Br16

12 hours ago, It_spelt_Magalhaes said:

Holy! I feel old.

Also? 'He chose... poorly.' after Donovan was all 'eternal life'? Awesomest line. 

Yeah, loved the grail scene. Also, Glover looks a lot better clean shaven, even as a villain he was cool. That Pycelle beard makes him haggard and petty imo. 

Also, Pycelle (Julian Glover) was in Troy, and also Donovan in Indiana Jones Last Crusade.

Rory Mccann was Craterus in Alexander. 

On 7/1/2019 at 11:29 AM, namesarehard said:

Extremely stupid question: Where do you sit in a sept? There are seven altars spaced around the room. Also, a seven sided building is about the hardest to build.

I think you either stand or kneel on the hard floor, and take the discomfort in order to show deference to the gods.

7 hours ago, House Cambodia said:

To be fair, she used the proceeds from Casterly Rock to pay the IB in full, so the only debt was hiring the Golden Company. All in all, the Crown debt is probably not that large.

Now I remember, doesn't the Iron Throne still owe Tywin Lannister 3 million gold dragons (from the scene where LF explains to Ned about Robert's debt). So while the High Garden loot paid off the IB debt, does Bran now owe Tyrion (as Tywin's heir) 3 million gold dragons? No wonder he got the Hand position.

3 minutes ago, House Cambodia said:

They made Bronn Master of Coin because as Lord of The Reach, he holds the most valuable agricultural land. So he's expected to dip in and fund the Crown like Tywin did before. So the kingdom will be good for boats and brothels. Beyond that, it'll be the same as before - going cap-in-hand to the Iron Bank. They will be happy to lend since with peace throughout the continent they can expect a secure return on their investments.

If he could hold it, then Bronn really won the Games of Thrones. This is not even a bittersweet ending since it's all sweet and no bitter for Bronn. Everyone else has suffered traumatic losses  while he gained everything. Not only does he get to tax Oldtown, he'll now own all the best property in KL. This level of fan service is outrageous.

22 minutes ago, Kaapstad said:

What do you guys think is Jon’s purpose now in the far North? What’s he going to do? What is his objective?

He's the new Mance I suppose, King beyond the wall in all but name. Maybe he will check out Night King castle to make sure its truly over.

20 minutes ago, House Cambodia said:

The very last shot of the last episode showed Jon riding beyond the Wall - the horse clippity-clopped past a green shoot, illustrating the Dream of Spring after the Winds of Winter. After warnings of 8000 years that "Winter is Coming", it came and went in the space of a bog-standard winter!

Have you forgotten who else dwells in Braavos?!!!

Good point! I just rewatched that scene and saw the green shoot, guess this is what happens when star wars tv show takes away D&D's patience to do justice to 8 years of winter hype.

Also, if you are referring to the Faceless Men, I don't see them as reliable debt collectors. I read that they sometimes set exorbitant fees (i.e. 2/3 of  Waif's dad's wealth) or weird prices like if a Lord wanted the heir of another Lord killed, he would have to pay them with the life of his own heir. So I doubt the IB would want to get too close to the Faceless Men. They want reliable, affordable, no nonsense and business like mercenary companies like GC that will bow to their economic power.

Money is only as powerful as whatever it can buy, and Essos armies (other than Unsullied which IB can't have) seem to be on the weak and small side while the Dothraki are too wild to contract with.

I feel that at this stage, the IB has run out of rival princes to back.

32 minutes ago, Parwan Nays said:

An interesting sidelight, a worthwhile speculation about the Iron Bank. Whether you're right or wrong, it's unlikely that a future book or TV series will say. 

To me, it's clear that the business of IB is just another example of poorly thought out story telling by the show runners. The bankers are supposed to be hard headed businessmen, right? What the hell could they have possibly expected to gain from Westeros? How would they have made any money on their investment? Did they think that the Night King would repay them with chunks of ice? If Dany won, she would have less than zero obligation to repay the loan. Even if Cersei won, Westeros would have been a wreck, and winter (Remember winter? I think winter was mentioned a few times in the series.) would just be starting. The only reasonable course for the IB would be to write off their losses in the west (i.e. the money given to Stannis) and do what they could to make money in Esos. 

