WearyTraveler

Spanish speaker here, born in Venezuela to Spanish parents. The distinction is important because Spanish is not the same in every country (much like English is not the same in Australia, UK, and USA). I lived in South America until I was 18, then moved to the US, then lived in a few different countries, including Spain (for almost three years). The thing with Spanish is that verb conjugation is different for every person in every tense, and then you have the infinitive, which might change meaning depending on sentence structure. Then you have phrases and sayings that are particular of a specific culture. The phrase "persona de confiar" is mostly used in Spain, although generally, they would say "persona de fiar", which is basically the same, but the second one is more widely used. This a colloquial term, thus translating it requires understanding of its use in the country and culture. Literally translated it would be "person of trust", but, translating it for meaning and use, it would be "person you can trust". An efficient translator would just use the word trustworthy when translating the phrase to English and say "a trustworthy person". That said, I still think we need to take anything the actors say with two metric tons of salt. Perhaps Jaime finds a cold, suspicious Sansa when he makes his way North to join the fight against the WW, which would be in tune with Sansa's arc so far on the show. Perhaps Sansa reveals to the group something they don't know about Jaime. Perhaps NWC is talking about something else. Perhaps he decided to pull our leg, seeing as how other actors (see Lena and her Stoneheart tweet) have so much fun doing it. He thinks Dany is on the path to become a Mad Queen and that Sansa is not trustworthy, personally, I don't see any of these outcomes for those two characters. Yes, the show likes to tease the "Dany is a mad, mad, pyromaniac" and the "Sansa is now Littlefinger 2.0 - don't trust her!" storylines, but they never fully commit to either. And, as a book reader, none of those stories seem to be ones being built into the narrative. Examples: Dany is quite sensitive to the plight of enslaved women and children, so much so, that when Drogon was accused of roasting a child she went and locked all her babies up. She shows empathy, she regrets some of the more harsh punishments she has dished out, she shows remorse, she compromises. Sansa is constantly wishing and dreaming about Winterfell. She wants to go back there, she misses her brothers and sisters, she thinks about naming a future baby she might have Arya. She is still a bit too naive for my liking in the books, and LF does seem to still be pulling her strings, but the groundwork has been laid for her to smarten up, take down LF and go back North where she feels she belongs

Maybe the Targs are flying above the Dragon Pit and all those people on the ground are waving at them :D

If Delos is looking for more power, they don't need to create a carbon copy like Delos, they can just create a bot with the same memories as the original person they want to substitute and program the bot to act and react based on the data they already have for that person. A sophisticated identity theft, if you will. They don't want the bot to know that he/she is a bot or a duplicate, they wouldn't want them to be conscious of their bot status. They can then order said bot to merge their company to a Delos subsidiary, or, if the bot is the president of a nation.... well, I'm sure anyone can see the advantage of that. Then I took the idea further. Charlotte had planned for Abernathy to be on that train on his way to the corporate overlords with gazillions of IP in his head, but Abernathy never made it there. Why? Someone took him somewhere else. And we saw that Ford was in complete control and knew everything that happened in the park and at the Mesa, so, it stands to reason that Ford directed the events that moved Abernathy out of Charlotte's reach. What if part of the reason he did that is because he had already managed to do that very thing with William? I'm not 100% convinced, but I think it's possible that William was substituted at some point. It's easy to understand how Ford could know everything that happened in the parks, as he had access to all the systems (the ones Delos knew about and the ones he hid from Delos), but how would Ford know so many other things about Delos' decisions? He always seems to be one step ahead of Charlotte and the board. Perhaps he has an informant. Perhaps he substituted William for a bot a while back and that is why he knows so much about Delos' corporate plans. Perhaps William's daughter figured this out and she intends to hurt her father by showing him that he IS a bot. With the current configuration, William bot would be very hurt by such a revelation, more so if his daughter were to manipulate his levers to make him feel maximum emotional pain. Perhaps that is the game the daughter paid to play. Her secret fantasy. It is also possible that real William is still alive, being held prisoner somewhere by Ford.

