Game of Thrones

[flyerhawk]

I acknowledge that it looked cool.

But after watching them do that, I'm thinking "What the fuck did they just do, that maneuver was asinine." It has to look cool and make some sense.

I think we could have gotten some good scenes of the Dothraki buzzing the flanks of the undead army.

A few points.

I have yet to hear what the effective sensible battle strategy for defeating the undead.

The Dothraki did EXACTLY what light cavalry would normally do. Quick assaults expecting to catch the enemy by surprise. You can't surprise the undead. And when there is a 1000 to 1 advantage, there isn't much change of outflanking them either.

Clearly the end result was that most of Dany's army had to be gone before we went to the next step. Wiping out the Dothraki was necessary. They could either go for a cool dramatic approach like they did or focus on the Dothraki getting slowly overwhelmed in a gory fight which the Dothraki fan boys would have liked but hardly changes anything.

 

[batchaps4me]

Again, the NK could do that anyway.

The way it happened, they just handed him all those new soldiers earlier in the battle, rather than later.

Still, he didn't bother to raise them up until the very end.

Right, so how do you want them to die, or how do you want to use them, by giving them the smallest of chances to break through to the NK through a frontal charge, or give them zero chance of winning by being a harassment on the flanks? At least this way there was an outside chance that they could break through to the NK and be useful.

Good question. Can you raise an undead twice? I could see raising the Dothraki dead but just them. Certainly I am not an expert on the Undead!

That would have been bad enough.

Let's give some credit to the living. They probably killed 5-10 undead for each human killed.

More if you were one of the hero types like Brienne or Jon Snow.

Look back to Hardhome, did everyone rise after the battle or just the Wildlings? IIRC it was both so the answer I assume is yes on multiple times, at least for those that did not die from fire or dragon glass at least.

 

[PatsFan2003]

Right, so how do you want them to die, or how do you want to use them, by giving them the smallest of chances to break through to the NK through a frontal charge, or give them zero chance of winning by being a harassment on the flanks? At least this way there was an outside chance that they could break through to the NK and be useful.



Look back to Hardhome, did everyone rise after the battle or just the Wildlings? IIRC it was both so the answer I assume is yes on multiple times, at least for those that did not die from fire or dragon glass at least.

I actually don't remember. I thought only the newly killed Wildings myself but I didn't really think about it at the time.

 

[TheRangerDude]

Probably needed more time for all this to work out and make sense.

They are supposed to defend a castle, their goal should be to try and hold the defensive lines for as long as possible, minimizing the number of casualties. You don't ride out and pointlessly sacrifice your cavalry when you are defending a territory. Even if the Dothraki's best asset is their mobility, you have to use that mobility as a part of your defensive strategy, to flank whatever forces that manage to pass your first line of defense.

In their strategy, they:

1. Sacrificed their cavalry in a pointless charge with minimal chances of success.
2. They stationed their infantry in front of their first physical barrier, basically sacrificing them after the charge failed.
3. They stationed the trebuchets in front of their first physical barrier, ensuring that they would be overran immediately with the first wave of attackers.

The physical barriers should be the first lines of defense. They should have had several lines of trenches, and station their cavalry and infantry behind those trenches.

Best bet would have been to have a deep trench around all of winterfell filled with oil. When they get close enough, light it up. While they are stuck at the perimeter, take them all out with dragons and dragon glass arrows and fireballs from trebuchets. Guess they probably wouldn't have access to the oil though but they've know this was coming for a while, probably plently of time to dig a deep trench and use whatever they did with the spikes. You minimize adding to the army and only real weakness until the fire dies would be to the ice dragon, which is what you want anyway.

Even an unfrozen water trench would buy them some time.

 

[Tin Man]

Daenerys has no strategy. Your other dragon just got knocked out of the sky by shafts from ballistas mounted on the prows of ships aligned in a single direction while deployed in a narrows limiting their maneuverability. She does not circle 'round behind these closely massed ships and burn them out from the blind spot of their ballistas. She flies directly in the path of their fire until Drogon veers off, then she flies away while her own anchored ships are blown to bits and her faithful interpreter is captured.

