OT: The Avalounge's Official Game of Thrones Thread WARNING SPOILERS INSIDE

[Barklez]

My girlfriend and I cheered when Jon killed her. It was a good moment.

But otherwise didn't feel like a Got episode. Too many people lived after killing her and too many random things happened. I still wish Sansa didn't make it, not a fan of what she became.

I've only quit hating Sansa this season, maybe towards the end of last.

Edit: Also, did Varys not manage to send any of the letters (about Jon) he'd been writing? I could've sworn he had, kept waiting for that to come back.

 

[RockLobster]

Jon sacrificed the one thing he had left--his honor--to save the realm. He was far too broken to be a proper king, and everyone knew it. He was sent to the only place where he had any measure of peace, purpose, or happiness. I was secretly hoping he was leaving with the wildlings and never coming back to Castle Black, where he could do whatever he wanted and take a wife and have a family and **** anyone who told him otherwise.

And it didn't matter that he was the last of the Targaryens because it shouldn't have mattered. That was the whole "breaking of the wheel" that Daenerys spoke of, but wasn't willing at all to actually pull off since what she really wanted was for the wheel to stop at her. Jon was brought back from the dead to serve a purpose (kill Dany) and he did just that.

I was somewhat disappointed that my prediction of someone (Jon or Dany) taking up the role of the Night King didn't come to pass. I felt like there always had to be someone like that in the North as some kind of balance or whatever, but...I suppose not.

Anyway, I totally can see why people took exception to this season and the resolution of this story. It did indeed feel rushed and there were some real stumbles in terms of the writing. But I loved the actors and their respective performances so very much that they transcended the occasionally choppy, uneven writing. The one real, true pratfall they couldn't fix was the Sand Snakes and Dorne. That was just awful from beginning to end and they knew it, so they served up those characters to be dealt with in quick fashion by Euron and swept them under the proverbial rug.

Glad to see Edmure Tully didn't seem too much worse for wear (and was still every bit as buffoonish) after being a prisoner all these years. Dude gets to be lord of two major houses and is married to a gorgeous (albeit alarmingly young--but hey, it's the Middle Ages so...shrug) wife so he probably got the happiest ending of them all.

The one thing I would've changed is that Jon should have left Longclaw with Sansa. It should've stayed with them...but whatever, that's a minor quibble.

You've got some good points about Jon and all that, so again...I'm still weighing how I feel about things.

I will say that I personally took away from his final moments on screen that he was going with the Free Folk beyond the Wall. I mean they lived south of the Wall for a while, were offered the lands belonging to wiped out houses, and decided they wanted to go back north of it. There does not appear to be an animosity between the North and the Free Folk anymore; coupled with there being no more white walkers, there doesn't appear to be a need for a Night's Watch anymore. I don't know...Jon did look at peace with everything, and I guess I'm just believing that he's venturing out with them, among people who respect him, and with Ghost by his side.

 

[Bubba Thudd]

but whatever happened to Nymeria?
Would be cool if she could go with Arya...

 

[ASmileyFace]

but whatever happened to Nymeria?
Would be cool if she could go with Arya...

After all that dragon screen time do you really think that they had enough in the budget for Nymeria too?

 

[BobRossColton]

I think Daario naharis would've called her out on some of the crazy.

 

[Pokecheque]

I think Daario naharis would've called her out on some of the crazy.

And Daario would've gotten flambe'd the moment he did so.

FWIW my favorite character/story arc remains Stannis Baratheon AINEC. That truly felt epic and tragic and downright Shakespearean in its execution. In particular it felt like Macbeth--a man so obsessed with destiny/fate that it proves to be his very undoing. That subplot really drove home the whole underlying theme that there really weren't any heroes or villains in this story.

 

[Papa Francouz]

And Daario would've gotten flambe'd the moment he did so.

FWIW my favorite character/story arc remains Stannis Baratheon AINEC. That truly felt epic and tragic and downright Shakespearean in its execution. In particular it felt like Macbeth--a man so obsessed with destiny/fate that it proves to be his very undoing. That subplot really drove home the whole underlying theme that there really weren't any heroes or villains in this story.

My favorite character still remains to be The Hound. He's obsessed with killing his brother for revenge, and at the end of everything he has the awareness to tell Arya that she shouldn't be like him because he's ruined his life with his obsession.

I also love Pod.

 

[Foppa Frossa]

My favorite character still remains to be The Hound. He's obsessed with killing his brother for revenge, and at the end of everything he has the awareness to tell Arya that she shouldn't be like him because he's ruined his life with his obsession.

I also love Pod.

Podkolzin?

