Lemuria

I know. Especially with Sam's insistence earlier in the season that Jon should be king. All of a sudden (starting in Ep. 4), he's fine with everything and has no interest in telling anyone anything. Yet another dramatic moment/possible story thread that went nowhere.

I don't know about the broody part. I saw a definite hint of a smile on his face as he rode away from the empty CB and into the wilderness. 😉

1. That's because previously the NK was defeated and/or retreated back to the Land of Always Winter when the real Long Night, the one in Essos in which Azor Ahai was involved, ended. He was not killed, as he was here. (We saw in the flashback that the current NK is same person the CoTF turned--or there was no point to that flashback.) 2. The majority of the Wall is standing, but the majority of the castles have deteriorated. 3. Yeah, it was used as an alternative to more severe punishments--by the now-six kingdoms. Now it's the northern border of a very large and totally independent kingdom that has no reason or intention of taking the South's rejects. The Wall is now, at best, the border between the North and the real North.

Who get their power by--wait for it--birthright. And with no intention of sharing that power with the smallfolk or expanding the circle. And if you don't think that when Bran finally gets a motorized wheelchair and zooms back off to live in a weirwood tree house ("No Gɹils Allowed") there won't be a power struggle that will end up with another version of a monarchy, I have a great bridge to sell you.

I have to respectfully disagree. They aren't remotely headed toward a democracy. They've always had a small council. And since Bran will probably be mostly hands-off, it's really an oligarchy. And that's Newton's Fourth Law; "An oligarchy stays an oligarchy unless acted upon by an outside force storming the Bastille."

I don't think so. That's why we had the shot of his turning around and watching the gate close. There still is no Nights Watch. I think the two men with Jon were there to pacify Greyworm, who probably wanted to know if Jon definitely went there. I don't think Tyrion ever believe Jon would stay at the totally empty Castle Black. I also think he (or Bran) sent word to Tormund. Because there was no reason for the Free Folk to be at CB. They didn't need it, or want to live there, before the NK, and they have no reason to want it now. That's why we had a hint of a smile on Jon's face at the end. He was finally free.

Because there is no Nights Watch. There's nothing to guard against anymore.

Well, at least we know about Aragorn's tax plan now. And it was as boring as I thought it would be.

Apparently not. Nothing except the political squabbling meant anything.

And Tyrion, who proved himself to be a horrendous Hand, gets to basically rule Westeros because Bran doesn't care. And they're going to get together to elect a new king when--what?--the 3ER dies? Thousands of years from now?

"Why do you think I came?" So...how long has Bran been planning this coup? And there we have Sansa getting exactly what she schemed and betrayed for. Whoopee.

Hey, Sam, just how many years do think it would take to collect and count all the votes? Oy, this speech about Bran is ridiculous.

So, Sam was all hot under the collar about how Jon should have the throne and that they should tell everyone, and then nothing ever came of that. Just another thread left undone.

I agree about Sansa, but it wouldn't matter how much time they had: D&D absolutely lo-v-e Sansa, so she will get everything she wanted despite the sheer stupidity of her behavior on any number of occasions, and the fact that she betrayed a member of her family more than once, as well as all the wildlings who died because she wanted to be Queen of the May. That's a big factor in my dissatisfaction with what I've read about the ending. D&D appear to have dumped the entire NK/WW story, all the prophecies, the whole history that went into the elements of that story (including Rhaegar's obsession with it)--and with it, marginalized Jon--to make the political squabbling over power the be all and end all of the show. Which is exactly the opposite of the point that Martin appears to be making: that the political intrigue is stupid and useless when an Apocalypse is brewing. It seems, tho, that D&D never liked the supernatural elements at all; only the intrigue appealed to them. Based on the spoilers (and the eps to date this season), this was the wrong story for them to get involved in. I wonder if Sansa will even care that her entire family will now scatter and leave her alone. I also wonder if anyone will consider her behavior treacherous and will avoid allying with her. If there were any justice, that would be the case.

Are you saying that Jon’s telling his family—two members of which kept their word not to reveal it and one of whom decided to betray him for her own “irrepressible ambition and desire to rule—who he really is, is the reason Dany burnt KL to the ground? Then she wasn’t very stable to begin with, was she? Not to mention that it’s a pretty misogynistic idea. Dany could have chosen to go with, “They’re not crazy about me right now? Well, I’ll win their affections,” rather than choosing “I’ll force them to love me.” In the end, her choices were her own. But even if Jon had kept silent, do you think, after the destruction of the city, that Sam would have? Or for that matter, Arya and Bran?