Awesome / Game of Thrones (Telltale)

aka: Telltales Game Of Thrones

Episode I: "Iron From Ice"

• At the beginning of the story, Gared Tuttle is a squire, and one who used to be the son of a pig farmer at that. But Lord Forrester, a.k.a. Gregor the Good, offers to give Gared a place in Robb Stark's vanguard as a reward for his years of hard work and loyal service. He manages to escape the massacre at the Twins all without ever picking up a sword and relying on improvised weapons. He later avenges his family from a trio of Bolton and Whitehill murderers with nothing but his wits and farming equipment!
• While it might not be the wisest move, Mira telling Cersei to her face that she'd support Margaery Tyrell over Cersei's son, King Joffrey, is perhaps the gutsiest move one could make in King's Landing.
  • Pretty much the whole encounter with Cersei and Tyrion can become one if you take the smart dialogue choices, presenting Mira as a Guile Hero in the making. Tyrion sums it up pretty well if you give enough responses that simultaneously answer Cersei's questions and avoid Mira coming across as either a Yes-Man or honest to the point of stupidity.
    Tyrion: The girl has a remarkable talent for answering questions while in fact saying nothing at all.
    • It should also be noted though if you choose that your loyalties won't become conflicted you are forced to choose between Margaery or Joffrey with no other option available so one way or another Mira has to decide and show the first signs of what she will become.
• Lady Forrester has an awesome moment all her own when she stops Lord Whitehill's pompous bluster with ineffable calm and grace, standing tall and proud as a true Northwoman.

  Elissa Forrester: Ethan is Lord of Ironrath now. By rights his word is law here. If that displeases you, then I trust you can find the door.

• Ethan's story arc in Episode I can be played as one long moment of awesome. When Ethan is first introduced, we learn that Royland privately thinks that Ethan is a "milksop", a pejorative term for an indecisive and weak man, and there are some doubts about Ethan's capacity to lead, given his young age. But depending on how you play, Ethan can grow into either The Wise Prince and a Badass Bookworm, always keeping his wits about him and calmly dealing with problems, or he can simply emulate his two older brothers and be a bold and decisive figurehead who stands up to people with all the force a Lord of Ironrath can muster. Sadly, at the end of Episode I, he is killed, but even in death, he accomplishes something awesome: Ramsay was originally going to take his twin sister Talia away instead of Ryon, but Ethan intervenes and successfully saves his sister, and for this he is called Ethan the Brave/Bold/Wise after death. Not bad for a "milksop".
• Teeth clenched, eyes forward, "Sit. Down." Glare, "At once." - Ethan

Episode II: "The Lost Lords"

