Season 8: Speculation and Spoilers Discussion

[domina89]

4 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

I wish they'd focus on the emotional beats of the story instead of the plot. I'm down for Jon reuniting with his siblings and Sam. Sam and Jon haven't shared a single scene since the end of season 5. If Maester Aemon could get a shout out, that'd be awesome. 

I agree.  I really was hoping for a scene last season where Jon told Dany about Maester Aemon, but there's still time, I guess- or maybe it will come from Sam (wishful thinking).  Dany greedily absorbed Ser Barristan's tales of Rhaegar, so I'm sure she would love to hear about Aemon if given the chance.  All these overlooked character moments that should be happening but aren't (the ones regarding Arya you mentioned earlier being another example) really frustrates me.  Screw the plot.  I want to FEEL something as this show that I love ends for all time.  The character moments are gold and that's what the fans will treasure when all is said and done, not the spectacle.

[Eyes High]

A mysterious structure which may or may not be related to GOT filming is being erected on the Titanic Studios property in Belfast. Photos here and here. (IrishThrones says that the latter photos show a trebuchet.) It's a red/brown building facade that's pretty extensive, and I believe that there were rumours that it was going to be fire tested at some point. Sounds like a siege!

Not on set at the moment? Ben Crompton (Dolorous Edd), who was snapped in Newcastle (where he lives).

Edited October 26, 2017 by Eyes High

[GrailKing]

9 hours ago, Wouter said:

He did lead the army that won the battle of the bastards (no, LF wasn't doing that himself).

Bryan Cogman would be the man to remember Waymar Royce. If Yohn Royce is involved in a siege or otherwise involved in defending Winterfell, the boy may be mentioned at some point.

Sansa mentioned him in season 4 when she outed herself.

[anamika]

9 hours ago, Wouter said:

He did lead the army that won the battle of the bastards (no, LF wasn't doing that himself).

Well, if they had shown him on the battlefield it may have made up slightly for his incompetence later on. All the military leaders - Ramsay, Karstark, Umber, Jon, Davos, Tormund -  were on the field for the battle of the bastards. On the Vale side, it was just LF and Sansa. Where was Royce if he lead the army? That's the point I am making - he's supposed to be the military man and leader of the Vale army in the North. But on the show, he's just used as a prop to further a plot. From what we saw last season, Sansa would be a better military leader than him.

9 hours ago, Wouter said:

Bryan Cogman would be the man to remember Waymar Royce. If Yohn Royce is involved in a siege or otherwise involved in defending Winterfell, the boy may be mentioned at some point.

I don't think Bryan Cogman makes much of a difference to D&D's story telling anymore. Important characters and relationships have been completely ignored or changed on the show. This is the show where Jon Snow has not mentioned to Dany that he spend 5 seasons with her last living relative at the wall, where Gendry, Sandor, Beric or Thoros - characters whose story revolved around Arya -  don't mention Arya to Jon, where Ghost is irrelevant and missing for an entire season, where Bran is not curious about what happened to Rickon, where Theon and Jon have a conversation about Ned instead of Robb, where Jon hears that Arya/Bran are alive and back in WF and has a microsecond reaction before moving on....

After all this, I don't think they are going to bring up Waymar Royce to give Yohn Royce some purpose and characterization.  With LF dead and SR being irrelevant, Royce is also Sansa's only connection to the Vale.  His plot relevance is to Sansa's story arc whatever that maybe.

As for defending Winterfell - this is where I am hoping that the show at least has some northern houses involved and redeems them to some extent after their abysmal characterization the last two seasons. Bring back Manderly if necessary. We also have Tormund, Beric , Edd, Davos, Jon and Grey Worm. Jaime is heading there and Tyrion will also be present. All folks who have participated and planned battles. More than Yohn Royce at least.

Edited October 26, 2017 by anamika

[Eyes High]

WOTW reports that a siege engine is present at the red/brown set being built in the Paint Hall parking lot, and points out that the trebuchet spotted is about 25 feet high. The best guess at this point, given the colours of the set, seems to be a siege of the Red Keep. More info here.

