[worry]

Yah, he looks like Clancy Brown's great great grandpappy.

[Ceda Cicero]

We've just stumbled on the ultimate ASoIaF secret that isn't slated to be revealed until the climax of A DREAM OF SPRING: there actually are only two White Walkers in the entire world, the Night's King, and Clancy Brown's great, great grandfather. All the rest are shadow puppets, HOME ALONE style.

[QuickTidal]

My wife made a strange, and not unwarranted, comment on Sunday. Her fave character is Arya. It's always been Arya. Every time Arya is on screen she goes "Yes!".

Except in Season 5 she keeps saying "Her storyline has gone weird."

And I can't really argue that. In the books there is more to let you know what is happening with her in Braavos. Shifting her right into the House of Black and White under the tutelage of Jacquen and learning to become "no one" happens so disjointedly that if I DIDN'T know that she was planning to be an assassin, or more about who the Faceless Men are...I might be lost too.

I basically just tell her "She wants to be an assassin and kill everyone on her "list", and the best assassins come from Braavos and are Faceless Men who can change their faces with magic." and that "Arya learning to actually INHABIT another personality is a big part of that."

Which I think is the gist of it...but now she's said that it's "gone weird" I wonder if Arya's storyline could be more approachable to non-book readers?

[LinearPhilosopher]

Terez, on 02 June 2015 - 04:35 AM, said:

Oh. That didn't occur to me because it's not like the gates were very sturdy.

It was to buy time. Every second you delay more people can escape

also i have nothing bad to say about this weeks episode. It did everything right

This post has been edited by BalrogLord: 02 June 2015 - 02:29 PM

[Ceda Cicero]

Anyone else think it's possible that crazy-ass Selyse Baratheon will be responsible for Shireen's death? It seems pretty clear to me that Shireen is doomed... but I also just can't buy Stannis having an about-face on this issue and giving her over to Mel to burn.

Selyse, on the other hand, is disdainful if not outright hostile towards Shireen on the show. And she's very well-established as a fire fanatic. I can't imagine exactly how this would play out, but I'm thinking some version of Ramsay's shenanigans (mentioned in last ep) will push Stannis's camp to desperation. Stannis considers Melisandre's advice but won't budge. Selyse burns Shireen without Stannis's consent.

[Spoilsport Stonny]

I bet she doesn't burn cuz of her greyscale.

Edit: Actually that's dumb. I have no evidence for how greyscale could prevent someone from burning. Especially someone with dormant greyscale oon a small poortion of their face. Man I wish Patchface was there.

This post has been edited by Spoilsport Stonny: 02 June 2015 - 05:07 PM

[worry]

Can we take for granted that whatever it is Mel is doing, Stannis is only the current tool she's using? R'hllor doesn't care about Stannis or his family or his kingship one bit. They're all pawns in whatever this Ice vs. Fire war ultimately is. Who knows, maybe R'hllor is just some wizard who blew up Valyria in his attempts to ascend to godhood. A lot of the outcome is gonna depend on how legit R'hllor really is, and whether the dragons truly belong to him or what, and I'm not sure how they can be if they are on team "good guys" with Tyrion and Dany. On the other hand, the White Walkers have to become such a credible threat to Westeros that Dany's invasion is seen as a godsend instead of a conquest, so they might have to make it pretty far south before they're vanquished. I don't see how anyone up North makes it except by escape southward, and that ain't Stannis's way.

[Terez]

Ceda Cicero, on 02 June 2015 - 03:31 PM, said:

Anyone else think it's possible that crazy-ass Selyse Baratheon will be responsible for Shireen's death? It seems pretty clear to me that Shireen is doomed... but I also just can't buy Stannis having an about-face on this issue and giving her over to Mel to burn.

I personally doubt that Shireen will burn. She will probably have something to do with Melisandre's return to the Wall. Book-fans wondered when Melisandre decided to go south with Stannis why they decided to deviate from the books on that point, but we know (based on Houten's interviews) that she will return to the Wall. Shireen (who wasn't a burning candidate in the books, if I recall) appears to be the planned catalyst to get Melisandre to return.

As for the reason, it might be that Stannis sends Melisandre (and maybe Selyse) back to the Wall because of Shireen, and keeps Shireen with him. If they follow the books, then Melisandre will begin to get clues soon that Stannis is not her man, in which case she might lose interest in Shireen altogether and go to the Wall of her own accord. In that case, it's possible Selyse will do something stupid, but I am hoping they won't deviate from the books in that particular manner.