• Asher show us some of the reasons for his Memetic Badass status.
  • Asher's introduction itself is one. He is taking a leak in some gods-forgotten alley in Yunkai. A poisonous manticore appears and menacingly skitters towards the second-born Forrester son. He gives the critter a Death Glare when it attempts to interrupt his relieving himself, and the manticore scampers away. Being able to scare off even a mindless arachnid shows us just how few fucks this boy gives.
• He and partner-in-crime Beskha have a bloody skirmish / Bar Brawl against a squadron of the sellsword company the Lost Legion; in a Song of Ice and Fire, numbers count for everything in any battle; two against six should only end one way. Asher and Beskha come out of it without a scratch; for them, being outnumbered is business as usual.
  Asher: Know what this reminds me of?
  Beskha: Ha, that brothel in Norvos?
• Lord Rodrik Forrester gets quite a few even when he's reduced to a shell of his former self, the man is just that much a sheer force of presence and personality.
  • First and foremost, he survives the Red Wedding, well okay it was the Battle of the Camps - but still, his leg being crushed under a falling horse was not the end of his ordeal as Gared thought; he was subjected to a botched Rasputinian Death by the fucking Freys which forced him into a coma from which he awakes weeks later on the back of a Monty Python corpse cart that has been travelling from the Trident to the Wolfswood. That is a distance of at least three hundred leagues!
  • After all that time with no food and water, not to mention the blood-loss and mangled limbs, Rodrick drags himself single-handedly off the cart when it's turned away from Ironrath. Determinator thy name is Rodrik.
  • For another, he can refuse the milk of the poppy, which is a powerful opiate like morphine when he wakes up mid-surgery from over a dozen stab wounds, a cracked skull and compound fractures of his forearm and thigh bones. We also learn in Mira's story in a later episode that one of the Lannisters has become addicted to it and gets the shakes. Choosing agonizing pain over a potentially addictive narcotic is pretty awesome.
  Maester Ortengryn: These wounds would have killed any other man...
  • He then proves the maester wrong again when he appears to haul himself out of bed mere days after said life-saving operation and can use Ryon's play-sword "Two Brothers" as an impromptu cane to hobble across the inner bailey to the great hall.
  • One way of handling Duncan and Ser Royland's argument during the first small council meeting is to simply slam your fist down on the table. Cue Mass "Oh, Crap!" from the pair of them.
  • "I WILL HAVE OR-DAH!"
  • After Lord Whitehill and his retinue burst in on your time with Elena, he humiliates you or intends to poison Ryon against his family, before taking the rest of the Ironwood groves from the Forresters regardless. Helpless he may be, but you can have Rodrik quietly promise, nay vow to the Old Gods themselves that: "I am going to kill that man," with complete and utterly chilling Tranquil Fury.
  • Though it causes a bit of Fridge Logic on why Rodrick isn't already inside the keep, a Whitehill soldier sits on the stairs in Rod's path, telling him with a snide look to "just go round" to get to the main hall. One of Lord Forrester's possible answers? "My men may be few but they will kill you before you keep me from my hall!"
    • Alternatively: "Move. Now!" And best of all, it works by projecting authority alone.
    • If you choose the "..." option. Rodrick's face twists into one of the most gruesome bloody grins you've ever seen, causing the Whitehill soldier to nearly soil himself.
• Mira, (with a little intervention from Tom) can bring down Damien, a Lannister guardsman who is bribed to assassinate her in the dead of night and all with the dagger he meant to plunge into her heart at that. She even seems to call upon far-remembered martial training her brothers and Ser Royland might have shared with her; averting the instances of Armor Is Useless that we see far too often in 'Thrones' by first driving the blade between pauldron and cuirass, then through his uncovered throat. The high-born ladies of the North are truly Silk Hiding Steel incarnate.
  • She has the quick presence of mind to survive this dice with death by using anything near at hand to disarm him and flee; then when Damien pins her to a bench to choke her to death, she rakes her nails over his liar's face!
• The Forrester Matriarch has yet another of her own during the funeral that concludes Episode II.
  Elissa Forrester: (to Rodrick) Your body may be damaged but your spirit must be like iron. You let nothing stand in your way, do you understand? If you have to murder every last Whitehill down to the babes in their bed; no matter what, you must do it!
• Talia's eulogy ballad is awesome in every sense of the word, with her transitioning from filled with just grief to a Determined Expression, and capped off with Rodrik's master-class Kubrick Stare. He will avenge his family, whatever the cost.

Episode III: "The Sword in the Darkness"

