Surprisingly Realistic Outcome / Game of Thrones

Examples of Surprisingly Realistic Outcomes in Game of Thrones:

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Season 1

• "Winter Is Coming": Will flees to the North to warn the people about the terrifying evil that's coming for them. In any other fantasy series, this would make him the hero, or at least one of the main characters. But in this one, not only do the people not for a second believe one random guy's proofless word about an ancient evil he swears is coming, but he's also deserting from his duty — and in Westeros, like most medieval societies, that's a crime punishable by death. Poor Will gets executed. It's something of a minor Establishing Series Moment for the show as a whole; this show is going to look at how a fantasy kingdom would operate as if it were realistic to the medieval societies such kingdoms are typically based on.
• "The Pointy End": While Drogo seemingly suffers Only a Flesh Wound against Mago, while his opponent dies a gory death, Daenerys realizes that his wound could become infected. Her fears are quickly proven to be true.
• "Baelor": Drogo took a fairly deep cut on his chest from his opponent's sword in the previous episode, then contemptuously wiped his hand across it after ripping the man's throat out. It would've been more surprising if he hadn't developed sepsis.
  • The same incident teaches Daenerys that saving a person after your allies have massacred her family and town does not buy you much loyalty.

Season 4

• "The Lion and the Rose": When Varys warns Tyrion that Tywin and Cersei are onto Shae, Tyrion remarks that Varys can come up with some clever lie to throw them off the scent. Varys bluntly replies he's not going to lie to two extremely powerful and dangerous people who'd have him executed in a heartbeat if they found out.
  Tyrion: So I'm guilty of being seen with my wife's handmaiden. My father will ask you if there's anything more, and you'll tell him some clever lie.
  Varys: No, I will not. How long do you think your father and sister will let me live if they even suspected me of lying? I have no pet sellsword to protect me, no legendary brother to avenge me, only little birds who whisper in my ear.
• "Breaker of Chains": Despite receiving the letter from the Night's Watch imploring him for assistance in the last season finale, Stannis does not immediately leave for the Wall. Due to the severe losses in the battle of the Blackwater and the lack of support from the other lords to his cause, his current host is small and thus he remains in Dragonstone for the time being.
• "First of His Name": A lot of the earlier subplots are submitted to this by way of deconstruction:
  • Podrick Payne is hailed by Tyrion for his loyalty, but he squired for a man in a city, who tended to be pretty hands-off and rarely travelled by horse. This gave him very little training for basic squire work - like riding a horse, or living on grass and the open field, which is all required of him when travelling with Brienne.
  • Arya's interaction with the Hound. The Hound is pretty inaccurate as to Syrio's real skills^note He was surprised and was unprepared and acquitted well with a practice sword and seemed fully aware that he was making his last stand., but he does lampshade the technique's obvious flaws, how woefully unprepared, unskilled and untrained Arya is, and how little she knows of actual combat.
  • Locke is a kind of parody of The Mole, going deep cover and waiting to kidnap Bran and stab Jon in the back during the chaos of a fight. He dies unexpectedly and numbers among the other four casualties. The other members of Jon's group mourn him with their three longer-tenure brothers, thinking he was a hero.
  • Tywin Lannister lampshades to Cersei how precarious their position is despite winning the war, the fact that the Iron Bank of Braavos is not an organization that will submit to their usual bribes and intimidation tactics and that he's in a situation where he has to accommodate the Tyrells. The Lannisters are in a credit crunch after a devastating war that's drained their coffers dry and, even before that, funding Robert Baratheon's spendthrift regime. Having inherited his government, they can no longer call the debts they owe themselves, and their gold mines are spent. He even tells Cersei that Tommen's marriage is going to be a much more modest affair.
  • After the euphoria of liberating Meereen, Daenerys comes to terms with the consequences of her actions. The "Wise Masters" won't give up without a fight, the council she set up as a preliminary government in Astapor have been killed and replaced by a dictator and if she leaves, it will almost certainly lead all the people she freed sliding back into the same conditions. She resolves to stay and consolidate her reforms.
• "The Laws of Gods and Men":
  • Tyrion only got away with berating, threatening, and outright hitting Joffrey because of his position as Hand of the King and because of Refuge in Audacity. Once he's stripped of his title and on trial for Joffrey's murder, all this comes back to bite him in the ass when it's used as evidence against him.
  • For Daenerys, it was easy to brutally execute one hundred and sixty-three men when she believed they were all child killing monsters; here, she (along with the audience) is treated to the reality that some of the people she killed were good men who objected to the actions of others, and that the Masters aren't one and all Card Carrying Villains. Compounding this is that, up until reaching Mereen, she'd never actually had to govern before.
• "Mockingbird": Despite the friendship between Tyrion and Bronn, at the end of the day, Tyrion is paying Bronn for his services, and when Bronn gets a better offer that doesn't involve great risk to his life, he takes it. Bronn knows that he has almost no chance of winning a fight against the Mountain and also knows that Tyrion has nothing to offer him that would make it worth the risk; taking Cersei's bribe is the move that works out the best for him and he has no reason not to accept. As he said a long time ago, he doesn't loan his sword out...he sells it.
