Karl Tanner and Locke Appreciation thread (Show Spoilers)

[BericDondarrion]

I'm glad Jon and his brothers didn't find out Locke was a bad guy. I love Locke for chopping off Jaimes hand.

[Frances Bean Corbray]

There's a weird sadness to his death. As far as his brothers will ever know, he was just a new recruit who died fighting with them.

I seriously thought we were going to get an IRONY moment with Jon saying the stock NW eulogy for him. "And now his watch is ended" etc.

[MyLittleFinger]

I seriously thought we were going to get an IRONY moment with Jon saying the stock NW eulogy for him. "And now his watch is ended" etc.

"I know you have him! Hand me back my reek and my locke!!!!"

[DaveyJoe]

It's kind of weird but Locke's death has been the biggest blow to me this season. :(

[SoManyVows]

Karl Tanner cemented his case for the Game of Thrones Hall of Fame by offering us two of the single best line deliveries in the entire lifespan of the show.

"You are a bastard. A daughter-fucking, wildling bastard."

And, of course ...

"I was a fucking legend in Gin Alley. A fucking LEGEND."

That guy had perhaps the highest PER of any character on the show. The amount of badassery and unrepentant evil he exuded relative to his screentime was remarkable. He left such an impression that it's hard to believe that he only appeared in four episodes of the series, and in one of those appearances he didn't speak at all.

As for Locke, he's probably my favorite character who's primarily an original creation for the show. He was so vastly superior to the slobbering cartoon that was Vargo Hoat that it's hard to fully quantify. His well-established resentment of the "highborn cunts" who lord over the common people created a real sense of depth for the character, making his otherwise garden-variety sadism feel far more organic than it might have otherwise been. Bolton sending him on a mission to hunt down Bran and Rickon pretty much confirmed for me that he eventually had to die, but man, he was great while he lasted.

All hail Burn Gorman and Noah Taylor! Fucking legends both.

[Seneti]

Did anyone else not like that fight scene at the end? I mean some guy with tow knives is beating Jon who has a valyrian steel sword and has been trained to fight since he was a kid?

Actually, as pointed out by Oberyn in ep. 4.01, knives/daggers are the better choice in close quarters because you need a lot of room to move properly with a Longsword. Also, the entire point about this fight was that they are both good fighters, but Karl is the one who is not afraid to pull dirty tricks.

[sj4iy]

Actually, as pointed out by Oberyn in ep. 4.01, knives/daggers are the better choice in close quarters because you need a lot of room to move properly with a Longsword. Also, the entire point about this fight was that they are both good fighters, but Karl is the one who is not afraid to pull dirty tricks.

^A lesson that I think Jon has now learned and will exhibit at some point in the show.

[StrollofShame]

Hi, everyone!

I just figured Locke was the 'dry run' for next season's Quentyn...altho Locke did span 2 seasons & was a much darker character, nevertheless, we got a character's intro & departure in fairly short (not to mention abrupt!) order. Preparing us for the future maybe?

[TommenFoolery]

I seriously thought we were going to get an IRONY moment with Jon saying the stock NW eulogy for him. "And now his watch is ended" etc.

My question is, being that Locke was on a secret mission, when does Roose assume he is dead? it's not like he was sending Ravens with updates. What is the Westerosi standard for assuming someone must be dead for lack of hearing from them?

"Hmmm,... we'll it's been about 2 months. He must be dead.... Damnit!"

[C0bR]

Too bad Locke is gone. They could've used him from some more stuff and the actor was great.

I did not care about Karl - too much of a grotesque villain - but I give him + points for adopting a Lars Ulrich accent for his focks

[Sleeve of Wizard]

I would have preferred to see Hodor simply choke the life out of Locke. The camera angle gave a sense of the great height from which he was dangling at the end of Hodor's arms. I understand the blood on his hands was a vehicle for Hodor to contemplate what happened but more importantly you see Bran getting more militant "By Any Means Necessary" in his mission.

