the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

Battle of Winterfell

1. What a waste of Dalthraki. Disappointing. Why not send Dragons in first?

2. Too dark.

3. Bloody hell!!! Great ending.

Sacrificing the Dalthraki and Unsullied in ridiculous field manuevers was probably done to clean up the politics of having brought foreign armies to the 7 realms. Very little they did made sense strategically, perhaps because of the gloom and power of the Night King confusing them.

Great ending. Girl power. Yay. Would have been funnier if Bran had been Arya and removed her mask, then jumped out of the wheelchair and shived the Night King. Just glad they wrapped up the battle in one episode.

Who will really be dead from Ep 3? Jorah? the guy without balls? Jon's dragon? Just hoping the little bear girl who got crushed by the giant is really dead.

Will Bron take Cersei's bloody gold to assassinate Tyrion and Jamie? Or just ride by and inform them on his way out of town?

Future epic battle: Mountain vs. Hound, who wins because Arya helps him cheat.

Little Bear girl definitely dead because she was raised by the Knight King when he did his 'come at me bro' to John/Aygon Snow/Targarian.

What happens with Denaris and Jon now? Friends, lovers, enemies, family members? It'll be a complicated Christmas, that's for sure.

Most characters survived, ready to die fighting Cersi. Jamie must kill her in the end, maybe with a fall from a tower through a window, completing his character arc?

We also got proof that the Night King was a non-flammable Targarian.

GrahamB wrote:We also got proof that the Night King was a non-flammable Targarian.

Oh Bran, thou Three Eyed Raven, the All Seeing, whomst we did not really consult much during battle when we were blinded by fear and snow, pray thee answer a question: Why didst the dragon fire not scorchest the Night King?

Flashback through time and 3ER-scope to see the Night King was the bloke who bred the first dragons and was a Targarian before the children of the forest gave him the icicle in chest treatment.

Most characters survived, ready to die fighting Cersi. Jamie must kill her in the end, maybe with a fall from a tower through a window, completing his character arc?

That would be perfect, although a final love scene where the asphyxiation gets a little too vigorous also seems appropriate.

Night King wasn't a Targaryen, they weren't on the continent yet when he was created, and he didn't have silver hair. The fire didn't hurt him because he's got such powerful cold magic.

They sort of showed this ability in the hard home battle, the regular wights are just kindling, but the flame retreated before the white walkers and posed zero threat.

It's a bit odd that his magic is powerful enough to make him immune to dragon fire but one tiny dragon glass dagger and he explodes?

I largely came away disappointed.

I was looking for more background on the white walkers. And instead the writers punted on that to focus on writing up what will largely be the worlds most expensive soap opera.

The series director really dropped the ball on this one.

The mixed physical and alchemical properties of element X, such as dragon fire, compared to element Y, such as dragon glass, and their different effects on magical creature Z, such as the Night King, who might have been an ancestor to the Targaryen's in an alternate plot line, just need to check his 23 and me, could be explained by the obscure chapter that Sam finds in one of the ancient tomes he borrowed from the Citadel, which he will consult in order to re-humanize and re-animate that little bear bratling.

Graham, agree with your OP. You probably saw this already, but my take just after watching it a day late (so I can watch with the sweetie):

Not a comfortable or enjoyable viewing experience. But, I thought for a second things would end badly and it was a metaphor for the globe’s (humanity’s) inability to work together against anthropogenic change on the Earth System, resulting in the destruction of mankind. But then Arya comes in like some improbable geo-engineering fix and we are off to the next plot line. Harrumph.

Michael wrote:Great ending. Girl power. Yay. Would have been funnier if Bran had been Arya and removed her mask, then jumped out of the wheelchair and shived the Night King. Just glad they wrapped up the battle in one episode.

Who will really be dead from Ep 3? Jorah? the guy without balls? Jon's dragon? Just hoping the little bear girl who got crushed by the giant is really dead.


Future epic battle: Mountain vs. Hound, who wins because Arya helps him cheat.

What a chucker.

What's the point of having a goddamn fort if you just line up outside the walls?

And why not have multiple lines of trenches? Wasn't it season 7 when Bron was with Jamie to help with that castle siege and he told the guys who were there to build several lines of churches?

GrahamB wrote:It's a bit odd that his magic is powerful enough to make him immune to dragon fire but one tiny dragon glass dagger and he explodes?

It was actually a valerian steel dagger with a dragonbone hilt. The one that littlefinger gave the assassin that tried to kill Bran while he was in a coma to frame up the Lannisters.

Where she stabbed him was where the children of the forest originally inserted the dragonglass that turned him into the night king, which is why he was unmade, or so the showmakers say.

Damn. That is an impressive amount of detail in these comments!

I really loved the ending but the criticisms are good questions.

If they can wrap the rest up well, it'll be amazing, I think.