HBO's Game of Thrones season 6 discussion thread- airing 4/24/16 (No book spoilers)

[[DHT]Osiris]

It would have still been risky, the distance between even the back line of the phalanx and Jon's army was what, maybe 10'? Davos would have had to advance his archers anyhow to be accurate enough to not hit Jon's troops, which would have left them exposed to say, 1/6th of the phalanx breaking off to murder them, or possibly even being in range of Ramsey's archers.

They would have been better off melting down those bows and making some shields, or something.

I fully endorse the idea of Wunwun tying two tree trunks together to use as a battering ram/shield/armcast club.

 

[MongGrel]

If you watched the after show commentary, they said they took the ideas for the battle from famous historical ones. Getting encircled and massacred actually happened to the Romans though. Hannibal's men did it to them, is what the writer said, irrc.

The giant used a log on the dead at hardhome. It was super-effective until it broke. That much iron and the ability to forge it would have been silly. But a giant wooden war club would have been doable.

Would have been nice to see Wunwun wielding something to good use, it does seem giants in general from even the wall episodes just seem to like brute force and wing it.

I guess it's just how they roll.

Shield walls are nothing new of course, many armies have used the to great effect in the past.

Hannibal had his own giants also, of course.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

davos archers could have picked off a lot of the infantry that went to surround jon.
heck, that infantry's back will be to davos if they were to do continue the surrounding tactic.

if only davos held his position.

The wall was multi-layered. If they fired straight on, the outside simply turns to face them. If they arc their shots, they risk hitting their own men. Something Ramsey did, because he is psycho and could afford the losses. Davos charged because it was that, or do a lot of nothing. Jon screwed them by going ham, their planned use never came about.

 

[Homerboy]

For all the strength Wunwun had it seemed it was awfully hard for him to break down Winterfell's gate/door. It was just wood.

That being said, while it sucked, it was awesome Ramsay plucking him in the eye just John was "reaching out". Ramsay was soooooo awesomely an asshole.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Would have been nice to see Wunwun wielding something to good use, it does seem giants in general from even the wall episodes just seem to like brute force and wing it.

I guess it's just how they roll.

Shield walls are nothing new of course, many armies have used the to great effect in the past.

Hannibal had his own giants also, of course.

Good point.

I thought the battle was epic, the premise was crap. We knew they were going to use the 20th century western trope of the good guys getting their collective asses kicked, and the cavalry coming in to save the day at the most desperate moment.

Jon showing some of his bro's battle smarts, and winning would have been better. Using the giant well, like you pointed out about elephants. The show seems to be pushing girl power instead. I am ok with that, it is that it is being done at the expense of male characters like Jon, looking emotionally retarded that bothers me.

 

[MongGrel]

For all the strength Wunwun had it seemed it was awfully hard for him to break down Winterfell's gate/door. It was just wood.

The shitloads of crossbow bolts in his body might have been slowing him down a bit ...

Jon showing some of his bro's battle smarts, and winning would have been better. Using the giant well, like you pointed out about elephants. The show seems to be pushing girl power instead. I am ok with that, it is that it is being done at the expense of male characters like Jon, looking emotionally retarded that bothers me.

I do not mind the girl power thing myself, it keeps the show popular across the board, plus B00Bs

I'm not really sure Jon has been compromised much that way myself, but he has been a bit isolated that way since Ygrette bit the dust.

 

[brainhulk]

what happened to little miss fireplug Lyanna Mormont. would've been nice to see her kick some ass

 

[CZroe]

For all the strength Wunwun had it seemed it was awfully hard for him to break down Winterfell's gate/door. It was just wood.

That being said, while it sucked, it was awesome Ramsay plucking him in the eye just John was "reaching out". Ramsay was soooooo awesomely an asshole.

I dunno... all I could think was "what was Jon planning to do if Ramsay DIDN'T shoot?" Seriously though: he was reaching out to do... what, exactly?

 

[CZroe]

what happened to little miss fireplug Lyanna Mormont. would've been nice to see her kick some ass

She gave men. I never got the impression that she'd be fighting herself. Didn't she even say that she had other responsibilities where she was?

 

[Homerboy]

She gave men. I never got the impression that she'd be fighting herself. Didn't she even say that she had other responsibilities where she was?

She was there though. They showed her on horseback in the lineup.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

She gave men. I never got the impression that she'd be fighting herself. Didn't she even say that she had other responsibilities where she was?

She was at the pre-battle meeting giving Ramsey a great scowl. Not directed at you :

A 10yr old girl fighting in a battle like that?

 

[Childs]

The giant used a log on the dead at hardhome. It was super-effective until it broke. That much iron and the ability to forge it would have been silly. But a giant wooden war club would have been doable.

I'd rather use the resources of 20 mens armor and weapons on one giant. Just make him a chest plate and axe, and he would have wrecked everyone. He probably could have even grabbed a spear and just stabbed people from above.

I wonder when they are setting up these scenes if anyone thinks about this kind of stuff. Like yeah, Rickon needed to die, and Ramsey needed to toy with him. Why not have him run then sick a couple of his dogs on him? That makes more sense than Rickon running in a straight line trying to avoid arrows. Someone in the writing room must have said, wait, people are going laugh at that.

 

[Chiropteran]

It's too bad people thousands of years ago weren't smart enough to run in a zig zag pattern, or the crossbow and bow & arrow would have never caught on as weapons of war.

If they work in real life, I don't think it's too much of a suspension of disbelief to see a bow & arrow work in Game of Thrones.

 

[Eug]

 

[Homerboy]

I wonder when they are setting up these scenes if anyone thinks about this kind of stuff. Like yeah, Rickon needed to die, and Ramsey needed to toy with him. Why not have him run then sick a couple of his dogs on him? That makes more sense than Rickon running in a straight line trying to avoid arrows. Someone in the writing room must have said, wait, people are going laugh at that.

