Season 8: Speculation and Spoilers Discussion

[GraceK]

15 minutes ago, cambridgeguy said:

The miracle is that Yara isn't a broken shell of her former self given that Euron is basically Ramsey 2.0.  You'd think he'd have her tortured constantly, possibly chop off a few body parts, et.

Yara is made of tougher stuff.

[Happy Harpy]

9 minutes ago, GraceK said:

Yara is made of tougher stuff.

She's so badass and I love her so much. Knowing she filmed in Seville and probably survives was a bright spot for me in the off-season long night.

[glowbug]

Burning the Tarleys is a stupid reason for anyone but Sam to use against Dany. I disagree that she burned them for not bending the knee. They along with all the other lords of the Reach betrayed House Tyrell and Dany by extension. Not to mention that they killed her people in battle and stole her resources. Dany didn’t kill the Tarleys because they refused to bend the knee. She simply didn’t forgive them for their crimes (IMO understandably) because they didn’t bend the knee. The other lords also should have been put to death (or offered the wall) by default because they were traitors. She offered them forgiveness for their crimes if they bent the knee, which they accepted when they saw she was serious.

Please tell me a character in this story who would have spared the lives of the characters who fought against them, refused to submit to them, apologize, and ask for forgiveness after losing, and also refused the Wall. If the Umber and Karstark children had not asked for forgiveness for their parents, and insisted they were right to side with the Boltons and refused to bend the knee to Jon, people would be saying what an idiot Jon was for letting them live, and those children didn’t even fight with the Boltons because they were too young. People called Jon an idiot and a softy for not stripping them of their lands even when they did pledge loyalty to him, and asked for forgiveness. 

And dragon fire would kill instantly. It’s no more cruel than beheading, and maybe even less cruel because it’s a certain instant death, unlike beheading, which can take more than one swing if the executioner doesn’t aim correctly or the sword is too dull. It’s certainly a quicker death than hanging. Being blasted full on by dragon fire is not the same as being burned at the stake, which is a prolonged death because the fire is weaker and isn’t blasted right at the person.

Sam can hardly be expected to be objective so I don’t have an issue with him not agreeing with his family’s deaths, particularly his brother’s death. But anyone else faulting Dany for killing the Tarleys are a bunch of hypocrites that are holding her to a different standard than they do themselves and others.* The northerners rejecting her because they want independence would be understandable if there wasn’t a huge army of the dead marching across their territory, and if Dany had not brought a giant army and two dragons to fight with and for them after saving the life of their chosen king. Luckily this can’t last more than two episodes because by the third episode they’re all fighting side by side against the AotD. I hope Sam is able to put this behind him as well, and based on John Bradley’s interviews I think he does before the end. 

*Just to be clear, I mean any character in the show. I’m not calling any viewers or posters on here hypocrites. 

Edited April 10, 2019 by glowbug

[GrailKing]

[SimoneS]

Based on the freefolk comments, Friki has no spoilers just his speculation.

[BadAssRobinArryn]

2 minutes ago, SimoneS said:

Based on the freefolk comments, Friki has no spoilers just his speculation.

They also posted this on Freefolk, though:  

"PS: he suggests his followers to join him on a live stream right after 801 has aired so we can talk impressions and what did we think about his prophetic dreams." 

And that there won't be an Iron Thron at the end of GoT anymore.

Edited April 10, 2019 by BadAssRobinArryn

[Stella]

2 hours ago, glowbug said:

And dragon fire would kill instantly. It’s no more cruel than beheading, and maybe even less cruel because it’s a certain instant death,

I don't think that is correct. Look at this picture - those guys are stumbling around as they burn to death. I agree that all these methods of execution are cruel but the show has well established that death by fire is the worst kind of death.

[glowbug]

25 minutes ago, Stella said:

I don't think that is correct. Look at this picture - those guys are stumbling around as they burn to death. I agree that all these methods of execution are cruel but the show has well established that death by fire is the worst kind of death.

I know what they showed on the show but that’s not how a fireball would actually work. A direct hit with that much fire would be an instantaneous death. A person’s organs, including their brain, would be toast. The show has established that the characters on the show think death by fire is the worst kind of death, and I would agree being burned at the stake (along with mauled by dogs and crucifixion—and I don’t care about the instances when these were used because Ramsey and the child murdering slave owners deserved what they got) is the worst death on the show that I can think of, but death by a direct hit with dragon fire is more along the lines of beheading and hanging in terms of pain and length of time it takes to die. I agree they’re all bad. I’m against the death penalty in the real world but this is a fictional show which takes place in a fictional world which is based on fictional ideas about a historical time period so I choose to judge them differently than I would real world leaders. 

Edited April 10, 2019 by glowbug

[Morrigan2575]

1 hour ago, BadAssRobinArryn said:

And that there won't be an Iron Thron at the end of GoT anymore.

I thought that was a distinct possibility since Dany's vision in S2. That King's Landing and Iron Throne would be destroyed. 

It could have also been metaphorical, that Dany would come very close to retaking the throne but, something would prevent it. 

Just watched the scene on YouTube and if that vision was prophetic it does not bother well for Dany

Edited April 10, 2019 by Morrigan2575

[shireenbamfatheon]

 

 

1

2 hours ago, glowbug said:

Burning the Tarleys is a stupid reason for anyone but Sam to use against Dany. I disagree that she burned them for not bending the knee. They along with all the other lords of the Reach betrayed House Tyrell and Dany by extension. Not to mention that they killed her people in battle and stole her resources. Dany didn’t kill the Tarleys because they refused to bend the knee. She simply didn’t forgive them for their crimes (IMO understandably) because they didn’t bend the knee. The other lords also should have been put to death (or offered the wall) by default because they were traitors. She offered them forgiveness for their crimes if they bent the knee, which they accepted when they saw she was serious.

This comes up all the time on here but Dany doesn't care about any of her allies' pasts. If she was really that concerned about her allies' moral compasses, she wouldn't have allied herself with Ellaria and the Sand Snakes, women who murdered two innocent children in cold blood, one of them their own relative and the other her own friend's/Hand's niece, and then betrayed, murdered and usurped the rightful ruler of Dorne because he prioritized the safety of his own people's being over vengeance. Nor would she have allied herself with someone like Yara, who almost won the Kingsmoot by promising her people that they'd return to the Old Ways where they had fun pillaging, raping and killing innocent people. And Tyrion well knows that the Ironborn, including Yara, were raiding and raping Northerners just because they could and that Theon killed two little boys to maintain his hold on Winterfell.

