Yes, this is my point. An incredibly powerful guy that you cannot trust that has barely any reason be loyal to you, that you abuse… You don’t just let him go off!
It’s not as dumb as S7/8 but it’s really stupid. They’re just waiting around too.
Good point. They just assumed he would be loyal, unlike, oh, half the family. It was even discussed before the search for more dragon riders. Rhaenyra told Mysaria that new riders would have honor because they would have Targaryen blood and Mysaria reminded her that her brothers didn’t. I guess they forgot.
So what’s the dragon vs dragon count currently, without sheepstealer?
6 vs 5?
Team black: Rhaenyra, Daemon, Jacaerys, Baela, Adam, Hugh.
Team green: Aemond (if it returns), Aegon (now its back, but is he still “team green”?), Helaena (but doesn’t ride, and is captured), Daeron (small though), and Ulf.
But really only two servicable dragons on the green side, unless the princes make up, and Aemond gets his back.
I’m guessing that Ulf is a betrayal which can damage much more before he dies, but that stealth can possibly make a BIG difference and kill a few riders and even the score.
He’s dead, unless you mean Joffrey and his dragon is a baby I believe.
Ah, I was getting confused with Addam because he was listed a Velaryon, that and I thought Addam was the other bastard, but then he’d not be a Velaryon. So it’s 5 vs 5, but greens dragons are not really united or in play. But not as much of a slam dunk with Ulf gone.
My initial reaction to the return of Sunfyre was that it was the mother of all lucky coincidences, but I’ve softened on it. Sunfyre comes back when Aegon stops being a self-pitying little asshole and finally decides to take a hold of his own destiny. It works thematically even if quite convenient.
Though… if it were known that dragons could have this sort of healing power, they probably wouldn’t have left Sunfyre for dead rotting in some field somewhere.
Larys’ timing couldn’t have been worse. He finally ditches his king (understandably) about a minute before everything turned around for him.
Tyland Lannister is apparently legitimately a bro and a dedicated servant - I had assumed he was making his own “come to Casterly Rock” play so he could get control of the king, but the dude was ready to die for his (unworthy) king. That’s just genuine commitment to duty. Aegon would be wise to make him his hand and head off to Casterly Rock.
It was kind of adorable how Daemon ordered Caraxes to kill Sheepstealer but once Daemon fell, Caraxes wouldn’t leave his side. Those assholes (dragon and rider alike) genuinely have a strong bond and I appreciate it.
I knew the first Alicent was Alys behind an illusion but that scene is still pretty hard to watch since Aemond’s attempt to seduce her was probably genuine. It does result in a sort of grossly hilarious moment where mid-act, Aemond has a reaction that says “eww, you’re not my mother! get off!”
Prediction (haven’t read the book): The army marching on Tumbleton isn’t expecting / isn’t prepared for dragons so Ulf can probably lay waste to them. Rhaenyra will be so pissed off that she’ll go burn Tumbleton down after all and that’ll create a significant rift between her and her people.
Where is Dreamfyre in all this? I forgot Helaena was even a rider. Can you make use of a dragon as an asset even if the rider doesn’t cooperate?
Is Ulf’s dragon the second biggest (vermathrax?) r of that the smith’s?
I think that is Hugh’s dragon, Vermithor (sp?).
Dani could, but those were imprinted on her as their mother since they hatched. This crop of Targaryens have trouble using their dragons even when they are riding them.
I have no clue what they’re doing with this series anymore, and it seems like the showrunners are in the same boat. They’ve taken a reasonably coherent although condensed narrative and made an absolute hash of it. In fleshing out the details and characters they’ve changed the fundamental storyline, and not for the better. Zero confidence in their ability to pull off a satisfying conclusion for the final season.
I disagree, that season finale was fantastic and the show now is a lot more closely aligned to what it should be than it was the first two seasons.
The battle scenes (The Gullet, Tumbleton) are indeed fantastic. Some of the best you’ll ever see. The plot however is completely lost to me. The idea that Rhaenyra is doing everything she’s doing to prepare for the White Walkers rather than trying to win a power struggle with her siblings is completely out of left field and Ulf’s actions make no sense at all. I’ll give them credit for writing a very compelling antagonist in Ormund but don’t see any other improvements on the source material, with lots of steps backwards. It feels like they’re just trying to squeeze extra seasons out of it.
By “out of left field” are you referring to her revealing the prophecy in her speech to the people? I think she did that because she realizes she’s about to lose her hold on the kingdom. It doesn’t matter anymore that she was the publicly named heir or that hundreds of lords swore fealty to her. This is reinforced by her noticing the “queen of bastards” graffiti on her way to the Sept.
So all she has left now to convince everyone that she is the totes legit queen is the prophecy and how she’s the only one who can fulfill it. She’s sort of switching from a legal claim to an emotional claim. That’s probably not the best tack to take (maybe it’s evidence of the usual Targaryen madness emerging from her), but she really seems to believe it.
