I know... I like Sam, but countless brilliant warriors die, the entire Dothraki horde gets slaughtered... and yet no-fighting-ability-whatsoever Sam has time to literally lay down on the battlefield and cry, and he... survives?
Interesting read: https://twentytwowords.com/game-thr...gfZVqchMWPGzXHJtQnyUiVHNCTlXjUnXFNElxmRyn2bIE
The first hour of Episode 3 was interesting. The ending left me unsatisfied. Game of Thrones has never been afraid of taking out major characters at any given time. The plot armor for some of them was a bit too thick for my taste considering the scope of the battle which was fought at Winterfell and the nature of their enemy. I've read that a GoT prequel is in the works which takes place thousands of years earlier and deals with the origin story of the White Walkers. I certainly hope so because to date we've learned very little about the history and motivations of The Night's King. There are still three episodes left this season so perhaps some of the loose ends will be clarified before its conclusion.
I've heard speculation that Bran was warging with the purpose of getting aid in the fight against Cersei - nothing will rile people up to fight than seeing someone who was too much of a coward to defend humanity.
I just finished my rewatch. I have to say, a lot of my initial complaint comes down to the execution of what happened rather than... well, what actually happened. A note on Bran's warging: I'm pretty sure he was checking where the Night King was and acting as a device for the director to give us a fly-over of Winterfell in flames and being overrun by wights, and a transition to the Night King flying over it. My BIGGEST gripe is still that they didn't kill any mains. This episode at least warranted one. Although saying that, whenever GoT has killed someone off in the past it's usually been a well-developed side character (E.G Robb Stark) that people perceive as a main. The Dothraki What was the initial purpose of that Dothraki charge? They were about to send them off with iron/stone(?) arakhs. Those were not made of dragonglass. Until Melisandre unexpectedly arrived and lit the arakhs on fire, they were about to send a lot of men into a deep black abyss with weapons they knew don't work - the only purpose that serves is to add more men and horses to the Army of the Dead (and one of the only two direwolves left in the world). That was, of course, fixed by Mel enchanting the arakhs with fire and the charge being a self-sacrifice to draw the AOTD out to attack... that still gives the Night King a lot of extra soldiers. I suppose it did give us that amazing shot of the fires going out as the Dothraki were slaughtered. On the charge back, I would have really appreciated a shot of Ghost. Ghost is shown alive and well in the trailer for Episode 4. He's somehow managed to fall back from that charge and apparently... hid somewhere, I guess? That was never clearly shown though. We see some newly unmanned horses running away and Jorah giving Tormund that look of "there's no way we can win this." Ghost I can't speak for others, but Ghost going out like that would have been very... disrespectful. I'd also like to him actually do something. Maybe in the next few episodes. But that was a shadow casting over me throughout that entire episode on my first watch. The direwolves are, essentially, the Stark equivalent of Daenerys's dragons. And the bond is symbiotic. Sansa's wolf, Lady, was killed after Joffrey got attacked by Nymeria and Joffrey demanded a direwolf be killed even after Arya forced Nymeria to run away. This was the cracks beginning to show in Sansa's hyped up perceptions of Prince Charming. On top of that, her dad killed the wolf - her dad also put her in King's Landing and put her on the path of getting caught up in court intrigue and the realisation that Kings and Queens are not what the stories say they are. Arya's wolf, Nymeria, was forced by Arya to run away after she attacked Joffrey. Nymeria was separated from her brothers and sisters and forced to run away - Arya, after her dad was killed by Joffrey and Sansa was kept captive, was forced to run away and was separated from her brothers and sisters. Nymeria, meanwhile, had managed to go south enough into the Riverlands and has been leading the 'largest wolf pack Westeros has ever seen' ever since. The books (I know, I know) also have Arya warging into Nymeria in her dreams, and when Arya is blinded by the waif, she dreams with sight through the eyes of Nymeria. Robb's wolf, Grey Wind, was being warged into by Robb and was used to scout battlefields and find Lannister camps. This allowed Robb to pull all of those sneak attacks. I don't remember if there was any such detail in the show, but in the books it's noted that Robb 'battle planned' by sitting in his bed for hours, unblinking, while Grey Wind was off hunting. Grey Wind is suspicious