# Game of Thrones 8.03 "The Long Night" 4/28/19 \[Show discussion\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 28, 2019, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190 "2019-04-28T20:36:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 21
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/401 "2019-04-30T04:44:13Z")
But the show explicitly goes out of its way to say that only 1-3 people in the world are capable of doing that, and Tywin had to import someone from across the world and pay handsomely. It’s not something any blacksmith can do. We know of no one in the North that can do it. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/402 "2019-04-30T04:50:27Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > You’re wrong. Valyrian steel is melted in the show. See the beginning of episode 1 season 4 where Ned Stark’s sword is melted to produce two new Valyrian steel blades. :smack::smack::smack::smack: How many times do we have to say this? He said “You can’t just melt down Valyrian steel _and re-use it._” You absolutely can’t, _and it says so in that episode_. You have to re-forge it again, and very few people, only one in Westeros, can do it. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/403 "2019-04-30T04:54:44Z")
I think his point is that if you could re-forge it into a sword, you could re-forge it into a bunch of arrowheads. The key difference isn’t the shape or purpose, but rather having a weaponsmith that knows the arcane process of being able to re-forge Valyrian steel while still retaining its magic. It’s made clear that this is a rare and exotic process that only a few people can do, all of whom are in Essos. Tywin had to import one at great cost. If, for some reason, one of those weaponsmiths were in Winterfell, presumably they could do exactly that - turn a sword into arrowheads. Or maybe not - maybe there’s some exotic material needed. But there’s obviously supposed to be some sort of magic involved in the process, or some arcane special skill. It’s not just a matter of melting and reforging that any smith could do. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/404 "2019-04-30T04:56:59Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > You’re wrong. Valyrian steel is melted in the show. See the beginning of episode 1 season 4 where Ned Stark’s sword is melted to produce two new Valyrian steel blades. … wherein it’s explained that there are only three people in the world that know how to work Valyrian steel. The melted metal would be worthless without that expertise. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCItXEFnen0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCItXEFnen0) ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/405 "2019-04-30T04:59:05Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > You’re wrong. Valyrian steel is melted in the show. See the beginning of episode 1 season 4 where Ned Stark’s sword is melted to produce two new Valyrian steel blades. [Here’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NDAxHy-kLU) Tywin giving Jaime one of the swords re-forged from Ice. Jaime: “No one’s made a Valyrian steel sword since the Doom of Valyria.” Tywin: “There are three living smiths who know how to re-work Valyrian steel. The finest of them was in Volantis. He came here to King’s Landing at my invitation.” You’re welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Biggirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biggirl/32/3294_2.png) [@Biggirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biggirl)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/406 "2019-04-30T05:30:58Z")
Watching it on my computer on HBO Go increased my enjoyment of this episode by 100%. What a difference! And now, goodnight everybody. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/407 "2019-04-30T05:35:43Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > It’s gonna take a long time to clean up winterfell. That was my main thought from the episode. Yes, I thought the same when seeing the piles of bodies around the walls of Winterfell. Grave diggers will have work for the decade to come. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/408 "2019-04-30T05:39:18Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > … wherein it’s explained that there are only three people in the world that know how to work Valyrian steel. The melted metal would be worthless without that expertise. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCItXEFnen0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCItXEFnen0) And? It still means that it can be melted and reused. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/409 "2019-04-30T05:41:02Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [Here’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NDAxHy-kLU) Tywin giving Jaime one of the swords re-forged from Ice. > > Jaime: “No one’s made a Valyrian steel sword since the Doom of Valyria.” > > Tywin: “There are three living smiths who know how to re-work Valyrian steel. The finest of them was in Volantis. He came here to King’s Landing at my invitation.” > > You’re welcome. I just saw the whole episode, in fact, since it has quite a lot of good scenes. I didn’t say anybody could work it. I said it could definitely be melted and reused in response to someone saying that the show established it couldn’t be melted and reused. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/410 "2019-04-30T05:49:22Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > And? It still means that it can be melted and reused. Whatever it takes to make “useful” Valerian steel is only known to 3 people. You could theoretically use one of those 3 guys to melt down a sword and make arrowheads, but that would be idiotic considering you can make perfectly suitable arrows out of dragonglass that is immensely more plentiful and can be fashioned by many more people. ---
