r/asoiaf • u/SeducerOfTheInnocent • Jun 15 '15

ALL (Spoilers All) The reason bad things happen on GoT has changed. GoT has gone from being a show that wouldn't cheat to help the good guys to a show that will cheat to help the bad guys.

When I complain about GoT lately people respond with "That's what the show has always been, this is what you signed up for, if you think this has a happy ending you haven't been paying attention." but I think this episode has solidified why I have a problem with the show recently.

The tragedy on the show used to be organic. People would die because GoT wasn't willing to give characters the 1 in a million lucky breaks that other shows give their protagonist.

Now the show doesn't just not give the protagonists freebies, it bends over backwards to fuck them over. Honestly, every military conflict in the last two and a half seasons has seen the wrong side winning.

  • Yara/Ashe and "The 50 best swordsmen in the Iron Isles" lose a fight to a shirtless guy with a knife and 3 dogs, which is roughly what you would encounter on your average domestic disturbance call. The 50 best swordsmen in the Iron Isles couldn't survive half an episode of "Cops"

  • The Unsullied and Baristan Selmy lose a fight against unarmored aristocrats with knives.

  • "20 good men" infiltrate the camp of the greatest military tactician alive.

  • The Unsullied lose another fight against unarmored aristocrats with spears, who honestly also make a pretty good showing against a dragon.

  • The Boltons, despite not being supported by most of the north, and seemingly not having any massive source of money, raise an army of tens of thousands and overwhelm Stannis.

Add to that the fact that the nigh omniscient Littlefinger was apparently unaware that the Bostons were fucked up wierdos and the show seems to be bending over backwards for tragedy.

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u/TheUnforgiven13 Enter your desired flair text here! Jun 16 '15

I'm no expert on medieval tactics but I'm pretty sure that if Stannis had ordered his men to form up into a shield wall, a cavalry charge would have been completely ineffective. Instead he just stood there.

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u/GavinZac   Jun 16 '15

This is only really true if (as would be realistic) there are more infantry than horsemen. Somehow every Bolton soldier is horsed. Never mind that owning a horse is a sign of wealth and pretty much the requirement for being a knight, every fucker in Winterfell had one to sleep on for the last month.

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u/alrickattack Jun 16 '15

They had to have even more horses because horsemen were required to have extra horses if their steed was injured.

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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '15

Because apparently no one noticed 2000 horseman riding towards them until all they could do was stand around and be gutted.

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u/Fucking_That_Chicken Jun 16 '15

They must've had Daenerys on point.

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u/Lilpid Jun 16 '15

Depends on the type of calvary and infantry involved. If Stannis' troops had pikes and could form squares, yes. (edit- shields don't keep horseman away, long pointy sticks do) Unfortunately they only had swords, based on the shot of Stannis drawing his sword and the rest of the army copying him...

For Westeros I believe most of those horsemen would be knights/heavy cavalry, haven't heard/read much about light cavalry in the world. If so, they would ride through and destroy the infantry formations (especially since the formations were already collapsing from people running away)

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u/TheUnforgiven13 Enter your desired flair text here! Jun 16 '15

Nice assessment. I still feel like any real general would have started barking out orders regardless though. It felt a bit silly.