What Surprised you, What did Not

[Hippocras]

Interested to know, now that the battle has passed, what surprised you about it and what did not. For me:

 

Biggest surprises:

Mel. I am sure this surprised almost everyone. I really thought she would be around for more of this season. The way they used her to inject hope into the episode and then snuff it out pretty fast was interesting. I did not think she would die by just walking away, certainly. I thought she had a role to play in the conclusion with fire and blood magic becoming its own threat.

It seems like the following character may have survived? Grey Worm, Tormund, Podrick, Davos. I felt pretty confident predicting most of them would die. Of course we left the episode without really knowing the fates of some of them. There could be surprises next week when the living take stock of the dead, collect them, and burn them. After all there are only so many emotional deaths/reactions the viewers can handle in an episode.

Beric’s last life was not passed on. I don’t feel like his purpose as a character is or will be as clear as in the books.

Similarly, we did not see a single character get the Benjen dragonglass treatment OR a revival by fire. 

Tormund did NOT fight a giant wight, but Lyanna did. I was looking forward to Giantsbane doing his thing.

Not surprised:

Arya saves the day. I know this surprised lots of people, and some details of the sequence surprised me (most of all the chat with Mel) but this girl was working towards this her whole life. She has mad skills. Much more satisfying this way than either Jon or Dany saving the day.

Jaime and Brienne had each other’s backs. I know many thought one or both would die. I don’t think either one is finished.

Jorah died saving Dany, and Dany’s feelings were deep.

[Dragons 7th Eye]

The most surprising thing to me was that, so few of the named cast died. I hoped this would have been a real clean up and only a handful ot the cast be around for the next war.

Most surprisingly and particularily I was surprised that both of Dany's dragons - or Dany's and Jon's dragons lived through it. I thought both would die and I was really certain that at least one would.

[Hoo]

Tyrion being bossed by Sansa.  First Dany told him he is more valuable for his brain then out there on the battlefield.  And now Sansa told him the same essentially, exercising some kind of queenship over him.  Sansa is taking over.  That's a twist of loyalties.

Chaos is a ladder.

[Kajjo]

55 minutes ago, Hippocras said:

The way they used her to inject hope into the episode and then snuff it out pretty fast was interesting

Yes, well done. Last minute arrival, immediate action and hope, later she ignites the moat and gives the most important encouragement to Arya. Well done this time. 

In summary, I like the Melisandre arc quite a lot. I never like her, obviously, but her scenes were well done.

56 minutes ago, Hippocras said:

Grey Worm, Tormund, Podrick, Davos.

Yeah, you are right, surprising. I am still not sure about Grey Worm and Podrick, though. I will rewatch.

57 minutes ago, Hippocras said:

Beric’s last life was not passed on. I don’t feel like his purpose as a character is or will be as clear as in the books.

Yeah, this one is a bit disappointing. They should have made a little bit more out of his death. More than just saving Arya by fighting.

58 minutes ago, Hippocras said:

Tormund did NOT fight a giant wight, but Lyanna did. I was looking forward to Giantsbane doing his thing.

 I am glad it was this way. Tormund vs giant would have been to simple, to cheesy.

59 minutes ago, Hippocras said:

Arya saves the day.

No surprise for me as well. I hoped for it and the chances were at least significant. Her whole arc was set-up for this.

S1E1 to S8E3... stick them with the pointy end. Using the Valyrian dagger we know from early on. Well done.

[The Chequered Raven]

1 minute ago, Kajjo said:

1 hour ago, Hippocras said:

Tormund did NOT fight a giant wight, but Lyanna did. I was looking forward to Giantsbane doing his thing.

 I am glad it was this way. Tormund vs giant would have been to simple, to cheesy.

No, cool would have been if Tormund started the fight and Lyanna saved him by killing the Whight-Giant. And then let us listen to Thormunds Version of these event the next episode...

---

All in all I was dissappointed by the whole episode - in my opinion by far the worst of the whole series!

[Kajjo]

1 minute ago, The Chequered Raven said:

No, cool would have been if Tormund started the fight and Lyanna saved him by killing the Whight-Giant. And then let us listen to Thormunds Version of these event the next episode...

Ha-ha, yeah, I'd like that.

[a girl knows nothing]

Most surprising for me was how they managed to end the Night King in this one battle. I was expecting it to take more than 1 episode/confrontation, have to escape from Winterfell and retreat. However, the battle became so hopeless (esp. after all the newly dead were raised) I could not see any way that any one could survive except by killing the Night King.

I was also surprised at how few major characters died. I was expecting Brienne, Grey Worm, and Tormund to die as well.

[Wik]

Biggest surprise:

 

The issue of the NK, Others, WWs etc was resolved in one battle and they dispatched of this terrible evil with relative ease. 

Second, the writers has exactly ZERO military acumen when writing (I get some things are hard to film, but the actual "strategy" and combat prior to the craziness that it broke down to was DREADFUL. 

 

What did not:

Jorah, Edd, everyone else

[Kajjo]

12 minutes ago, a girl knows nothing said:

I was also surprised at how few major characters died. I was expecting Brienne, Grey Worm, and Tormund to die as well.

Yes, the low death toll surprised me quite a lot. I expected more characters to die.

I like it, however, that most survived.

[Hippocras]

3 minutes ago, Kajjo said:

Yes, the low death toll surprised me quite a lot. I expected more characters to die.

I like it, however, that most survived.

