Game of Thrones fans?

[M.AsfandYar]

Killing Ghost in start of battle

Ghost is alive. Check next episode's preview.

 

[Aryan0395]

Visually stunning.
Plot wise failure, as big fail as Eragon movie was and ending of its parent book series, how they showed Galbatorix remorseful and apologetic.

They literally built it for the majority part of a decade and thats how they close it!!!
They didnt even show a battle between Night king and Jon Snow!! Everyone had been expecting their faceoff since their stare off at hardhome.!! But no once again, night king would just resurrect the dead.
And Arya killing Night king? Is it a joke? What did Bran do? Previous three eyed raven wanted him to be ready for when night king comes, ready to do what? sit around? And remind me, why exactly Melissandre die? yes she said that she has to die in this country and again said she would be dead before sun rise. But why? And the arguement that NK is dead and her purspose is served is weak because she didnt do anything to meaningful. Lighting swords was cool but they all died..Lighting trench was cool, but the next moment they broke thru thanks to NK.

Shit episode, but hey it was visually stunning, but not quite so as it was so dark, dark than fucking batman movies, barely could see some important scenes.

 

[Talon]

If they didn't end the battle in today's episode and somehow the living retreated then how did u expect them to fight another battle.I mean they had lost most of their forces today,if they couldn't beat the night king with full might then how would they beat with leftover forces?

Yeah u could argue Jon should have been the Night King killer or atleast had had a sword fight with him or what was Bran doing all the time (watching End Game i guess).But I think killing NK in single battle makes sense though its disappointing seeing him die so early.

 

[8 pass charlie]

a good death is It's own reward.from thor movie.and in todays episode they literally made fun of night king.atleast give him.something.like seriously????you want to wrap up the plot and this is how you do it???.in Urdu doodh Mein se makhi Ki trash nikaal phenka

 

[LeGenD]

If they didn't end the battle in today's episode and somehow the living retreated then how did u expect them to fight another battle.I mean they had lost most of their forces today,if they couldn't beat the night king with full might then how would they beat with leftover forces?

Absolutely, well said.

Danerys is unfortunately back to the drawing board - almost ZERO now. If it weren't for her armies, Winterfell would have fallen much earlier.

Yeah u could argue Jon should have been the Night King killer or atleast had had a sword fight with him or what was Bran doing all the time (watching End Game i guess).But I think killing NK in single battle makes sense though its disappointing seeing him die so early.

John Snow taking out the Night King - a predictable move. I got the impression that the Night King was too strong and capable in melee for John to hang with for long.

Arya Stark taking out the Night King is far from bad actually - when the Red Woman met Arya the first time, the Red Woman pointed out that Arya would bring down 3 notable figures.

Brown eyes
Green eyes
Blue eyes

 

[dexter]

Cersie has green eyes if im right, that means Arya will fullfil her list

 

[Pakistansdefender]

Well it is game of thrones.
No other show has the power to make me stay awake all night only so that I can watch it at 6.30 when it appears on trnt websites..
It is good.
But nothing as good as the directors claim..
They have the budget and stuff but battle was so badly shot.
All scenes are so dark and dull.
And the dragon scenes are not even make scenes.
The zombies walking inside the halls is shit and it is shit overall.
Same like Harry Potter movies where directors knew that whatever garbage they produce, every potter fan would come and watch.

 

[Cookie Monster]

@Cookie Monster

Slow down with your over-the-top critic of battle sequences

Lol I like how u r taking an issue with me writing my opinion...and then u proceed to do the same.

they were spectacular and well done in large part.

The story itself and the portrayal of it by the actors, stunt performers, camera crew, etc. are two different things independent of each other. A story can be good and it can be portrayed to audience in a terrible way...or the story can be bad even though the actors(and the rest) did a marvelous job. So yes the actors, director, camera crew, stunt performers and everyone involved did a wonderful job in making this happen...but the story that they enacted had flaws.

Battles do not necessarily turn out as per planning in advance, particularly up against an unpredictable adversary.

That's a quite obvious fact...nowhere in my post I took an issue with that. An example of this was Davos signaling Jon/Dany for their dragon fire and they were not there bcuz things had changed...they were in pursuit of the Night King...
...my main point was their strategy from the beginning was a wrong one...they knew better bcuz they had some intel on their enemy, which was enough to know that an offensive strategy(like charging on open ground) against hundreds of thousands of undead would be useless and counterproductive in a sense.

[1] Army of the dead was too spread out and vast for the living to consider flanking from any direction.

