Pogojoco

Just to change the subject from "Dany is the best" to "Dany is a jerk" round and round- I've re-watched the Field of Fire a few times- I love Jaime's look when he sees/hears Drogon flying over the hill. Especially since N C-W isn't looking at anything, he's just imagining it. From "we got this...." to "Oh.....shit" in 0.5 seconds. I'm obsessed with it. The fighting styles demonstrated in that ten or so minutes is some really excellent work. I also really liked the bit after Bronn's horse is attacked and he runs around to the scorpion. The low angles, the burning people, the smoke and Drogon flying over- it's hellish and fantastic. And the sound Drogon made when he gets hit. I love that guy, but it was a cool sound.

Yup. He did a lot more "business" as Lord Commander in the book.

It's might not be the ONLY food left in Westeros, but I can't believe they would spend all that time in all the various storylines talking about food and the lack of it if Highgarden wasn't the source of a lot of the food required to survive the winter. It's why Jaime went there in the first place. Food and gold. Also, Cersei isn't going to eat all the food herself. Get rid of her tomorrow and you are still going to have to feed people. All over. Horses need grain to eat, too. Vale, yeah, but the whole point is you can't grow anything in Winter. And judging from the Sansa talk, there isn't much food in the North either.

Yeah, it's not specific Lannister food. They all need food. Kill the people, steal the loot. The Dothraki know how to raid and take stuff. Drogon can patrol the trek back to the sea. It was dumb to burn the food. I re-watched the scene when I saw people defending it. She does passages up and down the road specifically burning barrels and wheat, not just infantry.

Tyrion would know that High Garden has gold and food. He would probably also be able to figure that the gold take priority (these are Lannisters. They pay debts.) It's a slow moving convoy. Also, Varys mentioned it to her. And she has said she needs food.

Yeah, that's who I mean. With all the discussion both in the North about transporting food to Winterfell and also Cersei capturing High Garden for the goods, and with winter coming. It's gonna be a problem. Or should be.

Tarly said so.

The gold is very specifically stated to be already secured at King's Landing. Randyll Tarly says so. Bronn is the pusher, apparently. And yes, Dany burned the food. That is probably going to be a problem.

I actually wondered if a line like "Was I ever on your list?" from Sansa to Arya, even as a joke, wouldn't have been out of order.

Cersei's only claim to the throne is that she's the wife/mother of Baratheon kings. I think the credits are just acknowledging that. Also, Gendry's massive muscles from rowing say "what's up?" hahahahaha

Aegon had a couple of sister-wives that helped. And I'm not sure how beloved he was when it first happened. I don't think all issues viewers may have about Dany or Cersei could be just written off as misogyny.

I think he is married in the show- when Missendei mentions there is no marriage in her country, he says that is sounds liberating. I took that to mean he could openly flirt with her there.

I'm getting major Roose Bolton vibes from Tarley. Like "My, you are unpleasant to be around." looks. It reminds me of Robb's looks at Bolton when he talked about flaying Lannisters. I think he said that before he was even named as Roose Bolton.

The show is in love with Cersei because Lena Headey is one of the better actors remaining. Cersei is a great, great character and is considerably more interesting than Dany or Jon. She's not good, but she is fun to watch. I do find it hilarious in an episode Jon Snow talks about Dany's good heart, she roasts people alive and also burns the food, which is worse for the realm. Winter is coming, etc. I'm not saying Dany shouldn't have or that that scene wasn't awesome, but it was hilarious to me. Tyrion looked properly disturbed. I also think Dickon's "I hunted with those men" speech about killing men at Highgarden was to reflect on Tyrion. Bronn laughing at Dickon's name- I rewound that four times to re-watch it. Also "Fancy lad school." It was a hard choice- I like the dragon and I like Bronn. Hopefully both live and go for a drink later.

Ross is just so mean and dismissive to Demelza. It's kind of hard to watch.

Robert, Stannis and Renly have a Targ grandmother. It's one of the reasons Robert got the Iron Throne, as opposed to Ned or Jon Arryn. Rhaelle Targaryen married Lyonel Baratheon (I looked it up.) Their son Steffon is Robert's dad.

Ser Rodrik says definitively "There are no direwolves south of the Wall." Also, the magic bit might be how they got there for them to find. A wolf can't climb the Wall. Also, Jon isn't a warg in the show, but I suspect his warging ability will help in his dragon riding. Perhaps Bran will warg into Rhaegal in the show. "You'll never walk, but you will fly."

