Game of Thrones Season 6 [Discussion of most-recently aired episodes]

[NecronLord]

So, given just how effective it was portrayed as working, I wonder if steel forging/smelting techniques could be used to create obsidian... it'd be a huge help in the upcoming fight. Of course, given how Sam's family seemed to brush off mention of white walkers so casually, I suppose simply convincing people south of the wall that such a threat is even real, would be the bigger challenge...

Artificial obsidian was only recently invented IRL.

[Pelranius]

Given all this talk about Brotherhood without Banners, we might actually see Lady Stoneheart this season, which begs the question why Jaime and Bronn's Excellent Adventure in Dorne took place, sucking, up a lot of valuable Season 5 time.

[RogueIce]

A good episode, albeit mostly setup for next week except for Arya at the end there.

[JLTucker]

I did not expect Ian McShane's role to be so short. I thought he'd play a far more important character. It was a great wya to get the Hound back on his feet, though.

Arya obviously isn't dead. We've only had a single off-screen death of a prominent character, as afar as as I'm aware, and that was Stannis.

[Knife]

I kept waiting for the double cross on Arya. Like for her to lift her shirt and have a slap of meat tied there but no. There is no sane way anyone would survive a stabbing like that without massive medical intervention, so a bit of a SOD break for me. And to boot, sure they think she's dead now, but I have to believe if anyone ever mentions 'hey did you hear they found Arya Stark in Westeros' blonde girl would be on again.

[Elfdart]

Given all this talk about Brotherhood without Banners, we might actually see Lady Stoneheart this season, which begs the question why Jaime and Bronn's Excellent Adventure in Dorne took place, sucking, up a lot of valuable Season 5 time.

My guess is that Danerys & Co will gain Dorne as an ally when they finally start crossing the sea.

This was another dud episode, with the exceptions of the Blackfish, Lady Mormont and extended cameos by Bronn and The Hound. I'm hoping Sansa's letter (signed Sansa STARK) went to the Blackfish, and he and his men flee their castle and head north, joining forces with her.

When did the Brotherhood Sans Banners change from Robin Hood's Merry Men into the KKK?

Why is Arya running around unarmed?

At least the preview for next week looked promising:

[The Vortex Empire]

When did the Brotherhood Sans Banners change from Robin Hood's Merry Men into the KKK?

In the books, that was caused by Lady Stoneheart's obsession with revenge against all who wronged her. In the show, since Lady Stoneheart doesn't exist? Doesn't make any sense.

[FaxModem1]

So, does this make Ian McShane's quote about Game of Thrones ironic?

[streetad]

When did the Brotherhood Sans Banners change from Robin Hood's Merry Men into the KKK?

In the books, that was caused by Lady Stoneheart's obsession with revenge against all who wronged her. In the show, since Lady Stoneheart doesn't exist? Doesn't make any sense.

They've been living off the land, fighting a guerrilla war against pretty much everybody for years and years, split into small groups over a huge area with medieval communications, probably taking in all kinds of deserters and broken men and outlaws. It would be surprising if at least some of them hadn't degenerated into just another bunch of bandits by now. You don't need a vengeful undead noble woman leading them to explain that.

[Guardsman Bass]

I could buy that about Stoneheart and the BWB.

I can't buy that Arya would leave the Faceless Men and so casually wander around. I'm kind of disappointed that she got so easily ambushed by the Waif - does this mean we're going to have a fight between them instead of seeing Arya put those assassin skills to use?

Also, while I think the High Septon is a good piece of acting and politics, that situation has been boiling for a long time now. Come on, explode already!

Thankfully the rest of the episode was good. Everything in the Riverlands storyline was good, although it unfortunately does not have Daven Lannister complaining about how fucking terrible the Freys were (one of the funniest segments in A Feast for Crows). I can see why they skipped that, though, since it would just be another character to introduce.

[Vympel]

A solid entry, with some standout parts and other parts that are a bit disappointing - but still well written.