and aggressive towards Roose and the Freys, to the point where he was locked up during the Red Wedding. When Roose Bolton stabs Robb in the heart, Robb is implied to warg into Grey Wind and would have taken down a bunch of Frey soldiers had he not been locked up (THANKS CATELYN). The two are conjoined in death, as Robb's head is cut off and Grey Wind's is sewn onto his neck. There is truth to the myth that 'Robb Stark, the Young Wolf, turned into a wolf on the battlefield'. Bran's wolf, Summer, helps him get to the Three Eyed Raven deep in the Land Beyond The Wall, which - as we now know - secured the continued existence of summer. Summer also dies shortly after Bran's mind is destroyed by his becoming the new 3ER before he has enough training, which essentially kills the Bran we knew and turns him into Creepy Wheelchair Boy. Rickon's wolf, Shaggy Dog, lives with Rickon for years until the Umbers find him. Shaggy Dog is particularly aggressive, representing the fact that Rickon spends his exile from Winterfell in one of the most untamed places in all of Westeros. They kill Shaggy Dog off camera. Rickon is killed as bait during the Battle of the Bastards. Rickon's story amounted to nothing - this is called a 'shaggy dog story'. Ghost is the runt of the litter and has a white coat - Jon, growing up under the assumption that he is Eddard Stark's bastard child, is the runt of Eddard's children, and Targaryens have silver hair. Ghost lives in the mountains Beyond The Wall as foreshadowing that Jon will do the same, and he returns when Jon does. Can't remember if they did it in the show, but in the books, Jon dreams through Ghost's eyes during this time and can feel him close by while Jon lives with the wildlings. Ghost returns as soon as Jon does. For some reason the show decided that when Jon dies, he didn't warg into Ghost as he bled out from his stab wounds. When Jon is resurrected, Ghost protects his body and the men guarding him. Then he disappeared until S9E2 because the show shifted its focus onto the dragons and didn't have the money to show the direwolf. BUT the fact that he's still alive represents that Jon is a Stark, while Rhaegal represents that he is also a Targaryen. Killing him would be implying that Jon is no longer a Stark, as the direwolves have all died when a part of/when the Stark does. The Dragon Fight I'm actually fully satisfied with that dragon fight. The first time watching it was very chaotic because the camera moves around rapidly so you can't tell what's going on anyway, and like I said before, the episode was so dark I couldn't see anything. The second time watching, it's a bit more clear now that I know the scene and can pick out some finer details, and because I turned my monitor brightness and contrast up to 100%. Viserion bites into Rhaegal's knee. The two dragons twist and turn in the air until Rhaegal manages to manoeuvre himself on top of Viserion, and claws into his chest and bites his neck, causing blue flame to spew out of his new neck holes. As Viserion struggles, Rhaegal rips part of Viserion's face off. Viserion manages to get a hit on Rhaegal's chest, which I suspect is what sent Rhaegal and Jon into their crash land and Rhaegal tapping out for the rest of the episode. I imagine that was also pretty exhausting for him. Drogon swoops in and knocks the Night King off Viserion (this bit screams 'we ran out of episode budget on the dragons'). Drogon attempts to kill steal and grabs Viserion by the head and bites his neck and starts tearing into it, but Viserion manages to get away. Quite a cool scene once you break it down and can actually see it lol The Night King I like the death. I know once Winterfell... well, fell, they would have no chance at stopping them. I just wish they'd gotten a little bit further, because you just know the fairies down the south (are the Westeros equivalent of South English people still southern fairies?...) will write this off as "HAHA YOU SILLY NORTHERNERS AND YOUR FUNNY STORIES." It makes sense for them to die at Winterfell though. It's literally in the name. Arya was always going to be the one to kill him - the Many Faced God, who a cult of assassins worship, is very much a god of death. Syrio Forel, her mentor, repeatedly tells her in season one "What do we say to God of Death? Not today." Jaquen H'gar causes her to repeat the phrase 'Valar Morghulis' ("all men must die") incessantly for several seasons. The girl literally drew up a list of people she wants to kill and memorised it. She trained as an elite assassin for almost two seasons. Bran gave her Catspaw - a Valyrian steel dagger, and told her she'd 'need it'. And then the Night King and the White Walkers come along and, last episode, were illustrated as personifications of death itself. However, Jon is present at the execution of a Night's Watch deserter who ran away because he and his