That's awesome!

If it makes you feel any better (or worse), GRRM said the ending of GOT will be the same as his in ASOIAF. That interview worried me in that it was basically like "if you're curious as to how the books end, watch the show, it'll end the same way".

For all the things that were border-line reeruned....I thought the scene where the Dothraki ride into the darkness and their fire swords slowly extinguish was a cool directorial choice... set an ominous tone.

Why they would ride into the darkness without knowing what was out there...and with fire swords lit so every dead could see them coming was stupid though.

They had 2 dragons..why not wait until the dead charged and just roast them from the air. Why be outside the fortress at all...just have the dragons perched on the wall. All the people who die will just become the dead themselves.

So everyone's biggest complaints are that...

1. They didn't go with what everyone assumed was going to happen with the books? Lightbringer and Azor Ahai?

2. The episode was unwatchable because it was dark.

and then only a couple of people....

3. The Night King went down to easy and should have been saved for the last episode.

I think the Dothraki were supposed to do a drive by, they weren't intending to engage. It's where their skillset is - and the goal was to prioritize that skillset.

Turns out, they got ambushed against an enemy no one had ever engaged in a battle before.

I know a lot of people are pissed off about various things in that episode. For me, I wish more characters bit it - but characters did die, and died in ways that honored the characters. However, I think a lot of the anger I see online comes from Jon not 1v1ing the NK, from the Azor Ahai prophecy being torn to shreds, and that the NK is not the final enemy - but to be honest, all of this feels like subversion that's right out of the GRRM playbook. He's not a guy who abides by things like prophecies, chosen ones and dark lords. His story was never going to end battling Ice Sauron - it was always going to be a conflict between the characters the story has spent 8 seasons building up for the finish.

4. Enormous plot armor in a show that gained its popularity for not giving characters plot armor.

Yeah, the whole we have a strong, fortified position, so let's line up most of our troops outside it thing is a bit confusing.

It didn't really even make sense in the context of the rest of the battle. The Dothraki were defeated in...what...15 seconds or so? You know, the group that is famed for its effectiveness and brutality on horseback. But then everyone else lasts over an hour?

I agree that it was a cool look and set an ominous tone, but it didn't make any sense, either tactically or in terms of the outcome.

I agree with this, but am hoping the next three episodes rectify that. I will be bummed if ALL of the players still standing make it out of the story alive.

To be real, GRRM's biggest achievement was selling everyone that the characters in his story were vulnerable. From his original outline in 1993, he actually outlines the untouchables.

Jon, Dany, Bran, Arya, Tyrion, Sansa.

GRRM did a great job at selling Robb as the person who was going to avenge his father after his father's untimely death. Ned's death was shocking, but not unprecedented. Killing Robb and Catelyn is what flipped over the entire chessboard for the series, but the true achievement is that the "true" main characters were all still in their rising actions. Even in the books, characters have gained considerable plot armor since Storm of Swords (i.e. reviving Cat and Jon's inevitable resurrection).

My only beef with the episode last night.....was that I was waiting for more characters to die and they didn't.

Also.....talk about neutering an entire army (literally and figuratively). The Unsullied are ****ing worthless. All of their "training" and all they were good for was basically a wall to hold back the wights so everyone could escape?

What was up with the undead dragon and that weird game of peek-a-boo Jon was playing with him for the last 10 minutes? Was the dragon blind?

I assumed that he was supposed to be covering the entrance to where the NK was. Dude was kind of ****ed up since he had a hole in his neck.

Also they made Greyworm look like a complete POS...he's the one yelling hold the lines and protect the retreat and then was just like "nah y'all got this, I'm heading to the castle"...lol wtf.

I'll just leave this here....(N.B. it's a wight, not a White Walker that comes out of the box)

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Again, watch the episode Hardhome. They fought the wights with normal weapons. It's clear that they decided to change that in the show, but that's never how it was set up in the beginning, and it's not how it works in the books at all.