Game of Thrones: House of the Dragon!

[Miriel]

I know people are mocking the viewers who are calling it quits with this show. But honestly, how much schadenfreude can a person possibly have? That's a legitimate question. My preferences have always been toward happier stories, or at least ones where the tragedy is tempered by hope/redemption/etc.

I don't think Ned's stuff was so bad. It was a great catalyst. This last episode was gut wrenching and brutal and that's fine. BUT, if the show continues at this rate and we just keep getting treated every likable (and even unlikable characters like Theon) character getting killed, or raped or maimed or whatever, then how much enjoyment can you really derive from the show? Unless you just really really dig catastrophically grim stories.

If even more smurfed up trout keeps happens to everyone, then I'd totally bow out of the show. It's not my favorite by any means, even though I do enjoy it. You can't fault someone for not wanting to be subjected to misery an hour a week, even in the name of entertainment.

Martin has said many times in interviews that the series will end bittersweetly for the Starks.

That is reassuring.

[Madame Adequate]

There is hope though Hannah. As long as Dany lives, there is hope that the rightful queen will return to take her place upon the Iron Throne.

[Miriel]

To be honest, Dany making googly eyes at the new pretty boy makes me pretty damn fearful for her storyline.

I really hope it doesn't get to the point where she is going to need a sassy gay friend to tell her:



But it's generally vibe I'm getting is that I'm going to be frustrated with her life choices in the next season.

[Pike]

I'm kind of getting the opposite vibe. I keep expecting her to get sick of her new fabulous friend and do him in. I'm surprised she hasn't done it yet.

[Psychotic]

There is hope though Hannah. As long as Dany lives, there is hope that the rightful queen will return to take her place upon the Iron Throne.

What happened to you, man? You used to be cool.

[charliepanayi]

It was quite funny seeing my father's reactions to the episode just now. In contrast the cat seemed really unimpressed.

[Shaibana]

It was quite funny seeing my father's reactions to the episode just now. In contrast the cat seemed really unimpressed.

thats becaus cats are evil!! the cat wasnt shocked, it laughed!

dont let this happen to you!
9GAG - Maybe he should be an indoor cat..

[Loony BoB]

Wolf.

I had this episode spoiled for me before it happened when I accidentally came across it when looking up for details of the Tyrion/Sansa wedding. Still sucked to watch it, though. My favourite bit was the Jon Snow / Bran stuff, though. I love Jon, he may 'know nothing' but he's the good guy in this for me, more so than Robb. I just want to know if Jon is going to remember seeing two wolves that quite clearly suggest who is very close by him.

[Psychotic]

TV spoils.

Was Robb even that much of an interesting character? He never got the "smurf YES TYRION/ARYA/DANY unrelenting hero" or "Gendry :3" "melisandre what the smurf are you doing" or "ohhh trout, joffrey/littlefinger you are an ass!" reactions every week. Same goes for Cat and Talisa.

I think what offends people the most is what it represents. I remember at the end of Season 1 I expected him to go rescue the smurf out of Ned. When that didn't work out, and he was proclaimed King in the North, I was like... awwww hell yeah! He is going to go to King's Landing and beat the smurf out of Joffrey! Ned had to die just as the old master always dies in these things... it's time for a coming of age and a new generation will rise! And you kind of pin all these hopes on Robb, the King in the North, of vengeance, justice, and Westeros being set bang to rights. The young boy getting brutally beasted like this subverts all the usual tropes and I think that's why people are so offended by it. It's what Robb represents rather than Robb himself we mourn. Although from that twitter it seems as though a lot of teenage girls wanted baby Eddard inside of them too, so I don't doubt that played a part.

Really, though, there couldn't have been a happy ending. Even if he had whooped Joffrey's ass, well, Dany is sure as smurf going to try to take Westeros back with Fire and Blood sooner or later. She hates the Starks almost as much as she hates the Baratheons/Lannisters, and I imagine there's still a lot of emnity the other way after what happened to Robb's grandfather, uncle and aunt. Given how very little quarter either of them have given, it's obvious they would not come to any sort of "let's team up to smurf up Joffrey" arrangement. She wants Westeros, he wants the North. It would've come to blows, and when it's protagonist vs protagonist there is no happy ending.

[Loony BoB]

Yeah, I never really cared for Robb too much from the moment he broke his oath, but even before then he wasn't an amazing personality. I always liked Jon most out of Ned's boys, although Bran is really coming into his own and Rickon is way too young to really get an opinion on. I think I'll probably like Jon most for some time, though.

On that note, shocked completely that he left his woman behind.

[charliepanayi]

I note that Frankie Boyle has been putting out spoilers for this episode and future events in the books which haven't yet happened in the show on Twitter - what a jumped-up trolling prick.

[Madame Adequate]

There is hope though Hannah. As long as Dany lives, there is hope that the rightful queen will return to take her place upon the Iron Throne.

What happened to you, man? You used to be cool.

The Lord of Light's followers started talking trout 'bout Davos Seaworth, I'll have nothing more to do with them.

And to respond to your other post, I agree very much with what you say. Robb wasn't really the most amazing character on the show, nor were Cat or Talisa (Blackfish is/was a beast though), but a vicious betrayal of this magnitude is pretty goddamn horrific and "Oh holy smurf" regardless of who it happens to. The nominal good guys, probably the only group who even try to adhere to honor and justice and trout as a whole, getting dicked over like this was a hell of a thing.

I mean, they were just talking about Babby Eddard and then Talisa gets stabbed like seven times in the womb. That'd be harsh and smurfed up if it happened to Joffrey, nevermind cute nurse chick who trolls cute little kids while bandaging them up.

[Pike]

So the sum up the thread so far:

[Del Murder]

For me, what happened to Robb was fine. Tragic but fine. It makes sense because, really, he went back on his word and truth be told was an usurper (only Stannis and Dany have legit claims, hell Renly's was even more legit than Robb's since he's Robert's heir after Stannis). So I never expected Robb's story to end well.

It was the very last two seconds that got me. Robb wasn't really a main character, but Catelyn sure as hell was. And poor Grey Wind. One of my favorite moments in Season 2 was when he jumped out and attacked some poor unsuspecting Lannister soldiers. I hope they don't kill off more of the dogs, or at least kill them in battle and not in captivity. Poor Grey Wind and Lady.

[Roogle]

I did like most of the latest episode, The Rains of Castamere.

I especially liked that Catelyn took Lady Frey hostage as a last resort. In the books, she takes a lackwit grandson of Walder Frey hostage in a desperate attempt to save Robb and stop the fighting. Unfortunately, the only one she is able to get to in time is someone he cares little for. In the show, she is able to make a more calculated move in taking Lady Frey hostage, giving more credibility to her character and making it look like less of a last ditch effort. The result is the same, regardless.