Dany looked past all that for the promise of alliances. The woman who crucified random people for killing children allied herself with remorseless child killers because it benefited her in her quest for power. Emilia Clarke's recent nytimes interview is actually pretty interesting because she flat-out admits that Dany is power-hungry. And that's why it's hilarious that people want to paint the Northerners as petty short-sighted morons when they have legitimate reasons to be wary.
 

 

 

 

Quote

“There’s definitely a few Targaryen moments that she’s had, for want of a better word,” Clarke says slyly, alluding to the fact that Daenerys’s father, the Mad King, was a demented and sadistic ruler.

“The Targaryen in her — the bad leadership decisions — make her sometimes go: ‘I’ve got to have this power. I don’t care who I’m controlling or what I have to do to get it, because it’s intoxicating.’”

[Minneapple]

34 minutes ago, glowbug said:

I know what they showed on the show but that’s not how a fireball would actually work. A direct hit with that much fire would be an instantaneous death. A person’s organs, including their brain, would be toast. The show has established that the characters on the show think death by fire is the worst kind of death

If it's been established on the show, then that's all that matters for the purpose of this specific discussion.

I wouldn't be surprised if there wasn't an Iron Throne at the end of the show anymore. It would be interesting if the Iron Throne is destroyed on purpose or because it gets destroyed in a battle or something. We have heard about the ruins or remains of King's Landing -- however that comes about, it may be the event that causes the destruction of the Iron Throne. But honestly it may be more interesting if the IT is destroyed on purpose.

Edited April 10, 2019 by Minneapple

[Eyes High]

New EW.com interview with Peter Dinklage (the first GOT-related Dinklage interview since 2018, I believe). A few tidbits:

1. Dinklage correctly guessed Tyrion's endgame before reading the S8 scripts: "I had all these ideas in my head and a version of one of them is how it ends up [for Tyrion]. David and Dan have a brilliant version of what I had."

[I think Peter Dinklage previously alluded to D&D giving him hints about Tyrion's endgame, so there's that to consider.]

2. About that ending: "If I use any adjectives it will give it away. But I love how it ended up. And how it ends up for everybody. They had a beautiful gentle touch with some and a hard touch with others.”

3. And about the "good guys living": “We’re so used to the standard formula of bad guys dying and good guys living…What David and Dan have done with all this is beautiful, painful, and lovely. It takes the show somewhere that’s dangerous and contemporary with what’s going on in the world.” [Bearing in mind Peter Dinklage referred Tyrion as a "good guy" in that The Cast Remembers video.]

[I have no idea what "contemporary" means in this context.]

4. Hibberd says that Tyrion will be caught up in the Dany/Sansa dispute: "He not only has to continue to act as her advisor but try to smooth over any rockiness between his queen and the Lady of Winterfell Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner), who also happens to be Tyrion’s ex-wife."

5. On Tyrion's issues in S8: "He knows she’s going to make the world a better place yet he also understands her passion. He’s put his passion in front of himself sometimes and it got the better of him. He’s trying to figure out who he really is in this storm of negotiations. And where we left off is with the biggest threat of all, the [Army of the Dead], for somebody like Tyrion he’s not going to be able to negotiate with them. He’s not a fighter. He can’t talk them into peace.”

6. About Tyrion/Sansa: “I love those two characters when they’re together. [...] There’s something so sensitive about their relationship. For something so horrible and arranged there was a goodness to it and mutual affection in horrible circumstances. It was a marriage as a treaty, as a lot of those arranged marriages were. Though you hear of arranged marriages now working out. If it was given a chance maybe it would have.”

It's similar to his comments in the character recap video, comparing Sansa and Tyrion's affection for each other to a flower growing out of a dirty sidewalk:

Quote

They really have love for each other. Not the romantic, Prince Charming kind of love, but a real fondness for each other and a kindness towards each other. But something lovely comes out of that. It's like a flower growing out of a dirty sidewalk.

Funny, but I don't recall Dinklage being nearly as flowery or enthusiastic about Tyrion and Sansa's relationship back when S3/S4 aired as he's being now, although when talking about Tyrion and Sansa's affection for each other in the new interview, he's using the past tense, so maybe they no longer have those warm feelings.

Maybe there's some sort of Tyrion/Sansa antagonistic relationship in S8, and that's why he's so warm and fuzzy about their previous marriage...? On the other hand, he didn't actually say anything about how they interact in S8, just talked about their previous relationship. We don't know much about the tone of their one 8x01 scene, but Sansa does apparently leave Tyrion with a pretty good burn in their scene together in 8x01 ("I thought you were the cleverest man I'd ever met," or similar, according to Mr_Freeload). Still, as with Gendry/Arya, the fact that they even had a scene together at all in 8x01 when so many characters with previous relationships didn't points to something important about their dynamic in S8. 

There's nothing about Tyrion's unrequited love for Dany, which came up the last time he did an interview with EW in the fall of 2018 (as well as during pre-S7 interviews). Too spoilery, or a dropped plot thread? No whiff of a Tyrion betrayal, either, unlike the bit from the bigger EW article where Hibberd said that Tyrion's loyalty to Dany could be tested if she moved against Cersei.

Edited April 10, 2019 by Eyes High

[Morrigan2575]

I'm sadly convinced that Cersi doesn't get what's coming to her 😕😡

[Stella]

2 hours ago, glowbug said:

I know what they showed on the show but that’s not how a fireball would actually work.

 I seriously think we have to go by what we see on the screen. If dragon fire was meant to be as you imagine then it would have been visually portrayed but is wasn't. We've repeatedly seen death by fire and it's always horrific, whether it's Dany and her dragons, Stannis and Melisandre, or wild fire etc. In interviews GRRM describes the dragons as nuclear weapons and I believe Season 8 is going to fully look at the threat from Ice and Fire. Not just Ice vs. Fire.

[glowbug]

1 hour ago, Minneapple said:

If it's been established on the show, then that's all that matters for the purpose of this specific discussion.

The Tarleys die pretty quickly, more quickly than the members of the Night’s Watch who were hung, if you watch the actual scene. The picture posted above was of another scene and I’m not sure we know if those men flailing around were blasted straight on the way the Tarleys were. So even based on what was shown in the show I don’t think the method was cruel. If you listen to Varys describe witnessing Aerys burn people alive he talks about them screaming for mercy as the flames slowly engulf them. That isn’t what happened with the Tarleys. They were dead before they could even beg for mercy. Likening Dany’s use of fire to her father’s is not a fair comparison. Part of the reason burning someone alive is so awful is that it’s incredibly slow and painful. I just don’t think the criticism of Dany (in universe) is at all rational in terms of the method she uses or that she killed them at all. 

