A Game of Thrones **BOOKS OFF LIMITS** v2

[KTrain]

What's going on with the Vale?

Littlefinger brought the Knights of the Vale to the Battle of the Bastards and saved the day. Did that army just go back to the Vale? Are they pissed the Starks killed him?

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Rando

What about Sansa's troops from moon door place? They swooped in during the Battle of the Bastards. Since I can't remember their name let's go with the Rider of Rohan.

The large round fellow from there has still been lurking around.

I believe they were in the battle last night too, saw some shots where you could see their house crest on shields (that stylized bird looking figure). House Arryn.

[direwolf]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

That's certainly fair to have that take.

Though Cersei has 8 seasons of building hatred in the fans.

The Night King showed up now and then in the second half while standing there silent and emotionless.

While the WWs have always been an "unknown" threat building in the background, the essence of the show has always kind of been about the characters we love or hate going toe to toe.

Yup. I hate Cersei much more than the Knight King, and she's arguably more evil. I'm excited to see how all of this ends over these final episodes.

[getbak]

We see the sigil of House Arryn on the shields behind Brienne when they're all lining up.

We haven't seen Robin Arryn since season 6 when Littlefinger asked him to send his army to help Sansa in the fight against the Boltons. It would be funny if he shows up suddenly and has turned into a badass since he got away from the influence of his mother and Littlefinger.

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by blankall

Now that I've had the night to digest, over thing that really disappointed me was the crypts.... It really was just as simple as raising the Stark dead. Could the Starks, or anyone else, not have thought of that? Seems pretty much every viewer did.

Also I was really disappointed with Sam's story. He reverted back to a coward. Maybe this is to set him up for something better.

And yes it was dumb that all the main character fighters survived. There were points when Breanne was being dogpilled by whights.

Overall though still really enjoyable and entertaining. I really hope we get more on the Knight King's motivations in the last 3 episodes though.

At least 1 dragon is still alive? Was that John's own dragon he was fighting at the end?

Where would you have put those who can't fight instead?

[edslunch]

That Dothraki charge was bad strategy but what an amazing visual and emotional effect seeing the hopes of the rest of the army fade as each light was snuffed out. Highlight scene for me.

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by getbak

We haven't seen Robin Arryn since season 6 when Littlefinger asked him to send his army to help Sansa in the fight against the Boltons. It would be funny if he shows up suddenly and has turned into a badass since he got away from the influence of his mother and Littlefinger.

He and Tormund can swap stories.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by blankall

Now that I've had the night to digest, over thing that really disappointed me was the crypts.... It really was just as simple as raising the Stark dead. Could the Starks, or anyone else, not have thought of that? Seems pretty much every viewer did.

Also I was really disappointed with Sam's story. He reverted back to a coward. Maybe this is to set him up for something better.

The cowardice demonstrate by Sansa and Tyrian was worse. They both had dragonglass blades, so clearly they expected they might be put in an extreme situation where they had to use them against the dead. Maybe women and children being torn apart a few feet away was just that kind of extreme situation? Sansa is supposed to have become hardened and resolute after her suffering. Even back in season 1 Tyrion took an active part in the battle against the hill bandits when things looked dire. But they both became simpering cowards in the crypts, ignoring the pleas of those they were responsible for protecting, because the structure of the episode required a weepy break from the action at that point. Lame.

As the series has progressed, the show-runners have been increasingly willing to sacrifice characterization, consistency, and suspension of disbelief in favour of shoehorning a scene into the story. We saw a lot of that last night.

[Looch City]

Originally Posted by edslunch

That Dothraki charge was bad strategy but what an amazing visual and emotional effect seeing the hopes of the rest of the army fade as each light was snuffed out. Highlight scene for me.

That first wave of wights crashing into the Unsullied was amazing. Like it wasn't a typical line of men running towards you...it was literally a giant wave of undead crawling over each other as fast as possible . Need a gif of that scene!

[blankall]

Originally Posted by EldrickOnIce

Where would you have put those who can't fight instead?

I would have dealt with the corpses down there before putting them there. Multiple in this thread managed to figure out that would be a threat ahead of time, I'm sure a bunch of people who actually specialize in fighting white walkers could.

[CliffFletcher]

The soundtrack was phenomenal. The tick-tick-tick tension of the lead-up. The grinding discord of the battle itself. The piano bits at the darkest hour. Ramin Djawadi doesn't get enough credit for his role in making Game of Thrones the show that it is.

[868904]

Originally Posted by Flaming Homer

Yeah I thought it convenient that Dany’s entire Army was wiped out. Now she has to rely on the north to side her in her throne quest. I guess that a lot of the next couple episodes are inner squabbling.

She still has the second sons and whatever followers from Mereen. But will Dario still follow Dany if she’s with Aegon?

