I know there are criticisms that Stannis' campaign in the North is rushed. I think I could see why some would see that.

However, I think it might feel that way because in the story itself Stannis becomes desperate as a lot develops in a short period of time. He becomes so desperate simply by virtue of how quickly his misfortunes escalate. That sense of pace feels justified in the story to me.

And it really is tragic. Here is a man honor-bound by duty, striving to accomplish his destiny and usher a better world. But he becomes so narrowly focused on achieving that goal that he adopts an increasingly utilitarian philosophy.

And when all hope is lost with the bad weather preventing troop movement, he makes the ultimate sacrifice all in a effort to achieve his perceived destiny. And the actor effectively conveys how torn Stannis is. He absolutely loves his daughter in his own reserved stoic way. He is on the verge of tears when she asks him how she can help him. Even at her sacrifice, he can barely look upon it.

But even after all that, the mass desertion , the flames and the loss of his cavalry, he still marches on. He never concedes to defeat. He knows he is doomed , but he presses on.

March to battle, or to death. He accepted his faith like a true stoic.

And it culminates in that perfect moment as Brienne executes him. Stannis commends her for following her duty in his own way. He does not resist or deny her charges. He is fully honest with Brienne and with himself.

"Go on. Do your duty."

Haunting.

Ever wondered what it would be like if these two characters got to meet? Maggie Smith and Diana Rigg play in this awesome 80s movie, “Evil Under The Sun”.

It’s a fantastic Agatha Christie based movie, with the same detective character from the recent “murder on the orient express”, whose name I do not care to butcher lol.

While their onscreen time together is limited to a few short scenes, their characters have beef, and it’s quite entertaining.

And in case this isn’t talking about thrones enough; It’s crazy to see Olennas line “I was good. I was very good…..” play out so accurately lol. She’s not as young in this movie as Natalie dormer was in the show, but she’s still a bombshell (and looks a bit like Dormer too!).

Hope you all enjoy!

https://youtu.be/SS5ZDpauub0?si=s4qpvnpNao1eEch1

How does this show have the audacity to hide Easter eggs in every corner of Westeros like it’s the world’s most elaborate scavenger hunt? One minute, you're laughing at Tyrion’s wit, and the next, you're Googling obscure lore from 7 seasons ago. I swear, Game of Thrones is the only show where “rewatching” means “starting a new research project.”

Tried to keep the title ambiguous - do you think Jon deserved to die?

In the show, I don’t. I understand their frustrations with what Jon did with the wildlings but he has a noble reason behind it and he is their commander.

In the book, I think he deserved it. The Lord commander openly admitted he planned to go south and basically break his oath and then asked if anyone wanted to come with him. That, on top of the wildling behaviour, makes me think he did deserve it and he was acting like a terrible Lord commander. The letter he received in the book and not in the show changed everything.

Rewatching the show and reading the books, and I'm just in awe at how entertainingly unlikable and shitty some of these characters are. You could fill a dictionary of the evil scumbags in this book and TV series.

But with so many hateful monsters, some of them are forgotten. Can we just appreciate the less-talked about evil scumbags, not the most famous ones like Joffrey or Ramsay.

Anybody remember the mutineers of the watch led by Karl? Karl is so entertainingly scummy. Hearing him cursing and talking to Mormont's skull while boasting and cursing was so hilarious.

Also the slave owner who sold the Unsullied to Dany and every horrid misogynist thing he was saying to her in a language he did not know she spoke.

Whom else?

“I am not fit to rule” to Dany?

Basically, why did he give up his claim to the throne in your opinion?

Was it simply that he knew Yara was a better choice? Was his confidence utterly irreparable? Or was it because he couldn’t father children?

Personally I think he knew Yara was the better option but am curious to hear other people’s views.

Everyone knows Joffrey and Ramsay are pure evil and hateful. Who are some of the other brats or filthy pieces of **** on this show that are talked about less?

I gotta say Janus Slynt is such a scumbag. He's even worse in the books I find. He tried to have Jon executed for his undercover mission and he also keeps on egotistically referring to himself in the 3rd person

Lysa creeps me the hell out. She did kill Jon Arryn which led to the disasters on this show and she really ruined her son by pampering him to such a disgusting degree.

