Game of Thrones (TV, fantasy) Thread

[MirrorMask]

Mike Portnoy should have asked friends in the music business to be around him at the studios when he was keeping secret the Sons of Apollo lineup just to throw fans off.

 

[Adami]

I wonder how nuts they went. Like, maybe they filmed 6-8 different endings and just never told anyone what the real one is. That way only the directors/writers/editors etc know the actual ending, and not even the actors.

Still hoping Davos gets to ride a dragon.

[Chino]

I want to see the dead Starks in the crypts rise and join the White Walkers on their way through Winterfell

[MirrorMask]

Anyway, just saw the trailer: the entire Westeros is going to frozen shit, but Cersei still finds time to drink. Unbelievable 

(The scenes during the Blackwater battle when she's drunk like a sunk and trolls a scared Sansa talking about sex and pussy are glorious and an unintended comic relief)

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

I think I will avoid the trailer, my hype can only go so far.

[cramx3]

I think I will avoid the trailer, my hype can only go so far.

I said that this morning and I'm holding myself back. I expect to break once someone asks me to my face about the trailer 

I want to see the dead Starks in the crypts rise and join the White Walkers on their way through Winterfell

There's definitely some interesting stuff to come out of the crypts I think.  Being that the teaser focused on the crypts and it's believed that some old Stark secrets are likely hidden down there... but I didn't think of raising the dead.  That would be interesting.  We know Ned is down there, maybe Sean Bean is making a cameo this season.

[MirrorMask]

Ned Stark has been beheaded and his bones were delivered to Catelyn by Littlefinger (when she was camping with Renly's army) in a coffin / box too small to contain the remains of an adult man without a head. I assume there's a limit to the way a body can be useful even if restored to life.

[cramx3]

Ned Stark has been beheaded and his bones were delivered to Catelyn by Littlefinger (when she was camping with Renly's army) in a coffin / box too small to contain the remains of an adult man without a head. I assume there's a limit to the way a body can be useful even if restored to life.

I forgot he was chopped up  I was thinking of the stone statue of him in the crypts we saw.

But we have seen the dead rise as skeletons so I guess if it has a head, it's possible for the other starks to rise.

[faizoff]

The episode lengths were figured out and posted on reddit, looks like the last 3 episodes are going to be the longest.

E1 - 54min
E2 - 58min
E3 - 1hr
E4 - 1hr 18min
E5 - 1hr 20min
E6 - 1hr 20min

Total Runtime: 410min (6hr 50min)

Just over a month left.

[MirrorMask]

I've read that the Battle of Winterfell is the third episode.

I wonder how they'll "bide time" in the first two, I mean, the White Walkers breached the Wall and they're going south so it's gonna be a relatively short distance to Winterfell.

Anyway, anyone up for a game of who lives and who dies? there are already on the web graphics to print to mark your choices 

[lordxizor]

I predict it will end with a complete mindfuck and it's either Cersei or the white walkers who win in the end. All the good guys die.

[MirrorMask]

My predictions based on the main cast as listed on the Wiki page for the season:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones_(season_8)

Tyrion lives.
Jaimie dies as a hero.
Cersei dies, killed by Jaimie.
Dany lives but doesn't get the Iron Throne.
Jon Snow lives but has to make a pact with the White Walkers and goes off to live beyond the wall.
Davos lives.
Sansa dies at the battle of Winterfell.
Arya lives (or I will hunt down the writers).
Theon dies as a hero.
Missandei dies.
Brienne lives.
Samwell lives and he's the one telling the whole story.
Bran fucks off to another plane of existance and screws up the whole Westeros (but not before warging into a dragon).
The Hound dies but kills the Mountain.
Varys dies.
Melisande dies.
Tormund lives through sheer badassery.
Gilly lives.
Bronn lives and gets a castle.
Gendry lives and marries Arya.
Jorah lives and becomes the 1000th Night's Watch Commander.

[Prog Snob]

I want to see the dead Starks in the crypts rise and join the White Walkers on their way through Winterfell

The crypts will undoubtedly play a big part in the books, but I'm not sure just how deep the show will go with them. Some say that is what Arya is running from in the beginning of the trailer - a risen Stark. Others say it's a wight and she's leading them to a trap. The crypts are magical and maybe they'll have the same effect on wights as did Bloodraven's cave. I like the idea that it's Nymeria who was killed and turned by the Night King, though that is not likely.

A separate issue - did anyone notice the sword Jorah had in the trailer in the scene where he is on horseback? It looks a lot like Heartsbane. It would make perfect sense. Sam won't be fighting.

