The Bard of Banefort

Was Shae named after Shea Stadium? (For those who don't know, Shea Stadium was the home field for the NY Mets up until a few years ago. GRRM is a Mets fan).

I love Aeron's last lines in this chapter: This is huge character development for Aeron. There are two things to remember about Aeron here: 1. He is is a devout Drowned priest who believes that mainlanders are heathens. 2. He is a misogynist. Aeron knows Asha is the best choice to rule the Iron Islands, but won't support her because of her gender. He makes Lord Goodbrother's daughters leave the room when he comes to confer with him. He thinks women are destined to die in childbirth, and when he thinks about the stepmother that he hates (who also died in childbirth), he fixates on her soft breasts and large doe eyes--both symbolic of her femininity. So here's Damphair, the son of an Ironborn lord, tied to the prow of a ship, trying to comfort a knocked-up, bastard-born teenage salt wife from the Reach. He tells Falia, who was all but certainly raised in the Faith of the Seven, that they will both be allowed into the Drowned God's kingdom after death, where they will find peace. So much is revealed in that one exchange, and I love it.

I had made a post wondering if the original Daenerys' death from the Shivers was maybe a hint that our Dany would be killed by a re-forged Ice, but now I'm thinking that, as someone else on this thread suggested a while back, that it's foreshadowing that Dany will be killed by Jon, who is symbolic of/symbolized by winter and ice.

It's up now. Thanks!

Hello, everyone. Last Monday, I started a thread in the General (GOT) section, since it was about how the show may bear on how the books conclude, and while I can still view my post, it is still pending approval. I'm bringing this up here in case the admins may have missed it. Here's a link to my post (assuming you can access it):

I'm considering making a post about this, but how exactly did Aemon the Dragonknight survive in that cage in Dorne for so long? We're told that Baelor was in King's Landing when his brother died, which would mean that news would have to travel from Dorne to King's Landing, Baelor would have to make a barefoot trek to Dorne to negotiate with the Martells, then he would have to travel to where Aemon was being held captive. This would presumably take several months. For that period of time, Aemon was being held in a cage over a viper pit in the desert without any clothing. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that the Dornish weren't feeding him either. The only reason why I'm asking about this here instead of on the general page is because I'm not sure if this is one of those "don't overthink it" situations where there isn't actually a logical explanation. Did I miss something here?

Apologies if this was discussed already, but does anyone have any ideas as to how present Daenerys connects to the first Daenerys, who died of the shivers? Fire & Blood contained a lot of parallels for season eight: Elissa Farman sailing west, a Great Council, Rhaenyra's fall from grace, etc. George retconned Jaehaerys and Alysanne's children so that their first daughter was now named Daenerys, and died of the shivers, so I had taken this to mean that Dany would die fighting the White Walkers.

I saw Arya's ending as an homage to Return of the King. Like Frodo, I suspect Arya will feel that she is too damaged to stay with her family in Winterfell.

Thinking about it now, I can see how Bran will take on Rodrik the Reader/Maester Aemon-esque role in the war against the Others, informing the others about what is coming, designing a plan to face them, and putting himself in harm's way to draw the Others out in order to be destroyed. I'm also guessing he's going to do something to help during the actual battle - warg a dragon, perhaps? - which will earn him respect afterwards. Assuming there is another Great Council, nominating a man who showed both great wisdom and courage during the Long Night makes a lot more sense than someone who "has the best story."

