Game of Thrones (series spoiling only!)

[betiko]

Fighting giants riding on mammoths. Death and destruction at Castle Black. Wildings and thenns storming the castle.

Was absolutely sick, you guys clearly have too high standards.

I think I m just not that much into fight/war scenes. I always wish they end quick. I fell asleep a few times in movie theaters when fight scene were too long. I love stunts in action movies, but for me the fight scenes have to be short. The perfect example is that indiana jones scene where he fights a swordmaster that starts showing his skills and he just pulls out his gun and byebye! That was brilliant.

Anyway, I think that this siege is greatly inspired by the siege in lord of the rings where they are also fighting 100 to 100 000 with the help of the dwarfs.

[Army of GOD]

Yeah I loved it. This episode is an explanation as to why Jon is the best character.

[betiko]

Yeah I loved it. This episode is an explanation as to why Jon is the best character.

You sound like a cheap whore feeling love for the first time.

[patches70]

Fighting giants riding on mammoths. Death and destruction at Castle Black. Wildings and thenns storming the castle.

Was absolutely sick, you guys clearly have too high standards.

You guys my azz!

That episode was dope! One of the best GoT episodes ever.

Ygritte getting arrowed by Ollie was delicious irony, since it was Ygritte that killed Ollie's father.

The poor bastard who got hit by the giant's arrow, hahahah!

Sam running to the locked shed with Jon's key, opens the door and "we need you, girl". Out comes Ghost ripping out throats.

The Wall scraping scythe that scraped wildlings from the wall like old wallpaper. Woot!

Ygritte dropping crows like bad habits. Arrows in the back, in the chest, in the throat (poor Pyp). She was like a Private Daniel Jackson. Too bad she balked at killing the one crow she told the rest to leave to her.

Poor Ygritte, "we should have stayed in that cave". That was a great line.

Janos Slynt the cowardly former Goldcloak. Man, negative karma is building nicely for that chump.

Mag the Mightly charging down the tunnel with Grenn and company nearly shitting themselves. But hold that gate they did. Nice!

I wonder, how many non book readers thought that when Sam told Gilly "I promise not to die", that sealed his fate and Sam was gonna die this episode? Hahaha. Saying "I'm not going to die" in GoT is an almost sure fire way to end up dead in short order.

This battle has been building up since episode 1, season 1 and it didn't fail to deliver. It was a better battle than the Blackwater battle, IMO.
I enjoyed the score that went along with it as well.

The crows are going to have one hell of a rough road, they lost a lot of men in this episode and they can't handle the attrition. Jon Snow better do some clever talking to get out of this pickle.

This episode is a 10/10. The Wall is where the real fate of Westeros is being decided. It may not be clear yet why, but considering why all the Wildlings are running for their lives should give everyone a clue. What's coming from The North makes everything happening in the rest of Westeros a moot point. Because if what ever is coming isn't stopped, everything in Westeros is going to be dead, dead and walking dead.

[betiko]

I think precisely because he said he promised he wouldn t die it gave him a chance!
Martin breaks all the codes of story predictability... Which can sometimes make him predictable (even though he breaks the codes of unpredictability at the same time.. That s why we all love game of thrones I guess!)

[strike wolf]

It's only betiko who is being critical Nag.

[betiko]

It's only betiko who is being critical Nag.

no, it's me and gillipig. I can understand that people like action scenes though, it's just not my favorite bit of GOT; and given that we know from the start that a season is 10 episodes and episode 9 is huge in revelations, it was highly disapointing for me. I hope they saved the best part for the last episode!! (I doubt it can be as awesome as episode 8 though, a top 3 episode of the entire show from my perspective!)

[denominator]

First off, I fully enjoyed that episode. Like Blackwater, the writers knew that it was a big battle and they gave it the full screen time it deserved. I was quite happy to see that they didn't bother giving us what would have just been filler on the other storylines and instead left those for next week.

The reason that GoT is so awesome is the balance it strikes between the action and the political intrigue. Episode 8 was a stunning example of combining the two, while episode 9 simply doesn't have the politics. Episode 10 will certainly pick up the politics.

It's only betiko who is being critical Nag.

no, it's me and gillipig. I can understand that people like action scenes though, it's just not my favorite bit of GOT; and given that we know from the start that a season is 10 episodes and episode 9 is huge in revelations, it was highly disapointing for me. I hope they saved the best part for the last episode!! (I doubt it can be as awesome as episode 8 though, a top 3 episode of the entire show from my perspective!)

