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[Book Spoilers Inc WoW Chapters] Ser Barristan Selmy


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Ser Barristan the Bold.



Is dead.


Or pretty much dead. I wasn't quite sure if he was or not, but then the episode 5 preview appears to show him lying cold and dead in some sort of funeral.


This saddens me, in ADWD he became such a good character and one of my favourites.


Perhaps on the show they want to set up Daario as Dany's only close advisor for the moment?



[WoW Spoilers] Also for those who have read Barristan I-2 excerpt chapters George released from WoW, he is one of the main commanders is the army, for what will be known as the battle of fire.


How will this change? Is Grey Worm dead as well? He also features in those chapters.



What did you all think of this change? And who will take his place if anyone in his later arc from ADWD?


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In the episode I wasn't sure Barristan was dead, but by the looks of the preview, I'd say yeah, 100%. Oddly enough I think Grey Worm will survive, although before I saw this episode I thought he was a goner this season. But I suppose he can't die until we have more action on the Grey Worm/Missandei romance plotline. :rolleyes:



I imagine in the show, since so many things are condensed, that Tyrion will arrive much sooner to become a counselor to Daenerys, taking the place of Barristan.


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Selmy was pretty much my favorite character in the books, so I'm pretty disappointed. I was greatly looking forward to his scene with the Pit Fighters when he's in full plate armor and beating the shizz out of them.

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**POSSIBLE [WOW] SPOILERS BELOW** (I haven't figured out the hidden spoiler text trick yet)




The loss of Barristan was the first time I lost all faith in D+D. I've been angry/sad/fuming/confused all day. It's been confirmed that Selmy is dead and Grey Worm survives, although there is speculation that Selmy lives long enough to impart some sage advice to Dany.



What irks me the most is that I feel like a lot of the book readers were looking forward to Barristan's aDwD story arc. Now I'm guessing that they will give it to Jorah or Daario (UGGGGHHH, Daario.) Tyrion will earn Dany's trust and become the new advisor/Westerosi history teacher, and either Jorah or Daario will step into Selmy's role once Dany takes flight. This is a true shame. D+D really wasted Barristan's character on the show and to have him go out in such a casual fashion was the worst. I simply can't see Jorah or Darrio giving the same rousing speech/monologue that Selmy gives his "army" in the WOW chapter. He was a leader. A commander. The greatest knight in the Seven Kingdoms.



I also loved every page of the Barristan chapters in aDwD. When he finally puts the Harpies down, I had to turn each page very slowly and with caution since I was so scared he wasn't going to make it. The book really gave that story arc beautiful tension and suspense.



Killing Ser Barristan Badass at this point in the season just doesn't make any sense. He should have had his day in the pit at least. The death seemed like it was nothing more than an attempt at "shock value", but most non-book readers didn't even know the real Barristan so they weren't that shocked. My unsullied friends didn't bat an eyelash when "that old guy died." They wasted a great character and even wasted him in death.



Why the writers decided to go this route is beyond me, other than they wanted to thin out Dany's entourage because they think viewers are too dense to handle all the storylines and characters ... which is patronizing and offends our intelligence.



RIP Ser Barristan the Bold, I'm grateful I still have you in the books.




#ITSHOULDHAVEBEENDAARIO


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RIP Ser Barristan the Bold, I'm grateful I still have you in the books

#ITSHOULDHAVEBEENDAARIO

I'm with you 100%

Feels like a waste. The very best we can hope is that TV Tyrion somehow takes on the role Ser Baristan played at the end of DwD and into WoW.

I am glad we finally got to see him fight at least.

Also, let's hope TV Daario takes on the role that Groleo played towards the end of DwD.

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I'm with you 100%

Feels like a waste. The very best we can hope is that TV Tyrion somehow takes on the role Ser Baristan played at the end of DwD and into WoW.

I am glad we finally got to see him fight at least.

Also, let's hope TV Daario takes on the role that Groleo played towards the end of DwD.

I dunno, seems like Jorah's being set up to go back into his role at Dany's side.

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What irks me the most is that I feel like a lot of the book readers were looking forward to Barristan's aDwD story arc. Now I'm guessing that they will give it to Jorah or Daario (UGGGGHHH, Daario.) Tyrion will earn Dany's trust and become the new advisor/Westerosi history teacher, and either Jorah or Daario will step into Selmy's role once Dany takes flight. This is a true shame. D+D really wasted Barristan's character on the show and to have him go out in such a casual fashion was the worst. I simply can't see Jorah or Darrio giving the same rousing speech/monologue that Selmy gives his "army" in the WOW chapter. He was a leader. A commander. The greatest knight in the Seven Kingdoms.

I also loved every page of the Barristan chapters in aDwD. When he finally puts the Harpies down, I had to turn each page very slowly and with caution since I was so scared he wasn't going to make it. The book really gave that story arc beautiful tension and suspense.

