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Shout out to Classical Warfare


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Both the Corvus and the Ballista were introduced in this episode.   The Corvus, Euron's ship boarding device, was invented by the Romans to combat the Carthaginian Trireme's and Quinquereme's during the Punic Wars.  It effectively gave the Romans the advantage in the Mediterranean sea.  And the ballista was heavily utilized by Alexander the Great.  I know the ballista was used in the Watchers on the Wall episode, but this ballista bore more of a resemblance.  Finally, the sea battle showed the bumper cars like approach to Trireme naval warfare.  Once again, Martin exceeds brilliantly by portraying historical allusions.  

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Yes, I liked the ballista, or scorpion, as GRRM likes to call it. Cersei wanting to use such a device is also consistent with lore

From The World of Ice and Fire

Spoiler

Meraxes was killed by a ballista bolt by the Dornishmen during Aegon's attempt at conquering Dorne.

Yes, it's disappointing that the ironborn don't have small, Viking-like longships, but it would be very hard to film such naval battle scenes. This is acceptable for me, and Euron using the corvus and ramming tactics was good.  

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1 hour ago, Corvinus said:

Yes, I liked the ballista, or scorpion, as GRRM likes to call it. Cersei wanting to use such a device is also consistent with lore

From The World of Ice and Fire

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Meraxes was killed by a ballista bolt by the Dornishmen during Aegon's attempt at conquering Dorne.

Yes, it's disappointing that the ironborn don't have small, Viking-like longships, but it would be very hard to film such naval battle scenes. This is acceptable for me, and Euron using the corvus and ramming tactics was good.  

The iron men had both. The books specifically say the Irone Fleet included large ships to match other fleets. 

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It also looked like Euron was firing Greek fire at Yara's ships. Or at least some kind of substance that was extremely flammable.

But did that seem like a bright tactic, to set your enemy's ships on fire, and then board the ships, which might endanger your own ships?

Plus I gather Euron would be better off capturing most of Yara's fleet intact.

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oh yea shoot I forgot that the scorpion was the term used in Medeval Europe.  Should have known, being a fan of Age of Empires and Age of Kings.  Regardless, all European military technologies had their origin in Greek and Valyrian inventions.  Have you heard the story of how Archimedes died?  The Romans knew of his ingenious mechanical inventions, which were used in the second Punic war in the city of Syracuse. (Maybe he even helped invent the Corvus, although no historical evidence of this is conclusive.) Roman soldiers invaded his study lab, and were given strict orders to not kill him.  As his mind was literally the most valuable mathematical and scientific mind of antiquity.  The Da Vinci.  However with a sharp mind comes a sharp tongue.  He declined the soldiers orders to meet the Roman general, saying he needed to finish working on a problem.  The Roman soldier, full of bloodlust and masculine dominance, was so enraged by this, that he stabbed him.  "Tell me, if I had stabbed him in the belly, instead of the back, would you admire me more?" If only the Romans were a little less brutal, if only they had a little more grace, perhaps the Doom of Mount Vesuvius, (ironically Kit Harrington is in this horrible movie) would never have occurred.  And when I say Doom I mean the fall of the empire literally. But they never listened to the Greek morals, and their own hubris led to their demise.   Was it Joffrey, the executioner, or something else entirely that led to Rome's demise?  Power is a curious thing.  

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6 hours ago, Stark side of the MoonDoor said:

oh yea shoot I forgot that the scorpion was the term used in Medeval Europe.  Should have known, being a fan of Age of Empires and Age of Kings.  Regardless, all European military technologies had their origin in Greek and Valyrian inventions.  Have you heard the story of how Archimedes died?  The Romans knew of his ingenious mechanical inventions, which were used in the second Punic war in the city of Syracuse. (Maybe he even helped invent the Corvus, although no historical evidence of this is conclusive.) Roman soldiers invaded his study lab, and were given strict orders to not kill him.  As his mind was literally the most valuable mathematical and scientific mind of antiquity.  The Da Vinci.  However with a sharp mind comes a sharp tongue.  He declined the soldiers orders to meet the Roman general, saying he needed to finish working on a problem.  The Roman soldier, full of bloodlust and masculine dominance, was so enraged by this, that he stabbed him.  "Tell me, if I had stabbed him in the belly, instead of the back, would you admire me more?" If only the Romans were a little less brutal, if only they had a little more grace, perhaps the Doom of Mount Vesuvius, (ironically Kit Harrington is in this horrible movie) would never have occurred.  And when I say Doom I mean the fall of the empire literally. But they never listened to the Greek morals, and their own hubris led to their demise.   Was it Joffrey, the executioner, or something else entirely that led to Rome's demise?  Power is a curious thing.  

