re: Game of Thrones S5:E10:"Mother's Mercy", HODORS ONLY(No Book Readers)

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I think she just misinterpreted her visions and when Stannis's men left, she knew he wasn't the one, so she left

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So what does that say about Snow then since his men literally stabbed him in the heart?

Jon Snow and Samwell are the only relevant people in the universe that know the secret to stopping the Walkers. I guess some of the wildlings do as well, but they are mostly irrelevant. Tyrion knows about the burning the Wights n shite, but IDK what else.

Jon Snow 2.0 is our only salvation. Also, who the hell is going to farm all of the steel from Valyria to make more weapons? I don't think the stone men will just let anyone come in there and mine it.

I've read the books, but I'm going to post in the Hodor thread because I just don't care about parsing the minutiae of how the show veers from the books. I'm only going to talk about the show, as I view the two properties as wholly independent of one another at this point, but I figured I'd at least give a warning....

Anyway, this season was capital-D Dark. I know it alienated a lot of viewers, particularly with the rape of Sansa, the burning of Shireen, and now the murder of Jon. Pretty much every character is now at their lowest ebb: Dany is surrounded by the dothraki, Jamie finally admits to being a father only to lose his daughter, Arya is blinded, Sansa jumps over a parapet with only a 50/50 chance at living and she considers that a decent trade, Margery is still in prison, and even Cersei seems utterly broken by her walk of shame.

But honestly, that's where we are supposed to be in an epic story. I don't think any of the terrible things that happened were unearned or treated lightly. I think the worst thing the show has done is burned Shireen alive, and Stannis is appropriately ruined for his actions. He murdered his daughter in his quest for power, and for this unforgiveable sin, his army is slaughtered and he is murdered by Brienne, abandoned by everyone. The wheels of justice move slowly in Westeros, but they do turn.

What I did love about this finale is how it showed how utterly ruinous and pointless revenge is. Three characters are murdered for revenge for a murder they committed, and all of the deaths are unsatisfying for various reasons, and in fact, merely perpetuate the suffering of everyone.

Myrcella is murdered in retaliation for the death of the Red Viper. She's as close as the show comes to an innocent, and her death will likely only stoke the fires of the Martel-Lannister rivalry. Their alliance will likely die (not a book spoiler, I'm just spitballing here). It's also an open question whether that Dornish ship will even go to King's Landing, or go off to some other locale with Jamie as a hostage. And if he's not a hostage, Jamie's next likely move is to murder Trystane. So... more death.

Arya murders Trant, who totally deserves it, but her murder is so delayed as it is barely connected to what he has done to the Starks. Also, the quest for revenge has completely destroyed whatever humanity Arya had left. That burtal killing wasn't satisfying, it was horrifying, especially because of the toll it has taken on Arya.

Finally, Brienne finally catches up with Stannis. This is probably the most cathartic murder of the three, but even at this point... who cares? Stannis is utterly defeated and by the time she gets to him, the killing blow is besides the point: he has already been destroyed. Even righteous revenge is unsatisfying in this world.

We are now, to draw a parallel to another work, at the end of the Empire Strikes Back. Everything is awful, but it can be worth it if the 6th season begins a road to redemption. We don't require a happy ending, but we also can't have the Darkest Timeline. I can live with the darkness if we start to see some light going forward.

Sorry I went on too long. TL;DR... it's supposed to be bleak right now, but that's because we are in the middle of a story.

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Could she have been that wrong about sacrificing the daughter? Makes here character even worse, though, if she knew the sacrifice was bogus.

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Maybe she knew sacrificing Shireen would save someone.

The mountain will be a one man wrecking crew at the beginning of next season.

I'd be shocked if Snow was dead. The whole show seems to be centered around Daenerys and Snow. I think he will be reborn as one bad MF.

One question I have is where is Little Finger this whole time?

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One question I have is where Little Finger this whole time?

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Close enough to everyone so that no one should feel safe.

I know this is random, but that boat was beautiful.

That's so, so disturbing to me. That little smile on her face honestly hit me harder even than Myrcella's death (granted, I saw Myrcella's death coming a mile away when the Sand Snake woman kissed her and touched her lips). Luckily, she's being punished for it.

If she'd just killed him, I'd have been fine with it. But the torture and being happy about it were just the worst.

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with it. But the torture and being happy about it were just the worst.

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So you feel bad for the pedophile and child beater?

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Olly

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White Walker food

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The moment that Jon Targaryen ( ) comes back and forgives him, I'm going to lose it. That kid will turn loyal as frick.