[MrBoom_shack-a-lack]

My predictions based on the main cast as listed on the Wiki page for the season:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_of_Thrones_(season_8)

Tyrion lives.
Jaimie dies as a hero.
Cersei dies, killed by Jaimie.
Dany lives but doesn't get the Iron Throne.
Jon Snow lives but has to make a pact with the White Walkers and goes off to live beyond the wall.
Davos lives.
Sansa dies at the battle of Winterfell.
Arya lives (or I will hunt down the writers).
Theon dies as a hero.
Missandei dies.
Brienne lives and marries Tormund
Samwell lives and he's the one telling the whole story.
Bran fucks off to another plane of existance and screws up the whole Westeros (but not before warging into a dragon).
The Hound dies but kills the Mountain.
Varys dies.
Melisande dies.
Tormund lives through sheer badassery and marries Brienne
Gilly lives.
Bronn lives and gets a castle.
Gendry lives and marries Arya.
Jorah lives and becomes the 1000th Night's Watch Commander.

My two cents.

[gmillerdrake]

Tyrion lives. - Agreed...yet I add that he becomes Lord of Winterfell
Jaimie dies as a hero. - Agreed
Cersei dies, killed by Jaimie. Killed by Dragon Fire
Dany lives but doesn't get the Iron Throne. - Dany (and Drogon) Die
Jon Snow lives but has to make a pact with the White Walkers and goes off to live beyond the wall.  Agreed
Davos lives.  Agreed
Sansa dies at the battle of Winterfell.  Sansa Lives and is Lord of Winterfell since she's still technically Tyrion's wife
Arya lives And Marries Gendry and becomes Queen
Theon dies as a hero. Agreed
Missandei dies.  Agreed
Brienne lives.  Dies saving Jamie
Samwell lives and he's the one telling the whole story.  100% Agree
Bran is just still the 3 eyed raven after it all
The Hound dies but kills the Mountain.  Agreed
Varys dies.  Vary's lives, Hand of the King
Melisande dies.  Agreed
Tormund lives through sheer badassery.  Agreed
Gilly lives.   Agreed
Bronn lives and gets a castle.   Agreed
Gendry lives and marries Arya. and is Crowned the King
Jorah lives and becomes the 1000th Night's Watch Commander.  Agreed

[Indiscipline]

Tormund lives through sheer badassery ... and gets Brienne.

[cramx3]

Tormund lives through sheer badassery ... and gets Brienne.

 

[Adami]

I really hope this show doesn't go all fan fiction on us.

If the writers room goes "oohhhh wouldn't it be cool if...." I am against it.

[cramx3]

Well, they kind of have already, I'm sure there will be some.  They will end it the same overall being they know the ending but I'm sure things like Cleganebowl might happen in the show but not in the books (if they were to even be finished).

Which makes me think, is it even fan fiction if the books are never completed and this was the only ending we get?

[MirrorMask]

Which makes me think, is it even fan fiction if the books are never completed and this was the only ending we get?

I think that eventually, in 2-3 years, we'll get The Winds of Winter.

I'm not so sure about A Dream of Spring.

And about the ending..... I wonder how much they were told, and if George RR Martin was somehow pissed at the changes. I mean, I'm rewatching Season 5 and this is when things really got changed, and so it possibly derailed the intended roadpath that George Martin thought.

On one hand, I understand the changes - Giving both protagonists like Jaimie and Sansa something more to do, doing away with 53 Oberyn bastard daughters and the endless roaming of Tyrion in Essos before meeting Dany.... but it's all kinda meh, the Dorne storyline was completely botchered, giving Sansa to the Boltons makes somehow sense for the plans of Littlefinger but still it was quite a weird move, since he somehow kinda cares for Sansa.... and also, a man so clever as Littlefinger, who smirked at the naive notion of "Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna and raped her" when Sansa told it in the crypts of Winterfell, had no clue about what a goddamn psycho Ramsay was? he figured out or at least suspected one of the most guarded secrets in the entire history of Westeros, but he had no intelligence on Ramsay whatsoever?

I seem to remember the statement was that they were told "in broad strokes" how it all ended. But how much broad? I mean, what if they just got told the equivalent of "Darth Vader and the Emperor die, Luke lives but doesn't get the girl", and then they totally pull out a closing out of their asses without knowing, or caring to ask, that Darth Vader dies sacrificing himself and that Luke doesn't get the girl because it's her sister and she marries Han Solo?

[Adami]

Well, they kind of have already, I'm sure there will be some.  They will end it the same overall being they know the ending but I'm sure things like Cleganebowl might happen in the show but not in the books (if they were to even be finished).

Which makes me think, is it even fan fiction if the books are never completed and this was the only ending we get?

Of course they have. Arya killing Walder was pretty fanfic.