friends were hunted by white walkers beyond the wall. Jon joins the Night's Watch, an organisation set up to defend Westeros from the white walkers. Jon is the first to kill a wight. Jon sees a white walker take one of Craster's babies and attempts to stalk it and makes direct eye contact with it. He lives with the wildlings and learns that they are fleeing from the invasion of the white walkers. He becomes Lord Commander of the Night's Watch and his tenure is focused around preparing to fight the white walkers. He is present at Hardhome, where he becomes the second person to kill a white walker, is watched by the Night King, and has a stare-down with him. He is killed and is supposed to come back as a wight, but is instead resurrected a regular old human by the god of fire. He becomes the King in the North with the sole purpose of getting an army to fight the white walkers. He meets Daenerys to get dragonglass and her dragons. He goes north again and attempts to charge at the Night King. We were owed a duel. We were teased a duel when Jon ran at the Night King but got swarmed by wights. Jon attempted to fight his way into the Godswood to meet the Night King before he killed Bran. He instead got blocked off by Viserion and screamed a bit into a dragon's face before he was about to get burned alive. I wish we had the death of Stark honour/Jon learning that sometimes you have to lie. IMO, he should have been able to make it into the Godswood. Have him meet Arya outside. Arya asks Jon to distract the Night King. Arya runs away. Jon goes inside and asks the Night King for one-on-one combat. The Night King, knowing that Jon was at Hardhome and the frozen over lake beyond the wall, grants him the request. The Night King knows Jon will lose but considers him a worthy enough opponent to have that. They duel, Jon is knocked over and drops his sword. The Night King prepares to kill him, Arya jumps down from above and backstabs him with Catspaw. Jon just pretty much lied to an opponent to do what is necessary - a trait he has previously not had. But no, instead we had a Jon who commanded Rhaegal and then did nothing afterwards. Jorah and Daenerys Utterly heartwrenching on a second watch when I'm not thinking about everything else. Jorah was pretty much her only family besides Jon. It's very evident during the scenes with Northerners that she doesn't have anyone besides Jorah and Jon. Even Theon, who is supposed to be serving her, gave her a "My Queen" and then hugged Sansa and they were both overcome with joy at seeing eachother. That's why I hate this train of thought that she deserves to die, she's cold-hearted, SHE'S GOING TO TAKE EVERY OPPORTUNITY SHE CAN TO MURDER JON NOW THAT SHE KNOWS HE'S A STARK, sHeS tHe MaD qUeEn, blahblahblah. She is ruthless, as every Targaryen is, but she isn't any of that. She's just lonely. And now she's almost died for the North and the other six kingdoms, she's lost a family member in the process, she's the only reason Winterfell survived - imagine if they had no Unsullied, no Drogon or Rhaegal? In my eyes at least, she's proven herself. I just hope the writers are straightforward with this all from now on and there's no backstabbing between a couple that quite evidently are... you know, in love with eachother, and she saved Jon's tight buns several times throughout this episode. Samwell Tarly Should've died. Beric Dondarrion I loved the Jesus symbolism he had throughout his death. Makes sense, seeing as he's been resurrected almost 20 times, and he used his last life to save Arya, who killed the embodiment of pure evil. Rest easy, Ginger Eyepatch Jesus. Lyanna Mormont Funny at first, became... not funny very quickly. I'm glad she's dead. I did not expect, nor was I glad, that they would have her ribcage be crushed in the hands of a giant while spewing blood. Props to the showrunners for having the stones to gruesomely kill a ten year old girl off though. All In All Second best episode/battle for me, I think. Hardhome, whatever this episode was called/The Battle of Winterfell, Battle of the Bastards, Watchers on the Wall.
I believe ghost charging in beside Jorah was supposed to add to the loss and shock of losing all of the dothraki + Jorah + Ghost in that moment. Of course we know that ghost is still alive because he can be seen in the preview for next episode. Sam SHOULD be dead, there were 3+ instances where he had to be saved throughout the episode, and in the final instance Jon left him. So how is he still alive? I do believe Bran knew Arya would kill the NK and was warging down to King's Landing to scout Cersei. I don't think there were enough deaths, especially for how hyped up this episode was and the scale of the threat. Greyworm should have died with his unsullied brothers, Sam should be dead, and after last episode's build up of Brienne I really thought she was a goner this episode.