• "The Children":
  • Daenerys continues to be confronted with the fallout of her actions in Meereen. While the Unsullied try to keep order, freedom for a lot of former slaves is far worse than being enslaved, since they don't have the skills to survive on their own, and it's turning into a very dog-eat-dog world. At least one old man confronts her with the request that he wants to return to being a slave (specifically, he was a tutor for his master's children), where he at least had security and respect, and tells her that there are many others like him.
  • A predatory animal of Drogon's size and viciousness would almost certainly target children as easy prey if its normal prey supply is unavailable.(Doubles as Truth in Television)
  • Bran and the Reeds and Hodor, despite seeming like a classic Free-Range Children on a quest arc, ends in horror when one of the kids dies and has to receive a Mercy Kill from his own sister. Bran and Meera find the Three-Eyed Raven's words that Jojen expected to die anyway, very hollow.
  • For all their numbers, Jon's remark about the fatal lack of organisation within the Wildling army is proven right. They are easily routed by a relatively small force of cavalry with superior tactics. In the books Jon surmises that Mormont could have feasibly charged a few hundred men through their disorganised ranks and slain Mance, though surviving this victory would be unlikely.
  • It's implied Sandor refusing to have his wound treated has left him able to only use his right arm in his fight with Brienne, with is an especially serious problem because he only carries a two-hand sword. He attempts to use it with one hand, but it's ineffective.

Season 5

• "The Sons of the Harpy":
  • No matter how good of a fighter you are, it is extremely difficult to fight outnumbered 10-to-1 and come out unscathed. Even though Grey Worm and Ser Barristan manage to kill most of the attacking Harpies, they sustain several nasty wounds from being ganged-up on that slay Barristan and very well might kill Grey Worm too.
  • The Unsullied are feared for their iron discipline and spear-and-shield formation, making them seem borderline invincible. When patrolling the streets of Meereen, they are much more vulnerable when their flanks are exposed and their helmets limit their peripheral vision. The Sons of the Harpy take advantage of this and stage urban ambushes, where several individual Unsullied are simply caught off guard and killed quickly.
  • Growing up being the Spare to the Throne and under a My Beloved Smother has left Tommen woefully unprepared for the realities of being king.
  • A more psychological example is Shireen, who has spent most of her life scarred by the greyscale, away from other people and with an unstable mother. Despite her kindhearted nature, such a life hasn't been good for her self-esteem, and she feels that her father Stannis, who loves her, is also ashamed of her.
  • Littlefinger's intelligence gathering network is shown to rival Varys, but he's gathered little information on the bastard son of a Northern house far from the center of power in King's Landing.
• "The Gift":
  • Theon snaps right back into his Reek persona the moment he leaves Sansa's room. Turns out you can't just sway someone who has been thoroughly tortured, broken, and trained for over a year with nothing but compelling arguments.
  • Also, Cersei learns the hard way that, eventually, that group of religious fanatics you endorsed will no longer care about your position.
  • For all this Wiki likes to talk of Sam's levels in badass, his killing of a White Walker and a Thenn were ultimately products of luck. While he has considerable bravery and heart, he's still useless in a straight-up fight, a fact that gets driven home and hard in this episode.
• "Mother's Mercy":
  • Unfortunately for Stannis, it turns out that sellswords won't follow a man who has no food or siege equipment and who sacrificed his own daughter (which only ended up clearing the weather). They leave with all the horses, leaving Stannis's loyal men easy pickings for the Bolton mounted cavalry.
  • Even after the events of the last episode, Dany is still having trouble controlling her dragon, mostly because Drogon is tired from the flight and busy licking the wounds he took in Daznak's Pit.
  • Discussed by Jon. Even knowing about two weaknesses of the White Walkers (dragonglass and Valyrian steel), he points out that they don't have anywhere near enough of either to make a difference and that they're still hopelessly outmatched.
  • You take a group of men, most of whom are criminals banished to the Wall as alternative to execution and forced to take a vow of celibacy and live in arctic conditions in order to (as far as they're concerned) protect the North from the wildlings, only to have a young Lord Commander go against the reason why they're stuck there to begin with... You can do the math.

Season 6

• "The Red Woman":
  • Theon and Sansa are about as successful at evading bloodhounds as you can expect of them, and Theon's attempt to lead them away is utterly useless.
  • Trystane expects a duel with the person he picked out, but the person he didn't pick takes advantage of his distraction.
  • Podrick's skill with a sword is where a person with his level of training and experience would be. He barely wins the fight on horseback and is nearly killed by an actual soldier when on foot.
  • Brienne is a hell of a fighter but she's not a One-Woman Army so taking on three trained soldiers in succession quickly wears her down. The second one unhorses and nearly kills her and she barely has the strength to finish off the third. If the other two hadn't been occupied with Podrick and Theon, she'd almost certainly have been killed.
  • The Boltons' problems aren't over just because they've beaten Stannis, since they are once again in rebellion against the Iron Throne and a proper Lannister invasion will be all but impossible to defeat without the support of the rest of the North.
  • Daenerys trying to get the Dothraki to free her by listing her many titles goes nowhere since they've never heard of her and they do not respect names and bloodlines, only strength.