- Firstly, Sandor Clegane. I loved all those scenes. I didn't get the 'Broken Man' speech's popularity in the books as some sort of amazing touchstone moment, so I didn't note its absence. Ian McShane did an excellent job.
- Immensely gratified that Margaery isn't delusional.
- Olenna ripping Cersei - and Cersei realising that she's truly alone now - was also great.
- The ultimate superdelegate: Wun-Wun.
- The siege of Riverrun. That was fan-fucking-tastic from start to finish. A lovingly crafted recreation of one of AFFC's best plotlines so far. The mocking of House Frey was a joy. And hey, a mention about Jaime's honor, and the oath he made to Catelyn?! Could it be ... do we dare to dream? Could Jaime's plot be on its way back from twincest purgatory?
- Lyanna Mormont is such a badass. Not only does she command respect, but when she elects to go - she goes with the army.
- Deepwood Motte - cool. Shame about Lord Glover, but comments on what I found disappointing, below. But what I liked: he's clearly not fighting only because he doesn't think the Starks have a chance to win. His question as Jon is saying "Roose Bolton put a knife-" is asking who else supports them, and at that point, the answer is not many. And also, wildlings. Also, bonus points for keeping the Galbart / Robett Glover thing from the books, as well as Robett's kids. Thank you, Bryan Cogman.
- Yara's not a great therapist. But I appreciate her caring.
- Total Stark loyalist forces at the end of Episode 7: 405, plus 2,000 widlings (House Mazin is a show-only house, an easter-egg / shout out)
- Davos' "fuck's sake!" when breaking up the fight
- Castle Cerwyn mention! Yes, go there!
- Presumably, Sansa sent the raven to Littlefinger.
- I'm not sure that's Arya. She walks stiff and weird when we first see her, and she pulls out two giant bags of gold out as if it was nothing.

Disappointed by:

- So far, Sansa and Jon aren't terribly inspirational. We didn't see them get the 200 men of House Hornwood or the 143 men of House Mazin, true, but where we did see them they totally buggered it up with Lord Glover (Sansa in particular), and just scraped by with Lyanna Mormont.
- Why is Sansa being so shitty to Jon? I figure its stress and disappointment, but fuck don't take it out on him.
- Speaking of Sansa - I really, really hope that her only contribution to this entire state of affairs isn't getting an outsider to come in and solve their problems (i.e. Littlefinger and the Vale).

And speaking of that - not getting the Vale army in on the action from the start looks more and more unwise - if they had told Glover et al that knights of the Vale - thousands of them - were fighting for their cause, how many more houses could they have enlisted?

[TheFeniX]

On the business with the kingsmoot, it still doesn't sit well with me, but I'll concede it based upon comments in this thread.

I kept waiting for the double cross on Arya. Like for her to lift her shirt and have a slap of meat tied there but no. There is no sane way anyone would survive a stabbing like that without massive medical intervention, so a bit of a SOD break for me. And to boot, sure they think she's dead now, but I have to believe if anyone ever mentions 'hey did you hear they found Arya Stark in Westeros' blonde girl would be on again.

Didn't The Hound have a compound femur fracture when Arya left him to die? Ok, just found the video. The idea he survived that at all is pretty crazy. But also to be in the condition to chop wood or even be walking around without serious trouble when we next see him, considering the time-frame the show is supposed to be contained in, is also crazy without some kind of black magic interference. Even with first-world medicine, those can take over 6 months to completely heal and they make sure to get everything back into position so it heals correctly. A dozen people hanging out in the wilds are going to get Clegaine back into healthy wood chopping shape?

I'm no medieval medicine expert: but I assume that kind of fracture (and subsequent infection) had a high mortality rate back then and those that did survive that kind of injury were likely crippled for life. I get the Hound is tough, but there's a limit. If they hadn't shown such a deadly (for the time) fracture on him, I'd buy it a lot easier. So, Arya walking off a few gut stabs is par for the course in this show as far as I'm concerned.

