Game of Thrones 5/31
- Thread starter LesClaypool
- Start date
Once again, the North making it interesting towards the end of the season.
Very entertaining episode, loved the final 15 minutes or so.
Very entertaining episode, loved the final 15 minutes or so.
Valyrian steel is rare in Westeros and only the great houses have even one sword made from it. The secret was lost in the Doom of Valryia (a giant volcano exploded and killed most of the dragons and the race that the Targaryens came from) but was rumored to require the assistance of real dragon fire (aka what comes from the dragons mouths not the potions).
Jon's is Longclaw the main house sword of the Mormonts given to him when Jeor the former lord commander of the Nights Watch died.
Giant nerd boner while watching this.
Dany/Tyrion meeting was great.
Cersei drinking water off of floor
Sansa finding out her younger bros are alive
Tormund clubbing to death Rattleshirt after he asked if he got on his knees to suck off Snow. Him and Bronn are the 2 biggest bauces on a show full of them.
Jon killing the whitewalker with valyrian steel
The giant curb stomping the wights
Jon better watch his back with Olly
Arya is the baddest little girl of all time, she's about to get medieval on mofos.
Sucks the new wildling chic got killed by the kids, she was kinda hot.
The Nights King was like come at me bro at the end.
Dany/Tyrion meeting was great.
Cersei drinking water off of floor
Sansa finding out her younger bros are alive
Tormund clubbing to death Rattleshirt after he asked if he got on his knees to suck off Snow. Him and Bronn are the 2 biggest bauces on a show full of them.
Jon killing the whitewalker with valyrian steel
The giant curb stomping the wights
Jon better watch his back with Olly
Arya is the baddest little girl of all time, she's about to get medieval on mofos.
Sucks the new wildling chic got killed by the kids, she was kinda hot.
The Nights King was like come at me bro at the end.
That is something the GRRM probably let the show tell us because he kept writing himself away from explaining it... I also think he let the story of Hardhome be told by the show writers with Jon as POV.
A friend who only watches the show but has caught up on the R+L=J didn't think about the Valyrian Steel thing but he brought up something else that I thought was an interesting theory... Is it because Jon is Fire (Targ) and or Ice (Stark) that he is able to harm an Other?
Never ever thought of it that way but interesting theory.
Benjen may be a White Walker or still somewhere out there north of the wall, but I dont think they would waste that reveal on the dead white walker that may have resembled him.
Yup you pretty much summed up my whole take... This was one of the best episodes front to end.
I'm wondering if killing the head dude that brought them to life would somehow negate that advantage.
This is the theory I believe.
Jon does have both fire (Targaryen) and ice (Stark) in his veins but that's not why he was able to kill the white walker, that was longclaw. Obviously his mixed blood is going to come into play (the books are called a song of ice and fire) somehow. How...I'm less sure.
To me it seems the characters are breaking up into ice/fire/earth/and humanity factions. The ice side is the Great Other, Drowned God and Many-Faced God along with the Others/Whitewalkers, Arya and the other Faceless, and the Ironborn followers of the Drowned God. The fire side is R'hllor/Lord of Light, the Storm God, Horse God/Great Stallion along with Melisandre, Daenerys, Tyrion, Stannis, Thoros, Moqorro, and Victarion with the Ironborn followers of the Storm God. The earth faction is the weakest of the three and is basically down to just the "Old Gods" of the North and the Rhoynar in Dorne along with the Children, Bran, Brynden/three eyed crow, some of the Wildlings, Coldhands and the other 79 sentinels. The human faction may not even up being a separate faction it's just that I'm getting a very Babylon 5/Quintara Marathon vibe from this series and think the more humanist factions will side with no one in the cosmic clash going on. If true then the humanist faction includes the Brotherhood without Banners (possibly including Thoros even though at the moment he's a practitioner of R'hllor) and maybe even the various Seven military arms as the Seven seem to either not exist in reality or have taken no interest and abandoned their followers up to now.
So Jon could as owner of both ice and fire blood be the way to stop the wars between ice and fire Sides. Plus he's very pragmatic and could help mend fences with the humanist and Earth sides. The previous war of ice and fire only ended when A Stark (Bran the Builder) married into the Others and set up a way for the two sides to be separated. So something somewhat similar may be at play.
