HBO's adaptation of Game of Thrones - Thread 2. There are a lot of nerds.

Is this the same stash of wildfire that was used during Blackwater?

yes.

speaking of which, if there's a fire at king's landing, and Tommen dies, who would be next in line?

Technically speaking wouldnt it be either John or Gendry?

gendry was never legitimized so he can't inherit, and john isn't in the baratheon line of succession.

the line of succession at the start of the show was like Robert → Joffrey → Tommen → Myrcella → Stannis → Shireen → Renly, but if Tommen dies then there isn't an heir to the throne. So it would turn into a huge dragout fight between the Tyrells (through Margaery as queen) vs Lannister (Cersei as Regent, though regent over what who really cares, she'd do it anyway)

Fwiw
https://twitter.com/leyawn/status/742355010026151937

Women aren't in the line of succession. In Dorne they are, which is probably where Varys is going.

they just fall to the end of the line i thought

the very end of the line iirc

Interesting take on who's heir at the moment here (it's speculative but guess it's a massive fucking spoiler if it actually does come to pass):

http://mashable.com/2016/05/03/game-thrones-heir/#Ewq.KkyM3uqi

This is very badly plotted now. So many pointless detours. Brienne and Pod's excursion to the Riverlands achieved precisely nothing, for example. That Tyrion 'tell me a joke' scene' was excruciating.

Still enjoying it though. They still know how to ratchet up the tension when they need to.

kinda crazy how much a difference one good brotherhood of banners type scene has in making the rest of an episode tolerable, or just about

i never liked paul kaye much at all but he's so excellent in this

qyburn guy is rly enjoying himself too

xxxpost That line of succession stuff is interesting but the show hasn't done any work setting up that scenario. I think its far more likely, if Tommen does die, that we'll find out that Margery is pregnant. We did recently see her talk with the High Sparrow about an heir.

Maybe the High Sparrow knocked her up?

I'll be very surprised if Margery doesn't come out on top of all this somehow.

She's the best gameplayer in the series, way better than Littlefinger (although probably co-dependent in some way).

For the top-billing cast member Peter Dinklage is getting a really terrible run of episodes right now.

Arya's story arc has been far from pointless in the grand scene of things - she was a kid now she's a trained killing machine - but there are way less boring ways to have gone about that transition.

Bravos, Mereen and Dorne have all been drop-the-ball locations, sadly.

The turn from the end-of-episode "Forsooth, I am murder'd!" to "We'll just bandage that right up and sleep it off" was kinda bullshit tbrr, but it's a small crime in the scheme of things. I guess maybe the waif's knife was emphasized as being a short little dagger? But being gut-stabbed 4-5 times including a twist shot to the liver, idk.

qyburn guy is rly enjoying himself too

some great slowly spreading 3/8 grins. see also jacen at the end of the episode.

Jacqen always looks like his face is about to slide off

Appropriate casting, then.

i never liked paul kaye much at all but he's so excellent in this

His smirking is so aggravating. Though he's maybe one of the better of the P. Kay(e) Dicks (which includes Peter and Phil).

he has such a medieval face

I think the wind changed during his time as Dennis Pennis and he's stuck like that.

i realized not long ago that jacquen looks a bit like cyclist peter sagan and now i cant unsee it

Brienne and Pod's excursion to the Riverlands achieved precisely nothing

this isn't true at all lol? jon and sansa were unable to bolster their army, for one. but more importantly jaime and brienne reaffirm the weird accidental bond they have with each other. they have this showdown where they agree they must fight each other but then don't even bother & instead share a tender goodbye. their interactions say something about each character but more to the point remind us that the notion of loyalty -- which is what this whole season/show is about -- is malleable even for the most rigidly moralistic characters.

also jamie's compassion for brienne is contrasted with his brutal threatening of edmure. jamie has basically become a sympathetic character but we're shown again that he's essentially a total sociopath.

you may not like what the plot points achive but that doesn't mean they achieve nothing!!

This is what I mean: criticisms like "achieved precisely nothing" really mean "did not scoot us along toward boring dragons v. zombies fite"

The stuff that happened at riverrun (no armies for the north? Lots of places they didn't raise armies. Brienne and Jamie - not that important, but hardly had to happen there) could have been worked into the storyline a bit more elegantly rather than crating this odd set piece that seems unfulfilling.

https://theringer.com/ask-the-maester-the-high-sparrow-cleganebowl-837ce46e2de1#.4ckx1kkfd

By which I mean that this season seems to have had a few events planned, and then the writers are trying to fill up space. Certainly the pacing is a lot slower compared to the first few seasons. I'm no bagging on the show - it's still the TV highlight of my week.

"also jamie's compassion for brienne is contrasted with his brutal threatening of edmure. jamie has basically become a sympathetic character but we're shown again that he's essentially a total sociopath."

Edmure clearly had a very specific opinion about who Jaime is, so Jaime decided to "use" this impression of him to his advantage in order to win Riverrun in a clean way. AKA the brutal threatening was just a tool of manipulation.

I kind of like how the Lannisters have managed some pretty important victories with minimal bloodshed (red wedding and now this). Maybe they aren't that bad really.

Tommen's reign seems to be as good as it's going to get for the people. Compared to Cersei and Jaime's 'fuck everyone but us' his alliance with the faith is enlightened.

xxpost I read the scene that Brienne's presence forced Jamie into resolving the siege without resorting to combat, which, yes, meant he had to draw upon his reputation for ruthlessness. Negotiation and treaty-making has been a sub-theme of the show this season.

It's within his best interest to resolve a siege to his advantage without resorting to combat either way.

the notion of loyalty -- which is what this whole season/show is about

had no idea this show was about loyalty tbh

it's not. it's about thrones.

the word "game" the title refers to the various characters and their incessant striving for power - not a game in the traditional sense eg chess/tennis but akin to a game in that they are "competing" against each other to rule. a much more serious game when you think of it this way.

Thought it was about 'musical chairs', tbh.

i couldnt remember for the life of me what "rumors" cersei was asking qyburn to look into (unless it was the wildfire caches, but she'd already know about those from the blackwater siege)

(it is 1000 percent about musical chairs)

I thought it was about boobz

xpost. otm actually. i thought it was a generic game but that theory makes more sense. hence the music in the titles being v similar to most popular musical chairs tunes

wow. if you look up "throne" in the dictionary apparently it actually means a chair which a ruler sits on.

i put my ruler in a drawer

Musical chairs is a brutal game which pits brother against brother, knows no loyalties.

splinter is coming

strictly speaking it should be called:

"game" of chairs

this would make it clear it's not an actual game and that a throne is a chair.

Also when is Robson and Jerome going to sing a song about Fire and Ice?