I did not expect Ian McShane's role to be so short. I thought he'd play a far more important character. It was a great wya to get the Hound back on his feet, though.

"Aw man, Ian McShane! I wonder if he'll even last the episode."
"Surely they wouldn't bring him on just to kill him off."
It's like my wife doesn't even watch this show.

I got her though. When McShance was hanging there. Right after the scene cut, I asked her:
"You going to answer your phone, or what?"
"My phone isn't..."
"Cause I fucking called it!"

She.. uh... didn't say a word to me the whole time we got ready for bed..... totally worth it though.

[ArmorPierce]

- Why is Sansa being so shitty to Jon? I figure its stress and disappointment, but fuck don't take it out on him.
- Speaking of Sansa - I really, really hope that her only contribution to this entire state of affairs is getting an outsider to come in and solve their problems (i.e. Littlefinger and the Vale).

And speaking of that - not getting the Vale army in on the action from the start looks more and more unwise - if they had told Glover et al that knights of the Vale - thousands of them - were fighting for their cause, how many more houses could they have enlisted?

Problem is that little finger is not to be trusted. He also pledged support to her father and you saw how that turned out.

[Knife]

On the business with the kingsmoot, it still doesn't sit well with me, but I'll concede it based upon comments in this thread.

I kept waiting for the double cross on Arya. Like for her to lift her shirt and have a slap of meat tied there but no. There is no sane way anyone would survive a stabbing like that without massive medical intervention, so a bit of a SOD break for me. And to boot, sure they think she's dead now, but I have to believe if anyone ever mentions 'hey did you hear they found Arya Stark in Westeros' blonde girl would be on again.

Didn't The Hound have a compound femur fracture when Arya left him to die? Ok, just found the video. The idea he survived that at all is pretty crazy. But also to be in the condition to chop wood or even be walking around without serious trouble when we next see him, considering the time-frame the show is supposed to be contained in, is also crazy without some kind of black magic interference. Even with first-world medicine, those can take over 6 months to completely heal and they make sure to get everything back into position so it heals correctly. A dozen people hanging out in the wilds are going to get Clegaine back into healthy wood chopping shape?

I'm no medieval medicine expert: but I assume that kind of fracture (and subsequent infection) had a high mortality rate back then and those that did survive that kind of injury were likely crippled for life. I get the Hound is tough, but there's a limit. If they hadn't shown such a deadly (for the time) fracture on him, I'd buy it a lot easier. So, Arya walking off a few gut stabs is par for the course in this show as far as I'm concerned.

Fair enough, but gut stabbed is a lot more visually certain than the compound fracture, but I'm with you on this. Kind of pulls me out of SOD.

[TheFeniX]

Problem is that little finger is not to be trusted. He also pledged support to her father and you saw how that turned out.

It's been a while. Did anyone outside of Ned's (now dead) circle of soldiers know about any of that? And I figured Sansa was writing to the Blackfish as Littlefinger talked to her about. Honestly, with how bad things are looking for them, they should be asking both for help. Dealing with Littlefinger (at least from their perspective) has to have better odds than dealing with Ramsay with what they have. Once they are established, Stark loyalty should reassert itself, robbing Littlefinger of any real chance to fuck things up. Like I said, from their perspective.

Also kind of annoyed they called back to why HBO Rob shirked on his marriage promise because, even from a guy who didn't read the books, I felt the show made Rob act in a way not befitting for someone raised as he was. The book explanation fit much better.

Fair enough, but gut stabbed is a lot more visually certain than the compound fracture, but I'm with you on this. Kind of pulls me out of SOD.