I firmly believe that they switched up their canon just to trip up the audience this season. Or maybe to suggest to the audience that there are no more big surprises in store for us this year - the battle at the wall was the cap off episode and 10 will just be clean up. I do agree that episode 8 was phenomenal, and not just for the last scene.

The battle was an absolutely excellent episode in itself. Well paced with a good balance of dialogue and action, and great character development and/or moments throughout. While I was sad to see both Pyp and Grenn die, they both stayed true to the character and the episode reflected that. An unfortunate side effect of the downsizing of the number of characters from book to show is that there are fewer to kill off when we need a recognizable person to die. Thorne becomes likable, if only for this episode, by showing that he can truly walk the talk he was throwing down in season 1. Sam evolves and grows, and Jon really stepped up as well. The only character I didn't like was Janos Slynt, who they made so cowardly as to be comical. This was a far departure from the man who betrayed Ned Stark in season 1 and killed a baby in season 2.

Someone else mentioned it, but the depth of that wide pan shot of the battle was awesome. That wasn't CGI - they had hundreds of extras fighting on a huge set to get that shot. It was so epic that I watched it 3 or 4 times on the PVR before letting the episode run out.

[strike wolf]

I disagree. Janos Slynt was always a bit of a cowardly slug of a man.

[Gillipig]

Fighting giants riding on mammoths. Death and destruction at Castle Black. Wildings and thenns storming the castle.

Was absolutely sick, you guys clearly have too high standards.

You guys my azz!

That episode was dope! One of the best GoT episodes ever.

Ygritte getting arrowed by Ollie was delicious irony, since it was Ygritte that killed Ollie's father.

The poor bastard who got hit by the giant's arrow, hahahah!

Sam running to the locked shed with Jon's key, opens the door and "we need you, girl". Out comes Ghost ripping out throats.

The Wall scraping scythe that scraped wildlings from the wall like old wallpaper. Woot!

Ygritte dropping crows like bad habits. Arrows in the back, in the chest, in the throat (poor Pyp). She was like a Private Daniel Jackson. Too bad she balked at killing the one crow she told the rest to leave to her.

Poor Ygritte, "we should have stayed in that cave". That was a great line.

Janos Slynt the cowardly former Goldcloak. Man, negative karma is building nicely for that chump.

Mag the Mightly charging down the tunnel with Grenn and company nearly shitting themselves. But hold that gate they did. Nice!

I wonder, how many non book readers thought that when Sam told Gilly "I promise not to die", that sealed his fate and Sam was gonna die this episode? Hahaha. Saying "I'm not going to die" in GoT is an almost sure fire way to end up dead in short order.

This battle has been building up since episode 1, season 1 and it didn't fail to deliver. It was a better battle than the Blackwater battle, IMO.
I enjoyed the score that went along with it as well.

The crows are going to have one hell of a rough road, they lost a lot of men in this episode and they can't handle the attrition. Jon Snow better do some clever talking to get out of this pickle.

This episode is a 10/10. The Wall is where the real fate of Westeros is being decided. It may not be clear yet why, but considering why all the Wildlings are running for their lives should give everyone a clue. What's coming from The North makes everything happening in the rest of Westeros a moot point. Because if what ever is coming isn't stopped, everything in Westeros is going to be dead, dead and walking dead.

I disagree wholeheartedly. I was just thinking about that battle and how this battle didn't even compare to it. The character growth of Tyrion was massive in that battle and since Tyrion is my favourite character I can't agree just because of that. But there are other characters that show their true metal, the Kingsguard who tries to kill Tyrion, Turion's squire who kills him, Joffrey shows the full extent of his cowardness, Cersei is almost giving her middle son poison, Tywin saving the day, the drama that Tyrion almost dying brings about....you can mention janos slynt being a coward, Grenn being a fearless warrior, John becoming a leader, Sam becoming a man and so on so forth about this battle as well, but the characters are just not that interesting in comparison. For me it's just not about how the battle scenes turn out, it's about who's involved in it.

[patches70]

Can you recall the very first scene from GoT? Either the TV series or the books, doesn't matter, both were the same.

[betiko]

Can you recall the very first scene from GoT? Either the TV series or the books, doesn't matter, both were the same.

john arryn's funeral and cersei+jaimie watching it from above if I remember well... why?

