Game of Thrones

[wizards8507]

So who is not going to watch the spin offs because of how poorly you thought this season went? I think I know the answer. At the end of the day GoT was one of the most popular TV shows ever.

I have no reason to keep an HBO subscription active so I won't be.

 

[IrishLion]

I know the spinoffs were all supposed to be unrelated to current Westerosi history... but do you guys think they would even attempt to do something about Arya's explorations, or maybe a drama set in the Independent North? I could totally see "Downton Abbey" set in a future Winterfell lol.

I think they'd avoid most Westerosi-related stories, just because you don't want to weigh down fresh content with the framework that the finale created. If they did, it would have to be in a future where everyone we knew has died, or in the far past, like what they have planned for "The Long Night."

I have no reason to keep an HBO subscription active so I won't be.

I was going to cancel, but I've been convinced to binge-watch Veep, Westworld and Vice Principles.

 

[gkIrish]

I will definitely watch the spinoffs and would re-subscribe to do so (after cancelling last night). The last two seasons are the exception for HBO products...not the rule. HBO consistently produces amazing television.

I am probably going to subscribe again for Watchmen and His Dark Materials.

 

[calvegas04]

I will definitely watch the spinoffs and would re-subscribe to do so (after cancelling last night). The last two seasons are the exception for HBO products...not the rule. HBO consistently produces amazing television.

I am probably going to subscribe again for Watchmen and His Dark Materials.

+1 they put on quality content on the regular

 

[IrishLion]

I will definitely watch the spinoffs and would re-subscribe to do so (after cancelling last night). The last two seasons are the exception for HBO products...not the rule. HBO consistently produces amazing television.

I am probably going to subscribe again for Watchmen and His Dark Materials.

Couldn't get through the books... they devastated me. I usually don't get overly effected by fiction, but they really had me feeling bummed out. The only other book that effected me emotionally like that was The Dollmaker. It's like watching a lifetime movie or listening to "Christmas Shoes"... just unnecessary battering of the emotions.

 

[koonja]

Chernobyl, guys. Chernobyl.

 

[BeauBenken]

There are plenty of good shows on HBO. Silicon Valley is funny, Ballers is fun, Westworld, and more. Plenty of things worth the watch. I plan on keeping my sub unless my wallet needs the break.

 

[zelezo vlk]

Y'all already said Barry, right?

 

[calvegas04]

Y'all already said Barry, right?

Barry is very underrated, HBO is well worth the money unless you can't swing the money

 

[gkIrish]

Couldn't get through the books... they devastated me. I usually don't get overly effected by fiction, but they really had me feeling bummed out. The only other book that effected me emotionally like that was The Dollmaker. It's like watching a lifetime movie or listening to "Christmas Shoes"... just unnecessary battering of the emotions.

I actually know nothing about the books but I could tell from the trailer that it is something that will interest me.

 

[GATTACA!]

There are plenty of good shows on HBO. Silicon Valley is funny, Ballers is fun, Westworld, and more. Plenty of things worth the watch. I plan on keeping my sub unless my wallet needs the break.

Holy cow Silicon Valley is still on?

Let me guess in the latest season Pied Piper has a great idea, it all falls apart and it looks like they will lose their company, and in the last episode they come up with a miraculous solution?

 

[IrishLion]

I actually know nothing about the books but I could tell from the trailer that it is something that will interest me.

It will be brilliant on the screen, based on the world that was built in the books.

Just be prepared for your emotions to be assaulted lol

 

[phork]

It will be brilliant on the screen, based on the world that was built in the books.

Just be prepared for your emotions to be assaulted lol

He is an ND football fan. Happens every fall.

 

[BeauBenken]

Holy cow Silicon Valley is still on?

Let me guess in the latest season Pied Piper has a great idea, it all falls apart and it looks like they will lose their company, and in the last episode they come up with a miraculous solution?

I'm really not sure if it is. And I can't recall the last season too well (probably shows that the show is getting a bit stale.) But it was still a pretty funny show if no one had watched it.

 

[ACamp1900]

He is an ND football fan. Happens every fall.

Winter is Coming...

 

[ThePiombino]

I have HBO, but I'm not paying for it (provider employee perk). If I wasn't, I prolly would have cancelled after season 7 and just "procured" this season's eps another way...

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

 

[gkIrish]

The Seven Iconic ‘Game of Thrones’ Scenes That Season 8 Makes Worse

Hold the Door in particular stands out to me.