Karl was just great, but I don't despair as I know there will be more baddies and good actors for that badness. :devil:

[TommenFoolery]

I seriously thought we were going to get an IRONY moment with Jon saying the stock NW eulogy for him. "And now his watch is ended" etc.

"Welcome to the Layer Cake, son."

[jarl the climber]

I'm glad Jon and his brothers didn't find out Locke was a bad guy. I love Locke for chopping off Jaimes hand.

Won't the women mention the captives in the shed that the mutineers captured? Won't they notice that there were no hounds in there?

[Lasicka]

I already miss Joff and I´m sure I´ll miss Locke as well. He was a delight to watch. What a wasted opportunity! They could have milked him for a few more episodes...

[CandleWisps]

It's kind of weird but Locke's death has been the biggest blow to me this season. :(

I feel you :( The more time passes since last night and everything settles in, the more I actually kinda miss him. so much potential he had. And I agree with a previous poster that Bran!Hodor should have choked him instead. I understand the relevancy of having the blood on Hodor's hands affetc him/the repurcussions, but I feel it might have been better to give us a little more closure with Lockes death, slowly seeing the life drain from his eyes and what not. It just happened so quick I kind of felt whiplash

[Stone Cold Bastard]

Would've preferred to have seen Locke chasing after Rickon, Shaggydog and Osha, culminating in a cool chase scene with Shaggy ripping Locke to shreads. Or Locke's true intentions and motive discovered by Jon.

Didn't care about Karl and don't understand the fascination with him. The character was absolutely revolting and total scum. Yes, he was portrayed well, but such a POS.

[Beorn Snow]

Screenwriters missed a golden oppurtunity.

Let Locke take Bran into the dark forest, then end with Craster´s Keep burning.

Then let Locke be on the run with him for an episode. Not much of a dialogue:

I don´t need you to live boy. I just need your head to show and then I will get a holdfast.

My forefathers were servants, but I will be a castlelord.

And then

let Coldhands kill Locke beginning of episode 7.

[CandleWisps]

Screenwriters missed a golden oppurtunity.

Let Locke take Bran into the dark forest, then end with Craster´s Keep burning.

Then let Locke be on the run with him for an episode. Not much of a dialogue:

I don´t need you to live boy. I just need your head to show and then I will get a holdfast.

My forefathers were servants, but I will be a castlelord.

And then

let Coldhands kill Locke beginning of episode 7.

That would have been beautiful IMO. Only problem with it is that Jojen and Meera would most likely have told Jon what happened so he could help go save him, even though they wouldn't want to part afterwards

[NightStark]

And then

let Coldhands kill Locke beginning of episode 7.

For him to disappear again in ep.10 when Bran meets the Children?

Would be a waste of time.

I know we would settle for that knowing his backstory from the book arc etc. but non readers really seem to dislike characters coming in then disappearing. This is fundamentally a show for non readers so they have to pander to them really.

I've seen non readers just brush aside some characters as filler or 'pointless' when they don't even know their future story; Sam, Asha/Yara, saw one person say the whole Vale storyline from last night was 'going nowhere'. Generally if they don't see a really obvious direction for a character they think it would be no loss for them to be cut. CH in this instance would be slated.

We like a bit of intrigue and subtlety, but the show has to be as subtle as a brick sometimes and keep character numbers to a minimum. I'm on another forum and one non reader only realised Jaime was Joffrey etc. father in the sept scene. Guy said he'd been watching since S.1 and never got that and it's one of the foundational points of the story.

[Pure Guava]

Gorman/Karl was fantastic. I was insanely disappointed thinking they'd gotten him to play such a tiny role last season, so this was a well-deserved and unexpected payoff for me. As for Taylor/Locke, other than being a brillianit actor and selling the role...I wasn't sorry to see him go since I don't feel like the show needs to continue on TOO long with invented material.

That said I was really, really, really hoping the way he'd go would be after kidnapping Bran and running into Coldhands. Why no Coldhands, D&D, why?? :crying: