Game of Thrones begins....

[grumbler]

Sometimes i think the show/story would be better without dragons, though.  Sometimes, like today, I got so wrapped up in the whole battle with the Dotharki, and then the dragons came and I'm like....meh...almost deus ex machina.

Dragons reduce a lot of the drama from the battles, but that is okay.  Battles aren't where the drama should be in a show like this.  They are there for spectacle.  You always know who is going to win any given one.

I'd have liked to see just one line added to that episode; I'd have liked Jon to say, after telling Dani that the people would see her as just another butcher if she used the dragons against the cities, "but against armies, they'd understand."  Then, Dani would be acting on a suggestion after she confessed that she was losing the war, rather than her attack on the Lannisters coming out of the blue like that.

[Sophie Scholl]

There is no evidence that the Blackfyres are not part of the series canon - Selmy Barriston gained his fame by killing the last of the Blackfyre pretenders.  The Aegon V bit was dropped, as it was an added complication (in the books, he is almost certainly a Blackfyre himself, descended from the female line), but there could still be a Varys - Blackfyre connection.

The gentleman from The Iron Bank offers to contract The Golden Company, aka the Blackfyre mercenary group, on behalf of the Lannister cause.

[Admiral Yi]

Time and space seem to have been abandoned in this season.  How did the Dothraki make it from Little Shitty Island to High Garden with no fleet left, Euron sitting at King's Landing, and while Jamie's army was still on the march?

Good battle scene though.  Makes up a bit for that crappy Battle of the Bastards.

[viper37]

I'd have liked to see just one line added to that episode; I'd have liked Jon to say, after telling Dani that the people would see her as just another butcher if she used the dragons against the cities, "but against armies, they'd understand."  Then, Dani would be acting on a suggestion after she confessed that she was losing the war, rather than her attack on the Lannisters coming out of the blue like that.

that would have ruined the show.

We saw the Iron Bank representative stressing out to Cersei that he'd facilitate her ascension to True Queen once he got paid the entire debt.  Once we saw the convoy, we knew Danny was goint to attack and destroy it.  In all likelyhood, she saved the gold, and that will bring her supplies.  A huge chunk of the Lannister's army is dead by now, so moving supplies around won't be a problem, with her holding Casterly Rock.  With that gold, she may be able to convince others to join her cause too.  Maybe the Dornish can still be persuaded, if the realm is not in total anarchy.

And it might even be that Bronn and Jamei will be rescued from a certain death and traded for the Dornish queen and Theon's sister.  Supplies shouldn't be an issue anymore, so long as they come by land.

[HVC]

Sams dad said the gold made it to the castle.

[viper37]

Time and space seem to have been abandoned in this season.  How did the Dothraki make it from Little Shitty Island to High Garden with no fleet left, Euron sitting at King's Landing, and while Jamie's army was still on the march?

Good battle scene though.  Makes up a bit for that crappy Battle of the Bastards.

1- the map: https://quartermaester.info/

2- They have ships.  Tyrion says they still have enough ships to land at King's Landing.  Euron's fleet will not get close too close to Dragonstone, for fear of the dragons.

3- they're not in Highgarden anymore, they are travelling, away from the Castle, toward King's Landing and they are stopped near a body of water.  We could assume, based on the map, that they are at Bitterbridge, halfway through.

4- Using ships from Dragonstone, they can move the Dothrakis to Sharp Point / Stonedance, two minor houses, loyal to Targaryans in the past, so they could be convinced to join the fight on Daenarys' side.  It ain't that far, so they could easily do multiple trips if needed.

5- From there, walk through the woods, cross the river, ambush the Lannisters wherever you find them.  An early patrol on horse could be delegated to advance quietly and find the exact ennemy's positions.

6- Cersei has roughly half of her land troops with Jamei, and the other half to keep peace in King's Landing, with some patrols near the highways.  Remember, there are no national armies in Westeros (that was Joffrey's dream, though), they are feodal armies, meaning it's the Lannister and whomever they convinced to fight for them, and for those lords who have not commited troops to Highgarden, they would likely still be in their Castles, maintaining order and preparing for an attack from someone.  Since the south and the north are hostile to Cersei, as well as the center, that did not leave that much people. She did evacuate Casterly Rock to mount an army of decent size, so she can't keep control of all of the realm with what she has.

