#WE know Cersei because we have the advantage of being an audience to everything happening. NED DOESNT HAVE THAT KNOWLEDGE TO WORK WITH.

[dcviline]

people: “why would Ned warn Cersei that he was going to tell Robert about the kids omg he’s so dumb”

me:

[sailorshadzter]

Alright, since you brought it up 😂 the kidnapping plot. I cannot come up with any good resolutions for it. Everything I think of seems to clean (Sansa completely out playing Cersei), or to cliche (Jon riding in on a white steed to save her) so I was wondering what you think might happen with it. I am definitely ready to Sansa and Cersei to face off again though 💜

oooh okay yes!! i have lots of thoughts about the kidnapping plot!!

let me just say, my absolute dream plot line would be the stuff of fics (no really, im writing it lol) which involves pregnancy & an impromptu wedding the morning of the battle. but i think thats too far fetched for the show, honestly, so im going to let that live in fanfiction. 

as far as what i REALLY think… i agree with what you said about jon riding in on a white horse- so cliche. but on the otherhand, its what sansa had dreamed of with robb. that her brother would come riding in on his war stallion and save her from king’s landing. i think we’ll still get the fulfillment of jon rushing to her rescue without the cliche “knight on a white horse” because in the end, i think sansa will ultimately save herself in some way. or at least get her closure on the cersei chapter. 

personally, ive thought cersei would die in childbirth from the get go. as soon as we as an audience learned she was pregnant, i said to my hubby who i was watching with that that’s how she was going to go out. i think an important piece of her character is the loss of her 3 children and her inability to have another. much like i see daenerys’ lack of children beyond her dragons part of who she is, i see the same for cersei. anyways, i still think this but with a step further. 

i think its safe to say that sansa will be taken from winterfell the night of the battle against the nk. whether she goes willingly or is actually snatched like from her rooms or out of the courtyard, im not sure. i think i lean towards her going willingly, like to spare someone harm. maybe arya is being chased in the trailer by the golden company and if sansa goes, they’ll be called off. who knows. 

the timeline is funky to me here because i know it takes time to get back to king’s landing. the newest teaser “kind of” confirms that time passes- her braid looks much larger to me- and i cant decide what keeps jon from going at once. maybe no one knows who takes her, maybe he’s injured somehow and physically cant go (and the others are also dead/injured/??) or dany takes winterfell over completely and has him jailed or chained or just in general held prisoner yet again. 

anyways, once she’s back at king’s landing, i think at first sansa will be dealing with a lot of emotions. i think her first response is to be upset and possibly even dealing with a trigger of ptsd from all that happened to her there. cersei will put her into the chambers she had there the first time.

 she will have an audience with cersei almost immediately and realize she’s pregnant. they’ll talk and in the end, i imagine sansa realizing she’s not so scared of this queen anymore. we’ll get one or two of sansa’s epic clap backs and leave the conversation feeling confident. it wont be the way it was the first time. she’ll stand strong against cersei. 

i think cersei will lose her baby either that first night sansa is in king’s landing or the very next morning. it will be a few days before sansa sees cersei again and i think that talk is where we get the teary-eyed cersei drinking wine from the trailer. i think this scene will have a lot of call backs to their conversation when sansa got her period for the first time. “i hope you never have to experience this loss, little dove.” i can hear cersei say that to her and probably mean it. that’s one thing two women can bond over, regardless of anything else- the experience of a miscarriage is so traumatic and grievous, that one would never wish it upon the other. 

now, this is where my belief of cersei’s fate differs from what i had originally thought. i think she’ll drink poison out of her grief. i also think more happens- like a letter from daenerys, who is coming to storm king’s landing (if she’s alive that is) and she knows there’s nothing left. this once strong willed woman is knocked so low- she’s lost her family, her children, and the future she’d planned on building with this new baby. and now king’s landing would ultimately be destroyed or heavily damaged from the dragons. what was there left for her? we know she’d planned on doing this once before, when stannis was storming the city, so i dont see why she wouldn’t actually go through with it this time. i dont think it happens until the midst of the fight, when she knows its really over. 

maybe the sacking of king’s landing is where jon comes back into things. im still up in the air on dany’s fate post NK battle but i think with the newest teaser i can confirms she lives. i cant confirm her participation in the battle though. ive also thought for a while now that dany will abandon the NK fight when she loses another dragon (sorry rhaegal) and will return to dragonstone with whoever remains loyal to her. 

at this point, im not quite sure. there’s so many possibilities! jon could beg for dany’s help against cersei and in return he’ll give his support behind her taking the iron throne. or maybe dany never leaves the fight and once everyone is recovered enough to fight another battle, they merely join forces once again but this time to take king’s landing.

to be clear, if dany doesnt die at the NK fight, she does sacking king’s landing. game of thrones ends with her death. at least that’s how i think/feel. the targaryen name will die with her, because jon wont ever use it. even if jonsa isnt end game (lol) he wont take his birth name because that’s not who he is. on that note, i dont see him riding rhaegal into battle nor to king’s landing to save sansa. im hoping there will be no jon on a dragon at all. he will need an army or at least a strong group of soldiers on his side to storm king’s landing and take sansa back. thats why i guess i COULD lean towards dany storming king’s landing and jon using that to his advantage. when he says he’ll be out on the front lines fighting for dany’s crown, he breaks and rushes in to find sansa instead. im also not sure how much of a “fight” there would be- sure, cersei has soldiers and her own army, but dany will still have at least one dragon at this point… we know how that’s going to go. 

i guess overall i have strong thoughts on sansa’s side, but i just cant say 100% on how jon will get her back. i will say im excited for what the scene would be when he realizes she’s been taken. and watching him do whatever it takes to get her back will be incredible. 

so yeah!! thanks for the ask!! i could talk about this all day tbh. 

this is probably ALL OVER THE PLACE AND IM SORRY. we can blame it on my head injury lmao. 

[abrokenherocomplex]

i may want to be a screenwriter so this is me trying to figure out where d & d went wrong with game of thrones

(got 8 spoilers!) hello, maybe i’ll be a screenwriter when i grow up. here are my very incoherent, unprofessional thoughts on got season 8. 

- dany’s arc was foreshadowed, yes. i feel like i’m not one to judge on whether it was developed enough or not. her little snap with the bells was uncalled for. after the bells episode i was definitely thinking she would regret it and go to jon all ‘i can’t believe i did this. am i turning into my father, why did i kill all these people’ ect. i then thought that she’d accept that she killed the people, accept that she is turning into her father, then move on, thus completing her sketchy ‘mad queen’ arc. she didn’t even do that, it was like she was a completely different person during the finale - she thought her actions were justified. there was absolutely no human remorse during the scenes when she’s talking to her armies. if there was even a sliver of, ‘i know that was wrong, i didn’t want to have to do it, i feel horrible. but i have to decisively and authoritatively move on.’ then the audience would empathize with the character a bit more. they didn’t even show her transition from ‘mad queen burning the city’ to ‘tyrant screaming at armies’ to maybe humanize her just a bit. but no, she was turned into a plot device so that jon didn’t have a feminist woman standing in his was of the throne ?? but no, he didn't even get the throne. this feminist woman, who started at the bottom in S1, who was the underdog and the hero of so many woman both in the show and watching the show, merely ends up at the bottom once again despite all of her growth as a person and leader as shown throughout the seasons. It was like none of her powerful but kind khaleesi, mhysa, mother, queen moments even mattered anymore. her arc was scrapped. i truly thought she’d make a great queen.