If they can replace rich/powerful people (like the ones who could afford a trip to a Delos Park) with their 99.99% identical twin host, who they control, can you imagine how much power they could actually hold? What if we find out that Ford already found a way to do that and has replaced several people in the outside world with bots? What if MIB is one such replacement? THIS game is for him, right? So, what is it that he needs to find out? What is his journey about now? What if the "outside" world is also another park? What if it is entirely populated by bots? We know that they can be programmed to not see / perceive something if their maker doesn't want them to, so they could easily see other bots as "humans". What if Ford has already uploaded / replicated a bunch of real people into this world? What if Ford is operating all this from another planet? (yeah, maybe it's not that likely, but it's interesting to think about. BTW, if I end up being right, I'm gonna use this post to get myself a job on television!)

I think there are so many possibilities that don't even cross people's minds when it comes to these broad adjectives that it's incredibly difficult to know with any certainty what they mean. Here are some examples of events that could fit those adjectives: Surprising: Winterfell falls again (I was surprised by this, as many were when we first started reading spoilers about it because many of us thought that it wouldn't fall twice) Jaime kills Cersei (wouldn't surprise book readers who know that the prophecy mentions a Valonqar, that Cersei came into the world first and Jaime second, that Jaime is increasingly bitter toward his sister, and that he wouldn't go to her aid when she was a prisoner of the sparrows, but it might surprise TV viewers who see Jaime as someone who stuck by Cersei through the worst of her actions, like the wildfire stunt, and who would go North first without even taking her to task for her actions) The AOTD make it to King's Landing (some people may still think that all the forces gathering up north could stop the WW from reaching that far South; early on in the speculation craze, people on this very thread theorized that S8 would be dealing with the WW first and then dealing with Cersei) All the dragons die (this would surprise me, as I think at least one of them will be alive - Drogon, off course - until the end) All the dragons die, but the closing shot is of three new dragon eggs (it could happen, couldn't it? and the show would play appropriate suspense music in crescendo while the cameras linger on the eggs, so we would know to be properly surprised by the image) Nymeria's pack shows up to help with the fight and save our heroes in the nick of time (not likely, given how infatuated D&D are with the dragons, but...) Heartbreaking: Character deaths, specially those who have been on the "good" side like Tormund, Pod, Brienne, and Greyworm. Or characters the audience sympathizes with because they are on a redemption arc, like Jaime (although I think book readers might find that sadder than TV viewers) Highly beloved animals die. I'm pretty sure Drogon and/or Ghost's death will gut many of us Jon and/or Dany survives until the end but the other one doesn't All of Westeros is devastated and ravaged, thousands upon thousands die and we are hit with images of a post war Westeros that is completely destroyed, with people in rags, crying, etc. Jaime and Brienne finally confess their love for one another and then Jaime dies in her arms Shocking: Dany is pregnant (some people still argue that she is barren after losing Rhaego, some TV viewers haven't been hit by the baby anvils yet, believe it or not) Jaime kills Cersei Tyrion turns against Daenerys (not likely, IMO, but the theory is out there, and the ground has been set for some sort of rift/conflict between them) Cersei is ousted from the Throne by someone other than Jon/Dany (spoilers seem to indicate this will be the case, however it is done, I'm sure many will be shocked as most people expect Cersei to be removed from power by either Jon or Dany) Winterfell falls The AOTD make it to King's Landing Jon dies after defeating the NK, a heartbroken Daenerys refuses the throne and decides to raise Jon's baby in Dragonstone Satisfying The good guys win, the bad guys die

Many things can be surprising for many different people. Having all the dragons die could be surprising for some, for example, but not for others. I tend not to think about such comments too much, there are way too many possibilities to make a good guess

