Excellent episode. Though unfortunately, bookended by - yet another - 'intense' Dany with dragons sweeping scene. I'll give everyone a chance at some viewing before I expunge myself of the random musings over the finale. Until then, here are some GoT funbits for ya: (sorry, I never heard of this player before either, so no surprise I cannot embed it) http://www.vulture.com/2016/06/louis-ck-new-show-game-of-thrones-joke.html The strongest metal in the known world, http://i.imgur.com/PanYYBV.mp4 Spoiler: for Jon's origins If you haven't really figured it out yet, and do want it known, it is a fan theory that has existed since the books first came out, but you can do a search for R+L=J and it will tell you all the background you need.
Spoiler Lyanna and Rhaegar - Man it was a great episode last night and a good way to end it, until next time... dun dun dunnnnnn
No talk of badass Arya (now a serial killer)? Good episode. Hate the lengthy builds. Just get to the point already. Ships scene at end looked good and the dragons looked better though I could have done without the skimming the water bit. It's like a build in it's need to be so grandiose. The reality of all those ships sailing out must be a real mess and not so pretty. All that man stink. Cersei's new outfit looked great. Very 80's.
Wow so the opening scene of every single episode is actually from inside that library place? The chandeliers in that room used to direct light are obviously the things spinning in the opening credits shinning light on a map of the whole world. Mind blown!
First of - great episode! Everyone was at their best - very nuanced acting by the entire cast. Great scenes with Sansa and Littlefinger. But Lena Headey just killed it! Way to get rid of all the subplots that probably not even GRR Martin knows how to finish?! So I guess next season starts with Dany's fleet destroying Crow's Eye's ships while passing by. So this subplot will lead nowhere also!? But I think it is the best they could do for the TV series - condense it to I nice finale where everyone that is left has to play their role. I am really looking forward to it. My guess: Olenna Tyrell sits on the iron throne at the end - she just send the whole Dorne and Dany army to Westeros - obviously without telling them that winter has come - they were all wearing t-shirts. And she has the resources to wait out the winter (they actually had a conversation in the show where they made it clear that the Tyrells are the only option to help Westeros get through the winter). I am only half serious...
Yeah, it felt like they were cleaning up all the loose ends, some more successfully than others. It was a cracking final episode and no mistake. Massive lime-green explosions rule, but it started to remind me of Ghostbusters ectoplasm! Cersei continues to be one of the most entertaining characters in the show, no matter what she does i always find myself admiring her force of will. She's one hell of a tough cookie. Giving that nun to the massive zombie as a sexual plaything . . . . holy shit, that was nasty. I'm glad Tyrion did'nt go all gushy and proclaim his everlasting love, i like the way he shows all due respect but is still honest and true to himself. He's chosen to side with Dany and her Dragons because he believes they can win, not because he's got a crush on blondie . . . Personally, i've had enough of Sam and his dopey innocence. I know we are supposed to find him adorable, or something, but i just find him a little annoying. That tower full of books looked like something out of Harry-frigging-Potter to me . . . Also, the scene with Arya with the . . . "Oh, your sons? - they're in that big pie yo' eating, biatch!". Classic.
I just realized that they have removed all the male "big" players from the game except for Jon (and maybe Littlefinger and Tyrion) - we have Dany with Asha (Yara) Greyjoy, Olenna Tyrell and Ellaria Sand - all the ruling queens of their houses/countries - on the one side. Then there is Cersei. And Sansa and Arya somehow. Well, I guess they might get out of this without a war at all (except the war against the Night King of course).
What was up using all the kids for murder in the opening? Just to elicit shock? Or is there something I've forgotten about?
If you are talking about the demise of Pycelle, I think there were meant to be the 'little birds' that were once spies for Varys, but had since been overtaken/corrupted by Qyburn (the ex-communicated Maester).