- what was that whole aegon targaryen plotline again ? they used it as a little bargaining chip in the beginning of the season then abandoned it. i even wonder what would have happened if sansa had let the general public know about jon’s heritage. would jon have been strong enough to use that to his advantage by saying ‘yes, i am the true heir to the throne, but as the heir i put all of my trust in daenerys targaryen and you should too.’ does jon even have enough political power to do this? we’ll never know because that plot point never came up in the finale. however, (and correct me if i’m wrong) but i do see the poeticism in S1 beginning with a targaryen as head of the night’s watch, and S8 ending with a different scorned targaryen as head of the night’s watch. that being said, they screwed jon’s storyline as well! he started from the bottom, just like dany. and he ended back at the bottom. it was like none of his leadership / war / life experience mattered. he started as a bastard no one and ended as a bastard no one going back to the night’s watch. neither of jon nor dany’s outcomes are poetic. they exist in a circle, with development and experience and a whole seven seasons scrapped in favor of *shockingly* throwing them into the mud that they started the series in. now i’m not saying i needed either of them on the throne - i just wanted to see if, despite all of their growth, they could still be outsmarted and outpowered. if what they wanted (a better world) could not be reached by their imperialistic, dramatic, yet mildly honorable means. maybe cersei or the night king could have showed them that that simply is not possible in this world. instead, dany and jon burned each other out. 

- to think of it, jaime’s arc was wasted in a circle as well. he started with cersei, became a better man over the years, yet threw it all away to prove that he’s actually not a better man at all. 

- my hypothesis is that bran on the throne was hastily put together. someone guessed the ending of game of thrones early on and the writers were like, “whoops gotta switch it up on them.” just a theory. the writers did not initially prepare to have bran on the throne. if they did they wouldn’t have cut him out of  an entire season because his plot line wasn’t important enough. bran isn’t even bran anymore, so why is he king? he’s the three-eyed-raven. he even says so himself. there is not a human mind in bran’s body. at this point, we have a mystical being ruling westeros. my problem with that is it wasn’t set up well enough. from what we know of the raven, he isn’t power-hungry. he just holds stories. so why did he want the throne? is it just because he knew he’d be getting the throne, so he went along with everything? maybe they could have characterized a power-hungry, heck, even an raven interested in the throne. the raven displayed no signs of wanting the throne, or even knowing what to do with a throne. is this just the way for the wood children (whom the three-eyed raven is somehow affiliated, i can’t remember) to get their land back? is this some sort of new dawn in the world? it started with the white walkers trying to kill all the humans, now is it the raven and the wood children taking power so that humans cannot inhabit westeros anymore as a majority population? even if this is a stretch, it’s a stretch that should have been acknowledged ! jon, sansa and arya all know bran is not bran, so why did they let this happen? are we just trusting this random raven guy in a human’s body to lead 6 kingdoms?

- speaking of the white walkers... where did they come from, where did they go? where did they come from cotton-eye-joe. we have no idea where they came from, why they came or if they will come back. also, winter came? i think? the starks have been saying that for generations even though they didn’t believe in the night king. now that the night king is dead, there’s just no more winter? what do the starks do? okay this is now some big existential crisis. the starks don’t exist anymore i guess. alright i’m done.

[infinitexechoes]

So after sleeping on last night’s train wreck, I’m going to make some changes as it pertains to Dany’s direction. I’ve seen a lot of NASTY comments IN THIS FANDOM no less from RPers who are “sure Dany was never supposed to sit on the throne” and who agree that “this has been foreshadowed since she burned  Mirri Maz Duur” and screamed “I WILL TAKE WHAT IS MINE WITH FIRE AND BLOOD”. Also the whole “a Targaryen alone in the world is a terrible thing” like from the maester. Oh and let’s not forget the “ashes” in the House of Undying. Okay well so if this was Martin’s plan all alone, then okay. She was supposed to be the “ultimate villain” but I have issues with this.

Why spend the entire series giving us all this kick ass female empowerment only to have men running the Seven Kingdoms in the end? Spoiler alert - men rule. I read the leaks.

How do you truly justify a woman who spent all her time trying to be the pale savior of slaves burning the innocent out of rage? Was Dany always supposed to end up ‘alone in the world’? Was she supposed to nut up after “hearing the bells”? Does this mean she’s always been a nut job? Are there instances I’ve missed with these bells? 

Does this mean all the Targaryens are destined to be mad? Does it mean Jon’s going to go a little mad too? Does this mean no matter what route Dany took, she was ‘fated’ to end up like her father? Does this mean despite trying hard not to be the thing, that her choices didn’t/don’t matter? She’s going to end up the villain anyway? Is this the trope we’re going for here?

And listen, no one wants Dany on the Iron Throne. By season 4, most of us were hoping she’d figure out how to fix Valyria or just stay in Meereen. No one is saying she should have had an easy path to the iron throne. It wouldn’t be Martin’s books if everything was easy. We’re just pointing out that this heel turn translated BADLY on screen and it made ALL females look like potentially bad rulers except Sansa. 

This whole thing with Dany pretty much said she/women aren’t headstrong enough to rule. That women are ruled by their emotions ( something we also got in a scene with Ellaria and Doran ) and  because of this + her apparent insecurity, she was ‘unfit to rule’ so her men turned against her. And that doing some of THE SAME SHIT A MAN WOULD HAVE DONE to the Tarley’s, she’s mad. That taking matters into her own hands AFTER HER HAND FAILED HER TWICE, is mad. Dragons gave her a tactical advantage in this ‘war’ and because a woman is flying on the back of one using him, IT’S JUST NOT RIGHT! IT’S INHUMANE! SHAME ON DANY!

The hypocrisy is unreal, but more than that we’ve seen Dany suffer losses. The whole “I will take what is mine with fire and blood” was because the people of Qarth were laughing and pitying her. She began the begger queen and found out first hand how Viserys felt as the begger king. I daresay that experience was humbling. Anyway of COURSE she felt some type of way. But a woman who takes the time to pull every slave from a pike from Yunkai to Meereen... who was insistent on keeping the fighting pits closed because of senseless violence and killing of slaves... who once lost her brother, son, and husband, had nothing all of a sudden becomes entitled and mad? The heel turn MAKES NO SENSE right now. Missandei is from a land of peaceful people. I also doubt Missandei’s words were meant to be taken as ‘burn everything’. If anything, Missandei probably felt sorry for Dany because she knew her queen wasn’t insane. And defended her in the crypts when her hand was letting people talk shit. 

My point is that If the show would have flushed this out some more and gave us something other than ‘temper tantrum, Jorah/Missandei’s death, Jon Snow being a dick to her’ and ‘bells’, most of us would be swallowing that hard pill right now. Breaking Bad is how you do a heel turn. Hell WWE has done better heel turns than D&D. A heel turn or a face turn only works/impacts the audience positively if there’s a slow burn tease to it. I realize they were probably tired of working on this fucking show but hey, you signed up for it. Don’t start something then half ass the ending cos you can’t be bothered. Anyway, as for that pill...

We’re not swallowing shit because none of it makes sense and so here’s where I’m deviating---because I can. Don’t like it? Find another Dany to bash.

Daenerys went to Westeros with Barristan and Jorah at her side. She never dismissed Ser Jorah despite Tyrion’s counsel because while Jorah did betray her, she also knew that because he loved her, he’d never betray her again.

Ser Barristan is the reason the Tarley’s never died. He advised her that despite their stubborn nature, they were good men that he fought alongside and were one of the top families in Westeros. The Tarleys were/are prisoners in Dragonstone until they see fit to support her claim. If they don’t, she’ll release them pending her war with Cersei.

Tyrion Lannister was dismissed as her hand after making two mistakes. Dany recognizes his counsel is a constant conflict of interest and thus names Jorah her hand with Barristan’s blessing as well.

Jon Snow pleads his case for the Dragon glass and after many a heated debate with those surrounding her, she allows Jon to mine the glass --- after he gets the proof she needs.

She still demands proof of the ice walkers and per the show, she ends up having to go help them. Don’t ask me to explain how Gendry got from point A to point B so quickly. I’m just keeping this for the show people. Plus teleportation is obviously a thing so there’s that too.

Viserion is lost/dead. Dany mourns him properly and after that whole ordeal, agrees to help Jon. In return, he supports her claim to the throne.

Much like the show, Dany is shitted on by the Northerners. She’s foreign and they don’t trust her, but you know what? Since she expected this and her two trusted knights are by her side, she don’t give a fuck. She’s there to play her part and will do so accordingly.

