Blackfyres R Legit

I feel sick to my stomach, particularly over the fate of Dany, and Jon, (all of it really). To see this sweet girl at the start of her journey, all the heroic resilience she displayed after suffering tragedy after tragedy only to be made Darth Dragon-Lady at the end, and then knifed in the gut. And Jon...all of his journey from being a Bastard, to a Lord Commander, to being risen from the dead, to King in the North, to a Dragon-Riding Targaryen, heir to the Iron throne, and theeeeennnn.............to a Queen-slayer, a Kin-slayer, and then back to the wall as a lowly Nights Watchman and exile? This is what I invested all that time and emotional connection for?? (Oh gawd, and don't get me started on Saint Tyrion and his sanctimonious speeches!) If this is where GRRM is really going with them too, then f--k this. F--k the rest of the book series, f--k all the spin-offs, and f--k all the side books. I've been reading Fire and Blood lately, but I'm so put off by all of this, that it's going back to the Library tomorrow. F--k this. I know GRRM loves subverting tropes, but again, if this is really where he's going, then he's an emotional ghoul who loves f--king people over. I don't buy there being enough signs with Dany's character to show where they were going. If this was supposed to be some kind of Shakespearean tragedy, then boy did they ever blow it! I realize that GRRM showed his hand early too with the Red Wedding, but even so, building characters up to just so catastrophically tear them down in the end...that is just wrong. Yes, this is D&D's work, but at this rate I don't think it matters if it's written better by GRRM. I don't need to read a more detailed evisceration of these characters I made the mistake of caring about.

Initially...I didn't like what happened with Dany in this ep....but after thinking about it, I'm ok with it. Not in having innocent people burned to death mind you, but in terms of character and story. It would seem to fall in line with GRRM's penchant for Greyness in human behaviour and dissing fantasy tropes. And if this is indeed the general direction Martin is going with her, then the joke may well be on fandom for falling for the whole female Aragorn/ Return of the King, thing. In other words this could wind up being GRRM going "Surprise...there's no such thing as a benevolent medieval style conqueror!" Every conqueror type King in real-history left monstrous trails death and destruction upon common people, especially the likes of Edward III and Henry V. Also...in this ep, Dany was acting no different whatsoever from her ancestors, particularly Aegon, Visenya and Rhaenys. Again, I'm not saying what she did was right by any means (I too would prefer Dany to have remained a female Aragorn). Only that this could be GRRMs statement about the truth of 'Conquering' Heroes.

I totally agree, especially with Bran. It's cheapened Mira's sacrifice, Jojen's sacrifice, Hodor's sacrifice, Summer's sacrifice and I'd even say the TCOTF and the old 3-eyed Raven too, to a degree. I feel like I've been punched in the mouth. In terms of Mythic Prophecies in fantasy-type lore, the way Star Wars handled the matter is still best. Anakin Skywalker did ultimately bring balance to the Force, just not in a way that anyone would have wanted or expected.

On it's own, this episode was intense, though towards the end it felt like they were drawing it out too much. I don't like the feeling that I'm being toyed with in a story. The moments I loved best were the close-ups with Grey Worm, especially after he puts on his helmet and you have only the burning intensity in his eyes to focus on. Great acting there. Critically speaking though....ehh, this felt like 100% fan service, especially when you have full on Dragon-fire resistant NK mixed with Valyrian Steele allergic NK. Bran's whole story line now feels like one enormous 8 year long red-herring. What was the point of any of his journey, where people gave their lives to save his? Just to prove that Jon is a Targ? Or say weird things from time to time or get into Raven's heads? Not happy about this one bit. In fact, the whole WW story line feels a bit like one big Red-Herring, and the Song of Ice and Fire is really the Song of Fire, a bit of Ice and Cersei is the real Menace. Arya killing the NK? On it's own, it was a cool moment, but in the bigger picture? Total Fan-service. It feels too forced and it's cheapened the stories of Jon, Dany and Bran, the three main magical characters. Jon was brought back to life from the dead (that doesn't happy to just anybody). Dany is the Unburned and hatched 3 baby dragons from petrified eggs (The too doesn't happen to just anybody). Bran is the Three-eyed Raven (Ditto). Yet none of these three magical characters are able to take down the big Magical Monster in the end, because hey, Arya is a freaking Ninja now, and wouldn't that be so cool if she busted out a sweet Ninja-style kill move on the NK? I realize that the matter of exposing the BS of prophecies is often a plot point in and of itself in big epic stories, but in this case, they took it too far. One Red Herring can be creatively and thought provokingly do'able, but three? Where the characters have super-natural elements richly imbued in their respective story lines? I've seen it said that Jon, Dany and Bran can still have critical roles to play in the final three eps, but doing what exactly? Taking down Cersei? Second Rate villain, Non-dragon, non-magic having Cersei?? She's supposed to be the great evil threat that these 3 magically endowed heroes are supposed to take down, and not the frozen demons and their armies of zombies? But wait...the Valancar will be the one to take Cersei down, because that prophecy is cool. Sigh. What a mess.