Game of Thrones 5.5 "Kill the Boy" (spoiler alert)

[NewJeffCT]

book readers will know what the title means.

Daenerys makes a difficult decision; Jon recruits the help of an unexpected ally; Brienne searches for Sansa; Theon remains under Ramsay's control.

[NewJeffCT]

1. Does the "winner' matter?

interesting...

http://www.vox.com/2015/5/10/8574599/game-of-thrones-pointless-war

[lunatica]

2. The books are about war so that's no surprise

But I'm curious to see how the world would look under Daenerys Targaryen as the ruler, if only to show us what kind of a dictatorship that would be with deadly fire breathing dragons in the mix. The rest of the people lusting for power has happened thousands of times in history, but no one has ruled with deadly dragons before. I find myself hoping we'll see that.

And I like that Jon Snow's story promises a whole slew of terrifying dark magic denizens erupting in grotesque darkness from beyond the wall.

All the rest are just dull power struggles we're quite familiar with in our history.

[NewJeffCT]

3. When Martin started the series

he wanted something that went against lot of the typical epic fantasy tropes -

The noble and honorable hero, Ned Stark, would normally be the champion leading the forces of Good and defeating evil. But, no, Ned dies an inglorious death, getting his head chopped off at the whim of Joffrey, the poster boy of evil.

Then, if the noble hero were to die, his just as honorable son, Robb Stark, should rise up to avenge his father. Robb seems to do well on the battlefield, but he also ends up dying an inglorious death - betrayed at the wedding of his uncle Edmure, and stabbed in the gut by a supposed ally.

Or, Khal Drogo - the towering Dothraki warlord heading an army of 40,000 Dothraki, never defeated in battle, peerless one-on-one warrior. should lead his huge horde to reclaim the Iron Throne for good young Daenerys. Yet, gets a minor wound in battle and dies of the subsequent infection...

The noble knight Jamie Lannister is not only boffing his sister, the Queen, but he then pushes an 8 year old boy out a high window when he sees them together.

The twisted & misshaped dwarf - Tyrion - the opposite of the dashingly handsome warrior - is one of the heroes of the story.

[CrawlingChaos]

16. Good post

I think I had lost sight of a lot of that (getting too fixated on the soap opera aspects as I was).

I was reading the article you posted above and I realized I'd forgotten all about the War of the Roses angle.

Anyway, good post. Thanks.

[NewJeffCT]

4. A bit more

from Winter Is Coming.net

Tonight, Stannis’ army sets out for Winterfell, Sansa learns just what Littlefinger has gotten her into, Tyrion spies a dragon, and Jon Snow will kill a boy—metaphorically speaking, probably.

[NewJeffCT]

5. Only a few minutes away

from the midseason episde

[Baitball Blogger]

6. Love the start to this one!

Any reason why she picked that particular offering for her children?

[NewJeffCT]

11. Dany you mean?

I think she was hoping to frighten the nobles into confessing that one of them was leading/organizing the Sons of the Harpy.

[Baitball Blogger]

15. So you think she sacrificed an innocent man?

I really didn't see that marriage proposal coming. Totally surprised.

[NewJeffCT]

22. happened differently in the books

Hizdahr says if he can stop the Sons of the Harpy for 99 days, would Dany agree to marry him on day 100. So, she does after the violence stops for 99 days

[Baitball Blogger]

7. This one has great pacing!

That trip on the Valyrian smoking seas was incredible! Flyover from the dragon was stupendous!

Stone men-I imagine that's what the little girl has. Greyscale. Though it looked like to me that Tyrion was grabbed from underwater.

[NewJeffCT]

8. Yes

if you recall last episode, in the Stannis-Shireen talk, he said everybody told him to send her away to live with the Stone Men...

when I saw Tyrion fall overboard, I thought it was going to end on that cliffhanger.

Poor Jorah, though. I guess they're having that part of Jon Connington go to Jorah. In the books, a knight close to House Targaryen and now living in Essos named Jon Connington was part of the group that were going from Pentos to meet with Dany. However, after the Stone Men attack, Connington and others turned around while Tyrion continued on to hopefully meet with Daenerys.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. Is it at all possible that there's a twist with this greyscale that allows

Stone Men to take the heat of a dragon? Therefore, the solution to the problem of having a dragon that nobody can tame?

