Chipotlemonger said:

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Keep in mind there are really more like 8 episodes' worth of minutes in these 6 episodes.

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Eh. That sounds great but if they are longer because they decided to shoot 1 1/2 hour long battle scenes instead of hour long battle scenes, I'm not sure how much new material we are getting. Again, happy to wait and see.

And I'm not sure the actor contract thing makes much sense either when they spent 7 weeks shooting the war footage alone. Again, happy to wait. I just hope they don't push Bran's wheel chair in the corner and leave that story where it is at the end of episode 3.

Does anybody want to have a watch party for this episde in Watauga?

I see so much debate about who is going to get the Cersei kill...are we being too quick to assume Cersei loses and dies?? Or is there a world where she comes out alive? Kind of too predictable to assume the North wins and she dies

Bc men are the irrational, power hungry ones...

Any chance that the show twists in these final 3 episodes and makes Bran into something evil?

He has the NK's mark. Maybe that and/or his powers warm and twist his mind and he becomes something worse. OR maybe he still can become the new night king?

Idk maybe I'm just reaching trying to hope something is more interesting than the fight for who sits in a chair

Icecream_Ag said:

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NukeAg10 said:

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Bc men are the irrational, power hungry ones...

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have you read this thread

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How dare you assume everyone's gender

Icecream_Ag said:

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NukeAg10 said:

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Bc men are the irrational, power hungry ones...

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have you read this thread

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I legit laughed out loud. Well done.

bobinator said:

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I mean, maybe, but that's not really the argument here. My point is that it's very clearly stated in the show, by an extremely trustworthy source, that the dead can't go past the wall as long as the wall stands.

That's a core reason why I thought their plan to retrieve one in season 7 shouldn't have been possible. Now, they don't know that of course, but it still shouldn't have been possible by the rules laid out in the show.

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Maybe a get of jail free card. Didn't they bring the one they captured around the wall by boat?

I think Dany ends up becoming the antagonist to the Stark family as she is overwhelmed with madness and greed for the throne.

Jorah is a huge loss. He was the only advisor that Daeny fully trusted. And she unknowingly gave away one of her dragons to Aejon. Mossandei and grey worm are mostly useless as advisors. I'm sure Daario will appear out of nowhere to help because "it's not what the audience expects" but he's more of a trusted warrior than advisor.

Yeah. And honestly I thought that death was out of place. He deserved more. About 6 other characters should have died last ep and Jorah should have lived on until KL.

So for Bran to become the new NK, do we need to find some Children of the Forest who will wheel him under a weirwood tree and shove a hunk of obsidian in his heart? Is that feasible? What are we talking here?

I think they brought it over the wall on the Dragon, and then down to the dragon pit on a boat IIRC.

It doesn't really matter now, and I'm not super hung up on it, I didn't really intend to start a multi-page conversation about it, I was just using it as an example of the difference in what I see as kind of silly fan service but overall fine (like Lady Mormont's death) and an actual bad writing that might have created a plot hole.

wangus12 said:

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redline248 said:

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MuckRaker96 said:

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PatAg said:

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The Dog Lord said:

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bobinator said:

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Maybe a new topic, but it'll be better than just arguing the same stuff all day (which I've been a part of so I'm not hating on it... just think maybe it's run its course)

Are there any narrative 'loose ends' from the show that we think are going to actually come into play in these last few episodes? From a "pieces on the board" standpoint as the writers like to say, what all do we still have out there that maybe we aren't thinking about?

I know there's any number of magical devices/people/etc out there in the books that we haven't seen in the show, but from just the show, anything out there that could come off the top rope in the last three episodes?

One thing I keep thinking about is that conversation between Tyrion and Bran the night before the battle that we didn't get to see. I'm thinking that conversation is going to matter at some point, but I don't have a good idea on what could have been said.

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Howland MF Reed!!!

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Whatever Dorne is up to, they really only lost Oberyn and the Sand Snakes. They still have their ruler in place, and presumably most of their army.

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Uhhh, think you might have missed an episode.

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Looking back on the Dorne plot...what was HBO's thinking? They took a character whom Martin created as an intellectual equal to Tyrion or Tywin and just neutered him so the Sand Snakes could have their moment in the sun? Did they think there weren't enough women running huge territories and armies at the time?

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See my post back on like 15 pages lol. This is gonna have an ending where all the women are in power and all the men have lost everything pretty much

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I think you are right. I'm still thinking Sansa ends up on the throne somehow - or some variation of it. Not saying men lose all power, but definitely a female controlled realm. In my neighborhood death pool, I put no one ends up on the throne (basically the wheel is broken and the throne ceases to exist with a different form of governance), but after watching this season I think that was a bad prediction and one of the dominant females will end up ruling in some capacity.

redline248 said:

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Render said:

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Quote:

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This was a show designed to buck the trends. To pierce the tropes and show us something new. But now it has devolved into a gelatinous blob of disappointment and embarrassment. You have become the very thing you swore to destroy.

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That was a true evisceration of the last episode

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One of the points he made was what I was wondering - why not build a bigger, wider trench / moat, fill that f'er with oil, line the climbing out spots with dragon glass, and do it 100s of yards away from the castle wall. Then build another one closer in in case anyone gets through. The dead fall into it lemming style and you set it on fire. If they wait outside the fire, you've got sitting ducks for a dragon BBQ.

Do this instead of a building small trench right outside the walls that can be bridged by a few wights laying down on it.