• "Oathbreaker":
  • Melisandre's religious fervor is back and good as new after her successfully conducted resurrection. After all, the mishap with Stannis wasn't enough to break fanaticism that was cemented over what we learned to be centuries.
  • While Tyrion is a charming and charismatic person in Westeros, he's still a foreigner in Meereen and his attempts to strike up a conversation with two people who were slaves and are used to a culture in which they do what they are told without any further small talk or banter doesn't automatically work on them.
  • Being the greatest swordsman in the world won't save you from a sneak attack.
  • The news of Wildlings makes the Umbers side with the Boltons as the lesser of two evils. After all, it's an army of people that raided their lands every time they passed the Wall.
  • After five seasons of hearing of Varys' "little birds" as if they're an elite team of trained operatives, it turns out that he's been using street children for his spying. Qyburn is able to turn them in no time flat by simply offering sweets as street urchins could care less who's in power in the city but will do work for anyone who offers some food.
• "The Broken Man":
  • It was not a surprise that Brother Ray and his group were all going to be slaughtered without fighting back due to their pacifist ways. Ray told Clegane even if they wanted to fight they'll lose since they are just regular commoners, not bandits and former knights.
  • Davos was right that the North for all their loyalty won't walk against the Boltons for a desperate cause. Robett Glover even brings up that fighting for the Starks cost him his castle and his brother.
  • Olenna leaves Cersei to fend for herself after Cersei so thoroughly sabotaged the Lannister-Tyrell alliance. She won't fall for Cersei's words again.
  • As popular as the Starks might have been while they were in power, it turns out that not all of their former allies are willing to fight for them again. Considering that Jon and Sansa's army is heavily outnumbered by the Boltons and the bulk of their force is made up of Wildlings, it's not much of a surprise.
  • A big point in the novels is about honor and reputation: the Lannisters, Boltons, and Freys succeed by betraying people and killing men under a flag of truce and consider themselves clever for it. The inevitable result, however, is that no one will ever believe a word they say again, meaning that instead of an easy peace, the remnants of their enemies would all rather fight to the death than trust any offer of surrender. The Freys threaten Blackfish's garrison at Riverrun that they'll kill Edmure if they don't surrender - given that the Freys literally killed men who were guests at their own table, breaking Sacred Hospitality, Brynden has zero reason to believe them - if he surrenders, they'll probably just kill Edmure anyway.
• "Battle of the Bastards":
  • Despite coming up with a serviceable battle plan that might have allowed victory against a numerically superior force, Jon ultimately blows the whole thing by leading a direct charge instead, exactly what he said they shouldn't do. His army is very nearly slaughtered by Ramsay, who has more men and a trap that Jon just walks right into. Ramsay goaded him into this, though, despite Sansa warning that Ramsay would try something like this and that Rickon was dead already.
  • Ramsay has some good basic ideas, first in his ploy to kill Jon in order to destroy the leadership of the opposing army, and second with the idea of utilizing the superior tactics and armaments of the Bolton infantry. However...
    • He commits all his forces to destroying the Stark army and thus has no rear guard to defend against any other allies or reinforcements that the Starks might have. Once infantry is committed, the only thing it can do is try to destroy the enemy right in front of it, as trying to change direction or formation while in a shield wall is a slow, cumbersome process that leaves the infantry uniquely vulnerable until they can finish doing so and reestablish a cohesive formation. (Paying close attention to the Bolton infantry during the charge of the Vale forces shows that some of the Bolton forces were desperately trying to turn around and adjust to the new threat, but the vast majority failed to do so in time, which is why the Knights of the Vale were able to smash them so effectively.) As such, anything new or unexpected coming at the infantry while they're already committed is a serious problem, which is why you don't kill off a big chunk of your army and leave it with such a glaring vulnerability. Had the Bolton cavalry still been intact, they could have been used to scout the area, warn of incoming enemies, or form a defensive screen to protect the Bolton infantry and allow them to attempt to change formation during the Vale's charge.
    • Ramsay's plan to encircle the Stark forces entirely with the shield wall and the Smalljon's forces coming down the mountain of bodies works well for dramatic purposes, but not tactics-wise. Historically it's usually a bad idea to trap your opponent entirely with no means of escape, as they have no choice but to fight to the death if they can expect no quarter. Indeed, Tormund's forces do rout and try to escape (but cannot), which would have been much faster and lower on casualties for the Boltons. Roose had the right idea last season when he had his cavalry envelop Stannis's forces in a pincer movement that still left the rear open, which encouraged the Stormlanders to rout, after which they got picked off with ease.
    • Even had his plan worked to perfection, (despite the parts that should have obviously been impossible to plan out, such as making sure that his own men die in such a way to create a wall in the first place) slaughtering so much of his own army through friendly fire and then suffering more casualties during the infantry battle would have been a needless and severe blow to the Bolton forces and left them able to field far fewer men. This would have left them vulnerable to other upstarts within the North or external foes.
  • Dogs who have been trained to eat human flesh and starved for a week are not going to be very big on loyalty or restraint, a fact Ramsay finds out in the hardest way imaginable.

