1 or 2 years. According to the book chronology, the story starts in 298 AC and the last book took place in 300 AC. Dragons were born in 299. At one point in the books, Barristan Selmy tells Dany that as long as they have food and freedom, dragons never stop growing.
Seriously? That's surprising. I assumed that more time had passed. Aren't the dire wolves supposed to be full size now?
Uh, maybe the ending fell flat for you...I thought the entire Pit scene was pretty damned exciting and actually made me forget about the Stannis scene, which was horrifying
For the folks complaining about the GGI, and Khaleesi not having enough security..... Seriously.... yeah its not perfect but what show on TV with 50 hours a season is better as far as production, acting, and precise storytelling ON THE EPIC SCOPE that GOT is produced at? Name one? The next best epic series with the second highest budget is probably the Walking Dead I guess. Do you REALLY want to complain and rip the show that much just because its so popular and need to be critical? .............. Now complaining about the sadism and cruelty the shows/writers have with their audience.... that's another thing. We were led to start liking Stannis, and shown the love he has for his adorable daughter who in our minds has already suffered enough with terrible parents, and a horrible disease. Then we get to watch them take his character, and someone we naturally root for in Shireen, and watch her burn literally. We are led to believe Sansa has become a strong female character who is no longer going to be a victim. Whether or not its a spoiler I know but look at what they've done to Jon Snow this season. Are we going to be shocked really now Spoiler when that stupid Olly kid shanks him , or if he takes a turn to the dark side that can never be repaired in the eyes of the viewer, and becomes just another villain? IMO now that arc will be more predicable and less shocking that it ever was meant to be. The shocking thing the show can do now is actually having a character with good decision making, judgement, and overall good character have success. Davos, Brienne, Jon Snow, Bran, Arya, and Tyrienne (even though he's had dark moments).... its not looking good for your future. And that outcome just isn't all that shocking anymore. Let's hope season 6 actually realizes that the audience can only be tortured so much to where they actually start to feel like Reek... where maybe they deserve all of the torture if they asked for it to begin with in knowingly partaking in this show.
Actually I kind of hated that the two scenes were put back to back without any buffer. I really should have enjoyed the Tyrian, Hizdar, Dany, Dario dialog alot more than I did cause I was processing what I just saw moments before.
Dobro, my complaint with the show all season has been that they have become bad story tellers. The show is basically structured around shocking moments with the rest being filler now. The logistics of the plot rarely make sense anymore and are just designed to allow the writers to have their shocking moment. Take the entire Stannis plot for a moment. Why is even in the North? According to Roose Bolton it is to march for King's Landing. What? Why would he go to Braavos, get his army back and then land in the freaking North just to go to King's Landing? Originally I thought the point was that he saved the Night's Watch and would rally the Northern lords behind him. Yet we've really seen nothing of that save for the one letter from House Mormont. Where are all the Northern Lords? What was even the point of Sansa marrying Ramsay Bolton? No Northern Lords were there to witness it, there was no bedding ceremony, etc. If House Bolton falls Sansa can pretend it never happened. Again, originally I figured the reason Bolton would want to marry his son to Sansa is to claim some sort of legitimacy over the Northern lords. Nope, he's keeping it a secret. LOL Are there even any Northern lords left? Does it matter? The whole Northern storyline was written to give us the shocking moments of Sansa getting plugged and Shireen getting torched. Yes, there will be other moments, but outside of the shockers it doesn't seem like the writers give a whole lot of thought to the plot anymore. Also, what happened to the whole moral ambiguity angle that the show was supposed to push? Tyrion is a freaking saint. He can't sleep with hookers, he doesn't like to watch people die, he is brave in battle, he saved Missandei, he's a philosopher, he knows all about history, he's a brilliant politician, he has a soft heart, etc. If he weren't a dwarf he would be a religious icon! Stannis burning his daughter didn't seem like it took a lot of convincing. Mel mentions it once to him and then a blizzard and a camp raid later and he puts her to the torch. I think he spent more episodes debating Gendry than he did his daughter. Oh, and why would this army support him now? I thought the whole point of Stannis was how just he was? Now he has an army of sell swords (or does he? See next point) that just watched him burn his innocent young daughter for religious fanaticism. I would think the desertion rate would be pretty high. On that point, we were told his army was basically smashed at the Blackwater which is why he went to Braavos to get sell swords. Then in last episode Daavos tells him the sell swords abandoned him. So what army does he have left? I guess it doesn't even matter really because BRIENNE! The show does big moments very well, but the writing has gotten very lazy and forced. This wasn't supposed to be a show where you explained what was going on by saying "because the plot/writers demands it."
