# Game of Thrones "Winterfell" 8.01 4/14/19 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 14, 2019, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-winterfell-8-01-4-14-19/832542 "2019-04-14T18:41:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 15
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2019, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-winterfell-8-01-4-14-19/832542/281 "2019-04-19T23:12:10Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > What was Cersei scheming about at the end there? Is she thinking marrying Euron would make a good cover for having Jamie and her’s kid? She was always using Euron for his fleet; now that all the men in her family have either died or betrayed her she’s using him for his cock too. > [@River\_Hippie](#): > > I think at some point Jon will end up in a big fire. When he emerges unscathed Dany will know. Maybe she orders him into the fire to find out. Hopefully they won’t skimp on the nudity. > [@clairobscur](#): > > …I’m wondering what they’re going to do with Daenerys being Jon’s aunt. I’m not so sure they’ll be willing to show a successful aunt/nephew love story and happily ever after stuff. Makes me suspect that one of them will die. Likely Jon because Daenerys can bear a child if she survives and he doesn’t, so ensuring continuity… **Saturday Night Live** did a nephew beauty pageant when Kit Harrington. It took me longer than I care to admit to make the connection. :smack: > [@Colibri](#): > > Right. And Westeros (except for Dorne) practices male-preference primogeniture, so any male heir inherits before any female. (Not sure if this strictly applies to Targaryens, however, and in any case, as in medieval Europe, it could be cast aside for political considerations.) IIRC House Targaryen practices an even stricter form of succession similar to [Semi-salic law](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salic_law#Female_inheritance). Of course right of conquest trumps everything else. > [@Colibri](#): > > …However, the real reason the wine is significant is that the writers needed a shorthand way to indicate to Tyrion that Cersei might be pregnant. They decided on wine because it was something that would be noticed by modern audiences as being significant. Well the maesters do seem to be more advanced than Mediaeval physicians, but this is the most reasonable explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-winterfell-8-01-4-14-19/832542/282 "2019-04-20T00:11:58Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Heheh - yes. Check out the cubicle decor for each actor. Also, the phones in the Game of Phones logo have the house sigils at the ends. Kimmel’s production people really did put a lot of effort into that. Loved the acting, too. > [@silenus](#): > > No habla Dothraki. 😃 Perfect ending joke! > [@Telperion](#): > > It’s weird that we have never seen Howland Reed other than in the Tower of Joy flashback though, he’s a Stark bannerman so he probably should have mustered some units to their cause at some point. > [@silenus](#): > > Given that he has known all along about Jon’s true parentage, it’s no wonder the show made him a non-person. True, but he’d come in handy now, as an actual living witness to the facts of Jon’s parentage. If they need to prove that in some way other than Jon surviving fire or such. > [@alphaboi867](#): > > … **Saturday Night Live** did a nephew beauty pageant when Kit Harrington. It took me longer than I care to admit to make the connection. :smack: … That skit didn’t so much as make a pass at a hint of a reference to GoT…I’m sure that most viewers were like me in expecting a connection to be made. But: no. Harington certainly looked completely different in that wig (and with no facial hair). Not sure I would have realized it was him. Decent American accent, too. ---
**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 20, 2019, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-winterfell-8-01-4-14-19/832542/283 "2019-04-20T19:12:27Z")
I’d like to see a siege of Winterfell where all the medieval defensive measures work fantastically well, perfectly even, because the dead don’t try to defend themselves from it. Until the bodies start piling up high enough to just climb over the walls… A normal siege is back away from the castle defenses, using long range siege to eventually knock down walls. Thousands of men swarming the walls with ladders tends to be avoided for obvious reasons (see the invasion of Paris from the show Vikings for an example) but the dead wouldn’t care. I enjoy towering and walling up in RTS games against the computer and then watching the mindless computer units walk exactly down the killing path I’ve set up for them and getting relentlessly mown down. That’s the kind of castle siege I wanna see. Doesn’t have to be the final or even a decisive battle. The only problem is that I don’t see any real weapons for the humans besides fire. Even if dragonglass kills wights (do we know if it does?) they don’t have enough to manufacture ranged ammunition; only melee weapons. You defend castles with ranged weapons, not melee, so that leaves only fire, yes? It’s not like the dead would care if you poured boiling oil on them. Too bad there aren’t truckloads of wildfire to ship up north. That could come in really handy. ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-winterfell-8-01-4-14-19/832542/284 "2019-04-20T19:40:07Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > The only problem is that I don’t see any real weapons for the humans besides fire. Even if dragonglass kills wights (do we know if it does?) they don’t have enough to manufacture ranged ammunition; only melee weapons. You defend castles with ranged weapons, not melee, so that leaves only fire, yes? Well, [these](https://i.imgur.com/BboIJbY.jpg) certainly looked like arrowheads to me. ---
**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 20, 2019, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-winterfell-8-01-4-14-19/832542/285 "2019-04-20T19:48:12Z")
> [@Telperion](#): > > Well, [these](https://i.imgur.com/BboIJbY.jpg) certainly looked like arrowheads to me. I stand corrected. Seems like a massive waste of material, but they showed arrowheads. It is known. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-winterfell-8-01-4-14-19/832542/286 "2019-04-20T19:51:34Z")
