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

[Scrutinize]

Yeah, the overall plan: I agree. But I didn't see anything that suggested that the battlefield leaders agreed to pointless squander their troops in order to set it up. I also don't see how they had to lose, rather they needed to set up a situation in which the Night King could reach Bran whilst the rest of the battle raged.

The NK and WWs strolled in there like they had already won. That was the set up.

They knew the armies would be ineffective and the ending showed just how much when the NK raised all the fallen.

If they had destroyed the NK's army then it would have been unlikely he would have reached Bran, rather retreated to rebuild for however long. It had to end there. When the victory is assured all will be sacrificed. Everything was a distraction to allow Arya to kill the NK which was the prophecy coming to pass.

Bran was totally calm even down to the way he thanked Theon, and in the context this was an impassioned motivational thankyou.

 

[Malevolence]

 

[Mr Jack]

If they had destroyed the NK's army then it would have been unlikely he would have reached Bran, rather retreated to rebuild for however long. It had to end there. When the victory is assured all will be sacrificed.

I'm not convinced that having everyone slaughtered was necessary, or that this was what people other than Bran were onboard for. On the former point; they've a goddamn castle. Fortify, defend, let yourself get surrounded and dig in for the long haul so you can survive. You don't need to get your entire army slaughtered to leave Bran undefended. That's the tactical reason to stick him in the Godswood, surely? On the second point: if they were onboard, why leave so many innocents there? Why commit so much of your forces? Why not send Sensa, Tyrion, etc. south with half the armies to fight another day? Perhaps to Castle Cerwyn?

Everything was a distraction to allow Arya to kill the NK which was the prophecy coming to pass.

Bran was totally calm even down to the way he thanked Theon, and in the context this was an impassioned motivational thankyou.

From the Bran/3ER perspective, I agree.

 

[Somnambulist]

I don't think Bran saw the exact manner of victory in the same way he can see the past - he can view what's happened in the past as long as there was a weirwood tree to witness it - he's the living memory of mankind, but as with other characters (more frequent in the books), he can only see abstract snippets of future events in dreams.

He knew the dagger was important because of it's history and maybe had some inkling it had a role to play, but I don't think he saw every chain of events in the battle that would lead to that exact use of it. He didn't know if dragon fire would work, because it had never been tried before, so it's either that he had no idea, or he was displaying a rather human trait of outright lying, already knowing it wouldn't work and that doesn't seem to be consistent with his 3ER personality now where he either says nothing, or just says what needs to be said.

 

[rubberduck]

I do enjoy the way people point out that it was 'so obvious' how things were going to pan out yet rarely link their prediction posts I genuinely thought the NK had headed to KL so was quite wrong in what happened. Also the armchair military strategists pointing out how underutilized the trebuchet were should realise they don't fire quite as fast as they do on age of empires etc.

 

[Scrutinize]

Snip.......From the Bran/3ER perspective, I agree.

Bran as the 3ER has been steering the need to fight the NK as an all in battle for the living for a long time.

We may find out the reasons in the remaining episodes and exactly how much Bran had foreseen but the motivation was clear as was everything coming to pass as foretold and/or as it had to be.

I agree that the decisions in the battle given previous battles and strategies which showed much more competency were very poor and there could have been many other options; but the overarching assumption has to be be that for the NK's death to happen, everything else had to play out as it did and all the forces/people had to be there. Bran said as such to various characters i.e. your decisions led to here.

Equally the Lord of Light was steering characters and decisions and as individuals completed their purpose they died.

 

[Mr Jack]

Equally the Lord of Light was steering characters and decisions and as individuals completed their purpose they died.

Do you think the Lord of Light (and, indeed, the other gods) are real?

I like the idea that everything is just the interests of their priests playing out, and what Melisandra, etc. think is their god is really them doing magic that they don't properly understand.