Season 7

• "Dragonstone":
  • Cersei wants Jaime to fight a four-front war to protect their dynasty. Jaime is quick to remind her of the problems with that: 1) winter is here and they need food, food which the Tyrells control and aren't going to provide, 2) with the Freys dead, they have no allies to fight with, and 3) their children are dead and they have no dynasty left to protect.
  • When the Northern Lords favor razing the castles of Houses Karstark and Umber to the ground as punishment for their disloyalty, Sansa is the one who points out that: 1) the castles are just buildings that are incapable of committing treason, and 2) they kind of need all the strongholds they can get right now.
  • The Night King and his army may not be able to cross the Wall, but there's nothing to stop them from simply going around it.
  • Sam was initially thrilled to arrive in the Citadel as he was allowed access to a massive library until they sorted out his "irregular" situation. Now we see his days are filled with hard work and doing menial tasks which makes total sense as 1) he is a novice now and a Maester's life is about service; 2) it takes years of hard work to become a true Maester; and 3) the actual Maesters at the Citadel spend nearly all their time researching, so of course they are going to pass the lesser duties onto the newer students.
  • Arya, having completed her Training from Hell, comes to Westeros to enact vengeance... and finds out she has virtually no targets: with the exception of Freys, people who wronged her are dead or moved on, nowhere to find, and random enemy soldiers are not worth killing. The only remaining target is Cersei, and killing her is probably a Suicide Mission, even for Arya.
• "Stormborn":
  • Theon may look okay, especially compared to his book counterpart, but he really hasn't just shrugged off all the physical and mental torture inflicted on him by Ramsay. As confirmed by Word of God, witnessing the carnage, pillaging of the ships, mutilation of bodies, death and destruction around him and Yara being held hostage by Euron triggers his PTSD causing him to abandon Yara and jump overboard to save himself.
  • Daenerys could simply carry out her conquest by brute force, but doing so wouldn't leave much left for her to rule. She is convinced to take a less destructive approach.
  • Likewise, allying with a race known and feared as the most barbarous in Essos is going to breed fear and mistrust among the denizens of Westeros. As such, a few of the nobles who dislike and outright hate Cersei are willing to consider fighting by her side because they do not trust Daenerys for being willing to ally with the Dothraki and the Unsullied, and don't think she'll provide quarter to the nobility (like she refused to do at Slaver's Bay). Daenerys likewise has to consider the political implications of using them before she can dare to deploy them.
  • Arya is reunited with her direwolf, Nymeria, for the first time in ages. But since then, the latter has become more wild and even formed her own pack, so she refuses Arya's request to go with her.
  • A trio of supposedly skilled fighters like the Sand Snakes that couldn't even defeat a cripple and a mercenary trying to flee for their lives probably wouldn't last long in an actual battle against enemies with full-blown killing intent. Once they run into Euron Greyjoy, who isn't trying to escape like Jaime and Bronn did in the Water Gardens, he shows them no mercy. In addition, Euron is fighting in his element, while they're more used to fighting on solid ground and Nymeria's whip isn't that useful on the ship.
  • Tyene is only armed with a dagger, and while she can fend off Euron's men with it while they come at her one at a time, when they attack her en masse, she's quickly overwhelmed.
  • Without doubt, Yara is a fantastic fighter, but Euron catches her almost entirely unprepared here. Going up against her heavily-armed, heavily-armored uncle with no chance to properly gear up herself proves to be a major factor in why Yara loses that fight.
  • When your family has a reputation for brutality and violence, as do the majority of your armed forces, it's very unlikely that the people on the continent you're trying to conquer will want to support you or form alliances. You have to go out of your way to convince people that you have changed your ways.
  • With their last surviving member being an elderly woman, House Tyrell is starting to lose its grip on The Reach; when Olenna inevitably dies, the position of Lord Paramount of the Reach becomes up for grabs, and already House Tarly is maneuvering to replace them.
  • Little more lighthearted one here; ever since the ship teasing between Grey Worm and Missandei began, characters and audience alike have vocally wondered how they could consummate it given Grey Worm's status as a eunuch, including speculation as to whether or not Grey Worm still has any equipment^note The books make it explicit that no, Unsullied are completely gelded, but the show still hasn't given a straight answer. As it turns out the solution is rather simple, being that oral sex is a thing that exists.
• "The Queen's Justice":
  • Even though their union turned into a Perfectly Arranged Marriage, it doesn't change the fact that Daenerys was still initially raped by Drogo and she remembers it this way.
  • When Daenerys declares she will ride her dragons to personally burn down Euron's fleet, both Tyrion and Missandei argue against it, pointing out that not only could the fleet be anywhere, but for all the power of the dragons themselves, one precise arrow could kill Dany by hitting her on her perch atop a dragon (as one of her female ancestors suffered, although she survived).
  • Furthermore, as she's the only person the dragons will possibly allow to ride them, she can't send loyal but ultimately expendable followers to do it in her place.
  • Even though Samwell did complete a Dangerous Forbidden Technique without a hitch, this doesn't mean that he's going to be given praise and sped ahead in his training as a maester. He broke the rules, and he has to learn how to be one of them like anyone else, slowly. He is praised, but it's only by virtue of the fact that he didn't fail or, worse, infect himself or even the entire Citadel that he's not expelled immediately.