Yea, sepsis would be one of Arya's primary concerns even if blondie's dagger wasn't coated in something or just dirty. But at least she's in a city where it's possible someone has some rudimentary anti-biotics, or some kind of medicine. Drogo got offed by a (fairly deep) flesh-wound infection. Doing some research after my roomate broke his arm open (compound fracture) you don't want to mess with that. While small fractures can be dangerous due to non-treatment (being ignored), compound fractures run almost a 100% infection rate. Putting the bones back into place can do even more damage.

Either way, considering the types of wounds both suffered and the medical "technology" (discounting whatever magic is around): you would expect both to die unless it's explained otherwise. Not "I thought you'd die, but you're tough. You didn't." This is some Batman "punch an exposed vertebrae back into place" levels of hilarity. I can buy the Hound survived, but to look as good as he does?....... eh, not really.

That said, I wonder if the writers were calling back to the death of Rob's wife. Same basic premise. But from the viewpoint of annoying assassin chick, she's suffering from her own set of cliches. Ignoring orders to not let Arya suffer by stabbing her in the gut: fatal, but not nearly as fatal as a throat slash. Taking time to rub it in Arya's face rather than finishing the job, giving Arya the chance to escape. Then walking away without making sure Arya is dead.

This is same James Bond levels of dipshit henchmen bullshit. And yes, I get blondie isn't a full-fledge assassin (or maybe she is, whatever).

[Pelranius]

Huh, so the current Lord Glover is played by Captain Darling, or Lord Percy Percy, if you will.

What if Sansa wrote the letter to Lord Royce, telling him to get rid of Littlefinger? IIRC, Moat Callin is quite a ways away from the Eyrie (and I doubt they brought Sweetrobin with them).

[Vympel]

Dammit, to correct myself:

Speaking of Sansa - I really, really hope that her only contribution to this entire state of affairs isn't getting an outsider to come in and solve their problems (i.e. Littlefinger and the Vale).

[Elfdart]

Huh, so the current Lord Glover is played by Captain Darling, or Lord Percy Percy, if you will.

What if Sansa wrote the letter to Lord Royce, telling him to get rid of Littlefinger? IIRC, Moat Callin is quite a ways away from the Eyrie (and I doubt they brought Sweetrobin with them).

Maybe the real reason Glover didn't join with Sansa & Co is that all these years later he was still working on the formula for Purest Green.

I'm thinking the letter was either sent to Blackfish or another house in the North. Why? Because she signed it with her maiden name. The Pimp already knows she's married to Bolton and is disgusted by him, so there's no need for such a gesture from her. My point is that she's making clear to the recipient that she totally rejects Bolton and doesn't even acknowledge the marriage.

Two other possibilities come to mind:

The letter is sent to her cousin Robin or other nobles in the Eyrie, telling him of the Pimp's treachery and begging for help. IIRC Royce was with the Pimp, leading Robin's forces which I should think would already be in the North. So a raven sent to him would be waste of time since he's not in the Vale to get it.

Another possibility is that it was sent to Gordon Ramsay Bolton himself, daring him to come and get them. Going by her maiden name and maybe denying the marriage on the grounds that the little psycho couldn't consummate might just draw him out into a trap. No matter who she sent the letter, denying the marriage is a pretty good kick in the nuts and a burning of the boats.

My girlfriend thinks Sansa is pregnant by Bolton. The part about feeling inside her what Ramsay did to her, plus the look of disgust on her face at the meat she was served (though that could be because it was tongue) were what gave her the idea.

[Vympel]

Maybe the real reason Glover didn't join with Sansa & Co is that all these years later he was still working on the formula for Purest Green.

I'm thinking the letter was either sent to Blackfish or another house in the North. Why? Because she signed it with her maiden name. The Pimp already knows she's married to Bolton and is disgusted by him, so there's no need for such a gesture from her. My point is that she's making clear to the recipient that she totally rejects Bolton and doesn't even acknowledge the marriage.

Two other possibilities come to mind:

The letter is sent to her cousin Robin or other nobles in the Eyrie, telling him of the Pimp's treachery and begging for help. IIRC Royce was with the Pimp, leading Robin's forces which I should think would already be in the North. So a raven sent to him would be waste of time since he's not in the Vale to get it.

