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

[dowie]

I'll spilt into a second post as the above is ref a different topic and contains alleged spoilers that could be revealed if post quoted.

They were at the inn at the crossroads, not Winterfell. The scene was still poor though.

They weren't, the inn at the crossroads is nowhere near Winterfell, like several days ride away.

They were just in a pub/inn near to Winterfell.

But the trouble with that is the location makes no sense other than to get the writers out of the 'how did Bron get into Winterfell with a blummin big crossbow?' problem. It was a clumsy scene from start to finish, and Bron deserved better.

If you think back to the first season when they first visited Tyrion was rather fond of drinking (and whoring) in the village near Winterfell, I'm not sure why it doesn't make sense that he'd maybe fancy going to the pub for a drink?

 

[FrankJH]

My thinking is; three dragons would have made pretty short work of the Red Keep - Danny’s forces wouldn’t have had to mount a full-scale assault on the walls so wouldn’t have sustained massive losses and, without an ice-dragon, the NK’s advance south would have been much slower, giving Danny time to take KL and then head north.

Based on E4, the battle with the NK wasn’t as devastating to Danny’s forces as it appeared in E3. Didn’t Greyworm say they still had half the Dothraki and Unsullied? Not sure where you got 10% from. Also she could well have still had three dragons to face the NK…

The dragons wouldn't have gotten close with those huge ground based cross bows, which already existed for some time remember - the ONLY way anything would have happened is either starve Cercei out (obviously would take too long) or attack from the ground and lose 3/4 of her army

Danny may well have lost a dragon or two anyway from those bows

The NK already had a giant which would have probably demolished a lot of the wall the old fashioned way


Bran flying with the birds came to nothing, so wouldn't be surprised if he controls a dragon (ignoring the size difference etc hahaha)

 

[Minusorange]

both miles behind Rome and Deadwood, IMO

I haven't watched either so they don't count

Another idea to make Bran useful, have him warg into Euron and kill Cersei, or have him warg into Cersei and kill herself or even warg into the Mountain and kill everyone

 

[Midlife Crisis]

What about flying really high and then diving down into the middle of Kings Landing? or have they defences inside the walls as well? or do the scorpions rotate 360 XXXXed if I know

 

[neoboy]

I haven't watched either so they don't count

Another idea to make Bran useful, have him warg into Euron and kill Cersei, or have him warg into Cersei and kill herself or even warg into the Mountain and kill everyone

Bran to warg into a version of himself with working legs and still continue to do nothing?

 

[FrankJH]

You seriously think that GOT is up there with Band of Brothers? I mean it's good, but BOB is virtually flawless. I know it's nowhere near the length of GOT so doesn't have to fill as many episodes but it's not even in the same league.

nothing against BoB , have it on BR and really like it. but the length of GoT and the amount of major characters at one point or another is why its so complex to keep together. Not to mention the TV series has to keep away from any possible paths (or give aways) to what Martin wants to do for the final book (s) .

for that reason GoT is far superior

 

[Nitefly]

I haven't watched either so they don't count

Another idea to make Bran useful, have him warg into Euron and kill Cersei, or have him warg into Cersei and kill herself or even warg into the Mountain and kill everyone

He’s more likely to warg into an actual mountain and sit there doing nothing for thousands of years.

 

[ianh]

Talking about who wins - based purely on how "good" they've been in battle I'd say Euron should get it -

• Killed the ruler of the Iron Islands to become their leader
• Forces an alliance with Cersi
  
• Beat Dani's Iron Island/Dorn fleet by attacking in bad weather
  
• Personally killed the 2 of the 3 Sand Snakes in hand to hand combat
  
• Kidnapped the last Sand Snake and their Mother for Cersi
• Kidnapped Yara
• Brought the Golden Company to Westeros
• Worked his way into Cersi's pants (a mental victory)
  
• Killed a flying dragon (the only human alive to do so) with a 100% hit rate on his catapult at long range
  
• Beaten Dani's fleet for a second and final time by hiding his fleet in plain sight and without taking a single casualty

and all of that just within 2 seasons and 2 episodes and he's done ALL of that without a single lost battle, mistake made or mis-step of any kind anywhere (Yara was rescued when he wasn't there) which must easily make him the best "battle commander" in the entire series, but it also makes him the least "believable" 2 dimensional character (great acting though) compared those fleshed out characters in the books*, and more like a TV only 'deus ex machina' for the writers to neutralise Dani's power when ever they want.

* - yes he's in the books but he's still just a pirate by the end of the last book, just like at the end of Season 5, and has done nothing else yet.

 

[banbom44]

That makes no sense, they're not going to change a story to some sub-par version they previously rejected just because a few people on the internet have read a spoiler.

I'd take these things with a pinch of salt tbh.. some of it seems plausible but I think most of these things are a case of lots of people coming up with good guesses and then lots of focus put on the ones that have had good guesses so far.

I mean the things from there that I'd have already expected and which have already been mentioned in this thread are:

Spoiler: ref supposed spoilers/leaks

Cleganebowl
Danny going mental - I mean seems quite likely she'll destroy the Red Keep given the vision from several series ago and Jon wouldn't be too happy with her. Not sure about him supposedly killing her though.

also as of last weeks episode:

Spoiler: ref supposed spoilers/leaks

Vary's isn't happy with her anymore and so him betraying her and getting executed for it is quite plausible, that would certainly annoy Tyrion

They were spot on with episode 4 people have probably read the leaks for episode 5 and 6 and thought that sounds crap and knowing dumb and dumber Benioff and Weiss only they could write and ending that bad them two idiots are going to be directing the new star Wars trilogy I think lol if you thought the Last Jedi was bad.