  • Tyrion is a skilled tactician, as the Battle of Blackwater proved, but no strategic planner — no matter how talented — is going to make a good decision based on flawed, incomplete information.
  • Tyrion believes that taking Casterly Rock is a good compromise to weaken Cersei without directly attacking King's Landing, the latter of which being politically risky. While a good idea in theory, he doesn't know that Casterly Rock is entirely worthless now that its gold mines are dry and the bulk of the Lannister host is actively engaged in the war. Because Cersei is not Tywin, Casterly Rock's status as the ancestral home of House Lannister means nothing to her, and she's more than willing to throw it away to gain a tactical advantage.
  • Cersei might be surrounded by enemies, but she still controls the most powerful house, has internal lines of communication, a veteran army, and control of the sea lanes. She is not going down easily.
• "The Spoils of War":
  • Arya has been missing for years, and anyone claiming to be her could be an opportunist wanting to claim Winterfell for their own. While the guards are stupid in how they handle her claims, they have a good reason to be skeptical.
  • The practice fight between Brienne and Arya calls back to the fight between Oberyn and the Mountain; the lighter, faster fighter may be able to run rings around the stronger, slower fighter, but a single blow will send them sprawling.
  • Drogon is big, incredibly dangerous, and powerful, but not as maneuverable as Viserion or Rhaegal; when Dany needs to attack from the same direction twice, they have to make a long, looping turn to line the correct angle up again.
  • Daenerys is still a physically unimposing girl and as such very vulnerable when she dismounts Drogon — Jaime immediately tries to capitalize on this.
  • It might look like you can sneak up on a person who is preoccupied by something else. Getting the drop on somebody when in full armor and at a full gallop in the middle of a swamp is next to impossible.
  • Jaime trying to kill Daenerys seems like a good idea to win the war... If a giant, fire-breathing dragon didn't happen to be at her side. The moment Drogon realizes Jaime is attacking him and Daenerys, he quickly counterattacks and tries to fry him, with Jaime only surviving because Bronn saves him in the last second. Both Tyrion and Bronn call him an idiot for it, Daenerys looks at him clearly thinking the exact same thing, and Drogon's facial expression seems to indicate that even he considers Jaime an idiot.
  • Full plate armor is very heavy and all but impossible to swim in, as Jaime finds out when a Diving Save tackles him into the river. Being short one hand isn't doing him any favors, either ^{From the Books} In the books, Victarion Greyjoy makes a point of wearing full-plate armor on his raids and while on board his ship. No other Ironborn would think of doing such a thing, as they're surrounded by water and that much armor would make a man sink like lead. Victarion knows this; in fact, when facing a Knight in Shining Armor in one chapter, he simply knocks the lad overside and lets physics do the rest. The point is to prove that Victarion is utterly unafraid of death (and to keep him safe in combat, since it's hard for anyone to break through all that armor before he kills them). Though Show!Euron is based on both brothers Euron and Victarion, this is not an aspect that was applied to the show.
  • With Qyburn's scorpion ballista being (relatively) newly-introduced and Bronn unlikely to have received practice/training in it, it was highly unlikely for him to have made a true killing blow against Drogon. The fact that he hit him at all, as it were, is lucky enough. The logistical problems also come into play: Bronn is firing the weapon without a support crew for loading and such; and Drogon is a living dragon with a thick hide and strong bones and muscles, not a desiccated skeleton. Though Drogon is injured, he is still able to land safely and can counterattack rather more quickly than poor Bronn.^{From the Books}During Aegon the Conqueror's conflict with Dorne, the dragon Meraxes was killed by a scorpion bolt to the eye during a battle at Hellholt, House Uller's keep. Later, during the Dance of the Dragons, the very young and smaller dragons Tyraxes and Shrykos are mentioned to have been killed via strikes to the head during the Storming of the Dragonpit. The Dragonpit, as Tyrion pointed out last season, stunted the development of dragons due to their confinement, compared to those raised in the wild, so in either case Drogon had the advantage. Dragons are mentioned to be nigh-invulnerable to other attacks and can survive for months even when heavily injured (like Sunfyre the Golden).
  • While the Lannisters were Crazy-Prepared enough to have a scorpion ready despite thinking the dragons were still in Dragonstone, they didn't practice enough (because dragon attack drill is a bit hard to simulate) to use it right away. Some are even trying to hold a shield wall against dragonfire. Conversely, even if the scorpion bolt was not immediately fatal, it still has enough momentum to disable Drogon's wing, which downed him and made him more of a vulnerable target.
• "Eastwatch":
  • Both Bronn and Jaime quickly come to the conclusion that even with Dany's political allies killed and/or captured, Dany still has a lopsided advantage in the ensuing war; both the fact that the Dothraki are superior fighters to their remaining soldiers and her three dragons being Game Breakers.
  • Ever since Ned's betrayal and death, Arya has spent the entire series focusing on destroying her and her family's enemies and those who she believes will become one when she sees a chance. So the moment she hears unpleasant things being said about any of her relatives (in this case, Jon), she plans to resort to her usual solution. Sansa calls her out on this.
