't fuck either nor has carnal or biological desires of any kind, that is just a robot with the following prime directives: protect Cersei and serve her.
Not that this is something that particularly bothers me if I'm mistaken, would make Ser Gregors fate truly horrifying if his soul is still trapped within the undead shell, or if it's all merely echoes of his former personality... Or maybe he is just going through the motions and reenacting what he did in his former life?
Honestly screw the dragons, it's how necromancy works in this setting I truly want to know more about.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

So this video came out a few weeks ago, before the show's lamentable "Broken Man" episode, and the show has been busily proving it 100% right ever since.


This is the show in a nutshell now. There's very little in the way of nuanced or complex character development. Jesus, what am I saying. There's absolutely nothing in the way of nuanced or complex character development. "Character" in its entirety has been almost entirely jettisoned. We are left with shells that exist to either spout expository dialogue, or engage in mic-dropping "OMG SO BADASS" fan-wank moments.

The show still does spectacle well, and some of the environmental panoramas are gorgeous. Can't fault the costume designers. It's not without merits. Characterization and storytelling though? Abandoned. The show has become almost unreasonably expensive, and in doing so has transitioned into a shameless dancing monkey, eager for cheers and buzz. Sadly, that it was exactly not that kind of show/story to begin with is exactly why everyone loved it in the first place. I'd blame Martin for running out of material early (and really, blaming Martin for writing slow never gets old), but the signs of this direction were evident from VERY early on. The show has always been more concerned with being marketable then with being coherent, or nuanced, or intelligent. It's why we've endured nonsense like the aggressive white washing of Tyrion after Dinklage tested well in Season One. I don't necessarily blame them for it...a direct translation of books to screen was an impossible task. You eventually end up with adaptation decay, though, and GoT has become a very glossy, shallow, dopey series. Pretty and empty.

I'm glad people are enjoying it, and I'm not surprised. It's bending over backwards to fellate the audience with some of the cringiest fan fiction imaginable. I'm just sad it didn't aspire to be better, and that people are so satisfied with how aggressively mediocre it's become. Great television is often great television because it's challenging, it's difficult. The books were considered landmark, genre-changing novels because they were challenging and difficult. This...crowd pleasing slop...is neither challenging nor difficult. It's piffle. Nicely dressed up in CGI, but piffle all the same.

 

[Glongpre]

And isn't this series supposed to end badly? Like the good guys don't win and get to be heroes trope. I figure Dany is hell bent on getting King's Landing, and it likely gets burnt to the ground (Maybe Cersei does that). Did the show touch on the Valonquor(sp?)?

Dany is not really a "good guy" though. They gloss over it in the show, but she actually has one of the highest body counts of any character, because she's basically destroyed several nations and reduced them to ruin to satisfy her own personal dislike of slavery. One thing I kind of like about Emilia Clarke's portrayal of her is that they really bring across that's she's somewhere on the Targaryen madness spectrum and could probably flip and go full inbred God-queen at any moment without people around her to keep her grounded in reality.

She certainly isn't a villain. Most of her decisions have good intentions, they are just full of naivety, which makes sense because she is a child. She begins becoming harder and crueler as the series goes by, but I would still say she is a hero who's short sighted plans lead to lots of collateral. But I guess you could argue no one is really a hero in this series.

I actually kind of hope the show fucks with the book's lore even more to the point that its ending is substantially different in almost every way. I read through ASoIaF between S4-S5 (I think, it could have been S3-S4) and while I enjoyed the more in depth story, having already seen the show up to season 4 made it somewhat tedious to read. Being slowly told a story you're already familiar with is kind of irritating, and since the show will surely conclude before the books, and since it's practically impossible to avoid spoilers for the show without going off the grid and living as a hermit for the next decade, if I do read the following books it'll be after seeing the show's version of those events.

I'll take a worse show if it means the books are spoiled less.

The books are already fairly different. There are a lot of small story threads that were taken out of the show, that could add up to big changes.
-Dorne was completely different
-Stoneheart
-Westerlings
-Victarion
-Aemon Targ
-I am pretty sure the North actually remembers
(It has been a while since I read the books)

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

So this video came out a few weeks ago, before the show's lamentable "Broken Man" episode, and the show has been busily proving it 100% right ever since.


This is the show in a nutshell now. There's very little in the way of nuanced or complex character development. Jesus, what am I saying. There's absolutely nothing in the way of nuanced or complex character development. "Character" in its entirety has been almost entirely jettisoned. We are left with shells that exist to either spout expository dialogue, or engage in mic-dropping "OMG SO BADASS" fan-wank moments.