As for the northerners wanting independence, as I said, it’s the context that make them look like “short sighted morons”. If they weren’t facing the AotD and weren’t badly in need of dragons and warriors then their concerns would be understandable. I get the desire for independence but not when that’s not really what they want. They do want Dany’s armies and dragons to help them fight. They don’t want to independently fight the dead. They’re not saying “All we want is to be left alone. Take your armies and go away southern Queen.” They want her to stay and fight with them. They should want Lannister forces to fight with them as well. Sansa’s point about Cersei’s deceitfulness is completely valid (especially since she’s 100% right) but not wanting Lannisters to help them fight the dead because they’re Lannisters is short sighted and moronic. 

[SimoneS]

I am all for the North having their "independence." They can fight the NK and his army independently and all die independently, then Dany and her dragons and armies can defeat the remaining wights and Cersei. It will be so much easier it will be for her to rule Westeros afterward.

[cambridgeguy]

25 minutes ago, glowbug said:

I just don’t think the criticism of Dany (in universe) is at all rational in terms of the method she uses or that she killed them at all. 

One thing that's true in both the fantasy world and the real world is that many will not let the truth get in the way of their narrative.  It is a fact that Dany ordered Drogon to burn Randyll and Dickon alive.  Was it justified?  Is it more merciful than hanging or beheading?  That's besides the point - anyone who was anti-Targeryan to begin with will point to this as more proof that the Mad King lives again in his daughter.  Anyone who was on the fence is more likely to land on the opposite side of her.  Should Dany have to deal with a bunch of people who don't give her a fair shake?  Again, that's irrelevant because she doesn't get to pick and choose who's in charge and how open minded they'll be about her unless she really is willing to go scorched earth, kill anyone who gives her the stink eye, and replace them with new leaders.

[Minneapple]

15 minutes ago, SimoneS said:

I am all for the North having their "independence." They can fight the NK and his army independently and all die independently, then Dany and her dragons and armies can defeat the remaining wights and Cersei. It will be so much easier it will be for her to rule Westeros afterward.

Then there would be no one left to rule. Except maybe the Unsullied and Dothraki. I dunno, your scenario makes Dany sound an awful lot like Cersei.

And I don't think Dany would do that to the Northerners. She did agree to help before Jon bent the knee after all. She just needed to see the threat was real and how dangerous it actually is.

[SimoneS]

1 minute ago, Minneapple said:

Then there would be no one left to rule. Except maybe the Unsullied and Dothraki. 

Actually, there will be thousands of the people in the Vale, Riverlands, KL, the Iron Islands, etc. who still be alive and part of the Seven Kingdoms. Hell, no one would probably even notice the Northerners were gone.

1 minute ago, Minneapple said:

T dunno, your scenario makes Dany sound an awful lot like Cersei.

So letting the North have its way and be independent is evil? Guess they don't love all that independence as they are slaughtered by the NK.

1 minute ago, Minneapple said:

And I don't think Dany would do that to the Northerners. She did agree to help before Jon bent the knee after all. She just needed to see the threat was real and how dangerous it actually is.

Ah, so now suddenly Dany is honorable and should keep her word to fight for the North even though the North insists that it should be independent. She should sacrifice the people who have sworn oaths to her and whose lives she is to protect to save people who hate her and want her gone. Oy vey! My head is spinning at the hypocrisy and insanity of those people. Oh well, most of them will be dead by the end of the show so there that is a problem that solves itself.

[Minneapple]

7 minutes ago, SimoneS said:

Actually, there will be thousands of the people in the Vale, Riverlands, KL, the Iron Islands, etc. who still be alive and part of the Seven Kingdoms. Hell, no one would probably even notice the Northerners were gone.

If the North doesn't hold, then the Army of the Dead will sweep south toward King's Landing. 

So letting the North have its way and be independent is evil? Guess they don't love all that independence as they are slaughtered by the NK.

Ah, so now suddenly Dany is honorable and should keep her word to fight for the North even though the North insists that it should be independent. She should sacrifice the people who have sworn oaths to her and whose lives she is to protect to save people who hate her and want her gone. Oy vey! My head is spinning at the hypocrisy and insanity of those people. Oh well, most of them will be dead by the end of the show so there that is a problem that solves itself.

Dany said she'd help and let the North stay independent. She had already agreed to sacrifice those who swore an oath to her. And if she's all about only protecting those who swear an oath to her -- well, that's not being a very benevolent leader. Being a queen means being a queen for all, not just the people who like you.

[GrailKing]

[SeanC]

9 hours ago, Colorful Mess said:

He appears to see dragons as only one form of power that is limiting because of how he wrote the Targaryens being unable to keep their buildings standing in Fire and Blood, for leaving Westeros with no lasting institutions, or for being unable to prevent rebellions from popping up over their relatively short 300 year reign.

I'm not sure what institutions you think Westeros is lacking (within the narrative; the lack of courts is absurd if you're comparing to real history, but Westeros has no courts or lawyers and seems to somehow have a robust commercial economy, so GRRM clearly doesn't think that's an actual problem).  The Targaryens built a central government that continued to function afterward, they created a uniform code of laws that survived them, a continent-wide transportation network, and so on.  The Starks have ruled the North for 8000 years and the North doesn't have any institutions to speak.

Rebellions are a fact of life in a medieval state.  They were a regular thing in the pre-unification era as well.  On the contrary, to all appearances unification decreased the level of conflict in Westeros considerably; we're told that the population of the Seven Kingdoms doubled during the reign of the Conciliator alone (which seems like it must be an exaggeration, but clearly the numbers went way up).

9 hours ago, Eyes High said:

I think there’s a difference between intent and ultimate effect, though.

Oh, I certainly agree there.  I expect that the details of this will continue to be questionable.

However, the show tends to traffic in macro symbolism, and the two biggest symbolic things at the end of the show are the lordship of Winterfell and the overlordship of Westeros (or Westeros south of the Neck, if you believe in #Nexit).

Edited April 11, 2019 by SeanC

[anamika]

1 hour ago, GrailKing said:

Nice! EveryFckngChicken is a true detective.

These are some character/house videos posted by DirectTV.

Tyrion:

https://youtu.be/clV65jtjYT8

Cersei

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUM5gazdPp4&feature=youtu.be

Jaime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMAjEPqYyUE&feature=youtu.be

Brienne

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDuSCbBIJA8&feature=youtu.be

Jon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVwHtskRHhI&feature=youtu.be

Bran

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqPvtj_knG8&feature=youtu.be

Arya

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvxBc2z8TQo&feature=youtu.be

Dany

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qpt1hcStQE&feature=youtu.be

Sansa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6syVv6saV8&feature=youtu.be

I think these are some interesting videos. I like how they started and ended for each character.