One thing I found disappointing was that the first thing almost every artist thought of was eye related. Hide the eyes, move the eyes, take the eyes away... I found myself wishing for a bit more creativity in the design. I thought Tinkerbell was better than Humpty, however, Tinkerbell was very Pan's Labyrinth and Humpty was more original. But I also thought Humpty was much better in profile and from the back than from the front. I can see why the judges awarded Humpty the win. I thought Kelly was too much, though, personality wise. Always making an over the top gesture about "fighting" with another contestant, and so on. It seemed to me she was trying too hard. Hopefully it was a one-off due to the excitement of coming back and it won't be a permanent thing. I got frustrated with Mel during her original season because in almost every talking head she talked about a problem, something going wrong, some issue or another. It was just exhausting to the point that it felt like she was whining all the time, and I just wanted her talking heads gone. It seems she has changed for the better and I hope it's for real. Black eyed mermaid was the clear loser for me. Not only was the sculpt way too rigid for that type of design, but also the artist didn't do a good job with the empty eye sockets. She just painted them black (dark grey, actually, if my screen is to be believed) and we could still clearly see the model's lids and eyelashes. They didn't look like empty eye sockets, they looked like painted eye sockets. I thought the crocodile Hook design was very original, and was looking forward to the execution. The sculpt was really good but, unfortunately, as the judges pointed out, the artist went overboard and crammed way too many design elements on it. That was a pity. I think if he had managed to execute the idea better, he could have been in the top, or even the winner.

I agree with the bolded statement. Just like in Season one. In S1 time was linear, and there was only one timeline but we were seeing the events unfold out of order because it made sense to keep certain aspects of the plot hidden for the audience. This season I don't understand what the purpose of the technique is, particularly since the time span seems to be only two weeks, with certain exceptions, like the deal with William's father in law (in S1, the time span was 30+ years). It appears that the reason they are doing this is only to have a "gotcha" moment with the audience, which is honestly not working for me. If I plot the events we have seen in chronological sequence, there is absolutely no difference, so, I am also hoping the purpose of using the technique will be revealed at some point. Right now is more annoying than anything else. They couldn't use Clementine's original configuration and back up because she was failing. That's why they retired her and created a new configuration for a new robot. Perhaps what is confusing you is that they gave the new bot the same lines and loop that original Clementine had for that particular story, but they didn't give her all of Clementine's memories and records for all the stories in which the Clementine bot was used. They could have recreated Clementine's original body and equipped it with the new configuration, but it seems that somewhere along the line they decided that one configuration should be tied to one original body, and when they retired the configuration, they retired the original body. It probably helped them to keep every robot and configuration straight. Technology can keep track of all of that, but humans were the ones maintaining the robots and humans generally do better with visual cues.

Far be it from me to tell others what they should do with their bodies, but, it was incredibly distracting. Every time she was on camera, especially when she was wearing the hoops that let you see through her earlobe I couldn't see anything else but her ears. It was better when she was wearing the solid accessories, but I still looked. Perhaps I'll get used to it as the season progresses and I will learn to ignore it. She must really, really like it because it takes a lot of dedication to extend the earlobes that much. And, I suppose that unless you have cosmetic surgery to cut out the stretched skin and reconstruct the lobe, that is a permanent feature. THIS!!!! I was flabbergasted that she got away with it! I feel the same, plus, these judges are not shy about changing the rules if they think something is unfair. They have done it in the past.

RE: Abernathy and the pearl sphere of data. IIRC, the original plan was to sneak all that data out of the park inside Abernathy so that Ford wouldn't notice. In a past episode (can't remember which) Charlotte contacted Delos asking for an extraction and they replied that they had not received the "package" and that they would NOT send an extraction team until the "package" was delivered. This is when Charlotte realised that Abernathy had been taken (he was with Dolores), so she sent people out to get him. After the big standoff at the fort, Charlotte's team got Abernathy back. The problem for Charlotte then was that she couldn't send Abernathy out because no one can get out without an extraction team since the parks are sealed. And Delos said they would not send an extraction team until they received the data. So, her only option at this point was to send the data to Delos via some sort of cloud transmission. She couldn't do that before because Ford was watching, that's why she needed Abernathy in the first place. Now that Ford is "dead" and that Delos is withholding extraction until the data is out of the parks, she can and must transmit it. Extracting the sphere and telling Delos it was in her possession would not have worked. So, she started uploading the data to Delos, but Dolores and her team interrupted the party and took the data out of Abernathy's head. So, now she has the bargaining power with Delos, if she wishes and Charlotte is royally screwed.