 

[Papa Francouz]

Podkolzin?

Nahh, I'm talking about medieval Post Malone.

 

[The Abusement Park]

My favorite character still remains to be The Hound. He's obsessed with killing his brother for revenge, and at the end of everything he has the awareness to tell Arya that she shouldn't be like him because he's ruined his life with his obsession.

I also love Pod.

Pod the Rod!

 

[The Kingslayer]

Favorite character is me.

 

[Avs_19]

First of all let me just say I'm going to miss GoT. It's one of my all-time favourite shows (I have to re-watch to see where it'll ultimately rank) and I couldn't wait to watch the next episode whenever an episode or season ended. The final season not being as good as others doesn't change that for me.

As for last night, I don't really know what to add on what has been said already and what I said last week. Dany was one of my favourite characters so that sucked but we knew it was coming. It could only end with Jon killing her based on what she became so it's fine. Jon, who is the heir to the throne, then being sent away and basically becoming one of the Free Folk (I think?) is kinda weird but him heading north makes some sense.

However, Bran "winning" at the end isn't fine. It's just a waste to me as he might've been the most useless of the main characters. They literally didn't have him in an entire season of the show and he was barely a factor in others. What makes matters worse is that they were rushing to finish it so we still really don't know what he does and what is ultimate purpose is other than them simply saying he's the protector of the world's memory. It was kind of fitting at the end how he came into the room for a minute and then peaced out to find Drogon (maybe?) and let others handle things. Again, just completely useless. Maybe that's what Tyrion had in mind though as he might be the one whose actually running things. If this is what GRRM had in mind then I can understand why it happened but how it happened still makes no sense in the show. Bran is different in the books and isn't this joke of a character so GRRM might've gotten us there but the show certainly didn't, especially not in this time frame they put in place to end the show.

The final season still had plenty of entertaining and captivating moments. I hated certain things, including the pacing, but overall I didn't hate the season like some others did. There are loose ends and other parts of the story that were just pushed aside so that part was unfortunate. The main one for me being L+R=J, which almost became an afterthought when I was looking forward to it possibly playing a larger role. As @Ararana said, they basically just used Jon's real identity to further push Dany in the direction of becoming the Mad Queen and that was it. We got very few scenes and little dialogue about one of the central parts of the story.

Having said that, bring on the prequels and hopefully sequels. I believe the only thing actually given a green light so far is a prequel that is rumoured to be around the time of The Long Night and I can't wait.

 

[Foppberg]

And Daario would've gotten flambe'd the moment he did so.

FWIW my favorite character/story arc remains Stannis Baratheon AINEC. That truly felt epic and tragic and downright Shakespearean in its execution. In particular it felt like Macbeth--a man so obsessed with destiny/fate that it proves to be his very undoing. That subplot really drove home the whole underlying theme that there really weren't any heroes or villains in this story.

Really? He was by far the most boring main character for me. He was too much like a robot to really care for him.

 

[Pokecheque]

Really? He was by far the most boring main character for me. He was too much like a robot to really care for him.

Boring? Boy, I haven't heard that one yet. Some of the batshit-craziest things took place around his story, including conceiving some weird cloud-creature that he used to murder his brother. I just loved the quiet rage he possessed the entire time, breaking only when he ordered his only child burned at the stake. Seeing him and Davos go at it was fun as well, not to mention Melisandre. In the end he was resigned to his fate and confessed to his crimes, which actually took Brienne aback for a moment, before she done chopped that fool's head off. The character himself was a horrid man, but his arc was fascinating to watch. You KNEW he was doomed, but it was still interesting to see how it was gonna go down, at least IMO but I'm only speaking for myself here.

If anyone was a robot on the show, it was Bran, and that was by design (I didn't mind that character either FTR). I really didn't think there were any poor performances per se. People seemed to blast Emilia Clarke regularly but I really didn't have a problem with her acting. Again, the Sand Snakes were by far the worst characters but that was more a result of poor writing than poor acting.

EDIT: Man...I just looked it up online, Stannis is still technically alive in the books as well? I'm almost tempted to read the books because there are so many characters still there who either got killed off in the series or just plain didn't exist at all. There's no way it'll unfold like it did on the show.

 

[Pokecheque]

My favorite character still remains to be The Hound. He's obsessed with killing his brother for revenge, and at the end of everything he has the awareness to tell Arya that she shouldn't be like him because he's ruined his life with his obsession.

I also love Pod.

Didn't like him at first, but then he had that speech about the chickens, won me over 100% right then and there.

 

[Colorado Avalanche]

Favorite character is me.

He was more fun in the earlier seasons.