**Author:** ![AnalogSignal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/analogsignal/32/1085_2.png) [@AnalogSignal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AnalogSignal)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 5:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/411 "2019-04-30T05:59:08Z")
I was bothered by how passive Bran was in the last episode and came up with a silly idea to try to explain it. Bran began to suspect that the Night King was a creature that he manifested out of his own imagination on a bad warg trip before he understood how to control his powers. When NK was about to execute Bran, Bran calmly accepted his fate because he thought it might just be the end of NK and his minions too. However, it became a moot point once Arya turned into a super ninja and took care of business on her own. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/412 "2019-04-30T06:02:30Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > That’s reaching. Agreed, but it’s the thought I had while watching it. > [@](#): > > I’m just trying to get my head around the idea that Game of Thrones is about putting uppity women in their place. Yeah, as I wrote, I don’t know what she meant by that. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/413 "2019-04-30T06:26:52Z")
Re Arya, as I said on Reddit. She was tracking the NK. From a distance. As her Faceless Men training taught her. The last bit, the lunge was not training, it was sisterly anger causing her to thrush cautiontj the winds. It was _get away from my brother you bastard_. She abandoned her earlier plan when she saw Bran was going to be killed. Which is his she got past the White Walkers, who were surprised. If she had tried to sneak past, she would have been intercepted. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/414 "2019-04-30T07:31:23Z")
> [@Hellestal](#): > > Dragonglass is specifically shown to kill wights at the dragon pit during the demonstration for Cersei. Ok, I missed that bit. However, wasn’t there a bit at Castle Black when they first encountered a wight, and couldn’t kill it unless burning it, and Jon might have had longclaw then (perhaps he didn’t at that point). ---
**Author:** ![aurora\_maire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aurora_maire/32/328_2.png) [@aurora\_maire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aurora_maire)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 8:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/415 "2019-04-30T08:32:53Z")
> [@AnalogSignal](#): > > I was bothered by how passive Bran was in the last episode and came up with a silly idea to try to explain it. Bran began to suspect that the Night King was a creature that he manifested out of his own imagination on a bad warg trip before he understood how to control his powers. When NK was about to execute Bran, Bran calmly accepted his fate because he thought it might just be the end of NK and his minions too. However, it became a moot point once Arya turned into a super ninja and took care of business on her own. I’ll just believe that Bran had finally seen how things were most likely to go and had to let it play out. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/416 "2019-04-30T08:43:37Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > When Dany blasted the Night King with a _long_ shot of dragonfire, he seemed unaffected and was just standing there, I think smiling, when the fire and smoke cleared. Was that what was expected or was the intention that he has the same invulnerability that she does to fire? We saw him walk though a wall of dragon fire during the Fellowship of the Wight episode. Granted, he wasn’t getting the full blast treatment at the time, he was just walking over the still-burning corpses of wights, but he certainly didn’t seem to care. In fact, the flames sort of die out as he walks through. So, pretty much expected, I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 8:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/417 "2019-04-30T08:52:23Z")
> [@Smid](#): > > Ok, I missed that bit. However, wasn’t there a bit at Castle Black when they first encountered a wight, and couldn’t kill it unless burning it, and Jon might have had longclaw then (perhaps he didn’t at that point). Jon throws a lit lantern at it because he doesn’t have any other weapon, his regular sword was stuck in its chest. He saves Mormont’s life in that moment, so Mormont gives him Longclaw as a thank you. ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/418 "2019-04-30T09:10:37Z")
> [@Biggirl](#): > > Edd is dead. If a show has dragons, giants and zombies, it’s only natural that it should have Pixies, too. ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/419 "2019-04-30T10:00:35Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I pointed out in another post that Danaerys first war council included five women (two of them bisexual), three eunuchs, and a dwarf. Not exactly an indication that he-men were still in charge. I’m missing one Eunoch and a bisexual there. (If that’s not a feed line, I don’t know what is.) Yara on the Bis, Varys and Greyworm for eunochs. Was Missandei, bi? ---
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2019, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190/420 "2019-04-30T10:11:27Z")
One thing which struck me a number of times during a rewatch, Briennes’ a squealer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190.md?page=20) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-8-03-the-long-night-4-28-19-show-discussion/833190.md?page=22)