Game of Thrones Maesters Thread

[Joe Lucia]

In the teaser for next week, they showed one of them lying on a slab in front of Dany...looked like Selmy to me, but it wasn't exactly sustained shot.

[nofuture]

Kinda spoiler for Selmy's fate.

 

http://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/01/ser-barristan-dead-thrones

[goodhelmet]

Really bad choice there. I would have had worm die... mainly because I hate the lame love story he is involved with. 

[Hail Sabin]

Don't worry Ser Friendzone is coming to save the day!  

[MarcosLoura]

Fuck this, fuck everything.

[AxB]

So, with Ser Meryn off to Braavos with Mace Tyrell, and Sam still at the wall (and Dareon the Black Singer not in the show), I'm guessing that he'll be the kill that gets Arya to level up her Faceless Man training. Whether they do the Dareon kill, or the Mercy kill from the sample chapter, that's going to be interesting.

 

See how in the books there's only ever seven knights in the Kingsguard, and they're always named? Has the show disregarded that there's a limited number, or are we supposed to assume that whichever one was on the boat with Myrcella in season two just dropped her off and came back? Because there were five with Tommen at Baelor's (plus Jaime and Meryn who are accounted for). They must have replaced the Hound and the unnamed Ser Mandon Moore on the quiet... so presumably the threat that Loras would be appointed was an empty one.

[Jrag]

Fuck this, fuck everything.

 

I processed this 4 weeks ago so all I can do is smirk at the collective freak out.

[bink_winkleman]

Really bad choice there. I would have had worm die... mainly because I hate the lame love story he is involved with. 

 

Worm's a much more major character in the show, though.  Selmy was just a "wise old mentor" here and was pretty poorly developed.  It makes sense.

 

I'm more concerned that they're actually running with the "Baelish doesn't know who Ramsey is" bullshit. 

[Raziel]

Or Baelish does, but he's just tossing Sansa in the deep end, knowing that she'll at least hold out until Stannis shows up, and that its likely that Brienne is still floating around the area.

 

Not a fan of Cersei reinstating the Faith Militant just to get at Magery using Loreas instead of being duped into it by the High Sparrow and it coming back to bite her huge in the ass later.  

 

 

I also don't recall Melasandre trying to fuck Jon in the books, but I imagine that's more setting up for later.  I'm guessing Stannis doesn't leave before Jon gets stabbed, and Melesandre reviving him will add him to the force to take back Winterfell since he'll be techincally "relieved" of his Watch.

 

Which is also the reason we seemed to get a big Rhegar info dump this episode when no one's talked about him for a while.

[Lawful Metal]

I'm okay with the Sons of the Harpy / Unsullied fight in theory.  Yes, the Unsullied should've mopped the floor with them, but they were not on a battlefield like an Unsullied should, but in close, cramped interiors.  A long spear is not an ideal weapon for a fight like that.  So, the Sons of the Harpy did have the advantage until Barristan showed up. 

[bink_winkleman]

The whole arc is designed to show how sophisticated military size and prowess isn't enough to hold down local unrest/insurgencies, so it all makes perfect sense in context.

[supremebve]

I'm okay with the Sons of the Harpy / Unsullied fight in theory.  Yes, the Unsullied should've mopped the floor with them, but they were not on a battlefield like an Unsullied should, but in close, cramped interiors.  A long spear is not an ideal weapon for a fight like that.  So, the Sons of the Harpy did have the advantage until Barristan showed up. 

The Unsullied and Barriston Selmy would have destroyed those dudes no matter where they fought.  The Unsullied are an elite fighting force with swords, spears, and shields.  Barriston Selmy may very well be the best living warrior in Westeros/Essos, and he is undoubtably the most seasoned.  A group of untrained guerilla fighters armed with nothing but daggers would be slaughtered without much trouble.  As soon as Selmy and the Unsullied knew what was happening they'd have an advantage, especially since their numbers were seemingly equal.  The Sons of the Harpy could only win if they had overwhelming numbers and the element of surprise.  The Sons would have been finished as soon as the Unsullied were able to get into formation.  They could not stand and fight with such a superior fighting force, there is just no way they'd be able to compete with the discipline and experience.

[odessasteps]

I wonder if they decided to write him out and then figure out a way to do it.

[Raziel]

Yeah, that's kinda the thing.  Selmy went through top tier King's Landing guards without a sword when he got bounced from the Kingsguard.  The Sons, who he had a jum on in this situation, should've been toast.

[EVA]

The execution was lacking, but I liked the idea. One of the myriad problems with the Meereen situation in the books is that the stakes don't really feel that dire for any of the main characters that we care about. The only people who really die are minor characters and the faceless mob. Killing off a member of Dany's inner circle suddenly makes the stakes much more significant and urgent.