I never said they should've tried flanking. I said small teams of elite fighters hunting for the night king or his lieutenants(it would be akin to elite special forces being air dropped behind enemy lines)...as we saw earlier in the last season when Daenerys rescued Jon and his crew north of the wall...a dragon can easily carry a small group of men. With two dragons...they could've easily dropped off at least two teams(at the place where u see Jon/Dany standing atop a cliff with the view of the castle on their right side when the Dothraki charge).

Once the bulk of the undead army was focused on charging towards the castle...this small group of fighters could've tried to find and kill the lieutenants of the night king. Yes the night king's lieutenants are not easy to take down...but a few have been taken down before...so it's not impossible. In the event that their efforts are in vain and all of these(like 8-10) fighters die without killing the lieutenants...that's not much different then these ppl fighting inside the castle walls(the castle was overrun and everyone would've died had Arya not killed the night king). However had they been successful in killing a couple of the night king's lieutenants...it would've taken out a large chunk of the undead.

In any case...killing the lieutenants and preferably the night king was the only real choice if they ever hoped to win. Fighting the undead hordes was a lost cause...the wildlings have done it...the night's watch has done it...but to no avail.

Dothraki were fantastic warriors and they were known to cut through formations of standing armies like butter, but formations of the dead proved too strong.

They already knew how huge were the numbers of the undead...anyone with half a brain would know that a Dothraki charge in this case wouldn't be helpful bcuz eventually it would come to a halt due to just the sheer difference in numbers. Even if one Dothraki kills 100 of the undead before he dies, the night king can just raise those dothraki to be part of his undead army...whereas the living just lost the numbers on their side with no way of replenishing it.

Dothraki experiment was the only way to find out how the living would fare against the army of the dead out in the open.

This would be valid had they never met this enemy before...but they already knew how great their numbers are and how they keep swarming...hence an open field close range battle is literally the worst option.

Their best option would've been to dig more trenches(further out than the only trench they dug)...like 3 more for example...all filled with oil. The first two in the range of their archers(with flaming arrows) while the other two further out enough where it can be lit up by dragon fire(the initial attacks carried out by jon and dany). Let the undead horde advance all the way up the first trench and then light up all 4 trenches. This would have trapped the undead horde on the spaces between those fired up trenches where they could've flattened them out with catapults and arrows raining fire...as opposed to using their catapults once and charging with Dothraki instead on an open field.

[2] Night King was subjecting the region to stormy conditions which created lot of complications for the living. Fires were not igniting on the traps set for the dead

They already knew the Night King could create storms. This is literally a quote from Jon Snow saying "the true enemy won't wait out the storm, he brings the storm", not to mention when the night's watch had a run in with the white walkers at the fist of the first men...there was an accompanying storm, which ended once the white walkers had passed. This was no secret to them...so planning accordingly they should've put oil in the trenches so they could set it on fire...this isn't something new...they used oil at the wall when mance attacked.

numerous fighters could not see clearly and decided to take their chances with the dead inside the Castle as the dead began to cut through formations of the living like butter out in the open; and even the dragons could not attack properly. Night King's powers prevented the living to fight effectively in short. What could human commanders do under such circumstances?

The dead began to cut through formations of the living like butter out in the open? I thought u were taking an issue with my statement when I said that it was a stupid move to charge at undead army out in an open battlefield. Why the sudden change of heart?

As for what could human commanders do when the dead were overpowering them? The reason why they got overpowered so quickly is bcuz they didnt plan a fully defensive strategy to begin with. If they hadn't charged with the Dothraki(among one of their best fighting forces), the Dothraki would've helped immensely in fighting off the undead once they breached the castle. Instead they decided to just toss aside the Dothraki in a useless move. If they had decided to put oil in the trenches, they could just shoot a flaming arrow to light it...which would've saved a great number of the unsullied(also among one of their best fighting forces). The reason why the unsullied had to cover the retreat and form a blockade against the undead hordes for so long is bcuz they couldn't light the trench on fire(until finally the red woman did her magic). Obviously with so many different theatres of battle...spread out over a large distance...communication and keeping central command would be next to impossible. But they didnt have this limitation before battle started. That's when a general(Jon?) along with other strategists should've devised a defensive plan with multiple layers. If we can't hold line A...fall back to line B...etc. Once the battle has started then each person commanding at the local level can give commands according to the circumstances of their situation.

[3] The dead were way too many to cope with - even with pieces of dragon glass embedded on the top of the walls of Winterfell and a large number of men raining fire arrows on the dead from top of the walls, the dead managed to break through and this is not UNREALISTIC. Keep in mind that the dead did not had limitations of the living - they were not afraid and not tiring out. In fact, they were climbing over each other and creating pathways through obstacles in this manner.