  • The meeting at Eastwatch is much more awkward and tense than you'd hope because they're nearly a dozen desperate men from wildly disparate backgrounds attempting to find common ground. So instead of immediately coming together in an Avengers-esque team-up for the greater good, they bicker about past wrongs, with Tormund and Jorah about to come to blows over the crimes of their relatives against the other.
• "Beyond the Wall":
  • After the bear is set on fire by Beric, it starts to advance towards Sandor. Given Sandor's pyrophobia, all he can do is freeze up in fear without fighting back.
  • Though Thoros' bite wound is quickly cauterized and he's on his feet again within minutes, it still leaves him too weak to survive the freezing night.
  • Subverted in that despite being out in sub-zero temperatures for unspecified amounts of time without covering their heads or faces, not a one of the main characters seem to suffer signs of frostbite or the effects of lengthy exposure to extreme cold.
  • To the extent that dragons can be analogized to anything real, Dany's constant use of Drogon in combat has made him her biggest and most experienced dragon. Viserion and Rhaegal were cooped up beneath Meereen until Tyrion unchained them, and their only battle was the Siege of Meereen (which was more an exhibition and diplomatic statement than a battle). Drogon, meanwhile, roamed free for that entire period and was the centerpiece of the Battle of the Blackwater Rush. Having been previously speared by Qyburn's ballista, Drogon knows to dodge the Night King's spear, whereas Viserion gets hit because he just flies further away instead of performing a proper evasive move like Drogon does.
  • Jorah admits he has an Irrational Hatred of Ned Stark, as the man was completely in the right to punish Jorah for the crime he committed, but Jorah still resents having to live in exile and abandon his home because of it.
  • Being a blacksmith from Flea Bottom, Gendry is not on everyone else's level and Jon has him run for back-up instead.
  • The Hound realizes that a concussive weapon, like Gendry's hammer, can only do so much to the wights. He opts to ditch it and goes for the dragonglass dagger instead.
  • Arya thinks she's working to uncover some kind of insidious conspiracy of Sansa and others working against Jon. The reality is that she's just disturbed, and Littlefinger manipulates her paranoia rather easily.
• "The Dragon and the Wolf":
  • It turns out you can't negotiate in good faith with a malignant narcissist (meaning Cersei).
  • After years of forced separation, missing their family, and thinking that the other might be dead, of course Arya and Sansa aren't going to immediately turn against each other after some manipulation from Littlefinger. Also, taking a daughter of the man you betrayed (and who has suffered numerous horrors as a result, including an incredibly abusive marriage) as a Bastard Understudy is a terrible idea and probably isn't going to end very well for you.
  • If you no longer have any external genitalia, a Groin Attack is still going to hurt but won't be nearly as crippling.
  • After years of being a sniveling, backstabbing traitor, Littlefinger is finally faced with the consequences. And his reputation means that no one has any interest whatsoever in trying to help him.
  • When you're a highborn lady with a betrothed, you can't just run off with someone you love and expect no one will do anything, especially if you don't let anyone know you left with him willingly.

Season 8

• "Winterfell":
  • Jon not only bends the knee, but does so to House Targaryen, the house that killed the previous generation's Warden of the North and his eldest son and (as far as they know) kidnapped his daughter. The Northern Lords, and Jon's own family, are furious; Lord Glover loses all faith in Jon and retreats to his own stronghold, and Sansa is not inclined to be very civil to the daughter of the man who killed her grandfather and uncle.
  • So, you brought a huge army to help defend your home and people against the army of the dead and wage war in what's gonna be a very long and harsh winter? You also brought a lot more mouths to feed. As Sansa points out, feeding an enormous army and two dragons is going to stretch Winterfell's meager supplies well beyond the breaking point, and additional help isn't likely to come from the South, either. They're in between a rock and a hard place — the North needs those armies and dragons to stand any chance of surviving the army of the dead. At the same time, this help might starve the North out.
  • Many of the North's newest allies are from southern noble families, several of whom Daenerys has already torched both on the battlefield and in public executions. As shown by Sam's visceral reaction, this could cause serious problems in the near future.
  • The leadership of the North may understand the strategic importance of their new allies, but their people and soldiers probably do not appreciate their presence. The Southerners and foreigners are treated with a mixture of suspicion, disgust, and awe (having never seen Essosi people before) by the famously xenophobic North. Also, the sight of dragons is understandably enough to send civilians running and screaming in a panic.
  • Qyburn casually saying that one of the girls has an STD freaks out Bronn, but this is a reality check on the series' earlier use of Fanservice; in a medieval world, protection from venereal diseases is difficult to come by.
  • Though Randyll Tarly was a horribly abusive father even by the standards of this show, Sam is visibly distraught rather than happy at first upon hearing about his death. Dickon's death just further compounds this.
  • As the Golden Company commander points out, elephants make excellent war beasts, but aren't suited for long sea voyages, meaning no elephants for Cersei. As noted in real-life, elephants were Awesome, but Impractical. This was an example enforced by having to blow the CGI budgets on the dragons, the same thing that led to the Starks' direwolves disappearing from the show.