Edited April 11, 2019 by anamika

[SimoneS]

23 minutes ago, Minneapple said:

If the North doesn't hold, then the Army of the Dead will sweep south toward King's Landing. 

Dany, her dragons, and armies will be right there to stop them from moving south after they crush the North.

[Minneapple]

44 minutes ago, SimoneS said:

Dany, her dragons, and armies will be right there to stop them from moving south after they crush the North.

Cersei's army would be behind her in the South. And so in your scenario she would let all the Northerners perish even after telling Jon she would help them. That's very honorable of her and I'm sure Jon would be thrilled.

Anyway, this is all a moot point because I don't think Dany would go back on her word like that. So the Northerners don't like her, big fucking deal. Take your dragons and beat the Night King and then go claim your throne. 

[bubble sparkly]

If Dany was really ruthless she would take her dragons and her armies and move to juuusstttt outside the Northern border, heeding the Northerners requests to leave them alone. Then when the AOTD comes through she would fight and presumably win the war, and it would be easy to take on Cersei and present herself as the savior of Westeros. Then she should take any surviving Northerners at their word about wanting to be independent and let them rot and starve, refusing to sell food and other goods to them or supply any aid. They would end up bending the knee in no time or moving South to survive.

[Smad]

3 hours ago, SimoneS said:

I am all for the North having their "independence." They can fight the NK and his army independently and all die independently, then Dany and her dragons and armies can defeat the remaining wights and Cersei. It will be so much easier it will be for her to rule Westeros afterward.

Is Dany a petulant 12 year old in your scenario? Either she acts the hero and fights a threat that if not stopped will roll over not just all of Westeros but eventually Essos and the rest of the planet. And that would include Dany. Or is she a kid that doesn't get her chocolate so she throws a tantrum, takes her toys and leaves. People who continue to argue this way seem to want her to be a petulant child. You make it sound like you want her to be S1 Sansa (oh the irony). If I were a Dany fan, I'd rather she be a god damn hero who rises above it. But maybe that's just me.

And please stop acting as if she and her army and dragons are all that. Know who came out victorious in S7? Cersei and the NK. Dany was the big looser, despite having the biggest army and WMDs. Oh, those oh so effective dragons that barely put a dent in the NK's army and can be shot down with one well placed hit (and should all have been shot down if the NK wasn't so lazy) will surely do even better against an even bigger army of the dead (if she takes her toys and leaves) and Cersei's forces coming from the other end. That's weird math.

[Happy Harpy]

4 hours ago, SimoneS said:

Dany, her dragons, and armies will be right there to stop them from moving south after they crush the North.

3 hours ago, bubble sparkly said:

If Dany was really ruthless she would take her dragons and her armies and move to juuusstttt outside the Northern border, heeding the Northerners requests to leave them alone.

Much easier to stop them on the cusp of the Neck, indeed. She could fend adversaries from the North and from the South at once.

Daenerys never truly used her armies and adult dragons to destroy, but in 7x04. Even in 7x06, her priority was saving the members of the expedition. In 8x03, she's going to lose people in her army and some friends because she's trying to save the Northern people and not merely to annihilate the AOTD.

And they whinge-whinge-whinge and berate. Too bad that some characters I love are going down with it, because at this point, the fall of WF and the North will otherwise be "glorious" like Buffoon said.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Happy Harpy

[BadAssRobinArryn]

10 hours ago, Eyes High said:

3. And about the "good guys living": “We’re so used to the standard formula of bad guys dying and good guys living…What David and Dan have done with all this is beautiful, painful, and lovely. It takes the show somewhere that’s dangerous and contemporary with what’s going on in the world.” [Bearing in mind Peter Dinklage referred Tyrion as a "good guy" in that The Cast Remembers video.]

[I have no idea what "contemporary" means in this context.] 

My guess based on the spoilers, that many people try to break in the gates in King's Landing. The Night King wins many battles and basically all of the survivors become refugees. First the Northerners, then the people in the Riverlands and the Vale, maybe even the Reach (or part of it). They all move to King's Landing, where there's a crazy leader who doesn't want to let them in. There you have a situation that is not dissimilar to many parts of the world right now.

And regarding Dany saving everyone with their dragons. We shouldn't forget the small detail, that the Night King has a dragon now, too. If it were children's play for Dany, then Winterfell would never fall and there would have been much less victims. And leaving the Northerners on their own and just helping the people from the Riverlands downwards would ultimately mean fighting an ever bigger AotD than it will be in Winterfell the case.

Edited April 11, 2019 by BadAssRobinArryn

[Eyes High]

8 hours ago, GrailKing said:

This is great, but it doesn't really tell us much other than most of the interior and Winterfell set photos from before 8x03 were taken in late 2017, which most of us guessed anyway.

8 hours ago, anamika said:

These are some character/house videos posted by DirectTV.

Tyrion:

https://youtu.be/clV65jtjYT8

Cersei

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUM5gazdPp4&feature=youtu.be

Jaime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMAjEPqYyUE&feature=youtu.be

Brienne

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDuSCbBIJA8&feature=youtu.be

Jon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVwHtskRHhI&feature=youtu.be

Bran

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqPvtj_knG8&feature=youtu.be

Arya

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qvxBc2z8TQo&feature=youtu.be

Dany

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Qpt1hcStQE&feature=youtu.be

Sansa

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6syVv6saV8&feature=youtu.be

I think these are some interesting videos. I like how they started and ended for each character.

I love these, and I like that they're about individual character development rather than being overtly shippy (even Jon and Dany's are not super shippy). However, like the Cast Remembers videos dumped en masse on the HBO channel earlier this week, I really would have loved if these were properly released one at a time a few weeks ago when we were starved for new content instead of getting all dumped at the last minute (as unlisted videos on the DirectTV Youtube channel!). HBO GOT promo this year has really been a mess.

As you said, the ending points for the character videos are interesting:

Tyrion: Varys' "The histories won't mention you, but we will not forget" coupled with a shot of Tyrion watching the dragons fly away in 7x06

Cersei: Cersei asking Oberyn what good power is if you cannot protect the ones you love, her three children dying, and Cersei watching the sept explode.

Jaime: Jaime telling Joffrey there's still time for his great deeds and Jaime going north at the end of 7x07.

Brienne: Brienne naming her sword "Oathkeeper" and a shot of Brienne arriving at Castle Black with Sansa.

Jon: Lyanna's "His name is Aegon Targaryen," Jon touching Drogon, and a closeup of Jon's face from 6x10 after his parentage is revealed.