So, they are saying online . . . which i failed to pick up on in the vision Bran had. Jon Snow is not Ned Stark’s bastard son at all. He’s Ned's nephew — the son of Ned's late sister Lyanna Stark, and of Rhaegar Targaryen, Daenerys’s older brother. This revelation significantly changes our understanding of several different aspects of the story. For one, it establishes Jon as a potentially legitimate claimant to the Iron Throne. It also establishes a Targaryen heritage for Jon, which may let him wield dragons or fire immunity in whatever action is to come in future episodes. But it also undermines Jon’s claims to leadership in the North, and most of all it undermines our Stark-centric view of the backstory to the entire series. http://www.vox.com/2016/6/26/12029644/winds-of-winter-recap-jon-snow-parents
This has been a fan theory for years, so by the time it came to pass in this episode, many people were satisfied that they finally got it over with. The finale set up so many future political conflicts; Littlefinger V. Snow, Dany V. Snow, Dany V. Cersei, Jaime V. Cersei, Everyone V. The Walking Dead... and so on. There's going to be a lot going on in the next two seasons... Wonder how they'll pack it into 13 episodes.
Well, I guess it has been sort of well known for anyone following the books at all. The make it clear his heritage is of import, which is strongly implied to be the above. They do touch/allude to this on this in the show, especially in the first season, but it is kind of left to the side. It is hard to say it is any kind of shocking revelation (perhaps more on that later), but it was certainly set up that way from the start, to bring together the ultimate conclusions of AOIAF. @bbb For what it is worth, there is only one final season to conclude the series, and as I have already said it is being reported as being shortened to only seven episodes.
Man, i read the books a fair while ago . . . and i probably read them too quickly, because i dont remember that at all
It definitely never says it explicitly, but there are plenty of hints. I think the show just couldn't get in to that whole thing with the amount of backstory they had to cut out. Which kind of deflates the reveal anyways, in my mind. The big discussion leading up to this season before it aired (and since the books haven't come out yet) was how Jon's parentage was going to be revealed, as really the only likely candidate remaining alive to do so was Jojen Reed. [The other person was Benjen Stark, but he was still MIA to the audience of both mediums, and this goes separate from him being shown as Coldhands on the show]. They ended up switching it all around by having Bran see the Tower of Joy vision, which makes it much easier and more convenient to explain away.
It has been debated, and this past season threw it more for a loop given the Vaes Dothrak incident, but Martin repeatedly established that the Targaryens were not, in fact, fireproof. The incident with Drogo's funeral pyre and the dragon eggs was supposed to be a one-off situation, related to 'magic.' Even though we saw Dany be 'heat-resistant' to things like the bath and heated eggs, Viserys was most definitely burned, if not by fire directly. While this still remains completely unclear on the show, I think it is one of those things they are going to try and not explain, because they realise they themselves have been so inconsistent with it; as have nearly all the fantastical elements of GoT portrayed.
I don't believe this is accurate... not sure what your source is, but everything I've read online stands behind (13+/-) episodes left, split into 2 shortened seasons. Including this posted roughly an hour ago: http://www.cinemablend.com/television/1528370/why-game-of-thrones-has-decided-to-end-after-season-8
Here's my guess for the upcoming season... A Luke + Leia plot for Jon + Dany. Jon doesn't seem to want the Iron Throne at all, so I don't believe they will ever clash. If anything, given the fact that Jon is the underdog and Dany has promised to help Theon and her sister whose name I can't remember, they will team up. Probably end up liking each other (Jon likes strong willed women, remember?) and then realizing "shit, we're related." But hey! That never stopped the Targaryans in the past, did it? And am I the only person who absolutely loves Qyburn as a character? He's a creepy little mad scientist who throws ethics out the window to advance SCIENCE! He's meek yet diabolical. Honestly, I'm surprised that Cersei didn't ask him to turn Tommin into a FrankenGregor, but I guess in a way the prophecy was fulfilled (where all her children die) and she just wants to be done with it.
Who knows, we might just also get a Queenslayer yet on the show. [Technically, valonqar means 'little brother' - though there is some debate as to the accuracy of the specific translation - which has been generally assumed to be a reference to Tyrion (which could still play out of course) but, as Jaime is born just after Cersei, he is also a younger brother. More theories to throw you down the rabbit hole.]