[patches70]

Can you recall the very first scene from GoT? Either the TV series or the books, doesn't matter, both were the same.

john arryn's funeral and cersei+jaimie watching it from above if I remember well... why?

No.

This is the very first scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDVnVlQ6PnE

Edit: No playback. You have to watch it at youtube. But the first scene is the three Night's watch going beyond the wall. Why they are going out is to find out why all the wildlings have been abandoning their villages.

[patches70]

I don't know about Gillipig, if he remembered the very first scene or not, but betiko, your response goes to my point.

You remember the first scene being of Jamie and Cersi. As goes your focus toward the show.

However, the real story is at The Wall, as goes to the very first scene of GoT, book and tv series.

Season 1 ended with Ned Stark being separated from his head. Season 2 begins with the start of the war of five kings, which culminates in episode 9, the Battle of Blackwater. A significant battle, certainly, and well done in it's own right. But the tension of that battle began at the beginning of the season and ended at the end of the season.

The tension of the Battle of Castle Black began in Season 1, episode 1, at the very beginning.

Thus, it is perspective. We've been hearing about the threat from The North for 4 years now. We forget the significance of what's happening at The Wall, thus fail to consider truly what it means. And it finally comes to a head four years later instead of over the course of a single season.

The Nobles, Lords and Ladies scheme and plot over trinkets, blissfully ignorant of what is coming that makes all their schemes and intrigues insignificant.


There is no accounting of taste, though. So Gillipig is certain free to be of the opinion that the Castle Black battle doesn't compare to the Blackwater battle. Hell, I loved the Blackwater battle as well. He can prefer it because of the character development and character growth, that's fine. But the whole story development and the story growth is far greater in the events going on at The Wall.

I believe we will come to realize this as the real enemy finally shows it's face, in the series and in the books. For the things that seem important to the characters south of the wall will eventually not matter one bit because the things coming from the North don't care about their petty actions and desires. And those characters too will realize that they've been focusing on the wrong things all this time when they finally grasp the threat coming.

It's all about perspective.

[patches70]

Betiko, without spoiling anything, the very first scene began with night's watch trying to figure out why the wildlings have been abandoning their villages.

We have learned that they did abandon their villages, not killed off, and formed an army. This army seems to be coming to conquer, but is this truly what they banded together to accomplish? To invade and take over south?

You will learn the reasons, what ever they may be, when we get to when Jon meets again with Mance. Probably next season.

the very first question asked in the series was that question about the wildlings. We now have a partial answer, seemingly the complete answer as it stands now. We've heard reports, seen some of the army through Jon's eyes, but the battle of Castle Black we finally get to see that army in action, after four years of waiting. So long that we have forgotten the whole central point of the story. What the f*ck is going on in The North.

Answers have come and more will come.

For people like Tywin Lannister, they believe the wildlings have formed their army so to sack the north. Which is fine by Tywin, as he figures when push comes to shove he can take out the wildlings anytime. It's better for his plans if the wildlings run amok in the north for a while.

He too fails to grasp what's really happening. So far the only one's who have any inkling of what's really coming is Jon Snow and the Night's watch, Bran Stark and company and Mance Ryder and wildling army.
Soon, we'll all know as well.

The Battle of Castle Black is the beginning of the revelation.

[Gillipig]

I don't know about Gillipig, if he remembered the very first scene or not, but betiko, your response goes to my point.

You remember the first scene being of Jamie and Cersi. As goes your focus toward the show.

However, the real story is at The Wall, as goes to the very first scene of GoT, book and tv series.

Season 1 ended with Ned Stark being separated from his head. Season 2 begins with the start of the war of five kings, which culminates in episode 9, the Battle of Blackwater. A significant battle, certainly, and well done in it's own right. But the tension of that battle began at the beginning of the season and ended at the end of the season.

The tension of the Battle of Castle Black began in Season 1, episode 1, at the very beginning.

Thus, it is perspective. We've been hearing about the threat from The North for 4 years now. We forget the significance of what's happening at The Wall, thus fail to consider truly what it means. And it finally comes to a head four years later instead of over the course of a single season.

The Nobles, Lords and Ladies scheme and plot over trinkets, blissfully ignorant of what is coming that makes all their schemes and intrigues insignificant.


There is no accounting of taste, though. So Gillipig is certain free to be of the opinion that the Castle Black battle doesn't compare to the Blackwater battle. Hell, I loved the Blackwater battle as well. He can prefer it because of the character development and character growth, that's fine. But the whole story development and the story growth is far greater in the events going on at The Wall.