 

[v0n]

We knew they can't do justice to 6 seasons of R.R. Martin's plots and characters in 6 episodes, no matter how they spin it. The simple truth is - we will never be (fully) happy with any outcome they can wrap up in 7 hours. Just like death of Littlefinger before him and demise of Cersei after him, the end of Night King was never possible to be presented as fully satisfying, GoT-ish, complicated plot with all the nuances in the time given. The story is clearly being driven towards "better than nothing" happy end and if it doesn't feel like GoT it's because it isn't. It isn't the story we started watching 8 years ago. No amount of money thrown at George can make him flesh out his ideas and plots on time. No amount of money thrown at Weiss and Benioff can make them rise to the occasion and write coherent, satisfying plot instead of George. No amount of money thrown at the bunch of no-previous-memorable-roles actors can make them stay until scribes come up with plot worthy of the time we invested in this show and fame we offered to these people and their work. It's just the way things are done now.

This "almost average" stuff is the best we are going to get. At least it's better than Lost, Walking Dead, new Star Wars, etc.

 

[Scrutinize]

Do you think the Lord of Light (and, indeed, the other gods) are real?

I like the idea that everything is just the interests of their priests playing out, and what Melisandra, etc. think is their god is really them doing magic that they don't properly understand.

Difficult one, not sure.

It's a D&D fantasy world with magic, dragons, undead/warg, demi-gods/priests, gods (worshiped) etc etc but without going full nerd.

Like Nolan's Batman to the full DC superheroes/aliens universe.

 

[Bubo]

I am just going to wait of Ozzy Man Reviews' take on the episode I think, or Alt Shift X's review if you;re that way inclined.

 

[toshj]

There's a difference between tying up every single plotline which I agree is a waste of time, and tying up one of the two massive plotlines which has spanned 8 full series with a proper explanation.

Whilst I agree that an explanation would be nice - or rather, a more fleshed-out arc in the more recent seasons - to use one of the three remaining episodes to show a flashback of a character with such little screen time is a laughable suggestion.

 

[ZG002]

I am just going to wait of Ozzy Man Reviews' take on the episode I think, or Alt Shift X's review if you;re that way inclined.

Check the tube, it's on there.

 

[manic111]

Whilst I agree that an explanation would be nice - or rather, a more fleshed-out arc in the more recent seasons - to use one of the three remaining episodes to show a flashback of a character with such little screen time is a laughable suggestion.

Save that it would explain why so many people have sacrificed so much for so long to fight this evil. All of the characters we care about have been affected heavily by the NK - It would be nice to know why beyond "yeah he's just nasty".

And it would be less dumb than a frantic rush to King's Landing for a wholly unnecessary and largely irrelevant last battle with a mean lady.

 

[Bubo]

Check the tube, it's on there.

Yeah just watched, hilarious as always, and pretty much matches my view perfectly.

 

[robfosters]

How will Cersei bring down the dragons? Qyburn’s scorpion barely injured Drogon. They don’t have any magic spears or ice dragons on their side.

Surely Drogon and Rheagal could reduce Euron’s fleet to a pile of kindling in minutes.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

How will Cersei bring down the dragons? Qyburn’s scorpion barely injured Drogon. They don’t have any magic spears or ice dragons on their side.

Surely Drogon and Rheagal could reduce Euron’s fleet to a pile of kindling in minutes.

They have had plenty of time to develop something new though. Qynurn seems pretty resourceful. I hope it isn’t the case and they all get burnt to a crisp.

 

[Mr Jack]

How will Cersei bring down the dragons? Qyburn’s scorpion barely injured Drogon. They don’t have any magic spears or ice dragons on their side.

One Scorpion hurt Drogon, you've got to think they've built more by now.

 

[CaptainRAVE]

One Scorpion hurt Drogon, you've got to think they've built more by now.

I can’t imagine both dragons surviving. The final episodes will be brutal. It'll be a shame if they don’t survive though.

 

[robfosters]

They have had plenty of time to develop something new though. Qynurn seems pretty resourceful. I hope it isn’t the case and they all get burnt to a crisp.

I’ve always wondered if Dany uses Drogon to cook her toast.

 

[Captain]

I think Drogon will be the only remaining dragon, khaleesi on the throne, Tyrion and Jon snow by her side with her last remaining dragon.

As I said before, Drogon has been the biggest part of khaleesi’ story, so he should definitely survive.