After sleeping on it and going over some scenes that stuck with me, I'm still disappointed from a tactics standpoint. When I heard they got a lot of inspiration from LOTR, I was expecting them to use the Dothraki like Gandalf and the knights from Rohirrim. Come in from the side and ambush after the dead start to breach Winterfell. Practically what they did with the Knights of the Veil during the Battle of the Bastards or when Stannis' army defeated the Wildlings. I would have made Tyrion be the clever tactician that again suggests using oil or tar to place all over the open field of Winterfell to set fire when the horde of dead start their charge. Or bug Sam if he knows any concoctions for explosives that they can store near the entrance of Winterfell to further delay or make one last kamikaze stand before ultimately getting sieged. The Night King could still cause a winter storm to put out the flames on the field but at least it wouldn't have been as dumb as sending your horse riders in alone in the darkness of night to be swiftly decimated. It would have shown some attempt at making the best out of a bad situation at least. Part of me was hoping they'd somehow implement a 300-like strategy for the Unsullied where they'd set up barricades so the dead would have to breach Winterfell through a narrow entrance that the Unsullied's disciplined army thwarts despite the overwhelming odds against them. I mean this was the army that was legendary enough to have 3,000 troops defeat 20,000 Dothraki in the Battle of Qohor. This is the definitive battle that garnered them their legendary reputation. A 300-like homage using the Unsullied would have been cool to see on screen. The dragon fight sequences were cool to watch but again tactically I was frustrated. The directors of GoT stated that the initial plan was to not use the dragons until they knew the location of the Night King but after Dany watched the Dothraki get decimated, that plan went out the window. She let emotions best her similar to Jon when Rickon was murdered during the Battle of the Bastards. I can understand how that would make for a muddied, chaotic battle. I guess my only gripe with the dragon fights were just the stupidity of Jon and Dany flying above the clouds again when moments before they were ambushed by the Night King because they were out in the open. The images of them above the clouds with the moon out would make some nice backgrounds but it just made me wonder how fighter pilots would engage each other in combat. I honestly don't know the tactics they would employ, but I would think limiting your enemies visibility of you while trying to gain visibility of your enemy would be basic tenants of air combat. Night King used this tactic well the first time. Jon and Dany remain dumb and oblivious by going out above the open clouds a second time. I dunno. Just seems like a poorly thought out scene that happened just to have a cool fan service visual appeal to it. Last gripe. What exactly does Bran do? He used the crows to gain vision of the Night King and...that's it? He's built up to be this powerful counterpart to the Night King, but the Night King controls hundreds of thousands, has lieutenants, a dragon, can walk on his own and is a capable fighter. Dude is a BAMF. Then there's...Bran and his GoCrow vision. Wow! I mean besides closure to the story, was it necessary for the Night King to be so close to Bran? Like did he have to deliver the fatal blow to Bran? Couldn't he have sent in another White Walker, or the seemingly endless amount of wights to do it instead? Same outcome right? Mission accomplished. Was the living getting slaughtered the way they were to set up overconfidence in the Night King that he was safe to personally do the deed himself? Part of me hopes the Night King comes back and that it really isn't over. I would have liked to have a brief POV perspective of the Night King. No dialogue, but just how exactly does he issue commands to his army? Does he just have hive mind vision of all the dead and White Walkers at his command? From a first person POV, would that be like having the vision of a fly but each eyeball is just the perspective of a wight under his control? It could have even been used to set up the ambush Arya makes on him. Like from the viewpoint of the Wights and White Walkers around him, he sees the ambush incoming from Arya and reacts through their eyes before looking at her from his own perspective again. I hope they give some backstory on him. Like was he responsible for other long nights of Winter in years past? If so, does that mean warmer weather, steadier climate ahead for even the North now? If the Night King was responsible for other long nights, why take thousands of years to invade and do so when mythical creatures that shoots fire are roaming again when just decades prior, conquering Westeros would have been far easier. What does all this do involving Azor Ahai and the prince that was promised prophecies? The lore sets up the long night to be like cyclical event of history repeating itself but with the Night King defeated, that would imply an end to this cycle. I'm being too critical of the show, I'm sure. It was an enjoyable episode despite my gripes.
Everyone seems to be all upset with the Dothraki charge. To them I say... they're cavalry. They *have* to charge to be effective. As has been part of their character the whole show, they are "the best open field warriors" in the world. Did they have to charge? No. Was a charge as good idea as any given the circumstances? Probably. As for the rest of the battle, I didn't see anything else that screamed stupid. I agree that getting through the whole thing with zero major character deaths is kinda crap. Jorah is not nothing, however. His send off was great IMO. The giant vs. Lyanna scene was a bit weird. It was nice to see them treat her like a real character (i.e. actually being almost totally combat ineffective, not wearing plot armor, etc) and not a Mary Sue given the mythos around her with the fans. Best guess is that the giant was a bit taken aback by the fact there was a little girl on the battlefield/attacking him. Of course that flies in the face of the idea that these are an undead horde with a singular mind bent on death and destruction in the most efficient manner. But meh. I can get over it. As for Arya, she's a shapeshifting master assassin. The scene in the Godswood didn't look like there was a whole army there. Just an entourage of WWs. Also, I'm not sure, but according to some more hardcore fans she was tipped off about where to be/what to do. Either way, her sneaking up on and killing the NK is not out of character or implausible at all. Edit: The undead have been seen "biting/eating" people throughout the series. Giant bro probably wanted to have a Lyanna sammich. Also Theon ate it. Decently important character.
So, is Dany's fighting force pretty much all gone exceat for the dragons? Dothraki wiped out at the start and Unsullied also (mostly) dead. Seems the other factions have more survivors. What does Dany have to fight for the throne without Jon's help? Also....
That was a huge "WTF" moment. Like, OK Bran, we're in real trouble here. Can you stop playing Microsoft Flight Simulator with a crow and like, help us please? My initial thought is that him "warging" made him more visible to the NK, similar to the ring/frodor/sauron. That or he was just trying to get a better view/idea of what was going on with the battle or perhaps to trying to track the NK.
That was a tedious episode. I shouldn't have been drinking. Watching shaky camera night scenes with blizzard while buzzed is pretty hard on the brain. But with that out of the way, maybe they can do something good with the remaining episodes.
Probably but that's the show's problem with inconsistency. Especially after the showrunners had passed the source material. It's been bad writing and tropes all over the place.
The whole wight army was there and surrounded Bran after killing off the Ironborne. They made a path for the White Walkers. There's no way Arya could have infiltrated that horde for a surprise attack. It feels cheap to kill the Night King that way.
GOT Prequels are about to get produced, maybe they explain some of how the NK came to be? John Simm and Naomi Watts are cast among others. https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/...tv-whats-it-about-will-any-characters-return/
I can Agree. They went hard to give Lady Mormont a Hero ending. It didn't make sense but . . .it made her look good dying. It was so fricking dark and fuzzy The fog and dragon scenes were stupid Operation Hide Behind the Darkies (South Park) Hell I thought them going above the clouds was best because in the clouds they could not see and the Night Kind seems like he could. He was killing them in the clouds because neither of them had any clue I kept wondering why they took the dragons out in the first place then with the Night King already showing he could kill them easily . . . why would you fly into clouds where you cannot see anything Rocket River
It was already previously stated by Bran that NK "knows where I am at all times." Why would it take a dangling of a carrot in this moment?