Oh, man. We're all going to be dissecting this for years. So many possibilities! To kick things off, yes, I do believe Bran will be the king at the end of the series. Authors love their poetic flair, and Bran, having had the first chapter of the series, will likely also have the last. (Oddly enough, I thought Bran would be king for several seasons, until he became robotic, and then I started to change my mind. I guess I should have just stuck with my gut). There's also Luwin saying that Bran is Ned Stark's "true son," and ACOK's display of Bran's emotional maturity, in spite of his age. Fire & Blood also gave us the precedent of a Great Council. I think Arya will go off on an adventure, but I think it will be framed similarly to Frodo's departure at the end of Return of the King. Arya will feel like there's no coming back from her trauma, and her years of violence, preventing her from staying with her family in Westeros. I actually think that the North and Iron Islands being independent makes sense from a cultural standpoint. Neither region follows the Faith of the Seven, and they never fully assimilated with the rest of Westeros. Whether as a queen or a lady, I find it likely that Sansa will preside over Winterfell. D&D clearly love Dany, so I don't think that they would have her burn the city and then be killed by Jon if it wasn't part of George's outline. As horrifying as it is to consider, I think it's very possible that Dany will also be pregnant at the time, given how much that was foreshadowed last season. I'm guessing they decided to do away with the pregnancy plot in order to make Jon more sympathetic on the show. Cersei's taken on the role of Aegon, who I think will be in King's Landing at the time of Dany's attack, so I doubt Cersei will still be around by then. The impression I got when Dany burned the people of King's Landing was that she was punishing them for not loving her, and I think that could make a lot of sense in the books. The people will have embraced the mummer's dragon, Aegon, and Dany won't be able to handle Westeros not living up to her expectations. She doesn't feel at home anywhere, and that takes a huge toll on her mental health. The blandness of Brienne's plot in seasons 6 and 7, along with the fanservice of season 8 (getting knighted, sleeping with Jaime, becoming Lord Commander) makes me think that she'll die in TWOW. I think it's likely that Jaime will outlive both Brienne and Cersei, but I don't think he'll be the valonqar, since I don't think George will have two main characters kill their "mad queen" lovers. I definitely think that the Dornish--Arianne, Doran, the Sand Snakes--are all doomed. Theon and his uncles are also doomed, and Asha will sit the Seastone Chair. I admit that I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen with the Others. I love the idea of Drogon living and flying off into the great unknown. It leaves open the possibility that magic still exists in the world, even if we don't get to see it. I'm not sure what the trajectory for Viserion and Rhaegal will be. I find it likely that they will have various riders, but will both die in ADOS. I'm curious to see how Val factors into Jon's story going forward.

I think it's very unlikely that Jaime is the valonqar at this point. Having two main characters kill their "mad queen" lovers would be redundant. I've seen people speculate that they kept the White Walkers vague for the sake of the prequel show, and I think that's probably true. It wouldn't surprise me if we learn that you can never permanently kill the Walkers, only delay them (which would explain why there's still a Night's Watch).

For all my issues and disappointments with GOT, I'm finding myself oddly okay with the ending. After years and years of defending Sansa, her becoming Queen in the North felt extremely validating (also, that crown reminded me of Aragorn). Bran becoming king makes sense to me, although GOT didn't develop him as much as they should have. My belief that Daenerys is an example of the dangers of a messiah complex (and something of a fictional parallel for Vladimir Lenin) are even stronger now after this episode. Is Yara still Queen of the Iron Islands? If so, that would mean that there are three countries in the West now: the North, Iron Islands, and greater Westeros (Six Kingdoms?). That actually makes sense from a sociological point of view, since nations are typically defined by a common culture and religion.

Watching Dany comb through the streets, I got the impression that she was punishing the people for not loving her. It would match up with what else we’ve seen this season, with her being unable to cope with no longer being seen as a goddess.

I wish Jaime didn’t go back to Cersei, but I don’t think it undid his improvement as a person either. He’s still the guy who saved and knighted Brienne, who saved the city from Aerys and protected Tyrion, and who came North to fight the army of the dead. He came to save Cersei, not to help her crush the invading army. In a way, Jaime and Cersei are the reverse of what we usually see in the depiction of abusive relationships: rather than the manipulated wife being unable to leave her spouse, Jaime is the time one who can’t break free from Cersei. Ironically, I’ve liked this season a lot more than five, six, and seven.

