Game of Thrones Season 5 Discussion [SPOILERS WITHIN]

[Clueless Morgan]

I was a little upset with the Hardhome battle - it seemed like it was made a big deal of the giant keeping the dragon glass blade, but then he never actually uses it on any of the dead guys attacking him.  WTH?  It was like Chekhov's dragon glass only it never got used!

I also kept thinking the whole battle that I felt like I could see where the rest of the story is going:  Dany doesn't have any supporters in Westeros, but she'll cross the narrow sea with her dragons, defeat the army of the dead, everyone will love her and she'll become queen and have the popular support of everyone...

I really liked the episode, but I did feel the Hardhome battle was a little bit too long.  I kept yelling at my computer for someone to find the damned dragon glass blades.  Did Jon take the entire cache of blades Sam had or was that only a selection of them?

[FatAndFaithless]

Dragonglass has only been shown to be effective against white walkers, not the wights. And Edd had collected the large majority of the dragonglass when they were attacked, and the dragonglass were only like little dagger blades and arrowheads, not something I'd jump for in a fight when I've been trained with a three foot long sword or bigass axe.

Jon took the cache that Sam and Grenn and Pyp had found, but in a previous episode Stannis has said they have tons of it on Dragonstone (which was the Targaryen seat of power before the conquest and was built on a volcanic island, so they'll get more.

[Saxmoof]

I also kept thinking the whole battle that I felt like I could see where the rest of the story is going:  Dany doesn't have any supporters in Westeros, but she'll cross the narrow sea with her dragons, defeat the army of the dead, everyone will love her and she'll become queen and have the popular support of everyone...

I came here to say this but you beat me to it

It does feel like GoT will end with super-girl and her magic dragons saving the day, becoming loved by all and everyone lives happily ever after

In amongst all the brilliant things about GoT (political intrigue, realistic world where evil often triumphs, wide cast of complex morally ambiguous characters etc.) there's a fairly run of the mill fantasy story (basically every situation involving magic)

I kind of want one of the major protagonists to just randomly die to assuage my fears that we're not veering towards typical fantasy

[Aroura]

I think there is a lot more going on than Dany arriving with dragons to save the day. What would be the point of Jon Snow's existence if that was where the story was going? What would be the point of Arya, and all the different Gods suddenly showing up with powers? Also, it has been MORE than hinted at in the books and the TV shows that the higherarchy of the Whitewalkers are possibly Starks?. Remember, there must always be a Stark at Winterfell...but why?

So that Night's King? Might be Jon Snow's great great great uncle or something. And Benjen, his actual uncle, is he going to show up as one of these fleshly others? And Brandon is a living Wierwood now, don't forget. Did anyone notice the whitewalker weapons looked a lot like weirwood branches? Makes me wonder if they really ARE going to be the "bad" guys in full out bad guy fashion, or if we are going to get a little revelation as to why they are coming south (like...cutting down all the weirwood groves? AKA, since animism is real in this world, the gods of the forest are pissed and these are the protectors?)

I'm just guessing here, but my point is there is a lot more going on thatn Dany and her Dragons riding in to wipe out that army. If that IS how it ends (very simple ending to a complicated story), I'll be super sad panda.

Also, I think the point of Jon killing the Higher up White Walker (Other?) with his blade is to show the importance of the few Valarian steel blades left in the show, like Brienne's and even Littlefinger's dagger.

Loved Septa whateverhername is smacking Cersie with that spoon. "I'll kill you!" SMACK! Haha.
The way the Sparrows are portrayed makes you wonder about how Martin views Christianity. Cersie isn't being put on trial for having people murdered or being a terrible queen, but for incest. Same with the Tyrells, it's for buggery, and for lying about it.

[rexbeccarox]

I've seen speculation from a TON of people that the Night's King is actually Robb Stark.

[Aroura]

I've seen speculation from a TON of people that the Night's King is actually Robb Stark.

That would be interesting, but not sure how headless wolf boy would have gotten up there before he even died, and then gotten his head back.  If Martin puts time travel in his stories on top of everything else I'm just going to cry.  I mean, Bran already has something like time travel (visions) now that he is the Wierwood tree/god/thing, so maybe I should already be crying.  haha.

But really, I just think there must be more to this story in the end than Ice Zombies vs Fire Dragons.  If there isn't, I'll be seriously, highly disappointed.

[pocaracas]

I've seen speculation from a TON of people that the Night's King is actually Robb Stark.

That would be interesting, but not sure how headless wolf boy would have gotten up there before he even died, and then gotten his head back.  If Martin puts time travel in his stories on top of everything else I'm just going to cry.  I mean, Bran already has something like time travel (visions) now that he is the Wierwood tree/god/thing, so maybe I should already be crying.  haha.

But really, I just think there must be more to this story in the end than Ice Zombies vs Fire Dragons.  If there isn't, I'll be seriously, highly disappointed.

According to the cannon...

While on his way north, Bran Stark recalls stories told to the Stark children of the Night's King and the Nightfort by Old Nan, servant in Winterfell. She said some people believe the Night's King was a Bolton, a Magnar of Skagos, an Umber, a Flint, a Norrey, or a Woodfoot. However, she identifies the Night's King as a Stark of Winterfell and brother to the King of the North and hints his name was Brandon.[1]

[Regina]

I thought the white walkers were supposed to be thousands of years old though? I love that theory, it's very interesting, but it seems unlikely. Also don't they have to be babies to be turned Into white walkers? I thought they couldn't do that to adults.

---

They are very interesting though, I do hope they have some complex motives beyond just being monsters who kill anything in their path. That would lose its scare factor very fast.

[FatAndFaithless]

There won't be any trite eye-rolling of a typical fantasy ending for ASOIAF. Martin's made that clear. He once described the something as bittersweet and something like a barren field with cold winds washing over fields of bones. I'll try to find the exact quote.

EDIT: Found the quote. Turns out it was just a snarky response to a reader who complained about all the deaths, and he joked by saying there would be no characters left in the 7th book, and it would just be a garden of bones.


But if there's one author who I trust to not pull the "triumphant dragon-riding-perfect-queen-returns-to-save-the-world-and-then-rule" trope, it's GRRM.

Hell, dany and jon could be killed and maybe tyrion rules with varys. Plenty of possibilities.

[Whateverist]

Tyrian is one of the most complex characters and for that reason one of the most appealing. Where Ned was a simple man of simple virtue, not many could identify with him. (Him as the Night King doesn't work for me though.) Tyrian seems capable of looking for the best possible world in an extremely imperfect world. I'm not sure he needs to rule to do that though. Eager to see what GM does with it. But if he doesn't live long enough, I hope to enjoy more than one fan fiction version.