Game of Thrones [SPOILERS]

[eldaec]

I imagine it is quite difficult to forge a sword with dragon breath even if the dragon is alive.

[eldaec]

Not to mention the bit about tempering it in your wife's chest. You have to expect to get some grief about that.

[Lantyssa]

Remember kids, sheathe your sword properly lest things get messy.

[DraconianOne]

Winter is Coming

[HaemishM]

That is metal as fuck.

[K9]

Valryian steel is basically the equivalent of mithril in terms of how rare/important it is.  I liked the line Tyrion had about how the old Valyrians were "the best at everything".  Standard fantasy "ancient civilization that made really cool irreplaceable shit" trope.

Other Valyrian steel weapons mentioned on the show besides Jon's sword Longclaw: the unnamed dagger that was used to attack Bran (the one Tyrion had won in a bet), and Ned's sword Ice (which was reforged into Joffrey's sword Widow's Wail, and Brienne's sword Oathkeeper).  I can't remember if we know what happened to Joffrey's sword after his death.

As a side note, I'm pretty sure GRRM is on record as saying that having the dagger that the assassin used to attack Bran being Valyrian steel is one of the things that bothers him the most in hindsight. Since there is no way - given the rest of the canon about Valyrian steel - that anyone would loan such a priceless item to some common thug.

[Samwise]

Yeah, that'd bother me too.  It does make the weapon very unique and therefore traceable, which was the point from a plot perspective.  TBH it's the dumbest thing about Cat going after Tyrion, which I think Tyrion even points out -- why on earth would he give a thug that particular incredibly valuable knife and thereby lead Cat right to him when any old murder weapon would have done?

[Cheddar]

Yeah, that'd bother me too.  It does make the weapon very unique and therefore traceable, which was the point from a plot perspective.  TBH it's the dumbest thing about Cat going after Tyrion, which I think Tyrion even points out -- why on earth would he give a thug that particular incredibly valuable knife and thereby lead Cat right to him when any old murder weapon would have done?

Because Littlefinger was involved.  It was brilliant.  Tyrion was a potential player, FL saw this.

[Samwise]

Yeah, that'd bother me too.  It does make the weapon very unique and therefore traceable, which was the point from a plot perspective.  TBH it's the dumbest thing about Cat going after Tyrion, which I think Tyrion even points out -- why on earth would he give a thug that particular incredibly valuable knife and thereby lead Cat right to him when any old murder weapon would have done?

Because Littlefinger was involved.  It was brilliant.  Tyrion was a potential player, FL saw this.

LF also saw that Cat was a gullible enough dumbass to fall for the most hamfisted frame-up ever, apparently.  He did grow up with her, I guess he'd know.  

[Cheddar]

Yeah, that'd bother me too.  It does make the weapon very unique and therefore traceable, which was the point from a plot perspective.  TBH it's the dumbest thing about Cat going after Tyrion, which I think Tyrion even points out -- why on earth would he give a thug that particular incredibly valuable knife and thereby lead Cat right to him when any old murder weapon would have done?

Because Littlefinger was involved.  It was brilliant.  Tyrion was a potential player, FL saw this.

LF also saw that Cat was a gullible enough dumbass to fall for the most hamfisted frame-up ever, apparently.  He did grow up with her, I guess he'd know.  

It was a weapon only a truly wealthy house could afford.  Oh, and coup DE grace?  If I recall?  I seem to remember LF getting it back.

Fake edit.  New tablet auto correct and keyboard killing me

[eldaec]

I might be remembering it wrong, but thought Joffery gave the guy the dagger from Robert's collection. Littlefinger just made up the story when he saw the dagger.

[K9]

I might be remembering it wrong, but thought Joffery gave the guy the dagger from Robert's collection. Littlefinger just made up the story when he saw the dagger.

No, I think that was what happened. But in hindsight it still doesn't make great sense within the current canon, given how GRRM has developed Valyrian Weapons to be the rarest, most eagerly guarded weapons and preciously kept weapons in all of Westeros.

[eldaec]

It is believable to me that Joffery either didn't know it was Valyrian, didn't know that this was a big deal, thought everyone else was too stupid to spot it, or even wanted everyone to know it was him.

What is less believable was that littlefinger lost the dagger in a bet with Robert to begin with. But I can live with that.

[Lantyssa]

It still makes sense.  No macho man who thinks having a weapon is impressive is going to run around showing off his 'mighty' Valyrian steel dagger.  It might be the prized piece of a collection to a family without many resources, but it's still not going to have the respect of something like Ice.