Can you spoiler a quote? Let's find out. 100% agree that that was the likely reason. Just wished there were some practical purpose for it within the universe (i.e., they didn't show him actually relating that very useful intelligence to anyone). I admit it: Dany does some incredibly cruel stuff (mass crucifixion, anyone?), but I very firmly believe she is a good person. Part of why she is my favorite character is because I understand what drives her so well (yes, even in the awful bits), and I think the scene with Jorah worked very well to show that human side of her (loneliness, as you said) that she hides so well most of the time. That said, I don't think she's going to kill Jon in the end. In the scene where he told her about his heritage, my breath caught in my throat because with the look she had, I honestly thought she was going to stab him then and there, but with that moment passed, I don't think she could do it. We'll see, though. Think of the incredibly conflict it presents for her: love vs. the identity that has driven her since day one. I see love winning (and an unfortunate end to Dany), but who knows? I wasn't that attached to Beric, but I loved the scene of his death and couldn't quite find the words to express why. The Christ figure symbolism is a perfect way of putting it--thank you for that. This. Some of the best moments in this episode were the close-ups on Grey Worm; was disappointed that they didn't lead up to a final stand for him. Brienne I really thought had completed her arc (again, I like her, but would've seemed right if she'd passed), and I thought Gendry had fulfilled his purpose. Sam, as we've all agreed, should've been a goner, as much as I want him around to lead the Citadel post-war. Also would've liked to see someone in the Crypts (*cough*Gilly*cough*) die. And one last note I wanted to contribute Not sure if anyone else felt this way, but in that incredibly touching moment when Tyrion and Sansa looked at each other while sitting together in the crypt, well... when Sansa drew her knife, for an incredibly moment I thought that she and Tyrion were about to stab themselves rather than die at the hands of the dead. Part of me wishes it had happened... what an incredibly, incredibly powerful end scene that would have been for two of the series' most fascinating characters, and I can think of few things more moving than the aftermath of finding them pressed against the mausoleum side by side. I'm sure they both have parts to play moving forward, but part of me is sad that the directors chose not to go down that extreme path. After the season is done, I might have to do a big ol' post with some of my final character impressions. My top six are kind of weird, and I'm interested to hear what characters struck chords with others.
He just started working exclusively on his Defense stat after his Magic bar filled up. He's a very linear worker.
Beric in that scene where he held the door frame to let Arya and the hound get away was like Garen tanking hits in LoL if anyone plays league.
I was convinced Bran warged into Arya (to at least get her in position) - can't explain why else she just randomly left all of a sudden. Remember also, Bran gave that dagger to Arya......
You can even spoiler a spoiler or quote a quote. (or spoiler a quoted spoilered quoted quoted spoiler )
Now this may be just me and honestly my only real gripe in the episode. But did anyone else think it was a bit odd that the undead giant literally smashed into the gate and just destroyed it in one go? The giant from the Battle of The Bastards had to smash into that gate multiple times to break it open. And he was alive and not decomposed like the undead giant was. Just seemed really weird to me.
Also, apparently Ghost survived, we just didn't see him in the courtyard because he was in the background.
The one thing that confuses me is the actor they used for the Night King, Vladimír Furdík. He is also a stuntman with sword fighting skills (done the sword fighting scenes as Ser Arthur Dayne at the Tower of Joy). I would have assumed he was cast due to his sword fighting skills but the Night King never swung his sword. So will we see the Night king again?
or it's just cheap cutting corners not having to have another actor to stand there in makeup that took hours to do just to stand around. i don't really think there's much more to that lol the skills of the actor i doubt have anything to do with a lot. lol miiight be overlooking things a bit there xD
I thought it was a great episode and had me on the edge of my seat. Your opinion is not so unpopular. Some people just like to be critical of stuff.
As they should be. I think the episode is great and it was possibly the best visual spectacle we've ever seen on TV. It does, however, suffer from extremely shoddy writing in various parts and that should not be discounted. The writers themselves even say that their writing is shoddy because they preferred the visuals - e.g senseless Dothraki charge, Lyanna's death, the complete betrayal of MICE, etc.
That's cool. I just measure this stuff based on how much I enjoy it. I'm probably just more easily entertained. I can't find where the writers said their writing was "shoddy" in episode 3. Can you supply a link, I would be interested in reading it.
Yeah I know replying to myself... Apparently the prequel HBO is planning is set during the long night 5,000 years earlier. Guess who would be around then, yup the Night King. So looks like we will see him again and this time he will hopefully use his sword.