To me it seems the characters are breaking up into ice/fire/earth/and humanity factions. The ice side is the Great Other, Drowned God and Many-Faced God along with the Others/Whitewalkers, Arya and the other Faceless, and the Ironborn followers of the Drowned God. The fire side is R'hllor/Lord of Light, the Storm God, Horse God/Great Stallion along with Melisandre, Daenerys, Tyrion, Stannis, Thoros, Moqorro, and Victarion with the Ironborn followers of the Storm God. The earth faction is the weakest of the three and is basically down to just the "Old Gods" of the North and the Rhoynar in Dorne along with the Children, Bran, Brynden/three eyed crow, some of the Wildlings, Coldhands and the other 79 sentinels. The human faction may not even up being a separate faction it's just that I'm getting a very Babylon 5/Quintara Marathon vibe from this series and think the more humanist factions will side with no one in the cosmic clash going on. If true then the humanist faction includes the Brotherhood without Banners (possibly including Thoros even though at the moment he's a practitioner of R'hllor) and maybe even the various Seven military arms as the Seven seem to either not exist in reality or have taken no interest and abandoned their followers up to now.
So Jon could as owner of both ice and fire blood be the way to stop the wars between ice and fire Sides. Plus he's very pragmatic and could help mend fences with the humanist and Earth sides. The previous war of ice and fire only ended when A Stark (Bran the Builder) married into the Others and set up a way for the two sides to be separated. So something somewhat similar may be at play.
Not sure if that is how I believe the last war ended at least I have not read anything that led me to believe that. I know there was a Stark who married an other when he was the LC of the Nightswatch but the brothers and the realm banded together to defeat and over throw him. That could have been Bran the Builder or just another Bran in the long line of Bran Starks LOL.
Great episode.
The effects and fighting was unreal as well. The white walkers looked super gnarly!
Does this mean winter is here? How often do they attack like this? Can they not swim or handle a boat? Jon and crew seemed very at piece once they got on the water, and the white walkers backed off quick like.
Just curious if anyone knows.
Again...awesome episode all around...loved it!
The effects and fighting was unreal as well. The white walkers looked super gnarly!
Does this mean winter is here? How often do they attack like this? Can they not swim or handle a boat? Jon and crew seemed very at piece once they got on the water, and the white walkers backed off quick like.
Just curious if anyone knows.
Again...awesome episode all around...loved it!
Nothing really about the Others has been explained by GRRM... They have only made a few appearances in the books so we technically know more about them from the show than the book. It could have just been a writing quirk like the guy probably could have frozen the water but if you write that in then you have to pretty much Kill Jon and everyone with him.
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I was expecting the WW leader to freeze an ice bridge during his "Come at me 'Bro" scene, have the newly-risen walkers charge onto it, and roll credits for the week. The resolution during the next episode would be easy: just have the giant smash the ice path and drop the advancing horde into the water and allow a narrow escape.
That would have been a great way to write it up honestly... Only issue was Wun Wun was like "F This I am out of here going to backstroke all the way back to the wall"
I think we can now pencil in characters who are carrying Valyrian steel into encounters with White Walkers/Wights (I keep forgetting which are the leaders and which are the minions). Jon's already engaged and Brienne is on deck since she's in the north and has the portion of Ned's sword that was melted down for Jaime. What happened to the half that was turned into Joffrey's sword? Who else has been confirmed as packing Valyrian heat? Stannis? Martell spear tips?
Mid-post, I got the idea to google, making my questions moot. here's the answer anyway...
http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Valyrian_steel#List_of_known_Valyrian_steel_blades
Took 5 seasons for the walkers to, walk, but better late than never. Tremendous second half last night. IMHO the north is keeping this show alive as anything to do with kings landing is dreadful.
Some interesting other stories but I only care about the north at this point and hope that coverage continues.
Some interesting other stories but I only care about the north at this point and hope that coverage continues.
A couple more spoilers.
It's true that the Nights King doesn't have to be Bran the Builder but another Bran Stark. The people who really pay attention to this are split as to whether the Nights King is truly the Bran the Builder as he was DEFINITELY the 13th Lord Commander of the Nights Watch and they argue that 13 commanders in between the formation of the nights watch and the building of the wall is too long. Although it's clear the Nights Watch existed before the wall and they probably lost quite a few before the wall was built.
But to me, in reviewing the relevant sections in the The World of Ice and Fire and the Old Nan sections from the novels, it looks like there's two distinct wars against the whitewalkers before the current one. The original "Long Night" about 6,000 years before now which ended under mysterious circumstances. According to the WI&F, "How the Long Night came to an end is a matter of legend, as all such matters of the distant path have become. In the a north they tell of a last hero who sought out the intercession of the children of the forest....Alone he finally reached the children, despite the efforts of the whitewalkers, and all agree this was a turning point. Thanks to the children, the first men of the Night's Watch banded together and were able to fight and win the Battle of the Dawn; the last battle that broke the endless winter and sent the Others fleeing to the icy north."
