Game of Thrones

[jibberthehut]

@Pandora She's on netflix in some tv show about pre-teen witches at a school.

[Pandora]

@jibberthehut The Worst Witch! I watched that show when I was a little kid, did not know there was a re-make. That's amazing, thanks for the heads up.

[Kestrel]

@Seraphim73 said in Game of Thrones:

@Rinel said in Game of Thrones:
***Thoughts on chivalry***

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I don't know that it's misplaced Southern chivalry that made this moment so awesome, I think it's more that from almost the moment we met Jorah, the one thing he wanted to do was protect Dany (okay, one of the two things he wanted to do). So to allow him to die doing that, it was powerful. And as they mentioned in the Making Of after the episode, they did a good job of not making her a damsel in distress during those scenes, while also making it clear that he was her real defense.

***I had a totally different take on this.***

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I loved that they showed Daenerys weak and vulnerable.

I loved how clueless she looked with a sword and to me she definitely looked clueless. Once she was dismounted she was utterly useless in that fight. The threat that she might die felt real.

I'm actually a huge Daenerys fangirl. I know she's a controversial character and there's all these #TeamSansa #TeamAegon internet wars going on but I don't choose sides, I just love 'em all (though Dany is obviously my favourite, fire and blood baby). But her strength has never been physical. She isn't an Arya or a Brienne; her strength comes in the form of competent leadership, a strong moral fibre, a refusal to bow to anyone's expectations, etc. You don't need to give a lady super strength to write a 'strong women character' (à la Buffy/Xena era of TV feminism) and so seeing Daenerys' vulnerabilities alongside her strengths was to me kind of awesome.

Or in other words, women don't have to be more like men to be badasses. I was very fine with bigstrongstrappingmanlyman Jorah protecting her. She's saved and protected him countless other times, in other, less stereotypically macho/physical/violent ways.

It's fine for women to occasionally be damsels as long as that's not all they are and the only role they're allowed to have in media.

On the flip side you have Arya saving her brother's life (even if he isn't her brother any more, I doubt she doesn't still see him that way) and all of Westeros to boot, or the many times Asha/Yara's saved Theon and he's stood by her.

GoT is hella underrated for its portrayal of women, IMO.

[Seraphim73]

@Kestrel

***Mostly Agree***

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Yeah, sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that I thought Dany was suddenly a physical badass or skilled with a sword or that I wanted either of those. I just liked that she wasn't cowering behind him wringing her hands and screaming -- because to me that wouldn't be like the Dany we've come to know and (mostly) love. To me, even if she doesn't know how to use a sword, Dany is going to try to use one, because she's not going to give up. I also agree that she definitely felt like she was under threat in those scenes, and that was great.

I have also liked how female characters have shown power physically (Yara, Brienne, Arya, and others), politically (Dany, Cersei, Sansa), and otherwise. For all the things that they sometimes get wrong with female characters, they definitely get that very, very right.

[Arkandel]

@Kestrel And frankly - no need to use spoilers for this one - the show has established pretty well if not explicitly said it that Jon Snow isn't uh, a genius. He's not a military prodigy, there are probably several swordsmen I can name on the show (and at least one swordswoman) who could beat him straight up. He's at best a passable politician since he's not even trained in that - there was never a need for it, since he was supposed to have served on the Wall for the rest of his life.

In other words one of the shows (and books') most major characters has a crapload of weaknesses. Those don't make him worse as a character, they make him better because he's still vital - because he has other qualities people look up to, and he inspires loyalty in others just like his father/uncle did before him.

If anything else I'm more annoyed about Cersei sitting on the Iron Throne because they haven't shown her to possess almost any positives. Those (in the books) were her kids; she was fiercely protective of them - that's something. On the show she had a backbone, as we saw during that SHAME scene but other than that she's been a terrible leader and... well, person end to end. She barely mourned for the son she drove to suicide. And that's a bit one dimensional, there's no way to root for her.

[Pandora]

@Arkandel

***Thar be potential spoilers, maybe?***

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I'm fond of ruthlessness, personally. I don't like Daenerys other than thinking that she's really pretty even when she cries, so personally I'd not be impressed if she takes the throne from Cersei. I'd be happiest if Sansa & Tyrion wound up in charge, or even Arya. Sansa has a heart and Tyrion has a brain; Arya is a badass. Those qualities in a leader are more useful than opportunistic lack of regard for kith and kin, which Cersei and Daenerys have shown time and again.

