(no subject)

[geebs]

TV commentary:

GoT- Hmm, going by the speculation, lots of people were probably surprised. Like with a huge number of the major characters going to the Dragon Pit, for some reason some people got it in their heads that Cersei would attempt another trick like she did with the Sept of Baelor. I mean, some people were so sure she was going to be all, "Zombies, whatever, I have my own zombie bodyguard!" and try to ambush Dany's forces. Which I was skeptical about, because no amount of masterful planning would get around the combined forces of the dothraki/unsullied/dragons from just leveling everything if something happened to Dany.

Anyways, with almost every major character being there, got a lot of conversations between folks who hadn't seen each other in a while. I did like Brienne seeing the Hound being all, "Didn't I kill you?!" and then telling him about how Arya became this little bad ass and both looking all proud. I'm also surprised Bronn is sticking with Jamie, despite Tyrion's offer of more money. On the one hand, Bronn doesn't know if Tyrion can pay. But he also recognizes now effed the Lannisters are, so you'd think the survivor in him would go with his friend plus the offer of more money.

So, the Hound shows the gathered audience the Wight, which does make a beeline for Cersei but is held back. So at the very least, she is appropriately disturbed by the sight. Meanwhile, Qyburn is totally fascinated and fan-boying. And Euron is all, "Can they swim? No? Seeya, I'll be hanging out on my island until this all blows over!"

Cersei agrees to a truce- if Jon bends the knee. But Jon is all, "whoops, sorry, I just swore fealty to Dany!" So Cersei tells them to fuck off, and everyone is all, you honor-bound idiot, couldn't you just lie!? But I respect that he's sticking to his honor, because without it, what makes him different from Cersei.

And as it is, he is right to have made that choice. (more on that in a minute) Tyrion talks to Cersei, where they finally have it out. Even though Joffrey was not his doing, and they both had reason to hate their dad, she makes a case for the other kids being his fault since Tywin wasn't around. I mean, to be fair, Tyrion had sent Myrcella to Dorne. Though other than putting her in a vulnerable position, he bears no further responsibility. Despite the Mountain killing the Viper in fair combat, Ellaria chose to freaking murder a little girl in misplaced revenge.

I can see how Cersei blames Tyrion for Tommen's death, though its very convoluted. With Tywin gone, the rest of the council disrespected her, and they almost forced her out. So she made a deal with the High Sept, which backfired spectacularly. Of course, Tommen only killed himself because of Cersei's plan of revenge.

So she threatens to have the Mountain kill Tyrion, and he's all, go ahead, because he's hurting over their family squabbles too. He loved Myrcella and Tommen and is also devastated at their deaths. She can't go through with it, and Tyrion comes back to the others with Cersei in tow, promising to lend her forces.

Of course, later, when Jaime is planning with the generals, Cersei is, "what are you, some kinda idiot? We're not sending anyone up there, let them all kill each other!" Jaime is of course, disgusted. And he rightly brings out the fact that, no matter who wins up there, the winner will come down and kick their ass- either the army of the dead, or the people who defeated the army of the dead despite the Lannister's betrayal and wanting to seek revenge.

She gets all cocky saying that there were only two dragons at the meet, and suspects something happened to one of the dragons up North, so the Night King is formidable. Plus, Euron's cowardice was a ruse- apparently she and Euron planned this out from the beginning, to have him "flee" while secretly going to Essos to ferry back the Golden Company to take back any lands they lost and to bolster their forces against whoever wins.

Cersei is pretty cocky. She's all, whatever, we'll just lure them to King's Landing and blow it up with Dragon's Fire, and rule from Casterly Rock, as if it would be just that easy. So yeah, I guess in the end, Jon's honor isn't too foolish, because Cersei was going to screw them over anyways.

So, even though the supposed child she's carrying brought Jaime back into the fold, it seems this latest act of treachery has put them on the outs again. She threatens him with the Mountain just like their other brother. But if she couldn't get him to kill Tyrion, she wouldn't let him kill Jamie. And thus Jaime rides off into the North.

Theon doesn't go North, at least not yet. He apologizes to Jon for all the things he did, but he can't join him yet, as he has to rescue Yara. Jon forgives him for "what he can" and tells him despite being a Greyjoy by blood, he does see their "father's" influence in him. So as far as he's concerned, he's a Stark too.

So Theon goes to the remaining Greyjoy folks still with him, and says they need to go rescue his sister. That one guy with lines says she's as good as dead, and they're just going to pull a Euron and find an island to hide on. Killing the men and raping the women on it, to boot. Theon tells them Yara had pledged to stop such behavior, so the guy tells him to fuck off, and they get into a fight. He beats Theon down, telling him he'll kill him if he continues to get up. But Theon refuses. And I thought maybe this would be the guy giving Theon his begrudging respect. But nope, the guy tries to knee Theon in the nuts, even though its well known by now that Theon was castrated. So Theon takes it, and then beats the guy to death with a rock. I guess that does get the other men to listen to him though.