Should we try to make some hastag thanking Bezos / Amazon trend? I mean, so that they are encouraged to listen to fans more in the future

Yes. But (there's always a but... he, he, he!), in the books fire defeats the Wights and dragon glass (a component of Valyrian Steel, magic and steel being the other ones) defeats the WW. In the show, dragon fire defeated the wights, but the NK killed a dragon, so one presumes VS /dragon glass is still needed to defeat the Walkers, ergo, we still need a sword wielding hero (or heroes) with the right weapons to defeat the WW. Also, the show has had two intense stare downs between Jon and the NK where they were looking directly at each other and sending each other messages with their eyes and postures. Jon didn't even need to say "I'm gonna kill you!", you just know that's exactly what he is thinking and the NK took notice of Jon when there was a fire-breathing dragon burning wights, being ridden by a beautiful Valyrian looking woman right in front of him. I think those things are significant, which is why I speculate that in S8 Jon will definitely have a show down with the NK, one-on-one, real personal, and he will kill the NK using his sword, Longclaw, (which other sword would he use?). Therefore, Jon = AA, and Longclaw =Lightbringer. Perhaps the scenes Kit filmed in Seville (where he had to practice for some fighting) where for this final showdown.

True. I can see where the evidence has been laid out for it to be either one of them, or both of them together. This prophesy in particular, though was very specific regarding the family and specific succession line of the family where TPTWP would come from, and Jon and Dany both fit it. So, it makes less sense to me that the part about the sword is metaphorical and the part about the person is literal. So I tend to think that both parts will be literal. Then again TPTWP was the Westeros version and AA is the Essos version. One could be literal and the other metaphorical. Other prophesies like the ones given by the old woman in the forest are entirely metaphorical, so, there could be hundreds of interpretations. There is literally no castle made of snow in the books or the show, or at least we haven't seen one, but, castles covered in snow there are a few, so.... I tend to think Longclaw will be revealed as Lightbringer at some point, since there has been so much time and some many emotional plot points invested in this particular sword. There has been a lot of focus on what the sword means to Jon, one of the candidates for AA/TPTWP, My book theory is that the NW will try to burn Jon's body and he will walk out of the fire with Lightbringer, but, we'll see.

Yes, which is why the WW are rising again and Azor Ahai is needed again, but that is not the same as creating a sword again, when the original one already exists. It's not a new threat that comes from beyond the Wall, it's the same threat returning. The hero will not be a new hero, it will be the same hero re-born. The sword will be the same sword, and because swords don't die, it doesn't need to be re-born (or re-forged). Think of it as the medallion carried by the orphan child that later serves to identify her as the heiress of a gigantic fortune. The one who pulls the sword out of the fire will be AA, there's no need to temper the sword again. The way this particular story has been written, and the way Nissa Nissa is referenced, and the way the prophecy states what will happen all point to Lightbringer being the object that will identify AA/TPTWP, not that AA/TPTWP will rise, we will know who he is, and then he'll go forge a sword and temper it to create Lightbringer 2.0. It is known as The Sword of Heroes. It's a thing, like Dawn is a thing, Longclaw is a thing, Ice was a thing, etc. Only The Sword of Heroes is a bigger thing than all of those other swords. Plus, how would this even happen in the show where there has been no mention of Nissa Nissa? It is far more likely that: The show will not deal with any AA/TPTWP stuff. Either Jon or Dany defeat the NK, or they do it together, and us book readers will know who is AA/TPTWP based on who defeats the WW. We will then extrapolate show events to get an idea of what the story will look like in the books (if they are ever finished), or At some point Longclaw will turn into Lightbringer, shining and radiating heat, and then everyone will know Jon is AA/TPTWP (Mel, Davos, Bran or Sam, will probably referenced that this sword really is Lightbringer and that Stannis sword was cold to the touch, ergo Jon is the one), and book readers that supported this theory will have it confirmed, or Dany defeats the NK using dragon fire and we will know that she is AA/TPTWP and that the Lightbringer of the prophecy was a metaphor. I don't see any scenario where the show will go through the forging and tempering of a new Lightbringer, and I don't see it happening in the books either, because this particular point wasn't written that way.