 

[Foppberg]

Boring? Boy, I haven't heard that one yet. Some of the bat****-craziest things took place around his story, including conceiving some weird cloud-creature that he used to murder his brother. I just loved the quiet rage he possessed the entire time, breaking only when he ordered his only child burned at the stake. Seeing him and Davos go at it was fun as well, not to mention Melisandre. In the end he was resigned to his fate and confessed to his crimes, which actually took Brienne aback for a moment, before she done chopped that fool's head off. The character himself was a horrid man, but his arc was fascinating to watch. You KNEW he was doomed, but it was still interesting to see how it was gonna go down, at least IMO but I'm only speaking for myself here.

If anyone was a robot on the show, it was Bran, and that was by design (I didn't mind that character either FTR). I really didn't think there were any poor performances per se. People seemed to blast Emilia Clarke regularly but I really didn't have a problem with her acting. Again, the Sand Snakes were by far the worst characters but that was more a result of poor writing than poor acting.

EDIT: Man...I just looked it up online, Stannis is still technically alive in the books as well? I'm almost tempted to read the books because there are so many characters still there who either got killed off in the series or just plain didn't exist at all. There's no way it'll unfold like it did on the show.

Eh. His arch is just such a old school warrior type role, I didn't find him that interesting. the whole Baratheon story line in general was pretty meh.

Definitely disappointed in Bran though, all that build up for this super powerful being and... Nothing.

 

[Bonzai12]

Definitely disappointed in Bran though, all that build up for this super powerful being and... Nothing.

 

[CharlesPuck]

I didn’t want him to necessarily end up on the Iron Throne, but he absolutely got thrown under the bus by everyone.

Tyrion used him to kill Dany (of course he was already questioning it, but Tyrion’s words and ask played a big role in it).

I would have been happy with him just being the King in the North.

That doesn’t even get in to the fact that him being a Targaryen doesn’t seem to really play any role in the end. I could defend certain things in the past because we didn’t know how things would play out. But Jon....uggghhh.

It plays a huge role. He is the last birth right and declined the throne. The wheel broke with him not Dany or Bran.

 

[EscapedGoat]

Anybody here actually read the books? I bought them a long time ago but never got into them.

Question for any book readers. Was Bran a much larger character in the books? Did he have his own POV chapters?

He seemed to be an afterthought in the rushed last couple of seasons so him being the choice for the thrown just seemed odd. But if he was a main character that the books constantly followed and showed his POV then maybe it would make more sense for the books to end that way?

 

[Thepoolmaster]

First of all let me just say I'm going to miss GoT. It's one of my all-time favourite shows (I have to re-watch to see where it'll ultimately rank) and I couldn't wait to watch the next episode whenever an episode or season ended. The final season not being as good as others doesn't change that for me.

As for last night, I don't really know what to add on what has been said already and what I said last week. Dany was one of my favourite characters so that sucked but we knew it was coming. It could only end with Jon killing her based on what she became so it's fine. Jon, who is the heir to the throne, then being sent away and basically becoming one of the Free Folk (I think?) is kinda weird but him heading north makes some sense.

However, Bran "winning" at the end isn't fine. It's just a waste to me as he might've been the most useless of the main characters. They literally didn't have him in an entire season of the show and he was barely a factor in others. What makes matters worse is that they were rushing to finish it so we still really don't know what he does and what is ultimate purpose is other than them simply saying he's the protector of the world's memory. It was kind of fitting at the end how he came into the room for a minute and then peaced out to find Drogon (maybe?) and let others handle things. Again, just completely useless. Maybe that's what Tyrion had in mind though as he might be the one whose actually running things. If this is what GRRM had in mind then I can understand why it happened but how it happened still makes no sense in the show. Bran is different in the books and isn't this joke of a character so GRRM might've gotten us there but the show certainly didn't, especially not in this time frame they put in place to end the show.

The final season still had plenty of entertaining and captivating moments. I hated certain things, including the pacing, but overall I didn't hate the season like some others did. There are loose ends and other parts of the story that were just pushed aside so that part was unfortunate. The main one for me being L+R=J, which almost became an afterthought when I was looking forward to it possibly playing a larger role. As @Ararana said, they basically just used Jon's real identity to further push Dany in the direction of becoming the Mad Queen and that was it. We got very few scenes and little dialogue about one of the central parts of the story.

Having said that, bring on the prequels and hopefully sequels. I believe the only thing actually given a green light so far is a prequel that is rumoured to be around the time of The Long Night and I can't wait.

