# House of the Dragon 2.06 "Smallfolk" 7/21/24 OPEN SPOILERS **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, hbomax-wb-dc\ **Created:** [July 22, 2024, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-2-06-smallfolk-7-21-24-open-spoilers/1004583 "2024-07-22T06:00:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**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:** [July 24, 2024, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-2-06-smallfolk-7-21-24-open-spoilers/1004583/21 "2024-07-24T16:18:25Z")
On second watch, I realized that the Lannister army had lions with them as mascots. D’oh. I was thinking on first watch that having lions on the battlefield was a stupid idea and forgot that a lion is their sigil. 🦁 ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2024, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-2-06-smallfolk-7-21-24-open-spoilers/1004583/22 "2024-07-24T20:35:18Z")
To be honest unleashing lions on your enemies seems less dumb that just bringing them along as pets… ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2024, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-2-06-smallfolk-7-21-24-open-spoilers/1004583/23 "2024-07-24T21:06:47Z")
How do the lions tell which people to eat? ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2024, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-2-06-smallfolk-7-21-24-open-spoilers/1004583/24 "2024-07-24T23:59:02Z")
I’d assume training. Might make great terror weapons–if you’ve already broken the line sic the lions on them, those soldiers not already running might just decide it was a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-2-06-smallfolk-7-21-24-open-spoilers/1004583/25 "2024-07-26T04:56:38Z")
If I was a low level Lannister grunt, I’d be a little nervous about those lion cages being opened, seeing as how I’d probably have enemy blood on me and all. ---
**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:** [July 26, 2024, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-2-06-smallfolk-7-21-24-open-spoilers/1004583/26 "2024-07-26T05:04:30Z")
Using lions as war weapons would be crazy. You can do it with horses and elephants because they’re very trainable and a rider controls them. But you’re not going to get a lion to be a useful weapon of war. It’s a status symbol / intimidation. The idea being that if your army is powerful enough that they can spare the resources to carry around exotic animals as a mascot, that’s pretty intimidating. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-2-06-smallfolk-7-21-24-open-spoilers/1004583/27 "2024-07-26T16:27:06Z")
That’s what the Lannister yarn-archers are for. Shoot balls of yarn into the enemy ranks, and then loose the lions. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [July 26, 2024, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-2-06-smallfolk-7-21-24-open-spoilers/1004583/28 "2024-07-26T16:43:28Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > It’s a status symbol / intimidation. The idea being that if your army is powerful enough that they can spare the resources to carry around exotic animals as a mascot, that’s pretty intimidating. Yeah, this. The Lannisters are unspeakably wealthy; bringing caged wild animals that serve no practical purpose just to show off is a major flex for them. Of course, that’s how they _want_ to portray things. In actuality, it is implied that the castle they’ll be garrisoning will be feeding them (and their lions) as guests. So in fact, the Lannisters are throwing around _other people’s money and resources_ rather than their own. ---
**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:** [July 26, 2024, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-2-06-smallfolk-7-21-24-open-spoilers/1004583/29 "2024-07-26T17:07:25Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > even though the production quality, acting, and dialogue in this show is good, we’ve hardly advanced the plot at all this season and we’re 3/4 of the way through. HBO and the show’s creators would be glad to turn ONE book into ten seasons, if they thought they could get away with it. Sssttttrrretch it out! I don’t think they’re getting away with it. But of course it can be done: with the aforementioned Tolkien books, each of the _Lord of the Rings_ books got one movie. When they became huge successes, the one slim volume that preceded the trilogy became three movies—which did very well indeed, financially. (Even though reviews were mixed.) So it’s understandable that Martin and his producers figured they’d go for the gold. Sssstrrretch!! > **[The Hobbit (film series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hobbit_(film_series))** > > The Hobbit is a series of three fantasy adventure films directed by Peter Jackson. The films are subtitled An Unexpected Journey (2012), The Desolation of Smaug (2013), and The Battle of the Five Armies (2014). The films are based on J. R. R. Tolkien's 1937 novel The Hobbit, but much of the trilogy was inspired by the appendices to his 1954–55 The Lord of the Rings, which expand on the story told in The Hobbit. Additional material and new characters were created specially for the films. The se... In re “Smallfolk”—I don’t think this is the episode that fans of the show would recommend in order to convince someone to give the series a try. Too many characters had to carry the stupid ball in order to make the plot go. (Really, the Hightowers are too dimwitted, in the absence of Otto, to realize that letting the city-folk starve is a rather bad idea???) ---
**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:** [July 28, 2024, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-2-06-smallfolk-7-21-24-open-spoilers/1004583/30 "2024-07-28T21:49:59Z")
[Episode 7 thread](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-2-07-7-28-24-open-spoilers) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/house-of-the-dragon-2-06-smallfolk-7-21-24-open-spoilers/1004583.md?page=1)