The show still does spectacle well, and some of the environmental panoramas are gorgeous. Can't fault the costume designers. It's not without merits. Characterization and storytelling though? Abandoned. The show has become almost unreasonably expensive, and in doing so has transitioned into a shameless dancing monkey, eager for cheers and buzz. Sadly, that it was exactly not that kind of show/story to begin with is exactly why everyone loved it in the first place. I'd blame Martin for running out of material early (and really, blaming Martin for writing slow never gets old), but the signs of this direction were evident from VERY early on. The show has always been more concerned with being marketable then with being coherent, or nuanced, or intelligent. It's why we've endured nonsense like the aggressive white washing of Tyrion after Dinklage tested well in Season One. I don't necessarily blame them for it...a direct translation of books to screen was an impossible task. You eventually end up with adaptation decay, though, and GoT has become a very glossy, shallow, dopey series. Pretty and empty.

I'm glad people are enjoying it, and I'm not surprised. It's bending over backwards to fellate the audience with some of the cringiest fan fiction imaginable. I'm just sad it didn't aspire to be better, and that people are so satisfied with how aggressively mediocre it's become. Great television is often great television because it's challenging, it's difficult. The books were considered landmark, genre-changing novels because they were challenging and difficult. This...crowd pleasing slop...is neither challenging nor difficult. It's piffle. Nicely dressed up in CGI, but piffle all the same.

I'm planning on buying all the books when Winds of Winter comes out. I have not read the books but even I can tell the crowd pleasing moments and "fan-nods"

I mean the Stark revenge of the Red Wedding, Ramsay Bolton brutal death (HE SHOULD HAVE COMMITED SUICIDE)

Cersei becoming Queen, Dany the Mary Sue.

 

[Frankster]

She certainly isn't a villain. Most of her decisions have good intentions, they are just full of naivety

Good intentions is such a copout and seems to apply only to characters fans like, the best villains imo are the ones who do evil because they feel they have good intentions or think they are in the right (Stannis, who doesn't get defended anywhere near as much even though his intentions genuinely are more noble then that of Daenarys who only seeks power because she has dragons and she is entitled to the throne!). Otherwise all we have left are psychos like Ramsay or Jeoffrey, who whilst its fun to hate, are poorer villains exactly because they are so unabashedly evil and love every bit of it.

But Dany has "good" intentions, stops being a defence the second she crucified people(innocent and guilty alike of the "crime" she has judged them) or has them fed to dragons in a fit of rage. Or what about all those people her dothraki hordes raped and looted, robbing them of their lives and families? She was a-ok with that, thinking it was the height of nobility when she walked down and asked some of her dothraki to spare the women of this particular village (if you're a guy go fuck yourself and enjoy life as a slave lol).
At the end of the day if you're one of those suckers on the receiving end of Dany's rage/"good intentions" due to no fault of your own, thinking "well at least she MEANT well" before you die horribly in pain is hardly going to console you. She certainly isn't the villain? Depends who you are.
ex:If I was some random westerosi peasant only looking for wars to cease so I can get back to my farming, once I'm conscripted in my local lord's army (and maybe I'm ok with that because my Lord is a good man/woman) and finding myself facing hordes of screaming dothraki who will wanna rape/enslave/kill me or being burnt alive by the fire of a swooping dragon, all this in the defence of my homelands, lord and family, Dany is certainly going to look like a villain from my perspective. Hold fast brothers and sisters of Westeros, we must throw back the dragon queen and her hordes of barbarians, mercs,pirates, eunuchs and malcontents back across the narrow sea!

 

[Remus]

Dany continues to show that she has a bit of "'Merica Fuck Yea" in her. I like her as a character but fear, from past experience, that this can only end terribly. I equate her to America because
- Her response to being invaded by a foreign army is to raze the cities to the ground, IE Hiroshima, Nagasaki
- Before leaving to Westeros, she leaves a large contingent of her force behind to ensure that the next leader of her conquered territory is democratically elected. See: Iraq. It didn't end well there, I doubt it will for her.
- Her first ally in Westeros is an island nation known for its navy and for the fact that her ancestors had beaten them before. They come to her pleading for her support in defeating a conqueror on their own lands amassing a huge army. See: UK, WW2
I hope she does well, or at least paves the way for Jon to take the throne. I want to see her dragons make landfall in Westeros so bad if only to see the reactions from other characters as the three of them stake out new territory and hunting grounds.

Overall, this season was a joy. The buildup to the battle for Meereen and the bastards was great and the fallout afterward, while often a low point, was even more eventful than the previous battles. There seems to be a bit of a feminist streak this season as all the women are lining up to become THE defacto rulers of Westeros, but I'm not complaining. At this point they have earned their positions in the great game. A girl is marking names off her list - nice reference to the cook tale btw - and Tyrion is the Hand again. He'll never rule but he'll always have the ear of those that do. Good thing too because Dany desperately needs his advice in matters of state and of war so that she doesn't become like her father.

Will people pick apart the episode and attempt to lipread Jon's real name, whispered to Ned from the bloody bed? Already being done. We know his parentage as a fact now but I suspect Bran will be wrapped in introspection as he makes his way south from the wall so that he can tell his "brother" who Jon truly is.

Somehow, the king jumping out the window just seemed like something a pouty teenager would do. He didn't even know Marge that long before she was captured by the sparrows. He needed a bit of Fray ideology - always another wife. I pictured him pacing for a couple seconds stamping his feet like an angry rabbit before making the jump, dunno why. The scene seemed very Monty Python for some reason, more funny than tragic.

