Game of Thrones - Season 8

[RealBitsOfPanther]

13 hours ago, CRA said:

Question for @Bronn or a book reader.  I’m debating about giving the books a go.  Little hesitant since it likely won’t be finished. 

Out of curiosity.  Where do the books leave off in terms of the WW threat? The Night King is just a TV show creation correct? Do the WW really have a presence in the books? Or is Winter just an ambiguous bad coming.  If the NK is just for TV I imagine defeating “Winter” is entirely different.  Probably calls on the prophecy more directly to be filled and less likely Arya??

I'm reading the first book now (about halfway through) and am enjoying it. I've been reading a chapter or two a day because the first part is kind of a slog, but it is starting to pick up. 

A buddy of mine says that it really starts to pick up around the 3/4 mark of the first and just continues from there. 

[Bronn]

2 minutes ago, RealBitsOfPanther said:

I'm reading the first book now (about halfway through) and am enjoying it. I've been reading a chapter or two a day because the first part is kind of a slog, but it is starting to pick up. 

A buddy of mine says that it really starts to pick up around the 3/4 mark of the first and just continues from there. 

It really helped me being able to visualize the characters based on the actors who portrayed them.

I do remember it being somewhat slow starting, especially for someone like me who never read much. But I flew through the end of book 1, then 2 and 3. 4 slows down a little (partially because of a major event at the end of book 3.) I read 5 in like a week, lol.

Thanks to those books, though, I had a renewed interest in reading. I've read tons of books since, and I give all that credit to GRRM.

[CRA]

2 minutes ago, twylyght said:

Probably already answered, but my .02

The Night's Watch sole purpose now is for a kind of "get out of jail" for political refugees that have all manner enemies and allies where a death penalty or royal appointment would be problematic for the establishment.

Tormund got word of Jon's arrival.  He had already been beyond the wall but came back for Jon to have him live with the free folk beyond the wall.. "the truth north".

The Aegon secret remained with Arya, Sansa, Tyrion, Brann and Sam.  Some because they knew of Jon's wishes.  Some because of an interest in maintaining power.  Some for expediency.  Yes, it would have cut the legs out from underneath anyone else's claim, but Tyrion wisely saw that the unsullied (who had a firm grip on the nuts of the city) wouldn't recognize a prior claim.  They only knew allegiance to the one that gained them their freedom.  The same for the iron born.  These two factions (along with the magically remaining Dothraki) would have been enough to plunge the continent into another long and protracted war.  The fastest way to peace and reconciliation was through how Tyrion laid it out.

It's not a Scooby-Doo or Mega-Happy ending, but it ins't the worst thing about how this series ended either.

I'm off to catch the remaining two shows of Chernobyl.

Well the primary and sole function of the Night’s Watch is to protect the 7 Kingdoms from The Others and what lies to the north (which included Wildlings).   

So almost half the people given the power to vote and argue over the fate of Jon and 7 Kingdoms knew the secret.  And it was a “secret” openly used to aid in taking down Dany.  Kinda hard to argue as some noble secret that couldn’t be shared when Dany was killed IMO.

as far as the Unsullied having a grip on the city as a reason they couldn’t bring it up to Grey Worm? Grey Worm literally let another prisoner go before the “important folks” give a monologue and dictate all actions that were about to go down.  He let his prisoner appoint the new king and then was totally cool with the new King freeing him from Grey Worm’s punishment ...that entire scene was trash.  So many contradictions.  Sansa made no sense.  Yara made no sense.  The storytelling in that scene was the worst of the series.  

That one scene IMO was what made the series finale a joke.  Despite being unhappy with the rushed season that one scene was where it totally went down the toilet. 

[RealBitsOfPanther]

2 minutes ago, Bronn said:

It really helped me being able to visualize the characters based on the actors who portrayed them.

I do remember it being somewhat slow starting, especially for someone like me who never read much. But I flew through the end of book 1, then 2 and 3. 4 slows down a little (partially because of a major event at the end of book 3.) I read 5 in like a week, lol.

Thanks to those books, though, I had a renewed interest in reading. I've read tons of books since, and I give all that credit to GRRM.

I do the same thing. Being familiar with the show and main story helps, especially since there is so much extra going on in the books like you said. I got summer break coming up (17 days, thank god) so I'll be able to start knocking them out. 

I'm definitely interested in reading more after this series for sure. Prior, its mostly been things that I've had to read for work and graphic novels. 

 

[Bronn]

19 minutes ago, RealBitsOfPanther said:

I do the same thing. Being familiar with the show and main story helps, especially since there is so much extra going on in the books like you said. I got summer break coming up (17 days, thank god) so I'll be able to start knocking them out. 

I'm definitely interested in reading more after this series for sure. Prior, its mostly been things that I've had to read for work and graphic novels. 

 

GRRM is a reader's writer IMHO. He pays service to the fact that reading is important several times in the books. Jojen has a beautiful line about "a reader lives a thousand lives while someone who doesn't read lives one" or something similar. It is true. Reading is my escape a lot of times now, as I get older. GRRM opened the door for me, tbqh.

Let me know when you get done and I'll send you some more recommendations of similar stuff.

[countryboi]

my main fault with the show is the end (even though Bran is an awful awful character) its that the ending moved at the speed of light and the choices they made and the things they did felt unearned. I mean i could buy they Dany was crazy or pissed off, but they had no setup to it

 

on a side note: Arya has these many faces powers and she didnt do poo with them. 