I believe we will come to realize this as the real enemy finally shows it's face, in the series and in the books. For the things that seem important to the characters south of the wall will eventually not matter one bit because the things coming from the North don't care about their petty actions and desires. And those characters too will realize that they've been focusing on the wrong things all this time when they finally grasp the threat coming.

It's all about perspective.

Just one thing about that. The real enemy are not the wildlings and giants though, and thus the battle at the wall was not the battle against that enemy you were speaking about who appeared in the first scene. So it's not any different in terms of importance from other battles like the one at Blackwater.
If you had asked me what the first scene was I'd probably have guessed the Cersei, Jaimie scene, but if my brother had asked me I would've remembered the real one because he showed me the first episode on his laptop and I would've been able to connect the dots that way through visual memory.
I saw the whole first season before I read a single word in the books. It was only after I had watched all the episodes from the first season and didn't have the patience to wait for the second season to come out that I picked up the books, I then read the first four books in two weeks .

[Gillipig]

Betiko, without spoiling anything, the very first scene began with night's watch trying to figure out why the wildlings have been abandoning their villages.

We have learned that they did abandon their villages, not killed off, and formed an army. This army seems to be coming to conquer, but is this truly what they banded together to accomplish? To invade and take over south?

You will learn the reasons, what ever they may be, when we get to when Jon meets again with Mance. Probably next season.

the very first question asked in the series was that question about the wildlings. We now have a partial answer, seemingly the complete answer as it stands now. We've heard reports, seen some of the army through Jon's eyes, but the battle of Castle Black we finally get to see that army in action, after four years of waiting. So long that we have forgotten the whole central point of the story. What the f*ck is going on in The North.

Answers have come and more will come.

For people like Tywin Lannister, they believe the wildlings have formed their army so to sack the north. Which is fine by Tywin, as he figures when push comes to shove he can take out the wildlings anytime. It's better for his plans if the wildlings run amok in the north for a while.

He too fails to grasp what's really happening. So far the only one's who have any inkling of what's really coming is Jon Snow and the Night's watch, Bran Stark and company and Mance Ryder and wildling army.
Soon, we'll all know as well.

The Battle of Castle Black is the beginning of the revelation.

Mance Ryder is the only one of those you mentioned that I would consider truly gets the threat. I don't think John knows very much about it, even though he has seen some of it. Has Bran even seen a whitewalker?

[patches70]

Just one thing about that. The real enemy are not the wildlings and giants though, and thus the battle at the wall was not the battle against that enemy you were speaking about who appeared in the first scene.

I know that, but guess who doesn't know that? Everyone else in Westeros!

Mance Ryder is the only one of those you mentioned that I would consider truly gets the threat. I don't think John knows very much about it, even though he has seen some of it. Has Bran even seen a whitewalker?

oh, I agree. And no, Bran hasn't seen a whitewalker in the flesh (so to speak) to date, he might have seen them in his visions, and he's seen the three eyed crow and

Spoiler

Coldhands

. Bran knows he's on a mission and that this mission is of vital importance. Though he's still looking for answers, but at least he's trying to answer the question.



Everyone else in Westeros, besides those at the wall, doesn't even know what the question is!


In the Bible, does anyone remember what the first question man asked God? The entire bible is devoted to answering that single question.

So it is akin to the GoT in that regard. GoT asks a question at the very beginning and the rest of the series is devoted to answering that question and what it means to everyone.


But by now we (I) can make the following predictions-

Spoiler

By the end of the series, a dwarf and a (cripple) will fly on (in/as) a dragon. A Stark daughter will slay a tyrant and another Stark daughter will slay a Queen.

But it's all good gillipig, we all have our own interpretations.

[strike wolf]

But by now we (I) can make the following predictions-

Spoiler

By the end of the series, a dwarf and a (cripple) will fly on (in/as) a dragon. A Stark daughter will slay a tyrant and another Stark daughter will slay a Queen.

But it's all good gillipig, we all have our own interpretations.