Plus she still has the two dragons which is a great army neutralizer. Or will Rhaegal now follow Aegon?

[blankall]

Originally Posted by edslunch

That Dothraki charge was bad strategy but what an amazing visual and emotional effect seeing the hopes of the rest of the army fade as each light was snuffed out. Highlight scene for me.

I felt really bad for them. They literally had no stake in the conflict. Realistically that kind of cavalry charge would decimate a bunch of ground troops. It was totally ridiculous, but looked bad ass.

[OldDutch]

I gave myself a night to sleep on it and process. Still feel that was as close to flawless television as I have ever seen. Loved every minute.

- Bran was who he was. He knew far more than the night king of what was going to happen. He knew what was going to happen, and played the King into his trap. His words to Theon "your a good man" was him knowing Theon would be killed but that he played his role to help kill the King. He knew Aria was there and the King didn't.

- Sam I am ok with reverting to coward in action. That is who he is. Same with the diplomats in the Crypt. Very well represented the levels each character works on. I feel the diplomats will have their day in the final episodes.

- Killing the night king with 3 episodes left is brilliant. The whole point of the story was that humans are far more deadly than the dead. The characters who only had a dog in the fight to save humanity are dead (minus Jorah). Now we are setup for man being his own worst enemy.

- Danny and Jon were not the white knights I thought they were. Another point of the show that those who start with low expectations can play the biggest role when it matters. Look at that Mormot girl go all eye stabby! As a result I don't think either are on the throne now in the end.

- Odd fact but I think I had read Night King is Targaryen. May not ever know, but the fact that he is unburnt is telling.

- One gripe, what the heck was that Sansa and Tyrion sweet moment looking like they were going to go all out with a fury in the Crypt, only to....show nothing? I'll give people that was bizarre.

Lots more notes, but I would stress people not get nit picky. That was an incredible ride.

[Nyah]

I'm still trying to process it all. But holy crap HBO figure out your colour saturation on dark episodes. In some scenes it looked like the characters were staring out at a really crappy painting.

[cDnStealth]

Originally Posted by blankall

I felt really bad for them. They literally had no stake in the conflict. Realistically that kind of cavalry charge would decimate a bunch of ground troops. It was totally ridiculous, but looked bad ass.

If used the same was as they were last night then they most likely wouldn't. The Dothraki in the show are a light cavalry with short, ineffective weapons. A decently sized and disciplined army would weather that storm no problem.

I thought it was equally stupid last season when they charged the baggage train against pike formations but you know, they had dragons and superior numbers so it didn't matter. Last night they had zero support and were just sent off to die.

[stang]

Originally Posted by blankall

Also I was really disappointed with Sam's story. He reverted back to a coward. Maybe this is to set him up for something better.

Was Sam really a coward? Did I miss it? Last I seen of him was laying on the ground fighting when Jon was walking into the castle. He killed a lot of undead, and was killing them to the end. He ran at one point, but everyone ran at some point.

[troutman]

The wights were terrifying in laying themselves down so others could cross the fire.

Forbes review:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikkai.../#65749d205ac6

Then there she is . . . Arya . . . Azor Ahai, the princess that was promised, leaping through the dark. The Night King turns, grabs her by the throat, she drops the dagger—the dagger Littlefinger sent with an assassin to kill Bran Stark, lo these many years ago; the Valyrian steel dagger that he later told Catelyn Stark was Tyrion Lannister's, leading to her arresting the Imp, which in turn led to Jaime attacking Ned Stark in the streets of King's Landing; the dagger, in other words, that helped start this entire war, intended for the throat of young Bran, whose Direwolf saved him.

Really hard to watch on my iPad - so dark and blurry. I couldn't tell what was happening half of the time. Hope to see it again soon on a big screen.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by blankall

Realistically that kind of cavalry charge would decimate a bunch of ground troops.

Realistically you would hold cavalry in the reserves, use them to harass, flank and rout, or use as a surprise attack against an unorganized opponent. Light cavalry armed without lances in a frontal cavalry charge without infantry support against an army in formation? Amateur hour.

There was no other way for that charge to turn out.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by 868904

She still has the second sons and whatever followers from Mereen. But will Dario still follow Dany if she’s with Aegon?

Plus she still has the two dragons which is a great army neutralizer. Or will Rhaegal now follow Aegon?

A fair number of the unsullied also seemed to survive too. We saw them file back into the castle pretty productively.

The idea is that it will take an alliance of armies to take down Cersei, as opposed to just Dany being a clear power.

Anyone wonder if Arya and Gendry will lay claim to the throne? A Baratheon/Stark union is pretty powerful. We've also yet to see the faceless men.

My guess is that the whole series ends with a tenuous hold on the throne with the various surviving houses plotting against eachother, illustrating the cyclical nature of things.