Also, the reason Melisandre wants to offer up king's blood—which she has not yet managed to do, not counting leeches—is to make Stannis king. If she burns Shireen, then supposedly Stannis would be victorious and sit on the Iron Throne. That is what Melisandre has been telling him all along, hence the attempted burnings (books and show) of Edric Storm, Gendry, Mance Rayder, Mance's son, and Shireen, all thwarted (with Shireen in the balance). I somehow doubt that's where this is going though. Ramsay boasted that Stannis was dead in the books, and while we don't know whether or not that's true, it does seem more likely than Stannis ever plopping his ass on the Iron Throne.

[TheRetiredBridgeburner]

Watched episode 8 last night - really good stuff. I still can't bring myself to engage in Arya's storyline (no detraction from Maisie Williams' abilities, I just don't find it particularly interesting in the show) but the rest of it was good. Wasn't entirely sure about Dany/Tyrion but it was entertaining, and Hardhome was pretty much perfect for me.

When this show is good, it's very very good and it's what keeps me watching through its less than brilliant moments.

EDIT:

A thought. In Dany's "break the wheel" comment, she mentions Targaryen in the list of houses she's going to "break". Given that they've fast-tracked her and Tyrion coming together, do we think she will be heading towards Westeros by the end of the season? That "it's not my home" thing happens in the Dothraki Sea in the book, so I'm wondering if we won't get that section? I guess it depends how important the Dothraki are to the end game.

I was starting to genuinely think Dany would never get to Westeros, so I now have some renewed hope that she gets there (given I assume they'll need the dragons when the Walkers do "Come at me, Crow" on a much larger scale.)

This post has been edited by TheRetiredBridgeburner: 03 June 2015 - 06:26 AM

[blackzoid]

Loved the ending of episode 8. Getting a real Vampire Counts of Warhammer Fantasy vibe from the White Walkers. The forboding pic of the 4 of them on the cliff is fantastic.
Episode saved the season for me. Though I was liking the Roose/Stannis scenes too.

This post has been edited by blackzoid: 03 June 2015 - 10:30 AM

[Traveller]

With the now very real threat of the dead army, I think the only viable means of stopping them will be Dany and her dragonfire. And if she arrives just when it all looks hopeless, she will be gratefully received - although I'm not clear on exactly how she means to rule and 'break the wheel' at the same time.

[Spoilsport Stonny]

Terez, on 02 June 2015 - 11:35 PM, said:

Ramsay boasted that Stannis was dead in the books, and while we don't know whether or not that's true, it does seem more likely than Stannis ever plopping his ass on the Iron Throne.

There's no way that letter was actually from Ramsay.

[blackzoid]

Traveller, on 03 June 2015 - 11:37 AM, said:

With the now very real threat of the dead army, I think the only viable means of stopping them will be Dany and her dragonfire. And if she arrives just when it all looks hopeless, she will be gratefully received - although I'm not clear on exactly how she means to rule and 'break the wheel' at the same time.

No need for her to call over now.
Looks like the White Walkers will have the whole "breaking the wheel" thingie well in hand.
Everyone equal...everyone dead.

This post has been edited by blackzoid: 03 June 2015 - 01:12 PM

[Terez]

Spoilsport Stonny, on 03 June 2015 - 12:51 PM, said:

Terez, on 02 June 2015 - 11:35 PM, said:

Ramsay boasted that Stannis was dead in the books, and while we don't know whether or not that's true, it does seem more likely than Stannis ever plopping his ass on the Iron Throne.

There's no way that letter was actually from Ramsay.

Care to expand on that?

[LinearPhilosopher]

i always figured that letter was a bluff

[Terez]

A bluff is a good possibility, but that doesn't mean Ramsay didn't write it.

[Terez]

In the show he wrote a letter to Balon Greyjoy along with Theon's sausage.

[worry]

It was Hodor's bastard brother Snowdor.

[worry]

A lady who did editing work on GoT got eaten by a lion while doing one of those drive-through animal parks in South Africa, cuz she left her windows down.

[Kartoolian Spider Squisher]

TheRetiredBridgeburner, on 03 June 2015 - 05:59 AM, said:

I was starting to genuinely think Dany would never get to Westeros, so I now have some renewed hope that she gets there (given I assume they'll need the dragons when the Walkers do "Come at me, Crow" on a much larger scale.)

I've never really understood the "Dany won't make it to Westeros theory" That would basically make every Dany chapter from book one onward irrelevant, and seeing how her story is one of the 3 major storylines that make up ASoIaF it is doubtful that it would have such a resolution. Now, the way show Dany is nerfed I totally wouldn't put it past D&D to kill Dany off and make St. Tyrion the Dragontamer.