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

[Looch City]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

So this is the thing to me.

How much of her freeing slaves, dothraki, unsullied etc was about her actually caring about people, and how much was also about needing followers and an Army to be able to get and hold the Iron Throne?

IMO she only did that at the time because those actions still supported her overall goal of taking the Iron Throne.

At this point though letting Cersei and rest of Kings Landing stand just meant that there were people left that didn't like her and were a threat to the throne.

In the end Dany's sole motivation since season one was taking her rightful place on the throne by any means necessary - and IMO this was just what she thought needed to be done to achieve that and send a message at that point in time.

Going by that point, she should torch the entire North as well.

[Rando]

Originally Posted by Iggy City

Going by that point, she should torch the entire North as well.

After Jon not listening to her (telling his secret), Ms Sunday being executed, Varys betraying her and the realization she won't be loved by the people like her nephew would.. she just might.

Almost like things happened recently, major things, to shift her. To unleash something that's been bubbling under the surface for eight seasons now.

[Inglewood Jack]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

How much of her freeing slaves, dothraki, unsullied etc was about her actually caring about people, and how much was also about needing followers and an Army to be able to get and hold the Iron Throne?

well there was that one time when Drogon was accused of barbecuing some shepherd's daughter, so she went and locked up the two other dragons that were totally innocent in her dusty basement, with no plans for release. still a calculated power move or authentic concern for common folk?

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

So this is the thing to me.

How much of her freeing slaves, dothraki, unsullied etc was about her actually caring about people, and how much was also about needing followers and an Army to be able to get and hold the Iron Throne?

IMO she only did that at the time because those actions still supported her overall goal of taking the Iron Throne.

At this point though letting Cersei and rest of Kings Landing stand just meant that there were people left that didn't like her and were a threat to the throne.

In the end Dany's sole motivation since season one was taking her rightful place on the throne by any means necessary - and IMO this was just what she thought needed to be done to achieve that and send a message at that point in time.

to me this is the thing.


Lets say that she showed mercy and left Kings Landing standing. The other Kingdoms would look at that as a weakness and resist her. She'd also leave a potential rebellion and a potential enemy in her rear.


Instead she shows no mercy and kills everything and leaves the capital a smoldering dead ruin.


She shows her resolve to either have it all or destroy it all with no middle ground.


Remember again when she was told, she's not a queen she's a conqueror.


She just destroyed the undestroyable. She laid waste to the Iron fleet, she destroyed one of the most well defended cities in the realm. Her Dothraki and the rest of her army showed no mercy and butchered what her dragon didn't incinerate.


None of the other Kingdoms are nearly as strong as Kings Landing.


She also leaves no enemy behind as she marches on to consolidate her conquest this time, unlike the last time when she faced constant rebellion by the masters.


Tactically its a ruthless but brilliant move, it ensures that her rear flank is un threatened as are any supply lines as she marches on. All the other Kingdoms are going to concentrate on their realms and not unite under one banner and leave their homes undefended.

[Cecil Terwilliger]

Originally Posted by Iggy City

Going by that point, she should torch the entire North as well.

Not just the North, she should have killed every person in the entire world. I’d also question which of the peasants she murdered would be a threat to her throne. They don’t care who’s in charge, they just want enough food to live.

As for the other kingdoms, that’s a whole other can of worms that has been mostly ignored this season. There’s no evidence that they would support her or wouldn’t, except for the very clear exposition we were given earlier this season as to who her allies were. With Dorne and the Iron islands on her side, all other kingdoms have no leader to pose any real threat so I’m not seeing any support for that interpretation either.

[JohnnyB]

Her choice to incinerate Kings Landing is the equivalent of if the U.S. chose to keep nuking Japan just to kill more civilians after they had already surrendered. It was needless. She has the WMD of her world and everyone has seen what she can do with it. Had she shown she could be worked with reasonably after demonstrating military dominance, everyone would already have ample reason to do so.

Personally, I'm glad she hasn't become the hero of the story in the end. I never really liked her character.

[Patek23]

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Sorry. Added spoiler notes to my post that was in regards to the betting odds...

Spoiler!

Well dammit...those betting odds might as well be a spoiler.

It's a scripted show where leaks have reportedly been out in the wild for a couple weeks now, if something is EVEN odds that likely means the odds makers know something. Especially because from a "betting" perspective there is no way Bran was the favourite from the money perspective.

FFS

It would make ZERO sense. He’s already committed to being the 3 eyed raven there’s no way his character would accept the throne even if they offered him it. The throne is a revolving door. He’s essentially immortal unless he’s physically murdered. He also has zero interest in petty things like the crown.

[CaptainCrunch]

I'd like to see them get to the Iron Throne and it was now the Iron lump due to dragon fire.