• Asher gets another moment to shine when he and his companions encounter an adolescent Drogon in his canyon cave lair; to survive an encounter with the world's last, and most foul tempered, black dragon in a confined space is no easy feat. Also, if he chooses to aid Beskha over Malcolm, he even calls the draconic beast out with nothing but a round shield to defend himself with.
• So, your noble backer has been arrested for regicide, your new merchant 'friend' is backing out of the crucial deal you desperately need, and there's a letter that's all but your death warrant, inside the Castle that will be discovered within the hour. Most people would stagger about, give in to despair, and wait for Ilyn Payne or swallow hemlock. Most people aren't Mira Forrester. She takes off for Tyrion's chambers and, with some help from Tom the Coal Boy, breaks in, eludes gold cloaks, opens Tyrion's lock-box, and secures the damning document.
• Gared completely wiping the floor with Britt and either getting his vengeance at long last or leaving Britt to bleed out from his own stupidity.
  • After Britt comes up to Gared in the courtyard to antagonize him, one of Gared's potential responses is delivered with amazing calm and malice:
    Gared: Welcome to the Wall, brother.
  • Not to mention, even if you don't truly forgive him Gared can repeatedly tell Britt that they're brothers now and he won't seek revenge, to the point where Britt's death is entirely his own fault and well deserved.
• If the Player chooses, you can show everyone that House Forrester is beaten and bloody but it is not broken when Rodrik is able to keep standing back up no matter how many times Gryff Whitehill smashes him into the mud, which is accumulating even more Made of Iron traits on Rodrick since he suffers this damage on top of all his other injuries.
  • The most awesome part? Rodrik manages to drive Gryff to complete and utter exasperation, ending the sequence with Gryff backing down and not following through with his threats to hurt Talia, revealing him for the indecisive craven he really is.
• Add to that, Gryff's men begin becoming disturbed by how brutally Gryff is treating Rodrik, considering how far he's going.
  • Also, while Gryff is pointing his sword at a downed Rodrik's throat, Rodrik has the option to rise for a final time and deliver one of the most chillingly awesome boasts in the game:
    Rodrik: You know what they did to me at the Twins? Shred my face. Put their swords through me. Tried to smash my skull open. But they couldn't kill me. And you're not the man to finish the job.
  • Let it not be missed that there's a bit of awesome in the other option too. Yes it hurts your pride to stay down but the awesome comes afterwards Rodrik explains to Talia it was all part of a long reaching plan and now that Gryff is secure in his leader spot he won't see them coming. Not as straight up awesome but some pure political savvy that would require humility few lords of Westeros possess.
  • Not just all that, but when one of the Whitehill soldiers taunts Rodrik repeatedly about Ethan's death, Rodrik has the option of showing near-messianic restraint during an unimaginable situation... or breaking the asshole's nose with a goblet.

Episode IV: "Sons of Winter"

• Rodrik can sweep Gryff's leg out from under him right before he marches the Glenmore soldiers into the hall. It's a sweet vengeance if you bent the knee to him in Episode III.
  Rodrik: Actually, I think it's your turn.
  • Furthermore, the player can choose to have Rodrik give Gryff a vicious No-Holds-Barred Beatdown. Rodrik driving the point of his cane twice into Gryff's left eye-socket, mashing the orb into jelly would normally be Nightmare Fuel, but in this case it's extremely satisfying.
  • It's made even better if you decide he's not worth it, and simply spit in his face before backing off.
• Mira dismantles the deal Lord Andros made with the Lannisters in the course of a single afternoon. When he confronts her about it, Mira can be so delightfully smug. The best part is that Andros can't do a thing to her in retaliation without disrupting Tommen's coronation party.
  Mira: Don't tell me you're afraid of a handmaiden?
  • Even better, if you choose certain options, Mira gets what she wants by being kind, to a Lannister. It takes a certain kind of person to not only win the Game at King's Landing, but do it in a way that hoists a great grand middle finger to the whole damn system.
  • One possible conclusion is this Badass Boast:
    Andros: You have just made a very grave error, Lady Mira.
    Mira: As have you, because I know all of your plans and I am going to destroy you.
  • Perhaps even more awesome is her coolly dismissing him with:
    Mira: Don't be so bloody dramatic. I'm just getting started.
  • Her Unflinching Walk after this is pure awesome.
• Asher, Beskha, and Croft's infiltration of Meereen. Especially when Asher stops the Meereenese soldiers from lighting the beacon at the last minute. Twice.
• Episode IV abounds with moments of pure awesome, but easily the best has to be the confrontation with Lord Whitehill in his crumbling keep of Highpoint. Being able to unravel the boisterous boar of a man's pretensions, snipe at him, call his bluff when he's pressing a skewer to Ryon's neck. But the best part, the most delicious was when Ludd proposes a toast to family, you can respond with a hearty toast of your own that squarely places Rodrik among the ranks of the Age of Heroes: "NO... TO JUSTICE." We aren't given nearly enough of Rodrick calling out the traitors who stood aside and let his king be slaughtered. To throw that insinuation back in Ludd's face was a damn near CMOA in its own right and Russ Bain's delivery is nothing short of outstanding in a game replete with them.
  • A bit more has to be said about calling Whitehill's bluff. Ludd has already drawn a little blood, there's a whole squad of arbalists above you, and it looks like a mini Red Wedding's about to happen. Everyone is screaming and panicking. Then, using a handful of information Rodrik received only minutes before, Rodrik strikes at the one shred of decency that Whitehill has, and Ludd blinks first. Even Ryon gets in a lick with a defiant "Iron From Ice!" as he's taken away, showing that Ludd's attempted brainwashing/corruption isn't sticking.
  • It should also be noted Rodrik can treat the entire affair as a legitimate business deal despite Ludd's clear intent of simply cowing the Forresters into becoming his subservient vassals.

