dragonsbite

I like the symbology of all the sword-swapping that has happened in GOT for the famous Valyrian steel swords, implying how Westeros is changing: Brienne & Jaime have the Stark blade (Ice remade into two swords) Jon (the Stark bastard) has the Mormont blade Jorah Mormont has the Tarly blade* However, I'm concerned about the fate of all those swords once their handlers die on the battlefield. Will anyone else pick them up or will the Valyrian steel swords end up buried in the snow? If they're just lost in the snow, what was the purpose of talking so much about that special steel? *Is Heart's Bane the same size that Ice was? Sure looked huge.

In the "War Council" scene, they did talk about the dragons being too busy to protect Bran. And I'm pretty sure that Jon said "we" when referring to the dragons -- so I assumed that everyone knew he would be a-dragonback for the fight.

Sam: That's what death is then. Forgetting. Except... The North Remembers.

I too loved the hug. More significantly, though, it showed Dany that she's not the number one woman in a lot of people's lives -- even though she's 'The Queen'. It's not the way she expects people to react; like she's had people react in her previous conquests. Looks like she's going to have a lot of truths to digest soon (besides the big one about Jon).

My initial thoughts: Foreshadowing in Tyrion’s statement of killing Cersei as a WW? Penis measuring between a puzzled Jaime and Tormund. Awesome. I actually teared up when Jaime knighted Brienne. (And I won't clap for Tinkerbell nor cry for terms of endearment.) Arya playing game of faces with Gendry to find out if he’s slept with anyone before. (Well, that's just cheating) What does that song about Jenny foretell?

I wondered the same thing! 1) I figured that after the Battle of the Bastards, the winning team either killed or imprisoned any of Ramsey's soldiers at Winterfell that refused to accept the new leadership. And the soldiers probably were smart enough to join the new Stark army. 2) Did Arya tell the Frey women to release Edmure from the dungeon? Probably the daughter that he married would -- particularly if Jaime was telling the truth about Edmure having fathered a son with her. Would any of the other women have done that on their own? They were in Riverrun, right? Would the women want to continue the Frey family behavior and teach the little Walder sons, which Arya didn't kill, to take revenge on the Starks? Would they run home to The Twins? Or were they just happy to be rid of old Walder? (like much of the rest of Westeros). D&D do a poor job of following up on things like this. Other examples include the Reeds. Just dropping Meera after all she did for Bran. She was important in the story; doubly so, since her father knows what happened at the Tower of Joy.

(bolding is mine) Is it possible that Bran sees that, to defeat the NK, Jon must be their leader? Bran's first real statements in the episode were about defeating the NK and putting aside the petty squabbles. Also, regarding his bad timing of sending a bereaved Samwell to speak to Jon, clearly Bran is still suffering from a lack of empathy/sensitivity. His brain must be full of so much information that he can't process that as well as people's emotions (or his own).

I'm so sick of the Sansa vs Dany debate. Please accept that neither side is going to agree with the other. On a more interesting topic, can we speculate on the weapon that Arya asked Gendry to create? What was that? A long knife? A short spear? Why would she want something that comes apart? Or was her drawing just implying that it's part dragonglass and part (metal/wood) shaft? I thought it was designed to come apart -- like the knives soldiers added to their rifles in previous times.

But next week, when this comes up, Brienne will be there to set them straight. She had the story straight from Jaime. (Tyrion knows, too, but no one's going to easily take the word of Jaime's brother.)

Did Bran sit outside all night, while waiting for his old friend? Because it was dusk/nighfall-ish when he spoke with Sam and daylight when Jaime arrived.

Fewer....heh heh. I'll never hear that word again without thinking of Stannis.

Why is Arya front-and-center? I would have expected Jon and Dany to be there. Or at last, having Jon adjacent to the three siblings. Are there hints in here (thinking of the Battlestar Galactica last supper poster).

Why doesn't Jamie have a sword? I really expected him to be holding Widow's Wail.

Regardless whether Jaime is wearing Stark-style armor, he's most likely at Winterfell -- those depressingly dark interiors are unmistakable.

True dat. And yet it combines with the existing theory Bran = NK, but with a twist. Instead of warging into the NK during the fight or actually warging into the original NK, Bran instead is able to raise the Stark dead (or warg them?) to defend his home from the NK. Not sure whether this would be a last stand, so much as making the Stark dead "hold the door."

I squeeeeed* when The Mountain appeared. Because in the 1st Quarter, I'd had this exchange with a friend on FB: *Squeeeeeed like a 50 Shades of Grey fan watching Adam Levine strip at a Super Bowl half-time.