I'm sad as well that he's gone, but the ADWD Barristan chapters would have been skipped anyway. There is no siege of Meereen, and no upcoming battle, so there was no real need for the book Barristan.

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To be fair, I felt like his two most important abilities/purposes in the books were his fighting prowess and his personal experience/memories as a member of the Kingsguard. Because the actor is too old to really do much in the way of choreography (I thought his fight scene was OK but far from incredible), and because Barristan's inner thoughts and monologues would be hard to convey on the show, he really wasn't that essential a character.



His role as a wealth of Mad King-era knowledge and a knight of undeniable swordsmanship was interesting and valuable in the books, but on the show he had sort of been marginalized since the beginning, and I never really expected much more to come of him.


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The show has less characters than the books. Which means characters who don't die now or ever have to die in place of other characters. Barristan already told Dany that her father was truly insane. I think he won't die till the next episode, but before he does he tells Dany something important.


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Why the writers decided to go this route is beyond me, other than they wanted to thin out Dany's entourage because they think viewers are too dense to handle all the storylines and characters ... which is patronizing and offends our intelligence.

This is bullshit. Keeping up with all the characters in the show is way harder compared to the books. Some characters are only mentioned once or twice in en entire season, and some aren't even called by their name at all. (I totally missed the ' 2nd mountain' in season 2 for instance)

I can totally understand that some people have problems following who is who and what all their arcs are. There is a lot of info that isn't in the show.

We just have to accept that this season things are changing rapidly from the books and that we aren't prepared for everything.

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I think Tyrion is going to meet Dany much sooner than expected. I also believe there won't be a battle of fire in the show and that is one of the reasons Barristan is no longer needed.

The Battle of Fire is such a massive event, that has been teased for a long time, and a lot of events and characters are going towards that point, I'm sure they won't just leave out something that will likely be a huge event.

I would imagine however that it will be mostly in season 6, not this year. But what makes you think they won't include it in the show?

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I thought Barristan looked like a boss in that scene but wasn't surprised that they decided to kill him off, the way that Dany's arc has developed he isn't really needed, I found reading DwD that she was more the focus of other's stories rather than the story herself. Since so many of those threads seem to have been cut Barristan served less purpose - and it leaves Dany more isolated.



What actually annoyed me about the scene though was how the unsullied were treated, we are lead to believe that these are the best fighters in the show, and yet they are overran so easily.


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Well, you can't take the show seriously anymore after than, can you? At least not as an adaptation of the books. Barristan Selmy is still around in the books, he has chapters and a story of his own. He may die during the Battle of Fire but just because he dies in the show at this point doesn't mean he is a goner in the books. The show likes to kill off Dany's companions for shock value - hello there, Mago, Rakharo, Irri, Doreah, Xaro, Pyat Pree - and all characters besides Doreah are still alive and well in the books, and actually have played/will play important roles in coming books.


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I thought Barristan looked like a boss in that scene but wasn't surprised that they decided to kill him off, the way that Dany's arc has developed he isn't really needed, I found reading DwD that she was more the focus of other's stories rather than the story herself. Since so many of those threads seem to have been cut Barristan served less purpose - and it leaves Dany more isolated.

What actually annoyed me about the scene though was how the unsullied were treated, we are lead to believe that these are the best fighters in the show, and yet they are overran so easily.

Agreed. Only grey worm seemed like a decent fighter in that scene. The other unsullied just seemed like untrained kids. The sons of the harpy didn't even have any decent gear, just some short blades/knifes.

Well, you can't take the show seriously anymore after than, can you? At least not as an adaptation of the books. Barristan Selmy is still around in the books, he has chapters and a story of his own. He may die during the Battle of Fire but just because he dies in the show at this point doesn't mean he is a goner in the books. The show likes to kill off Dany's companions for shock value - hello there, Mago, Rakharo, Irri, Doreah, Xaro, Pyat Pree - and all characters besides Doreah are still alive and well in the books, and actually have played/will play important roles in coming books.

Dany's by some called 'plot armor' was even more obvious in the show. Therefor, to make the viewers more band to Dany, she had to have some setbacks.

And yes, we knew after one season that the show and the books wouldn't be exactly the same. Things are going to differ even more.

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I didn't mind the Unsullied dropping like flies, actually the books at least made it clear that their skill is out in the field, not in City streets, like cavalry, devastating out in the open, very vulnerable in a tight alley. That said, I don't buy the Unsullied as totally legit, worlds best, anyway. I reckon a decent Westerosi army would be the end of them.



I am pissed that Barristan is dead. What a waste.


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Well, the average Son of the Harpy would be an average citizen of Meereen - which means he is not trained at arms at all, and should thus not be able to stand a chance against the average Unsullied - who is very much trained at arms.



The whole shield wall stuff refers to the Unsullied's capability to stand against cavalry. That is not the same thing.


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