"Connections" are meaningless in the face of prophecy and destiny.
Arya killing the Night King works perfectly once you connect the dots and realize that, despite what he thought, the Great War was never really Jon's war to win.
Spoilers Game of Thrones: The Final Season
- Thread starter The Nth Doctor
- Start date
"Connections" are meaningless in the face of prophecy and destiny.
Arya killing the Night King works perfectly once you connect the dots and realize that, despite what he thought, the Great War was never really Jon's war to win.
I would say that brute force could never have been able to get through the Night King’s defences. Jon tried, and the Night King raised the dead. In the Godswood, Jon would have had to fight the Night King, the White Walkers and the Ironborn if the NK has raised them. With stealth Arya only had to take NK on.
Bran mattered because he knew Arya skills, that is why he gave her Catspaw. He realised what she was capable of.
Jon had a role in the fight against the Night King. But his role was as a unifier of forces. He's probably the only one who could've united Dany with the North.
If Jon's true identity as the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna, the woman for whom Rhaegar spurned his first wife, Elia Martell, is outed, then I expect Dorne to simply remain neutral.
If Daenerys (or Jon, depending on how things shake out) legitimizes Gendry as Gendry Baratheon, then I expect the Stormlands will rally to the Stark/Targaryen cause.
Given who Melisandre is, I think she deliberately sought Arya out and gave the youngest Stark a reason to remind her of her (Melisandre's) own prophetic words as the 'catalyst' for Arya to realize what those words actually meant and what she needed to do, and I'd like to know exactly when Melisandre realized the true import of said words because having that knowledge would recontextualize everything that we'd seen her (Melisandre) do for the past several seasons.
I don't think Dorne, like Ellaria Sand, exists anymore on the show. Their entire army was apparently wiped out by Euron Greyjoy at sea, just like the entirety of the loyalist Reach forces were wiped out offscreen.
Prophecy and destiny aren't actually a real thing and only exist in story logic. So we can just as easily go with the narrative conceit of who makes for a satisfying conclusion.
Bran's the Three-Eyed Raven, apparently some kind of sworn enemy to the Night King. Jon was the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch sworn to defend against the dead and returned from the dead himself. Daeny lost one of her children to the Night King after trusting Jon enough to go north of the Wall to learn the truth of the Dead. Meera lost her brother and companions, and the Night King's machinations took her friend Bran away too. How was Arya impacted by the Night King?
Of course, Arya *did* spend the entire show learning to look death in the face and say "Not today," so it works well in that regard, just... not as personal.
Oh, I thought you meant there was something 'destined' about it and not the actual pragmatism of why it was a brilliant moment that Arya did what she did.
Prophecy and destiny aren't actually a real thing and only exist in story logic. So we can just as easily go with the narrative conceit of who makes for a satisfying conclusion.
Bran's the Three-Eyed Raven, apparently some kind of sworn enemy to the Night King. Jon was the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch sworn to defend against the dead and returned from the dead himself. Daeny lost one of her children to the Night King after trusting Jon enough to go north of the Wall to learn the truth of the Dead. Meera lost her brother and companions, and the Night King's machinations took her friend Bran away too. How was Arya impacted by the Night King?
Of course, Arya *did* spend the entire show learning to look death in the face and say "Not today," so it works well in that regard, just... not as personal.
Oh, I thought you meant there was something 'destined' about it and not the actual pragmatism of why it was a brilliant moment that Arya did what she did.
Yeah, I hope you didn't just spoil the fucking movie. Some of us haven't seen it yet.
She wasn't. However, she never needed to be because of what Melisandre said to her back in Season 3; we just didn't realize it until last night's episode when Arya figured it out herself.
Melisandre clearly didn't understand the import of what she'd told Arya either until very, very recently, or else she wouldn't have put her faith in Stannis, Jon, and Dany.
Even that doesn’t really work. Should have been Nebula
Sorry man, I didn't even think. i meant it as a hypothetical example of audience expectations and didn't realise the way i worded it was heading into potential spoiler territory. I've rephrased it.
To be fair, the thread title is preceded by a big red “Spoiler” tag.
To be fair, the thread title is preceded by a big red “Spoiler” tag.
In his defense, not spoilers for Endgame though
Thanks!
To be fair, the thread title is preceded by a big red “Spoiler” tag.
Seriously?
Well... yeah.
Except that I am thinking A Dream of Spring is going to be mainly about what happens after the White Walkers are defeated.
I think where this misses the mark is in treating the Night King as a character with which one can have a rivalry. He isn't. Like any good zombie, he's a force of nature. You don't get angry at the plague. You just stop it by any means. His origin doesn't matter. The fact he killed your friends or your dragon doesn't matter. Nature kills all the time and nature is older than dirt, so the origin might be interesting, but it won't be useful.
The dude's only expression of emotion (or anything really) in the entire series was after surviving dragon burnination unscathed. And it was a smirk. A half hearted one. Perfect.
As an opponent, they handled it well. The big army was a hindrance in the end. The dragons were easily sidelined. The strategy wasn't all that useful. In the end, what won the day was a little slight of hand from a character no one expected, but looking back makes perfect sense.
I wish, really wish, TBTP had treated the Borg this well over the years.
Haven't seen this movie, but that's what I'd have expected narratively. Yet, I'm not surprised it went down this way. Nebula never gets what she wants. Iron Man always saves the day. meh. I don't watch those movies for plot.
Speaking of narrative expectations, this episode really should have been the last one. Cersei as the last boss? Nah, son. Especially as this proves her decision to hold out as correct. She's left facing a far smaller opposing army while her forces (such as they are) remain intact. Does that matter facing two dragons? No, not really. Last season showed that. However, it's not like she was going to be allowed to remain queen anyway, so why not play for keeps?
They've been pretty consistent about Cersei's shortsightedness ultimately dooming her. Shame if they gave up on it in the last stretch.
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What the hell? Are people giving away the ending to Endgame--in THIS thread?
Fantastic episode. Only a tiny fraction of the zombie army ever got inside Winterfell. No indication that they ever outnumbered the defenders inside the castle. So nothing unrealistic about so many favorites surviving, despite alot silly posts to the contrary.
The zombies appear to be a bit more formidable that the "Walkers" of The Walking Dead, but still have zero apparent combat skill. They swing and slash and thats about it. No problem explaining how great fighters survived against these mindless imbeciles.
A person expertly trained as an assassin slipping a hand full of guards is perfectly fine. People with far less training have pulled off assinations in the real world.
The zombies appear to be a bit more formidable that the "Walkers" of The Walking Dead, but still have zero apparent combat skill. They swing and slash and thats about it. No problem explaining how great fighters survived against these mindless imbeciles.
A person expertly trained as an assassin slipping a hand full of guards is perfectly fine. People with far less training have pulled off assinations in the real world.
Agreed! Earlier in this thread there were nitpicky complaints about the giant zombie acting stupid by bringing Lyanna Mormont close to his eyes to let her kill him. It was a mindless zombie for crying out loud!
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