Dany: "I was born to rule the seven kingdoms and I will," with 7x04 Drogon battle shots and Dany saying "Dracarys!"

Bran: "When the Long Night comes again, I need to be ready," over a shot of S7 Bran warging out.

Arya: Arya telling Jaqen she's going home, coupled with a shot of Arya outside Winterfell

Sansa: Sansa telling Myranda that she can't frighten her, Sansa walking away from Ramsay as he dies

3 hours ago, BadAssRobinArryn said:

My guess based on the spoilers, that many people try to break in the gates in King's Landing. The Night King wins many battles and basically all of the survivors become refugees. First the Northerners, then the people in the Riverlands and the Vale, maybe even the Reach (or part of it). They all move to King's Landing, where there's a crazy leader who doesn't want to let them in. There you have a situation that is not dissimilar to many parts of the world right now.

Maybe. I think that S8 will focus (for once) on how the smallfolk are being affected by all this, judging from the casting calls for a "grieving father" scene which was set to be filmed in June 2018 (so on the KL exterior set, I'm guessing) and for that peasant girl who was going be sexually assaulted by a soldier.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Eyes High

[anamika]

1 hour ago, Eyes High said:

I love these, but like the Cast Remembers videos dumped en masse on the HBO channel earlier this week, I really would have loved if these were properly released one at a time a few weeks ago when we were starved for new content instead of getting all dumped at the last minute. HBO GOT promo this year has really been a mess.

Yeah, but I really liked these videos. Very succinctly lays out the character journeys and gives us a hint as to what's important about their stories next season. And beautifully done. I especially loved Jaime's and Tyrion's.

Tyrion: Abused and despised by his father, finds hope in Dany and the line in there about whether history will remember him for his deeds or if he will be the unsung hero.... - maybe pointing to Tyrion being unfairly accused at the end? Or walking off alone in the end without any recognition of what he has done?

Jaime: All about his misdeeds - oathbreaker, kingslayer, man without honor - ends with Joffrey pointing out the empty page in the white book, Jaime saying - 'there's still time yet' and a shot of him riding North - redemption arc fighting the dead.

Cersei: Maggy's self-fulfilling prophecy - not being able to protect the ones you love, her obsession with power and losing everything  - sort of jibes with Emilia's comments on how wanting power has made Cersei all alone in the end. And that's how she dies - showing Dany that maybe the house with the red door is better?

Jon - Learning to be a leader from his different mentors, fighting against all odds, making unpopular decisions, similarities with Ned,  the constant conflict between love and duty - Aemon's words overlaid over Jon and Dany makes me think he will have to make this choice once again at the end. And this time chooses love?

Dany - Tyrion's monologue about Dany overcoming all odds to become queen.  Savior, leader, conqueror, ruler - she is different things to different people.  Cersei, Missandei, Jorah, Jon all chime in with opinions about her. Is she a benevolent ruler or evil conqueror? Is she a mad queen like her father? Is she the ruler Westeros needs? She was born to rule the seven kingdoms and she will! Dracarys!

Arya - Ned laying out Arya's life for her - marriage, babies, father to kings. Arya - That's not me. Jump to all the stuff she's gone through, the fighting, killing, lost family - ends with Arya saying - I am Arya Stark of WF and I am going home.  Maybe Arya ends up being what she did not want to be at the start - a lady.

Bran: being the 3ER – you will never walk you will fly, Hodor, Meera, he died in that cave, his visions – of the past, future, is he ready? The 3ER answers – No. And then Bran ends with having to be ready for the Long Night. Not much about his  connection to WF/Starks. I get the feeling he ends the series as 3ER or ruler of Westeros.

Sansa: Starts with the beautiful Ramsay wedding , her wanting to be queen and sitting on the Iron Throne, romance, Joffrey, Tyrion being nice, Cersei telling her not to love anyone, LF telling her to stop running and start actively doing things and finally – I am Sansa Stark and this is my home, you can’t frighten me.  She finally has power and seems to have taken Cersei and LF’s lessons to heart.

Edited April 11, 2019 by anamika

[Eyes High]

Finally, some new info:

1. A journalist who visited the Spain filming locations for CNN Travel claimed that Italica officials said that an "iconic shot" of Jon and Dany for S8 was filmed at the Italica ruins. Kit was in town, but no one saw Emilia in Seville when they were filming:

Quote

Could argue for/against all these locations appearing in S8. A return to Italica (Dragonpit) by the main cast is confirmed. While watchers say that didn’t include Emilia Clarke, officials at ruins told me there *was* a shot filmed of Jon + Dany that will be iconic of the series.

2. Kit did an interview with InStyle, and apparently his last scene was a scene with Jacob Anderson and Liam Cunningham where they're just walking (through the KL exterior set, I assume). Kit said that Peter Dinklage had wrapped earlier in the day, although in another interview he said that Peter Dinklage had wrapped the day before he did. It's not clear whether Liam and Jacob wrapped the same day, but it seems possible, with Maisie finishing the next day and using the hashtag #lastwomanstanding.

[anamika]

15 minutes ago, Eyes High said:

1. A journalist who visited the Spain filming locations for CNN Travel claimed that Italica officials said that an "iconic shot" of Jon and Dany for S8 was filmed at the Italica ruins. Kit was in town, but no one saw Emilia in Seville when they were filming: 

So if this is indeed true then that puts Friki's Seville leaks into question about what was actually filmed there. Or maybe Kit and Emilia filmed there another time. Before the other cast got there. And no one knew. BoatsexBaby did say the crew were shooting there before the other cast got there - considering the place was shut down for a lot longer than the one week the cast was there.

I think Kit was there with the entire cast on that last day in Seville only for Sophie's last scene - as he talked about in that interview. I also think some other actors were there for Sophie's wrap of the series.

Jon/Dany iconic shot at the Dragonpit is exciting!

Edited April 11, 2019 by anamika

[Minneapple]

Here's the InStyle article with Kit's interview.

Of course, when we’re talking “last scene,” we’re not talking last scene. “I still don’t trust that the ending that was written down is the actual ending,” Harington says wryly. “I think they kept it from all of us. The secrecy this year was just huge.” At the same time, he teases, “No one I’ve spoken to has guessed the actual ending. No one has got it right yet.”

Nikolaj was on Seth Meyers' show and noted that while some people have guessed parts of how it ends, no one has guessed it cohesively.