• "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms":
  • House Targaryen regularly practised incest, and Daenerys likely assumed she would have married her brother, right up until he sold her to Khal Drogo. Naturally, unlike Jon, she isn't going to be at all bothered that he's her nephew, but instead immediately focus on the fact that he apparently has a better claim to the Iron Throne than she. She also points out how suspicious it is that Jon got this information from his (adoptive) brother and his best friend, who understandably holds a grudge against her for killing his family, highlighting that were it to ever come up for real, proving his claim to the throne would be difficult if not impossible.
  • Arya requesting a new weapon makes a lot of sense because, sentiment aside, Needle is a weapon made to kill the living, and would be nigh-useless against an animate corpse. It's also implied that, much like she received a weapon from Jon, she also wants a weapon from Gendry.
  • When Arya gets impatient with Gendry not having her new weapon ready, Gendry points out that he and the other smiths are already trying to make thousands of dragonglass weapons in a short time period so it will take a while. Arya suspects he's putting it off because he doesn't want her to fight and convinces him to get on it by showing off her knife-throwing prowess.
  • Despite Daenerys's attempts to mend fences Sansa by telling her she needs smart people on her side and a rapport beginning to develop between them, things are halted when Sansa asks Daenerys what happens to the North if Daenerys becomes Queen. Daenerys has no answer for her, showing that just because two people have been through similar things (being underestimated by the men around them, being sold to brutal husbands), it does not mean the issues that divides them in the first place will go away because of it.
• "The Long Night": Despite the premise of the episode being an army lead by Dragon Riders fighting a Zombie Apocalypse, there are some very realistic outcomes for a number of situations.
  • The Dothraki's tactic of running down and trampling everything on their view doesn't really work against an enemy that knows no concept of fear or self-preservation like the wights, who are also too numerous for this tactic to work. Similarly, the non-Unsullied infantry lines are overwhelmed and dragged to the ground almost instantly by the fast-moving and fearless mobs, with most of them not even having shields to block them. And the cherry on top of the cake: the Dothraki charge completely unarmored in true Dothraki fashion.
  • All of the experienced fighters are shown to be overwhelmed and despaired against the relentless waves of dead attacking them, fighting for dear life, as they themselves don't have strength in numbers like the dead do.
  • Of all the living infantry forces, the Unsullied put up the best showing throughout the battle, because of their tremendous discipline and fighting as a cohesive unit. They are able to pool together their strength to protect each other and resist the incoming flood of wights, while the more numerous Dothraki utterly fail to support one another and get wiped out, and the Westerosi forces don't do as well either.
  • The combined effects of the blizzard and the raging winds the White Walkers conjure to cover their advance make efforts to light the trench outside Winterfell's walls near impossible with torches and flaming arrows. It takes Melisandre's sorcery to turn the tide.
  • Speaking of said trench, this episode shows exactly why nobody should keep their infantry forces in front of trenches and other protective barriers, especially when facing a more powerful enemy. Even when unlit, the trenches hampered the retreat of the living infantry forces when they began to be swamped by the wights, which led to a lot more lives being lost.
  • The ignited trench briefly stops the advance of the White Walkers, with an emphasis on "briefly". Because they are little more than corpse puppets for the Night King who in the worst case scenario can simply raise the fallen defenders to replenish his undead army, they simply fall into the trench until there is enough of them to smother the flames and build bridges for the remaining wights to simply walk across and continue their assault.
  • Neither Jon nor Dany are using any kind of harness system to keep them attached to their dragon mounts, instead seeming to hold on with just their hands and legs. After several close calls in earlier seasons, both riders (or three, if you include the Night King) are shown being knocked off or accidentally thrown from their mounts.
  • As much of a badass warrior as Jon Snow is, even with a Valyrian steel sword he's completely outmatched when alone and face to face with an undead adult dragon.
  • Jorah lies dying, cradled in Daenerys's arms, after fighting tooth and nail to keep her safe. You'd expect him to have some last words before dying, right? Nope, he's too badly injured and, despite trying to say something, he ultimately succumbs to his wounds after barely squeaking out "I'm hurt".
  • Samwell insists on serving in the battle to protect Winterfell, on the back of little more than his oft-repeated achievement of having "killed a White Walker and a Thenn". Sure enough, two lucky kills does not translate into any meaningful combat ability, and Sam is worse than useless in the fight. His bumbling gets Edd killed, after which he realizes his mistake and runs back to the castle, where he remains until the Night King dies.
  • Beric saves Arya's life by throwing his sword. Unfortunately this leaves him unarmed and defenseless, and he is quickly mortally wounded by wights.
  • Lyanna Mormont is brave, but she's both tiny and has no battle experience. When an undead giant comes through the gate, she totally freezes and is unable to even draw her weapon as it lumbers over and swats her aside. When she charges it screaming, it just picks her up and crushes her. Fortunately, it gets overconfident at the end, though it wasn't enough to save her.
  • Likewise even Arya finds herself overwhelmed during the course of the battle and succumbing to fear. Most of Arya's kills up till now have been people she blindsided. In a straight fight she still faces the disadvantages of her short stature and lack of muscle. Also, assassins like Faceless Men do not train for endurance.