 

[Random Guy Esq.]

They weren't, the inn at the crossroads is nowhere near Winterfell, like several days ride away.

They were just in a pub/inn near to Winterfell.

Yeah, already been through all this with another poster. Thanks.

 

[Double07]

nothing against BoB , have it on BR and really like it. but the length of GoT and the amount of major characters at one point or another is why its so complex to keep together. Not to mention the TV series has to keep away from any possible paths (or give aways) to what Martin wants to do for the final book (s) .

for that reason GoT is far superior

You have watched the last couple of seasons of drawn out borderline drivel right? Yes, the first few seasons were excellent but it has passed its peak some time ago and has just been a money making exercise for at least 3 years now. I've read all the books, more than once, so I'm not anti GOT by any stretch but the TV show is a classic example of a network wringing every last penny from a show before its overdue demise. It less political intrigue now and just crappy CGI and ham faced acting in the form of Snow/Daenerys. There are still occasional glimpses of quality but they are too few and far between to save it now.

 

[ianh]

I've read all the books, more than once, so I'm not anti GOT by any stretch but the TV show is a classic example of a network wringing every last penny from a show before its overdue demise. It less political intrigue now and just crappy CGI and ham faced acting in the form of Snow/Daenerys. There are still occasional glimpses of quality but they are too few and far between to save it now.

The "richness" of the characters and their stories/lives for the first 5 seasons hasn't been matched anywhere near as well in 6-8 for me. I mean there's still flashes of brilliant screen-writing but the depth seems much shallower now which, for me, is really odd because some of my favourite parts (Tywin and Arya's chats for example) were purely screen-written, rather than brought over from the books, so if the screen writers can make amazing scripts for Tywin/Arya why have they now dropped so far in quality so quickly for seasons 6-8?

 

[Andrew_McP]

some of my favourite parts (Tywin and Arya's chats for example) were purely screen-written

Yes, there were quite a few times in the early series where I genuinely thought they'd improved Martin's ideas; I suspect getting 'lucky' with casting helps... Tywin was inspired. But goodness only knows where that went. Maybe they -- like Martin -- just ran out of creative inspiration.

Jobbing creatives rarely get so much power for so long over one franchise. Or maybe behind the scenes they were hamstrung by actors demanding too much money, HBO demanding results, scheduling issues for talent etc and.... it's easy to imagine how they just fell into this messy ending.

I now find myself more interested in hearing about the Game of Game of Thrones than the rest of the show itself. The real behind the scenes gosssip, once the dust settles, may put Littlefinger & Varys to shame.

 

[neoboy]

That would make for a decent HBO documentary.

 

[rubberduck]

Out of interest now the NK is dead has winter gone away? I thought it started to snow in KL when Jamie left to go north so should be well in to winter at this point. At the end of E4 it didn't look very wintery. If winter is no longer a thing then the final book/episode being 'a dream of spring' doesn't make much sense.

 

[Tombstone]

Out of interest now the NK is dead has winter gone away? I thought it started to snow in KL when Jamie left to go north so should be well in to winter at this point. At the end of E4 it didn't look very wintery. If winter is no longer a thing then the final book/episode being 'a dream of spring' doesn't make much sense.

Lets face it, at this stage it wouldnt be the only thing that doesnt make much sense.

"That doesnt make much sense" is increasingly becoming the most common thing said in our household during episodes.

 

[Nitefly]

The "richness" of the characters and their stories/lives for the first 5 seasons hasn't been matched anywhere near as well in 6-8 for me. I mean there's still flashes of brilliant screen-writing but the depth seems much shallower now which, for me, is really odd because some of my favourite parts (Tywin and Arya's chats for example) were purely screen-written, rather than brought over from the books, so if the screen writers can make amazing scripts for Tywin/Arya why have they now dropped so far in quality so quickly for seasons 6-8?

Is it perhaps a nature of the increased scale of many of the scenes? Common beefs seem to be around “why didn’t they fire the arrows” “why didn’t she see the ships” “why did the Dothraki run off” - all things which aren’t necessarily ‘written’ beyond “there be a big battle” or whatever. The rest is directing / green screen / effects / design decisions. Sitting around a table is bit more... robust, in the sense that there is less that can be deemed to be ‘silly’.

People clearly don’t like some of the current ‘chat scenes’ though, I acknowledge that.

 

[ianh]

Is it perhaps a nature of the increased scale of many of the scenes? Common beefs seem to be around “why didn’t they fire the arrows”............................

I agree with those "lack of common sense" beefs because the writers, now the end is in sight, do seem to be making up anything "physical plot" wise (such as where certain things/characters need to be or have things happen to them etc) regardless of how "silly" it obviously is to 90%+ of the fans, yet we still get a scene like the Varys/Tyrion discussion which was "character plot" that was well done - So how can the same writers have such a vastly different quality of writing in the same episode, I just don't know.

 

[rubberduck]

People are confusing 'bad writing' with 'bad directing as a result of extreme story truncation'.

 

[Nitefly]

I agree with those "lack of common sense" beefs because the writers, now the end is in sight, do seem to be making up anything "physical plot" wise (such as where certain things/characters need to be or have things happen to them etc) regardless of how "silly" it obviously is to 90%+ of the fans, yet we still get a scene like the Varys/Tyrion discussion which was "character plot" that was well done - So how can the same writers have such a vastly different quality of writing in the same episode, I just don't know.

I think it’s probably the directing rather than the writing you have an issue with, as I suggested above (albeit not expressly).