Ulf is an obnoxious, impulsive, self-serving, pissant with a fragile ego. He isn’t getting the respect he thinks he deserves for being a dragonrider.
Then he gets bitchslapped by Daemon in public, so he makes a deal with the Hightowers to fuck over the Targaryens.
Then he gets bitchslapped by Ormund in public, so he’s like, “Okay, fuck all y’all.”
That all seems fairly in-character to me. What about it isn’t to you?
It may be in-character for the way they’re writing him, which is quite poor for me. His actions make no sense in attacking both sides in a dragon-war; he can’t possibly hope to win or even survive despite his mead-soaked dreams and ambitions. He’s behaving like a petulant child, not a grown man who has actual power and rank within his grasp.
As for Rhaenyra, since when has anyone south of the Neck taken the White Walkers as anything more than an old-wives tale? Why should the people care which Targaryen is the Prince that was Promised? Daemon was correct: the people respect those with power and the will to use it.
I’m glad you’re enjoying this spin on the story, but it’s not working for me. The battle scenes are enough to keep me watching. Tumbleton did a masterful job of presenting clearly to the watcher everything happening while still conveying the ‘fog of war” for those combatants on the battlefield.
Oh, I didn’t realize you were talking about how their characterizations have changed from book to tv show. I haven’t read the books, so I don’t know anything about that. All I can say is that from a tv show-only perspective, I don’t see anything particularly out of left field or not making sense on those counts.
He was also dead drunk in a toilet before they made him get on his dragon, there was zero thinking going on at all there.
I thought Ulf’s actions were totally in line with how he’s been characterized. And I agree that the prophecy was a desperate attempt to pivot. I’m not without complaints about this episode / season.
What was the point of Mysaria? Seemed to change allegiance / personality / competence from episode to episode. And she felt betrayed this episode? Why? She was fired because she was terrible at her job; didn’t tell Rhaenyra a single piece of information that helped her consolidate power.
Daemon started the battle without knowing where Ulf was?! Neither of the present dragon riders used their dragons to any real effect. Hugh makes more sense, but jeez.
Rhaenyra has been completely incompetent all season. She was raised as heir and every idea she has is just to whine about how unfair things are? Get your shit together.
Overall I think the season was fine. S1 was like 8.5/10, S2 was 4/10 and this is like 6/10. It’s a serviceable spectacle, but doesn’t have the magic of S1, S1-4 of GoT, or AKOTSK.
My main complaint with the show is similar to complaints on later seasons of GoT when they had bigger budgets to do giant set piece battles and sieges. Much of what made GoT great (and what makes Dunk & Egg great) was the odd character pairings where nothing really “happened” for episodes or even seasons besides two oddball characters stuck with each other’s company as they are positioned around Westeros. Briyenne and Jaime. Arya and The Hound. Tywin and Jordon Mormon. Tywin and Bronn, Tywin and Varys, (pretty much Tywin and anyone), So on and so forth.
It was a bit better this season. But I think you need episodes where “nothing happens” to build the characters and actually get a sense of the size and scale of Westeros.
Good Example: Ser Cole and Ser Gwyne’s ill-fated adventures in The Reach(?) It both showed a level of complexity of how armies maneuver around Westeros and don’t just “show up” on some castle’s doorstep while building both characters.
Bad Example: Alicent just sort of teleporting from Kings Landing to Harrenhall and back. That seems like a long and dangerous journey for a lone noblewoman under the best of circumstances
It’s probably not something he has given a lot of thought to. Ulf basically IS a petulant child and a drunk who’s aspirations for actual power and rank would be so he could drink more. It would be like giving Frank Gallagher from Shameless a dragon and a title.
The problem with this is that the source material is written as a history book, with only the big set pieces being covered. There are zero of those moments in the books, which is why they have to basically fan fiction all of them. That’s why they are so hit and miss, they are completely made up. Sometimes it works, like the Cole and Gwayne stuff and really anything involving Aegon who has been a highlight of the season. Most of the time it doesn’t, like anything involving Rhaenyra and Alicent, who are neither peers nor friends in the source, or Mysaria who makes season 8 Varys look like a genius.
Technically it’s all “completely made up” 
And don’t get me started on that weird romance between Eye-gone and his castle-witch.
Keep in mind a lot of the best moments in GOT didn’t happen in the book either. This is a multi-million dollar HBO production. I’m sure they can find some talented writers who aren’t JRR Martin to write some fucking dialogue
Maybe it doesn’t help that the Targaryans are all tall and blond with the name Rha- or Aeg- something. So I always end up thinking of them as “the burned one”, “the one with one eye”, “the one who was Doctor Who”, “the one who travels with a doofus knight”, “the one who conquered the Seven Kingdoms 300 years ago”.