I know it would be hard to dig in frozen ground without heavy machinery, but you've got 20000 Dothraki and Unsullied polishing their swords and spears, another multitude of northern civilians - you could get it done. Then you get to sit back and wait, aiming 30000 dragon glass arrows upward ready to fire at the only thing that can get past your moats. One of those will either knock down the ice dragon or hit the NK.

bobinator said:

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I'm not sure why, but the battle tactics stuff doesn't bother me much.

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because we have multiple seasons of everyone using bad tactics and we've come to expect it

Icecream_Ag said:

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bobinator said:

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I'm not sure why, but the battle tactics stuff doesn't bother me much.

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because we have multiple seasons of everyone using bad tactics and we've come to expect it

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I don't think this is true, at all. Maybe I've missed your sarcasm?

bangobango said:

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Way the writers are going, Jon will probably sacrifice himself so Dany can win the iron throne. Dany will agree to let Sansa rule the North in honor of Jon's sacrifice.

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And Capt Marvel will show at the end. Sansa will say "where have you been, we sure could have used you when 100,000 zombies were climbing over the walls at Winterfell" and Marvel will curtly reply "other kingdoms have their problems too, but they didn't have 10,000 unsullied, 2 dragons, and a crazy 17 year old with a Valyrian dagger". Sansa will coolly nod back to her.

Continuing the girl power trend why not go for the Big little lies ending (big little lies spoilers)

The women in power all realize they should band together and talk it out instead of fight. They find out Bran is the true force of darkness causing all the problems and one of them pushes him down the King's landing staircase

Daeny - Reese Witherspoon
Sansa - Nicole Kidman
Cersei - Laura Dern
Arya - Shailene Woodley
Brienne - the Black one whose name I can't remember

KidDoc said:

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I think Dany ends up becoming the antagonist to the Stark family as she is overwhelmed with madness and greed for the throne.

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Interesting since Amelia Clarke gave an interview where she said this season's scripts ****ed her up because her character made some decisions that would be difficult for some fans to accept.

redline248 said:

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Icecream_Ag said:

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bobinator said:

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I'm not sure why, but the battle tactics stuff doesn't bother me much.

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because we have multiple seasons of everyone using bad tactics and we've come to expect it

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I don't think this is true, at all. Maybe I've missed your sarcasm?

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mance told jon what was coming and it still took Stannis coming out of nowhere to save his ass.
Stannis tried to siege winterfell in winter
BoB the stark forces were trapped between a wall of dead and a superior force
Dany lost most of her fleet, dorne, and the Tyrells in one move
The wight expedition
Recent battle has been beaten to death

Brian Earl Spilner said:

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My takeaway from this is Grey Worm has a music career. Must be what Bran was watching last episode

What if Bran creates a new night king to raise the dead to fight against Cersie? Because honestly at this point everyone in the north is going to be short on people to fight.

Icecream_Ag said:

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redline248 said:

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Icecream_Ag said:

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bobinator said:

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I'm not sure why, but the battle tactics stuff doesn't bother me much.

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because we have multiple seasons of everyone using bad tactics and we've come to expect it

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I don't think this is true, at all. Maybe I've missed your sarcasm?

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mance told jon what was coming and it still took Stannis coming out of nowhere to save his ass.
Stannis tried to siege winterfell in winter
BoB the stark forces were trapped between a wall of dead and a superior force
Dany lost most of her fleet, dorne, and the Tyrells in one move
The wight expedition
Recent battle has been beaten to death

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Not all of these are examples of bad tactics. Bad outcome (or near bad outcome and being rescued) doesn't necessarily mean bad tactics.

Luke Smith said:

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Any chance that the show twists in these final 3 episodes and makes Bran into something evil?

He has the NK's mark. Maybe that and/or his powers warm and twist his mind and he becomes something worse. OR maybe he still can become the new night king?

Idk maybe I'm just reaching trying to hope something is more interesting than the fight for who sits in a chair

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I do think there still has to be some kind of something with Bran in these last few episodes. If all of that stuff about being able to affect the past and all of that doesn't do anything more to the plot than give Hodor an origin story it will be massively disappointing.

Icecream_Ag said:

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redline248 said:

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Icecream_Ag said:

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bobinator said:

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I'm not sure why, but the battle tactics stuff doesn't bother me much.

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because we have multiple seasons of everyone using bad tactics and we've come to expect it

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I don't think this is true, at all. Maybe I've missed your sarcasm?

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mance told jon what was coming and it still took Stannis coming out of nowhere to save his ass.
Stannis tried to siege winterfell in winter
BoB the stark forces were trapped between a wall of dead and a superior force
Dany lost most of her fleet, dorne, and the Tyrells in one move
The wight expedition
Recent battle has been beaten to death

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Jon beat their assess back, but they were severely undermanned to hold the wildlings off forever
Most of Stannis's men deserted after he burned Shireen and Ramsay ambushed him
We honestly don't know what the tactics were for BoB bc Jon rushed out to save Rickon and that plan went out the window.
There were no bad tactics involved when Euron smashed Dany's fleet. I'll give you that Tyrion didn't plan for the Tyrells being attacked.
What tactics were bad in the Wight expedition? Going in the first place? Sure. But 8 on 100k doesn't give you much chance to make a strategy.

The defense of Winterfell was the most egregious use of bad strategy.

Edit: apologies if I am remembering certain aspects incorrectly

Honestly, I'd prepare to be disappointed. Again.

I'm actually not that worried about it.... I'm guessing (hoping?) that the writers have had an ending in mind since they started this thing, and that some of the decisions made along the way are to serve that ending.

But we'll see.