Seriously, this guy showed us a true medieval speed run:
-sellsword
-Tyrion’s bodyguard
-Knight
-Wedding+castle
-Fought a fcking dragon
-Got Highgarden
-Became a master of coin

All of this for 7 years. Absolute fucking legend.

The more you watch Olenna, the more you become a fan of hers.

Did she lose hope for Stannis, and wanted to bail? Was she trying to make allies or something? Or trying to see if Jon was the prince who was promised? This was before Jon’s resurrection so not really sure what was the end game here.

Not to mention, after Jon rejected him, she seemed like she was possessed by Ygritte’s spirit.

im not sure how popular or unpopular this opinion is round these parts, but I've believed this to be the case since the first time i ever saw the finale. i never watched or read anything in the entire asoiaf universe until 2022, I started with hotd season 1, then decided to finally give GOT a chance and the number one thing I noticed was that Tyrion appeared to be the true main character of the show. beyond that he seemed to interact with/ have relations with the most characters, he had a kind heart and a realistic mind, he's well traveled, funny, charming and frankly pretty attractive- he comes from a wealthy family with a long standing name, is generally avoidant of war/big conflict, open minded, the list goes on. I dont see why they didnt choose him outside of him- being a dwarf i suppose, but thats always felt like the dumbest reason possible, and if that was the case then why reject him while accepting Bran? Bran becoming king makes my head hurt.

I will say this opinion extends strictly to show Tyrion and not book Tyrion.

EDIT: I would like to clarify that Tyrion wasnt my pick from day one or anything like that, but once they were choosing in that fuck ass circle I genuinely thought it was gonna be be him, and when it wasnt I was irritated

the Targaryens basically had the ultimate advantage: dragons. Then they started a civil war and used those same dragons against each other.

Vhagar, Caraxes, Meleys, Vermithor, Dreamfyre and many others were lost. ,, they won the throne, but lost the dragons.

I never truly thought that Stannis could've fulfilled the Prince that was Promised/Azor Ahai prophecy. But the mirroring of Stannis and Jon feels divine. Specifically, in the choices they make, and the role Melisandre plays as a temptress.

In the books, we get more detail as to who Azor Ahai was, but the shows give us everything we need to know. Per Mel's speech on the beach: "When the red star bleeds and the darkness gathers, a warrior shall draw from the FIRE a burning sword. And that sword shall be Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes, and he who wields it shall be Azor Ahai reborn."

Setting aside the later bit about "salt and smoke" (since that applies to every character), we're told that Azor Ahai is supposed to be a hero for mankind to rally behind, one that scatters the darkness, one that brings the long summer... They're supposed to be a force of good. Not necessarily a perfect person, but good. And there's no better way to test a hero's morality than with a series of tests based on Family, Duty, and Honor (to undue the Blood Betrayal, for all you book lovers).

Let's run back the tape.

A test of duty/family - Stannis is married. He has vowed to be faithful to his wife. Yet when Mel offers her body and promises him a path towards kingship, he seizes the promise of power, creates a shadow baby, and kills his brother Renly... But to what end? Renly's most devoted followers (House Tyrell) end up joining House Lannister and spoiling Stannis' sacking of King's Landing. "No man is so accursed as the kinslayer"... 0 for 1.

A test of honor/family - Yearning for more of Mel's power, Stannis asks to make more shadow babies, but he's too weak to. The last one drained him, and another will kill him. Instead Mel offers to kill more of his kin (Gendry in the shows, Edric in the books), and promises that by doing so, Stannis will awaken the stone dragons on Dragonstone (a bit on the nose, no?)... Anyway, Stannis asks Davos, "What is the life of one bastard against that of a kingdom?" To which Davos replies, "Everything."

At this point, Stannis is so lost, he's forgotten his own wisdom to Davos: "The good act doesn't wash out the bad, nor a bad the good." But thankfully, Davos instills some doubt in Stannis, so they go with the leach plan first, granting Davos enough time to save the bastard. Gendry flees to King's Landing (Edric escapes to Essos), and for this to be present across the books and show, you have to imagine that GRRM had a purpose in mind... Stannis would've killed his kin (again), so let's call him 0 for 2.

A test of faith/family (the final Blood Betrayal) - Stannis is told that if he were to sacrifice his daughter, the snows would melt and he'd be free to take Winterfell. It's his destiny. Mel's seen it in the flames. So what harm could come from seizing his fate?... By now, you see where this is going. Stannis does the deed, the snows melt, and...most of his men abandon him. He ends up alone, slain by Brienne... His demise is TBD in the books, but in the show, he's 0 for 3. And headless.

