6581

Yes. Duh.

That said a Black Dragon is still no match for a charging fighter who rolls natural 20’s on both attacks for the round.

But I see no evidence that any of those Harpies rolled a 20 on their meekly thrown spears.

6582

I’ve not seen one either but surely all those scales mean something. Or thicker than a whale’s skin. Or elephant skin. If you give me a spear today, I don’t think I can even penetrate an elephant skin. But I’m just a everyday citizen who only eats and sleeps everyday :p

6583

I tend to view the show in much the same way as you. Overall, that episode was really well done. I’m looking forward to the last episode

6584

See, here is where I think GRRM writes circles around the show runners. In the books Dany holds back unleashing the Unsullied on the nobility of Meereen, the city’s former rulers and very likely the primary supporters of the SoH, because she doesn’t want to be that queen. Book 5 is all about her arch of trying to be the type of rule she has envisioned in her head. The ultimate events shatter that illusion, there is no way to gently rule as a foreigner over a conquered people who want you gone or dead. Even the entire region has turned on her because she threatens their primary means of commerce, something the show unfortunately left out. Which means Fire and Blood is coming.

And GRRM could’ve simply had her do this, but to him it was more subtle and rewarding to show the arch and its events. Many readers feel book 5 was too uneventful, something I agreed with on my first read, but a reread was very rewarding. GRRM is too subtle for his own good at times.

6585

I don’t like book 5 as much as you do, (even on a reread) but I definitely found the show’s depiction of Dany just randomly throwing some guy to her dragons to make a point pretty dumb.

6586

Amazing someone that wordy could be so subtle.

Dragons are very hard to insult.

6587

I don’t get the problem with the spears and dragon. Look at the size of the dragon in relation to the spears. Those spears are big enough to be equivalent to what matadors jab bulls with and I’ve seen videos of bulls with a few of those things stuck in them still goring the matadors. So I think they might have killed him, given enough time and spears, but that’s might have. I think the dragon’s main danger was the reduction in danger to Dany. He seemed to be summoned by her fear and possible acceptance of death, that was his motivation. What happens when those powerful emotions are gone, when she starts to feel confident again? He might just sit around confused.

6588

I think that was the intent and the presentation is a victim of limited running time. After Ramsay’s attack Stannis’ army found itself too far from Castle Black to return and without enough provisions to proceed to Winterfel if the storm continues. Stannis saw two options - do nothing and watch his army (and Shireen) starve/freeze to death or sacrifice Shireen to the Red God in hopes of somehow breaking the weather. Both options end with a dead daughter and only the sacrifice has a hope of furthering his goal to get to the Iron Throne.

I think it’s batshit insane but I can understand the choice Stannis felt he was making.

6589

In this case probably susceptible to “YO MAMA” jokes.

6590

How is it sloppy writing? I think you’re projecting a rabid fanbase having too much time to mull these clues over as somehow bad writing on GRRM’s part. He did admit, though, that he would’ve been even more subtle writing that first book had he known something called the internet was going to shortly spring up and allow people to have boards on which to work out various theories and share insights on the hints he throws out.

The fact Tyrion killed his mother to come into the world, as did Jon and Dany, isn’t a coincidence. There’s a reason why the three main characters share that detail in their past. Fans tried reversing the Tyrion = Targ theory by arguing that Jaime and Cersei are the Targs and Tyrion, as a cruel piece of perhaps deserved fate, is Tywin’s one true offspring. GRRM gleefully, willfully smashed that theory to pieces with last fall’s world book.

6591

Do we know what happened to Jon’s mother or is that conjecture? I dont’ recall that ever being said, and a quick internet search didn’t reveal that to me.

Also, it’s hardly a stretch that this happened to all 3 of their mothers, considering how common this was in the time period the books are based on. Just sayin’.

6592

My interpretation of how the Quentyn Martell storyline in Dance with Dragons ended was that it was GRR telling the fans, “Hey guys, you’re way, waaaaay too attached to this Targaryen bloodline theory.”

6593

Same mother. DUN DUN DUN DUUUUUNNNNNN

6594

I’m not sure what it is about this show, but–even though I enjoy watching it a great deal–I feel like I have zero emotional investment in the characters or what happens. Even with Stannis and Shireen in this last episode, which I find odd because the father/daughter dynamic usually really hits me hard.

6595

Hmm, the episode where they question Loras with his squire as the witness just happens to be on right now so I’m rewatching. The main evidence seems to be that the squire knows Loras has a birthmark of a certain shape on his thigh. Then they arrest Loras AND the Queen based on this evidence, saying it’s enough for a trial. Why the hell wouldn’t his squire know he has a birthmark on his thigh? Surely a regular squire would have seen him naked many times before, helping him in/out of armor, tending wounds, etc. I didn’t notice how flimsy the whole inquisition it was the first time through.

6596

Yeah, I don’t think the show would have had such a crummy, lazy trial scene in the earlier seasons of the show. It’s sad that what used to be the most flawlessly produced show on television has suffered so much this season, even if only in comparison to its past glory.

6597

Because Lindelof.

6598

I think maybe the point of the Loras/squire scene is that the high sparrow only needs the slimmest of pretexts to throw someone in jail. With Cersei’s backing(at the time) what more did he need? It’s very similar to the trial Tyrion got. Get someone to say incriminating things about him, allow no real defense, and it’s done. It’s not meant to depict any type of due process, it’s depicting a display of power. Cersei was showing the Tyrells how easy it is for her to put them in check.

6599

David Benioff and Dan Weiss … are no longer telling the same story as ‘A Song of Ice and Fire.’ They’re telling a cheaper, bastardized, dollar-store version of it, complete with all the loathsome tropes of Hollywood that drove George R.R. Martin to write his magnum opus in the first place.”

Pretty much nails it.

6600

Eh. I agree with a fair few of the criticisms of the show (this season in particular), but if you look at the five seasons as a whole it’s a pretty remarkable project and book readers should be happy it’s here at all. Of course it was never going to be perfect. Everyone was nervous going into season 5 as D&D ran out of “engaging” book content. People bitch about this season but it’s probably just as average as a straight adaptation of Feast of Crows would have been.

D&D are 6/10 TV writers adaptating the work of an 8/10 author, and now that the 8/10 material is starting to fall away the 6/10 is showing more and more.