When it comes to this whole Nissa Nissa businesss, I think people are confusing prophecy with lore / history, which are not the same in the books. There are many little stories that we learn about Westeros throughout the books, some seem to be more historically based than others. For example, when we read about Baelor the Blessed going on a religious fast and how he was such a godly man that the snakes refused to bite him versus Nan telling Bran the story of the 'prentice boys and the guy with the ax coming in the dead of night. The first is based on a true historical figure (and later we hear from Oberyn, IRRC, say that it wasn't entirely true), the second is framed as a tale told to children like we have the Grimm brothers. That said, there's a strong sense throughout the books that some of the lore we read a bout is more historically accurate than the people of Westeros believe (the WW come to mind), but in no way do the books imply that because these stories and lore happened in the past, they must happen again in the present or in the future. Lore serves two functions in the books, as a cautionary tale, and as way to provide justification for a particular rule/belief of the current times. A great example of this is the story of the Rat Cook, it is used as a tale to scare children and as a way to instill in people the importance of respecting guest rights. But no one is expecting the Rat Cook to be born again, no one is expecting to see a giant rat around the Night Fort eating its children, and so on. Frey Pie is a satisfying story point, but Manderly wasn't fulfilling any prophecy, he just used lore as inspiration and to get rid of evidence. Prophecies are things that haven't happened yet in Westeros, and that some characters say will happen at some point in the future. The Prince that Was Promised / the rebirth of Azor Ahai, Sansa slaying a giant in a castle made of snow, and Cersei's children having golden hair and golden shrouds, are prophecies. Some have come to pass already, and some have yet to happen. And there are indications that we may be right in the middle of a prophecy becoming true. Cersei having three golden haired children was a prophecy made by Maggy the Frog which came true, Sansa slaying a giant hasn't happened (in the books, at least), and we seem to be in the middle of the Long Night prophecy coming true with the White Walkers rising and moving south; but we still don't know who is Azor Ahai reborn. To me, the Nissa Nissa story is the past, it explains how Azor Ahai's sword was forged and why it is special, but it does not imply that this sword needs to be forged again. People need to be born again, swords don't. The second coming of Azor Ahai is a prophecy, the forging of Lightbringer is lore/history. Note that the lore about Azor Ahai doesn't say that he was born out of fire the first time, he was just a regular man who forged a great sword to fight the Others and became a hero when he defeated them. The prophecy says he will be born again when the WW rise again, this time out of fire, and he will end the Long Night. So, there's a difference between the history (how things came to be) vs. the prophecy (how things will be sometime in the future). Should the prophecy say that AA needs to forge a sword again, we would have heard about it by now. We read about AA and TPTWP several times from several characters, we only read about the Nissa Nissa story once. If the forging of the sword were important, we would have read about AA having to do it again. Instead, we read about how Lightbringer is supposed to look like and how it's supposed to act, because the character that has the sword is supposed to be AA. It's Westeros' equivalent to a DNA test. This is why Maester Aemon asks so many questions about Stannis' sword and how he figures out that Stannis is a fake (the sword emits light but not heat). What the prophecy says is: "It has been foretold in the books at Asshai that when the stars bleed and the cold winds blow, a warrior shall draw from the fire a burning sword. That sword will be Lightbringer. The one who draws it will be Azor Ahai reborn." So, all AA reborn needs to do, is pull a sword out of a stone pyre. He doesn't need to temper it again.

Or maybe Dempsie has read a lot of comments from the people who think a Targ restoration is predictable and that they will be disappointed if Jon and Dany end up ruling together. Context and the previous experiences of the speaker are important. Not to mention, they are all probably told what to say to tease the audience and create suspense, which is one of the oldest PR rules in existence. This is why I personally don't take anything the actors say too seriously. I'm sure we'll hear "heartbreaking" and "bittersweet" about a million more times before S8 even begins.