[Speedy Cerviche]

What is less believable was that littlefinger lost the dagger in a bet with Robert to begin with. But I can live with that.

I believe it was a tournament bet, one thing Robert knew better than Littlefinger, would've been evaluating fighters.

[calapine]

[Ironwood]

Winterfell is Doune ?

Seriously ?

[Samwise]

Among others.  I don't recognize any of the castles but I count three cited as being Winterfell shooting locations.

[Ironwood]

Yes, but I didn't care about those.   

[DraconianOne]

Winterfell is Doune ?

Seriously ?

Only in the pilot which was never aired.

[eldaec]

Finally saw last week's episode, and while I don't think anything can justify the godawful mess that the rest of the season has been, it was good.

Hardhome was a really well thought out sequence and made me wish the book had had a PoV there. For a couple of minutes it even managed to convince my fiancee that they were going to kill Jon. But Mereen was the standout, grown ups sitting down having a chat is what GoT does best. It was like it was season 2 or 3 all over again.

[angry.bob]

God damn it.

[Shannow]

Why the fuck did we need to see that.

[Chimpy]

Why the fuck did we need to see that.

[Threash]

Welp, so much for team Stannis.

[Merusk]

Wow, so much foreshadowing there it was crazy.  As soon as I knew what was going on I saw all sorts of visual hints dropped, nice filming.  Wife saw a few related to Dany, too, that I might have missed.

[Tannhauser]

Tannhauser has just unfriended House Baratheon.

[Threash]

Biggest surprise of the entire series so far:

[Merusk]

[Khaldun]

Yeah, I expected him to be in on the deal.

As for Stannis, here the series is cribbing pretty directly from the Iliad (rather than the Wars of the Roses)...and ultimately it doesn't end well for Agamemnon either. Does make it a bit harder to pick a side in the upcoming battle for Winterfell.

Noticed something by the way re-watching "Hardhome". Roose Bolton says they have supplies for six months, for withstanding a siege. Why isn't that a catastrophic admission that they're utterly fucked in the slightly longer term, even if Stannis freezes outside the walls? I would assume by this point that any Northern castle that doesn't have food for two fucking years or so is fucked, given what we've been told again and again about seasons in Westeros. I would assume that siege or no siege, the ability to leave the castle doesn't matter worth shit if winter is even half of what it's advertised to be--it's not like there's a Quickie-Mart down the street. What you have at this point is what you have, period--there's no more coming and nowhere else to get it.

Though on the other hand in the show, Littlefinger rides around from the Eyrie to Winterfell to King's Landing like they're a few hours apart by horse, so who the fuck knows.

[Abagadro]

Dragon skin impenetrability ain't what it used to be.

[Samwise]

Seriously.  On the other hand it was a good excuse for them to get the fuck out of there.

I really enjoyed the ringside conversation there, especially how Tyrion was the only one who shared Dany's distaste for bloodsport.

Looking forward to seeing what Melisandre pulls out of whichever orifice is most magical.  But man, I think even if Stannis wins this battle he's lost the war.  He was never the most likeable dude to start with.

[Abagadro]

You could tell his soldiers weren't exactly thrilled with the prospect of fighting for a guy who would do that.

[Bunk]

Did not think they would really go there, but they did.

I was off by an episode for when the ride would happen, and I admit that douchey fiancée not being behind it all was a surprise. I'll chalk the non-impenetrable hide to the fact he's still tiny (look at the info graphic above on how big he could get).

So I guess my new prediction for the finale is someone coming off of someone's nightly list, along with the consequences that follow. No idea if they are going to resolve any more of Winterfell - we really are at the point where having read the books doesn't help much.

[eldaec]

Yeah, I expected him to be in on the deal.

As for Stannis, here the series is cribbing pretty directly from the Iliad (rather than the Wars of the Roses)...and ultimately it doesn't end well for Agamemnon either. Does make it a bit harder to pick a side in the upcoming battle for Winterfell.

Noticed something by the way re-watching "Hardhome". Roose Bolton says they have supplies for six months, for withstanding a siege. Why isn't that a catastrophic admission that they're utterly fucked in the slightly longer term, even if Stannis freezes outside the walls? I would assume by this point that any Northern castle that doesn't have food for two fucking years or so is fucked, given what we've been told again and again about seasons in Westeros. I would assume that siege or no siege, the ability to leave the castle doesn't matter worth shit if winter is even half of what it's advertised to be--it's not like there's a Quickie-Mart down the street. What you have at this point is what you have, period--there's no more coming and nowhere else to get it.

I just assumed this was lazy scripting. In the book winterfell has greenhouses or some shit and was self sustaining even in winter.