GoT - Is Over, Post Your Drogon Sightings

I want to read that writeup on Kotaku about last episode, but I'm afraid they are going to spoil something so I'm avoiding it.

The little section I did read was interesting because it outlines why that conversation between the Hound, and Arya was so important.

Since the Red Wedding, the guests right, which was an unspoken law in Westeros is now abolished.

Tuco_sl said:

xpost from the non spoiler thread



I had never thought of that and Stave is pretty right. We've talked about how there's a huge split between the two continents but the fantasy and powerlevel seems really off between say, pre-nerf Jaime and Daario.

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I always thought that might be a reflection of how Martin thinks medieval England/Europe viewed shit like China and the Middle East. For quite awhile there, they were far more advanced than Europe in many ways, and that probably seemed like a crazy magic wonderland to the average person. That's what you get with Essos; the fantasy reflection of the 'power gap' between East and West that existed from what, the fall of the Roman Empire till the 13/1400s or so.

As for the relative combat strengths of individuals, I am not so sure. There aren't many good examples of eastern forces clashing with west, so it is tough to gauge. Jorah Mormont does quite alright for himself in the East though and has earned a fair bit of respect as a dangerous fighter, as does Selmy, so while the eastern champions might seem more heroic, the western champions can probably match them stroke for stroke. Stave makes good points there though, there is a definite dichotomy.

It's because the scrubs out there are fighting even scrubbier scrubs. Folks across the sea are like Eddie Gordo, lots of flash and little effectiveness. Jorah showed what good old fashion Westeros practicality will do to them when he schooled that bloodrider.

Also, show only folks haven't yet truly witnessed the Red Viper in action. Dorne is sort of like a little bit of the overseas feel on the Westeros side.

But yeah, shit over there is definitely flashier. Which I guess it has to be, there's fucking dragons.

I always wonder if Sothoryos and Ulthos have some crazy shit that would make dragons seem tame.

Springbok_sl said:

That's actually a brilliant insight and something I'd never noticed while reading the books.

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Pretty obvious those giant kickass pyramids are built by slaves. There is no slavery in Westeros. Stuff is going to be a lot easier to build when you don't have to pay for the labor.

Essos is more like Eurasia and Westeros is like Europe in the medieval times. Essos has great civilizations (built on the backs of slaves) and have advanced sciences and have had a lot less turnover in governments. Remember there are no "countries" like Dorne or The Vale in Essos - they are all free cities. So I'm sure laws are a bit more liberal - for free people at least. Westeros is just chaos. It's like African countries it seems with regimes always changing and, while slavery is illegal, it's still a shitty feudal system.

None of that explains the magic though. I guess Westeros still has the White Walkers?

Yeah the Ghiscari have some fucked up elite troops like out of Return to Oz which are actually total shit.



I dunno if he was a slave pit fighter or not in the books, but I can't imagine that a non slave "Champion of Mereen" ever fought someone not bought to die for his ego.

Grimmlokk_sl said:

It's because the scrubs out there are fighting even scrubbier scrubs. Folks across the sea are like Eddie Gordo, lots of flash and little effectiveness. Jorah showed what good old fashion Westeros practicality will do to them when he schooled that bloodrider.

Also, show only folks haven't yet truly witnessed the Red Viper in action. Dorne is sort of like a little bit of the overseas feel on the Westeros side.

But yeah, shit over there is definitely flashier. Which I guess it has to be, there's fucking dragons.

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And I think, sadly, that whatever they have in store for the mountain/viper fight, it can't be as epic as it was in the books (pretty much based on choreography alone) - damn book 3 has so many epic moments. Kinda missed strong belwas, the Ser Barristan/Artstan reveal was just so amazing to read. books ftw

Essos has the magic power of slaves.

Westoros is like a mid-evil Afghanistan ..

there is or was just as much magic in westeros. they just pushed all that shit on the downlow because of maesters and their crusade against magic. westeros has,white walkers, giants, wargs, dire wolves, greenseers, heart trees, pyromancy, the horn of jaromir or whatever its called, drowned men or whateverfuck patchface is and alchemy. westeros is more settled and magic is repressed is all.

Magic left Westeros a long time ago, a lot of you are forgetting this. The return of dragons signals the return of magic to Westeros.

For instance, wildfire and R'hllor did not come until after the dragons awakened.

I'm wondering if Tywin was implying Oberyn's race/people somehow shared an immunity to dragons breath in that last episode.

I don't want to know tho, so don't answer that people who have read the books. Just thinking out loud.

I'll be disappointed if they introduced Oberyn Martell only to have the Mountain crush his face a few episodes later. I think they should deviate a bit from the book in that respect.

supertouch_sl said:

I'll be disappointed if they introduced Oberyn Martell only to have the Mountain crush his face a few episodes later. I think they should deviate a bit from the book in that respect.

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What? No.

supertouch_sl said:

I'll be disappointed if they introduced Oberyn Martell only to have the Mountain crush his face a few episodes later. I think they should deviate a bit from the book in that respect.

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No, they need a good up-and-coming character to bite it. Peeps in NO Spoilers are probably thinking "Finally, this is the dude who's gonna pwn Tywin and bring balance to the Lannisters/Tyrells". Does Oberyn in the show remind anyone else of Ricardo Maltoban?

I always kind of hoped Dany would get killed off at some point, leaving Jon, Arya, Bran (or Tyrion) to do the dragon-riding, but I have a feeling GRRM is going to keep her now that she's the super-hottie on the show.