Support NeoGAF

[Black_Sun]

?????

GRRM is writing Lovecraft stories now?

The Drowned God, the Deep Ones and Euron are GRRM's homages to Lovecraft.

Euron is basically trying to turn himself into Cthulhu. Cthulhu is supposed to be one third man, one third dragon and one third kraken. Euron is a human kraken that will soon be riding a dragon.

Man + Dragon + Kraken= Cthulhu

There's even a vision of Euron with a mass of tentacles for a face.

Also read TWOIAF. It's got a lot of Lovecraft references.

 

[Kozak]

Saved her from what exactly? It will need to be the other way around once she steps a foot onto Westeros. She would turn the Dreadfort into the hall of faces if she was there after that battle

edit - sorry didn't see the past tense. i'm guessing you were referring to the stab wounds. That woulda been pretty cool but ruin her character even more.

I was thinking way back into the past. When Arya was still a little munchkin in Kings Landing.

Would have been cool to see her exact her revenge as a "little bird" and Kings Landing going crazy wondering who the fuck is killing all these people.

 

[Tiktaalik]

?????

GRRM is writing Lovecraft stories now?

You should buy World of Ice and Fire. So much Lovecraft in there.

Are we allowed to talk about chapters from the new books? One of the new chapters hints at a lot of lovecraftian themes going forward..

 

[Gigglepoo]

You should buy World of Ice and Fire. So much Lovecraft in there.

Are we allowed to talk about chapters from the new books? One of the new chapters hints at a lot of lovecraftian themes going forward..

Is it the one about Sansa? That really took an unexpected turn.

 

[duckroll]

Lovecraft references in fantasy and horror are like pop culture memes in indie games. Smh.

 

[Tiktaalik]

Is it the one about Sansa? That really took an unexpected turn.

Winds of Winter pre-release chapter spoilers:

Spoiler

Damphair chapter. Not released by GRRM, but he read it somewhere and it's been transcribed. It's pretty incredible.... Euron seems like he's going to be a really fucking important character going forward.

 

[Chuckie]

That was an awesome episode. Loved Jon the Berserker and Darth Sansa.

Speaking of Darth... does anyone have a gif of her walking away and then showing that evil smirk?

 

[Red Arremer]

AWOIAF even directly names The Deep Ones.

 

[munchie64]

I think that may have surpassed my expectations.

The Dany and Jon stuff worked very well together.

 

[elrechazado]

Winds of Winter pre-release chapter spoilers:

Spoiler

Damphair chapter. Not released by GRRM, but he read it somewhere and it's been transcribed. It's pretty incredible.... Euron seems like he's going to be a really fucking important character going forward.

Show euron dick joke goes here

 

[Kain]

From the moment Euron appeared on the books you could tell he would be very important and very scary. Unless George decides to off him in some quick lame way, but I doubt that. He's suppossed to be the endgame baddie.

Anyway, kudos to Kit, he's grown a lot and his acting has been consistently stellar. Dany was better than usual, too. She's still corny, but well, she's not changing that.

Also, I was expecting Mel to crumble down and admit she's a hack and knows jack shit. She got close to it, but she still clinged to her pride. Let's hope for Sunday...

 

[MoeDabs]

I feel with Arya returning to westeros, Sansa is gonna bite it soon. Her story arc seems to be last stark in winterfell, but Arya will eventually make her unnecessary. Plus Arya named her wolf after a warrior queen. Sansa named hers lady...and lady is dead. Probably super off lol

 

[Cromwell]

Play of the Game...

Fucking hell, well done.

 

[Kozak]

Man how good was it when the horses collided and Jon is kind of in this daze and then he reacts to the situations that just get thrown at him.

The horses just falling all over the place. That dude who could have had Jon's head. Jon just kind of wobbling around.

 

[Pkaz01]

I feel with Arya returning to westeros, Sansa is gonna bite it soon. Her story arc seems to be last stark in winterfell, but Arya will eventually make her unnecessary. Plus Arya named her wolf after a warrior queen. Sansa named hers lady...and lady is dead. Probably super off lol

I feel like they have distinct personalities and all need eachother. Sansa is cold as nice now and Jon is as brooding as ever. They need that wildness Arya to be a fierce representative for the Starks, an enforcer of sorts

 

[deleted]

This was a technical marvel for a TV show episode with some really nice direction too - but from a character standpoint almost all of it felt undeserved.