The Long Night plays out somewhat the way HBO detailed it. The Night King couldn’t die by dragon fire so she uses Drogon in the field to help her soldiers and everyone fighting on the ground. The Dothraki do NOT senselessly charge into the night. That was dumb as fuck and so some of them are actually at the Godswood helping Theon and Bran. Because I said so. Pretty sure if the Night King could sense Bran, most of his walkers are trying to get to him anyway. Many of the Dothraki die leaving Theon alone to defend Bran. This works for me because at least some of the Dothraki die in a manner that makes sense as opposed to just charging into battle against the dead.

When the war is over, Dany has injuries from the battle. Her hands are bruised from having to cling to Drogon so much. She’s got a few cuts and scrapes but she’ll live. Jorah dies. He dies here because it’s how he’s always wanted to go out. And it makes no sense for all the major players to live so I’ll follow HBO with that one. But Barristan is alive and is the new hand by default.

Seeing all the dead, Dany  still wants to defeat Cersei, but she takes into consideration the Iron Fleet, Rhaegal’s injuries, her own minor ones and the fact that her people are probably tired/drained. Even though Sansa still gives her the stank eye, she stays in Winterfell another few nights before departing back to Dragonstone leaving Jon behind. This trip back to dragonstone is so that she can rest her army and plan accordingly. Missandei was never kidnapped and killed. All that’s bullshit.

!! Other Important Notes ‼

1)--- I do not mention Jon’s claim to the iron throne because Sam never blurts it out if she never kills the Tarleys in the first place. I DO think Sam tells Jon AFTER the war and where it goes from there depends on interactions. 

2)--- I do think Dany would be upset if Jon told her about his claim. I think she’d feel like the thing she’s worked all her life for has been taken away. She probably rages to herself for a while BUT because Barristan is alive and Sam has been to the Citadel, she will have no choice but to listen. But this WILL be a hard pill for someone like her to swallow because now that the Night King is dead, what’s left for her if not the throne? She’ll be upset and probably depressed because that makes sense for someone who put all their eggs into one basket.

3)--- Even though Jon claims he doesn’t want it, based on how she was treated in Winterfell, she knows the people won’t be easy to sway. They’ll look to their precious King in the North so she’ll be faced with a decision. Do I stay here on my ancestral lands and just rule Dragonstone? Do I try to sway the people anyway? Do I go back to Essos? What she does from this point will always depend on interactions. If interactions with Jon Snow lead to him falling in love with her, I’d be willing to go that route from here. A marriage between the two makes sense. It’s not what people wanted. Too cookie cutter for them, but in my timeline, it makes sense.

If feelings never develop and Dany does decide to leave, Missandie and Greyworm are allowed to leave ( per show ). Missandei’s young in the books so I don’t think she’d actually leave her queen.

Also keep in mind, if we’re RPing with a book based blog, then obviously none of this shit ever happened. Daenerys is either in Meereen or in the Grasslands right now so things will be adjusted accordingly.

!! Even More Things to Consider !!

If Dany stays and rules at Dragonstone, this means she would have reached out to Cersei and possibly let her know she was no longer seeking the Iron Throne. There’s no way Cersei doesn’t know about Jon Snow’s lineage by now so she’ll know. But I see no reason why Cersei would have beef if Dany bows out. It’s not like Dany slept with Jaime or killed her children. I imagine if Dany agreed not to get involved ( aka side with the Starks, and she would NOT after how they treated her ) then Dany can chill at Dragonstone and possibly do her own thing. I mean it’s only fair if the North gets to rule themselves.

Now IF events play out where Dany gets to fight for the throne, fuck that bells shit. If Cersei surrenders, Dany accepts it. Aside from the usual casualties of war, no innocents are harmed. Women and children are probably prioritized. People are probably sent to make sure they’re okay. Because that’s how she does things. ( I’d also like to add that I’m willing to do a thing where Dany and Cersei align with one another because yep. )

In another scenario, Daenerys either goes back to Meereen and rules there until she dies. She’s hailed as the breaker of Chains possibly eliminating all forms of slavery in the years to come. I did want her to rebuild Valyria. I might throw that in there somehow once I work it out, but for now, this is how things will go. You have any of those options above to work with, but what we ain’t going to do is listen to HBO and GRRM until we get proper build for this. 

Again, if you don’t like it, there’s the door. But this is how I’m doing shit and that’s the tea. As always, if you have questions, concerns, or something seems off, talk to me POLITELY and we’ll work something out okay? Okay. Thank you.

[thelawyerthatwaspromised]

Tyrion’s Season 7 Arc - Wrong about Almost Everything

And how it affects the dynamic between Jon and Daenerys and the audience’s perception of political!Jon.

Tyrion Lannister has been built up by the show to be a character that survives on his wits and can out-think everyone in the room. His track record in Season 7 was....not good.

There are those that believe Tyrion is being set up for a betrayal in favor of the Lannisters. I believe this is incorrect as my theory is that Tyrion, who was previously projected as an intelligent and perceptive character, is having the rug ripped out from under him in terms of Daenerys’ belief (and the audience’s belief) in him as a wise character in order to drive Daenerys away from what he “believes” in.

Since Tyrion was united with Daenerys, he’s presented an idealized version of what we HOPE Daenerys would turn out like. He counsels caution. He tries to keep innocents alive. He believes his wits can prevent disasters.

Because Tyrion is associated with Daenerys, we also assume that Daenerys believes in this “new world”. She repeats some of his better lines. She knows he’s an articulate man or a “charmer” as Davos put it. 

“Articulate men are right just as often as imbeciles.”

~ Tyrion, 5x09

(Wow did Davos have Tyrion pegged IMMEDIATELY upon just reading the scroll sent for Jon).

I believe it was intentional that Davos and Tyrion didn’t really interact much as Davos is significantly better at reading people and Davos’ expositions would reveal too much of Tyrion’s deficiencies in understanding Jon’s intentions.

So Tyrion was wrong almost all of the time. But for the first half of the season, Tyrion and Dany are still the Dream Team in the eyes of the audience. Yet we are shown bits and pieces that make us doubt Tyrion.

PHASE 1: TYRION’S WAR PLANS OPENLY DOUBTED AND THEN FAILING

“That’s very nice to hear [...] but Margaery was loved and now what’s left of her? Just ash.”

~ Olenna, 7x02

We have the first scene with Olenna where she dismisses the “Not here to be Queen of the Ashes” slogan by Daenerys.

Fans love Olenna...but Olenna doesn’t care about the game at this point. She wants revenge and destruction of House Lannister. We have Daenerys giving Olenna a look - yet I believe it’s also a look for Tyrion of “this better work!”

Daenerys agreed to this plan. She relied on Tyrion’s wits and he convinced her this was the way to win the Iron Throne. The plan failed when Euron attacked the Iron Fleet and Jaime abandoned Casterly Rock to take Highgarden.

Daenerys publicly shames Tyrion on the beach at Dragonstone, like any great leader would. The audience is left thinking Tyrion is a bad battle strategist.

PHASE 2: TYRION IS REPEATEDLY SHOWN MISREADING OTHER CHARACTERS

Tyrion has previously been very good at anticipating character’s moves by identifying their intentions. But Season 7 saw his track record flipped spectacularly when it comes to this skill.

Bronn

Tyrion makes an assumption that Bronn is all prepared to switch sides and that he arranged Tyrion to meet with Jaime at his own risk. Tyrion is HALF right. There was some risk for Bronn, but Bronn is also exactly right when he says he delivered two traitors in Tyrion and Varys right to Cersei’s front door. Tyrion didn’t really consider this angle. Bronn has found a way to out maneuver Tyrion in the event that Cersei decides that she will simply kill them.

I also will note the look Varys gives when Tyrion mentions switching “loyalties”.

After Bronn gives his little speech about how he can remain self serving, Varys gives a smirk and Tyrion realizes Bronn is in a much better position than he first thought. Tyrion essentially concedes, saying “it’s good to see you again”. It’s a nice fun moment for the audience and an example of Tyrion misreading a situation.