Greek morals didn't help the Greek quarreling city states to prevent their own demise (by the hands of Rome).

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On 7/25/2017 at 11:08 PM, Stark side of the MoonDoor said:

oh yea shoot I forgot that the scorpion was the term used in Medeval Europe.  Should have known, being a fan of Age of Empires and Age of Kings.  Regardless, all European military technologies had their origin in Greek and Valyrian inventions.  Have you heard the story of how Archimedes died?  The Romans knew of his ingenious mechanical inventions, which were used in the second Punic war in the city of Syracuse. (Maybe he even helped invent the Corvus, although no historical evidence of this is conclusive.) Roman soldiers invaded his study lab, and were given strict orders to not kill him.  As his mind was literally the most valuable mathematical and scientific mind of antiquity.  The Da Vinci.  However with a sharp mind comes a sharp tongue.  He declined the soldiers orders to meet the Roman general, saying he needed to finish working on a problem.  The Roman soldier, full of bloodlust and masculine dominance, was so enraged by this, that he stabbed him.  "Tell me, if I had stabbed him in the belly, instead of the back, would you admire me more?" If only the Romans were a little less brutal, if only they had a little more grace, perhaps the Doom of Mount Vesuvius, (ironically Kit Harrington is in this horrible movie) would never have occurred.  And when I say Doom I mean the fall of the empire literally. But they never listened to the Greek morals, and their own hubris led to their demise.   Was it Joffrey, the executioner, or something else entirely that led to Rome's demise?  Power is a curious thing.  

Hehehe :)

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On 7/26/2017 at 0:53 AM, Fredwin said:

Shout out to classic warfare? This was one of the most cartoonish battles ever pitched on the show. I've seen more convincing 'warfare' in video game cutscenes and children's television.

True, but GoT production is always looking to history for design, fnx and inspiration. Just bc the director and budget limit how realistic it looks doesn't mean it's not a shoutout. 

I'm guessing ep3 will have another filmed-in-studio action scene care of mark myloyd. 

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On 7/25/2017 at 11:53 PM, Fredwin said:

Shout out to classic warfare? This was one of the most cartoonish battles ever pitched on the show. I've seen more convincing 'warfare' in video game cutscenes and children's television.

Exactly.  You don't ram a ship and then lock on to board it--ITS SINKING!  The suspension of logic in order to watch this stuff is getting harder to do.  That SeaBattle in the Dark was laughable.  One other note- so all the shitty soldiers who couldn't fight went with Yara?  Also, Silence sailing away through the flaming ruins of all those ships after magically disengaging from the burning/sinking flag ship of Yara's flag ship? Not one burned sail....WTF?

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11 hours ago, Pwyll41 said:

Exactly.  You don't ram a ship and then lock on to board it--ITS SINKING!  The suspension of logic in order to watch this stuff is getting harder to do.  That SeaBattle in the Dark was laughable.  One other note- so all the shitty soldiers who couldn't fight went with Yara?  Also, Silence sailing away through the flaming ruins of all those ships after magically disengaging from the burning/sinking flag ship of Yara's flag ship? Not one burned sail....WTF?

I have so many complaints about the entire scene that it's tough for me to try and keep it within context of the thread. 

It's sad when you film multiple naval engagements for a series and the most realistic looking one involves mythical beings.

How many men can fit aboard this Joker's vessel? He's got at least 30 people boarding one ship, and enough people to launch bolts at every other ship in the Ironborn navy at the same time. He certainly has a crack crew to be able to hit the mast of every ship in visible range during the darkest of stormy nights. I'd like to see what type of insane valyrian weaponry must be on this ship of his to have such high rates of fire at impossible angles. 

Also, is his crew explicitly trained to not waste time taking flesh trophies as their leader and brother's-in-arms are still fighting for their life? Is it that every time Euron mugs for the camera, it's some sort of non-verbal command to his subordinates?

It's tough to care as a viewer knowing that the creators don't, at all.

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