Iain Glen, Gwendoline Christie, and Emilia Clarke were all spotted arriving in Belfast this past Sunday.

[YaddaYadda]

19 hours ago, domina89 said:

I agree.  I really was hoping for a scene last season where Jon told Dany about Maester Aemon, but there's still time, I guess- or maybe it will come from Sam (wishful thinking).  Dany greedily absorbed Ser Barristan's tales of Rhaegar, so I'm sure she would love to hear about Aemon if given the chance.  All these overlooked character moments that should be happening but aren't (the ones regarding Arya you mentioned earlier being another example) really frustrates me.  Screw the plot.  I want to FEEL something as this show that I love ends for all time.  The character moments are gold and that's what the fans will treasure when all is said and done, not the spectacle.

I would actually really like it if they let Dany show more emotions. She is so stoic, the writing needs to let her show emotion. I think she'd be emotional finding out that she's not the last of her line anymore. 

1 hour ago, Eyes High said:

WOTW reports that a siege engine is present at the red/brown set being built in the Paint Hall parking lot, and points out that the trebuchet spotted is about 25 feet high. The best guess at this point, given the colours of the set, seems to be a siege of the Red Keep. More info here.

Iain Glen, Gwendoline Christie, and Emilia Clarke were all spotted arriving in Belfast this past Sunday.

If it's the siege of the Red Keep, I hope Euron has double-crossed Cersei. And why wouldn't he? He would have used her coin to pay the Golden Company and kept them for himself to become king. Let those two have at it. It gives them both something to do. And I will root for a double death.

[MarySNJ]

49 minutes ago, YaddaYadda said:

If it's the siege of the Red Keep, I hope Euron has double-crossed Cersei. And why wouldn't he? He would have used her coin to pay the Golden Company and kept them for himself to become king. Let those two have at it. It gives them both something to do. And I will root for a double death.

Hmm... I like it. It's reminiscent of Aurane Waters stealing the fleet in ADWD, and that would be paying the "iron price", which is completely in character for Euron. 

[domina89]

2 hours ago, YaddaYadda said:

I would actually really like it if they let Dany show more emotions. She is so stoic, the writing needs to let her show emotion. I think she'd be emotional finding out that she's not the last of her line anymore. 

I agree.  I feel like we got more emotion in some of her scenes with Jon this season than we have had from her since season one, so I'm hoping for even more in season eight.  I imagine Dany will be thrilled to learn she is not the last Targaryen.  She has led a lonely existence and now she has the opportunity to have an actual family, provided she and Jon survive.  With this being the final season, too, I would think the actors themselves are in a much more emotional frame of mind and that might lend itself to their work.

[WindyNights]

5 hours ago, YaddaYadda said:

I would actually really like it if they let Dany show more emotions. She is so stoic, the writing needs to let her show emotion. I think she'd be emotional finding out that she's not the last of her line anymore. 

If it's the siege of the Red Keep, I hope Euron has double-crossed Cersei. And why wouldn't he? He would have used her coin to pay the Golden Company and kept them for himself to become king. Let those two have at it. It gives them both something to do. And I will root for a double death.

Why would the GC follow Euron? Cersei didn't give any gold to Euron. She used the Iron Bank to lay the GC. 

It's more likely that the trebuchet is in KL and being used against the White Walkers.

It's possible that the one defending KL isn't even Cersei but Daenerys and Jon.

[YaddaYadda]

5 hours ago, MarySNJ said:

Hmm... I like it. It's reminiscent of Aurane Waters stealing the fleet in ADWD, and that would be paying the "iron price", which is completely in character for Euron. 

Not gonna lie. I am a huge Aurane Waters fan, sly bastard that he is.

[MarySNJ]

54 minutes ago, WindyNights said:

Why would the GC follow Euron? Cersei didn't give any gold to Euron. She used the Iron Bank to lay the GC. 

