Poll: Winter Is Coming - HBO's A Game of Thrones [READ WARNING]

[Noakesy85]

Yes. It was all shown and explained, even their symbols (which are morbid versions of the symbols the CoF used).

I think people are looking for depth to the WW/NK that was never there in the first place; he/they were never anything more than a magic blunt force, single-use tool that got out of control. In the books, the Others are still yet to be really fleshed out and might prove more interesting... although that's still two books to really introduce them properly AND wrap them up, if they ever get written.

Totaly agree, in the books there's no mention of a Night King, He was simply a character thought up by the writers to give a face to the leader of the 'Others'. Who like you say, haven't yet been fleshed out in the books.

I'm interested to see how GRR Martin does the whole 'Others' story in the final two books. Maybe his backstory in the books will mimic the upcoming prequel GoT : The Long Night?

I doubt they will. The prequels will be the focus now. The TV series has stolen the thunder of the books unfortunately.

I dont think the TV series has stolen the thunder from the books, just given us fans something to tie us over while GRRM finishes his books which we all know will be totally different to what we've seen.

 

[this_is_gav]

It has to be right?

That fight has been teased since the first series, undead Mountain can only be killed by fire facing his brother with the fear of fire. Christ if its not The Hound I'll probably riot.

I'm half expecting it to be Arya with the Hound's face who kills the Mountain (if anyone does)... though how the Hound dies for that to play out I've no idea yet. I just think the Hound himself would be too predictable, and while many expect Arya to use her Faceless Men skills to try to kill Cersei, I think she's had the most momentous victory in killing the Night King already - she's damn good, but I can't see them giving her both the NK and Cersei within a few episodes.

If Arya isn't killing the Mountain, then I suspect she might attack Cersei, but with Jaime's (or Tyrion's) face.

Whatever, Arya will use those skills at some point - it's too powerful a weapon to ignore for an entire series.

 

[Tombstone]

I'm half expecting it to be Arya with the Hound's face who kills the Mountain (if anyone does)... though how the Hound dies for that to play out I've no idea yet. I just think the Hound himself would be too predictable, and while many expect Arya to use her Faceless Men skills to try to kill Cersei, I think she's had the most momentous victory in killing the Night King already - she's damn good, but I can't see them giving her both the NK and Cersei within a few episodes.

If Arya isn't killing the Mountain, then I suspect she might attack Cersei, but with Jaime's (or Tyrion's) face.

Whatever, Arya will use those skills at some point - it's too powerful a weapon to ignore for an entire series.

Who knows, if Arya ends up killing all the Freys, The Night King, The Mountain and Cersei, then they would probably need to go back to episode 1 and rename the show Game of Arya

 

[Raymond Lin]

Who knows, if Arya ends up killing all the Freys, The Night King, The Mountain and Cersei, then they would probably need to go back to episode 1 and rename the show Game of Arya

When did she kill the Mountain?! I forgot about that.

 

[Washout]

I think Arya will be out of action. Either because of the interaction with the NK or because the Starks and Dani have a falling out and leave her to go after her throne alone with the remnants.

Although Cersei was very much top of her kill list...

 

[AndyCr15]

I think he is surprised at the objection to the plot armour as a principle, but accepts that the implementation chosen by he film makers challenged the conventional suspension of disbelief. Not all of these great fighters could be expected to survive the apparent insurmountable odds they were facing when Jon ran past each of them.

Okay. I think he basically agrees with most of us then... but still says he's surprised we all thought that... which just seems a little odd.

 

[Haze]

Would have been nice if it was not so dark, and i could actually see what was going on lol

 

[Tombstone]

When did she kill the Mountain?! I forgot about that.

She hasn't, it was in response to the previous post.

 

[ianh]

Put me in a separate hat named 'Republic' then

No way all of this ends with someone on that throne. If GoT has one consistent theme, it's that the people of Westeros are proud of their own regions.

Especially with Dani's "Break the wheel" comment, and the only way to do that is, as the ruler, to give Westros back to the people, then bugger off back to Easteros and rule that instead.

Why did Arya go on her little sneak through a library when she'd previously killed more white walkers than that in the castle entrance? Why did they line up outside the castle when it was clear that they'd be overrun and their best chance was fighting in tight spaces? Why didn't Bran use the ravens or Dany the dragons to scout before sending in their best fighters? Why did nobody burn the dead - you learn in series 2 (?) that that's the only way to stop them becoming white walkers, and everyone knows that the NK was there and could raise them. Likewise, why hide in the crypt, where there's a ready made army of undead?

The "after the episode" GoT chat with the directors/stars on youtube answers most of those questions but, long story short, they are clueless and did things that "looked cool" despite being actually stupid.

 

[Mr Jack]

Totaly agree, in the books there's no mention of a Night King, He was simply a character thought up by the writers to give a face to the leader of the 'Others'. Who like you say, haven't yet been fleshed out in the books.

Not quite. The Night King is in the books, but he's a historical character not the current leader of the Others.

 

[Deleted member 651465]

Not quite. The Night King is in the books, but he's a historical character not the current leader of the Others.

Different character. That’s “the night’s king”

 

[DrToffnar]

Different character. That’s “the night’s king”

Indeed. The amount of times that must have been corrected by folk xD

 

[Vern1961]

Would have been nice if it was not so dark, and i could actually see what was going on lol

This. Fortunately we have a rather nice OLED TV which gives good contrast but the NOW TV broadcast was very murky, sound not that good either.