I'm using fan fiction loosely. Maybe it's not the right phrase. I just want them to write from characters. What makes sense. I don't want them to say "what would the fans think is cool...." and then write based on giving the fans cool stuff to watch. Other shows do that. GoT has been doing that recently, but I'm hoping they just write high quality shows, and not tons of "WOAH COOL!" moments. I know they'll probably do that anyway, but I can dream.

And I have never read the books, so I don't care what they change. I just want this show to be logical for the world/characters they wrote and not just want think seems really cool.

[MirrorMask]

Anyway, finished rewatching Season 5.... it was a bit of a mess. I understand the desire to streamline the storylines and start cutting down on the cast, but the execution left a lot to be desired.

Take Stannis for example, they could have had him go out like a hero, but he was not a character meant to reach the end so they were like "Ah, screw it, look, he's burning his daughter, he's an asshole, see? well, against all logic he goes forward to Winterfell and gets massacrated, the end, thank you Stephen Dillane, your checks will end with this season".

And I have to say that Jon really should think better on what to say and to whom. When he's at Hardhome, he answers "What happened to Mance?" with "I killed him". D'uh. Was "He was sentenced to death by stake, and I mercy killed him" so hard and difficult to say? he was about to get lynched until Tormund told how it went. Also in the last episode he's there talking with Sam saying "He raised his hands.... and at the same moment all the dead came back to life", speaking of Night's King. To Sam. Alone in his room. GEEZ HOW ABOUT YOU INFORM THE WHOLE DAMN NIGHT'S WATCH? I understand the hatred for the Wildlings can't be erased with a snap of the fingers but you'd thought that "every single person that is walking through our gates won't be a zombie that will kill you in your sleep way sooner than later" could be quite a good rationale, thanks also to the testimony of the survivors.

Speaking of Hardhome, it was the high water mark of the season. Absolutely awesome and memorable scene, nothing will take away the surprise of the first viewing when you totally don't see it coming and see it get bad and then worse and then way worse and then "we're all royally and icily fucked". It will remain one of the defining moments of the series.

At least this season highlighted once and for all Cersei's utter stupidity. Out of sheer pettiness and jealousy she went after Margaery and it backfired spectacularly. "I'm gonna give power to a bunch of fanatics who won't be intimated by wealth and power and family names, fanatics that I already know count among their ranks my cousin whom I fucked and instructed to make the king so drunk that he could easily die in a hunt", what could possibly go wrong. 

Also the miriade of cliffhangers in the last episode was annoying. Game of Thrones always ended seasons with stuff left there but you always had a sense of partial closure, here it was all for the "Hey, come back next year to see if Theon and Sansa survived! and to see what happen to Daenerys! and to see what happens to blind Arya!", there was really no need also considering that the season already ended on a huge, dramatic cliffhanger, Jon's death.

And don't get me started on Dorne, which was reedemeable with just some very minor changes... (even though my alternate idea for it, to bring it back closer to the books giving Doran the same motivations of the book, would have left Myrcella and Doran alive so that was going against the trimming of the cast I guess)

[The Walrus]

Yeah, season 5 is a bit of a slog - easily the low point for the show, I think, overall - but those last three episodes are really good in my opinion. Hardhome, Dance of Dragons, Mother's Mercy - lots of great moments.

Stannis's death made sense to me, my only beef is that they didn't show his death on camera, it's just a POV of Stannis and then black, and nothing more. After all the time spent on him, I still think that was a cheap way to go (not the circumstances of his death, but that they didn't even show it). As for why he went to Winterfell, the North is a massive part of the realm. Massive. Like, bigger than several other territories combined. He stood zero chance of being able to take King's Landing but if he could secure the North, that's huge for Stannis. Logic might not be his best friend in general, though; after all, he allowed himself to be swayed by a witch of dark magic and fire...

Only 5 weeks to go. It's been so freaking long since season 7. I'm disappointed in the runtimes for season 8's episodes so I really hope they do justice to all the storylines and loose ends that have to be wrapped up. I wonder if the last episode is going to have any action at all, or is 5 is going to be the massive climax and episode 6 will be the post-mortem on everything that just happened.

[gmillerdrake]

I'm disappointed in the runtimes for season 8's episodes

Yeah, me too. Really just in the first two being under an hour. It's tough to imagine that they can wrap this show up in the estimated run times of the episodes they've released. Guess we will see....maybe it's the perfect amount of time.

[cramx3]

Yea I don't know, after the first couple episodes they get pretty long.  It certainly doesn't feel long enough but the pacing is so fast now that maybe it is, hard to say right now although I think anyone who hasn't liked the pacing of last season probably won't like the pacing of this one. 

Also, about Stannis, I think it all goes to just show how wrong not only he was, but Melisandre as well.  His death should have been on screen, that felt cheap for a character that played a fairly large role in the show.

