GoT Season Seven

[John]

best line I've seen on youtube:

So the Starks have:
A master assassin who can kill an entire House, who has a Valyrian steel dagger.
A seasoned fighter who has died once, is a decent tactician and actually cares about the people and fought a White Walker with a Valyrian steel sword
A three-eyed raven who can see visions.
And Sansa.

 

[intlzncster]

I could have sworn we were close to a kissing moment between Jon and Dany. Yes, the show is going there folks. When she said "bend the knee" it almost could have been "marry me". It more or less rhymes.

I was hoping for a motorboat or something...

It did not appear on screen, but I inferred the following after Jon told Dany not to burn Kings Landing. "Then what would you do?" "I'd take out the army while it is open and exposed outside Kings Landing. Show the soldiers the dragons." Dany sure as hell didn't come up with it herself.

Absolutely. I didn't actually make that mental jump but it's so obvious and perfect in retrospect.

This should be Jon's role going forward. Manage tactics unseen from a castle somewhere. That way you remove is stupid heroic martyrdom from the equation by keeping him off the battlefield. He's not a bad tactition.

 

[intlzncster]

Which reminds me, where is Ghost at in all of this?

One thing I don't like about the HBO series is that they kinda make the direwolves fairly inconsequential. They're a bigger part of the books.

 

[Excalibur]

My issue with Bran is why tell Littlefinger that you are some kind of mystic or prophet? Bran basically just said "I saw you kill my father." Littlefinger is gonna finish the job that Jaime started.

Once Bran warns everyone where the dead are attacking he's no longer necessary to the story. This may have some truth to it.

 

[Excalibur]

The longer he sticks around Winterfell with Starks popping up left and right, the longer he is in danger. Now would be the perfect time for him to retire to the Vale... but he's going to try to win over the Starks instead. Good luck with that.

He doesn't have to win anyone over. He may be the most powerful lord in Westeros now. Lord of Harrenhal, de facto lord of the Vale, and with the only real army left at this point.

 

[HuskyHawk]

best line I've seen on youtube:

So the Starks have:
A master assassin who can kill an entire House, who has a Valyrian steel dagger.
A seasoned fighter who has died once, is a decent tactician and actually cares about the people and fought a White Walker with a Valyrian steel sword
A three-eyed raven who can see visions.
And Sansa.

I'd change the last line to: "A hot redhead who's fire-crotch is all consuming to would be tryrants, but leads them to horrible deaths."

 

[SubbaBub]

He doesn't have to win anyone over. He may be the most powerful lord in Westeros now. Lord of Harrenhal, de facto lord of the Vale, and with the only real army left at this point.

He doesn't really control his army enough to turn on the north or the Starks. Best he could do is convince them to return and protect the Vale.

If they found out about his treachery, like say killing Lyssa, he's toast. Littlefinger is still very dangerous but he can't openly go after anyone.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I think Littlefinger's smirk was one of confidence. He has one of the most dangerous assassins in Westeros on his team. Littlefinger is still working Sansa, and he has a few good cards to play. First, Sansa can never say that Littlefinger killed Lyssa Arynn because she would be admitting she lied about it. Secondly, Littlefinger has saved Sansa's life, twice (escape from Kings Landing, and stopped Sansa's nutty aunt from tossing Sansa through the Moon Door). Finally, Littlefinger all but said he doesn't give a about the White Walkers. Either they will eliminate humanity, or they won't, and Littlefinger would be more than happy to let Jon Snow take off on a suicide mission to the North, preferably with some dragons. Littlefinger is in pretty good shape in the game, which is a sure sign he is about to get killed.

I am a little confused by the size of the relative armies. At this point in the war, the Vale should be one of the biggest armies left. The North, Riverlands and the Lannisters should have been bled dry by now, since they were in the middle of all the fighting to date. The Reach and Stormlands have engaged in multiple battles too. The Stormlands were on both sides of Blackwater Bay, and were the bulk of Stannis' army after that. Dorne and the Vale have basically sat out the fighting. But Davos said they only had 10,000, which would put them in a distant 3rd place behind Cersei and Dany. Even assuming Cersei is getting some extra support for being Queen and is leveraging the Reach, her forces should still be in shambles.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

Are we all underestimating the possibility of a Pod/Arya hookup?

Based on Pod's reputation from Season 2, he is probably not the right guy for Arya to start with. She may want to work her way up to Pod.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

I thought that line was pretty helpful in that it made it really easy for a dragon to cook as much Lannister as possible.

I have not seen the literature on the proper use of dragons in combat situations. I guess you could treat it like close air support.

 

[Scalito]

I think Littlefinger's smirk was one of confidence. He has one of the most dangerous assassins in Westeros on his team. Littlefinger is still working Sansa, and he has a few good cards to play. First, Sansa can never say that Littlefinger killed Lyssa Arynn because she would be admitting she lied about it. Secondly, Littlefinger has saved Sansa's life, twice (escape from Kings Landing, and stopped Sansa's nutty aunt from tossing Sansa through the Moon Door). Finally, Littlefinger all but said he doesn't give a about the White Walkers. Either they will eliminate humanity, or they won't, and Littlefinger would be more than happy to let Jon Snow take off on a suicide mission to the North, preferably with some dragons. Littlefinger is in pretty good shape in the game, which is a sure sign he is about to get killed.