 

I'm a little confused about this. Cersei says to Jaime:  "...No, we have something better [than allies]. We have the Iron Bank. You should have listened more when Father talked about the importance of gold... Highgarden bought us the most powerful army in Essos. The Golden Company..."  

I took that to mean she did send Euron with gold from Highgarden to pay the Golden Company. So, I'm not really sure what the IB is paying for. 

[WindyNights]

12 minutes ago, MarySNJ said:

I'm a little confused about this. Cersei says to Jaime:  "...No, we have something better [than allies]. We have the Iron Bank. You should have listened more when Father talked about the importance of gold... Highgarden bought us the most powerful army in Essos. The Golden Company..."  

I took that to mean she did send Euron with gold from Highgarden to pay the Golden Company. So, I'm not really sure what the IB is paying for. 

She used the money from Highgarden to pay off the Iron Throne's debts to the Iron Bank and is now using their credit to buy the Golden Company.

[SimoneS]

On 10/26/2017 at 11:06 AM, Eyes High said:

WOTW reports that a siege engine is present at the red/brown set being built in the Paint Hall parking lot, and points out that the trebuchet spotted is about 25 feet high. The best guess at this point, given the colours of the set, seems to be a siege of the Red Keep. More info here.

This convinces me more than ever that Jon and Dany will take on the NK first and then head to the Red Keep to deal with Cersei. I just hope that this battle isn't in the final episode or doesn't suck up most of it.

I still think that Cersei will use the wildfire when she realizes that she is about to be defeated. I think that somehow Dany will use her "unburnt" power at some point, maybe this is it.

Edited October 27, 2017 by SimoneS

[Chiny11]

1 hour ago, SimoneS said:

This convinces me more than ever that Jon and Dany will take on the NK first and then head to the Red Keep to deal with Cersei. I just hope that this battle isn't in the final episode or doesn't suck up most of it.

I still think that Cersei will use the wildfire when she realizes that she is about to be defeated. I think that somehow Dany will use her "unburnt" power at some point, maybe this is it.

I think your prediction could happen.  But my goodness that would be such a let down.

So after all these years of gearing up to face the "final big bad," in an epic battle, the big bad ends up being Cersei and not the Night King? Yikes! :(

[screamin]

2 hours ago, Chiny11 said:

I think your prediction could happen.  But my goodness that would be such a let down.

So after all these years of gearing up to face the "final big bad," in an epic battle, the big bad ends up being Cersei and not the Night King? Yikes! :(

I agree it would be a horrid anticlimax. Dany and the dragons are needed to fight the Others and the dead in the North - that is the natural high point of the series. IMO, Cersei will probably overreach herself by using the Golden Company to try and attack the North and Dany's supply lines while she's retaking territory Dany captured. Jaime and Tyrion will realize she's too dangerous to ignore and may go to deal with her as their family responsibility, while Dany takes care of the important battle against the others. Besides,  Cersei so firmly believes that Dany is the YMBQ that will defeat her that I honestly think it would be lame if Cersei turned out to be right.

Edited October 28, 2017 by screamin

[MadMouse]

Humanity at it's worst has always been the main villain of the series, butchering each other while a threat to everyone is ignored. It makes sense that after all these people set aside their mutual hatred/distrust and fought a common enemy that the last villain would be someone who couldn't see past their own selfish desires.

[herbz]

Would they need a trebuchet to siege King's Landing if Team Winterfell/Dragonstone has dragons? Unless they've all died by this point...

Perhaps the NK does make it as far as the capital and this is part of their defence. 

I don't mind Cersei being the final villain. The warring between factions was always as destructive as the icy walking dead in this series. But as much as I love Lena Headey, I don't want the finale to be a prolonged Emmy reel entitled 'Cersei vs the world'. Though perhaps this isn't for the very last conflict- aren't D&D directing the final episode? You'd think they'd leave giant trebuchets and burning whole castles to Sapochnik. 

Edited October 28, 2017 by herbz

[SimoneS]

9 hours ago, herbz said:

Would they need a trebuchet to siege King's Landing if Team Winterfell/Dragonstone has dragons? Unless they've all died by this point...