It’s a small moment...but again Tyrion is bested.

Cersei

Tyrion found out after the fact that Jon Snow had bent the knee. He had just lectured Jon about learning how to lie. I think that’s  important...but that’s for another day.

Tyrion has to tell Cersei he didn’t know Jon Snow bent the knee. So now Tyrion isn’t even plugged into what’s happening in his own camp. The audience says “wow, he’s doing terribly at his job!”

He’s also completely misreading Cersei and falling into her trap.

Even before Tyrion walks into the room with Jaime, he assumes Cersei will murder him. No, Cersei is laying a trap for him and murdering her little brother would serve absolutely no purpose in defeating her enemies. It would only guarantee her destruction. But Tyrion thinks Cersei only wants to kill him and that he’s significantly more clever than she is. Tyrion’s biases against Cersei's intellect ultimately are what cause Cersei’s ruse to be believed.

He has no great answer for her when she asks why he supports Daenerys.

“She’ll make the world a better place”

"You said she’d burn the Red Keep”

Tyrion didn’t anticipate a debate and clearly hasn’t really thought a lot about WHY he should be following Daenerys.

Then Tyrion thinks he makes some great insightful observation.

He tells Cersei he knows she’s pregnant. To Tyrion, it’s the key to getting the ceasefire. For Cersei, it’s simply the last piece to the puzzle for her betrayal.

Jon Snow

It’s my belief that Tyrion significantly misread Jon Snow. 

“There’s more to Foreign Invaders and Northern Fools than meets the eye.”

“[Jon Snow] is in love with you.”

So why did Daenerys not believe him?

“Jon Snow’s not in love with me.”

She hasn’t ever really dismissed that someone is in love with her before like this. Not so outright. But I actually believe Daenerys has read Jon better than Tyrion. The irony is that he has observed Daenerys longingly staring at Jon. He basically convinces her to act on HER feelings while also completely misreading Jon and his ultimate goals. He’s basically shifted his influence directly to Jon.

That’s why we got this look:

Tyrion sees his influence slipping away. To a man he underestimated and fully believed was acting with 100% honesty.

So why does Tyrion’s arc in Season 7 matter?

Tyrion proclaims he’s an excellent judge of character in 7x02 and we chuckle along because we believe him. He’s leading the audience along into believing that Jon Snow is a simple Northern Fool who can be convinced to join their side by simple methods.

His initial misread of Jon is extremely important. He thinks Jon will join their cause because he hates Cersei. Jon doesn’t like Cersei, but he does not care about the Iron Throne or the people fighting over it.

Jon shocks them when he essentially tells them he doesn’t care about any of their politics.

So Tyrion tries to figure out what Jon wants:

He concludes it’s only Dragonglass because that’s what Jon tells him.

BUT JON WENT TO DRAGONSTONE FOR DANY’S ARMY AND HER DRAGONS

“But if the Army of the Dead makes it past the Wall, do we have enough men to fight them?”

~ Davos, 7x02

This is the key to the entire Jon arc...and Tyrion misses it. He thinks Jon just wants to mine worthless rocks and then he’ll be good to go to join Daenerys. Jon certainly needs the Dragonglass...but that is NOT his priority.

“Give him something by giving him nothing.”

Tyrion is, again, half right. She’s giving Jon “nothing” in the grand scheme of things. He needs more than the Dragonglass. He has all the glass he needs by 7x05 when he’s ready to leave Dragonstone yet he knows it’s still a futile fight:

So if the Dragonglass didn’t satisfy him...what would? Daenerys’ entire army. Tyrion didn’t see this coming. He now sees that Jon’s goals are not his goals and are not Daenerys’ goals.

How did this deal end up working out for Jon? He just added:

Dragonglass 

Dothraki horde

Unsullied army

2 dragons

To his fight for the North. Sansa’s last update puts his forces at 20,000 fighting men. That is absolutely the maximum he could contribute to Daenerys and that’s assuming he loses NOTHING to the Night King.

If everything went exactly as planned, there is no way Daenerys comes back South for Cersei with anything close to her original force when she departs for the North.

He just negotiated the most lopsided political deal in GoT history because he was willing to bed her and tell her she’s special.

Tyrion told Daenerys not to leave to rescue Jon and the Magnificent 7 North of the Wall because he can see how Jon is completely altering their plans and how he is using it to his advantage.

So Tyrion’s progression with Jon Snow goes from:

Happily inviting him and extolling his virtues to:

Actually helping  (unknowingly) Jon start to manipulate Daenerys to:

Being angry that Jon didn’t lie to Cersei and Jon bending the knee and not following his plan (note also that Jon wrote to WF saying he bent the knee, and Tyrion didn’t know???) to:

Outright suspicion of Jon’s motives and his impact on Daenerys’ campaign for the Throne.

Tyrion is becoming an outsider again. 

Tyrion was given a great set of cards to work with at the beginning of Season 7 and squandered it by not understanding his enemies or “allies”.

Tyrion didn’t magically become stupid though.

He simply made mistakes in anticipating how other characters like Jon, most specifically, have changed since he last saw them.

Tyrion’s track record will undermine him when he tries to communicate with Daenerys that he doesn’t believe Jon Snow necessarily has her best intentions in mind.

Daenerys could completely alienate herself from Tyrion because Tyrion has been wrong so many times recently, yet on THIS, his observation of what Jon is gaining and Daenerys is losing, he will be EXACTLY RIGHT.

The audience will be confused. If Tyrion is wrong so many times, how can he be right about the most honorable guy everz!?

Further, this has led soooo many Daenerys fans to agree with her extreme measures which have systematically been at odds with what Tyrion has cautioned almost every single time.

Viewers think that Tyrion is wrong about stuff, Daenerys has seen some limited success using dragons, therefore Tyrion’s beliefs in preserving life must also be disbelieved. It will also make them disbelieve Tyrion’s conclusions about Jon.

The only other person firmly in Daenerys camp is also suspicious of Jon but will also be disregarded because he must simply be “jealous”:

The show is creating suspicion around every other character that surrounds Daenerys, as far as motives go, except for one:

The humble, Northern Fool, who knows nothing. They’ve created an environment where the smarter characters will be completely disbelieved when they identify Jon’s plans. It will also create an even more extreme reaction from Daenerys once some form of fracture develops between herself and Jon and she will eventually find out that her betrayal for love already happened: Jon loves and serves the North and his entire odyssey to Dragonstone was built around him doing whatever necessary to bring her army and her dragons North.

In order to make that story line happen, characters like Tyrion had to be completely deconstructed in terms of their credibility to shield the one character from doubt that Daenerys and the audience should have suspected all along.

[renlyisright]

Season 8 Episode 2 - Fear Is for the Winter

It’s the deep breath before the plunge. The battle for the living is about to begin, but before it there’s not much to do besides playing the waiting game.

Which is a boring game, Hungry Hungry Hippos is much better. But don’t worry, I have figured out a way to defeat the White Walkers. Just bring back the right people:

When the show started, the main focus was on the Southern politics and wars and so on, but all the time there was the clock ticking behind the Wall. At some point, none of this will matter anymore, as the Dead come and gods protect us if we are not ready.

Turns out we aren’t. And the Southern politics didn’t go anywhere. The Dead will likely get defeated in the next episode, otherwise there wasn’t a point in spending an episode first in the preparing for a great battle, and - very likely - the whole next episode on the actual battle. The Dead will stop here, but at what price?

And after the survivors walk or are carried out of Winterfell’s burnt ruins and see the fallen army of the Dead, they will still have Cersei and the Iron Throne and family trees to worry about. A lovely thought. Life goes on.

But in the beginning of the episode that is as far away as the end of the world. Jaime gets an audience with the Queen, and it goes well, considering the circumstances. Or the circumstances make it go better than it otherwise would. Bran gives out that he remembers what Jaime did to him, but doesn’t tell the others. That one would have tipped the scales, all the rest he could label as acts of war during wartime. And his good deeds have consequences too, which is nice. It’s almost like those video games where you can pick choices and at the end the game remembers them.