Littlefinger saving the day with Jon acting as stupid as possible and Sansa not telling him about the backup so that they could wait for 10 minutes so that the entire fucking north would survive...
This was the first episode where I could see myself rooting for Ramsay. He planned the whole match out masterfully and while unnecessary brutal, he managed to run circles around Jon tactics wise.

It's not like they act out of character (which they often do) and more that what happens just doesn't feel deserved.

 

[Nodnol]

I feel with Arya returning to westeros, Sansa is gonna bite it soon. Her story arc seems to be last stark in winterfell, but Arya will eventually make her unnecessary. Plus Arya named her wolf after a warrior queen. Sansa named hers lady...and lady is dead. Probably super off lol

Can you imagine that catch up moment between Sansa, Arya and Jon? They ask where she's been...you'd think she was still the same munchkin that likes Old Nan's tales a bit too much.

 

[Turin Turambar]

Lovecraft references in fantasy and horror are like pop culture memes in indie games. Smh.

What is dead may never die

 

[Apt101]

Play of the Game...

This has had me giggling for like 5 minutes.

 

[Cromwell]

Rewatching the episode has me even more annoyed at the encirclement part. Their line is maybe three rows deep, they don't even have their spears lowered, and Wun Wun is just standing there. Even without a tree branch he could just kick and swipe open a hole for everyone to funnel through the second they form the line.

With an actual weapon he would have single handedly wrecked the encirclement and they wouldn't even have needed the Vale. I also find it a bit ridiculous that Bolton's men had a high enough morale to face down a giant even with him tearing their friends in half in front of them.

 

[Ratrat]

Loving Sansa's character arc!

What arc is that?
She's back under Littlefinger. The last few episodes kind of demonstrated that the Northern Houses don't give a shit about her. She had to go back and beg for his help after telling him to fuck off. I guess she has Winterfell with no army or court now. I don't think she is in a very interesting position or seem smart enough to do anything about it.

Littlefinger hasn't said anything about giving her the Vale and the North right? Or the War of the Three Queens.

 

[Red Arremer]

Can you imagine that catch up moment between Sansa, Arya and Jon? They ask where she's been...you'd think she was still the same munchkin that likes Old Nan's tales a bit too much.

In a way she still is, but a lot more vicious.

 

[Apt101]

What arc is that?
She's back under Littlefinger. The last few episodes kind of demonstrated that the Northern Houses don't give a shit about her. She had to go back and beg for his help after telling him to fuck off. I guess she has Winterfell with no army or court now. I don't think she is in a very interesting position or seem smart enough to do anything about it.

Littlefinger hasn't said anything about giving her the Vale and the North right? Or the War of the Three Queens.

I don't think she's under Little Finger. He taught her well. Shit, several characters have taught her well. I'm thinking from here on out she might allow herself to appear the victim at times but it will be a means to an end.

She could easily manipulate Sweet Robin and have Petyr thrown out the Moon Door, for example. Or twist some oath that Brienne holds dear and have her cleave off his head after she gives him a clout in the ear.

 

[Ratrat]

I don't think she's under Little Finger. He taught her well. Shit, several characters have taught her well. I'm thinking from here on out she might allow herself to appear the victim at times but it will be a means to an end.

She could easily manipulate Sweet Robin and have Petyr thrown out the Moon Door, for example. Or twist some oath that Brienne holds dear and have her cleave off his head after she gives him a clout in the ear.

She couldn't negotiate or manipulate for shit when trying to get aid from the Northern Houses. She wouldn't gain anything by killing Littlefinger given he is the only one who can help her, which is pretty sad given what he did.

Until we see Sansa actually manipulate people and events without anyone knowing she is still a pawn. We've just seen her be ruthless here and there before going back to being helpless.

