He’s their Donald Trump! MIIGA!
Ok, Telperion probably doesn’t deserve to be the butt of jokes but I couldn’t help but laugh at this way-too-cheerful snark.
Stannis was leading the combined navies of every other kingdom. They are only “invincible” at this point because there are no other intact fleets, and even if there was in an even fight they should technically be the better sailors. Of course none of this is reflected in the writing, they are just magically invincible, invisible and teleporting uber sailors. Also I don’t think before the wars they got by raiding the seven kingdoms, there are other lands to pirate.
I’m of Swiss descent myself. We’ve been great at defending crappy lands that nobody else wants all that much.
Unless they’re standing watch. But everybody gets a little sleepy on balls-to-four.
Starting at the same place as Stephen King: So few people dying in “The Long Night” sets up A LOT of people dying in #8.5 and #8.6. This is the bread and butter of the series: how a broad range of complex political relationships change as someone (frequently) dies, all because of the prevalence of systems of hereditary monarchy.
It may end up better the way it happened:
Jon enjoys hangin’ with the boys while wallflower Daenerys tries to get someone to notice her by once again legitimating a man who is de jure ahead of her in the line of succession for the Iron Throne with the exact words: “You are Lord Gendry Barratheon of Storm’s End, the lawful son of Robert Barratheon, because that is what I have made you.” Daenerys proceeds to pat herself on the back, saying to Tyrion: “See? You’re not the only one who’s clever,” and Tyrion immediately exchanges a significant look across the table at his (wife?) Sansa as if to say, “She doesn’t even realize what she just did…again.”
Nobody wants it to end with lawyers deciding the line of succession, nobody wants it to end with priests deciding which candidate fulfills prophecies, and now nobody want to entertain the “Monty Python Ending” (my apologies for forgetting who first brought it up) where the Iron bank forecloses the kingdom.
but the series will end and Varys’ riddle about the King, The Priest and The Banker echoing Senator Roark’s Sin City musings on the nature of power, famously resolves as: “Power resides where men believe it resides.”
My dark horse the Night King being killed and Gendry’s legitimization only reinforces my Arya’s unborn child is the Ahor Azai theory which I’m calling the Faces of Death ending (death, death, death, death, death, death, baby.)
It’s not only possible, but so technically trivial that I thought it was more likely the coffee cup was never in the shot in the first place and had been first ADDED in post-. A LOT of cast and crew on the set and nobody noticed the anachronistic coffee was in the shot? This is so much worse than Alfonso Cuarón not having anyone who’s ever done any housework on the set of his housemaid melodrama Roma. Since suggesting it possible these things are planned commercials quickly gets "political’ and people get labeled and dismissed as conspiracy nuts, I’ll drop it, but clearly there’s an incredible amout of pressure to place advertising anywhere many semi-hypnotized eyes are looking.
Yup
Re: Wildfire caches:
Forget wildfire, where’s the cache of dragon eggs? Jon, Gendry, his unborn child with Arya, that Targaryen blood, potential dragonriders all.
Remind me why Gendry has Targaryen blood. Are the Baratheons a branch from the Targs?
I don’t think we can, since it was never covered in the TV show.
Tyrion acknowledged it was clever, and I don’t think he was just sucking up to Dany. I thought Tyrion was looking for Sansa’s reaction to Dany’s trying to one-up her by emphasizing she was the Queen and could make such decisions, and was also consolidating her power. Sansa was looking slit-eyed rather than rolling her eyes. If she though Dany was screwing up, she should be smirking rather than trying to hold her temper.
Gendry isn’t a threat as an alternative contender for the throne because he no independent support (unlike Jon). He could become a threat if someone with some power decided to use him as a figurehead to rebel against Dany, but Cersei won’t do that, nor will anyone else rally to him as long is Jon is an alternative.
Incidentally, when Dany asked “Who’s Lord of Storm End now?”, Jaime should know (although he wasn’t in evidence in the scene).
It does. When Ned and Robert are arguing that Ned should have taken the Iron Throne Ned counters “you had the better claim”.
Oh, right, because Robert’s grandmother was a daughter of Aegon V.
Aren’t they supposed to be the next guys running what’s left of the Star Wars movies? I feel great about where that universe is going to be headed.
I’m sure the final two episodes will give everyone something to enjoy. I won’t make any guesses; I found spoilers for them. Their predictions for E3 and E4 mostly panned out, so I don’t want to inadvertently make a post like the infamous “Happy Father’s Day!” one that hit the same day of the episode where Tyrion killed Tywin.
I do think it’s interesting though if GRRM will finish the last two books, and if so, will there be any significant changes from the way the show ended?
Quercus alba in this thread, but Loach in last week’s 8.03 thread:
Still want to shout out to Quercus alba for:
Reminded me of The (beloved) Journal of Irreproducible Results!
Telperion saves me from an embarrassing warning, I may need to find a cite for where this is clarified in the TV series, but the pertinent Targaryen would be three generations up from Gendry in the Barratheon family tree.
I sort of misspoke when I said “few people dying (in “The Long Night”)” I meant central characters. My whole deal rests on the idea a bunch of them will die soon.
Thanks! I can never keep the family lines straight in my head.
Nobody can! That’s why we’re all dreading some courtroom ending where the Iron Throne is decided on some minutiae fresh in the writer’s mind, but buried many seasons ago in the viewer’s.
Edited (cynically) to add: …that’s purposely crafted to sell Blu-ray box sets!
We may need a lineage thread…
Though a lot of these more broad questions about the world of Westeros may benefit from less limited specific threads, I guess.
Yeah, Gendry isn’t really a threat as a rival for the throne as long as Jon, Dany, and Cersei are still alive. If they’re all wiped out, Dany’s legitimizing him could set him up to be the next ruler. He’s so inexperienced that normally he would just become a puppet for one of the more powerful families, but most of the ruling families have been virtually wiped out (Martells, Tyrells, Baratheons except for Gendry) or are headed by a wimp (Tullys, Arryns, Starks if we consider Bran as head). So anything could happen.
They did mention a new Dornish prince in the last episode at least, and Dorne is next to the Stormlands.
There are only two episodes left and the plot has moved beyond what happened in the books. Isn’t it time to get rid of the restrictions? What’s the point anymore?