Since the dogs were used so very often and were Ramsay's go-to, this is what I thought was going to happen. I was sort of disappointed at the arrow thing but I didn't lose sleep over it either.

I do have to admit, I liked how after the archers starting loosing their arrows, that they cut back to Rickon's body and showed it getting plunked a few more times for affect.

 

[Childs]

It's too bad people thousands of years ago weren't smart enough to run in a zig zag pattern, or the crossbow and bow & arrow would have never caught on as weapons of war.

If they work in real life, I don't think it's too much of a suspension of disbelief to see a bow & arrow work in Game of Thrones.

Shooting into a crowd of people or a stationary target is one thing, but the degree of difficulty increases significantly when the target is moving in an unpredictable pattern. I'm pretty sure they figured that out back then as well. Its not like Rickon was trying to avoid a constant volley of arrows. Just one guy shooting an arrow every 30 secs. You dont even need to zig zag all that much, just look over your shoulder and just change direction when the arrow is in the air.

 

[MongGrel]

I'd rather use the resources of 20 mens armor and weapons on one giant. Just make him a chest plate and axe, and he would have wrecked everyone. He probably could have even grabbed a spear and just stabbed people from above.

I wonder when they are setting up these scenes if anyone thinks about this kind of stuff. Like yeah, Rickon needed to die, and Ramsey needed to toy with him. Why not have him run then sick a couple of his dogs on him? That makes more sense than Rickon running in a straight line trying to avoid arrows. Someone in the writing room must have said, wait, people are going laugh at that.

I told my wife myself when he set Rickon loose, he's either going for a bow or sicking hounds on him.

Rickon is a kid that has been captive awhile now, he was just trying to bust ass to Jon he saw coming for him I'd still say.

He was not even running at first and Ramsey prodded him to even do that. Ramsey didn't even look when firing the first couple times he was running and fired a few off just to scare the piss out of him.

He could have hit Rickon way before he was closer to Jon.

 

[IlllI]

whole episode was kind of meh to me.

#1. why didn't they give the giant a weapon? any weapon? he could have wrecked half the army by himself if he had ~something~ but nope. he was reduced to swiping at spears and getting poked by them

#2. why didn't sansa tell them about littlefinger's army? at the very least told about the raven she sent. that would have let them wait a little while longer to see if he would show up.

#3. most of the wall's defense is now decimated. They might as well abandon the wall b/c the few remaining men won't last against the white walkers. All in all Jon's actions got a lot of people killed.

#4 why didn't Rickon just hide behind some of those burning Xs? or zig zag, something, anything but running in a straight line.

 

[JEDI]

ramsay seemed to have more calvary than jon.
ramsay is an idiot for shooting at his own men when he had the advantage.

after the vale knights appeared and crushed ramsay's army, jon and the giant went running towards ramsay.

what happened to ramsay's battalion of archers??

 

[MongGrel]

whole episode was kind of meh to me.

#1. why didn't they give the giant a weapon? any weapon? he could have wrecked half the army by himself if he had ~something~ but nope. he was reduced to swiping at spears and getting poked by them

#2. why didn't sansa tell them about littlefinger's army? at the very least told about the raven she sent. that would have let them wait a little while longer to see if he would show up.

#3. most of the wall's defense is now decimated. They might as well abandon the wall b/c the few remaining men won't last against the white walkers. All in all Jon's actions got a lot of people killed.

#4 why didn't Rickon just hide behind some of those burning Xs? or zig zag, something, anything but running in a straight line.

Sansa has no idea if the Vale would show up to begin with, they haven't the whole show up till now. That was a bit of a Hail Mary, but Littlefinger helped in that one.

Wunwun and Rickon has been one of the main issues so far, it's kind of too late to argue about those issues much now. Odder things have happened in reality in situations like that.

I'd imagine many things related to the wall and the White Walkers will be addressed in the season finale, Jon being in control of Winterfell again and what else starts to happen in the North will become even more a factor next season I would imagine.

I would think the White Walkers and company have walked a bit towards the wall again by now. They where still way to the west of it when Jon boated out of there I believe.

Who knows what they have been up to, does seem they've been out there just lurking awhile now.

 

[Eug]

Very good episode overall, but there were three main issues I had with the episode.

1) Yara Greyjoy gave up her people's way of life in one sentence.

2) Why no ziggyzaggy?

3) I don't claim to be a military strategist, or even an armchair military strategist, but Jon Snow looked he was out of his mind, and basically had doomed the Stark clan to a horrible loss, until Sansa's letter saved the day. Until the end, Ramsay Bolton seemed like the smartest strategist there by a long shot.

Jon Snow's one-person fight was beautifully choreographed though. Epic.

She was at the pre-battle meeting giving Ramsey a great scowl. Not directed at you :

A 10yr old girl fighting in a battle like that?

BTW, I want to see some good ninja stealth and fighting from Arya next episode, after she's all healed up.

 

[MongGrel]

Yara went from being a outcast that made off with the fleet in the Iron Isles, to being the Queen of them in one agreement if things work out for her.

I'd imagine if Dany becomes the Queen of the 7 Realms she would have a lot of support from her in general.

Dany does not want to have one of her kingdoms raping, raiding, pillaging the others in general as a lifestyle, but that kind of clashes a bit with the general Dothraki lifestyle also.

6 of one, half a dozen of the other, just have to see what happens I guess.

 

[Drako]

ramsay seemed to have more calvary than jon.

Why are bringing religion into this?

 

[MongGrel]

Why are bringing religion into this?

:sneaky:

:thumbsup:

 

[JEDI]

Why are bringing religion into this?

??