 

[Tin Man]

Elia Sand

When last we saw Elia, she was chained to a wall in a dungeon of the Red Keep with the corpse of her poisoned daughter for company.

 

[Montalban]

Episode three was boring as hell. Two solid hours of watching them hack away at each other.

 

[BusSport]

Variety: "HBO Edits Game of Thrones Episode to Remove Errant Coffee Cup"

Before:

After:

 

[PatsFan2003]

FUCK THAT! Poor Tormund is heart broken. A few episodes ago when he whipped his head around and said "Is the big woman still here?" is probably the hardest I've ever laughed at GoT. If they aren't together at the end it's a damn shame.

LOL. I liked his "Who crapped in my pants" comment... Probably a lot of that.

 

[ukfanfrombirth(cali cat)]

When last we saw Elia, she was chained to a wall in a dungeon of the Red Keep with the corpse of her poisoned daughter for company.

That was Ellaria, not Elia.
In the show, Oberyn mentioned one of his other daughters, one we never saw on the show, to Cersei, Elia, named after his sister who was killed by the Mountain.

 

[Tin Man]

That was Ellaria, not Elia.
In the show, Oberyn mentioned one of his other daughters, one we never saw on the show, to Cersei, Elia, named after his sister who was killed by the Mountain.

 

[seahawksfan234]

I read 4. But will not be going back for 5 and so on.

I'll find myself saying (like I have the other way with the HBO series), that's not what happened in the book...

Good point.

Every book I've read that was translated to a movie always leads me to thinking the exact same thing. I don't read fiction much - I try to read a non-fiction book a week - so that being said there isn't much to draw on.

 

[Stakesarehigh]

A few points.

I have yet to hear what the effective sensible battle strategy for defeating the undead.

The Dothraki did EXACTLY what light cavalry would normally do. Quick assaults expecting to catch the enemy by surprise. You can't surprise the undead. And when there is a 1000 to 1 advantage, there isn't much change of outflanking them either.

Clearly the end result was that most of Dany's army had to be gone before we went to the next step. Wiping out the Dothraki was necessary. They could either go for a cool dramatic approach like they did or focus on the Dothraki getting slowly overwhelmed in a gory fight which the Dothraki fan boys would have liked but hardly changes anything.

It wasn't about defeating them it was minimizing casualties until their plan with the NK worked out

 

[ukfanfrombirth(cali cat)]

I don't know if you've read the books, or not, but especially if you haven't, there's probably no reason that bit of dialogue in the show would have stood out. It did for me 'cause of reading the books, and, unlike many others, while I didn't like all of Dorne in the books, I did like the Sand Snakes.

 

[Tin Man]

I don't know if you've read the books, or not, but especially if you haven't, there's probably no reason that bit of dialogue in the show would have stood out. It did for me 'cause of reading the books, and, unlike many others, while I didn't like all of Dorne in the books, I did like the Sand Snakes.

Didn't know about the books until the reports of them being made into a TV series on HBO. Didn't watch the show until last year, when a free HBO weekend let me download the first seven seasons from On Demand. Got HBO this year. Watching the last season as it unfolds.

 

[ukfanfrombirth(cali cat)]

Didn't know about the books until the reports of them being made into a TV series on HBO. Didn't watch the show until last year, when a free HBO weekend let me download the first seven seasons from On Demand. Got HBO this year. Watching the last season as it unfolds.

Given that, even if the name "Elia Martell" rang a bell (and that would only be 'cause Oberyn kept repeating, "say her name, Elia Martell," or something like that, when he was fighting the Mountain), there really would be no reason hearing him mention his daughter Elia would have registered.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

Good point.

Every book I've read that was translated to a movie always leads me to thinking the exact same thing. I don't read fiction much - I try to read a non-fiction book a week - so that being said there isn't much to draw on.

I only read fiction. I read to escape. Not learn.

 

[seahawksfan234]

I only read fiction. I read to escape. Not learn.

Learning is a form of escape for me.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

Learning is a form of escape for me.

I've learned enough and sometimes I pick up stuff from fiction.

Reading something is the important thing.

 

[seahawksfan234]

I've learned enough and sometimes I pick up stuff from fiction.

Reading something is the important thing.

Couldn't agree more.