I am a little confused by the size of the relative armies. At this point in the war, the Vale should be one of the biggest armies left. The North, Riverlands and the Lannisters should have been bled dry by now, since they were in the middle of all the fighting to date. The Reach and Stormlands have engaged in multiple battles too. The Stormlands were on both sides of Blackwater Bay, and were the bulk of Stannis' army after that. Dorne and the Vale have basically sat out the fighting. But Davos said they only had 10,000, which would put them in a distant 3rd place behind Cersei and Dany. Even assuming Cersei is getting some extra support for being Queen and is leveraging the Reach, her forces should still be in shambles.

Davos was counting the North's army only. I did not take it that the Vale's army was included in the calculation.

 

[HuskyHawk]

I have not seen the literature on the proper use of dragons in combat situations. I guess you could treat it like close air support.

Think Apache helicopter in a world where there was no anti-aircraft nor any other opposing air support, and indeed, just no firearms of any kind.

 

[August_West]

Pulleys are a miracle.

magnets, how do they work?

 

[CTGoonie]

Think Apache helicopter in a world where there was no anti-aircraft nor any other opposing air support, and indeed, just no firearms of any kind.

I'm hopeful for a scene where Bran "wargs" into a dragon like he did with Hodor or that wildling in the books.

 

[ZooCougar]

Think Apache helicopter in a world where there was no anti-aircraft nor any other opposing air support, and indeed, just no firearms of any kind.

Probably doesn't run out out of ammo, rockets and missiles too.

 

[billythekid]

Littlefinger's smirk when watching Arya spar with Brienne might be that he was finally able to place the face of the serving girl from his meeting with Tywin Lannister from a few season back.

 

[John]

Think Apache helicopter in a world where there was no anti-aircraft nor any other opposing air support, and indeed, just no firearms of any kind.

well, there is now AA, similar to this but with a wagon:

 

[Excalibur]

Littlefinger's smirk when watching Arya spar with Brienne might be that he was finally able to place the face of the serving girl from his meeting with Tywin Lannister from a few season back.

Nah, he knew at the time and chose not to say anything.

 

[ZooCougar]

I have not seen the literature on the proper use of dragons in combat situations. I guess you could treat it like close air support.

I was being a little snarky. But essentially you are right. In this day and age it's bad for troops to mass in that close together because weapons are so lethal. It just makes it easier for the weapon to do its job. If a squad is all bunched up then one mine or grenade, or a rocket could take them all out.

It would be the correct tactic to defend against mounted cavalry but they didn't expect the dragons. In this case the Lannister response played into D's hands perfectly.

It's a great thing that these people are so incompetent. Does on this planet use Scouts or cavalry as security. Those tactics have been in use on ours since the chariot. No way you should get taken buy surprise in open terrain like that.

 

[Scalito]

Littlefinger's smirk when watching Arya spar with Brienne might be that he was finally able to place the face of the serving girl from his meeting with Tywin Lannister from a few season back.

I was a little hard put to understand why Arya was so interested to learn that Littlefinger was in Winterfell. She doesn't seem to have had any interaction beyond the one you just identified.

 

[intlzncster]

Think Apache helicopter in a world where there was no anti-aircraft nor any other opposing air support, and indeed, just no firearms of any kind.

Well, there is anti-dragon industrial strength crossbows.

 

[intlzncster]

I was being a little snarky. But essentially you are right. In this day and age it's bad for troops to mass in that close together because weapons are so lethal. It just makes it easier for the weapon to do its job. If a squad is all bunched up then one mine or grenade, or a rocket could take them all out.

It would be the correct tactic to defend against mounted cavalry but they didn't expect the dragons. In this case the Lannister response played into D's hands perfectly.

It's catch 22 though. Since they are fighting mostly hand to hand, if you don't have a strong line, cavalry breaks and splits your ranks. Once you are split in hand to hand combat, you are . You get surrounded, effectively have lesser numbers, and attacked from all sides. Holding the line is everything.

So you're damned if you do, damned if you don't.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Well, there is anti-dragon industrial strength crossbows.

Well there was one. Now we don't know if there are more. It didn't exactly prove effective, even when it was a surprise.

 

[Rocktheworld]

I was a little hard put to understand why Arya was so interested to learn that Littlefinger was in Winterfell. She doesn't seem to have had any interaction beyond the one you just identified.

She did overhear him and varys muttering things down in the dungeons right before/as everything started popping off in King's Landing

 

[BlueHen]

Just watched. Great episode all around. You guys captured the highlights.

But aside from that, and before Davos made his remark, I could have sworn we were close to a kissing moment between Jon and Dany. Yes, the show is going there folks. When she said "bend the knee" it almost could have been "marry me". It more or less rhymes.

Arya's sparing match was meant as a message, not sure for who. Maybe Littlefinger. Maybe Sansa. But that was well crafted performance art.

It did not appear on screen, but I inferred the following after Jon told Dany not to burn Kings Landing. "Then what would you do?" "I'd take out the army while it is open and exposed outside Kings Landing. Show the soldiers the dragons." Dany sure as hell didn't come up with it herself.

I think it was a message to the viewers (us) that Arya is a skilled fighter. I suspect that she will engage in one on one combat with another skilled foe and win. They glossed over her training when she was in Essos, heck she was consistently getting her rear end kicked by the waif. I think the show runners wanted to make it clear that Arya is extremely dangerous in combat, that way when she kicks butt later on we're not surprised.

Yesterday I speculated on Arya killing the Mountain, having thought about it some more I now think she's going to kill a White Walker; her dagger is made of Valerian steel, so that should be an effective weapon. Maybe she takes out the Night King.