I agree with most of what you're saying but I disagree with the bolded. Jon's heritage isn't a central point of the story. The central point of the story is what will people do for power. Fan theories are what really made it a big deal. In that sense his heritage does exactly what it needs to. Shows that Dany is likely willing to eventually kill Jon to ensure that he can't take her place. I will concede it was too rushed though and would have liked to see a bit more comment on it and a slower turn from Dany. It's implied she takes the dragon and missandei's death tough. Obviously. But they could have shown it. It would have made it make more sense. Have her have a discussion with Tyrion/grey worm about killing Jon etc.

 

[lonelybadger]

So after thinking about it last night and this morning...

The episode itself had some beautiful moments. I loved how Tyrion pointed out to Jon all the things we'd been saying were Dany's foreshadowed turn, but they cheered her because she was doing it to horrible people--but she still did those things.

At first I was like "**** this bull-**** lol" when Bran was becoming King, but then I thought...DAMN, he knew all along that he would become King. He played everyone since becoming the 3ER. Which brings up another point: he might be just as awful as Cersei and Dany. If we follow the belief that he knew he would become King, then he knew how that would happen, and he allowed Dany to do it all.

Like...that's some ultimate puppet-master stuff there.

(Also, unless he re-followed me this morning, @Cousin Eddie didn't unfollow me on Twitter last night, our love knows no spoiler-y bounds)

I followed a cousin eddie on twitter but I think it was the wrong one.

I feel the same as you do about the episode. Bran, stupid no emotion Bran. Sitting there just waiting to roll onto the thrown without lifting a finger.

 

[WarriorOfGandhi]

Anybody here actually read the books? I bought them a long time ago but never got into them.

Question for any book readers. Was Bran a much larger character in the books? Did he have his own POV chapters?

He seemed to be an afterthought in the rushed last couple of seasons so him being the choice for the thrown just seemed odd. But if he was a main character that the books constantly followed and showed his POV then maybe it would make more sense for the books to end that way?

yes, he was actually the very first POV chapter after the prologue, not Jon or Ned. His chapters going beyond the Wall are filled with quite a bit of context, especially since the Reed kids play a much bigger role than babysitters. Bran's POV chapters include dialogue with Coldhands about the magic in the Wall and dialogue with the Reed kids about warging into animals. Their father, Howland, was with Ned at the Tower of Joy, and it's assumed that Ned would have been killed by Arthur Dayne (the most bestest sword fighter eva) if not for Howland pulling some greenseer magic-warging trick.

 

[ASmileyFace]

Book Bran was so, so much better than TV show Bran. His internal dialog in figuring out how Three-Eyed Raven stuff and his journey beyond the wall are some of the better pov parts in the books.

The TV show version just makes so little sense. Are you telling me that Bran, who could see different versions of the future, didn't say anything about Dany going down and burning kings landing? I kind of like the theory of Dark Bran now. The same kid who told us that he couldn't hold any titles or lands over and over again because he is the Three-Eyed Raven manages to push people to the only ending where he is King? Come on. Just so many leaps of logic to get to that point.

I'm really curious to see how GRRM takes us to this ending. That is if he ever finishes the Winds of Winter to begin with.

 

[Bonzai12]

I followed a cousin eddie on twitter but I think it was the wrong one.

I feel the same as you do about the episode. Bran, stupid no emotion Bran. Sitting there just waiting to roll onto the thrown without lifting a finger.

You make a great point - dude sits there for almost 70% of the show with his eyes glossed over not doing a damn thing. During the undead battle he just sits there like a tree stump - nobody even knows what the hell he is even doing during the entire battle. Yet after everything he is made the most powerful man in the entire 7 kingdoms. I mean if you were going to put someone in there that was smart, battle tested and endured - put even Sam in that place. Sam had 10x a better story than Bran.

I feel like this whole season was crap to be quite honest. Watching the “behind the scenes” of the undead battle, the GOT crew said they’d never do something that intense ever again. It tells me a lot about the season as a whole - in attempting to make everything “bigger and better” they exasperated the crew and the writing turned to crap. 6 episodes wasn’t nearly enough and I feel like the special effects became more of a priority to GOT than the story somehow. That’s the tragedy of it. Also of note - there’s already 5 “offshoots” of GOT in the works with 2-3 of them already in production (and HBO already moving forward with one prequel). I’m sure this last year wasn’t a “100%” effort in terms of the people or resources. But I can see where HBO is coming from - estimates were already at 40% in how many HBO Now subscribers were going to dump their subscriptions after GOT ended. But it really doesn’t seem like they managed any of this at all well despite taking off all the extra time etc.. I still feel like the Battle of the Bastards was way better than the Battle vs the Undead and it seems like the Bastards battle didn’t take nearly as many resources/cgi.