Redemption is an interesting thing. Usually in fantasy stories when the bad guy decides to become good they die immediately, so there’s no moral dilemma of whether they should still be punished or not. 

An example from old Star Wars novels is Kyp Durron, who was one of Luke’s pupils in the new Jedi Academy. He was influenced by an old evil Sith spirit (those are just lying around everywhere) and killed millions of people. In the end he became good again and received pretty much no penalty. That was a big cause of debate to fans back then, I’m too young to remember.

But by being a great Jedi, he must have saved millions and millions of more people later during his career, so isn’t that a much better outcome than if he was incarcerated for the rest of his life? What use would that have been? I don’t know, I don’t think that a case like that can be mapped out to the real world that well.

Bran follows this line of thought. Whatever happened, here they are now, and now Bran is the Three-Eyed Raven so who cares of what Bran thought back then.

He says he is no longer Bran, but something else entirely. I don’t think there was any mind swap, he is still the same person with mostly the same brain. But as he now sees everything in the past and the present he must feel like he is outside a normal person’s life. He can take an universal view of the world which doesn’t care about specific people, and so he must take that view for the sake of the world. At least that’s how he thinks.

Gendry doesn’t take Arya’s weapon order seriously until she shows that she knows what she is doing. Arya seems to have made the plans herself, and doesn’t seem to have discussed it with anyone. Considering that the Dead have a self-destruct button in the form of the Night King, and the defenders have a trained Faceless assassin among them, putting one and one together should work.

Or not, since he’s on a dragon currently. That, and the Dead not needing sleep,and not leaving any good faces, puts a wrench on any plan to just go to the army and assassinate the big boss. She can’t exactly hide among them.

Winterfell is becoming spiky as a metal concert. The problem with fighting the Dead is that there’s no manual. The Night Watch managed to escape the Fist of the First Men, but that one and the Hardhome were so chaotic that few lessons of the enemy could be learnt there. As I see it, the dead have the advantage that their “morale” is perfect and they will fight until completely destroyed. They also won’t be scared of any injury when doing stunts. But they don’t do any actual maneuvers, no shield walls, nothing like that. And when not directly ordered by a Walker to go to specific places, they have even less tactical thinking. So there should be ways to distract them or otherwise make them spend their forces to stupid things.

The problem is that the Walkers direct them to do just that anyway (walk over the cliff, the first thousand will soften the rest’s fall), because they feel like they have the numbers. And they are right in that.

Daenerys is angry at Tyrion for not figuring out that Cersei lied. Jorah goes to talk to her about it and asks her to forgive him. She does, but has there yet been a time when someone does something she thinks is bad and she just… doesn’t threaten them, or outright kill them, or send them away, or get talked out of it by someone else? I don’t remember. If the only thing stopping her from burning everyone is that people talk her out of it every other time… In a vote I’d be on Jon’s side.

I also like her gray-and-red dress, more than the ones she wore on previous seasons. And it's some color amidst all the black in Winterfell. Speaking of clothes, Lord Royce still wears his metal breastplate everywhere. Sounds cold up here.

And hey, is Robin Arryn here anymore? He has disappeared. Of course it would be silly to have a kid up here when he could be in the Eyrie, safer and actually ruling his lands. Maybe he turns up just in time to die.

Daenerys goes to speak with Sansa, trying to bond with her over being girl bosses. Sansa has seen enough queens to do just what Daenerys tries to do to be impressed, and asks what her plans are for the North. Do they get independence or not?

Why not? Sure, it’s half the continent, but currently you own a small island, Daenerys. A good ally is a much better deal than a resentful vassal. But she is Daenerys Stormborn yada yada, and the North is her by right. Shame she never met Stannis.

Theon is back, and Sansa is glad to take him and his small force to defend the castle. They aren’t the only ones arriving, refugees arrive all the time and are divided into those who can fight and those who can’t. Since the Dead arrive in the 24 hours, many and more must still be on their way, coming through the woods when the battle starts. Well, unless the Dead understand that they should simply siege and wait for the diseases and the lack of food to do their work for them, the battle will be short, however it’s going to end.

Davos and Gilly direct people to their destinations. There’s one young girl who has… has… oh. A scarred cheek, reminding both me and Davos of Princess Shireen. Ow. She goes to protect the crypt, and I hope it doesn’t get attacked (because she would wreck everybody who tries, obviously).

Considering that it has now been two episodes in the last season, and no one named has died yet, but almost everyone has gathered here ready for the big battle, the next episode - and ones coming afterwards - will be brutal. I’m not going to make any specific predictions, many side characters will die, some more main characters as well, you know, this is a big one. And since the show will end soon we wouldn’t see much of these people anymore anyway.

The survivors of the Wall arrive, and give the Deadline: the enemy will be here before dawn tomorrow. And I don’t see the battle lasting to sunrise. It’s an army of the Dead and the Night King, and it’s the climax, of course they’ll attack during the night. If they get defeated, that’s when the Sun will rise.

Final plans are made. They are going to meet the enemy on the field. Makes sense when you have Dothraki, But the Night King is the lynchpin. Bran declares that he will come to the field, as he wants to personally kill the Three-Eyed Raven.

This is a very tabletop RPG way of setting up a battle. The players can’t fight thousands of enemies with the usual combat rules. Even if the long battle won’t kill them it gets super monotone fast, so it’s better to set up something they can do and have that determine the battle’s result.

Tyrion is very interested in Bran’s story. Foreshadowing, or simply a character who very much wants to know stuff getting to meet someone who can rewind everywhere?

The goal of the White Walkers is given by Bran as “destroy humans”. That was clear before, but apparently there’s no other motive. They just kill. It’s just death. If they have a plan for after, humans don’t need to know. Maybe the Children made a mistake in the instructions and so they were added to the “kill all humans” command, or the Night King figured out that killing them eases the killing of humans, especially as they protected the Three-Eyed Raven. Anyway, programming is hard, I’d expect that programming living creatures is even harder.

Bran escaped from the cave to the Castle Black very easily if the Night King knew where he was all the time.

Missandei and Grey Worm discuss what their plans are when the wars are won and they can retire. One word: retirony. Take her picture and show it to the other Unsullied while you are at it, Grey Worm. I haven’t had an opinion, good or bad, about these two, they just are around. Of course I wish them good health and a happy relationship, but it feels like Sam and Gilly are using all the luck.

Oh, Ghost is here! But if someone is likely to join the long line of people and dying to protect Jon, it’s Ghost.

Sam worries about Jon not telling Daenerys. Dude, there’s something else on their plate right now, they can worry about that later if there’s going to be a later.

Comparing Sam the Kingmaker with Sam the self-proclaimed coward from the first episodes, there’s a very large difference. But since you can’t be brave without fear, Sam has become the bravest of all. I’m very proud of him.

Then there’s Edd, who is certain they are all going to die. Again. Well, that is one of the safest predictions there is, as long as you don’t specify a date. “And now there’s just us”. The Night’s Watch has dropped like flies already. And now the real winter is here.

But so is The Night Watch. It’s everyone here now. Everyone in Winterfell is now part of the shield that guards the realms of men. It’s not much fun, but some do this every day.

Since nobody is going to have any sleep, a group of people settles to sit beside the fire. There’s a wildling raider, a Southern smuggler, a Lannister squire, the Kingslayer, the Imp and a maiden from Tarth who likes to play with swords. All here and now, in the dark of a cloudy winter night, waiting. It’s a somber event, no matter how much Tormund tries to lift people’s spirits with his tales.

It’s equally somber outside, where the Hound and Beric divide a drink in the night that’s getting colder. Maybe I’m making a mistake watching this now in the height of summer instead of the winter, when the nights are 20 hours long here. I’d be in the proper mood then.

Arya decides to stop thinking of her “people I want to kill”-list (which has grown smaller since many of those fight on her side now) and instead starts “people I want to smash” -list, which currently has just Gendry in it. And she wastes no time with that list.