[NewJeffCT]

10. I don't know

other than that attack on the ship in the books, the Stone Men haven't really done much else in the books.

[TorchTheWitch]

17. Val in the books called Stannis' daughter "the dead girl"

She insisted that the greyscale would come back in her at some point and everyone else would get it.

In the books Melisandre and Stannis' wife and daughter didn't go with him to fight the Boltons either. In the last book that was published they were near the Dreadfort but stuck in a wicked snowstorm with their horses all dead and they're out of food when the banker from Bravos and "Reek" find them in the snow. Still waiting for the 6th book to come out. Probably going to wait forever.

[NewJeffCT]

21. I was hoping by the end of last year

obviously, didn't happen. I think there is a shot at getting it be Christmas of this year, or by the time Season 6 starts. (the books, I mean)

[NewJeffCT]

12. interesting setup

with Ramsay obviously not happy about Fat Walda being preggers. Could be some tension in House Bolton.

[Liberal Veteran]

14. Tension in House Bolton is like idiocy in House Bush....comes with the territory. - nt

[NewJeffCT]

23. well, until this episode

they were a seemingly happy family, with just Roose, Ramsay and Walda Frey Bolton.

[NewJeffCT]

13. Iain Glen on his big twist

Iaihttp://www.ew.com/article/2015/05/10/ser-jorah-greyscale-thrones?hootPostID=9f1a39b8762e95d91f4122328a3325c8

[CrawlingChaos]

19. I like the sound of that

Great to hear that he has a major action sequence coming. I loved his fight with the Dothraki bloodrider and I thought it was great how they foreshadowed it - Jorah's little debate with the Dothraki guy (whose name I can't recall) about the relative merits of heavy knight's armor vs. the speed afforded by lighter Dothraki armor and weapons.

And maybe he's not a goner for sure, as I assumed when he pulled up his sleeve.

[NewJeffCT]

24. I wonder if they will give him

the showdown with the pit figher Khrazz that Selmy had in the books.

[CrawlingChaos]

25. Whatever that is, it sounds good

I take it Selmy wins (that character is still alive in the books, right?)

Do you think maybe they made this decision because of worries the actor who played Selmy was too old to handle the action sequences? You know, when you think about it, he has to look really, really good in battle, being the world's greatest fighter and all.

[NewJeffCT]

26. I'm not sure how athletic he is/was

but, I think Ian McElhinny seems pretty sharp mentally and facially looks the part. A bit stocky, but I thought maybe you could say that was armor and the padding underneath. And, there are some pretty buff guys in their 60s out there, so it's not out of the realm of possibility (Sylvester Stallone, Arnold, and others) - for the top knights, fighting and training was almost a full-time job, so those guys were pretty buff for many years as well.

And, yes, in the books, there is chaos in the city before a big battle and Ser Barristan goes to arrest the person they think is The Harpy. That person has one of the top pit fighters/gladiators as their bodyguard - the aforementioned Khrazz. Previously, in most of the series, the faster and more lightly armored fighter has won: Bronn vs Ser Vardis Egan - the first Trial by Combat for Tyion; Oberyn Martell had essentially beaten the Mountain as well, until he made the mistake of taunting him to get a confession. So, it was kind of a surprise when Selmy took out Khrazz, the great, but aging, knight against the gladiator in his prime.

[TorchTheWitch]

18. I'm so bummed the show killed Ser Barriston

I was so hoping he'd make it. I guess Tyrion takes his place as an advisor.

[NewJeffCT]

20. I was not happy, either

And, I guess the actor who played Ser Barristan wasn't happy either. He had actually read the books and was looking forward to some of Barristan's big scenes, only to not get them.

(A lot of the actors say they have not read the books...)

[NewJeffCT]

27. It seems like Emilia Clarke likes Channing Tatum

http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/emilia-clarke-wanted-to-have-a-threesome-with-channing-tatum-jenna-2015125

[NewJeffCT]

28. Game of Thrones recap - using the F word

http://valarbloghulis.someecards.com/game-of-thrones/game-of-thrones-season-5-episode-5-recapped-almost-entirely-using-the-fword/