I wouldn't be surprised if Rhaegal is killed. Drogon could be hurt or dead or maybe Dany is protecting him from the ballistas that Qyburn made for Cersei. It could also be they are continuing the theme of Dany being reluctant to use the dragons where civilians can be harmed.

Edited October 28, 2017 by SimoneS

[YaddaYadda]

I imagine the news that Jon is Rhaegar's son and the legitimate heir will hit King's Landing and other places at some point. The things that Cersei tried to use against Dany last season, she can't use against Jon. He grew up in Westeros, his father wasn't the Mad King but a prince people loved, he was raised by the man who was deemed the most honorable in the 7Ks, he is doing his damnest to try and save the realm alongside Dany while Cersei is stirring trouble. If the writers are logical (which they're usually aren't), Cersei should have no one to turn to when all is said and done, and maybe the people decide to grow a pair and rise up against her. 

In a twist no one will see, Cersei will ally with Robett Glover, because he's a traitor and in his case, words are truly wind. 

The last part is obviously a joke.

[Eyes High]

5 hours ago, herbz said:

I don't mind Cersei being the final villain. The warring between factions was always as destructive as the icy walking dead in this series. But as much as I love Lena Headey, I don't want the finale to be a prolonged Emmy reel entitled 'Cersei vs the world'. Though perhaps this isn't for the very last conflict- aren't D&D directing the final episode? You'd think they'd leave giant trebuchets and burning whole castles to Sapochnik. 

Yes, the fact that D&D are directing the finale leads me to think that there won't be any big battles in the last episodes. It could be that the big KL battle is in 8x05 and the final reckoning with a defeated Cersei is in 8x06 (like maybe she manages to escape somehow and Team Jon/Dany has to track her down or whatever), though.

I agree with you that I don't want the finale to be this Cersei-centric last-ditch bid for an Emmy for Lena Headey. 

[SimoneS]

I am usually dismissive of the prophecies, but I wouldn't be surprised if Jaime does kill Cersei to try to stop her from burning down King's Landing. Some people are always going on about the Targaryen madness and that Dany is or could be a mad queen, but the show ready has one in Cersei. If she miscarries and then realizes that she is about to be defeated, she will lose what is left of her mind and attempt to burn it all down.

Edited October 29, 2017 by SimoneS

[WindyNights]

17 hours ago, screamin said:

I agree it would be a horrid anticlimax. Dany and the dragons are needed to fight the Others and the dead in the North - that is the natural high point of the series. IMO, Cersei will probably overreach herself by using the Golden Company to try and attack the North and Dany's supply lines while she's retaking territory Dany captured. Jaime and Tyrion will realize she's too dangerous to ignore and may go to deal with her as their family responsibility, while Dany takes care of the important battle against the others. Besides,  Cersei so firmly believes that Dany is the YMBQ that will defeat her that I honestly think it would be lame if Cersei turned out to be right.

Bingo! This is closer to what GRRM would write than Jon & Daenerys go beat Cersei. 

Jaime kills Cersei because she won't stop directing the GC at Daeneys' forces (and then Gregor kills Jaime).

GRRM has positioned the Lannisters to self destruct. 

[FemmyV]

On 10/14/2017 at 10:40 AM, Advance35 said:

I already hate that no evil doers are going to be alive at the end of all this.  Or even the more ambiguous characters.

Is this your prediction, or is it based on something that came from GRRM's or B and B's mouths?

Edited October 28, 2017 by FemmyV

[herbz]

16 hours ago, SimoneS said:

I am usually dismissive of the prophecies, but I wouldn't be surprised if Jaime does kill Cersei to try to stop her from burning down King's Landing. Some people are always going on about the Targaryen madness and that Dany is or could be a mad queen, but the show ready has one in Cersei. Is she miscarries and then realizes that she is about to be defeated, she will lose what is left of her mind and attempt to burn it all down.

