A Game of Thrones (contains spoilers)

[jpotter33]

Man what a great one. What a top level battle. No unexpected twist though was surprised the writer's did not include any. Still S6/E9>Finals Game 7.

Yeah, thank God this was an episode full of good things happening. I couldn't take any more bad things happening after that Finals game lol

I was really hoping the Umber plot was going to happen. But I'm glad that the Knights of the Vale came and saved the day.

Do you think we'll see any of Bran or the White Walkers next episode? It didn't show anything in the previews, but from what everyone thinks the Army of the Dead is going to reach the Wall or something - hence the "Winds of Winter" title with the book.

[fairweatherfan]

I was really hoping the Umber plot was going to happen. But I'm glad that the Knights of the Vale came and saved the day.

One of my least favorite things about the past 2 seasons is that every time it seems like there's some kind of subterfuge or secret plotting happening it never pans out and turns out everything was exactly as it seemed.  The most egregious example was Doran Martell being exactly the clueless schmuck his enemies thought rather than having his own designs years in the making.  The Umbers repeatedly refusing to pledge loyalty seems completely pointless now.


I did like the episode though.  Cersei torching the place seems very likely given the pointed repetition of the Mad King's wildfire stash story.

[jpotter33]

I was really hoping the Umber plot was going to happen. But I'm glad that the Knights of the Vale came and saved the day.

One of my least favorite things about the past 2 seasons is that every time it seems like there's some kind of subterfuge or secret plotting happening it never pans out and turns out everything was exactly as it seemed.  The most egregious example was Doran Martell being exactly the clueless schmuck his enemies thought rather than having his own designs years in the making.  The Umbers repeatedly refusing to pledge loyalty seems completely pointless now.


I did like the episode though.  Cersei torching the place seems very likely given the pointed repetition of the Mad King's wildfire stash story.

Yeah, I agree about the Cersei storyline. The question is how does that affect Daenerys' storyline? She comes over to a burnt King's Landing, and then what? I'm guessing the White Walkers and army of the dead breach the wall, and that's where Daenerys' horde heads to help her kin in Jon.

Also, it'll be interesting to see what happens to Cersei. It's hard to see them killing most of the King's Landing characters off, because that would take a lot of the intrigue away from the final two or so seasons.

And what is the deal with the Dorne storyline?? That's one of my only complaints about the show. They've really been disconnected from Dorne, even after the mutiny and overthrow of the government. It seems they strayed too far from the books and left too much out. I feel like we haven't even heard anything about Dorne in 6 episodes.

[fairweatherfan]

Dorne seems to just be there to ally with Danaerys when she comes over.  But that whole plot line has been a horrible mess from the jump, so I'm not sorry to see it dropped for so long.

With Danaerys and King's Landing, I think the series has been building toward an endgame where the Iron Throne is completely moot.  Torching the capital would be a big step toward that, and making the White Walkers seem completely unstoppable when they breach the wall.

[guava_wrench]

Is anyone else eager to see how the dragons react to Jon Snow?

[jpotter33]

Is anyone else eager to see how the dragons react to Jon Snow?

Yeah, if R + L = J is true, then he'll probably be as capable around them as Tyrion, which would further point to the fact of them being the three dragon riders or whatever.

[Moranis]

Show didn't have the budget to do Dorne and Iron Islands simultaneously so they broke them up. Last season was Dorne this season was Iron Islands.  That is why it seems disjointed.

[A Future of Stevens]

Dorne seems to just be there to ally with Danaerys when she comes over.  But that whole plot line has been a horrible mess from the jump, so I'm not sorry to see it dropped for so long.

With Danaerys and King's Landing, I think the series has been building toward an endgame where the Iron Throne is completely moot.  Torching the capital would be a big step toward that, and making the White Walkers seem completely unstoppable when they breach the wall.

Yea dorme has been a mess. They will probably study this specific story arc adaptation in film classes to see what not to do when adapting source material.

The show runners have done well in alot of the stories, but they have dropped the ball hard on dorne. In the books, dorme is this subtle plot that has been years in the making by Doran martell, and the show kills him in an instant. They took one of the best, subtle arcs in the book that's turning into a psunami, and stripped away everything that made it great.

[Moranis]

Dorne seems to just be there to ally with Danaerys when she comes over.  But that whole plot line has been a horrible mess from the jump, so I'm not sorry to see it dropped for so long.

With Danaerys and King's Landing, I think the series has been building toward an endgame where the Iron Throne is completely moot.  Torching the capital would be a big step toward that, and making the White Walkers seem completely unstoppable when they breach the wall.

Yea dorme has been a mess. They will probably study this specific story arc adaptation in film classes to see what not to do when adapting source material.

The show runners have done well in alot of the stories, but they have dropped the ball hard on dorne. In the books, dorme is this subtle plot that has been years in the making by Doran martell, and the show kills him in an instant. They took one of the best, subtle arcs in the book that's turning into a psunami, and stripped away everything that made it great.

except you don't know what all that scheming really gets him because it isn't concluded.  What we do know, is that scheming led to the death of his son and the kidnapping of the Princess.  Easy to see that Doran Martell really isn't as smart as he thought he was and it all backfire in a gigantic pile of flames (similar to Cersei Lannister) and rather then waste resources developing all this meaningless backstory they just kill him off.   