I never said its unrealistic. As for the dragon glass shards...yes they did put them on the walls but clearly not enough bcuz the undead had no problem climbing it. At least for the trench on fire...u see that they are having trouble to cross it until some of them make a path by putting out the fire by dumping their bodies on it. This wasn't the case for climbing the walls. They climbed right on as if there was no hindrance.

[4] The dead eventually broke through the main gate and it was open season on the living afterwards.

That was bound to happen eventually...it doesn't mean the living had to be stupid and sacrifice some of their best fighters(the unsullied and the dothraki) due to stupidity in their planning. Had they dug more trenches that were then lit on fire, trapping the enemy in between(even if just for a little while) and pummel away at them with arrows and catapults, the number of dead breaching the castle would've been considerably less...and their advance to the castle would've been much slower. Then once breached there would be the unsullied to protect(with their phalanx like wall of shields and spears) main gate's breach and the dothraki to fight alongside others fighting in the castle. This would overall better their chances(prolong their survival time) as opposed to the partly offensive strategy they tried, where something as useful as the catapults were basically a showpiece.

My CRITIC is that I was expecting a higher number of notable characters to die, and Arya Stark taking out the Night King was certainly underwhelming in the sense that she pulled it off all on her own. In fact, PLOT ARMOR for some of the notable characters was frustrating to observe, but a spectacular episode on the whole. Storylines do not necessarily turn out in the way we all are expecting them to; fan-servicing do not make for compelling stories.

Im not asking nor expecting fan service. This is season 8 of this show...do u not think I realize how this show works by now? If fan service was what I was after, my post wouldn't have been about battle plans or rushing the night king's death but more about which characters should have lived or died.

It doesn't make for a compelling story to me bcuz they have shown these characters to be brilliant planners before. Jon, Tyrion, Jaime have been shown effectively devising battle plans in different episodes. Jorah, Grey Worm, Brienne, and other veteran soldiers...although not strategists...are also present for their inputs. With the intel they already had on the enemy, these characters were certainly able to come up with a better strategy than they did. It seemed out of character and rushed by the writers...just like the night king's death. Yes Arya has skills, yes she can be stealthy...but the way they went about showing it was again rushed. Throughout the whole story they built the NK to be this big bad powerful villain...then to end him and move on to the next villain to conclude the series bcuz there's only 3 episodes left...the writers were like yeah "Arya with her stealth and dagger swapping slice will do the trick".

U can disagree all u want...but I standby all my points. I've seen every single episode of GoT and I've loved all of it without any complaints(even if my favorite characters died)...but this episode was not like the others...too rushed and too "convenient" for the writers.

 

[Deathstar]

They rushed the plot , NK was hyped for 8 years and Arya kills him in like 10 seconds and his useless generals couldn't do anything to save him. Atleast they should have shown how Arya was able to kill NK , i hope they explain this mess in next episode or fans will riot

 

[A.P. Richelieu]

Cersie has green eyes if im right, that means Arya will fullfil her list

Yep, Arya will sneak up to Cersei looking like Gregor Clegane, just a bit taller...
She will be soo surprised.

 

[Kakaspai]

This was about 80% as good as battle of the helms deep.

 

[newb3e]

They rushed the plot , NK was hyped for 8 years and Arya kills him in like 10 seconds and his useless generals couldn't do anything to save him. Atleast they should have shown how Arya was able to kill NK , i hope they explain this mess in next episode or fans will riot

yup NK died really easy i was expecting some major character to die this episode

 

[Skyliner]

Jon snow was as useless as a unsullied's
d i c k in this ep

 

[Gandhi G in da house]

Ghost is alive. Check next episode's preview.

I didnt see him in the preview.

 

[waz]

What to say a mixed bag, I think this was a mixed bag.

Event one sending her Westeros Dothraki army to hell (she has more back home). Who thought of this? She lost over 90,000 riders in a matter of seconds. Everyone knows calvary work best in flanking manoeuvres and surprise assault. Sending a charge in blind, did anyone tell the allied commanders about the 'charge of the light brigade', ' the battle of Bannockburn' etc!

The unsullied, poor chaps, did a wonderful job of wiping out thousands of dead but lost over 90% of their force. I estimate no more than a 1,000 came through, which will now weaken the allied army as the Golden Company are excellent infantry troops. I know they did their duty and their fighting style is about holding and inflicting massive losses, it's just they were way too open to be swarmed. Obstacles, deep traps, more trenches would have meant many more survived.