[Happy Harpy]

1 minute ago, Eyes High said:

Finally, some new info:

1. A journalist who visited the Spain filming locations for CNN Travel claimed that Italica officials said that an "iconic shot" of Jon and Dany for S8 was filmed at the Italica ruins. Kit was in town, but no one saw Emilia in Seville when they were filming:

2. Kit did an interview with InStyle, and apparently his last scene was a scene with Jacob Anderson and Liam Cunningham where they're just walking (through the KL exterior set, I assume). Kit said that Peter Dinklage had wrapped earlier in the day, although in another interview he said that Peter Dinklage had wrapped the day before he did. It's not clear whether Liam and Jacob wrapped the same day, but it seems possible, with Maisie finishing the next day and using the hashtag #lastwomanstanding.

They hid Emilia? Extremely well, if so. Interesting.

The info given by Kit could fit with some of Frikidoctor's descriptions (not to a T, but a sequence can have several phases) Jon/Davos/Tyrion walking through the ashes and Greyworm escorting Tyrion. OTOH, if Emilia was there it's clear he didn't know all there was to know, unlike what he claimed; and BSB and he could both be right because different scenes were filmed.

In the interview linked upthread by @anamika, Joe Dempsie says that he wrapped on the same day as one other actor, and he purposefully used "they" instead of "he" or "her".  Joe was more emotional than he thought, and was trying to keep it up together, but he saw "them" with quivering lips and in the end seeing the person cry made him cry, too. IIRC, before Friki insisted Joe didn't film in Spain, it was considered that he and Sophie T wrapped on the same day.

[anamika]

1 minute ago, Happy Harpy said:

IIRC, before Friki insisted Joe didn't film in Spain, it was considered that he and Sophie T wrapped on the same day.

According to BoatsexBaby, Joe did film. And BsB kept insisting that there was more going on with the Italica filming than just those 5 days because it was shut down for 3 weeks rather than the 4 days over which they shot the one scene that Sophie is so frustrated by.

It looks like she maybe right, and there was other filming going on there that no one knew about with Kit and Emilia.

[Eyes High]

22 minutes ago, anamika said:

Jon/Dany iconic shot at the Dragonpit is exciting!

I am pretty excited about it, although I'm also quite skeptical given that he talked to these people several months after the fact. Who knows whether the officials he talked to were the same ones who were there when filming took place? Maybe the Jon/Dany iconic shot is secondhand puffery or a rumour about what was filmed in S8 that has since been blown out of proportion.

I recall that of the workers prepping the Italica site back in April of last year told a bystander that it was going to be a battle scene, but that seems not to have been the case if Friki is right. Maybe this is another example of mixed messages or the local officials getting incorrect information.

18 minutes ago, Minneapple said:

Here's the InStyle article with Kit's interview.

Nikolaj was on Seth Meyers' show and noted that while some people have guessed parts of how it ends, no one has guessed it cohesively.

I think that even if there's a Targ restoration and an otherwise predictable ending, Tyrion's trial and execution would give the cast a fair amount of wiggle room to claim that no one has guessed the ending, they never saw it coming, they were so surprised, etc. etc.

11 minutes ago, Happy Harpy said:

The info given by Kit could fit with some of Frikidoctor's descriptions (not to a T, but a sequence can have several phases) Jon/Davos/Tyrion walking through the ashes and Greyworm escorting Tyrion. OTOH, if Emilia was there it's clear he didn't know all there was to know, unlike what he claimed; and BSB and he could both be right because different scenes were filmed.

Yeah, Kit's info lines up with what Javi Marcos' source claimed about Peter Dinklage's last day, so that's another point in Friki's column.

Quote

In the interview linked upthread by @ANAMIKA, Joe Dempsie says that he wrapped on the same day as one other actor, and he purposefully used "they" instead of "he" or "her".  Joe was more emotional than he thought, and was trying to keep it up together, but he saw "them" with quivering lips and in the end seeing the person cry made him cry, too. IIRC, before Friki insisted Joe didn't film in Spain, it was considered that he and Sophie T wrapped on the same day.

My assumption before Friki's information was that Joe wrapped in Seville, since his interviews certainly seemed to imply that, but I'm now leaning towards the theory that Gendry dies at the battle of Winterfell. Those sure looked like tears on Arya's cheeks in the trailer. The only person other than a sibling that Arya would be crying for would be Gendry, I think. Also, I can't imagine why they're playing up Gendry/Arya in 8x01 unless they're going to end up together or to make it extra sad when Gendry dies.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Eyes High

[anamika]

I will also add that the show absolutely requiring the Italica ruins for an iconic series shot of the last Targaryens at the Dragonpit makes more sense than it being a absolute necessity for the Starks to hold a trial for Tyrion at the Dragonpit.

This keeps bothering me a lot - why did D&D want to film this top secret Tyrion trial in Seville where every eagle eyed fan could see which actor was involved in the episode 6 they were directing - these are the guys who think that even a braid is spoilery. They knew that we were tracking which actor was going to and from the hotel for filming - why basically confirm all this for a trial that could be filmed on set?

I also remember Maisie, Peter and Joe being in Seville a few days ahead of the other actors . Peter was spotted having dinner with someone. Not sure if this was for fun or filming.

Edited April 11, 2019 by anamika

[Colorful Mess]

13 hours ago, SeanC said:

I'm not sure what institutions you think Westeros is lacking (within the narrative; the lack of courts is absurd if you're comparing to real history, but Westeros has no courts or lawyers and seems to somehow have a robust commercial economy, so GRRM clearly doesn't think that's an actual problem).  The Targaryens built a central government that continued to function afterward, they created a uniform code of laws that survived them, a continent-wide transportation network, and so on.  The Starks have ruled the North for 8000 years and the North doesn't have any institutions to speak.

It did not continue to function because they only knew how to rule through absolute monarchy dependant on dragons, as GRRM explains in this fan account:

Quote

So my question was: Why do you think the political institutions in the Seven Kingdoms are so weak? His answer: the Kingdom was unified with dragons, so the Targaryen's flaw was to create an absolute monarchy highly dependent on them, with the small council not designed to be a real check and balance. So, without dragons it took a sneeze, a wildly incompetent and megalomaniac king, a love struck prince, a brutal civil war, a dissolute king that didn't really know what to do with the throne, and then chaos. 

Aegon created the king's peace but that's isn't very effective if the kings are free to violate it themselves. This is why Robert's Rebellion was written as one of the more justified rebellions in Westeros history. 

To be fair to Targaryens, the only political institution that the Targaryens created whole cloth was the City Watch (but it wasn't even created by one of the official kings). However, it's another example of an institution that won't be around for very long since the entire city is gonna blow up, again, illustrating that whatever Targaryens build, they destroy within a relatively short timespan. They couldn't keep their own buildings standing. The Sept of Remembrance, commissioned by Targaryens, only stood for 41 years before Maegor blew it up. The Dragonpit: 130 years. Summerhall: 71 years. And King's Landing: 300 years. Compared to 8000 years for Winterfell and the Wall, and perhaps even the Hightower at Oldtown and Storm's End if Brandon the Builder built those too. The Night's Watch is dying, but it also lasted much longer than anything the Targaryens built. The Starks are shown to be builders.