Why has no one commented that Jon is prominent in both the S1 Ep1 "Winterfell is yours" scene as he is in this S8 teaser? (or did I miss that comment). He's the only Stark child to be in the scenes with the Stark who's offering up WF.

oh thank god. y'all have stopped arguing about Sansa.

Can someone please just email/tweet/call NCW to find out what he said...in English?

I've been mulling over this for a while, and finally decided to post (usually I lurk). Danaerys likes to talk about breaking the wheel. But I was most interested in the tidbits about the Targaryen line being nothing without the might of their dragons. They came to power only because of their dragons. And then lost their power as their dragon became no bigger than cats. She said something like, "We diminished." So if the only way to stop the WW and NK is the end all magic (including the dragons), then the GoT ending would be a world without magic. Which is bitter for many there and yet brings hope of a real life without the Wall and worries about a future Winter coming that could destroy them all. How can a Targaryen rule in such a world? How do Starks live in such a world? The people, including the remaining Targs and Starks, all start over. Maybe that's the true breaking of the wheel. Bittersweet ending In thinking about the GRRM's fondness for the bittersweet ending of LotR: The bittersweetness reflected the huge change in the world: the end of the Third Age. The Elves (magic) departed / diminished, leaving Middle Earth to the realm of Men. A similar ending for Westeros would be the loss of mystery and wonder, and the move toward an average-man's life. That is, no more magic: dragons, CotF, WW, NK, the Wall, and maybe even the Lord of Light / Red Priestesses. Westeros won't be the same Seven Kingdoms, and the Iron Throne would no longer matter (probably won't even exist). Westeros that was becomes history, similar to Valyria. (What goes around comes around.) So, Jon and Dany might survive but they won't be ruling Westeros because it pretty much no longer exists as a kingdom or a kingdom of little kingdoms. Most of the little kingdoms are wiped out. Jon & Dany's ending If you're a major character, you often get what you need not what you state you want in the beginning of the story. Because you're supposed to grow over the course of the story. And usually realize that your early wishes were unfounded immature beliefs. Once she learns to take charge of her destiny, Dany wants to live with her husband and child. She thought that was all lost when Drogo and her son died. When that dream ended, she spent a lot of time and effort trying to get her birthright. It's a lot of work (and several TV seasons) to get even close to the Red Keep but she won't complete that quest because of the WW & NK. So she'll end up with what she really needs: husband and child in the form of Jon and boatsex-baby, possibly more kids. With a changed world, she won't need to be Queen of the Andals, [insert a million titles a la Aragorn here]. From the start, Jon never expected to be a leader or important, but he became both and wasn't exactly happy. [Dany: 'We all like to do what we're good at.' Jon: 'I don't."] He wanted to know about his parentage -- well, he'll learn that but will it make him happy? Throughout the story, he is moved closer and closer to the center of the primary conflict, eventually becoming a major player for the climax. And yet, Jon is most like the Samwise Gamgee of GoT -- a nobody thrust into huge events who does what needs to be done for the good of everyone.* And like Sam, he most likely will return to a simple life, with the sad knowledge of how the world has changed and how much he or those he fought for and protected have lost. He'll always feel the pain of knowing that he couldn't save them from those losses. But be happy with what he has: knowledge of who he is and having loved ones around him. *Sam takes on the burden of the Ring when he believes Frodo is dead. He contemplates gathering an army, raising his flaming sword, and challenging Sauron, then realizes that he couldn't win that fight. He 'knew he was not large enough to bear such a burden... The one small garden of a free-gardener was all his need and due, not a swollen garden to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command." Instead, he determines to fulfill the quest and enters the scariest place in Middle Earth. A few chapters later, he willingly returns the Ring to Frodo. Then he literally carries Frodo up Mt. Doom. He gets that garden in the end, and honors that are due to him. But he's sad that it came at such a huge cost to his friends and his world.

Why the heck didn't the mom and Judy take each of the chariots? That way, they wouldn't have given the doctor a chariot AND at least one of them would have escaped. Stupid people. Also, how did the doctor wake up so quickly? is Judy that incompetent?

I've always been a lurker here. But all this talk about a potential baby from Jon & Dany got me thinking about the babies that the WW took from Craster. What if the Ice+Fire baby has something to do with that? He's the lightbringer, sure. But what if the WW get him? Does he become one of them or destroy them (without even doing anything)?

Fabulous episode. Literally. And Lucifer in a speedo as he pretends to be part of a gay couple = perfect behavior for a gay guy. Now, Lucifer in a speedo while playing with a bikini babe in a sprinkler as he pretends to be part of a gay couple = not the norm behavior for a gay guy.

*fewer (Davos made me do it)

What if the three heads means a True Stark (the NK), a Stark-Targaryen (Jon), and a Targaryen (Dany)?