Game of Thrones - TV Series (NO BOOK SPOILERS)

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Dr. Zaus

Lifer
Oct 16, 2008
11,764
347
126
Yes, there were skeletons, removing the 'zombie logic' - it appeared to show arrows killing them. The later skeleton attacking with an arrow through his head, maybe that arrows is what had killed him and then he was undead, who knows. It seemed pretty inconsistent.

Again, it seemed clear that what killed all the people outside the gate in a couple seconds was not combat - but then they couldn't do it again?

Perhaps the horsemen cast an avalanche based AoE which took some time/ritual per day.
 

zinfamous

No Lifer
Jul 12, 2006
111,165
30,117
146
for those wondering, the wall was built with magic by bran the builder. the land south of the wall is known as the gift, to support the night's watch. bran also built winterfell (worthless spoiler there)

OMG and Bran is also Ned's son, who is Bran and is a Warg and rides dragons and he's like, one half of the incarnation of the spirit of Bran the Builder; the other half being the White Walker king that leads the zombies to essentially destroy his own wall, and yet can only be stopped by the other half of his other spirit: Bran Stark on a dragon!


(I hope it is painfully obvious that I pulled all of that out of my ass with merely one minute of thought. So, if any of that is actually true...well fuck it all. and I kinda sorta stole that from Marvel cosmic-based plotlines from c. 1995)

ok shit--maybe that is what is truly precipitating the White Walker advance? Deposing the Starks in Winterfell has triggered some old ass First Men Magic, and the White Walkers, perhaps ancient Starklings and like the smart zombies in the real I am Legend/Omega Man (not that Will Smith turd), are actually there to set things right: kill off the Southern usurpers and restore order in the North?

:hmm:
 
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Phoenix86

Lifer
May 21, 2003
14,644
10
81
It doesn't work regularly like seasons on earth, it's totally unpredictable when it hits and can last years. But the last winter wasn't that long ago, last one was AFAIK some time before Sansa was born but after Robb was since Ned says his daughters never experienced it.

They said the summer that's ending has been one of the longest, and that long winters usually followed long summers. I think they named the number of years around 12, but that was in season 1 so don't quote me. Made me think a "normal" summer was closer 4-6 years.

You can probably shave a few years off of someone's life for "what they experienced" since most of us don't remember shit for the first few years.

I know they are fuzzy with time for a reason though, the important part is long summer=long winter. This summer has been long.
 

Phoenix86

Lifer
May 21, 2003
14,644
10
81
OMG and Bran is also Ned's son, who is Bran and is a Warg and rides dragons and he's like, one half of the incarnation of the spirit of Bran the Builder; the other half being the White Walker king that leads the zombies to essentially destroy his own wall, and yet can only be stopped by the other half of his other spirit: Bran Stark on a dragon!

[trigger warning]
 

Exophase

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2012
4,439
9
81
They said the summer that's ending has been one of the longest, and that long winters usually followed long summers. I think they named the number of years around 12, but that was in season 1 so don't quote me. Made me think a "normal" summer was closer 4-6 years.

You can probably shave a few years off of someone's life for "what they experienced" since most of us don't remember shit for the first few years.

I know they are fuzzy with time for a reason though, the important part is long summer=long winter. This summer has been long.

"Wasn't that long ago" as in not 1000 years ago like GTaudiophile said, not that this wasn't an unusually long summer.
 

cubby1223

Lifer
May 24, 2004
13,518
42
86
"Wasn't that long ago" as in not 1000 years ago like GTaudiophile said, not that this wasn't an unusually long summer.

Well, the show does make it seem like it's been an extremely long time since the white walkers made a push, as in no one living prior to the beginning of the season 1 has ever seen a white walker, nor even a zombie.

Maybe it's just two different things, summer/winter cycles, versus white walker cycles.
 

Maximilian

Lifer
Feb 8, 2004
12,604
15
81
Give her the water you bitch! None of that crap would be going on if the good and honorable king Joffrey was still around *grumble* :colbert:

Stannis will stop the zombies. He has more than 6000 men, that Bolton lad cant count for shit. Northern scrubs.
 

nageov3t

Lifer
Feb 18, 2004
42,808
83
91
Well, the show does make it seem like it's been an extremely long time since the white walkers made a push, as in no one living prior to the beginning of the season 1 has ever seen a white walker, nor even a zombie.

Maybe it's just two different things, summer/winter cycles, versus white walker cycles.

Yeah, two different things... The white walkers seem to only be active during the winter, but not every winter, since they haven't been seen since the Long Winter, which lasted for an entire generation, a thousand years ago.

To put the seasons into perspective, Tyrion was born in the middle of the previous winter, while Daenerys was born at the start of the summer that Westeros is still in.
 

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
857
126
Honestly, I was waiting for him to grab a rope and start dragging the boat with Jon and the Wildlings over to the ship :p

I was hoping that Jon would stay and fight valiantly as the last boat pushed off, only to be plucked up by the giant and carried to safety.
 

Phoenix86

Lifer
May 21, 2003
14,644
10
81
Yeah, two different things... The white walkers seem to only be active during the winter, but not every winter, since they haven't been seen since the Long Winter, which lasted for an entire generation, a thousand years ago.

To put the seasons into perspective, Tyrion was born in the middle of the previous winter, while Daenerys was born at the start of the summer that Westeros is still in.

Right, and they are probably fudging numbers here or there. I read one thing where Pycelle said it was 9 years long at the start of seasons 1, but that doesn't add up with Dany's age as she would have been born in the winter.

So somewhere between 10-20 depending on the scene. Either way, winters happen about twice a generation, but the white walkers haven't been around in over a 1000 years.
 

z1ggy

Lifer
May 17, 2008
10,004
63
91
So I couldn't tell at the end, but did 100% of the dead things rise up, meaning lal the zombies the wildlings killed, came back?