Episode V: "A Nest of Vipers"

• Asher gets a crowning moment of awesome by defeating Bloodsong, the strongest pit fighter of Amaya's band of killers.
• Talia gets one when she discovers who the traitor is, and gives Rodrik the incriminating paper so he can confront the turn-cloak in the Great Hall.
• Right before the climax, Rodrik throws his trusty cane into the fireplace.
• Either Rodrik or Asher gets a Dying Moment of Awesome in the finale, fending off a Whitehill ambush in a Last Stand that allows their brother to escape with their own life.
  • Even with his calf punctured by a quarrel, Asher rips it clean out and helps Rodrik lever the massive portcullis crank between the sole two of them. As soon as his elder brother realizes that one of them is doomed, he can volunteer gladly. "Go. Rodrik. I know what I'm doing." Fitting, when we consider that he would defend Ethan from all tormentors and exiled himself from Westeros to protect his entire family in the first place.
  • After his final words to Beskha, he draws Tazaal's kopis, which he won from him in much blood and carried across the world, he slices his way through three Whitehill footmen in all of seven seconds. A bolt sinks into Asher's right clavicle, he snaps the shaft off and turns to face Gryff on horseback. Harys skewers him In the Back like the fucking craven he is. Asher, who has dropped his machete in agony, flings the big bastard off of him and overhands his closest enemy right in the face, catapulting the soldier arse over tea-kettle. Another thrusts a dagger near-hilt-deep into Asher's kidney but the sellsword lord brings his head back, cracking the attacker across the nose and leaving the weapon embedded in his side. One Whitehill opts to cleave Asher in two with his sword but before it's even half raised to strike, Asher yanks the dagger from his own flank and drives it up under the soldier's chin; dispatching the last of five men we see on-screen.
  • It's only another quarrel straight to the throat that weakens the Forrester son enough for the Whitehill's to then restrain and butcher their target, with four men stabbing him at least a half-dozen times each in the torso.

Episode VI: "The Ice Dragon"