[twylyght]

53 minutes ago, CRA said:

Well the primary and sole function of the Night’s Watch is to protect the 7 Kingdoms from The Others and what lies to the north (which included Wildlings).   

So almost half the people given the power to vote and argue over the fate of Jon and 7 Kingdoms knew the secret.  And it was a “secret” openly used to aid in taking down Dany.  Kinda hard to argue as some noble secret that couldn’t be shared when Dany was killed IMO.

as far as the Unsullied having a grip on the city as a reason they couldn’t bring it up to Grey Worm? Grey Worm literally let another prisoner go before the “important folks” give a monologue and dictate all actions that were about to go down.  He let his prisoner appoint the new king and then was totally cool with the new King freeing him from Grey Worm’s punishment ...that entire scene was trash.  So many contradictions.  Sansa made no sense.  Yara made no sense.  The storytelling in that scene was the worst of the series.  

That one scene IMO was what made the series finale a joke.  Despite being unhappy with the rushed season that one scene was where it totally went down the toilet. 

If your beef is reverting the characters back to these monolithic entities that never deviate from their core natures, then sure, I get that.  I was merely offering what was likely the rationale in the showrunners' minds when they conjured the scene.  Cobbled together and rushed?  Absolutely.  I saw it more as an exercise of the nihilism for how the Starks fare in this world where no good deed goes unpunished.  

Sansa and Yara make sense if you look at their motivations from a stance of ambition (for Sansa) and blind loyalty (Yara as an iron born).  I would argue that Greyworm was badly handled in that he was completely apolitical until this point.  The show could have spent more time on divided loyalties between Jon and Dany and how his past relationship with Missandei had changed him to make this transition more palatable. 

The noblemen laughing off Sam's idea for democracy was a very GoT'ish thing to do, but felt wedged in as an awkward nod to that effect.  

For me, I can fill in the blanks with my own narrative without stepping on what was presented on the screen easier than most in this thread.  I get those that wanted those blanks filled in on the screen.  I'm not as invested in the show, so I didn't care so much.

[CRA]

I also find it funny....that in the end they punished Jon by sending him to the Night's Watch and repeated all that junk about never being w/ a chick, etc. 

Meanwhile Sam just chilling and taking it all in.  

[djp14]

This is the best summary of S8 I've seen:

Quote

It feels like we're seeing a supercut of a longer final season of Game of Thrones, edited down by someone who is only showing us what they deem the critical points.

 

[Johnny Rockets]

14 minutes ago, CRA said:

I also find it funny....that in the end they punished Jon by sending him to the Night's Watch and repeated all that junk about never being w/ a chick, etc. 

Meanwhile Sam just chilling and taking it all in.  

I didn't see that as a punishment at all. Jon wound up where he always wanted to be and was most comfortable. Sam knew that....Jon has always wanted to be in the "True North". When Jon was saying goodbye to Tormund he told him he wished he could be going with him but he knew he had to take care of things in Kings Landing first. He was going to wind up in the North whether they "sent" him there or not.

The way I see it, Jon got to go exactly where he wanted but not to the throne which is where many people who watched the show wanted him to wind up. 

[CRA]

24 minutes ago, Johnny Rockets said:

I didn't see that as a punishment at all. Jon wound up where he always wanted to be and was most comfortable. Sam knew that....Jon has always wanted to be in the "True North". When Jon was saying goodbye to Tormund he told him he wished he could be going with him but he knew he had to take care of things in Kings Landing first. He was going to wind up in the North whether they "sent" him there or not.

The way I see it, Jon got to go exactly where he wanted but not to the throne which is where many people who watched the show wanted him to wind up. 

and I tend to agree...

I just find it funny that they are still using the Night's Watch in it's old form....and Sam is just sitting there.  You know Sam, the dude who has broken all the vows of the Night's Watch on open display and suffers no consequence. 

[Johnny Rockets]

33 minutes ago, CRA said:

and I tend to agree...

I just find it funny that they are still using the Night's Watch in it's old form....and Sam is just sitting there.  You know Sam, the dude who has broken all the vows of the Night's Watch on open display and suffers no consequence. 

Ahhhh yes, I see your point there now. 

[Moorgan]

My initial reaction to the finale was meh. But as time separates me from it I've grown to like it more. I'm mostly satisfied with the ending and the show. One thing that bothered me and I haven't seen it discussed here:

Why did the Unsullied and Dothraki decide to ALL go to Naarth? I get why Greyworm wanted to go there but why would everyone else? Maybe the Dothraki are just going back to the grass sea or whatever but still, why are the Unsullied going anywhere?

[Bronn]

7 minutes ago, Moorgan said:

My initial reaction to the finale was meh. But as time separates me from it I've grown to like it more. I'm mostly satisfied with the ending and the show. One thing that bothered me and I haven't seen it discussed here:

Why did the Unsullied and Dothraki decide to ALL go to Naarth? I get why Greyworm wanted to go there but why would everyone else? Maybe the Dothraki are just going back to the grass sea or whatever but still, why are the Unsullied going anywhere?

I think because Grey Worm is like their CO or something. I'm assuming the Dothraki are just gonna go back to the Dothraki Sea.

I wouldn't want to go to Naath tbqh. Not only the aforementioned butterflies, but it is a little too close to Sothoryos for comfort. Sothoryos sounds like hell tbqh.

https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Sothoryos