Now you mention it, that does ring a bell. It seems quite a low key way to break such a big revelation though. Did they hint at it in any other ways?
P.S. - lisiate, thank you so much for recommending Preston Jacobs’ channel! It’s brilliant. I’m going through the ‘Littlefinger debt scheme’ videos at the moment. I pride myself on being a pretty knowledgeable fan but I can’t follow half of it! It’s one of the maddest things I’ve ever seen!
Yes and again yes. How is it that some (in the episode thread) are actually able to see Show Stannis as being Good Decision Guy/Noble Commander Guy??? The teleplays really don’t support such a conclusion.
Verge had a new piece of evidence on Lady Stoneheart that I just read. They point out that the first shot in the final episode preview shows a lone figure on a cliff looking at Moat Cailin.
Scant evidence, but I thought it was interesting and, to me, more compelling than the episode title or a brief appearance on IMDB.
Good for you, Qadgop. IMO if someone isn’t willing to let the world burn for their kids’ sake, they don’t love their kids enough.
That’s not to say that it’d be the objectively better outcome if it ever came down to it, but in practice people won’t ever be in a position of literally choosing to burn the world down, and for the kinds of choices a parent actually faces, it’s a lot better to be all in for your kids.
At the risk of spilling into Great Debate territory, it’s analogous to the people who say “Well, you can’t say ‘never torture anyone’, because what if the terrorist had a hidden nuke and the only way to find it is with torture.” But in practice it never comes down to that, it’s always “Well, maybe this guy knows something about some possible attack, and maybe torture will help us figure it out.” And if the CIA guys don’t have a hard line against torture, they can talk themselves into it. “Don’t torture” should be a hard line, and “don’t kill your kids” should be a hard line, too. Even if it’d result in an arguably wrong decision in a completely implausible situation, having a hard line keeps you from talking yourself into the wrong decision in the situations you actually might face.
People will say, “Well, Stannis really is in the ‘implausible’ situation where killing his daughter will save the world.” I don’t buy it. I don’t know how the show is going to end, but I’m willing to bet (1) Stannis ends up dead, and (2) the White Walkers don’t end up overrunning all of Westeros. If I’m right, then Stannis is just another case of someone talking himself into thinking the ends justify the means, forgetting that “even the wise cannot see all ends”.
Even after he made the mistake of taking his daughter with them, he should have sent her back to Castle Black with Davos (as Davos pleaded for him to do). While I’m making predictions, I predict that not everyone at Castle Black will be killed by the White Walkers. At least there Shireen would have had a chance.
Suppose your kid was sick, and needed a transplant. Would you lie to get him or her higher up the transplant list? Would you kill kids who were ahead of your kid on the list?
If your kid was accused of a crime, would you perjure yourself to help them? Would you mortgage your house and empty your life savings to bail them out?
Stannis does believe that he needs to win to save the world.
*Only he can lead the living against the dead.* He "knows" that he is the only chance the living have. Period.
He’s probably wrong, of course, but in his mind, with what he’s seen, this is more than killing his daughter to win a single battle. This is sacrificing her to save everyone on the planet, including her.
My guess was that Littlefinger, not Varys, would kill Kevan. However, we haven’t even seen Kevan acting as a ruler, so it seems to me his assassination now would make little sense.
Especially since they have so much stuff to cram into this episode already.
Upon reflexion, unless they make hell get loose in the episode, including all the elements we know about (Lady Stoneheart, the death of Balon Greyjoy, the murder of Kevan, the assassination of Jon Snow) and others not yet published with a lot of cards seemingly redistributed, and everything we’re accustomed to coming to a sudden crash.
Why is Jaime Lannister so God-awful fighting with his left hand? I get it’s his weaker hand, but he was supposed to be one of the greatest swordsmen in Westeros. I would have thought he would be able to fight with both hands Indigo Montoya style.
According to the Wiki, “Littlefinger falsely claims that the dagger belongs to Tyrion Lannister.” The implication is that Littlefinger probably encouraged Joefrey to order the assassination. From Littlefinger’s perspective, he was using could have been an accident as an opportunity to incite a feud between the Lannisters and Starks for his own ends. From Catlyns perspective, finding a golden hair in the tower and the assassination attempt is enough to convince her the Lannisters are involved.
Since Bran is off North o’ the Wall, all the Starks are dead or in exile, Joefrey is dead, and Tyrion is a fugitive (who won a “trial by combat” for the attempted murder of Bran, which while following the letter of Westeros law, isn’t exactly preponderance of evidence of his innocence) I don’t think anyone is going to follow up on this.