 

[Cromwell]

Littlefinger is untouchable. She'd have to kill him, sweetrobin, and whoever that general dude is leading their army. Sweetrobin loves Littlefinger and she doesn't have the skill to play them against eachother, there's no way. And even then she'd probably still get killed or imprisoned by whoever would be in charge of the Vale.

If she marries Littlefinger she might have a way in, however.

 

[mantidor]

Another lol moment of the episode. He had to casually walk over the deer souvenir to remember Shireen.

The real lol moment is that the stag survived that fire

 

[StormKing]

Littlefinger is untouchable. She'd have to kill him, sweetrobin, and whoever that general dude is leading their army. Sweetrobin loves Littlefinger and she doesn't have the skill to play them against eachother, there's no way. And even then she'd probably still get killed or imprisoned by whoever would be in charge of the Vale.

If she marries Littlefinger she might have a way in, however.

She only needs Sweetrobin. The Lords of the Vale obeyed Lysa because she had Sweetrobin. The Lords of the Vale obeyed Littlefinger after Lysa's death because he had Sweetrobin. The Lords of the Vale will obey Sansa after Littlefinger's death if she has Sweetrobin.

It's clear that he has some attachment to her. She has the same stereotypical Tully features that his mom had. He was also very attached to his mother as well. He's quite easy to manipulate and appears to completely trust whoever his current parental figure is. Lysa was his mother and Littlefinger was his substitute father. Sansa can become his substitute mother by either killing or marrying Littlefinger.

There was also a scene earlier in the season where Sweetrobin specifically decided to send the Vale army to help her. He was guided to this by Littlefinger but it does show that Sansa is important to him.

That's why after successfully manipulating Jon this entire season, she should start manipulating Sweetrobin next season to take control of the Vale.

 

[Fuzzy]

The real lol moment is that the stag survived that fire

But her bones are completely gone.

 

[Cesare Borgia]

I just realized that the Bloodstone Emperor is a direct foreshadowing of Book Euron and what he's going to do.

Wow I think you're right.

 

[KahooTs]

Yeah Euron is the Bloodstone Emperor, and the Blood Betrayal of the Amethyst Empress will be Euron committing the treason for blood against Dany. His horn, fire for blood, blood for fire, he's taking Drogon bitches.

 

[Kilrogg]

From the moment Euron appeared on the books you could tell he would be very important and very scary. Unless George decides to off him in some quick lame way, but I doubt that. He's suppossed to be the endgame baddie.

Anyway, kudos to Kit, he's grown a lot and his acting has been consistently stellar. Dany was better than usual, too. She's still corny, but well, she's not changing that.

Also, I was expecting Mel to crumble down and admit she's a hack and knows jack shit. She got close to it, but she still clinged to her pride. Let's hope for Sunday...

About the bolded: I wouldn't be so sure. The endgame baddie is obviously the Night King and his cohorts, but if we're talking human, then I would have to go with Littlefinger. His threat is obviously much more subtle, and I wouldn't be surprised if he survives and ends up in a relatively comfy place by the end of the show and/or books. Euron is powerful, ambitious and cunning, but he strikes me as overconfident, not unlike show Ramsay: seemingly invincible and extremely lucky, until he isn't. He'll bite the dust at some point.

 

[Real Hero]

'night king' isn't in the books though

 

[wesleyshark]

?????

GRRM is writing Lovecraft stories now?

The Drowned God, the Deep Ones and Euron are GRRM's homages to Lovecraft.

Euron is basically trying to turn himself into Cthulhu. Cthulhu is supposed to be one third man, one third dragon and one third kraken. Euron is a human kraken that will soon be riding a dragon.

Man + Dragon + Kraken= Cthulhu

There's even a vision of Euron with a mass of tentacles for a face.

Also read TWOIAF. It's got a lot of Lovecraft references.

Yep. He's the master of Dragonbinder. He wants to get his hands on the Horn of Joramun, and (TWOW spoilers from preview chapter)

Spoiler

he's going to seemingly attempt a mass blood sacrifice outside of Oldtown. He also has a dragon egg in his arsenal. He tells Damphair that he tossed it into the sea (doesn't mention which sea), but I believe that was a loaded statement, or at the very least, heavy symbolism. A sea dragon. A dragon and a kraken. Euron seeks to be both.