I'm still on the 'Jaime isn't the valonqar' train, but this is pretty much the only scenario I could see it happening. Of course, it would probably have more impact had the show not massacred Jaime's characterisation even more than S4-6 already did by not having him react in abject horror (or at least exploring in more depth that he didn't really have anywhere else to go at the time) to Cersei using wildfire when the defining point of his entire bloody life was stopping the Mad King. D&D are really surface level readers, and there are several major characters that I feel they just don't get the essence of well beyond necessary adaptational simplifications and changes. Arya's one, Jaime's another. As a result I wonder if several of the big moments we're expecting in S8 might just feel a bit...empty. 

Edited October 29, 2017 by herbz

[Advance35]

Quote

Is this your prediction, or is it based on something that came from GRRM's or B and B's mouths?

Pure prediction.  I found Season 7 to be pretty by the numbers and I think a big part of what was missing was the human element.  The Paragons of Good are Jon and Dany, and all those who get in line behind them, if your not Team Dany/Jon you simmer with evil and ill-intent.  It's just all getting tic tack toe simple.

[OhOkayWhat]

7 hours ago, herbz said:

D&D are really surface level readers, and there are several major characters that I feel they just don't get the essence of well beyond necessary adaptational simplifications and changes. Arya's one, Jaime's another.

The show-characters are not proof of the D&D reader capabilities because a simple reason: they are different characters than their book counterparts, from the very beginning.

[herbz]

58 minutes ago, OhOkayWhat said:

The show-characters are not proof of the D&D reader capabilities because a simple reason: they are different characters than their book counterparts, from the very beginning.

Eh, I don't know that I agree with that. I'd say most (but not all) of the main characters were adapted fairly faithfully from S1-3 and then some went off the rails- it's not so much that characters are not consistent with their book selves, but they're often not consistent with their show selves either and largely for nonsensical plot reasons. I'm basing my comments on D&D's readings of certain characters from things they have personally said about what they've got from the books that I completely disagree with. 

[Blonde Gator]

32 minutes ago, herbz said:

Eh, I don't know that I agree with that. I'd say most (but not all) of the main characters were adapted fairly faithfully from S1-3 and then some went off the rails- it's not so much that characters are not consistent with their book selves, but they're often not consistent with their show selves either and largely for nonsensical plot reasons. I'm basing my comments on D&D's readings of certain characters from things they have personally said about what they've got from the books that I completely disagree with. 

Agree.  The first season was absolutely faithful to GOT.  Then in subsequent seasons, they began to combine characters or change them for simplicity (Yara = Asha or Talisa = Jeyne Westerling).  Then we got into  total off book and strange character arcs (Sansa ending up as the bride of Bolton) and so forth.  A big part of it, I think, is that certain actors were just so fantastic and such fan favorites that the show runners took that into account, white washing Tyrion, for instance.  Oberon was spectacular, and they wanted more Indira Varmi, leading us to the Dornish Disaster.  No fAegon, Quentin, and Doran Martell was the poorest use of a great actor and potentially great character.  Instead we got "bad pussy".  Ugh.

Book Cersei went nuts much faster, they've made Lena Hedy's Cersei far more intelligent and dangerous.  D&D are in love with her, although franky, Lena's over-emoting, "enemies in the East-tah, enemies in the west-tah", is driving me to the point I wish they'd kill the bitch already.

I'm in the camp of wanting to see more of the character interactions and less of the big battle scenes next season.  We don't need BoB V.2.0, nor Hardhome, again, etc.  We've been there, done that.  Show us the aftermath, and spend the time on the characters and the effects of these battles on our favorites.  I want to see more wolf scenes.  I'm not sure we will, though, as it seems D&D decided long ago that the wolves were not an integral part of the Stark stories.  Sad.

The more I think about it, the more I think that hardly anyone is going to get out alive.  Bran will end up as THE key character, but the toll on him will be awful....maybe even the new Night King, in purgatory for the next 10,000 years, in order to save humanity.  I just don't see where the "sweet" is supposed to be. 