 

[Adamantium93]

But Dany has "good" intentions, stops being a defence the second she crucified people(innocent and guilty alike of the "crime" she has judged them) or has them fed to dragons in a fit of rage. !

To quote the (otherwise unmentionable) third Jurassic Park film, "Some of the worst things imaginable have been done with the best intentions."

I think that Tyrion is changing her mind, though. His speech to her about how she was starting to sound like her father was very on-the-nose and it clearly rattled her. As a result, her most recent handling of the Invasion of Mereen is far more measured than usual. Two of the military leaders were executed, but the third was allowed to live and all of the surviving soldiers were sent home to their families.

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't she tell Daario that she's leaving the majority of the Khalassar across the sea? I think she's bringing enough loyal Dothraki to form a few cavalry units but most of her army will be unsullied and volunteers from Slaver's Bay, erm, the Bay of Dragons as well as the Ironborn, Dornishmen, and Reachmen.

Hopefully, we'll see her character change to one with more empathy before the end of the show.

Will people pick apart the episode and attempt to lipread Jon's real name, whispered to Ned from the bloody bed? Already being done. We know his parentage as a fact now but I suspect Bran will be wrapped in introspection as he makes his way south from the wall so that he can tell his "brother" who Jon truly is.

If you bump up the audio, she says "His name is Jon". I think they just softened it so they could reveal its identity in the cinematic cut between the baby and the grown up versions.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

...and tries to cram the narrative to his politcal camp.

I'm sorry, WHAT political camp? Why is everything a fucking political camp?

Probably the best example is with the books being "one that critics authoritian politics and respects the values of ideals in a fallen world", ideals in ASOIAF got Rob and John killed, Sansa thinking Joffrey as a goof prince while authoritian politics being the main focus of the first book and never really questioned since there's no actual alternative in that time period with the ongoing war, the closest might be "war is hell but it's one of the most basic of ideas.

Suggesting ideals can be blinding/binding/fatal is not the same as criticizing "idealism" or promoting authoritarian violence. That's the same kind of shallow analysis that had nitwits claiming "Mad Men" was "The most sexist show on television" because it portrayed an era accurately.

 

[MCerberus]

-I am pretty sure the North actually remembers
(It has been a while since I read the books)

Being a Frey in the north in the books is suicidal, half of the Bolton's bannermen are actively waiting for any excuse to murder their whole house, and a couple of the houses have it in their head to find Rickon and make him the new king-in-the-north

 

[Frankster]

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't she tell Daario that she's leaving the majority of the Khalassar across the sea? I think she's bringing enough loyal Dothraki to form a few cavalry units but most of her army will be unsullied and volunteers from Slaver's Bay, erm, the Bay of Dragons as well as the Ironborn, Dornishmen, and Reachmen.

Hopefully, we'll see her character change to one with more empathy before the end of the show.

Maybe, will have to rewatch the episode. But if that's the case I'd be a bit annoyed if I was one of the riders, I do very clearly remember Daenarys pumping up her dothraki the last episode about how they will slaughter the "men in iron suits" for her.
Regardless those Dothraki which are on the boats are in for some good times looting and plundering <3 Just a shame the war of the 5 kings already ruined somewhat Westeros but hey, I'm fully confident they will make the best of their situation and find people to rape and kill in between their mandated butchering of the men in iron suits.

Btw that Jurassic Park quote is bang on, I like it.

As for the direction she might take... We will see next season I guess. One entire year to wait ><

 

[K12]

I've been lukewarm about the season as a whole but damn it the last two episodes were really bloody good. That was the best season finale that the show's done by far.

I think season 6 has been better than season 5 (season 4 is still the best) taken as a whole but the pet hates I have about the show in contrast to the books have been particularly egregious, especially since everyone seems to be able to instantly teleport everywhere and the characters all seem to know what's just happened 500 miles away. How the fuck is Cersei the Queen? She has literally no plausible claim to the throne at all! (and she wan't even crowned by a high septon, she's not a Queen she's just a ***** with a metal hat! How did Kevan Lannister allow this? Why have the Tyrell troops in the city not done anything?)

It's seperate enough for me to not care too much and I'm interested to see how many of the reveals and major events are going to be in "The Winds of Winter". R+L=J and Sandor Clegane being alive might well be left mysterious, I feel like the show put them in there for fanservice rather than because they actually matter to the plot. Hodor's name reveal will totally be in there, it's far too clever and devastating to not be. Cersei's revenge will probably happen in some way... though I hope the 9 year old Tommen of the books doesn't kill himself, the thought of that makes me really uncomfortable... which means it'll probably happen I suppose.

Hopefully the story in Dorne will be less stupid, Arya's time in Braavos will have a much more satisfying payoff, Rickon won't get killed off so unceremoniously, Jon Snow won't be a complete idiot and Daenerys won't keep effortlessly solving every problem by glaring at people and then setting things on fire.