 

[ACamp1900]

 

[Whiskeyjack]

Here's a recent post on /r/asoiaf about which fan theory the ending of GoT has likely vindicated:

In 2014 at the Edinburgh Book Festival, the following happened:

George R.R. Martin, author of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, just admitted that some fans have actually figured out the ending to the epic, seven-book saga. According to the AV Club, Martin commented on the veracity of certain fan theories during a talk at the Edinburgh International Literary Festival.

"So many readers were reading the books with so much attention that they were throwing up some theories, and while some of those theories were amusing bulls*** and creative, some of the theories are right," Martin said. "At least one or two readers had put together the extremely subtle and obscure clues that I'd planted in the books and came to the right solution."

"So what do I do then? Do I change it? I wrestled with that issue and I came to the conclusion that changing it would be a disaster, because the clues were there. You can't do that, so I’m just going to go ahead. Some of my readers who don't read the boards — which thankfully there are hundreds of thousands of them — will still be surprised and other readers will say: 'see, I said that four years ago, I'm smarter than you guys'."

There is a strong case that the GOT ending we got is broadly the same one we'll get in the books. Other than GRRM/D&D talking about how the series' main destination will be the same, Martin's latest blogpost doesn't suggest that King Bran was a show creation.

Which leads to my guess about the "correct solution" that one or two readers picked up on: it is the "Bran as The Fisher King" theory that was posted on the official ASOIAF Forum board. I welcome you to read the full post by user "SacredOrderOfGreenMen", but I'll try to briefly summarise it here by pasting a few excerpts:

"The Stark in Winterfell" is ASOIAF’s incarnation of the Fisher King, a legendary figure from English and Welsh mythology who is spiritually and physically tied to the land, and whose fortunes, good and ill, are mirrored in the realm. It is a story that, as it tells how the king is maimed and then healed by divine power, validates that monarchy. The role of "The Stark in Winterfell" is meant to be as its creator Brandon the Builder was, a fusion of apparent opposites: man and god, king and greenseer, and the monolith that is his seat is both castle and tree, a "monstrous stone tree.”

Bran’s suffering because of his maiming just as Winterfell itself is “broken” establishes an sympathetic link between king and kingdom.

He has a name that is very similar to one of the Fisher King’s other titles, the Wounded King. The narrative calls him and he calls himself, again and again, “broken":

Just broken. Like me, he thought.

"Bran,” he said sullenly. Bran the Broken. “Brandon Stark.” The cripple boy.

But who else would wed a broken boy like him?

And through the mist of centuries the broken boy could only watch.

GRRM’s answer to the question “How can mortal me be perfect kings?” is evident in Bran’s narrative: Only by becoming something not completely human at all, to have godly and immortal things, such as the weirwood, fused into your being, and hence to become more or less than completely human, depending on your perspective. This is the only type of monarchy GRRM gives legitimacy, the kind where the king suffers on his journey and is almost dehumanized for the sake of his people.

Understanding that the Builder as the Fisher King resolves many contradictions in his story, namely the idea that a man went to a race of beings who made their homes from wood and leaf to learn how to a build a stone castle. There was a purpose much beyond learning; he went to propose a union: human civilization and primordial forest, to create a monolith that is both castle and tree, ruled by a man that is both king and shaman, as it was meant to be. And as it will be, by the only king in Westeros that GRRM and his story values and honors: Brandon Stark, the heir to Winterfell, son of Lord Eddard and Lady Catelyn.

And the first comment:

Some older versions of the Fisher King / Wounded King tale identify him with none other than Bran the Blessed, the legendary king of the Britons who also wins the grail and fights to save his mistreated sister who had been wed to a wicked foreign king. Incidentally, she is Branwen, the White Raven, and contacts him by sending messages through little birds. You could easily see Bran the Blessed as inspiration for a combination of the Stark brothers.

 

[ACamp1900]

I always take these in with a heap of skepticism... it doesn't SEEM from my reader's perspective that GRRM stayed on target with his endgame. He may have had one at one time but I'm betting he changed his mind in route numerous times... then I read articles talking about how he never had a concrete ending in mind... then I read stories like the above and think... 'wtf is going on here? Did he have it all sorted out ahead of time of not,... or is he is just making shit up?'

 

[AllTimeIrish]

The leaked ending that I saw was spot on. Honestly, I'm glad I saw it before I watched. It allowed me to not be so emotionally invested because I was annoyed from the get go.

