Was Stannis really that strong? He wanted what he thought was his, and strictly speaking perhaps he was right. He felt he had waited long enough and had done his duty but I'm beginning to think he was insecure underneath that "strong" exterior. What man, confident in his own abilities allows himself to be dictated to by a practitioner of the dark arts? He never burns Shireen in the book....she and the wife never even went with him to battle but on tv, the minute they showed him capitulating to Mel's demand that he burn his daughter proved that he was grasping at straws.

 

We know for a fact that he isn't. We saw the Children of the forest make the Night's King with that blonde haired dude, who may have been a Stark of old, centuries earlier. Can Bran meld (for want of a better term) his mind with the Night's King? Perhaps but he's young and inexperienced with his new powers and the Night's King is old, powerful and has more than one trick up his sleeve. Maybe It comes down to a basic battle between good and evil perhaps played out telepathically. If the head of the snake is removed the body will scatter much like Sauron and the orcs.

 

That showed he was totally unfit to rule Westeros. He would have been a puppet king to Mel and her Red God. He would have been worse than the mad king. If you can kill your own daughter that way, no one would be safe in the kingdom.

If they had written the Dorne storyline similar to what was in the books, the Sand Snakes wouldn't have been so intolerable. They had a minor role and Doran had them under control and working for him. I can't believe they screwed up such a large part of the plot...and an interesting one at that, IMO.

 

The speculation I've read is pretty bad on this Bran is the Night's King theory. The best of the lot is that things go bad in Westeros and Bran goes back to when the Children of the Forest made the Night's King and manages to warg into that guy prior to him being turned. It sort of builds on the whole Hodor thing but it has a slew of problems.[

My own thought is that the most Bran can do is perhaps warg into the present day Night's King long enough to turn the battle, or enable Jon to kill the NK. That effort though would likely lead to Bran sacrificing himself. It's likely that this is the only way they can stop the Night's King. After he threw that spear to take down Viserion I don't know how Jon alone can stop him. It might take a combination of Bran and maybe even Melisandre too.

 

Dorne was actually very good in the books with Arianne's plot and the plan to crown Myrcella etc, and then Doran's handling of it all afterwards.

 

Yes, I agree it's going to take a combination of skills to bring something down so old and powerful. He was supposed to be a tool of the Children of the Forest but they ultimately couldn't even control him. Jon, Bran, Dany and the rest of her dragons I like, but only use Mel if she turns over a new leaf. Otherwise the only contribution she'd likely make is demanding another blood sacrifice. If she tries that crap, I hope Dany feeds her to Drogon.

Did Sam take any of the books from the citadel with him? I was thinking maybe if he were to continue to pour through them he might find some ancient secret which would lead to the NK's downfall. I would feel bad if Bran has to sacrifice himself. When he visualizes the past though, I don't believe he can interact with those he sees. Didn't he try calling out to his father at first in the Dorne sequence and the 3EC told him it was useless, that Ned couldn't see or hear him? However, if he travels back to the making of the NK he might observe or overhear something that could be helpful. Then again, Bran does seem to be able to interact with the dude now when he's in his visions so perhaps during the battle, like you suggest, he might be able to create a diversion which will give our guys the upper hand.

 

IKR? Since Martin devoted so many chapters to the Martell's, I imagine they'll figure more prominently in the book plot than what we saw on the show.

 

It's late in the game for Melisandre to rehabilitate herself but I think, even more so than Bran, Melisandre's assistance would require her sacrifice. Afterall she did tell Varys she had to return to die, so she appears to have an idea of what she needs to do.

The thing about that scene between Bran and Ned is that Ned did turn around. He didn't see anyone but he appeared to hear "something." And that only occurred while Bran was still in training. His powers are even greater now. Unless it's done as incredibly as the Hodor episode though, I'm not excited about having the resolution to all of this being time travel. Maybe as a segment of the plan, but not the final act.

One thing that I've had in mind since "The Door" is that Bran's screw up with the Night's King while a disaster in the short term could work to their benefit in the end. As Bran continues to enhance his skills, the fact that the Night's King touched him might be used by Bran. It could forge a connection or window into defeating him.

 

They should have done much more with the TV Doran instead of that weird detour with the Sand Snakes. They were GOT's Jar Jar Binks.

 

We wanted a good story but writers thought we needed bad p*ssy.

 

Stannis was a strong and able commander imo, but like everyone else he was not perfect and like you say, his downfall was listening to the wispers of the Red Priestess whom abandon him in the end, at least in the show. It was a sad and horrible demise and there are many out there who still think he is alive in the show even though the actor confirmed his death.

I will go into more details later as Stannis was one of my favourite chracters in the show. Stehen Dillane should have won an award for his portrayal. RL rules now but I will be back.

 

My little Bran is off to university

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbi...stead-Wright-swaps-Winterfell-University.html

 

September 20th was Martin's Birthday; a short piece on his life from Sweatpants &Coffee:

http://sweatpantsandcoffee.com/sweatpants-pop-culture-george-r-r-martins-69th-name-day/

 

This was on my twitter feed on his birthday....





George RR Martin‏ @GRRM


To celebrate my birthday, I've decided to write a couple chapters and killed off a couple of your favorite characters.

1:06 PM - 20 Sep 2017

• 1,339 Retweets
• 4,093 Likes
• 

138 replies 1,339 retweets 4,093 likes

 

With this being the last season of GOTs I guess IHW has decided it time to think about his future. Good for him that he has decided to do this.

 

Looks like Sapo is back and might be doing multiple epi's. 2-3 possibly?

Also the budget will be growing to 15+ million an epi.

I think D&D will prob write/direct the finale.

 

John Bradley, the actor who plays Sam, said that each one of the final 6 episodes will be monumental. They have that Episode 9 feel. David Nutter and Miguel Sapochnik will be coming back to direct at well. Nutter directed the Red Wedding episode and also the Season 5 finale which was Cersei's walk of atonement. And Sapochick has directed some of the biggest ones like Hardhome, Battle of the Bastards and The Winds of Winter. It's also rumored that each episode is going to be "feature length." So they're going to be close to 90 minutes long.

 

Also, according to Liam Cunningham (Davos) filming may be until Summer next year. If that is true, we will be seeing S8 in 2019. To top that off I read to avoid future leaks, S8 scripts are under lock and key even to the starring cast, the scripts are made digital and they cannot be opened outside GOTs studio. Go figure. Spoilers no more.

I

 

Amazing how some actors look totally different from their given roles. Rob and Khaleesi we know, but can you believe the other guy is Visery? Yes, it is! take a closer look.