Agreed. > [@EllisDee](#): > > I’d like to see a siege of Winterfell where all the medieval defensive measures work fantastically well, perfectly even, because the dead don’t try to defend themselves from it. Until the bodies start piling up high enough to just climb over the walls… Something similar happens in _World War Z_. ---
**Author:** ![Hellestal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ab097/32.png) [@Hellestal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hellestal)\ **Post date:** [April 20, 2019, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-winterfell-8-01-4-14-19/832542/287 "2019-04-20T20:24:00Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > Even if dragonglass kills wights (do we know if it does?) On the show, we do know that it works. When they brought the wight to King’s Landing to display, they explained that they could be killed with fire and dragonglass. Fire they demonstrated with the detached arm. The dragonglass demonstration was with the main body of the corpse. I think they made a particular point of it because it hadn’t happened to a wight in battle. ---
**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 20, 2019, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-winterfell-8-01-4-14-19/832542/288 "2019-04-20T20:38:08Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > Although Sam is only one of two to kill a White Walker. > [@Colibri](#): > > Good point. However, he killed it by stabbing it in the back with a dragonglass dagger. I wonder if he’d even be able to swing a longsword effectively. Reading up on dragonglass, I see that three people have actually killed a White Walker: Sam, Meera (using dragonglass in the Cave of the Three-eyed Raven), and Jon Snow. Jon has killed two, both with Valyrian steel: one at Hardhome, and one during the Wight Hunt. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-winterfell-8-01-4-14-19/832542/289 "2019-04-21T18:06:42Z")
For what it’s worth: [The ‘Game of Thrones’ Night King Spiral Mystery Has Officially Been Solved](https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2019/04/21/the-game-of-thrones-night-king-spiral-mystery-has-officially-been-solved/#1f0e207d2506) > [@](#): > > But there is no more need to theorize, and we have arrived at an actual answer for this question. I’m not just talking about a really good fan idea that sounds correct, I’m talking about the guy who wrote the premiere and put the flaming spiral in it explaining outright what it means. Here’s Game of Thrones premiere writer Dave Hill talking to the New York Post when asked the question: > > “As we saw with Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven, the spiral pattern was sacred to the Children of the Forest, who created the Night King by sacrificing a captured man in a spiral “henge of stones.” The Night King then adopted the symbol as a sort of blasphemy, like Satan with the upside-down cross.” > > So that’s it. The White Walkers use this symbol, and at least a few other ones, as stolen sacred icons from the Children of the Forest, whom they hate, as a way to dishonor them. I suppose you can then go a level deeper and ask “well what did the symbol mean for the Children of the Forest then?” But I have a feeling this is going to be as far as this mystery goes, and simply identifying the spiral as a sacred symbol is going to be all the explanation we get. ---
**Author:** ![GreysonCarlisle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a87d85/32.png) [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-winterfell-8-01-4-14-19/832542/290 "2019-04-21T18:42:28Z")
> [@dasmoocher's link](#): > > I suppose you can then go a level deeper and ask “well what did the symbol mean for the Children of the Forest then?” But I have a feeling this is going to be as far as this mystery goes, and simply identifying the spiral as a sacred symbol is going to be all the explanation we get. Similar to the [cup and ring marks](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c1/Annotated.jpg) found on ancient menhirs in our world, I imagine. Moon and sun are my best guesses. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-winterfell-8-01-4-14-19/832542/291 "2019-04-21T19:00:25Z")
I heard a very vague clue on a chat show, but am putting it in a spoiler box in case you don’t want to read it. Kit Harington was on The Graham Norton Show on 12 April, which aired here in the US on 19 April. He mentioned that he took home, as a souvenir, a statue of his character that was made for the show. I have no idea what that means, whether it’s a hint that he becomes king. It does seem to be a hint that things calm down enough in Westeros that people take the time to make statues of people. ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-winterfell-8-01-4-14-19/832542/292 "2019-04-21T19:14:45Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I heard a very vague clue on a chat show, but am putting it in a spoiler box in case you don’t want to read it. > > Kit Harington was on The Graham Norton Show on 12 April, which aired here in the US on 19 April. He mentioned that he took home, as a souvenir, a statue of his character that was made for the show. I have no idea what that means, whether it’s a hint that he becomes king. It does seem to be a hint that things calm down enough in Westeros that people take the time to make statues of people. He might be just referring to the statue they made of him for one of the promos they released weeks ago. It had him, Sansa, and Arya walking through the Winterfell crypts past the statues of Lyanna and Ned and so on, and coming at the end to statues of themselves standing in a row. So it might not be a real scene at all, just advertising stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2019, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-winterfell-8-01-4-14-19/832542/293 "2019-04-21T20:20:33Z")
That’d be my guess, **SbS**. Too soon to say, though. Make your own Iron, er, Aluminum Throne!: [A welder in Kentucky made a homemade replica of the throne in 'Game of Thrones' | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/21/us/kentucky-welder-game-of-thrones-trnd/index.html) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/game-of-thrones-winterfell-8-01-4-14-19/832542.md?page=14)