Overall I was slightly disappointed in the episode. Not up to the Battle Of The Barsterds and most of the time a confused mess. IMHO they should have killed at least a couple of main characters off, not just a few of the supporting cast. This was the most hyped up episode of any show for a long time and rather than being on the edge of my seat I was starting to think, "Are we there yet?" The scary girlfriend at the end with the Night King was kind of, where the heck did she come from as last seen fighting a rearguard action in the catacombs.

It will however be interesting where it goes with Cersei. The army from the south is largely dead, the northern army pretty much routed so any thoughts Dany or Jon might have about getting the Iron Throne might not be readily achievable. Though so far as I can tell they do still have two dragons.

 

[Vexr]

Game of Thrones cinematographer hits back at episode darkness complaints: "People don't know how to tune their TVs"
https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/...es-cinematographer-battle-of-winterfell-dark/

******.

 

[Armageus]

Game of Thrones cinematographer hits back at episode darkness complaints: "People don't know how to tune their TVs"
https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/ustv/...es-cinematographer-battle-of-winterfell-dark/

******.

Lol no - how about just don't compress it to within an inch of it's life and make it full of black artifacty squares

 

[banbom44]

This. Fortunately we have a rather nice OLED TV which gives good contrast but the NOW TV broadcast was very murky, sound not that good either.

Overall I was slightly disappointed in the episode. Not up to the Battle Of The Barsterds and most of the time a confused mess. IMHO they should have killed at least a couple of main characters off, not just a few of the supporting cast. This was the most hyped up episode of any show for a long time and rather than being on the edge of my seat I was starting to think, "Are we there yet?" The scary girlfriend at the end with the Night King was kind of, where the heck did she come from as last seen fighting a rearguard action in the catacombs.

It will however be interesting where it goes with Cersei. The army from the south is largely dead, the northern army pretty much routed so any thoughts Dany or Jon might have about getting the Iron Throne might not be readily achievable. Though so far as I can tell they do still have two dragons.

I agree with this essentially.

I didn't like the episode at all myself. I had a feeling it was going to be an anti-climax and it was. It was way too dark as well. If it had been broadcast on Netflix in HDR / 4k then that would probably have done it justice. But Sky etc are a complete joke when it comes to this.

It seemed like a mopping up exercise to me. Just a rushed attempt to tie up the story of the NK so they can focus on the remaining arcs. The way the NK got so swiftly defeated didn't sit right with me at all. That episode was the first time you actually got to see him in action for a prolonged period. I wanted to see another episode or 2 more of that. Arya just feels like a Mary Sue to me at this point.

Not an episode I'd ever care to re-watch.

How can they flesh out the Night King anymore with three episodes left and how can Arya be a Mary Sue when she is a trained assassin.

 

[FrankJH]

I think Arya will be out of action. Either because of the interaction with the NK or because the Starks and Dani have a falling out and leave her to go after her throne alone with the remnants.

Although Cersei was very much top of her kill list...

I watched the episode just before work today and was thinking about this......has the infection died as soon as the NK died, or is it still active? Bran also got touched ages ago but never got badly hurt....admittedly he isn't Bran anymore but even so.


No army left is there - all the major characters were (seperately) surrounded by the army of the dead before Arya's intervention so there isn't anyone....baring one dragon …...to fight Cersie lol


they aare stretching out every episode really badly imo - Im sure they could have cut 10 minutes from the run time without any tension being lost last night

 

[banbom44]

It was a very solid episode, and a great 90 minutes of TV.

Sure there were bonehead decisions, actions that made no sense and some very tropey moments - but it was a hell of a rollercoaster ride.

Whatever you think of the strategy behind the Dothraki charge - you have to admit that the craft behind it was spectacular. The charge which feels like the opening scene of Gladiator, the little lights slowly winking out one by one, fantastic. Of course it was a bonehead idea, but it gave us a great scene, and imagine trying to direct all these battle scenes with the added complication of horses plus the additional associated cost.

You also have to forgive the writers somewhat - the first 5 seasons they were working off source material prepared by GRRM himself, who spent decades working on this stuff so that the pieces (mostly) fit together. Since then they've been winging it from some bullet points outlining the final plot, if some of the scenes aren't up to early GoT standards then its easy to understand why.

Really your opinion on this episode will depend on how comfortable you are to ignore some of the more obvious problems with it. For me it was a thrilling 90 minutes of TV, a fantastic climax to one of the two main story threads. But if you can't overlook of the issues, and you don't like it, then I can understand that too.

Yeah the Dothraki charge was a bit daft and people moaning that most of the main characters survived people forget its a tv show made for entertainment I like lord of the rings the main characters in that kill hundreds of orcs no one goes those films are rubbish because its unrealistic.

 

[Ugley_Matt]

Great spectacle, but after a while the big fight got boring. And then you started noticing stupid decisions made by the heroes, considering they have some of Westeros best tacticians.

Overall it feels like we've had the world cup final and now all we have left is the third place play off.

 

[manic111]

How can they flesh out the Night King anymore with three episodes left and how can Arya be a Mary Sue when she is a trained assassin.

I'm hoping that whilst Bran was warging, he was going back in time / entering the NK's dreams, and that there's an entire "flashback" episode detailing that. It would flesh out what the NK wanted, what the heck Bran was up to, and possibly why there was such a long knowing look between the two of them.

Arya's not a Mary Sue - as you say, she's a trained assassin. But defeating the evil which has been building up for 8 series by legging it up to him and knifing him once is absurd, particularly given how many wounds all of the good characters have survived through. Yes, I appreciate that the NK is weak to dragonglass, but if that's all it was going to take why not just fly over him with a dragon and drop a massive dragonglass grenade on him ages ago?