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

[Inglewood Jack]

so what's the status now of the Bolton/Karstark/Umber axis of evil? for whatever reason it never seemed like the Bolton line of succession was more than Roose to Ramsey to dog food Frey baby, so is that house done? they could be, if they had moved everything from Dreadfort to Winterfell. I'd assume that the Karstark and Umber forces were just there to assist and they still have their main castles, but did their primary lords all bite the dust too?

meanwhile in Mereen, I was kind of laughing but weirded out at the very casual conversation Dany and Tyrion were having like 12 hours into the bombardment of their city. Dany had arrived in the middle of the night and then by the time they decided to meet up with the enemy it was mid-day. I'm going to assume then that they weren't constantly lobbing fireballs at that crazy rate the whole time, because then there'd be absolutely nothing left.

good dragon showing, feel bad for Rhaegon and Viseryon being extra runty due to their captivity. they just seem to be really easy arrow/spear targets like giants though, so I hope their scales eventually get harder by the time they have to enter a real battle.

[Flash Walken]

Tormund: "We've never see them fight, but they've never seen wildlings fight. So yes, there is a chance."

Big Big John Umber starts wailing away on Tormund, I knew....I knew.


Umber had never fought a wildling before. He'll never fight another one again.

#### that guy.

[GreenLantern]

Great episode, one of the best of the series. The first person view of Jon during the initial moments of the battle was just amazing, great work. Same director who did Hardhome directed this episode and you can tell.

The only thing I don't get is why didn't Ramsay put an arrow in Jon's eye socket instead of Wun Wun's? He could have at least killed Jon if nothing else. Wun Wun was clearly out of the fight at that point.

[MrMastodonFarm]

http://www.ew.com/article/2016/06/19...attle-director

“The most logistically complicated thing I’ve ever been involved in,” is how director Miguel Sapochnik describes making Sunday’s absolutely incredible Game of Thrones episode

One day in the middle of shooting BOB, there was a moment when I realized we just could not complete the sequence as planned. Three days of consistent rain had turned the field into a bog nine inches deep with mud so thick things were slowing down, and morale with it. The crew are a tough bunch but when the wind and rain is blowing in your face 13 hours a day and for weeks on end and it’s literally a game of death to make it up the hill to grab a drink or use the loo because it’s so slippery, everyone gets a bit down.

One evening I got home and I kind of knew we couldn’t finish in the time we had left so I wrote a long email to David and Dan and the other producers to suggest an alternative that I thought we could achieve in the remaining time, but that would mean going “off book” for three days. That is to say, we’d be shooting without a script. I finished the email and made a cup of tea (no whisky in the house) then waited for the response, which I fully expected to be a public chastisement and general reaming for even suggesting that (Dan and David like their scripts executed the way they wrote them, and with good reason).

It was late already and if were going to do this we needed to employ this idea first thing the next day. But I couldn’t move forward without their consent and they were in L.A. at the time. I hadn’t even worked exactly out how I’d do it, I just knew we need a Plan B.

Anyway, not 15 minutes later, I get a ping on the email and David and Dan have replied. They said it sucked not to be able to finish as scripted but they also understood the crunch we were in and that they trusted me and to have at it.

I think that this section of the fight — in which Jon is almost buried alive by a stampede of panicking wildings — turned out as one of my favorite little moments in the sequence. No VFX, no fighting, just Kit giving a stellar performance and a crazy top shot as he pushes his way back out (we affectionately called it the “rebirthing” shot). The other reason I liked it is because of what it meant to be allowed to follow my gut and go for it. That kind of trust you can’t buy and it felt like a privilege to have been given that kind of support to go into unchartered territory by the producers in such a high stakes game.

[habernac]

MMF, I was suffocating in my chair watching that scene. Unreal.

[Flash Walken]

thanks for that link mmf,

That scene had me feeling so claustrophobic I had to pause it for a second.

Awful feeling, but then so much elation when he emerges and sees Gandalf and the rohirim there.

[Flash Walken]

Not a spoiler if you've seen the latest episode:

Spoiler!

[Azure]

A lot of stuff they put into one episode. Very good job all around. The writing has certainly picked up since they got past the books.

[V]

Really, really looking forward to the Ozzy Review of this episode.

[stang]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Not a spoiler if you've seen the latest episode:

Spoiler!

Missed that in the episode.... What's it signify?

[Kavvy]

Originally Posted by stang

Missed that in the episode.... What's it signify?

Just one loyal bad@ss angry little lord

[nik-]

Originally Posted by Flash Walken

Not a spoiler if you've seen the latest episode:

Spoiler!

I feel so unloved

[Looch City]

One of the saddest moments for me was how close Rickon was to being reunited with his brother and sister. So ####ing close and even a glimour of hope when Ramsay missed that second to last arrow.

And then gone. Never got to say a word or even look at Jon up close.

[FlameOn]

So.... Edmure gave up his castle, lands and titles + got the Blackfish killed for nothing? Tully troops didn't end up getting used in Battle of the #######s and Brienne is off wandering back to the North?

[Kavvy]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

So.... Edmure gave up his castle, lands and titles + got the Blackfish killed for nothing? Tully troops didn't end up getting used in Battle of the #######s and Brienne is off wandering back to the North?

Blackfish got himself killed..

But Edmure did it to save himself, his kid, his family line (kid was promised a lordship) and thousand of lives - they would of lost to a siege, Jamie had the numbers

[GGG]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

^This. Basically she wrote Rickon off before the battle even began and wrote off Jon when he refused to listen to her about needing more men. She did not even bother to tell Jon about her pact with the Vale and let Jon attack/lose half his army because of it.

She manipulated Jon to goto Winterfell by pulling on his heart strings and getting him to try and rescue Rickon in the first place fully knowing that Rickon would not survive. She has no idea whether Jon would survive either and did nothing to help his chances earlier on. Jon is fully expendable to her.

The counter to this is

She didn't want to be forced to go to Litttlefinger if not absolutely necessary and felt Jon would force her to.

She'd been tortured by Ramsey and new exactly how he would use Rickon to gain an advantage. She new he was lost. She was precisely right and Jon let his emotion cost him any chance his army had at winning.

She had been excluded from the planning and never asked if in her travels she had come across an army she could raise.

So Men continually failed her, so instead of trusting them to look after things she took control and ensured Victory. And now she has a plan for Littlefinger as well.

So while I agree she entered the "game" I disagree that she has turned evil or is blinded by it. She did what she had to do to ensure a Stark victory in the battle.

If they show up with a more powerful army rather than a surprise army Ramsey goes into siege mode and they die.

[troutman]

[MillerTime GFG]

Let's see if I can figure out how to upload an image...

Divorce, GoT style:

[Finger Cookin]

You know what's going to be immensely satisfying next week? After seeing Winterfell first as a smoking husk, and then with the Bolton banner for so long? Finally seeing the Stark's banners on Winterfell in the opening credits next week.

[Nyah]

Originally Posted by V

Really, really looking forward to the Ozzy Review of this episode.

I'm SO glad you mentioned this. I'd never watched before or even heard of him before, so I search it and now I haven't gotten anything done all afternoon. This guy is hilarious!