Spoiler

No. I refuse to believe that Tyrion will become a dragon rider. I know there's been foreshadowing for the possibility since season/book 1 but I think it'll be a bit too cheesy for ASoIaF standards. Jon would be cheesy too but I can at least see how that one might make sense. For the record, I also refuse to believe the theory that Tyrion is part-Targaryen. Bran controlling a dragon probably will happen. Sansa probably will kill Littlefinger. We will see. I still think he'll see his "dear love" before it happens and I want to see him absolutely lose it when he does. Which queen? It doesn't make sense for her to kill Margaerys for any reason I see and it's been predicted that the Valonquar (Cough) Jaime (cough cough) will kill Cersei

[patches70]

Spoiler

No. I refuse to believe that Tyrion will become a dragon rider. I know there's been foreshadowing for the possibility since season/book 1 but I think it'll be a bit too cheesy for ASoIaF standards.

Spoiler

Ha! Tyrion will ride a dragon, will he ride one into battle? Hell if I know, but ride a dragon he will. You can betcha azz on that.

Spoiler

Sansa probably will kill Littlefinger. We will see. I still think he'll see his "dear love" before it happens and I want to see him absolutely lose it when he does.

Spoiler

It would be nice to see Littlefinger losing it and a meeting with his one true love would do it. But, to see him be used like he used Lysa.... You know, Sansa just might be bat shit crazy, right? She makes up things in her head and then believes them to be reality later.

Spoiler

Which queen? It doesn't make sense for her to kill Margaerys for any reason I see and it's been predicted that the Valonquar (Cough) Jaime (cough cough) will kill Cersei

Spoiler

There are other Queens.

[Gillipig]

Spoiler

No. I refuse to believe that Tyrion will become a dragon rider. I know there's been foreshadowing for the possibility since season/book 1 but I think it'll be a bit too cheesy for ASoIaF standards.

Spoiler

Ha! Tyrion will ride a dragon, will he ride one into battle? Hell if I know, but ride a dragon he will. You can betcha azz on that.

Spoiler

I'm with Strikewolf here I don't think Tyrion will ride a dragon, he's not the sort, it wouldn't make sense to put a dwarf on a dragon. Jon totally is the sort though and I think he is Rhaegar's son which would make Daenerys his aunt so it makes sense in that way as well. Bran can control minds of beasts and even men, it is not completely unlikely that he will control one of the dragons from afar without getting up on it, but I don't see him sitting on it.

Spoiler

Sansa probably will kill Littlefinger. We will see. I still think he'll see his "dear love" before it happens and I want to see him absolutely lose it when he does.

Spoiler

It would be nice to see Littlefinger losing it and a meeting with his one true love would do it. But, to see him be used like he used Lysa.... You know, Sansa just might be bat shit crazy, right? She makes up things in her head and then believes them to be reality later.

Spoiler

Sansa is likely to kill Littlefinger, it just seems appropriate in so many ways, he loves her, he taught her how to be manipulative and he also underestimates her a bit. A dangerous combination.

Spoiler

Which queen? It doesn't make sense for her to kill Margaerys for any reason I see and it's been predicted that the Valonquar (Cough) Jaime (cough cough) will kill Cersei

Spoiler

There are other Queens.

Spoiler

Ohhh I would love that! hehe. I would really really love that. I think Arya is down a point of no return in her wickedness, I don't see her ever becoming normal again and she might as well turn into that sort of character who is capable of killing Daenerys. She doesn't have a motive but she's so fucking crazy that she may not even need one. If this was the Star Wars franchise we'd say she has fallen to the dark side, and fallen badly as well.

[strike wolf]

Did the spoilers break the page or is it just me?

[Gillipig]

Did the spoilers break the page or is it just me?

Too much spoiler alert lol, no I made an error, I edited it and now it will look normal.
It was literally the absence of a single "/" that did it, lol.

[patches70]

Spoiler

Ohhh I would love that! hehe. I would really really love that. I think Arya is down a point of no return in her wickedness, I don't see her ever becoming normal again and she might as well turn into that sort of character who is capable of killing Daenerys. She doesn't have a motive but she's so fucking crazy that she may not even need one. If this was the Star Wars franchise we'd say she has fallen to the dark side, and fallen badly as well.

Spoiler

Hey, have you read the early released Arya chapter from the next book (The Winds of Winter)? Holy shit has Arya gone murderous! She takes a certain delight in tormenting her victims before giving them The Gift. She turns murder into a supreme art.

[patches70]

Spoiler

Oh, and Jon Snow's fucking dead. That doesn't mean he's not going to keep on being in the books though. Melisandre is there after all, the priest and priestess of The Light know how to bring people back from the dead. Due to that particular point is why I didn't predicted Jon Snow riding a dragon. Because he's dead. Will he stay dead? I have no idea, but either way he's still going to be walking around.