7- If you want to find a plothole:  there's no way a cavalry army could be charging for so long (it was a charge, that's why we heard the loud thumping) and still have its horses able to carry momentum when the time comes.  See Lord of the Rings #2 for how a proper cavalry charges works.  You wait until you see the ennemy to charge, otherwise, you exhaust the horses.

[viper37]

Sams dad said the gold made it to the castle.

oh, I missed that.

[grumbler]

The gentleman from The Iron Bank offers to contract The Golden Company, aka the Blackfyre mercenary group, on behalf of the Lannister cause.

That's true (though it is Cersei who brings up the Golden Company, not Tycho Nestoris).  I think that the Blackfyre past of the Company may not even be mentioned.

[grumbler]

Time and space seem to have been abandoned in this season.  How did the Dothraki make it from Little Shitty Island to High Garden with no fleet left, Euron sitting at King's Landing, and while Jamie's army was still on the march?

Good battle scene though.  Makes up a bit for that crappy Battle of the Bastards.

They had enough ships to land the Dothraki, as Tyrion pointed out.

The portion of the army that the Dothraki attack stayed behind to gather the harvest.  It's not going to be moving very fast with all of the train it has.  There was enough time between jamie sending Bron to help gather the harvest, and the convoy moving towards King's Landing, for that harvest to be gathered, loaded into a convoy, and to make some progress towards King's Landing.  I agree that that wasn't clear though.

Agree about the battle.  It's the best one yet.

[grumbler]

that would have ruined the show.

  Contrarian man is obviously contrary.

We saw the Iron Bank representative stressing out to Cersei that he'd facilitate her ascension to True Queen once he got paid the entire debt.  Once we saw the convoy, we knew Danny was goint to attack and destroy it.  In all likelyhood, she saved the gold, and that will bring her supplies.  A huge chunk of the Lannister's army is dead by now, so moving supplies around won't be a problem, with her holding Casterly Rock.  With that gold, she may be able to convince others to join her cause too.  Maybe the Dornish can still be persuaded, if the realm is not in total anarchy.

Dani didn't get the gold.  She also didn't get the food she needed.  However, I am going to be interested to see how Tycho Nestorius responds to the evidence that Dani's dragons are simply unstoppable.  Cersei's side looks a lot less promising now that she has lost a big chunk of her army and has essentially lost control over any non-fortified territory.

And it might even be that Bronn and Jamei will be rescued from a certain death and traded for the Dornish queen and Theon's sister.  Supplies shouldn't be an issue anymore, so long as they come by land.

There is no Dornish Queen.  Jamie and Bron will certainly survive and will meet Jon Snow.  I wonder how convincing Jon will be.

[grumbler]

7- If you want to find a plothole:  there's no way a cavalry army could be charging for so long (it was a charge, that's why we heard the loud thumping) and still have its horses able to carry momentum when the time comes.  See Lord of the Rings #2 for how a proper cavalry charges works.  You wait until you see the ennemy to charge, otherwise, you exhaust the horses.

That was my thought as well, but, remember, these aren't typical horses from earth.  They are fantasy horses from a fantasy land.

A bigger plot hole is Bron using the ballista.  Where on earth would he have learned how to do that, calculating windage and ballistics?  He also re-wound the ballista far too easily (noting that big could shoot that fast), but, given that he was shooting at a dragon, unrealistic rewind speeds probably isn't the least realistic feature of that scene!

[grumbler]

Here's a line I found interesting, and maybe fan service:  when asked who taught her to fight like that, Arya says "no one."  Syrio Forel was the one who taught her.  There has long been a fan theory that Syrio Forel was, in fact, Jaqen H'ghar.  Jaqen, of course, was a Faceless Man, and their description of themselves is, as we know, "no one."  Was she saying that she now knew that Syrio was a Faceless Man?

[Liep]

A bigger plot hole is Bron using the ballista.  Where on earth would he have learned how to do that, calculating windage and ballistics?  He also re-wound the ballista far too easily (noting that big could shoot that fast), but, given that he was shooting at a dragon, unrealistic rewind speeds probably isn't the least realistic feature of that scene!

Hopefully Dany will learn not to fly in a straight line towards the next one.

[grumbler]

Hopefully Dany will learn not to fly in a straight line towards the next one.

Or, at least, to have the dragon gout fire while she does it, both to shield the dragon from view and to effect the path of the bolt.

[Razgovory]

Okay, so who was it that saved Jamie against the dragon?  I thought it was Dickon, but's hard to tell.