The discussion in the hearth room moves to Brienne, whom people are surprised to hear is not a ser. Jaime offers to knight her, as “Any knight can knight another.” I think you just made that up. I don’t think ser in the feudal hierarchy is just a title, being a knight is more than just letters before your name. But everyone allows that one, they are going to die anyway. And if they live, Daenerys will approve.

Jaime has his Valyrian sword, half of Ice, the half given to Joffrey and used mainly to cut books and cakes. Brienne has the other half, so Ice has returned to Winterfell just in time to be put in good use. Sam has brought the Tarly heirloom sword, Jon has Bearclaw, Arya Littlefinger’s dagger… that’s all of the mentioned ones, right? All in Winterfell. Nice.

Sam gives his father’s sword, Heartsbane, to Jorah, to honor his father. Legacy, again. Jorah declares that he is going to use it in Old Bear’s memory. He was the first leader who took the Dead seriously, and without whom Jon or Sam wouldn’t have done all they did to prepare.

A new song, Jenny of the Oldstones, with Pod as the singer. It’s not a merry song, it’s about dancing with ghosts. Well ghosts would perhaps be an improvement to those they’ll soon dance with.

Jon spends the last moments before the battle in the crypt, before it gets crowded with people. Now he gets to be dark and alone. Except not, Daenerys arrives, and manages to ask just one question before Jon already spills the beans. He just manages to reveal everything and hammer home that by the law he’s the rightful heir, but before they can discuss it any further the three blasts are blown. So the poorest possible timing.

And so the snarks and grumkins arrive to Winterfell. Is this the sort of story that you’d like?

[hoaryoldbitch]

You have to be smarter than Father, you need to be smarter than Robb

Everything that happens will be something that you’ve seen before.

As this article pointed out, this is invaluable advice from Littlefinger, not only for Sansa, but even more so for the audience. And it was never more relevant than when Jon spoke the words: “I would bend the knee, but...”

Countless others have already pointed out the possible connection to the “everything before the word ‘but’ is horseshit” quote, but what stood out to me, is that it was reminiscent of a scene we saw way back in season 1.

I’ll put the rest under a cut.

After Ned is attacked by Jaime Lannister in the streets of King’s Landing, we get a scene of him waking up in bed. The camera slowly zooms in on his face, he blinks, we get his blurry vision of a woman’s face, the image comes into focus and we see Cersei. She and Robert start talking to him. Ned calls Robert “Your Grace” and quips: “I would rise, but...”

Now compare this to the scene of Jon waking up in his cabin. The camera slowly zooms in on his face, he blinks, we get his blurry vision of a woman’s face, the image comes into focus and we see Dani. A conversation follows. Jon calls Dani “My Queen” and quips: “I would bend the knee, but...”

The parallels are there for a reason, which brings us to the first part of Sansa’s advice: “You have to be smarter than Father.”

Shortly after the Ned scene, Robert dies and Ned is faced with making the decision to either out Joffrey as Jaime’s bastard and support Stannis (or Renly) or acknowledge Joffrey as the rightful king and play the long game. We all know the choice honourable Ned made. 

As much as I hate to admit this, it was Littlefinger who gave Ned the best advice on what he should do. To be fair, I’m not sure Littlefinger actually expected Ned to follow this advice, but in the long term, it was the smartest thing to do, even if it was the least honourable.

Littlefinger basically told Ned: “Now, I know you’re right, but for now, the best thing to do to keep the peace and to keep your head, is to acknowledge Crazypants as the true King. Give him ( and Cersei) what he wants. If he proves to be trouble further on along the way, we’ll take care of him then.”

“Daénérys is our only chance.”

For Jon, the situation is even more dire. He needs Dani and her dragons to defeat the White Walkers. He’s just witnessed what they can do. He knows what is going to happen to Viserion. He knows Winterfell, Sansa, Arya and Bran and the entire North are in grave danger now.

On a sidenote, that’s also why I think he reacted to the dragon’s death with such outrage, not because he was upset about his *gag* girlfriend *gag* losing her pet. He attempted to execute the plan Beric put into his head, killing the Night King to end it all.

Refusing to bend the knee would have been the honourable thing to do. Not acting on his attraction to Dani and using her own feelings to his advantage would have been the honourable thing to do. But Jon learned long ago that his duty is worth more than his own honour. 

And there is no reason for him to assume that Dani wouldn’t come back on her decision to help him. He called her a stranger only last episode. He trusts her to some extent and her coming to his aid must have helped in that, but he knows that he shouldn’t trust anyone completely.

Jon’s safest option right now is to give Dani exactly what she wants! He doesn’t really have another choice. He’s willing to do anything to ensure her help in the wars to come.

Yet there was already so much in that one scene foreshadowing that this isn’t going to end well. Him calling her by that nickname Viserys had for her, his comment that the Northerners would come to see her for what she really is. I know people are excited about this, but to me it just sounded ominous.

What about the second part: “You need to be smarter than Robb”? We’ll see the start of that in episode 7. 

I’ll stick to show!verse in this analysis, so I’ll talk about Robb and Talisa first. Robb didn’t do anything wrong by falling for Talisa. He didn’t do anything wrong by having sex with her or by truly falling in love with her. His mistake was marrying her and letting his feelings get in the way of his political decisions. I think it’s not entirely fair to reduce his motivations to him simply thinking with his dick. In his own way, Robb was trying to do the honourable thing by marrying Talisa after having sex with her.

Robb made other mistakes as well. Robb executing Lord Karstark for example was one of them, but that’s not a mistake Jon will repeat, that’s Arya.

Jon however has already had his own experience where he struggles with the choice between love versus duty with Ygritte. And in the end, even though he really loved Ygritte, he chose duty. Jon is not Robb, he’s already proven that.

Now, I’ve already partly explained Jon’s motivations for sort of bending the knee to Daénérys. If the leaks for episode 7 are true, which they probably are, he’ll publicly pledge himself to her. I still have trouble understanding what reaction he’s expecting from his bannermen after giving up his kingship, but I’ll try to get into his mindset to explain this.

Jon’s one and only goal since taking back Winterfell has been to protect his family and the North and dfeat the White Walkers. In 7x05, he said “We’re all on the same side. [...] We’re all breathing.” Jon is very single-mindedly focused on this goal and the thing is, he doesn’t really care about being king. His blind spot is that he might lose the power to unite North and South when the lords find out he bent the knee, but I guess he might be counting on Sansa helping him with that.

I believe Jon has hated this entire mission to Dragonstone so far. Everyone was making things so complicated, while to him things were really very simple. He was at odds with Dani and Tyrion wasn’t much help. While he believed Dani has a good heart, she was too focused on the Iron Throne and in the process she revealed some sides of herself that might have made him distrust her or that even frightened him. On top of that he had to deal with his attraction to her.

I’m not saying Jon is in love with her. I personally don’t really believe he is, but there is definitely some attraction. I still believe in Jonsa and I think it will be more than just a political union. I know some of you are worried about this, but what you have to remember is that Jon already loves Sansa more than he’ll ever love Dani. Even if he’s catching some feelings for the latter, Sansa will not be his second choice, or his consolation prize. 

After season 6 I wasn’t sure about Jon having feelings for Sansa, but to me, season 7 has confirmed it. His strange behaviour around Sansa, the kill Bill sirens-scenes with the men in her life and him brooding out on the cliff were all proof. But I’ve noticed something else. 

I believe that initially, by which I mean during episode 4, Jon seeing that Dani is an attractive woman only complicated things for him. I must add here that I firmly believe that part of what they’re both feeling is nothing more than the Targaryen connection. The more Jon’s attraction for Dani grew, the fewer signs of his feelings for Sansa we got to witness. But isn’t that a bad thing? Absolutely not. If Jon just saw Sansa as his sister, his growing attraction to Dani wouldn’t change anything about him thinking about Sansa, now would it?

I think Jon feels relieved, because on the surface things are much easier now. He and Dani are finally on the same side, there’s not much harm in him giving in to his attraction to her, he can even use it to further his own objectives. But that will all come crashing down once he sees Sansa again. I think he’ll realize that whatever he feels for Dani hasn’t changed his feelings for Sansa.

