I can get behind the idea of Targaryen blood being “special” (it apparently provides a connection with dragons); but Baratheon blood? Robert Baratheon was a usurper who had held the throne only for a few years. “Specialness”, it seems, is granted to any schmoe who happens to sit on the throne.
Politically, Gendry’s purpose might be to help get the Stormlands (of which the Baratheons used to be the rulers) behind Daenerys, though the Stormlands haven’t played a significant role in the show IIRC.
It was only a flesh wound.
The arrow really shouldn’t have injured him very much. It didn’t go in beyond the head, no more than a foot into muscle. The unrealistic thing was Drogon being knocked out of the sky by what was really a mere toothpick compared to his size. Drogon was being a big baby.
It seemed pretty useful when it created that shadow demon and cursed all those usurpers…
Well they formed a central part of the army of Renly Baratheon and after his death were nominally under Stannis’ control. But I imagine much of their manpower was at least temporarily exhausted at the battle of the Blackwater.
As far as Baratheon blood goes, I just can’t remember how much has been discussed in show about their heritage. But generally - all noble houses interbreed.
But where was horse? Ah, nevermind.
That would make a lot more sense, you got a link to the pundit?
Possible, though when Walda was preggers Roose told Ramsay that from the way she was carrying, Wolkan said it looked like a boy and judging from Ramsay’s reaction he took it serious enough. Or Roose might just have been trolling him, I guess.
They use swords when they attack Jojen, can’t remember them using a bow and arrow but it doesn’t seem too far-fetched.
Baratheon blood has a bit of Targaryen blood in it, going back to Orys Baratheon who was Aegon’s bastard half-brother (this is on the History & Lore feature on the DVD, Robert mentions how the blood of the stag and the dragon mixed in those days). More importantly Gendry’s Baratheon blood gives him the best claim to the Stormlands against…er…whoever the hell is in charge there, probably some former bannermen.
Baelish actually tried to help Ned succeed at first and gave him good advice on how to make it work. Ned stubbornly wanted to do it the right way, which left Baelish little option but to make sure he was on the winning side.
I’m actually more confused by Littlefinger than Varys. Varys is a player but he always seems to be trying to move things in a better direction. Littlefinger is trying to benefit himself, but I’m not sure what his eventual goal is supposed to be. Maybe Lord of Winterfell?
Yes, the show also goes against convention by having closely connected characters with similar names - Tywin and Tyrion, for example.
The TV show did change a few names. Robert Arryn –> Robin Arryn, Asha Greyjoy –> Yara Greyjoy.
It’s pretty clear that Littlefinger ultimately desires the Iron Throne itself. Varys himself said that Littlefinger would “see this country burn if he could be king of the ashes.”
He says he wants to end up on the throne with Sansa as his Queen. I don’t really see any reason to doubt that. Knowing his back story (son of a low-level, recently-titled lord of the Vale with very little land or wealth) and how he was spurned and/or ignored by higher-ranking lords like the Tullys, Arryns and Starks in his youth, it would seem that he wants revenge on those houses in particular. Mostly by sowing chaos and sparking wars that end with their families dying.
Cersie is going to get every last man, woman, and child killed by the army of darkness with her idiocy.
Everyone dies when she switches sides at some point thinking she can handle the nights king by herself. Jamie ganks her with a prison shank in the neck.
This is a little bit out of left field, so I apologize, but does Bronn’s accent suggest to British viewers his humble origins? What about the other characters - do lowborn characters tend to have working class speech, and highborn characters more posh speech?
No, but recently I was confused by how Jon, Ned, and some other Northern folk have Scottish-like accents (I’ve never been to Scotland, so I’m going by “movie accents” here), but also so does Davos. And plenty of other Northerners don’t have Scottish accents. Which could be evidence of a sort of Westerosi “received pronunciation”.
But I’m not so sure the characters’ accents aren’t just their actors’ accents. As detailed as the show is, I’m not so sure they are so detailed as to assign accents to characters based on their origins. Or else flea-bottom-born Davos has some explaining to do.
Not just Scottish, but tons of Yorkshire accents in the north. Davos has sort of a Newcastle accent, which is yes, north of Yorkshire, but you shouldn’t assume that that implies geographical equivalence in Westeros. Sansa has a more southern accent fitting with her striving. I’m not sure where to put Arya or Robert.
Other than that, many of the northern actors (Jeor, Jorah, etc.) are from Scotland.
Lorath is Germany, I guess, as the one Lorathi character is German, and the other main German actor pretended to be Lorathi.
Bronn has a Yorkshire type accent, definitely a lot more working class than Jerome Flynn without his accent
Don’t know where you get the Scottish? Jon and Ned are in no way Scottish to my ear, Sean Bean is a native Yorkshireman so he doesn’t have to affect an accent, Kit affects…sounds to me sort of a mix of Yorkshire/Lancashire to sound ‘generic northerner’ accent, again of more humble/rustic means than Kit’s natural accent.
Davos’s accent is Geordie, that is someone from Newcastle. As well as being incomprehensible when they want to be, it has a very working class/industrial/tough reputation. Liam Cunningham has a Dubliner Irish accent naturally.
Maybe, but since those secrets are quite interrelated, it seems likely that if he knows one, he knows the other.
Really, I think if you know that it’s not a big leap to guess that Jon is their son. You have Ned, the most honorable man in Westeros, going to get her, and instead coming back saying Rhaeger raped and murder her, oh and by the way I have a bastard son now.
It’s been a long time since I watched those episodes, but I came away with the strong impression that Cersei murdered that baby herself. She loved her children with Jaime, but definitely not Robert’s child.
You’re right. But at the same time, Sam’s plot function seems to be to Realize Important Stuff. So I wouldn’t like to bet against the possibility of a future scene in which he recalls Gilly’s discovery.