[MarcosLoura]

The execution was lacking, like supremebve said, The Unsullied are the best warriors in the world proficient with every weapon and got wrecked by dudes with daggers. There should have been way more dagger dudes, like freaking ants, jumping from every corner; or even better just have the Selmy assassination without the whole fight.

 

The worst thing with Selmy's death is the lack of Rhaegar lore that we'll get, and everyone knows Rhaegar lore is the best lore.

[AxB]

Yeah, people who just watch the show and don't read the books have totally missed that the most interesting character in the story has been dead for 20 years. Who's left to dispense the Rhaegar knowledge now? Bran's super tree flashback machine?

[Hail Sabin]

Well Tyrion has read alot of books and Varys loves the Targaryens.

[Stennick]

After last season I was so pumped for this season but honestly I'm kind of bored with it so far. 

[MarcosLoura]

Also, I keep reading people on the internets calling the show "slow or slow paced", but I feel everything is going super fast. High Sparrow was introduced on the last episode and on this one he already took control of everything.

[JRGoldman]

My partner hasn't read the books, so sometimes I'll pause while we are watching to answer a question and fill in lore in a non spoilerish way. When Grey Wurm was getting beat down and we basically heard the Westerosi equivalent of Stone Cold's glass shattering, I paused the TV to tell her about how much of a huge bad ass Selmy was, and how big a moment this was. 

 

Then he got fucking faded by some fucking random.

[BobbyWhioux]

My partner hasn't read the books, so sometimes I'll pause while we are watching to answer a question and fill in lore in a non spoilerish way. When Grey Wurm was getting beat down and we basically heard the Westerosi equivalent of Stone Cold's glass shattering, I paused the TV to tell her about how much of a huge bad ass Selmy was, and how big a moment this was. 

 

Then he got fucking faded by some fucking random.

 

I won't lie, when Barristan heard stuff going on, got that look on his face, and drew his sword, I marked out, even though I totally should've known what it meant, especially after he infodumped Rhaegar's wikipedia entry on Dany.  Tantamount to a closeup on Eastwood's face in a spaghetti western, it's the "Shit Gonna Get Real" Bat-Signal.

 

But, I mean, basically he's Obi Wan Kenobi.  [Even had the robe when he returned to the show in Season 3].  Aging all time great, etc.  He's destined to die (especially once he promises to Die A Knight when he tells Joffrey to sit on it and rotate), the show just got there a little quicker than I thought they would.  [but then, the show also won't have Victarion around to do him in, either, it seems].

[supremebve]

 

  Rhaegar was no slouch, but he wasn't elite.  During his life he would have probably lost to Barristan, Jaime, Robert(obviously), Ser Arthur Dayne(The Sword of the Morning), Ser Gerold Hightower(The White Bull), and most likely some others.  Rhaegar was a great warrior, more because he was the king's son and he was expected to train as a warrior.  If he was left to his own devices he would have spent the time he spent training as a warrior reading, or playing his harp.  

 

I was about to refute that with book quotes. But this is the wrong thread for that.

 

I'm calling you out AxB, this is the right thread for that.  For what it's worth, I was trying to convey to our unsullied friends that Rhaegar was a warrior, but not someone who was defined by his skills in battle.  Rhaegar is basically the naturally talented athlete who decided to play sports because he was good at it, but not because he actually liked to play. 

[Jrag]

The show dropped at least 3(maybe 4) hints about R+L=J this week.  Think any non-book readers are picking up on that?  Outside of the few seconds from this week with Stannis and his shitty wife, Jon's mother really hasn't been brought up since season 1 right?  

 

Do show people even consider that question?  I feel like that little kid who is now Jon's steward should ask him about his parents or something.  

 

 

 

I REALLY want HBO to cash in after GoT is done and make a Robert's Rebellion prequel. Rhaegar is one of the most interesting characters. Knowing that Robert caves his chest in wouldn't make the lead up any less interesting.

I haven't read the books so Im only going on things they talked about in the show. Over 5/6 seasons we could get -

The Rheagar/Lyanna/Robert/Cersei love square.
Ned and Catlyn's rocky start. Ned bringing Jon home.

 

 

This cracked me up.  He even put them back to back on his list of things that the show has mentioned.  Surely this dude would connect the dots if the mystery of Jon's mother was brought up again.

[supremebve]

The show dropped at least 3 hints about R+L=J this week.  Think any non-book readers are picking up on that?  Jon's mother really hasn't been brought up since season 1 right?

 

Do show people even consider that question?  I feel like that little kid who is now Jon's steward should ask him about his parents or something.  

If they didn't pick up on the R+L=J, the internet has decided to make it impossible to not think about.  All of the sights that are supposedly TV only, have basically said, "HEY GUESS WHAT, JON MAY NOT BE NED'S SON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"