Of course, things will get even more complicated once the truth about his parentage comes out. But let’s go back to Jon not repeating Robb’s mistake. While I believe Jon’s attraction to Dani might have played a small part in him bending the knee, he’s not going to let this determine all of his political decisions.

He knows he needs her right now and the fact that he almost died and might die again soon is probably pushing him to give in to his attraction. So yes, b0atbang will happen, but there is no evidence that it’s pointing toward true love. I’m also not convinced that Jon and Dani will ever marry. 

Once the truth about Jon’s parents is revealed, I believe four things are going to happen. 

1. Jon will be devastated about Ned not being his real father and about having bedded his aunt.

2. The Northern Lords will see this revelation combined with Jon’s relationship with Dani as a betrayal.

3. Dani will freak out.

4. Jon and Sansa will be more ready to admit their feelings for each other.

Now, Jon can’t appease both sides and it’s possible he won’t be able to appease Dani at all. The North can’t be divided when the White Walkers have already breached the Wall, so if it comes to it, Jon will choose the North and not “his foreign whore” as I believe the Northern lords might call her.

And how will he convince the Lords of his loyalty to the North? By marrying Sansa. So yes, their marriage will be a politcial union, but there will be feelings involved as well.

[tragicbooks]

<p>7 surprisingly sweet moments you may have missed in this week's 'Game of Thrones.'<br></p>

Welcome to “A Song of Nice and Fire” Upworthy’s weekly series recapping one of the most brutal shows on TV. Since brutality is not really in our wheelhouse, Eric March has taken it upon himself to dig deep, twist and turn, and squint really hard to see if he can find the light of kindness in all the darkness. He may not always succeed, but by gosh if he won’t try his best.

Here’s what he found on this week’s "Game of Thrones."

Someone's got a case of the Mondays! Image by Macall B. Polay/HBO.

This show'll break your heart. Even with the forces we think we're kinda maybe supposed to be rooting for (sorta? It's maddeningly unclear) on the march, a lot of bad stuff still manages to happen on "Game of Thrones," not infrequently to characters you only just started to care about (RIP Dick Tarley).

Yet, it's not all unstoppable frozen killing machines, deadly mind games, and bright young men cut down in the prime of youth.

Here are the silver linings and genuinely nice moments you may have missed:

1. Drogon shows restraint by not burning literally everything and everyone.

Good show, you guys. Image by Macall B. Polay/HBO.

Incinerating a couple of treasonous lords is just another Tuesday for everybody's favorite flying flame-thrower. This time, however, Drogon had the impeccable fashion sense to leave Dickon and Randyll Tarley's stylish cloaks behind. How do you say "that's progress!" in High Valyrian?

Later, the deadly dragon demonstrates even further chill by accepting a face rub from Jon and, even more importantly, not eating and/or barbecuing him (the King in the North, it continuously turns out, is family, but still).

Yeah, Drogon roasted thousands of men to death just last week, but whatever. You gotta figure ... when it comes to a giant, amoral, fire-breathing dragon, it's gonna be two steps forward, one step back.

2. The old guys in the North acknowledge that Sansa wears that wolf queen cloak pretty damn well.

Over the past several episodes, we've begun to get the impression that yes, duh, Sansa is actually good at this lording thing. It's a revelation that finally makes its way through the thick, arbor red-addled skulls of some assorted old northern and Eyrie lords who come to realize this week (a little too late, guys!) that they kinda wish they voted for the competent, savvy woman when they had the chance.* Even Arya finally acknowledges that being the boss seems to agree with her sister, even if she does so grudgingly and passive-agressively with a whiff of "be careful I don't stab you."

Sure, Sansa's a little power hungry (aren't we all?), but being a wee bit shifty, while not being an outright psychotic murderer is exactly the right posture for the Westerosi ruler who doesn't want to get shivved, beheaded, burned alive, flayed, eaten by dogs, or some worse thing that, dear God, I hope doesn't get deployed in season eight.

Inasmuch as anyone can "got this" on "Game of Thrones," Sansa has got this. And people are finally figuring that out. Slow, but steady, everyone!

Good, too, on Masie Williams for playing their entire interaction like the world's most annoyed little sister — the contrast with the (significant) stakes was A+.

*There's a lesson here. It's going over my head, presently.

3. Cersei allows Jaime some bro time with Tyrion.

Queen gotta get her "staring blankly into the middle distance" in. Image by Helen Sloan/HBO.

Sure, she suspects Tyrion murdered their father (true!) and her son Joffrey (untrue!), but she knows Jaime has a soft spot for his valonqar, she likes Jaime, and, hey, it's nice for the two of them to get to hang out before the baby (the baby!) arrives.

Also, it never hurts to source a little timely intelligence on your biggest geopolitical foe and turn it to your advantage. But ... you know, details. Jaime and Tyrion got their bro time!

4.  Arya and Littlefinger kill some time playing hide and seek!

Skulking around a frozen castle, drilling with swords, hauling grain, and trying not to get killed by ice zombies can be stressful. What better way to relieve it than with a fun, friendly game the whole family can enjoy?

It's a small castle, but Petyr Baelish and the tiniest, most murder-y Stark are both naturals, natch. And while neither finds the other, Arya does uncover a sweet note Sansa wrote home (under duress) way back in season one, urging her brother (RIP Robb Stark) to pledge his loyalty to the Lannisters! What are the odds?

(Even pausing right on the frame, it was next to impossible to make out what this note actually, you know, said. Credit to Twitter user Daemon Blackfyre for doing the old gods' work here).

The note they made Sansa write to Robb after Ned was betrayed. #ThronesYall http://pic.twitter.com/3MSnFxjutv

— Daemon Blackfyre (@Dpzzle) August 14, 2017

5. Pretty much everyone is really putting that teleporter to good use!

Westeros is roughly the size of South America. Yet, this season, and this episode especially, people seem to get around really, really fast. Like the Dothraki last week, Jamie two weeks ago, and Jon before that — basically everyone everywhere has been zipping across the continent at lightning speed, petting dragons one minute and stalking ice zombies the next. Going from glowering around a rocky island fortress to glowering around a distant blacksmith shop and back to glowering on that rocky island in what seems like an hour-and-a-half.

While slow-burn character development has its place or whatever, we're on season seven here, people! Fast-forwarding this stuff is a marked improvement on previous seasons when characters would spend 17 episodes chatting and riding horses, conquering neighboring cities, or walking from one castle to another very-similar looking castle, like, five miles away.

Mad props to whatever time-traveler saw fit to drop by and introduce quantum teleportation to the Seven Kingdoms. It's a good look.

But we wouldn't want to get too ahead of ourselves, which is why it's super nice that...

6. Sam (accidentally) preserves some sense of story pacing.

Fellas, we've all been there. Your girlfriend discovers your best friend is actually the trueborn heir to the Iron Throne, thus solving the whole puzzle of the whole show, but you can't be bothered because you're mad about some dumb stuff going on in your personal life.

**what it's like being a woman** GILLY: here's the biggest reveal of the season it says— SAM: could you shut up I'm tired of this let's go

— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) August 14, 2017

Nevertheless, with everyone blasting themselves to and fro over the content to get that plot stuff done, it's heroic of Sam to slam on the brakes a little here for the audience, even if it required being unreasonably rude to Gilly in the process.

Hey, at least Little Sam gets to learn how to read!

7. The gang puts aside their differences!

This terrified striding will show 'em. Image by Helen Sloan/HBO.

Yeah, it sucks that the one guy (Beric Dondarrion) sold the other guy (Gendry) to a murdering witch, and that the third guy's (Jorah's) dad's job was to kill all of another guy's (Tormund's) friends and that yet another guy (the Hound) used to work for the family that killed the guy the sixth guy (Jon) thinks is his dad but isn't. But credit to The Hound for politely pointing out that none of that matters, and really, they should all be friends and focus on finding a solution to the real head-scratcher: what to do about the horde of walking dead people slowly staggering forth to kill them all.