 

[Kilrogg]

'night king' isn't in the books though

We don't know that yet. They'll probably have some sort of ruler. Whether it's akin to the show Night King, or the Night's King, or something else entirely. Whoever rules the White Walkers. And if no one, the White Walkers then. They're the endgame baddies, unless Euron somehow strikes an alliance with them, ha.

 

[Bots are better than you]

We don't know that yet. They'll probably have some sort of ruler. Whether it's akin to the show Night King, or the Night's King, or something else entirely. Whoever rules the White Walkers. And if no one, the White Walkers then. They're the endgame baddies, unless Euron somehow strikes an alliance with them, ha.

Guessing only, but given that the red priests are really able to do some miracle-stuff i can see the Red God actually existing. Since the White Walkers are supposedly the creation or servants of the Great Other, it's possible that this entity exists too. Could be that this one is the great evil in some form of an avatar or whatever.

Although i don't think that the Red God is a "good" one either with alle the sacrificing, resurrecting, giving birth to shadow demons. To be honest, sounds more like a hellish god/devil to me.

Maybe it boils down to some sort of trinity between the Great Other (Death), the Red God (Hell/Demon) and whatever entity fits most for Life/Creation.

 

[Apt101]

'night king' isn't in the books though

The phrase "Night's King" was in one of the Brandon chapters. It's also in The World Of'. As both Night King and Night's King.

 

[Jacob4815]

Soundtrack available.
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/game-thrones-season-6-music/id1126106075

(Spoiler tracks?)

 

[-Pyromaniac-]

The whole dragon's horn thing might be one of the worst ideas in the series. I'm probably in the minority there but man, what a lame thing to create specifically to throw a wrench in everything.

 

[Forkball]

Lovecraft references in fantasy and horror are like pop culture memes in indie games. Smh.

Not matter what fantasy story you read, there's always some legend about a monster named Zhquarth'lmrk or some shit.

The whole dragon's horn thing might be one of the worst ideas in the series. I'm probably in the minority there but man, what a lame thing to create specifically to throw a wrench in everything.

I think it's interesting because we have no idea really how it works or what it can do. Euron is so fascinating because he is apparently keenly aware of so many unknown and unspoken mysteries of the world and is fully embracing them. He is a dark contrast to the more grounded characters. I can understand some people thinking he is a bit too outlandish considering the series is very low fantasy most of the time, but I for one welcome the magicpocalypse.

 

[DKehoe]

Guessing only, but given that the red priests are really able to do some miracle-stuff i can see the Red God actually existing. Since the White Walkers are supposedly the creation or servants of the Great Other, it's possible that this entity exists too. Could be that this one is the great evil in some form of an avatar or whatever.

Although i don't think that the Red God is a "good" one either with alle the sacrificing, resurrecting, giving birth to shadow demons. To be honest, sounds more like a hellish god/devil to me.

Maybe it boils down to some sort of trinity between the Great Other (Death), the Red God (Hell/Demon) and whatever entity fits most for Life/Creation.

I might be mistaken but hasn't Martin said that the story will not reveal if any of the gods are real?

 

[wesleyshark]

I might be mistaken but hasn't Martin said that the story will not reveal if any of the gods are real?

In a literal sense, I don't think any of the gods will actually appear. But that doesn't mean certain characters can't embody their power or act as conduits for their will and influence.

I think it's interesting because we have no idea really how it works or what it can do. Euron is so fascinating because he is apparently keenly aware of so many unknown and unspoken mysteries of the world and is fully embracing them. He is a dark contrast to the more grounded characters. I can understand some people thinking he is a bit too outlandish considering the series is very low fantasy most of the time, but I for one welcome the magicpocalypse.

I'm with ya. The things that interest me the most in this series are the mysteries of Asshai and Valyria and the magic of the old world as it seeps back into the present.

Euron is our clearest window into those things atm, and the makes him the most interesting character for me.