If so, then nothing short of magic/miracle would be able to stop the white walkers.

Although, it was interesting how the random? sword John Snow picked up was apparently laced with dragon glass.
 
Mar 10, 2005
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So I couldn't tell at the end, but did 100% of the dead things rise up, meaning lal the zombies the wildlings killed, came back?

If so, then nothing short of magic/miracle would be able to stop the white walkers.

Although, it was interesting how the random? sword John Snow picked up was apparently laced with dragon glass.

that was his own sword, made of magical valyrian steel
 

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
857
126
So I couldn't tell at the end, but did 100% of the dead things rise up, meaning lal the zombies the wildlings killed, came back?

If so, then nothing short of magic/miracle would be able to stop the white walkers.

Although, it was interesting how the random? sword John Snow picked up was apparently laced with dragon glass.
It wasn't a random sword. It was his sword, Longclaw. It is made of Valyrian steel, which is probably forged by dragons or something. They probably call dragon glass, "dragon glass" because it is obsidian glass formed from a dragon's flames melting rock, so there is the association that explains the similar effect.

They clearly showed the white walker throw him while he was reaching for the dragon glass and his sword went flying out the hole in the wall. He then grabbed another sword from the loft, which shattered like the Then's ax. I wondered why the white walker didn't skewer him while he reached for the dragon glass in the first place.
 
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KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,231
117
116
Man, fucking incredible episode. Loved all of it.

Theon finally revealing the truth. Everything with Cersei and with Dany/Tyrion. Then of course the ending which was just epic. Amazing stuff. Really the only so-so bit was with Arya, but even that was ok (loved her smile at the end after getting her assassination task).

So much fun! :awe:

KT
 

Childs

Lifer
Jul 9, 2000
11,313
7
81
It wasn't a random sword. It was his sword, Longclaw. It is made of Valyrian steel, which is probably forged by dragons or something. They probably call dragon glass, "dragon glass" because it is obsidian glass formed from a dragon's flames melting rock, so there is the association that explains the similar effect.

I think Sam also referred to it as obsidian when he was reading about it in the library.
 
Mar 10, 2005
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hardhome

episodes 8 and 9 are always the biggies for game of thrones, with 10 tying up loose ends and a few things to lead into the next season. episode 8 did not disappoint!

mereen, pt1
at first i saw the throne room and thought "aww, crap! her again." tyrion and danerys' exchange is really good, however. "he is in love with you, i think." aww snap he said it out loud!

king's landing, pt1
wow, how the mighty have fallen!

house of black and white
contrary to jaqen's description, the captain expects payment for completing 18 voyages alive. yet he's offering a sack of money to the thin man? what don't i understand here?

king's landing, pt2
how the mighty have fallen even further! based on what qyburn said, i expect the zombie monster mountain to bust cersei out.

winterfell
sansa confronts theon, but i think this scene could have hit a little harder. ramsay's plan makes no sense whatsoever...maybe this is the end of ramsay?

mereen, pt2
how to improve the worst character in the show? just add tyrion. i do miss varys, tho. jorah should get a montage for the lead-up to the big league fights.

king's landing, pt3
seeing cersei slurp water off the floor of her cell...what a great illustration of her change of fortune.

castle black
"he (jon) always comes back." dun dun duuunnn

hardhome
where do the wildling anarchists get their spiffy uniforms? anyway, tormund's beatdown of lord of bones was great. could have used some blood splatter, tho.

a scary snowstorm, then screaming, then silence behind the wall. attack of the icy skelezombies is on! the actual fighting goes on for an oustanding 12 minutes and the scene goes for 2 minutes more. when the white walker casts his raise dead ability, it appears that everyone standing is freshly killed and not the previously zombified attackers. not much consolation there, but it's something.

as hulk hogan would say:
what you gonna do, jon snow, when winter comes for you??!!
 
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Charmonium

Lifer
May 15, 2015
10,016
3,184
136
I'm glad that they finally showed us some white walkers. They've done it before briefly but never such an extended scene. They've always been lurking in the background, the thing of legend. This at least made them real.
 

Newbian

Lifer
Aug 24, 2008
24,769
864
126
house of black and white
contrary to jaqen's description, the captain expects payment for completing 18 voyages alive. yet he's offering a sack of money to the thin man? what don't i unders

The thin man is a sort of insurance for captains.

They pay so if the ship they are on doesn't return and say gets destroyed by a storm or captured by pirates the captain's family is paid.

The captain we saw was denied as I would have to assume the mission he wanted to be insured was too dangerous thus the thin man wouldn't cover him.
 
Mar 10, 2005
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The thin man is a sort of insurance for captains.

They pay so if the ship they are on doesn't return and say gets destroyed by a storm or captured by pirates the captain's family is paid.

The captain we saw was denied as I would have to assume the mission he wanted to be insured was too dangerous thus the thin man wouldn't cover him.

oh, he's turned down for a new policy. that makes sense. sort of.
 

Sonikku

Lifer
Jun 23, 2005
15,745
4,563
136
I forgot why the Night's Watch sacrificed a baby to be turned into a white walker. Why did that do again? Make the WW's happy as a form of appeasement so they didn't attack the wall or something?
 

CZroe

Lifer
Jun 24, 2001
24,195
857
126
I forgot why the Night's Watch sacrificed a baby to be turned into a white walker. Why did that do again? Make the WW's happy as a form of appeasement so they didn't attack the wall or something?

That was Craster, a wildling, and not The Night's Watch. They visited him and he tried to keep it a secret. It was part of his pact with the white walkers to be left alone and part of why he was able to survive so far north without constantly moving around like the other wildlings.