This was a very strange episode. From and in-universe perspective, no one should care enough about Missandei to use her as a bargaining chip. She's basically just a handmaiden. This isn't really that big of a deal, but it's something that seems king of silly in retrospect. Jaime is clearly a fake-out: he's going to end Cersei, not join her. I'm not totally sure if that's how it will work out, however. I could see there being a twist where Euron stabs her in the back. It's actually kind of comical that no one other than Tyrion has suggested a marriage pact between Jon and Dany, including Jon and Dany. Also, there's been a lot of unprotected sex this season, and so far no pregnancies (I'm not sure if I believe that Cersei even is pregnant). Guess we'll see how that pans out. The problem with the show not portraying Dany's disturbing behavior from previous seasons as tyrannical is that now it just seems like everyone hates her out of nowhere. She's behaving exactly the same as always, only now it suddenly bothers people. Honestly, the only consistent one in this instance is Sansa, since she made it clear last season that she distrusts Targaryens. (Although what was with that weird line to Jaime about not getting to see Cersei executed? Sophie's acting has improved dramatically, but the way she behaved in that scene--kind of smugly, despite the northerners walking right into Cersei's lair--didn't land right). I never in a million years would have thought D&D would give us another Sansa/Hound scene. Wow. Gotta love how Tyrion's all pro-women when defending Dany's claim, yet he thought Bran deserved to be the Lord of Winterfell over the sister that Tyrion's obsessed with, who has been successfully ruling Winterfell for quite some time now.

It's kind of weird that we didn't get a conclusion for Brienne and Jaime. I didn't see them in next week's preview either.

Barristan tells Dany in ADWD that Aerys and Rhaella were forced into marriage because a wood's witch prophecized that TPTWP would be born of their line.

The real question now is whether or not Arya kills the Night's King in the books. George made it sound like the White Walkers don't really have a leader in the books, so I'm not sure how that'll work out.

So was the dagger that Arya gave Sansa not the dragon glass dagger then? Poor Theon

It's kind of odd how they switched around a lot of the relationships in the show. Jon and Arya adore each other in the books, but he has a much stronger relationship with Sansa in the show. Sansa and the Hound are infatuated with each other in the books, but they don't even mention each other on GOT (they even threw in a line about how he "hates gingers" last season).

I'm pretty sure Jorah, Beric, Tormund, and Grey Worm were only kept alive this long in order to have climatic deaths against the White Walkers. Sansa and Theon's scenes were beautiful. I personally felt romantic undertones there, but more in an unspoken, emotional sense. I have a feeling Theon may be meeting his end next episode. The Gendrya sex scene felt really uncomfortable to me. I know Maisie's an adult, but she looks much younger, and it's weirder when you consider that she was a small child when we first met her. I also just don't find the chemistry between the two very convincing. Jaime and Brienne's scenes were great. Very emotional and well-acted. I felt the acting was pretty good all-around in this episode. Actually, if I had to criticize anyone, it would probably be Tyrion, who's honestly kind of a drag these days.

I've liked the last two episodes more than anything from seasons five, six, and seven. I'm really crossing my fingers that they can keep this up.

Also, would it kill them to use some better lighting? I can't see anything. I thought Sophie's acting showed a lot of improvement this episode (as did Kit's and Maisie's). She seems to have gotten the hang of Sansa's "soft but stoic" approach.

It looks to me like they're already setting up Daenerys' death, especially when you factor in how morbid Emilia sounded about the final season in interviews. Having her threaten Sansa in front of Jon, and then having Arya tell him that she's on Sansa's side and that Jon needs to "remember who his family is" really seemed like foreshadowing. And then there was Sam. I'm guessing Bran is going to defend Jaime in the next episode, and that's why he looks so surprised in the preview. Jaime has a role to play and Bran knows that. (I also loved his look of shock when he saw Bran at the end of the episode).

Honestly, my favorite part was the scene between Cersei and Tyrion. Overall, I didn't find it to be a particularly exciting episode.