[OhOkayWhat]

2 hours ago, herbz said:

Eh, I don't know that I agree with that. I'd say most (but not all) of the main characters were adapted fairly faithfully from S1-3 and then some went off the rails- it's not so much that characters are not consistent with their book selves, but they're often not consistent with their show selves either and largely for nonsensical plot reasons. I'm basing my comments on D&D's readings of certain characters from things they have personally said about what they've got from the books that I completely disagree with. 

They cannot be the same characters because they belong to another Planetos from the very beginning. Think about it like a comics multiverse: certain elements are exactly the same, some others are not.

And I find it hard to find a show character who is not consistent with their own show self. You mentioned before Arya and Show!Arya story is very consistent.

[SeanC]

On 10/28/2017 at 0:04 AM, screamin said:

Besides, Cersei so firmly believes that Dany is the YMBQ that will defeat her that I honestly think it would be lame if Cersei turned out to be right.

Cersei only came to think that when Dany showed up, though, quite late in the series' run.  The YMBQ isn't the likely "surprise" reveal at the very end, that's the identity of the valonqar.

[Eyes High]

On 10/29/2017 at 3:56 PM, Blonde Gator said:

Book Cersei went nuts much faster, they've made Lena Hedy's Cersei far more intelligent and dangerous.  D&D are in love with her, although franky, Lena's over-emoting, "enemies in the East-tah, enemies in the west-tah", is driving me to the point I wish they'd kill the bitch already.

Eh, Lena Headey's one of the few remaining actresses on the show who can act worth a damn in my opinion. I don't blame D&D for capitalizing on it, although as I've said Cersei's kind of eaten the show.

 

Quote

I want to see more wolf scenes.  I'm not sure we will, though, as it seems D&D decided long ago that the wolves were not an integral part of the Stark stories.  Sad.

The wolves are prohibitively expensive to film and animate with CGI, and I'd rather have fewer wolf scenes with good CGI than multiple wolf scenes with shitty CGI. I've seen enough shitty CGI wolves to last a lifetime.

 

Quote

The more I think about it, the more I think that hardly anyone is going to get out alive.  Bran will end up as THE key character, but the toll on him will be awful....maybe even the new Night King, in purgatory for the next 10,000 years, in order to save humanity.  I just don't see where the "sweet" is supposed to be. 

Nah. GRRM said the ending will be "as bittersweet as it is happy."

[SeanC]

On 10/29/2017 at 4:56 PM, Blonde Gator said:

The more I think about it, the more I think that hardly anyone is going to get out alive.  Bran will end up as THE key character, but the toll on him will be awful....maybe even the new Night King, in purgatory for the next 10,000 years, in order to save humanity.  I just don't see where the "sweet" is supposed to be. 

I don't really understand the speculation that some make that there "needs" to be a new Night King.  The Night King in the show is quite explicitly shown to just be some dude that the Children of the Forest turned into a convenient weapon that then got out of control.  He's not some sort of ordained part of the Westerosi cosmic order that needs to exist to maintain balance or whatever.

[Blonde Gator]

2 hours ago, SeanC said:

I don't really understand the speculation that some make that there "needs" to be a new Night King.  The Night King in the show is quite explicitly shown to just be some dude that the Children of the Forest turned into a convenient weapon that then got out of control.  He's not some sort of ordained part of the Westerosi cosmic order that needs to exist to maintain balance or whatever.

I don't see how else you end up with a "God's Head" type figure without the NK....and the universe must stay in balance.   Whether Bran ends up as the Night's King or buried under a tree as an adjunct to the COTF remains to be seen.  But for sure he'll never be Bran Stark again. 

Something about which only book readers are really aware, although it's been given passing mention on the show, is the importance of the "Crypts of Winterfell".  I don't think we'll get a clue in Season 8, but (IF) the books will certainly expand upon this topic as the story moves to the North and Westeros collapses in on itself in the face of the new Long Night, we'll finally find out the significance of the Crypts.    I think there's something lurking down there.