[kne]

To be true to their roots Arya should bleed out and die. To many people are coming back or surviving what should have been sure death. Kind of getting to Hollywood I prefer the unpredictable.

people don't die on the show without a purpose.  If arya died, her entire storyline would be a waste of time as it does nothing to push the core story forward.   She will live.

I read this interesting theory on Arya and the Waif on WIRED a few days ago:

http://www.wired.com/2016/06/crazy-game-thrones-theory-ill-bet-right/

Wondering what you think. Intriguing at least, right?
 

[Moranis]

To be true to their roots Arya should bleed out and die. To many people are coming back or surviving what should have been sure death. Kind of getting to Hollywood I prefer the unpredictable.

people don't die on the show without a purpose.  If arya died, her entire storyline would be a waste of time as it does nothing to push the core story forward.   She will live.

I read this interesting theory on Arya and the Waif on WIRED a few days ago:

http://www.wired.com/2016/06/crazy-game-thrones-theory-ill-bet-right/

Wondering what you think. Intriguing at least, right?

I don't buy it.

[Jon]

It's an interesting theory. I just feel like two big things are being overlooked:

1) The Arya storyline is too big for her to be dead.  It's a complete fallacy that Game of Thrones kills off major characters.  To be honest, it doesn't even trick us into thinking characters who die were really that big to begin with.  It was heavily foreshadowed that Ned was too ethically pure to survive in King's Landing and Rob was never enough of a compelling character to ever be considered a main character.  The whole Arya story arc has been about how she can't actually give up who she is.  I think the far more likely scenario is that she's heading back to Westeros to kill Walder Frey and play a role in everything that will transpire after.

2) As for Jaqen, I agree that it's odd what he does.  It could be lazy writing.  It seems a lot of bit with the Waif may have been lazy story writing by the show's creators.  However, if it's not that, could it be that Jaqen has realized that the Faceless Men have lost their way?  They were supposed to be an order that took out evil people when they first started.  Killing Lady Crane would have been about greed.  Could it be that Jaqen now views Arya as ready to play the role she'll need to play in helping to save Westeros? 

It still doesn't make sense that he said she's "no one," unless that just means that she's ready to fight.  And that certainly wasn't the case when she first arrived in Braavos. 

[jpotter33]

It's an interesting theory. I just feel like two big things are being overlooked:

1) The Arya storyline is too big for her to be dead.  It's a complete fallacy that Game of Thrones kills off major characters.  To be honest, it doesn't even trick us into thinking characters who die were really that big to begin with.  It was heavily foreshadowed that Ned was too ethically pure to survive in King's Landing and Rob was never enough of a compelling character to ever be considered a main character.  The whole Arya story arc has been about how she can't actually give up who she is.  I think the far more likely scenario is that she's heading back to Westeros to kill Walder Frey and play a role in everything that will transpire after.

2) As for Jaqen, I agree that it's odd what he does.  It could be lazy writing.  It seems a lot of bit with the Waif may have been lazy story writing by the show's creators.  However, if it's not that, could it be that Jaqen has realized that the Faceless Men have lost their way?  They were supposed to be an order that took out evil people when they first started.  Killing Lady Crane would have been about greed.  Could it be that Jaqen now views Arya as ready to play the role she'll need to play in helping to save Westeros? 

It still doesn't make sense that he said she's "no one," unless that just means that she's ready to fight.  And that certainly wasn't the case when she first arrived in Braavos.

Yeah, I agree. It's hard to see where Arya's storyline goes from here, but it makes even less sense for that really to be the Waif, since she only really served the purpose to be an antagonist for Arya.

It will be interesting to see what role Arya plays from here on out, because she's not really that connected to anyone in Westeros anymore outside of the Hound. Maybe she comes back and her and the Hound team up to take down the Mountain?

[Moranis]

It's an interesting theory. I just feel like two big things are being overlooked:

1) The Arya storyline is too big for her to be dead.  It's a complete fallacy that Game of Thrones kills off major characters.  To be honest, it doesn't even trick us into thinking characters who die were really that big to begin with.  It was heavily foreshadowed that Ned was too ethically pure to survive in King's Landing and Rob was never enough of a compelling character to ever be considered a main character.  The whole Arya story arc has been about how she can't actually give up who she is.  I think the far more likely scenario is that she's heading back to Westeros to kill Walder Frey and play a role in everything that will transpire after.

2) As for Jaqen, I agree that it's odd what he does.  It could be lazy writing.  It seems a lot of bit with the Waif may have been lazy story writing by the show's creators.  However, if it's not that, could it be that Jaqen has realized that the Faceless Men have lost their way?  They were supposed to be an order that took out evil people when they first started.  Killing Lady Crane would have been about greed.  Could it be that Jaqen now views Arya as ready to play the role she'll need to play in helping to save Westeros? 

It still doesn't make sense that he said she's "no one," unless that just means that she's ready to fight.  And that certainly wasn't the case when she first arrived in Braavos.

I thought he said that to her to see if she was ready to join the order.  Her answer said she wasn't so he let her go since the Order got the life it needed (it was just the waif instead of Arya).

[Casperian]

This episode confirms for me that things will play out differently in the book. For example, Sansa hasn't even met Ramsay in the books, yet, and here she's watching him get eaten by his dogs. Just like Melisandre is still with Stannis at Winterfell, and not at the wall to resurrect Jon.

I wouldn't call this season disappointing, it has been fun to watch, but it's obvious the writers have a hard time writing the series without the books. Many small things that make little to no sense for the books, and lots of filler is creeping into the series.