Or they became dislodged during warmer weather and drifted off

Yes, that's why I said literature, not fantasy. My point is that in literature, this was a common occurrence, until some writers started keeping their main characters alive, IMO because readers were probably wanting more hopeful endings. I don't know when the Fantasy genre was officially born, but I imagine it was around the same time that writers started keeping their heroes be alive by the end of their epic tales, or sometime after. In any case, the OP I was responding to had posted examples of known fantasy where the heroes are kept alive, suggesting this is a trope, I pointed out the opposite trope in literature, which then was subverted to create the trope of the surviving hero. My more overarching point being that most every story structure is a trope of some kind. There have been millions and millions of books written throughout human history, anyone aiming to write something that subverts tropes is shooting him/herself in the foot. The story and characters have to come first, if it is a good story with characters that people can identify with, readers will love it, tropes be damned.

Lost ended with the main character dying to save the world. It's actually a common arc in literature, which was quite popular with audiences. But I suppose at some point said audiences just wanted some damn hope and preferred their heroes alive at the end of the tale, so... The magic arc is in the books is the reverse, actually. When we start the story in AGoT, there are very few magical creatures around, particularly in Westeros. Direwolves and dragons have not been seem for hundreds of years, which is why Jon finding the pups is such a big deal for House Stark, and the fact that there was one pup for each child is meant to make the event even more significant. Then we have Dany "birthing" dragons and the return of the WW, who had been dormant (believed extinct) for so long, that even the Night's Watch forgot they were the real reason The Wall was built in the first place. When Dany was in Qarth, she is told that after the birth of her dragons, all magic seems to be much more powerful, and that people can do things now that they couldn't do before. There is heated fan debate on the subject: did magic start coming back to Planetos after the birth of the Prince that Was Promised (be said figure Jon or Dany) and is that caused the WW to rise again? or was magic already making a comeback and thus TPTWP becomes necessary? But what is not disputed is the rebirth of magic itself in Planetos, this is a fact. When TCOTF and other characters speak about magic, what many say is that it was actually bad that Men forgot all about it, because only magic could provide the answers to fight the WW and their army of zombies.

Right after he said that to Prax, I knew what the next line and sequence was going to be, and yet it was very satisfying. I was going to hit this fly ball, but , nah! too easy! I think now that Mao is captured, Avasarala will probably return to Earth with the prisoner, and then she can reign in the president and cover the political/diplomatic angle. It will be good to have an idealist voice, like Anna's around, though. Those are the voices that usually make people like Avasarala reflect and make wiser decisions (even if those decisions are not 100% aligned with the world Anna wishes to create because we can't count on other people in power not to be complete assholes) "The Work!" Since the protomolecule communicates with all the pieces of itself scattered throughout the Universe, I'm going to guess that PM Katoa was "seeing" whatever was happening in Venus __________________________________________________ On the shallow end of the pool, nekkid Holden looks good, and Naomi? I'm a straight woman and even I thought "damn! girl has a bod on her!"

SyFy has also announced the upcoming season of Face-Off will be their last, which is weird because that show is a channel staple, symbolic of SyFy, very popular and such a cash cow that they aired two season in the same year several times. Yeah, it was getting old (13 seasons) and it appeared that getting talent was getting harder, but I don't believe it was anywhere near being done. I can't help but think that there is some major strategy readjustment going on at the network. I wonder what they'll come up with next. First it was Sci-Fi, then it was the crappy Sharknado channel, then it wanted to be a cool kid by changing its name to the current (stupid) spelling, then it was supposed to go back to its roots as a serious science fiction channel with The Expanse leading the charge, and now they seem to be heading toward another identity shift. At this rate they will become the Burger King of cable channels pretty fast :-/

88k+ just now that I've signed

They usually (not always) choose beardless men to portray Southern nobility, but who knows?

Or, undead Jamie kills Cersei after YMBQ takes everything away from her thus fulfilling Maggy the Frog's entire prophecy, which Cersei got wrong in all accounts thinking that Tyrion was the Valonqar and Margaery the YMBQ. I would personally love that to no end, Cersei realising how stupid she truly is. Despite all the stuff that happens to her in the books, she still hasn't internalized how much she contributed to her own situation.