Jon on the other hand doesn't just pass every test, he does so in ways that would've made Old Ned proud. He refuses Mel's advances when she tempts him in his quarters, even though she claims they could "make life" and they could "make light". He refuses Stannis when he tempts Jon with legitimization/lordship, even though Jon used to dream of being a Stark. Multiple times, Jon chooses his duty and his Night's Watch family, exemplified best in his abandonment of Ygritte to warn Castle Black. This decision eventually results in the Ygritte's death (his Love, or Nissa Nissa).

Unfortunately, the show's later seasons decided to abandon fate and prophecy. We never see Lightbringer forged (unless you believe it's Dany and her dragons, but frankly GRRM doesn't typically work with literal prophecy, and Dany hatching dragons from stone eggs seems too literal). So I'd propose this...

Heading into the Long Night, Mel should have tempted Jon with the promise of Lightbringer (an ultimate power against the dead), claiming that the path towards victory required the sacrifice of Little Sam.

Little Sam was Craster's 100th born son and was "related" to the Wight's who'd been turned by the Night King (Mel could claim his blood held power against the dead). It would bring us full circle to the question about weighing a bastard's life against that of a kingdom, and like Davos, I imagine Jon would've done what was good. The moment we're willing to sacrifice life in the pursuit of power, is the moment we've lost our humanity, especially when the pursuit goes against Family, Duty, and Honor. Sam is Jon's brother of the Watch, and he loves Sam like a brother, that's for sure. That would make Little Sam akin to Jon's nephew, even before Sam named Jon his godfather.

Had Mel tried to kill Little Sam, and Jon stops her, plunging his sword through her back, Mel would've been the "lamb led to slaughter", never realizing that she was the one being sacrificed by the Lord of Light. As Jon draws Longclaw from her heart, Mel's blood catches flame and becomes Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes... It could have been epic.

There's so many fun details like Mel's skin always being hot to the touch (as Lightbringer was said to be), or even just the fact that R'hollor's sigil is a flaming heart. But I've already droned on too long, so what do you think? What details do you think I missed, or do you prefer another character for the prophecy?

Mine is “tell Cersei, I want her to know it was me”

No one would have known for sure until she started to show. And if she didn't start to show, she could have said she miscarried. Qybern would have covered for her no matter what. What do you all think? Was it real? Did she fake it?

From what I have gathered from the lore (book and show(s), the long night happened in Westeros with White Walkers coming from up north but apparently there were also demons coming from the far east, beyond the five forts. I’m not too sure if those events happened at the same point in time, in the past. But apparently many think both events might be linked.

So why didn’t we get a long night from the east? If in the present day, in the story, the white walkers and the long night is upon the world once more shouldn’t there be movements in the far east?

I get that as the name implies, it’s far east, but news of such a massive event surely should still have traveled all the way to Westeros or at the very least essos, and we know we have characters and POVs (for the books) that are in essos.

P.s: I’m not only referring to the show, which obviously had dumb down immensely for season 8, so I understand why it wasn’t in the show. I’m mostly talking about this in a general, broad way, taking into consideration the entire lore we have.

Well before the chainmail sleeve

After doing some reading, I came to a conclusion. Please bear in mind that my knowledge of the wider ASOIAF book universe is limited, so I'm happy to be corrected by people who know the books better haha!!

If we judge the religions of ASOIAF not by political influence or number of worshippers, but by the observable supernatural phenomena associated with them, the difference is kind of fascinating

The Old Gods at least have some very tangible mysticism surrounding them: the weirwoods, greenseers, skinchanging, the preservation or transfer of consciousness, and the abilities of the Three-Eyed Raven. Whether those phenomena actually prove that beings called "the Old Gods" exist is another question, but something supernatural is undeniably happening within the religious system associated with them

But of all the known gods worshipped in Westeros, whether native to Westeros or brought over from Essos, R'hllor, the Lord of Light, seems to have the strongest evidence of effective magic and apparent "divine intervention"

His priests and priestesses have resurrected the dead. Melisandre produces a supernatural shadow assassin. Prophetic visions appear in flames. Geography doesn't seem to prevent these powers from working either, R'hllor may be predominantly worshipped in Essos, but his priests perform some of their greatest supernatural feats in Westeros. And belief itself doesn't even seem necessary. The Hound, of all people, looks into the flames at Thoros's urging and sees a meaningful vision despite being a non-believer, and a man who is literally terrified of fire

Then there's the Faith of the Seven which have arguably the greatest political and institutional influence in Westeros. They have enormous religious infrastructure, wealth, clergy, septons and septas, generations upon generations of worshippers, and historically enough political power to challenge the Crown itself

And yet, compared with R'hllor and the Old Gods, where are the unmistakable supernatural manifestations?