Stannis was coming through the North to rally manpower, it's not that complicated. His army of sell swords isn't enough to take on the Kings army and the Tyrells. Rallying the North, and possibly others was his only chance, i didn't think that needed too much explaining. And was clearly conflicted by doing what he did to Shireen. It basically took his entire force being crippled and in a helpless state for him to act. Doesn't make it right, but it was far from an easy call for him.
Right, I get that this idea seems obvious (I even mentioned it in my post), but he hasn't really rallied any one in the North. At least we haven't been given any information on it. And what of his army of sell swords? Like I said, Daavos told us that the sell swords abandoned him. Stannis even made a snide remark about sell swords. Who is fighting for him? Is he trying to rally the North? We haven't really been given any details on that because that story doesn't really matter. All you need to know about Stannis is that he burned his daughter and that Brienne wants to kill him. The rest of his "story" is pretty much irrelevant.
I wish there were two versions of this episode, one that ends with Shireen burning (dragon scenes come first in the rotation) and the other that plays out as the show ended last night. Then you'd survey the viewers afterwards. A completely useless case study I'd be interested in seeing.
I agree that the story has been somewhat glossed over and not thoroughly explained, but I have been no less entertained by the product.
All good points. Which is a problem with adapting source material that you want to be true to, but IT ISN'T FINISHED. They are having to piece things together in order to stay in GRRM's world when they really should have abandoned it all together and just stuck to their characters, and their story which would work for the remainder of the show.... not the books. The last two books adapting were always going to be a problem to adapt to begin with because they leave stories and characters shuffled around with few arches closing at the end of both books. Its really a massive setup for the last two books which is a problem for the show which wants to have big moments all wrapped up in one season. It left the showrunners stringing Sansa into Winterfell, it had a rushed and poorly executed Dorne, and it has completely ignored major parts of the world which you alluded to in the North. If they wanted to adapt accordingly they should have just made season 5 and 6 at the books pace (which of course would have only serviced the hard core fans who could keep up with so many stories and characters), and fully fledged out these stories as they are in the books. It would have made the shocking less sadistic when its done over 2 seasons. Now with these two books being woven together in one season its just nothing but rape, torture, rape, and killing innocent children that don't deserve it. If they wanted to be this ambitious with these characters they should have thrown the books out the window all together, not done Dorne (no point now), and just taken the characters on what would be a compelling and appropriate arch. I still think they can come back from this in season 6. Whether it be a more proper adaptation of The Winds of Winter (which might be easier to adapt as one book), or freeing themselves of the source materials, and just doing what feels like the right way to do these characters justice, and wrap the story up.
I'm interested to see what they do with Jorah's greyscale. He touched Dany with both hands and Dany touched hands with Missandei. Is Greyscale going to spread? Or is Dany immune? From Stannis telling us the story of Shireen the beloved until the snow falls, we know that she got infected by handling a toy that had apparently been touched by someone with it. Seems like greyscale spreads very easily.
It was actually a decent plan on the surface but obviously he's failed. If you recall he tried to get the Wildling army to join him which would have made for a very interesting, but massive army. Also an interesting subplot would have been how the North kingdoms would have reacted to a Wildling army invading their lands led by a southerner. Maybe they would have sided with the Boltons in that case as what they would consider the lesser of two evils.... even though the Boltons are pretty terrible... they are still from the North. But your point is correct... where are the opinions of the North? We haven't heard from anyone outside of the Boltons, Stannis, and Jon Snow. I think it would help put into perspective if there was at least one Northern person who gave some insight as to how all these lunatics are viewed from the eyes of someone whose well-being is actually being shaped by those fighting over their land. I'll say this... if the Vale comes in and just takes out whoever is left of the two... it will be hard to not see them as the heroes here.... and these are the people now led by Littefinger, and those that were trying to kill Brienne... our other supposed hero.... ugh... its a mess up there in the North.
Apparently some Targaryens are immune to disease... might as well be Dany since she survived the funeral pyre and all. She still could have been a carrier, though, and transferred the disease to Missandei. They did make a point of all them touching.
I wonder if Stannis and Melisandre couldn't just make another assassin to kill Roose Bolton (like what they did to Renly). Was that something they could only do once? Why not just keep popping those ninjas out...
That was just silly at this point. He protected her up until now . .. . I am seriously looking for the more than that I wonder how could an army do such a thing and still respect the man. Rocket River
Gotta agree. If I were one of the soldiers in Stannis' army, I'd be thinking, "He killed his own daughter to get what he needs. Killed her horribly. Hell with this. What's he gonna do to me if I ever look at him crossways?" I want Davos to come back and go full-on apoplectic. Stannis is not someone worthy of loyalty.
