The Game of Thrones Thread (With Spoilers)

I think everybody and their mom has lost their collective mind...

 

I hope it's not true. It's a stupid theory that has no basis or set up in the previous seasons. It also doesn't make sense for how Bran's powers work. If Bran was unconscious in the present and inhabiting the night king, maybe that would make partial sense. Even then there's a shit load of plot holes. Just bad all around.

 

Doesn't make much sense to me, and it would be a major departure from the books. In the books (but in the show as well, I think), when Bran and Meera ventured north of the wall they were chased to almost certain death by the undead (and saved impromptu by Benjen, if memory serves). In the book they found the children of the forest, who also defended themselves from the undead with powerful magic, and who showed Bran the old 3-eyed raven before Bran became one under the old's guidance. The 3-eyed raven is NOT the Night King.

Now I can see Bran having some sort of impartial, mediation role between the humans and the Night King, to settle a truce of sorts when things start stabilizing and the Wall is rebuilt with magic. (He understands why the undead became and were needed originally.) It is plausible that he is no longer partial to the humans, and to Winterfell, the way he would have been prior to his roadtrip north of the Wall. But him being the Night King -- highly doubt that.

 

This week was SO much better. Thank goodness.

You just have to hold your nose and pretend you didn't notice how they got there.

Though, the shots of the Night King on the dragon were just...horrific.

 

Well done for the season finale. (I enjoyed the first episode as well.)

Other than Littlefinger's Sanssss...choke, for me the high point was Theon Greyjoy discovering his Noballsman magic powers and kicking some ass.

Of course this won't have any street cred, but my significant other predicted the day of the destruction of Yara's fleet that Theon would come back to kill Euron, one way or another. The current prediction is that he will recover Euron's fleet and the 20K mercenaries of the Golden Company. Between this and losing the loyalty of her little brother, Jamie, Cersei will feel pretty fucked up.

I guess we now have a year to speculate on the name of the next in the line of House Targaryen...

 

In the aftershow, the creators speculated about the potential problems that Jon's parentage would introduce into his relationship with Dany. But wasn't that kinda the Targaryen's thing? I doubt they'd go for straight up twincest like the Lannisters, but I'm pretty sure an aunt an nephew wouldn't cause them to blink an eye.

 

Jon/Aegon is still a Stark, and he's nothing if not honorable. This will mess with him in a huge way.

 

I'm gonna dissent here. I disliked a lot of this episode, especially for a season finale. Hell, this season has been a mess.

It feels a bit like the writers just grabbing all of the messy threads they threw out this season, wrapping them together and screaming "HERE! PLOT GO THIS WAY NOW" while bludgeoning the audience with plot exposition courtesy of Bran. Goddamn writers are dropping the character's IQs faster than the temperature in GoT now.

Did they have to explicitly spell everything out like they did? The shows never really been that hamfist with the audience.

While Littlefinger's death was very satisfying to see (and won me $5 off a 'whos gonna die' bet), I can't shake the feeling that I'm watching more out of obligation than enjoyment now.

Edit: just to clarify, I dislike the episode, but that doesn't mean I don't respect the directions they're taking. Not having any written reference to go off of anymore is probably a factor here. And the overarching plot is still coherent.

 

When i saw there was shadow spying on Jon and Dany I thought it was Jorah crying...

 

How can Dany not die in the end? The writing is already on the wall. The Targaryean bloodline isn't gonna cease to exist; now there's 2 (or 3) of them. Azor Ahai is the savior of mankind. And GRRM's defining legacy is reminding us about the tragedy of forbidden romance. Tyrion's appearance in E8's sexytime is surely an ominous sign. A fuckton of central/major characters will inevitably die in the war. Dany taking the iron throne is literally the 'happiest' ending possible, which means there's no chance it comes to bear.

 

Anyway, have to throw this in: I'm in love with Emilia Clarke.

(Aren't we all though?)

 

Well the line started from season 1. It's a looong line.

And after 7 seasons i have come to believe that Game of Thrones is a war/game of incests.