Thanks for your reply, and I agree with you completely that the IB business acumen is poorly represented in the show, and that the worst winter ever plot has been thrown out the window. Maybe D&D was hoping that the death of Night King would be interpreted by us to mean early spring?

My opinion is that it is a confidence trick the IB are pulling off. They've spun such a big tale about how they could always fund a rival prince that they cannot simply write off losses without looking weak and causing a bank run. They must collect or appear to be collecting or else everyone would call their bluff and not pay them. In the past, the threat of the Golden Company showing up is probably enough, but with them gone, the IB has no one dependable left to enforce its orders.

Also, is it possible that with the Golden Company defeated forever, the Iron Bank would have received the final nail in the coffin and would fail soon? 

My theory is that when the Iron Bank rep went to Cersei for immediate collection, it was a sign of desperation. Previously (in the show at least), Westerosi lords always went to Braavos to negotiate, not the other way around.

Moreover, in the books, it is mentioned that Dany's liberation of slaves is felt from Westeros to Asshai, so it's fair to say that even though Braavos does not deal in slaves, the disruption of such a big part of the old economy could have resulted in an economic domino effect that ended  with the Iron Bank holding a load of bad debts across multiple sectors. Moreover, the show seems to imply that the bank is corrupt and invests in slavery in secret. 

With the Golden Company (mentioned in the show as the bank's preferred agents for violent debt collection) no longer available, could the Iron Bank be facing an existential crisis? Especially considering that even Kings Landing and its merchants are gone too.

2 hours ago, House Cambodia said:

In theory yes. This is part of the mess that D&D left us with. I'm sure the intention is that Yara civilizes the IB, persuading them to end their raiding and reaving ways and settle down to be nice fishermen. But with Yara's non-existent relationship with Sansa (as it was her bloody brother that razed Winterfell, you'd think an apology would be warranted), her last words being a fierce rejection of the consensus together with a dismissive snarl, it's not the impression we were left with.

Thanks for your reply! You bring up a great point on the ending mess D&D left us with.  Also what are your thoughts regarding Bronn's military strength? All I can figure out is that he probably commands the Lannister Garrison left behind at High Garden when they took it (assuming Daenerys didn't rectify that after the Gold Road battle). Don't think he could hire any more as the Tyrell life savings went to the Iron Bank/GC and the harvest  burned by dragon fire. Considering that he was part of the force sent by Jaime to requisition the harvest, I bet all the smallfolk farmers and Highgarden gentry hate him.

Thus, how is Bronn going to assert his authority against the prestigious Redwyns and Hightowers? I read elsewhere on this forum that Hightower army could be 10-15K and Redwyne fleet is 200 ships. Plus, since he was part of the force that killed Olenna Redwyne, I could see some discontent there. I feel unless Sam is willing to persuade whoever rules Horn Hill now to lend him the remains of the Tarly army, he's finished.

Frankly, no matter how much Bronn goes about being a "hard bastard", I just don't see him as Lord Paramount. Realistically, he needs Tyrion's patronage and protection, and anything other than a holdfast sworn to Casterly rock, a lannister cousin wife and elevation to vassal Lord would be out of his practical reach.

I feel that D&D should have cleared this up since The Reach is the one region that matters the most now that the Lannister mines are dry. 

I was kind of hoping that Arya would be taken out by the Night King during her jump, and that would spur Jon into super Azor Ahai rage which allows him to cut towards the Night King for one almighty boss fight. 

Does the ending mean that Iron Born will get to raid the North for the foreseeable future as Yara's promise to Dany could now be null after her death, and the North is independent and not under the King's peace? I doubt Bran could protect his sister even if he wanted considering his nonexistent armies.