When you've got a suggestion in a group setting, it's always nice to put it respectfully. Cheers to The Hound for personifying class.

Random acts of niceness:

Davos gives those two gold cloaks some free, organic Westerosi Fermented Crab Viagra before Gendry brutally war-hammers them to death. Hope it was an enjoyable last few seconds!

Varys expresses some regret for being adjacent to so many murders. Points, I guess.

That's all for now! Join me next week when, hopefully, Cersei aces baby yoga, a doubled-over Littlefinger explains the whole silly prank to Sansa and Arya and the Night King calls the entire thing off after realizing eternal life is pretty cool on its own without having to kill a bunch of mortal beings to feel better about yourself.

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<p>7 surprisingly sweet moments you may have missed in this week's 'Game of Thrones.'<br></p>

Welcome to “A Song of Nice and Fire” Upworthy’s weekly series recapping one of the most brutal shows on TV. Since brutality is not really in our wheelhouse, Eric March has taken it upon himself to dig deep, twist and turn, and squint really hard to see if he can find the light of kindness in all the darkness. He may not always succeed, but by gosh if he won’t try his best.

Here’s what he found on this week’s "Game of Thrones."

Someone's got a case of the Mondays! Image by Macall B. Polay/HBO.

This show'll break your heart. Even with the forces we think we're kinda maybe supposed to be rooting for (sorta? It's maddeningly unclear) on the march, a lot of bad stuff still manages to happen on "Game of Thrones," not infrequently to characters you only just started to care about (RIP Dick Tarley).

Yet, it's not all unstoppable frozen killing machines, deadly mind games, and bright young men cut down in the prime of youth.

Here are the silver linings and genuinely nice moments you may have missed:

1. Drogon shows restraint by not burning literally everything and everyone.

Good show, you guys. Image by Macall B. Polay/HBO.

Incinerating a couple of treasonous lords is just another Tuesday for everybody's favorite flying flame-thrower. This time, however, Drogon had the impeccable fashion sense to leave Dickon and Randyll Tarley's stylish cloaks behind. How do you say "that's progress!" in High Valyrian?

Later, the deadly dragon demonstrates even further chill by accepting a face rub from Jon and, even more importantly, not eating and/or barbecuing him (the King in the North, it continuously turns out, is family, but still).

Yeah, Drogon roasted thousands of men to death just last week, but whatever. You gotta figure ... when it comes to a giant, amoral, fire-breathing dragon, it's gonna be two steps forward, one step back.

2. The old guys in the North acknowledge that Sansa wears that wolf queen cloak pretty damn well.

Over the past several episodes, we've begun to get the impression that yes, duh, Sansa is actually good at this lording thing. It's a revelation that finally makes its way through the thick, arbor red-addled skulls of some assorted old northern and Eyrie lords who come to realize this week (a little too late, guys!) that they kinda wish they voted for the competent, savvy woman when they had the chance.* Even Arya finally acknowledges that being the boss seems to agree with her sister, even if she does so grudgingly and passive-agressively with a whiff of "be careful I don't stab you."

Sure, Sansa's a little power hungry (aren't we all?), but being a wee bit shifty, while not being an outright psychotic murderer is exactly the right posture for the Westerosi ruler who doesn't want to get shivved, beheaded, burned alive, flayed, eaten by dogs, or some worse thing that, dear God, I hope doesn't get deployed in season eight.

Inasmuch as anyone can "got this" on "Game of Thrones," Sansa has got this. And people are finally figuring that out. Slow, but steady, everyone!

Good, too, on Masie Williams for playing their entire interaction like the world's most annoyed little sister — the contrast with the (significant) stakes was A+.

*There's a lesson here. It's going over my head, presently.

3. Cersei allows Jaime some bro time with Tyrion.

Queen gotta get her "staring blankly into the middle distance" in. Image by Helen Sloan/HBO.

Sure, she suspects Tyrion murdered their father (true!) and her son Joffrey (untrue!), but she knows Jaime has a soft spot for his valonqar, she likes Jaime, and, hey, it's nice for the two of them to get to hang out before the baby (the baby!) arrives.

Also, it never hurts to source a little timely intelligence on your biggest geopolitical foe and turn it to your advantage. But ... you know, details. Jaime and Tyrion got their bro time!

4.  Arya and Littlefinger kill some time playing hide and seek!

Skulking around a frozen castle, drilling with swords, hauling grain, and trying not to get killed by ice zombies can be stressful. What better way to relieve it than with a fun, friendly game the whole family can enjoy?

It's a small castle, but Petyr Baelish and the tiniest, most murder-y Stark are both naturals, natch. And while neither finds the other, Arya does uncover a sweet note Sansa wrote home (under duress) way back in season one, urging her brother (RIP Robb Stark) to pledge his loyalty to the Lannisters! What are the odds?

(Even pausing right on the frame, it was next to impossible to make out what this note actually, you know, said. Credit to Twitter user Daemon Blackfyre for doing the old gods' work here).

The note they made Sansa write to Robb after Ned was betrayed. #ThronesYall http://pic.twitter.com/3MSnFxjutv

— Daemon Blackfyre (@Dpzzle) August 14, 2017

5. Pretty much everyone is really putting that teleporter to good use!

Westeros is roughly the size of South America. Yet, this season, and this episode especially, people seem to get around really, really fast. Like the Dothraki last week, Jamie two weeks ago, and Jon before that — basically everyone everywhere has been zipping across the continent at lightning speed, petting dragons one minute and stalking ice zombies the next. Going from glowering around a rocky island fortress to glowering around a distant blacksmith shop and back to glowering on that rocky island in what seems like an hour-and-a-half.

While slow-burn character development has its place or whatever, we're on season seven here, people! Fast-forwarding this stuff is a marked improvement on previous seasons when characters would spend 17 episodes chatting and riding horses, conquering neighboring cities, or walking from one castle to another very-similar looking castle, like, five miles away.

Mad props to whatever time-traveler saw fit to drop by and introduce quantum teleportation to the Seven Kingdoms. It's a good look.

But we wouldn't want to get too ahead of ourselves, which is why it's super nice that...

6. Sam (accidentally) preserves some sense of story pacing.

Fellas, we've all been there. Your girlfriend discovers your best friend is actually the trueborn heir to the Iron Throne, thus solving the whole puzzle of the whole show, but you can't be bothered because you're mad about some dumb stuff going on in your personal life.

**what it's like being a woman** GILLY: here's the biggest reveal of the season it says— SAM: could you shut up I'm tired of this let's go

— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) August 14, 2017

Nevertheless, with everyone blasting themselves to and fro over the content to get that plot stuff done, it's heroic of Sam to slam on the brakes a little here for the audience, even if it required being unreasonably rude to Gilly in the process.

Hey, at least Little Sam gets to learn how to read!

7. The gang puts aside their differences!

This terrified striding will show 'em. Image by Helen Sloan/HBO.

Yeah, it sucks that the one guy (Beric Dondarrion) sold the other guy (Gendry) to a murdering witch, and that the third guy's (Jorah's) dad's job was to kill all of another guy's (Tormund's) friends and that yet another guy (the Hound) used to work for the family that killed the guy the sixth guy (Jon) thinks is his dad but isn't. But credit to The Hound for politely pointing out that none of that matters, and really, they should all be friends and focus on finding a solution to the real head-scratcher: what to do about the horde of walking dead people slowly staggering forth to kill them all.

When you've got a suggestion in a group setting, it's always nice to put it respectfully. Cheers to The Hound for personifying class.

Random acts of niceness:

Davos gives those two gold cloaks some free, organic Westerosi Fermented Crab Viagra before Gendry brutally war-hammers them to death. Hope it was an enjoyable last few seconds!

Varys expresses some regret for being adjacent to so many murders. Points, I guess.

That's all for now! Join me next week when, hopefully, Cersei aces baby yoga, a doubled-over Littlefinger explains the whole silly prank to Sansa and Arya and the Night King calls the entire thing off after realizing eternal life is pretty cool on its own without having to kill a bunch of mortal beings to feel better about yourself.

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