Angel Eyes

But not in the show.

That does seem to be how Daenerys is; she doesn't wear armor (maybe it's the Dothraki rubbing off on her). If Drogon wasn't there in the battle on the road, Jaime would have made her into a shish-khaleesibab.

Of course that would require Daenerys actually wearing armor.

I think Jon Connington would likely be driven to sacking as an act of desperation before his greyscale advances too far. Or for all we know given how greyscale messes with the brain, the greyscale could literally make him do something irrational.

Well the White Walkers (the ones in the show) themselves appear to be a living weapon designed to counteract people that backfires, which appear to fit the books and show's theme of good intentions blowing up in someone's face.

I guess that's what it is, they had two years to work with for the last season.

If Lady Stoneheart doesn't get to him first.

We know the Starks did on occasion since there's a couple connections with the Royces and Blackwoods. Ned has an aunt who married into the Stormlands.

If he ever gets that far.

Is it possible that there were inklings going on even before the War of the Ninepenny Kings? For example Ned Stark had an aunt who married into House Rogers in the Stormlands, and bear in mind there is barely any information about House Rogers.

Technically Jon does not count as the second son, being illegitimate and all.

Well, Jaime's headed right in one of their directions. If a miracle doesn't happen, he'll get a short drop and a sudden stop (and GRRM isn't the type for miracles).

Being too nice seems to be a thing in the books. Ned plays nice with Cersei and she gets him arrested and exiled; similarly he trusts Littlefinger who has everything to gain from getting Ned killed or disgraced Robb plays nice with Balon and Roose by sending Theon back to negotiate (the former) and trusting the latter with command; both repay him by invading the North and whittling down Robb's troops Daenerys saves Mirri Maz Duur, who leaves Khal Drogo catatonic and kills Daenerys' unborn child. Jon's attempts to save "Arya" lead to him getting stabbed.

And given where he is now he might not get the chance.

Again, Daenerys calls Tyrion on his screwups. He doesn't answer her question. As for the grimdark tale, the books are already trending that way with Daenerys contemplating Viserys' advice (Dragons plant no trees), Sansa under Littlefinger, Bran with Bloodraven, Arya with the Faceless Men, Jon getting stabbed and not coming back normal (GRRM hates it when they do), and Brienne leading Jaime to Lady Stoneheart (another example of coming back wrong). It's going to take a spanner like Gollum with the One Ring to make things worthwhile.

Like that'll happen.

Which should have been taken into consideration by whoever thought it was a good idea to put civilians in the crypts.

Isn't that what I'm saying? He's clearly gotten cold feet judging by his actions throughout Season 7 because he's going up against Jaime. On the other hand Grey Worm allows Tyrion to speak even though he said "You do not speak" (slight paraphrase there).

Perhaps GRRM wanted to subvert expectations by making the catspaw dagger mystery this big event only to have it drop by the wayside, essentially just a small episode in the grand scheme of things.

Unless Tyrion was subconsciously making things harder for Daenerys out of his conflicting loyalties (which she does call him on in the show).

I wouldn't call an attempted rape a romantic story.

Not just his personality difficulties but his physical difficulties. The Dothraki respect strength, strength that Viserys doesn't have.

Well in that case it would be Cersei's tax policy.

Well, Ned and Tywin are opposite sides of the same coin: they're a subversion of the idea that a good man can be a good ruler. Tywin is a horrible person with his kids (just read Tyrion's backstory, nobody deserves to have their spouse gang-raped ordered by their father), but he's a damn good administrator (at least in his first tenure). Ned on the other hand is a fundamentally good man, does his best to be a good father, and is disturbed by unnecessary bloodshed but because of his soft heart leaves the kingdom in disarray.

I've contemplated this question a few times over the years. For the first example I thought of it more as an example of the Night King's stupidity, where he had a good 10 seconds to kill Arya before being stabbed. For the second it could have worked going the other way in that Arya's pursuit of vengeance would lead to her death.