The North is different than an absolute monarchy. In the show the Northern Lords debate and raise questions to their king, they can talk back to him without reprisal, and physically the court layout is very different from KL. Their king has no throne that towers over his subjects. They are treated more like citizens. The institution that the Northerners gave Westeros was the Night's Watch, a model for public service and redemption. The south benefits from their sacrifice. 

We could debate the rebellion's thing in another thread, my post is already too long. I just don't know which one would fit to discuss this stuff. Maybe the book thread.

As for S8, another fun thing to dissect would be the playlist D&D created: “The answer to the ending is one hundred percent hidden in the playlist choices."

[Happy Harpy]

2 minutes ago, Eyes High said:

My assumption before Friki's information was that Joe wrapped in Seville, since his interviews certainly seemed to imply that, but I'm now leaning towards the theory that Gendry dies at the battle of Winterfell. Those sure looked like tears on Arya's cheeks in the trailer. The only person other than a sibling that Arya would be crying for would be Gendry, I think.

I do believe he wrapped in Seville, only Friki's stubborness had it questioned imo. The Seville issue apart, he filmed from October to May anyway, was regularly spotted in Belfast in late fall/early winter, even before they filmed the big battle. Of course, I personally don't want Gendry to die, but it does seem like a long filming time for a character who, even if he's a fighter, has only one scene in 8x01 and would die in 8x03.

[screamin]

13 hours ago, SimoneS said:

Dany, her dragons, and armies will be right there to stop them from moving south after they crush the North.

The NK's armies would have swelled by the entire population of the North...and the NK doesn't hesitate to conscript every man, woman, and child. Not to mention that the NK has already shown himself quite capable of dealing with dragon attacks.

As others said, it would be bad form for Dany to go against her word to Jon to save the North even before he offered her his crown, just because the Northerners weren't as NICE as they might have been in accepting her rule. But besides that, it would be a really bad strategic mistake that I don't think the neck's strategic advantages would offset. Thermopylae is often held up as a moral victory of a small, determined, well entrenched force over a much larger force, but in the end they lost - and they didn't have the disadvantage of having each of their dead soldiers join the enemy, invulnerable to exhaustion, hunger and conventional weapons.

[Eyes High]

24 minutes ago, anamika said:

I will also add that the show absolutely requiring the Italica ruins for an iconic series shot of the last Targaryens at the Dragonpit makes more sense than it being a absolute necessity for the Starks to hold a trial for Tyrion at the Dragonpit.

I agree, but there was some sort of scene filmed there. If it were just a shot at everyone at the Dragonpit, would it have taken them five days to film? And that's not what BSB said happens in the scene anyway.

Quote

This keeps bothering me a lot - why did D&D want to film this top secret Tyrion trial in Seville where every eagle eyed fan could see which actor was involved in the episode 6 they were directing - these are the guys who think that even a braid is spoilery. They knew that we were tracking which actor was going to and from the hotel for filming - why basically confirm all this for a trial that could be filmed on set?

This bothers me, too. It seems very reckless. That said, we know that whatever was filmed in Italica was from 8x06, so it was going to be extremely spoilery no matter what. And they filmed that 7x07 scene in Italica despite it also being spoilery.

17 minutes ago, Happy Harpy said:

I do believe he wrapped in Seville, only Friki's stubborness had it questioned imo. The Seville issue apart, he filmed from October to May anyway, was regularly spotted in Belfast in late fall/early winter, even before they filmed the big battle. Of course, I personally don't want Gendry to die, but it does seem like a long filming time for a character who, even if he's a fighter, has only one scene in 8x01 and would die in 8x03.

I thought so, but a good chunk of that would have been the Battle of Winterfell, and it personally makes no sense to me that he is not in those KL scenes with Arya if he is still alive by that point. I guess he could be laid up recovering from injuries, but even that I find a stretch.

If Gendry survives 8x03, I think we may have our answer as to whether Friki's trial leaks are legit.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Eyes High

[Lemuria]

22 hours ago, Minneapple said:

I will maintain that I think Book Sansa has the potential to become a mini-Cersei, manipulative and obsessed with power.

Didn't Liam Cunningham recently reference something Gwendoline Christie said about Sansa this season (or maybe they were both just quoted in the same article and for some reason, I thought LC had referred to it)?  Talking about Sansa's "irrepressible ambition and desire to rule."

Which could be behind her attitude toward both Dany and Jon (because she may really, deep down inside, want to be QiTN).  And which why we have the following two comments:

On 4/10/2019 at 11:39 AM, Happy Harpy said:

Antagonizing someone with armies/dragons as well as questioning how her brother got that alliance they need to survive because she wants the North independent is placing petty politics above the real threat. YMMV.

On 4/10/2019 at 12:07 PM, Happy Harpy said:

As for questioning Jon, I was speaking of Sansa's state of mind: the issue is the very fact that she cares/is pissed off Jon bent the knee instead of being thankful that he's giving the North a chance to survive.

Both of which speak to Sansa not being nearly as smart, politically savvy or smooth as the show keeps telling us she is.  (I mean, really, would Varys or Littlefinger have given the game away so quickly?)

On 4/10/2019 at 8:57 AM, ElizaD said:

Dany is a foreign invader who believes that the native populations of Westeros lost their right to govern themselves when Aegon conquered them and that they had no right to decide that her father's madness made Targaryen rule unacceptable.

Name one person in Westeros, other than the Children of the Forest (who, I believe, are presently extinct), who is not the descendant of an invader.  The Starks are descendants of the First Men, who invaded from Essos and proceeded to despoil the land of the Children resulting in the creation of the Night King.  In the South, they are now the Dornish, though there is the infusion of the bloodline of Nymeria and her people.  (It's interesting to note that the various First Men holdings at the time, except for Dorne, didn't like the idea of Warrior Princess Nymeria.  La plus ca change, and all that.) 

This invasion was followed by the invasion of the Andals, who took much of Westeros away from the First Men.  

And then, last but not least, Aegon arrived.  

So, people in glass house, so to speak.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Lemuria

[Minneapple]

6 minutes ago, Colorful Mess said:

As for S8, another fun thing to dissect would be the playlist D&D created: “The answer to the ending is one hundred percent hidden in the playlist choices."

Check out the lyrics from The End by the Doors:

Quote

The killer awoke before dawn
He put his boots on
He took a face from the ancient gallery
And he walked on down the hall
He went into the room where his sister lived, and then he
Paid a visit to his brother, and then he
He walked on down the hall, and

And Howlin' For You by the Black Keys (this one may be more amusing than anything else)

Quote

There's something wrong, with this plot
The actors here have not got a clue
Baby I'm howlin' for you

And Wave of Mutilation by the Pixies

Quote

Cease to resist, giving my goodbye
Drive my car into the ocean
You think I'm dead, but I sail away

[Hook]
On a wave of mutilation

Those are just a few of the more "interesting" lyrics from the songs on the playlist.

[Happy Harpy]

6 minutes ago, Eyes High said:

If Gendry survives 8x03, I think we may have our answer as to whether Friki's trial leaks are legit.

Not necessarily. It could be, as I remarked above, that he simply claimed to know everything whereas he only had fragments of knowledge.

[Eyes High]

35 minutes ago, Happy Harpy said:

Not necessarily. It could be, as I remarked above, that he simply claimed to know everything whereas he only had fragments of knowledge.

Possible. It's important to remember that Friki's Tyrion trial leaks were corroborated by two different source of Javi's, and Javi has at least one source who knows what they're talking about (since they got the info about Peter Dinklage's last day right). All three could be HBO plants, I guess, but how likely is that?

I also think that Friki has seen photos of Peter Dinklage in costume from Seville, judging from the way he has described the clothes (down to the colour of the shirt, the length of the hair), and that's why he's sure. Friki told a /Freefolk poster that if people knew where he got his information there is no way they would doubt him. I think the photos are the proof. And while HBO could theoretically fake photos of Tyrion in a "prison" outfit with fake extensions to fool Friki, just as they could theoretically pass along wrong information to Javi, wouldn't it be easier to just try to prevent leaks in the first place?

Edited April 11, 2019 by Eyes High

[SimoneS]

10 hours ago, Happy Harpy said:

Much easier to stop them on the cusp of the Neck, indeed. She could fend adversaries from the North and from the South at once.

Yep, and the Dothraki and Unsullied would be more effective fighters in warmer weather. Fighting on the Neck would be the best most realistic and effective military strategy since Dany arrived in Westeros. It would definitely minimize Dany's losses. All these Northerners and others who dislike Dany don't have much concern about sacrificing her armies who are foreigners and conveniently the most ethnically diverse group in Westeros. 

At times like this, I miss the hell out of Daario and Ser Barristan. Dany would never be in this predicament militarily if either of them were still at her side which is probably why the show killed off Barristan and left Daario behind.

2 hours ago, Eyes High said:

Finally, some new info:

1. A journalist who visited the Spain filming locations for CNN Travel claimed that Italica officials said that an "iconic shot" of Jon and Dany for S8 was filmed at the Italica ruins. Kit was in town, but no one saw Emilia in Seville when they were filming:

When most of the cast was in Seville, Emilia was on a non-stop publicity tour for Solo. If she was in Italica, it had be before or after the main filming in Seville.

1 hour ago, screamin said:

The NK's armies would have swelled by the entire population of the North...and the NK doesn't hesitate to conscript every man, woman, and child. Not to mention that the NK has already shown himself quite capable of dealing with dragon attacks.

All the smart Northern folks (all the people who want to live rather than in engage in political squabbles) would move south with Dany so they would be safe or at least safer. They could even help defend her rear. This way Dany would be keeping her word to Jon that she would fight for the North, something all the people who have no use for her are suddenly concerned about. Nothing like imminent death to wake people up.

Dany can maneuver her two dragons to take down Viserion. Jon can even help by riding Rhaegal. That is what is likely to happen on the show anyway.  

Edited April 11, 2019 by SimoneS

[BadAssRobinArryn]

33 minutes ago, Eyes High said:

Possible. It's important to remember that Friki's Tyrion trial leaks were corroborated by two different source of Javi's, and Javi has at least one source who knows what they're talking about (since they got the info about Peter Dinklage's last day right). All three could be HBO plants, I guess, but how likely is that?

I also think that Friki has seen photos of Peter Dinklage in costume from Seville, judging from the way he has described the clothes (down to the colour of the shirt, the length of the hair), and that's why he's sure. Friki told a /Freefolk poster that if people knew where he got his information there is no way they would doubt him. I think the photos are the proof. And while HBO could theoretically fake photos of Tyrion in a "prison" outfit with fake extensions to fool Friki, just as they could theoretically pass along wrong information to Javi, wouldn't it be easier to just try to prevent leaks in the first place?

Not necessarily, because the fake scenes could take attention away from the real ones. I was sure that Friki has seen pictures ever since he described a new cast member in detail, including the costume. The only question is if the photos are real. If the production took Trouble to shoot fake scenes, then surely making photos from these fake scenes is the lesser investment.

Edited April 11, 2019 by BadAssRobinArryn

[Eyes High]

1 hour ago, BadAssRobinArryn said:

Not necessarily, because the fake scenes could take attention away from the real ones. I was sure that Friki has seen pictures ever since he described a new cast member in detail, including the costume. The only question is if the photos are real. If the production took Trouble to shoot fake scenes, then surely making photos from these fake scenes is the lesser investment.

At some point, it's getting too ridiculous to believe, though. HBO goes to the trouble of filming fake scenes, in costume, and making sure that Friki gets the photos, while also making sure that Javi has two people feeding him fake information about Tyrion's trial mixed in with genuine spoilers about Peter Dinklage's last day on set? It makes no sense. The simplest explanation is that leaks about Tyrion's trial got out, and three people have spilled the beans.

...With all that said, I thought anyone on set had little stickers affixed to their cameras by security to prevent them from filming anything. I wonder how Friki's source could have gotten photos under those conditions. Maybe he saw raw footage from the documentary.

Edited April 11, 2019 by Eyes High

[Happy Harpy]

1 hour ago, SimoneS said:

When most of the cast was in Seville, Emilia was on a non-stop publicity tour for Solo. If she was in Italica, it had be before or after the main filming in Seville.

If true, it was quite smart. Everyone was focused on Italica when the cast was officially there but it would have been possible to sneak some actors in when "setting up" or "packing", and people were looking elsewhere. If it was no battle scene, the crew and logistics could be reduced to a minimum. Emilia was in Cannes at one point, it's around one hour from Seville by plane.

They were so obviously aware of scrutinity, and she was so noticeably absent. I remember saying the production used her promo tour, since they knew the dates well in advance, to throw people in for a loop and speculation into a frenzy. And it didn't cost them a thing.