[Bonded]

My guess is that Bran takes over Drogon and becomes the real Dragon King. lol

[Hemi-Cuda]

Forbes article that makes it crystal clear that the decision to end the series so abruptly with two short seasons falls on D&D alone

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultas.../#6810a291788a

Some of the problems are specific decisions the showrunners made, now free of the guiding light of Martin’s books, but the further we’ve gotten into these final seasons, it has become clear to almost everyone that a core problem with the ending of Game of Thrones is that the idea that the final two seasons should be 7 episodes, then a year break, then 6 episodes.

Sure, we may get to where we’re going and it could be a passable ending. But there is not benefit to arranging the show this way, instead of having a more standard ending with two or three seasons that were the traditional ten episodes in length. No benefit to anyone except the showrunners, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss who want to move on to other projects.

No one wanted this except them. HBO wanted more. Here’s an EW interview from 2015, back when the showrunners were threatening to end the series after seven seasons:

“This is the hard part of what we do,” sighs HBO programming president Michael Lombardo. “We started this journey with David and Dan. It’s their vision. Would I love the show to go 10 years as both a fan and a network executive? Absolutely…If they weren’t comfortable going beyond seven seasons, I trust them implicitly and trust that’s the right decision—as horrifying as that is to me.”

Seems awfully short sighted to me. These two guys were going to be known for creating one of the greatest TV series of all time, but now they're the ones who intentionally rushed the ending and turned the series into a mess because they wanted out

[nik-]

They're going to be the ones that parlay their GoT cachet into giant ####ing pay cheques (like those Star Wars pay cheques) which is why they want out sooner.

The show was a ridiculous hit, that's all they care about. Rightly or wrongly from the fans perspective.

[djsFlames]

Wankers.

I really think this same ending but with the proper development, a less rushed conclusion to the war in the north, a more gradual turn of events for each of the characters, as well as time then for possibly Dany/Cersei babies could really have allowed the show to end with a slam dunk. Unlike some I'm actually quite happy with who killed who and who died and how, I just would've liked the proper set up to getting there in order to eliminate holes and room for question as to how we arrived at each destination.

I am enjoying the hell out of this ride, but there's no denying that the events of this season could've been stretched out to 20 episodes (a full 10-episode season 8 and 9) in order to keep in line with the pacing of the first 6 and a half-ish seasons.

Then you could also address other forgotten minor arcs like Meera Reed (and her father Howland who was at the Tower of Joy), Edmure Tully (rotting in cell but no one cares?), Daario Naharis, Robyn Arryn, Jaqen H'ghar and Nymeria. Maybe a couple of those will be touched on, but probably very briefly, if at all.

[rbochan]

Originally Posted by JohnnyB

Her choice to incinerate Kings Landing is the equivalent of if the U.S. chose to keep nuking Japan just to kill more civilians after they had already surrendered...

Glad that didn't happen or I wouldn't have had a stereo in the 80's.

[Baron von Kriterium]

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by djsFlames

Then you could also address other forgotten minor arcs like Meera Reed (and her father Howland who was at the Tower of Joy), Edmure Tully (rotting in cell but no one cares?), Daario Naharis, Robyn Arryn, Jaqen H'ghar and Nymeria. Maybe a couple of those will be touched on, but probably very briefly, if at all.

I'm actually quite surprised we haven't got anything from the Reed's this season, I thought they'd be used to play a role in legitimizing Jon's lineage. As for Nymeria didn't we get that scene with her and Arya in a forest last season? She had her own wolf pack and Arya kind of said her good byes to her at that point?

[Iggy_12]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

I'm actually quite surprised we haven't got anything from the Reed's this season, I thought they'd be used to play a role in legitimizing Jon's lineage. As for Nymeria didn't we get that scene with her and Arya in a forest last season? She had her own wolf pack and Arya kind of said her good byes to her at that point?

I for sure thought the pack would play into the battle at winterfell. Like Arya looking like she was destined to die and the pack comes in and saves her. Wishful thinking maybe, direwolves were one of my favorite aspects of the show.

[Hemi-Cuda]

[Luder]

My bad

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Luder

Is book talk allowed? I'll spoiler tag it in case. In regards to the direwolves

Spoiler!

This show has done the wolves no justice at all, if I recall, only Robb's and Sansa's are dead. Bran, Jon and Arya can all warg into their wolves, and it seems like a pretty important plot line to the novels, but was pretty much dismissed in the show. Perhaps the CGI was too expensive?

A Game of Thrones **BOOKS OFF LIMITS** v2. If only there was some sort of clue in the title?

[CaptainCrunch]

So from my understanding the week after the finale there will be a Game of Thrones documentary on HBO that goes behind the scenes.