Gripes:

• Bran as King. For awhile now, Bran wasn't Bran. He was the 3ER. Suddenly, because it's convenient, he's Bran again? They botched his arc so badly.
• Jon as a prisoner. They spent so much time building up Jon's true lineage only to purposely turn him into a second rate character. Jon's a Targ. He's the true heir. He's a Mad Queen Slayer. Yet he's taken as a prisoner and exiled by his own damn family to the North. Why? Because Greyworm is upset? Give me a break.
• Tyrion's second monologue should've belonged to Jon. See above. Jon as a prisoner made no sense to me. Given who he really is, why wasn't he at the meeting of the 7 Kingdoms? Why didn't the scene focus on him being the rightful heir, not wanting it, forcing a vote, and voluntarily going North where he's always belonged? The true King had no say in any of what went down and I found that lame as hell.

Overall, I'm just glad it's over. I found enough closure in this episode to feel satisfied and move on. I just hope B&W don't have a roll in any of the spinoffs.

This says it perfectly for me. I was super-annoyed John had to take the black and did not become king.

It felt forced that his sister became the queen of the North, where as his rule could have united all the 7 kingdoms.

And who gives a rats ass about Greyworm. It's not his home continent so his opinion on John's fate doesn't matter. D had gone mad with power, and John killed her to save the world. Seems like a perfectly normal decision and not that of a cold blooded murderer lusting for the throne.

There is no reason that Greyworm should not have been able to see the logic in that. And so what if he didn't? He doesn't have a dragon, to tell him to screw off and go back home.

 

[GATTACA!]

Chernobyl, guys. Chernobyl.

Started this tonight. Oh my is it excellent.

Equal parts captivating and infuriating.

 

[NDMIA]

I’m pretty sure George R.R. Martin mentioned something about producing or consulting on 4-5 shows right now which is crazy. He’s 70 years old and getting pulled in a thousand different directions (mainly by HBO) and will probably never finish another book of his. Maybe he finishes 1 but I highly highly doubt Martin ends up finishing both books before the end of his time.

 

[GATTACA!]

Quote:

As for finishing my book… I fear that New Zealand would distract me entirely too much. Best leave me here in Westeros for the nonce. But I tell you this — if I don’t have THE WINDS OF WINTER in hand when I arrive in New Zealand for worldcon, you have here my formal written permission to imprison me in a small cabin on White Island, overlooking that lake of sulfuric acid, until I’m done. Just so long as the acrid fumes do not screw up my old DOS word processor, I’ll be fine.

Link: http://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2019/05/21/thanks-new-zealand/

What is hype may never die!

That's 14 months fwiw.

 

[IrishLax]

The difference is that I assume in the books Bran's character development from Bran -> 3ER -> King would/will make much more sense and be much less "wtf he didn't do anything the whole show?"

 

[IrishLion]

What is hype may never die!

That's 14 months fwiw.

Ha, he knows he actually needs to get to work, because he knows two books aren't gonna get the series finished.

He said the last two volumes will span 3000 pages between them... which means that when he gets tWoW finished, he'll realize he needs an additional 1500 pages, just like between "Feast for Crows" and "Dance with Dragons," and he'll have to insert a new title between tWoW and aDoS.

7-volume series becomes an 8-volume series for a 70-year old dude who would rather produce shows and write histories. Yikes.

If he *somehow* wraps everything up in two books, it's gonna feel forced and rushed just like the show, IMO.

 

[BleedBlueGold]

The difference is that I assume in the books Bran's character development from Bran -> 3ER -> King would/will make much more sense and be much less "wtf he didn't do anything the whole show?"

You're probably right. My biggest issue wasn't Bran being King. It was Bran being King literally right after he said "I'm not Bran. I don't want anymore," in response to being asked to be King in the North. I also took huge issue with Jon not being present at the meeting of the 7 Kingdoms. The one person who had claim to the throne wasn't even a cameo in that scene. If Jon is the one giving that monologue instead of Tyrion, I probably would've walked away a little more happy with the finale. I can see the books (if they ever get completed) doing a much better job with all of this.

 

[GATTACA!]

Guess who's 100 silver stags richer??

This guy!

Took first place in the GoT death pool I was in.

 

[phork]

Guess who's 100 silver stags richer??

This guy!

Took first place in the GoT death pool I was in.

Same here bro! Cheers!

 

[GATTACA!]

Same here bro! Cheers!

Nice!

I hit 24/27 hbu?