Meanwhile the second is some untold number of years later when the 13th Lord Commander of the Nights Watch married a "corpse queen" usually described precisely as an Other or at least a "sorceress with skin pale as the moon and an icy touch" who together for 13 years carved out a kingdom that consisted of some of the cities near the wall and fortresses that had four walls with soldiers consisting of Others and the Nights Watch. Then "Brandon the Breaker" , the Winter King (and a Stark) along with a wildling chieftain known as Joramun banded together to defeat them and destroyed all of the four walled Night Watch castles. Proponents of the Night King as Bran the Builder say that he agreed to build the wall and fortresses with no walls to the south as a concession so that he and his corpse bride would retreat even further to the north while forever creating a barrier to invasions from both sides. The WI&F is vague and says that the Nights King was "variously a Bolton, a Woodfoot, an Umber, a Flint, a Norrey or even a Stark, depending on where the tale is told."
But to me, in reviewing the relevant sections in the The World of Ice and Fire and the Old Nan sections from the novels, it looks like there's two distinct wars against the whitewalkers before the current one. The original "Long Night" about 6,000 years before now which ended under mysterious circumstances. According to the WI&F, "How the Long Night came to an end is a matter of legend, as all such matters of the distant path have become. In the a north they tell of a last hero who sought out the intercession of the children of the forest....Alone he finally reached the children, despite the efforts of the whitewalkers, and all agree this was a turning point. Thanks to the children, the first men of the Night's Watch banded together and were able to fight and win the Battle of the Dawn; the last battle that broke the endless winter and sent the Others fleeing to the icy north."
Meanwhile the second is some untold number of years later when the 13th Lord Commander of the Nights Watch married a "corpse queen" usually described precisely as an Other or at least a "sorceress with skin pale as the moon and an icy touch" who together for 13 years carved out a kingdom that consisted of some of the cities near the wall and fortresses that had four walls with soldiers consisting of Others and the Nights Watch. Then "Brandon the Breaker" , the Winter King (and a Stark) along with a wildling chieftain known as Joramun banded together to defeat them and destroyed all of the four walled Night Watch castles. Proponents of the Night King as Bran the Builder say that he agreed to build the wall and fortresses with no walls to the south as a concession so that he and his corpse bride would retreat even further to the north while forever creating a barrier to invasions from both sides. The WI&F is vague and says that the Nights King was "variously a Bolton, a Woodfoot, an Umber, a Flint, a Norrey or even a Stark, depending on where the tale is told."
Brianne was the first one I thought of also. I think Tomnen has Widowmaker or whatever Joff's sadistic behind named it. Also, the Wildings are good with bows. Not sure if the Dragonglass kills the Wights or just the White Walkers, but making some arrowheads with it seems like a pretty effective use for the Wildlings.
Yes. But they'll probably recast him IF he ever shows back up. There's been 3 Mountains and recasts of Daario, Beric Dondarion, Myrcella, Rickard Karstark, Selyse, the original High Septon, Tommen, Rattleshirt and more.
I don't think Coldhands is Benjen like a lot of people online. Coldhands has been dead "a long time" and he's probably one of the original 79 sentinels who like the wights in LOTR were sentenced to live forever for abandoning his duty. If we see Benjen alive again it would likely be as an Other or a dead Wight.
Yes. Early on in the first season. He was at Winterfell and Jon left with him when he decided to join the Nights Watch. He was sent out on a Rangers mission and never returned.
I am curious to see going forward how much urgency john snow will have about spreading the immediate threat of the WW to the rest of Westeros. I almost feel like anything that is going on right now in other parts of the world need to stop and come together to fight the dead.
There's been pretty substantial changes already. That battle at Hardhome between the Nightswatch and Wildlings versus the Wights and Others? It didn't happen in the books. In the books, not only has Jon Snow not fought an Other, he hasn't even seen one. At this point only Sam and Gilly have seen them. I'm guessing the climax to the book for Jon Snow
ie that he was killed or at least stabbed into unconsciousness by the Nights Watch when he proposes to send the Night's Watch north to rescue some remaining Wildlings north of the wall at Hardhome
I'm guessing the little rugrat will be the one to stab or otherwise harm or kill Jon in the series
Anyone notice the boat carrying Jon at the end, no one was rowing. I mean everyone dead just got up and no one was freaking rowing. MUST ROW FASTER!
I think that was to reiterate the utter dismay that they were feeling. They couldn't believe...literally couldn't believe what they were seeing and we're basically flabbergasted at the sight. Frozen.
I found it stranger that the swimming giant left no wake.