 

Can one of you Maesters explain something to me? Why did Cersei gain from pretending to rejoin the alliance if it will be clear in a very short time that this was a lie?

If I was following correctly:

A. After the first failed truce discussion:
• Cersei doesn't accept the truce and storms off
• No alliance
• Dany and co. will go north to fight the army of the dead and come back to deal with Cersei if they win
• Lannisters are the enemy

B. After Tyrion and Cersei meet:
• Cersei accepts the truce
• Alliance
• Everyone goes north together to fight the army of the dead
• Lannisters are allies

C. She tells Jaime that she's not sending the armies and is actually recruiting the Golden Company to beef up her forces. So two days from now, when her army doesn't show up to march north with Dany and co:
• Cersei lied and doesn't accept the truce
• No alliance
• Dany and co. will go north to fight the army of the dead and come back to deal with Cersei if they win
• Lannisters are the enemy

If I have that right, there's no difference between "A" and "C". What was Cersei's reason for doing "B"? What does she think she's gaining that she didn't already have at "A"?

 

I think Cersei's only goal here is to buy time until the Golden Company shows up.

But ultrabike is also correct...we're about to see her lose her baby, she's already lost Jamie, and the unraveling is going to get ugly. FAST.

It's nice to be able to talk freely now. There really are no season 8 spoilers at this point. FREEDOM!!!

 

The way I see it, Cersei was never going to willingly send Lannister armies north to fight the dead: Let the Starks and Targaryens fight them and win (but still get decimated) or fight them and lose (get terminated), and then she'll affront anything that goes south at that point and emerge victorious. The interest of making them think that she's joining the alliance is surprise: Starks and Targaryens will still have went to fight North either way, because what else can you do? "They're fucked." And it's not like they can drop everything and come back to punish her for breaking her word. It'll be too late to turn around and re-strategize.

"Oh, aye. Six-and-ten for him, and three for you. Gold shall be their crowns and gold their shrouds, she said. And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you."

If 'valonqar' really means "little brother", and can't be interpreted some other twisted way, then Cersei still has two little brothers around who are really hankering to choke her at this point. My money would be on Jaime choking her to death: He has unfettered access to her most of the times, and her general monstrosity is starting to weigh on him. Killing family member seems to be a Lannister trait, and it would be fitting to have both brothers weighed down by similar remorse.

I'd say Zombie Viserion was necessary to have at least the pretence of Danaeris sweating to reach the Iron throne. I mean without that the writing was on the wall for the undead and for House Lannister. It would have been too easy.

In the books though I expect things will turn a bit differently. In the books there was a long-lost horn that could break the magic of the Wall and bring it down. All in all it seemed to be North of the Wall, and probably in the hands of the undead. I guess for the TV show it's quite a bit more sexy to use a zombie dragon.

Not for me. The undead attacking the realm of the living was the main plot of the whole GoT universe*. Everything else was a warm-up act. For those versed in fantasy (not me), it was obvious from season 1. For me all the decimation that we've witnessed in Westeros during the Autumn was powerful magic thrown by the Night King onto the realm to make sure there is little if anything left -- both in terms of competent leaders or sheer manpower** -- to protect the realm for when they get down to it and attack. The White Walkers are nothing if not patient, having waited in deep sleep for tens of thousands of years, hatching their plans. In this sense, it's fitting that we see real action on this front only towards the very end.

* "A Song of Ice and Fire" -- it's a scrap between the undead and the dragons, both magical creatures. All else, the porn and the decapitations, was for our amusement.
** In the books the scale of decimation of adult, male, fighting-capable population was obvious to see. Most houses lost most fighting age men and only scraps were left available to call for the banners. The situation really was dire, and when the undead would be attacking, things would look very, very grim. One of the reasons Jon needed to co-opt the wildlings and bring them on board.

 

Martin said the end will be bitter-sweet. (Believe it or not, Martin still has a hand in what the TV show does.) Now that Jon put a baby into Daenerys, I guess he can go, and Danny can wipe her tears when the dead are vanquished and Jon is gone, and have a true-born Targaryen heir to the throne. At least Tyrion must feel more comfy now that Danny took care of his long term worries of succession...