I'm really hoping we get more in Season 8 on the COTF, and I'll be disappointed if we don't get a bit of back story on exactly WHAT Howland Reed has been doing for all of these years.  I believe there's still a conclave of COTF on the God's Eye....and Howland is all in with them.  How this plays out (if it does) might be kind of shocking.  Also, Arya left the HoBW.....but the Faceless Men surely have a part to play in the War to Come.  GRRM took so much time and energy with their story line, and Pate still sits at the Citadel.   I believe the FM are tied into the Lord of Light somehow.  As I said, there must be balance in the universe, and the Red Preist/esses are always ranting about the Great Other.  So if the NK is vanquished, does that mean the Great Other is as well?  And if not (as I suspect), the NK is the physical manifestation of the Great Other........beaten but not gone.  IOW......languishing in the Land of Always Winter for the next tens of thousands of years.  But still there.

[SeanC]

23 minutes ago, Blonde Gator said:

I'm really hoping we get more in Season 8 on the COTF, and I'll be disappointed if we don't get a bit of back story on exactly WHAT Howland Reed has been doing for all of these years.  I believe there's still a conclave of COTF on the God's Eye....and Howland is all in with them.  How this plays out (if it does) might be kind of shocking.  Also, Arya left the HoBW.....but the Faceless Men surely have a part to play in the War to Come.  GRRM took so much time and energy with their story line, and Pate still sits at the Citadel.   I believe the FM are tied into the Lord of Light somehow.  As I said, there must be balance in the universe, and the Red Preist/esses are always ranting about the Great Other.  So if the NK is vanquished, does that mean the Great Other is as well?  And if not (as I suspect), the NK is the physical manifestation of the Great Other........beaten but not gone.  IOW......languishing in the Land of Always Winter for the next tens of thousands of years.  But still there.

Why would the Faceless Men be tied to the Lord of Light?  They have completely different philosophies, and the Faceless Men are essentially a sort of pantheist organization.

The Night King in the show is totally different from the Night King in the books, who is just a human seduced by the Others, not their leader/progenitor.

As far as The Great Other goes, GRRM has talked about his desire to leave the gods, etc. ambiguous, so I don't think the endgame of the series will revolve around that.

[Blonde Gator]

The COTF and FM go back to the caves and slaves old Valyria.  The theory is that the FM "give the gift" to add to the God of Death's hive mind existence, just as the children believe that the dead go into the trees, and become part of the Old God's collective.  The FM are an offshoot of the Old Gods, via the CoTF, millenia ago.  The Many Faced God is really only one God (whose name is Death), but has many aspects, or faces. 

Just because show/book NK are different....doesn't mean the aspect of their character is different.  The NK's are both the manifestation of the opposing force (Great Other) on Earth.  I agree, GRRM will never clearly explain the Gods.  That is not for human knowing.  But I believe we'll get some inferences.

[SeanC]

The COTF don't ever seem to have been a thing in Essos, and the Faceless Men greatly postdate the period where the COTF were still around.

[Blonde Gator]

1 minute ago, SeanC said:

The COTF don't ever seem to have been a thing in Essos, and the Faceless Men greatly postdate the period where the COTF were still around.

You have to read more than just GOT, the whole rest of GRRM's planetos is involved.

[SeanC]

31 minutes ago, Blonde Gator said:

You have to read more than just GOT, the whole rest of GRRM's planetos is involved.

I have read it all, and while we know that the Long Night covered the whole of the known world, the COTF were a Westerosi-specific thing.

[Eyes High]

Cast sightings from yesterday:

1. Alfie Allen spotted leaving Belfast, en route to Heathrow.

2. Maisie Williams spotted at Fitzwilliam Hotel in Belfast. (Today, Maisie was spotted in London.)

3. Liam Cunningham and Kristofer Hivju spotted in Belfast.

I believe Spain filming was supposed to start this week, but since the start of Belfast filming was bumped by about a week, I doubt we'll see any Spain filming action this week.

Miguel Sapochnik has been tapped to direct Tom Hanks' film BIOS, which is supposedly shooting in the first quarter of 2018, so between that commitment and two (maybe three?) episodes of GOT, he's likely going to be a very busy guy for the foreseeable future.