[surreality]

@Pandora And here is a sentence to fill up the new posts thingum so nothing shows under the spoiler tag, I do hope it is long enough. Where is my lorem ipsum template when I need it?

***Things are here.***

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Ideally she'll realize, hey, he really wasn't the worst husband ever, and they make a damn fine team now. I was pleased to see that started to sink in a little in the crypt.

[Arkandel]

Moar art (this time without a spoiler warning)

[Kestrel]

@Arkandel

Cersei is alive for precisely the same reason that Ned Stark isn't.

It's supposed to be unfair and frustrating. Indeed she is my least favourite character on the show (or rather, my favourite character to hate since Joffrey) but it's precisely because of how unscrupulous she is that she "deserves" the Throne, in a sense.

Obviously, I'm looking forward to seeing her die. That was like, #1 on my wishlist for this season. It has been #1 on my wishlist since she killed Sansa's doggo. I hope her comeuppance is brutal and cathartic.

But I mean ... she worked hard for that uncomfortable chair, as gross and unlikeable as that makes her. It's pretty on-brand for GoT to show us that life isn't fair, and political success doesn't necessarily come to the smartest/bravest and most deserving! I think she's a good villain.

@Seraphim73 fair points all in all. She's definitely no Princess Buttercup. (How Not to Do a Damsel.)

[Ghost]

Man, I am such a Lena Headey fan. She's really brought out the character and is the perfect Cersei.

[Arkandel]

@Ghost said in Game of Thrones:

Man, I am such a Lena Headey fan. She's really brought out the character and is the perfect Cersei.

Watch Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Man, I miss that show.

[insomniac7809]

@Arkandel said in Game of Thrones:

@Ghost said in Game of Thrones:

Man, I am such a Lena Headey fan. She's really brought out the character and is the perfect Cersei.

Watch Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. Man, I miss that show.

Or be the sixth person to see her knock it out of the fucking park in Dredd.

[Ghost]

@insomniac7809 Dredd is one of the most underrated films, I swear. Fucking crime that it didn't get the franchise treatment.

[Seraphim73]

Lena Headey is also fantastic in her (admittedly minor) role in Fighting With My Family, another criminally underrated film. Actually, it's less underrated than it is unknown. It's a biopic about WWE wrestler Paige, but it's extremely well done, funny, touching, and awesome. You don't have to like the WWE to like it.

[Arkandel]

***=Do you think...***

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... the show will do anything with all the prophecies? Will we get a somewhat solid answer about The Prince Who Was Promised or Azor Ahai, or will they resort to a cop-out ("it's all up to interpretation, you guys!") given the time frame of the remaining episodes?

Also I'm wondering if it will all play out straight from now on. Like, is Cleganebowl and Cersei vs the Starks/Targaryens what's left or do they have any real twists left?

[Tempest]

Just a random note, if a spoiler is the first thing in the post, you can see the like first 10 words or something (i didn't count) of a spoiler in the 'post preview' thing when browsing the forum.

[Rinel]

@Arkandel

Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah spoiler prevention thingie goes here blah blah blah.

***=NOPE***

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Melisandre already said that "prince" is gender neutral in the original language, so it could just as easily be "princess." I think Azor Ahai is either implicated to be Arya or is going to be dropped completely.

[Arkandel]

@Rinel I wonder if we actually need a spoiler for this since we're just speculating, but maybe just so anyone who hasn't watched yet doesn't have to know these things are still being speculated.

***=So...***

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See, one of the things I liked about the books was the veil of mystery behind supernatural events and threats. I love GoT but I think I'd feel cheated if they didn't some kind of resolution instead of 'leaving it to the viewers' which I'd consider a real cop-out.

We don't need to be hand-fed everything but these are some plotlines we've been fed for some times integral to the saga and I really hope they don't leave them dangling. I mean sure, if we squint hard enough - and I mean we'd need to do some serious fucking squinting we can figure out why Arya fits them, but it'd be as good a fit as squeezing Hot Pie into being Azor Ahai as well.

I'd really rather have an "ah HAH" moment before episode 8 wraps up.

[Ghost]

I keep going through my head that if that last GoT episode were 20 hours of mush combat how it would have gone. My mental television is lolol.

*** content***

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Like...600,000 zombies, 10 night lords, and 1 undead Dragon against 8 PCs. Every PC ends up in every scene. No one dies. GMs roomate performs the kill shot that saves everyone

.

[Arkandel]

@Ghost Yeah but put that behind spoiler tags please.