Yeah, completely. That's reflected in that whole first section with the Stark family in the first episode. Ned executes the deserter, who is babbling about White Walkers. "I saw what I saw. I saw the White Walkers." Ned goes to talk to Bran, talks about "man who passes the sentence..." and Bran asks about the man saying he saw White Walkers. Ned says, "White Walkers haven't been seen for thousands of years" and Bran concludes the man was mad. The direwolves being discovered happens on the same trip. Theon has never seen one before "It's a freak!" when he sees the size of the mother. "There are no direwolves south of the Wall" "Now there are four...." Ned decides to kill them, Jon convinces him to spare them. The grown ups are noticeably disquieted. Magic is back before dragons.

The "ice" and "fire" might not even refer to any individuals, but rather the return of magic to the world- meaning the return of "ice" (the White Walkers) and the return of "fire" (the dragons) and how those things affect the people living in the world. Both have already had political implications- Dany can claim the Iron Throne by birthright, but Robert Baratheon won it by conquest. She has to win it back, and she can with her dragons. And like Tywin tells Arya at Harrenhal in the show (interactions I miss all the time- Charles Dance is AMAZING) "Aegon changed the rules." The reason Jon was crowned King in the North was because he was deemed best capable leader in fighting the White Walkers, even though he's the bastard son. It's the only reason he went to Dragonstone and met his aunt. He requires a different type of magic to counteract the malevolent magic brewing in the North. It doesn't need a romance or be reflected in personalities of Rhaeger or Lyanna or Jon or Danaerys. The song of ice and fire is magic returning to the world, myth becoming real and how those things change the rules.

It also makes me kind of wonder why the plan now isn't just to march the Unsullied to King's Landing. It's not that far by land (no further than Highgarden, and timing is so fluid), and the Lannisters don't have aerial forces like Team Dany does. You are right that the Dothraki would be no good in a siege, so send them from the East to take out the Lannister army returning to KL from Highgarden and have the Unsullied come at King's Landing from the West. If there was still an Frey army in the Riverlands, that might be an issue. But Arya took care of that. Who does Cersei have in the Midwest who isn't already occupied in the Southwest? Is the Gold Road from the Rock to King's Landing open? Greyjoy/Lannister have the advantage on the sea, so take it off the sea.

The fire and ice thing is sort of funny, because by most accounts- Lyanna, while an "ice" Stark, had the wild, wolf personality and Rhaeger was "fire" but he's "cool"- melancholy, hates fighting, etc. So, I don't know how much of the ice/fire thing is personality.

Creepy see everything Bran is good times.

If there wasn't going to be any consequences for using a weapon of mass destruction on vast numbers of people, people you mean to rule, that wouldn't have been a talking point for Tyrion to bring up. Jaimie killed Aerys to prevent it from happening. Having one queen be considered good while another evil when one has used a weapon of mass destruction (wildfire) on her court and the other intends to use one (dragons) doesn't make much sense. The story should be more nuanced than that. The lesser of two evils winning is likely what is going to be the result. And it's not contrived to have power corrupt. It's what power does. And it's not to argue that Dany should be evil. But the situation should be complicated.

Just general thoughts: Jon realizing he isn't the bastard son of Ned Stark and Danaerys coming to terms with the idea that she isn't the last Targaryen and perhaps not the actual heir is far more interesting than any sort of romance these show runners could come up with. Even if they end up hooking up, I don't think a long term relationship is the right way to go. Like, it makes sense for them to be allies but it also makes sense for them to have serious issues as well when the truth about Jon's parentage comes out. I also think Danaerys makes a much more interesting villain or despot than any sort of romantic "I freed slaves so I'm good" type . Those dragons are napalm and eventually she is going to use them. They would be very useful against wights (for Jon Snow's purposes), but using them against humans should probably come with some consequences or have some sort of effect on how Danaerys behaves or how she is seen by those who have warm, fuzzy feelings about her. As for Rhaeger, I always thought Alexander Skarsgård would fit the bill as he is tall, elegant, beautiful, and ethereal. He's probably too old at this point. I see Skarsgård as Rhaeger and Clive Standen (Rollo on Vikings) as Robert Baratheon. He's also probably too old, but that's the physical types I see.

It's not a matter of being able to handle it. This show doesn't do romance particularly well and watching these two fairly bland actors try to do it would be a bit of a slog. That's what I mean by boring. Two attractive young people, they must be in love! Please just give me dragons roasting wights and politicking You're right. Her dragons are the difference. She never says that, but that's the difference. If her dragons leave her or Cersei succeeds in killing them, I wonder where she'll be. I thought her assertion that there were centuries of peace and prosperity in the Seven Kingdoms under Targ rule to be kind of hilarious.