185 replies to this topic

[Jasi]

And then you have the Boltons, who everyone in the North absolutely despises in the books, managing to easily summon an army to crush Stannis without any difficulty whatsoever. In the books, the North despises the Bolton-Frey alliance and they're barely maintaining being on top. We get some really stirring moments where through Davos and Theon we get to see how The North Remembers and how despite all of Ned and Robb's failures, their vassals are still fiercely loyal and want to fight for them even in death. The Winterfell that Stannis is marching to is a kettle about to boil over from the tensions inside, especially with Freys being murdered thanks to a certain mischief caused by a character that isn't quite as dead as he is in the show. 

 

I had this question as well when I watched that scene—"how on earth do they have that big of an army?!" When your vassals don't like you, they don't give many levies to your army.  Lessons from Crusader Kings II. I am definitely disappointed that Winterfell wasn't taken back in the finale. 

 

 

 Then you have the Jon storyline, with the "For The Watch" storyline. In the book, Jon forsakes his vows and goes to stir the wildlings to go march on the wildlings to go save Arya. Just as he's gathering to march away, Bowen Marsh with tears in his eyes stabs Jon Snow because he legitimately believes that Jon Snow is endangering them all by letting a wildling army run loose in the realm. In the show, this is boiled down to Alliser Thorne being kind of an asshole and decided to murder Jon with a gang of bullies that don't like him very much, despite Jon doing none of the questionable decisions as a leader that otherwise led him to this path. Instead of it being "For The Watch", it's "For Me And My Buddies Because Fuck You". 

 

 

I'm not sure this was so different between the books and the show. The questionable decision was to bring the Wildlings into the realm, which people thought was dangerous because they suspected the Wildlings would still just kill the crows and whoever as soon as they had the chance. That and bitterness from clashes that had already happened. It totally was "for the Watch," because the Watch was full of people who had lost friends and family at the hands of the Wildlings and hadn't forgiven them for it. I think that was pretty clear from dialogue and such. Though Jon being resented for being young didn't help. Alliser is an asshole though for sure.

[Selena]

For as much as I like the Hardhome episode, which was easily the best episode this season, it did kinda mess with the structure of Jon's story.

 

He stayed at the Wall in the book, and instead sent out a naval expedition to check on Hardhome. Half the ships are lost in a storm, and the wildlings at Hardhome are all starving to the point where some are engaging in cannibalism to survive -- and there are wights and dead things skulking about (but no actual White Walkers). So, to the members of the Watch, Jon is not only letting Wildlings through the Wall, he's also killing what few members of the Watch remain by sending them on goose-chases. He's wasting resources on Wildlings. And that comes on the heels of book!Jon turning the Watch into de facto vassals of Stannis. A bad call, given that the Watch is meant to be neutral.

 

 

 

Whereas, on the show, there's the HUGE (AND AWESOME) WHITE WALKER SNOW ASSAULT ARMY that's now probably about 10,000 - 20,000 strong. Which was impressive. But then logic would dictate that Jon would make a huge announcement to the Watch about it, as this would justify teaming up with the Wildlings. Because there's no way in hell that the Watch can hold the Wall. It would have kept the Watch united out of both fear and necessity.

 

...Instead, he only told Sam. For some reason. Because he's a Stark and makes bad decisions?

 

 

 

Hardhome was an interesting episode. Because it was very well done, but it also had a potentially unexpected side-effect:

 

People stopped giving a shit about everyone else's storylines, because GIANT WHITE WALKER ARMY. Everyone else in the show now seems irrelevant by comparison. All over social media, I was noticing people comment about how they no long really give a shit about the other subplots, because this one is now the only story that matters. Which it is. I suppose there's a reason that Martin is waiting until Act 3 in the books to release the army of magic-ice-people. So while I really liked the episode, it did kinda mess with the narrative a bit.

 

 

 

 

 

Since Shireen died on the show whilst still alive in the books, I do wonder how the Battle of Winterfell will go down in the books. Stannis could win there and die later on, given Shireen's early demise. I have a really hard time seeing the Boltons win that battle, though, after all the meticulous buildup. Stannis deserves to win at least one big battle south of the Wall. Having a legendary battle commander lose at both the Blackwater and Winterfell is just embarrassing!

 

Maybe book!Stannis will die when the Others first storm the Wall. Because I'm pretty sure the Wall's comin' down by the end of the next book. And if not that, then the Others are definitely going to find a way through it. But I'm pretty sure it's gonna come crashing down. It's practically been a Chekhov's Gun this whole time.

 

It's poetic justice that Brienne killed him on the show, I suppose, but they're in very different locations in the books, so that seems like a logistical nightmare at this stage.

[Selena]

Interesting casting calls for S6:

 

http://watchersonthe...rones-season-6/

 

 

* Some Dothraki.

 

* A couple of outlaw guys -- possibly members of the Brotherhood Without Banners, as the BWB aren't exactly noble, especially later on

 

* Some Northern lords -- possibly Greatjon Umber. He was already in the show, but they're probably recasting him. The other one might be Lord Manderly (but no mention of weight requirements, so they'll likely slim him down for the show).

 

* Various extras

 

* A legendary fighter with a famous sword, known to be a paragon of knighthood. 30's-40's. He'll only be filming for a week, indicating he won't be on the show long. It sounds like Arthur Dayne, Sword of the Morning. Indicating that we'll have a flashback to The Tower of Joy. Which will probably be the "big reveal" of Jon's parentage.

[JRPomazon]

It's weird. Last week I'd be scrambling over to whoever had HBO GO right about now. Now, just the dead calm before seasons. Really makes you think.

[Masamune]

http://imgur.com/gallery/t8NHg

 

 

A handy comparison tool for the books and show.

[Twinrova]

I saw that earlier today, I fucking lol'd at that first one. Goddamn.