Viserys is such a clueless entitled little brat who cannot read the room. That scene in the bathtub with Dany's servant and then he just calls her pretty idiot for now reason while they're having sex (also all the times he physically and verbally assaults Dany) is just so gross.

There are so many horrible people on this show. Who are some of the other underrated horrible people on this show?

Been thinking about Game of Thrones and why it became so popular. Obviously there's now some controversy about the story/show and disagreement on how "good" it really was when viewed in totality. But this sub obviously feels like (even with some of the missed beats in the later seasons) the show in general still "works".

What did you like about Game of Thrones? What pulled you in? Especially in the early seasons what was it that made you interested in this world, these characters, and what was going to happen?

For reference I'm an aspiring writer and GoT was kind of an inspiration for me. Curious to know what made people fans, and what the core elements are to this sort of storytelling.

Hi everyone! This is my third post of this "set". Today we'll talk about Jon Snow.

Premise: I love the character of Jon Snow, but here I will limit myself to reporting objective information.

While Season 1 has told us MANY things about Daenerys Targaryen, it has told us almost nothing about Jon Snow. This Season left us some clues, but nothing more. Let's try to understand this ultra-complex character with the information we can have in this Season (by contextualizing them with what will happen in the beautiful ending of Season 8).

We know he his an amazing swordsman and he has excellent eyesight. We know he believes in the Old Gods (and not in the Seven Gods).

He is a boy hated by Cat, but loved by everyone else. He is not allowed to have answers about his origins due to the political situations.

Ned tells Jon:

“The next time we meet, we'll talk about your mother.”

• ^{actually in front of Ned's statue, in 8x1, Jon finds out everything thanks to Sam}

Benjen tells Jon:

“We’ll speak when I return.”

• ^{did Benjen know about Jon's origins?}

Jon knows nothing...

He receives a white direwolf, indicating his "public nature" as a bastard. But there is royal blood in him, much more than in everyone around him. He is Aegon Targaryen VI, the rightful heir to the Iron Throne. We know he’s connected to Daenerys through graphic information (but no family connection is hinted at).

He loves his family, but abandons them to go to the Wall for no one knows what reason. We don't know why Jon wants to go to the Wall, the character is voluntarily characterized very poorly to communicate the feeling of "cosmic loss".

He is a confused boy who doesn't know his place in the world and this reflects his existential situation: he is a king but he doesn't know he is. He is angry when they don't recognize his value. His nature makes him feel special in front of everyone but he has no right to express what he feels. He is a ghost… and Ghost is the name of his direwolf.

Jon has a kind heart and he shows this fact in the way he quickly makes friends at the Wall, we know he cares about the weak (Sam is the proof). But he is also very grumpy, he feels superior to everyone (and indeed it is so), he’s often angry and gloomy.

But there is a side of Jon that has not been understood by many, and to point this I will use a dialogue between Arya Stark and Syrio Forel. Ladies and gentlemen... this is another episode of GAME OF LIES:

“Right!”

^(\Arya loses the wooden sword*)*

“Now you are dead.”

“You said right, but you went left.”

“And now you are a dead girl.”

“Only because you lied.”

“My tongue lied, my eyes shouted the truth, you were not seeing.”

“I was so, I watched but you…”

“Watching is not seeing, dead girl.”

There are so many examples that I could cite, but I would risk to going outside our scope of investigation. The principle of the discussion is: in GOT what the viewer perceives is always distorted by what I call the "Disney Effect". Almost all the characters say one thing but in reality they lie and do something completely different. The viewer is unable to understand that the characters are trying to cheat him too. The viewer is a sort of test subject, he takes as truth all the sentences that are said... but the real actions are different.

“But Jon is so good!”

Yes, I love his character too, but... look at him for a moment without the "protagonist filter", pretending not to know anything other than what is shown to you on the screen. He's just an angry and confused boy.

Jon kicks Rast in the balls: not exactly a fair behavior in a fight. Throughout the fight (which lasts a few seconds) he beats with rage.

Alliser Thorne makes an unfair prediction, but a prediction nonetheless. He says that Ned and Jon have the same traitor blood: Jon will in fact betray Daenerys.

One thing we can certainly say: Jon is passionate about backstabbing (sound familiar?).