Getting to the North, Littlefinger continues to try and sow discord. It seems like he's convinced Sansa to get rid of Arya as a threat, that she will try to kill Sansa if they don't take care of her first. They need stability in this hour of need, and Arya is the one going off half cocked. Which was prolly infuriating viewers who were pissed at the girls being played after only recently reuniting. Again, people speculated Littlefinger was going to survive like the cockaroach he is, already getting incensed at the girls being manipulated like fools.

But nope, Sansa takes Arya to the hall, and Sansa reads some charges... which she levels at Littlefinger! Littlefinger is all, "what now?" and Sansa lists all the crimes he's done from the very beginning, how his shenanigans got so many of their family killed. Heh, some people were complaining that her "evidence" was, "Oh, my weirdo brother supposedly saw visions of your betrayals!" but to be fair, she knew some of the things herself, like pushing Lysa out the moon door. Which, since he did that, when he goes to the Knights of the Vale looking for protection, they tell Baelish to screw himself.

And so Arya cuts Littlefinger's throat, putting an end to that worm. He may have been a master manipulator and schemer, but this end was coming for him some day. And that day was today.

But speaking of Bran's visions, Sam shows up in Winterfell. He tells Sam, oh, Jon isn't really Ned's kid, he's his aunt Lyanna's from Rhaegar. Bran says his real name should be Jon Sand. But Sam is all, "Wait, I saw the Grand Maester had secretly annulled Rhaegar's marriage and married him to someone else!", like did he really take credit for Gilly's discovery?

Anyways, and so Bran goes back, and sees that R+L did indeed love each other and got married, and that Jon's real name is Aegon. Hilariously, they piece this together right as Jon and Dany finally succumb to their desires and get busy on the boat North. Which, given all the talk of Dany thinking she can't get preggers (which Jon tells her, maybe a witch that hated her might not be the most reliable source!), prolly means he'll knock her up.

But yeah, onto people's complaints about this development. One, people were all, "How didn't Bran know this?" I mean, even though he sees all, doesn't necessarily mean he knows all currently. I mean, he doesn't have time to look through all of history. He prolly made assumptions thinking, "Oh, Jon is Lyanna's kid after getting raped by Rhaegar, but despite this still wants it protected and cared for!" Like once he got this info from Sam, he did go back and confirm.

Secondly, some people were annoyed that Jon was named Aegon, since Rhaegar had already named his son with Elia Aegon. So they're like, why would he name his sons the same? Which leads to the third complaint, mainly by book readers. So I guess in the books he was trying to fulfill some prophecy, and that's why he named both sons Aegon (although technically its Lyanna who said that's his name, we don't know for sure it was Rhaegar's wish), to hedge his bets?

Which goes with a certain narrative- in the books, its not entirely clear that Rhaegar and Lyanna loved each other just yet. I mean, they prolly did, but as far as certain POV characters were concerned, his attentions towards Lyanna were unwanted, and he really did just kidnap her and rape her in order to fulfill some prophecy. Which seems highly unlikely, its more likely they were wrong, especially as further reveals hint at an actual relationship.

But like with all fandoms, I think there are some people who want to be put upon, and want to believe that the story is letting Lyanna have no agency and that she was used by Robert and Rhaegar for their own ends (Robert being friend-zoned and Rhaegar being the guy who won't take no). That way they can be all "Typical!" and complain. Its like they want Rhaegar to just be a crazy guy trying to fulfill a prophecy rather than think two people can be in love.

Of course, there are also people who are, "Fuck R+L! They got so many people killed with their secret relationship!" and want to turn it into one more reason the Dornish were screwed over. Like they think naming Jon Aegon is just one more sign of disrespect towards Dorne since Elia's son was an Aegon. But we don't know any of the details of what happened. I mean, it does seem like Elia and Rhaegar's marriage was arranged, so its not he holds any particular loyalty to her. They're also, if Rhaegar and Lyanna were up front, then Robert's dad and brother wouldn't have gone to King's Landing and been killed by the Mad King. But again, we don't know what they said. Maybe they did try to be up front, but Robert wouldn't listen and had it in his mind that Rhaegar was controlling her. And then just things snowballed from there. At the very least, we don't know enough to shit on them.

But I think both these groups are a vocal minority, I think a significant portion are behind R+L. It does make the heir to the throne business interesting, because he has a bigger claim to the throne than Dany, but he just pledged fealty to her.

Oh, and in the end, the Night King shows up on undead Viseryon and destroys a big chunk of the wall. Beric and Tormund were busy dodging and fleeing, but I don't think they're dead, because they wouldn't just kill those guys off screen. Last we saw of them, they just narrowly avoided being caught in the collapsing portion. So they're prolly stuck up on a portion that didn't fall.