[MirrorMask]

Yeah, season 5 is a bit of a slog - easily the low point for the show, I think, overall - but those last three episodes are really good in my opinion. Hardhome, Dance of Dragons, Mother's Mercy - lots of great moments.

Indeed!

I'm disappointed in the runtimes for season 8's episodes so I really hope they do justice to all the storylines and loose ends that have to be wrapped up. I wonder if the last episode is going to have any action at all, or is 5 is going to be the massive climax and episode 6 will be the post-mortem on everything that just happened.

I wonder what even is going to happen in the first two episodes, since the battle at Winterfell is episode 3. Those in the North preparing for it and Cersei welcoming back Euron and his fleet? there aren't even many storylines left to follow anyway.

Also, will we finally get to the truth of the two mottos of House Stark? "Winter is Coming" might not be a selfless warning, but an actual menace. Also, "There must always be a Stark in Winterfell"... why? random tradition? or there's something deeper? I bet there is, and the characters will find out only too late what it is (See scenes of the trailer of people scared in the crypts).

[ariich]

Yeah, season 5 is a bit of a slog - easily the low point for the show, I think, overall

I think it's also not helped by coming straight after season 4 which was arguably the show at its peak.

[Adami]

I'm on season 5 of my re-watch now. Yea....it's a bit much.

I'd still say seasons 1-3 are the best, but that's me. I prefer the show when it was about super rich characters and what naturally happens with them. Eventually it became "well we need these people to be at this battle, so let's just do what needs to happen to get them there."

[ariich]

For me the character drama in season 4 was just so gripping. Tyrion's trial in particular was incredible television and the way it ended up (for those of us who didn't know what was coming) was crushing.

[Adami]

For me the character drama in season 4 was just so gripping. Tyrion's trial in particular was incredible television and the way it ended up (for those of us who didn't know what was coming) was crushing.

Oh, no knock on 4. 4 was great. Had some amazing moments, I'd just put 1-3 a bit above it is all. I definitely don't have as much affinity for 5-7, though it's very cool and fun.

I guess I'd say (over all, with exceptions) 1-3 = amazing, 4 = great, 5 -7 = fun entertainment, nothing really more.

[The Walrus]

I think season 4 had some of the best stuff in the entire show, yeah. The purple wedding alone is imo a contender for greatest episode in the series.

[MirrorMask]

Finished rewatching Season 6. A vast improvement over Season 5, with many memorable scenes... it was so hard to go through again the Hodor one. Heartwrenching!

The flaws were mainly two: Dorne (thanks the Seven it appeared only in the first episode and disappeared until the last), and the resolution of Arya's story which is an incredibily bad string of poor writing decisions.

So, she bails on her assignment about the actress, and realizes she has to flee. Yet, she walks around Braavos like she owns the place, a rich tourist admiring the scenery, she gets repeatedly gutted in the stomach by the Waif, escapes and heals from mortal wounds thanks to some rest, she gets discovered again, gets chased all around the town opening again her supposedly fatal wounds, and then she fights in the dark and wins, because of course when she was blind........ no, wait, she got always her ass kicked, all she did was being able to defend herself, blocking an attack, exactly ONCE.

Then she cuts away the Waif's face (she was never shown to learn how to do it), Jaqeen says her she's finally no one (I supposed defying twice orders, getting marked for death as a result but killing your would be executer is appreciated), Arya tells him anyway that she's indeed Arya and not "no one", and goes off into the sunset to kill Walder Frey in a fanfic act of revenge. UGH.

Having said that, the final combo of Battle of Bastards + Winds of Winter is BEYOND AWESOME. Two of the very best episodes of the series. It was quite contrived to have Sansa not tell Jon about the Knights of the Vale (really, what was Sansa afraid of? if she was willing to ask Littlefinger for help why Jon wouldn't? "we're desperate for more man but no, I don't want a perfectly trained kickass army because its leader is an asshole"?), but the battle was brutal and dramatic. And the "Light of the Seven" sequence, with that haunting and beautiful music (an elegy for a world that is over, and no one knew it was about to be over except Cersei), that escalates into the dramatic explosion, will go down in history as one of the very top moments of the series.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

I don't care about the run times, but I do care about the pacing. One of the charms of Game of Thrones has always been that it is a bit slow. You spend a lot of time with the characters, and then when major events happen, they feel so powerful because they are few and far in-between. Season 7 has a couple of stretches where the pacing is way too fast, and I just don't want that to happen again in Season 8.

[hefdaddy42]

In fairness, there aren't as many characters as there used to be.

[TheOutlawXanadu]

In fairness, there aren't as many characters as there used to be.

Truth! I generally felt like the pacing was actually pretty good in Season 7. The second-to-last episode is the one I wouldn't want them imitating.