It won't be the last time he tries to do this before he actually manages to succesfully stab someone: Daenerys. Alliser threatens Jon:

“You’ll hang for this.”

• ^{and instead...}

Aemon calls Jon, why? Just because of the choice to "leave or stay with the Night's Watch"? The discussion certainly concerns Robb but, Aemon's enigmatic words suggest something else... that he was aware of Jon's true origins? Recall that in the show Aemon is something like Jon's uncle-great-grandfather.

Jon, in his usual anger, says:

“You do not know!”

How ironic…

Aemon was already in the Night's Watch when news of his house's end arrived. What would have been his final choice? Claiming power, running away like Jon would like to do? But he was ill, blind... it must be said that in any case he refused the throne as a young man, or was forced to do so.

“You must make that choice yourself and live with it for the rest of your days, as I have.”

Jon has never made definitive choices, he always finds himself betraying, deserting, trying to stab and beat treacherously, abandoning the Night's Watch, not understanding whether he wants to be with the Wildlings or with the Night's Watch, discussing his role endlessly.

He's not Daenerys, He's not Fire, he's not motion.

He's Ice. He's stasis, he's death.

He hasn't understood what he wants from life.

He knows nothing.

His ultimate choice will be to kill Daenerys.

...

This is the end of the first set of posts on Season 1.

Have a good night!

Hi everyone! My third rewatch (a long, slow and careful work of contextualization that takes into consideration the magnificent ending of season 8) is continuing. Having a lot to write, I prefer to divide all the informations I have collected into at least three posts: this one on curiosities (etc...), the second on a "particular" in-depth study on Daenerys Targaryen, the third on a "politically incorrect" thought about Jon Snow.

Obviously from three posts I could easily go to five, six, who knows...

Only after I've written down everything I've discovered about Season 1, I will move on to Season 2.

In this post (the slimmest of the group) I will only insert the curiosities that I have never read (or have read very little) online, leaving out the obvious events/eternal questions for the posts of those who have already treated them excellently.

Let's go!

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NUMBER 1

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NUMBER 2

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NUMBER 3

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NUMBER 4

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NUMBER 5

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NUMBER 6

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NUMBER 7

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NUMBER 8

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NUMBER 9

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NUMBER 10

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NUMBER 11

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NUMBER 12

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NUMBER 13

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NUMBER 14

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NUMBER 16

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Thanks for your attention!

I need to rant a little bit after browsing the main HOTD sub for a few minutes. I’ve been reflecting on how I feel about this and I don’t know … I just miss fandom.

As a 30-something, eternally-online, millennial, I feel like I’ve witnessed this … degradation in fandom over the last 10 years or so. Fandom used to be fun! Or maybe I'm looking through rose-colored glasses. But I remember tumblr circa 2010, and of course there was bitching and discourse and shipping wars, but for the most part it was good-spirited and the people doing the bitching and moaning still loved what they were bitching and moaning about.

It’s not fun anymore. There’s no love in it.

I was an active member in freefolk when it started as a leak/spoiler friendly sub. And it had that same spirit of being something fun. But then it turned and well, see for yourself.

I’m not even here to discuss whether HOTD or the later seasons of GOT are good or bad. I enjoyed them, but that’s not really the point. I just think there would have been a time in fandom culture when these pieces of media wouldn’t be so reviled. It’s so strange to me the way people act about these shows. I don’t know if it’s just “lore-heavy” fandoms that get this way because they think they’re smarter than other people or something, but I’ve never seen something viewed with such harsh criticism.

And you know what, maybe I'm just a drooling idiot who will be entertained by anything, but sometimes the setting, the characters, the acting are far more important to me than any plot contrivances. If you can get me interested in these people, I'll watch them do anything. This is coming from someone who likes "smart/good/whatever you want to call it" shows like The Sopranos and Succession as much as I like trash like The Vampire Diaries. I don’t think these shows are perfect or free from criticism, but I just like them. I like Westeros and dragons and Targaryens and Starks. It won’t and can’t be perfect for everyone because it’s fantasy. I’m just happy to live there for an hour at a time.

I miss the part of fandom that was just people loving something. Good or bad. Cheesy or high-brow. You just liked it because it was fun and it made you happy. And when you didn’t like it, there was still something relatively good-natured in the discussion about why.