  • When the Evil Overlord and his unstoppable army are winning, he has no reason to risk his victory in a sword fight with our hero Jon Snow. So of course the first thing the Night King does is to raise more undead wights to seal the deal against the Living.
• "The Last of the Starks":
  • The main theme of the episode. Yes, everyone put their petty political bickering aside to fight for the survival of the human race. It was very moving. Now the human race has been saved, and the petty political bickering immediately starts up again.
  • In the show's non-puristic fantasy setting, ballista technology has seen some major improvements since the War of Conquest, whereas dragons have not. Add this to the fact that Daenerys lacks all the extensive wisdom on the strategic usage of dragons in warfare that her Valyrian dragonlord ancestors definitely had, and it's no surprise she's down to Drogon now.
  • Daenerys tries to avenge Rhaegal by charging down on Euron's ship, planning to incinerate him. As his fleet prepares to fire another volley, she is forced to retreat.
  • Tyrion once again learns, at a terrible cost, that you can't negotiate in good faith with an insane narcissist.
• "The Bells":
  • Jon desperately tries to stop his troops from joining the massacre, but the northerners are not inclined to be merciful after years of countless atrocities inflicted on the people of the North by the Lannister-led regime, as well as leaving them to fend for themselves against the Army of the Dead.
  • War rape is a very depressing reality across history that is extremely hard to avoid even among the most disciplined forces, but it's often common during violent and brutal conquests like the one in King's Landing.
  • When Arya protests Sandor trying to send her away before she can kill Cersei, he points out that all the destruction going on is likely going to kill her anyway and Arya will only get herself killed as well if she keeps pressing forward.
  • Daenerys uses the sun's glare, low-altitude flying, and high speed to burn the Iron Fleet and destroy the scorpion ballistae, which are markedly cumbersome to aim; making the scorpions bigger and more powerful also made them unwieldy. It also shows that Rhaegal was struck down in the previous episode because Daenerys was flying at leisure, so it was like a Cessna-vs-Fighter-Jet situation. Drogon also has a lot more practical battle experience than either Rhaegal or Viserion had, and is being directly guided by Daenerys. Euron was able to take down Rhaegal because he took him by surprise. Against a more battle-hardened dragon and his rider, who both know what they're doing, the Iron Fleet didn't stand a chance.
  • Cersei might have some level of skill when it comes to political intrigue and Evil Plans, but at the end of the day she's a noblewoman without any military training. Thanks to her alienating Jaime at the end of the previous season, and then sending Bronn on a mission to assassinate him and Tyrion (which resulted in them buying him off by offering him Highgarden), she no longer has any experienced military commanders (with the likely exception of the Golden Company's leader, who ends up dying in the opening minutes of the battle) to call on. As a result, whereas having a more experienced person in charge of defending King's Landing might have resulted in them putting up a decent struggle and then at least buying time for the civilian population to escape, we end up with the defenders on the losing side of a Curb-Stomp Battle, and then the populace being utterly butchered by Daenerys and her forces.
  • It's shown that the delicate political situation of Westeros was something of a Drama-Preserving Handicap for Daenerys. Once she reaches a point where she doesn't actually care about the implications of her actions, defeating Cersei's army is practically effortless for her, even with her forces cut in half. However, it immediately becomes apparent why she couldn't just do this in the first place. While she is able to sack King's Landing with barely any resistance, once the smoke has cleared she has alienated almost all of her allies, ensured that Westeros will be almost impossible to govern without the use of overwhelming force, and has basically made her assassination inevitable.
• "The Iron Throne":
  • Jon just saved Westeros and potentially the rest of the world from a tyrant in the making by assassinating Daenerys. He is thrown into the dungeons by her forces (who are in control of the city) and only spared from being outright executed for his political standing.
  • When Sam proposes that the next ruler of the Seven Kingdoms be elected democratically by all the people, he is laughed at by all the assembled lords and ladies, particularly Edmure Tully and Yohn Royce. While it's a nice idea, feudalism is in full swing, and nobody is about to give the smallfolk a say in such matters.^{From the books...}As the Vale was the first dominion of the Andals in Westeros, Valemen are noted for their staunch Andal customs like the practice of jousting, chivalry, and mainly because they introduced their feudal system to the Seven Kingdoms, which is still practiced to date. This, and the fact that they are snobbish and take pride in the "purity" of their Andal blood, is one of the reasons they are unrelenting and refuse to compromise with the Mountain Clansmen, who are of First Men origin. The logistical issues of setting up a democracy, which would be formidable even in the days of Offscreen Teleportation and Instant Messenger Ravens, are also ignored.
  • In a more fantastical story, Jon would have revealed his true heritage after killing Daenerys and been crowned King Aegon VI Targaryen, ruling wisely and justly for the rest of his life. Instead - well, see above. It turns out being a Hidden Backup Prince doesn't really matter if half the population wants to cut your head off. Adding to this, Daenerys just needlessly slaughtered thousands of people, making it highly unlikely the people of the Seven Kingdoms would want a Targaryen as their ruler again after that.

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