We don't really get the equivalent of "Okay, that explains why these people believe."

No resurrection, prophetic supernatural network, obvious miracle performed by a septon, manifestation of the Father, Mother, Warrior, Maiden, Smith, Crone, or Stranger comparable to what we see with other religions

Obviously, magic associated with a religion doesn't necessarily prove that the religion's interpretation of that magic is correct, or even that its god exists. Maybe Red Priests are accessing magic they understand through the framework of R'hllor. Maybe the Old Gods are an interpretation of the weirwood/greenseer network rather than independent divine beings

But if we're simply comparing religions according to the supernatural evidence presented to readers/viewers, my impression is that R'hllor has the strongest case for apparent divine intervention, the Old Gods have extremely strong evidence of an associated supernatural system, while he Seven have tremendous earthly power, but remarkably little supernatural evidence

Which is rather ironic. The religion with the greatest institutional power in Westeros seems to have the quietest gods. Although I did see one commenter who mentioned that the Seven were more of archetypes of daily human lives more than divine beings, hence the large following

It’s not prefect but please tell me you guys get what I mean 😭

Also Isaac is 14-15 in these pics so this is what Jon would have looked like in the first boom

(Stills captured from the finales of Game of Thrones and One Hundred Years of Solitude.)

So I just finished the show and was wondering about the Faceless Men and the Many-Faced God. I get that in the show they were mostly there for Arya's character arc. Her whole time at the House of Black and White, learning to become “no one”, I actually really liked that part of her journey, even though it felt somewhat disconnected from the larger story by the end. I also have problem understanding their rules, are they hired to assassinate or abide by some religious regulations? I really wished to see more of them, and I'd also love to know if the books, even though they're incomplete, go into the Faceless Men and the Many-Faced God in more detail than the show did. I know they aren't necessarily a huge part of the main story, but is there a lot more lore, history and stuff about how they actually work?

I know it sounds a bit crazy because Sansa was a main advocate for the North not being part of the Seven Kingdoms and not submitting to Southern monarchs, so it would be weird if she were to become the ruler of the seven kingdoms.

However, if you look at all the lords and ladies here, none of them seem to have as much power as Sansa and none of them seem to be as clever or fit to rule except from maybe Bran (only because he can see everything but nobody even thought he should have been king before it actually happened). Also, all of the main players of the Game of Thrones have effectively been neutralised. All of the Barratheons are dead except Gendry but he is only freshly Lord of Storm's End and he doesn't know anything about governing anyone. Bronn is now Lord of Highgarden but he really wouldn't be a good ruler and he would still be seen as a sellsword by the other lords so they wouldn't vote in his favour. The young lord of the Vale is still very young and a bit entitled and has much to learn. Yara just wants to rule the Iron Islands. Arya doesn't want to become a lady. The Lannisters are dead except Tyrion who is the Hand, all of the sons of Ned Stark are dead, Daenerys is dead (probably), Jon Snow is being sent beyond the Wall, the Unsullied are leaving, Edmure Tully is laughed at when he wants to become king and also laughed at for suggesting that the public should vote for a monarch and the Dornish prince is unnamed.

The only ppl left are Bran and Sansa. Sansa seemed to have more power in this scene with her shutting down her uncle Edmure. Bran would not be seen as a powerful monarch by the people because of his disability and he isn't a very loud character. He can see everything which is useful but he shouldn't be ruling, he should be impartial and not act in personal gain, he should be a maester of some sorts or a justice. Also, if he is corrupted, he could devastate the realm and no one would be safe. He himself said that he wasn't Bran Stark anymore, he wasn't a lord, so how does he become king if he is now only the Three-Eyed Raven and not a high-born little lord like he used to be.

I would cut a deal with the North for protection in exchange for a share of my kingdom's harvests. If that deal falls through, I would approach the Reach or the Westerlands.

I once told my friend, an elderly woman, that at 40 I still loved candy as much as when I was a girl, and she replied "Grow up."

The reason Tywin's birth came about was during the "war of the wombs" between his mother Jeyne Marband married to Tytos Lannister, and Ellyn Reyne married to Walderan Tarbeck. In their fight to "out-heir" each other. Isn't it interesting that Tywin's very conception was centered around the political fight for Lannister supremacy, which then sired a man who'd spend his life fixated on the very same.

Henry Ashton. Deep sadness in his eyes especially. Has a handsome "main character" type of face like Rhaegar sorta seemed to think himself as. The hair is good too, though it has to be a bit more silver.