I am. ot so sure that we know the full death count yet. A lot of characters were in pretty difficult circumstances near the end. There may be some faces among the dead that we know when the characters round them up to burn them next week.

[MinscS2]

Surprises:

- I expected way more named characters to die this episode. 
- Mel lighting the dothraki weapons on fire, only to have them all die within a minute. 
- The way Lyanna died. Very gruesome, horrific, violent and... badass. 
- Beric's puprose all this time had been to keep Arya alive.
- Arya killing the NK. Not totally unexpected, but a surprise none the less. 
- Daenerys grabbing an actual weapon (for the first time ever?) and engaging in hand-to-hand combat. 

[Dragons 7th Eye]

41 minutes ago, MinscS2 said:

- Daenerys grabbing an actual weapon (for the first time ever?) and engaging in hand-to-hand combat. 

Me too. I did not like it. Very out of character. Sansa with her hesitation with the dagger was much better. But the scene wasn't Dany's, it was Jorah's, so I will let it pass.

[MinscS2]

3 minutes ago, Dragons 7th Eye said:

Me too. I did not like it. Very out of character. Sansa with her hesitation with the dagger was much better. But the scene wasn't Dany's, it was Jorah's, so I will let it pass.

Well, Daenerys is more of a warrior-queen than Sansa, so her grabbing a weapon and trying to defend herself doesn't seem out of character, just unusual. This is afaik the first time we've seen her fall of Drogon during combat, so it was nice to see that her instant reaction wasn't just to throw herself to the ground and cry.

Agree on the last bit though, this was clearly Jorah's scene.
RIP Jorah. Here he stands. 

[Hippocras]

5 minutes ago, Dragons 7th Eye said:

Me too. I did not like it. Very out of character. Sansa with her hesitation with the dagger was much better. But the scene wasn't Dany's, it was Jorah's, so I will let it pass.

Oh, come on people. She had a choice, die or fight. It is not that hard to swing a sword around so long as your opponent has not skill. Anyone and everyone who was not suicidal would have done the same thing.

[Dragons 7th Eye]

1 minute ago, Hippocras said:

Oh, come on people. She had a choice, die or fight. It is not that hard to swing a sword around so long as your opponent has not skill. Anyone and everyone who was not suicidal would have done the same thing.

Sure. I do not disagree But the way the horde offed the dothraki and the actual soldiers left and right she would not have lived past the first. Surely not past the second.

It was another moment of fan service to make her even more badass than she already is. And she is plenty enough. But I am good with it. Jorah was probably my favourite character in the show, not so much in the books, but Iain Glenn.. He received a perfect death for him and I am happy with the scene.

[nickdt]

1 hour ago, The Chequered Raven said:

No, cool would have been if Tormund started the fight and Lyanna saved him by killing the Whight-Giant. And then let us listen to Thormunds Version of these event the next episode...

---

All in all I was dissappointed by the whole episode - in my opinion by far the worst of the whole series!

Or Lyanna fighting the Giant, Tormund seeing this and pushing her aside: This one is mine, little one and then Tormund getting trashed by the Giant, giving Lyanna the opening to kill him. 

[Angel Eyes]

 

1 hour ago, MinscS2 said:

Surprises:

- I expected way more named characters to die this episode. 
- Mel lighting the dothraki weapons on fire, only to have them all die within a minute. 
- The way Lyanna died. Very gruesome, horrific, violent and... badass. 
- Beric's puprose all this time had been to keep Arya alive.
- Arya killing the NK. Not totally unexpected, but a surprise none the less. 
- Daenerys grabbing an actual weapon (for the first time ever?) and engaging in hand-to-hand combat. 

All of these for me. 

Was expecting Grey Worm to go down in this one.

Didn't expect Daenerys to pick up a weapon and fight. Most of the time when she's sans Drogon, she's almost helpless. Would have liked Sansa to have killed a wight or two while the wights were attacking in the crypts. 

[MinscS2]

Come to think of it, everyone at the hearth in episode 2 survived the battle.

*adds to surprise list*

[Red Dragon10]

38 minutes ago, Dragons 7th Eye said:

Me too. I did not like it. Very out of character. Sansa with her hesitation with the dagger was much better. But the scene wasn't Dany's, it was Jorah's, so I will let it pass.

I don't really know what people expected her to do.  Even if you don't know how to use a weapon, if you are being faced with an army of undead, aren't you going to grab something to defend yourself?!  But yes, I'm glad that they didn't show her having some awesome skills or anything, she would have been dead for sure, if Jorah hadn't been there to protect her. 

[Euron III Greyjoy]

What surprised me:

• Grey Worm survived. I predicted he was going to be the first to go. 
• Jon and Bran, who I thought would be the two biggest players in the Long Night, essentially did nothing. 
• The only White Walker kill, in the battle against the White Walkers, was the Night King. 
• Both Drogon and Rhaegal survived. 
• Ghost was sent to fight on the front lines. Remember when Summer was taken down by about 5 of them. 
• The Night King, in all his 10,000 years of wisdom, got taken out by a fake-out from an 18 year old girl. 
• Lyanna Mormont's death. I didn't think D&D had the stones for that. 

What didn't surprise me:

• The corny "we're on the ropes!" moment, where the main characters have their backs to a wall, facing down an army of wights, when suddenly they all collapse and everyone is fine. 
• Beric, Dolorous Edd, Jorah, and Theon's deaths. 
• The dead from the crypts getting resurrected. If only Jon and Bran, our local White Walker experts, could've also expected some kind of tom foolery there.