Another possibility is that it was sent to Gordon Ramsay Bolton himself, daring him to come and get them. Going by her maiden name and maybe denying the marriage on the grounds that the little psycho couldn't consummate might just draw him out into a trap. No matter who she sent the letter, denying the marriage is a pretty good kick in the nuts and a burning of the boats.

My girlfriend thinks Sansa is pregnant by Bolton. The part about feeling inside her what Ramsay did to her, plus the look of disgust on her face at the meat she was served (though that could be because it was tongue) were what gave her the idea.

I'm pretty sure she sent it to Littlefinger at Moat Cailin (where they were last reported) for the following reasons:

1. Sansa would always sign correspondence with her maiden name, she would never use any other - not in the circumstances;
2. Sansa has sent Brienne to treat with Blackfish, so also sending a raven to Riverrun would be pointless;
3. They've already sent ravens to the Northern houses asking for support, as Jon told Lord Glover; and
4. Sending a raven to Winterfell would be bad for them given Sansa feels strongly that they need more men (which they totally do. Wildlings aren't of great military value).

[ArmorPierce]

So what's the strategic point of Jon Snow attacking winterfel with clearly not enough men? What's the point?

Strategically, he's probably better off supporting the Tullys and gathering their support by engaging in gorilla warfare against the Freys while the majority of their forces are engaged in other matters.

Doesn't seem like a genius strategic move from a battlefield commander.

[SCRawl]

My father had an oblique displaced fracture of the femur when he was in his late 50s. He's almost 71 now, and he can walk, but not very well. The Hound is younger, of course, but he had a compound femur fracture, so unless that Septon had some third-level clerical spells I can't see how that wound is survivable.

[Knife]

So what's the strategic point of Jon Snow attacking winterfel with clearly not enough men? What's the point?

Strategically, he's probably better off supporting the Tullys and gathering their support by engaging in gorilla warfare against the Freys while the majority of their forces are engaged in other matters.

Doesn't seem like a genius strategic move from a battlefield commander.

Strategic, in that Winterfell is the heart of the North, if a Stark takes it back some of the other houses will fall in line. It is also quite the fortress, Theon only did what he did because it was basically unmanned at the time and he knew it like his own home (well it was). A more stretegic place with better fortifications than Castle Black for when the dead come and if they breach the wall.

[Vympel]

Some clever fucker managed to find out what Sansa wrote:

http://imgur.com/a/p2mfe

[ArmorPierce]

So what's the strategic point of Jon Snow attacking winterfel with clearly not enough men? What's the point?

Strategically, he's probably better off supporting the Tullys and gathering their support by engaging in gorilla warfare against the Freys while the majority of their forces are engaged in other matters.

Doesn't seem like a genius strategic move from a battlefield commander.

Strategic, in that Winterfell is the heart of the North, if a Stark takes it back some of the other houses will fall in line. It is also quite the fortress, Theon only did what he did because it was basically unmanned at the time and he knew it like his own home (well it was). A more stretegic place with better fortifications than Castle Black for when the dead come and if they breach the wall.

If he cannot win it then it is just a waste of resources and lives. Based on the information that he has right now, he cannot take winterfel and it wouldn't even be close. Basically, he is hoping for some sort of miracle, which he happens to have potentially in terms of Sansa's secret communication with little finger, but its not a wise battlefield decision.

[Knife]

He is trapped between two armies who want him dead. Bolton's force at the moment is weaker than the army of the dead, and if he can defeat it he can get thousands more troops to then turn towards the Night King. Also, Jon has intimate knowledge of Winterfell, much like Theon did, as a tactical advantage.

I'm not saying it's an awesome situation, but Winterfell looks a bit better than either holding off Bolton from Castle Black, or fighting off the Army of the Dead with his current force and position.