 

[Kilrogg]

Guessing only, but given that the red priests are really able to do some miracle-stuff i can see the Red God actually existing. Since the White Walkers are supposedly the creation or servants of the Great Other, it's possible that this entity exists too. Could be that this one is the great evil in some form of an avatar or whatever.

Although i don't think that the Red God is a "good" one either with alle the sacrificing, resurrecting, giving birth to shadow demons. To be honest, sounds more like a hellish god/devil to me.

Maybe it boils down to some sort of trinity between the Great Other (Death), the Red God (Hell/Demon) and whatever entity fits most for Life/Creation.

Ice and Fire, and all that.
I mean yeah, Jon and maybe Daenerys are the Red God's champion(s), and the Night King/whatever leads the White Walkers/Others is the Great Other's champion.

 

[Camp Freddie]

That was a strange episode. The cinematography was excellent, but most of the writing was awful.

Mereen was good and it's great to see Tyrion having some good scenes again.

I still don't understand Jon. Season 5 and Book Jon have all been built up to "Kill the boy", but now he's a complete dumbass.
The rest of the Northern scenes were just re-hashes of old movies mixed with the sort of plot armour that you get in kids' superhero movies.
Ramsay is Edward Longshanks from Braveheart, "but we'll hit our own men!"
Littlefinger and his Riders of Rohan.

None of it felt sufficiently grounded to fit with previous seasons and the victory relies on unbelievable amounts of pure luck. Rickon dies because Ramsay is fucking Hawkeye at 300 yards, Jon survives because he's Captain America and never gets shot (at least Cap has a shield to help him dodge bullets). Littlefinger and Sansa teleport in at the last possible second like Cloak and Dagger. Davos activates his Batman detective mode to find a clue about Shireen hidden in the ashes and snow..
It just felt like generic fantasy superhero dreck. I like silly superhero movies, but it's tonally incompatible with GoT. The reason the show got so popular is precisely because it avoided this silliness.

Lastly, it contained absolutely nothing that was even slightly surprising. Everyone predicted Wun-Wun, Rickon and Ramsay would die. Everyone predicted Littlefinger would save the day. Everyone predicted Jon and Sansa would survive. No one dares to harm Lady Mormont.
I guess the surprise was the lack of surprises? I was extepcting a surprise betrayal of Ramsay by one of his allies, following the theme of "The North Remembers".

I'm expecting much better in the final episode though. We've had the badass action episode, so hopefully we get the grounded political drama one next.

 

[Madness]

This just occured to me, but if the White Walkers cross the wall in the season finale, that's a hell of a lot of corpses outside Winterfell for the Night's King to add to his army, isn't it?

That is almost a given now that we are moving at breakneck speed towards the end of the series. There was litetally no reason to have the Night King do a 10 second ice earthquake display other than to show because of the mark he put on Bran, he can enter protected areas etc. If Bran crosses South, the Night King will probably shatter the wall and have his wights stream across bringing the Winds of Winter. Will probably be one of the last scenes of the season.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

Trump should be leading the nights watch. Build the wall higher.

 

[Moff]

good point with the bodies, but I can't imagine the white walkers will break through, just like kings landing blowing up, it feels way too soon

would be an incredible finale, though, damn

 

[Byakuya769]

With the Boltins defeated, why wouldn't John and the Wildlings burn the bodies?

 

[SMG]

What arc is that?
She's back under Littlefinger. The last few episodes kind of demonstrated that the Northern Houses don't give a shit about her. She had to go back and beg for his help after telling him to fuck off. I guess she has Winterfell with no army or court now. I don't think she is in a very interesting position or seem smart enough to do anything about it.

Littlefinger hasn't said anything about giving her the Vale and the North right? Or the War of the Three Queens.

So you only think growing more powerful is a character arc?

 

[wesleyshark]

With the Boltins defeated, why wouldn't John and the Wildlings burn the bodies?

No one knows about Bran being marked, and the dead only resurrect into zombies beyond/at the Wall, currently. It's just as possible that they don't burn the bodies as it is to see pyres of the dead next episode. Will be interesting to see what they do or don't do.

 

[Admiral Woofington]

With the Boltins defeated, why wouldn't John and the Wildlings burn the bodies?

Procrastination.