You sound like this.
Yet whenever I try to get people to spell the damn character names correctly, it’s a travesty. 
But that (bolded) is not textual. There is no such thing as Europe in the Game of Thrones universe. In-text, nothing we see in the show is of European origin. Nor “medieval.”
Strictly speaking, there can be no such thing as anachronism in this story; there is no actual history to conflict with. Suspension-of-disbelief can always be damaged in fiction, but in the case of a fantastical world and story, the only anomalies that matter are internal–when one thing shown on screen appears to disagree with another, and there is no explanation. This has happened in the show, but for external reasons–production demands (Daario’s changed appearance), or simply mistakes (Karstark’s appeal to the Father).
Crude atomic bombs made by maesters delving too deeply into the world’s mysteries, or something? That maybe could work; “the Doom” has been vague enough, and there have even been references to the radiation-like persistence of its hazards. Kind of a cool idea. It’s not obviously farther out than frankensteinian reanimation.
Time travel raises huge questions in almost any context. Introducing it late in a story not built around the concept probably couldn’t fly.
Yeah, I was going to say something about that.
So what? It would obviously be absurd for the text to refer to medieval Europe. However, it’s obvious that a great deal of the world is explicitly modeled on medieval Europe, which has been stated by Martin himself. Much of it in fact is inspired by the Wars of the Roses. It’s interesting to see both the similarities and differences between GoT characters and their historical analogues, as well as cultures and institutions.
It’s of interest to examine the sources from which Martin (and the showrunners) may have drawn in building this world. Some of the sigils used by the great houses have parallels to the coats of arms in medieval Europe. Some, like Littlefingers, do not. That doesn’t mean the ones that do are “correct,” and the ones that don’t are wrong. I just think it’s interesting that Martin chose to draw on a non-European model for Littlefinger’s sigil - possibly uniquely in the show.
The Dothraki are modeled in part on the Huns and Mongols, but with elements from Native American and other cultures. It’s interesting to see which elements are consistent with from Mongol culture, and which are inconsistent with that. But of course, having some elements of cultures from the Americas is in no way wrong.
You do understand I was joking?
Now that I think about it, they’re more of a 28 days later fast zombie, and that was a British movie…
Actually, they have a lot in common with certain Greek zombies.
I finally got to finish watching the episode and haven’t had time to read the thread. I’m glad it only told a few posts for someone to say what I was yelling at the screen. Serpentine Shelly!
If only Peter Falk had been there.
THIS is what i thought of…well…the ending.
Or Evan Wright.
[Inspired by Preston Jacobs’ Generation Kill/Game of Thrones mash-up. Benioff and Weiss really are Trombleys].
Pretty much everything I wanted to say has been said, so I’l just make two small observations: It’s a testament to Davos’ solid character that he waited until after the battle to confront Melisandre instead of charging straight into her tent to demand answers about Shireen. Here’s a man capable of seeing the big picture and not putting his own needs above the greater good – just the man to have at Jon’s side.
And whoever does the casting for this show is a genius. In the hands of lesser actors, Joffrey and Ramsey could have been mustache-twirling, giggling caricatures. Instead, they came across as real (and really scary) people who you would not want to be in the same room with. I’ve seen both in interviews (and Ramsey’s actor in that hilarious Red Nose Day video with Coldplay) and they are just as nice as pie, so portraying their characters with such nuance and malice is quite the achievement.
IIRC, Martin has rejected the idea that the world of Westeros is post-apocalyptic, and he said at least once that the phenomena are fantastic in nature and not scientific. Though I still like the notion that we see the late results of a technology that centered around the realisation of transhumanism and control of nature via genetics, nanotech and climate control.
I just hope that we don’t witness a large time loop in action with Bran as its beginning and end.
That is hilarious!! I had never seen that clip (or the movie) before. And those bad guys are worse shots than Imperial Storm Troopers. 
We already kind of saw a time loop like that with Hodor. But I agree, if it turns out Bran does the time warg thing at the end of the show to make Jaime push him out of the window or to kill John Arryn (or even to make the Mad King mad, though that seems slightly more plausible), I’ll be sorely disappointed.
I don’t know, causing Jamie to push himself out of the window would be an interesting twist for Bran’s arc (circle? spiral?). And what we’ve seen so far was clearly just to establish that such a thing is possible, like with Beric and resurrection. So I say, let’s do the time warg again!
Can’t remember if I’ve read it here but one of the time loop theories I’ve heard on the end of the series is that Bran will warg into a dragon to fight the White Walkers and at the same time mindrape the Mad King by giving the same command; “Burn them all.”
You mean like high explosive green napalm (AKA “wildfire”) or special high-tensile metal alloys (AKA Valerian steel)?:dubious:
I realize that to certain individuals, the wrong type of sword or armor is as jarring as if Jon Snow rode into battle in an Iron Man suit wielding a lightsaber. But for most of us, all medieval weapons and armor are more or less appropriate for fantasy world settings.
To paraphrase another advanced robot from the future, atom bombs and robots use chemicals and moving parts that the maesters of Westeros wouldn’t be able to recreate with their technology. But pretty much all swords and stabbing weapons should be fair game IMHO.
I suppose it depends on the context. Anne McCaffrey’s Pern series was very similar to ASOIAF in that the story revolved around constantly feuding houses in a pre-industrial society on an Earthlike but not Earth planet. It also had dragons and an otherworldly existential threat. In the series I believe Pern was descended from an Earth colony and had regressed technologically. But IIRC, that was something that was more or less hinted at in the books from the beginning.
I’ve heard rumors that the planet Westeros might have a similar history within GRRMs cannon of work.
But yeah, personally I don’t really care nor want to know if Westeros is on a parallel Earth, a lost colony of a future Earth, an early version of pre-history Earth, a post apocalyptic Earth with dramatically different geology, inside a spaceship, part of a VR simulation, all in GRRMs imagination or whatever because that would ultimately cheapen the story at this point. Maybe the First Men were ancient space colonists. That doesn’t means I want them showing up with ray-guns in Season 8.
The problem with that theory is that the Mad King was already planning on blowing up the city if things went bad. He had been stocking Wildfire everywhere for that reason.
Yeah, yet I was thinking about the fan speculation that our Bran is also Bran the Builder, which would put him close to the beginning of Westeros’ “known” history.
True, the fankwankery I’ve heard on this is that the wildfire plot may not have come not from Aerys II himself but his pyromancer Rossart, and that Bran is the reason changed so suddenly from being a reasonable ruler to a pyromaniac.
Personally I don’t think it’s really all that likely, but it’s always fun to talk about time loops.