Edited November 1, 2017 by Eyes High

[SeanC]

8 hours ago, Eyes High said:

1. Alfie Allen spotted leaving Belfast, en route to Heathrow.

How Theon’s sideplot is executed will be interesting to see.  He doesn’t have any other real characters with him at the moment.

[SimoneS]

On 11/1/2017 at 5:54 PM, SeanC said:

How Theon’s sideplot is executed will be interesting to see.  He doesn’t have any other real characters with him at the moment.

Theon has felt tacked on since last season. I now think that his plot is continuing because it has a critical role to end the story, but there has been difficult for the show to portray his story in a cohesive or interesting way.

[TarotQueen]

nm ... need source ...

 

Edited November 5, 2017 by TarotQueen

[YaddaYadda]

10 hours ago, SimoneS said:

Theon has felt tacked on since last season. I now think that his plot is continuing because it has a critical role to end the story, but there has been difficult for the show to portray his story in a cohesive or interesting way.

almost everything was in a holding pattern last season. Theon's story was pretty crappy, Tyrion was just there, the Winterfell plot was a nightmare...

Theon is an expert bowman and since he is nowhere near as maimed as his book counterpart, I wonder if they won't put a company of archers under his command (the Dothraki will be useful in that). Archers will be needed for this battle against the NK. Anything else, I think, will be suicide.

[FemmyV]

2 hours ago, YaddaYadda said:

Theon is an expert bowman and since he is nowhere near as maimed as his book counterpart, I wonder if they won't put a company of archers under his command (the Dothraki will be useful in that). Archers will be needed for this battle against the NK. Anything else, I think, will be suicide.

Seems that there must be some use for Theon, or he'd have been a goner long before now. That spec is as good as any I've seen.

[GreyBunny]

On 10/31/2017 at 0:18 PM, Blonde Gator said:

I don't really understand the speculation that some make that there "needs" to be a new Night King.  The Night King in the show is quite explicitly shown to just be some dude that the Children of the Forest turned into a convenient weapon that then got out of control.  He's not some sort of ordained part of the Westerosi cosmic order that needs to exist to maintain balance or whatever.

I agree.  Something happened millennia ago that threw the world out of whack (seasons being years long, etc),  and along with that the Others were created as a weapon.  With the new Long Night and the new War for the Dawn, the world will be put back to rights and the Others (and probably other magical creatures) will be gone for good.   I don't see Bran becoming an Other in any capacity.

[MrsR]

Jason Momoa was on the Graham Norton show yesterday. He had just flown in from BELFAST.

 

They showed a picture of him with Emilia.

Edited November 11, 2017 by MrsR

[SeanC]

On 11/11/2017 at 1:25 AM, MrsR said:

Jason Momoa was on the Graham Norton show yesterday. He had just flown in from BELFAST.

They showed a picture of him with Emilia.

They've Instagram'd about that.  He was just visiting while on the Justice League world press tour.

[YaddaYadda]

Quick question: Was the creation of the Others an "oh, shit!" moment or is that a show thing alone?

[SeanC]

3 hours ago, YaddaYadda said:

Quick question: Was the creation of the Others an "oh, shit!" moment or is that a show thing alone?

It's not one of the three big moments they mentioned (those were Shireen, Hodor, and some unspecified development toward the very end).  That doesn't necessarily mean it's show-only, though I know a lot of fans have raised issues with how the show's version fits with things in the books and some of GRRM's past comments about the Others, so it may well be their own invention.  They've certainly changed things about the White Walkers for the show in other areas.

After the initial flurry of shots of castmembers arriving in Belfast, news has sure dried up.

Edited November 16, 2017 by SeanC

[SimoneS]

Watcher's on the Wall has some new set photos (better than nothing): http://watchersonthewall.com/exclusive-game-of-thrones-season-8-spoilers-new-set-photos-unsullied-scene/#more-156719

I just realized that they do have some minor spoilers. According their source, the Unsullied now have dragonglass-tipped spears.

Edited November 20, 2017 by SimoneS