• Gared manages to single-handedly fend off a giant, angry snow bear while seeking the North Grove, and after finding it helps kill multiple ruthless wights. At the end of the episode the people of the Grove are clearly beginning to view him as a leader, despite him not being a born Forrester as well as him being an ex-Crow.
• If you don't like Sera, then it's definitely awesome to finally have Mira get back at her for constantly thinking only of herself by framing Sera for the trouble she'd caused. Having Mira say "You brought this on yourself" is particularly satisfying.
• When the death of Damien finally catches up to them, Mira and Tom find themselves inches away from being caught by the guards. Tom quickly steps into their sight, distracting them and giving Mira time to escape. He does this despite knowing that he will certainly be executed should the crime be pinned on him.
• In the finale Mira can possibly face execution. One dialogue option says it all:
  Mira: IRON FROM ICE!
  • This goes further, as blaming Morgryn will have people shouting for her death, while standing tall and strong makes the audience call for her to be spared. Even Morgryn seems shocked at her sheer bravery. Of course, you have another option inresponding to his accusations, which is just as awesome.
  • Choosing to accept said execution is a particularly noble Heroic Sacrifice, as Mira refuses to sacrifice the life of Tom, her closest ally and friend, in order to save her own. She also protects her family's name and land by not allowing Morgryn to have claim on them, giving up her very life in order to take care of her family. She does all this knowing full well that no one will know what she has given up for them, not even Tom.
• The majority of the scenes with the treacherous Morgryn can count as this really, depending on your choices. The first is, upon telling him how wrong he is in trusting the Whitehills, Morgryn pins Mira to the wall of his litter. Mira proceeds to break free(through button mashing)and punch him in the throat before he tosses her out to be arrested.
  • Later, when Morgryn comes to the cell, you can punch him in the face after he enters.
  • Morgryn gives a choice of death at the executioners block or marriage to him, forsaking her lands, but surviving(while also pinning the murder on Tom). If you refuse him? Mira says she would rather die, shocking Morgryn and leaving him livid with anger before he tells her to have it her way. After he leaves, Mira's cold stare after him gives way to a triumphant smile. She knows she'll die, but she has robbed Morgryn of his own victory.
• In a game replete with moments of sheer badassery, Rodrik gets a sublime moment. If he is the survivor of the events of Episode V the mercenaries Asher brought with him across the sea begin to question you and scare the smallfolk. They even threaten to sack Ironrath. One of the dialogue options reads: DRAW YOUR SWORD. Then Rodrik, in a voice worthy of Ned Stark himself, utters the following:

  Rodrik: I will have order... or I will have heads.

• The fight scenes between Rodrik and Gryff/Ludd
  • Rodrik vs. Gryff: Rodrik takes Gryff and two of his men head on while Beskha sneaks in behind them and frees Ryon. Rodrik makes short work of Gryff's mooks before engaging in a one on one fight. Though Gryff gets in a couple of cheap shots with a dagger and a crossbow, Rodrik simply shrugs them off and takes Gryff apart. For bonus points, Gryff even starts crying and pleading for his life. Rodrik can either deliver some well deserved justice by taking his head, or take the high road and leave him to bleed out. Either option is equally awesome.
  Lord Rodrik Forrester: You pathetic craven! You're not even worth the swing of my blade.
  • When Rodrik appears to fight Gryff, we only see Gryff's face before Rodrik, having snuck into his camp unseen, says his name. The camera turns with Gryff to see Rodrik draw the Forrester Greatsword from his back with a look of absolute hatred on his face.
  • Rodrik the Ruined vs. Ludd: Rodrik and Beskha sneak up behind and each take out one of Ludd's guards. The rival lords clash great-swords while Beskha deals with three more footmen. Rodrik gets into a Blade Lock, forces the pig's guard down and disarms Ludd with a classic moulinet, (playing the blades in a circle, yielding against the leverage only to redouble the subsequent push) cracking Ludd across the face with the flat to let him know how outclassed he is. But Whitehill distances himself from his foe by tipping over a weapons rack in desperation and siccing his squire on Rod to buy him some time. Ludd grabs a crossbow and loads it as fast as he can while Rodrik pulls off the Signature Move he used at the Twins, (a 180 degree Zornhau with a kneeling high guard) to disembowel the youth, he then uses the dying lad as a human shield, who takes Ludd's bolt in the chest. Frantic, the fat fuck readies another quarrel but Rodrik chops the crossbow from his hands, Ludd bulls forth and tackles Rodrik to the ground, pinning him under his bulk, grabs a fallen spear and drives it into Lord Forrester's shoulder, but Rodrik is used to pain that would cripple another man, he forces the twenty stone of suet up and off of him even from such a disadvantaged position, thwacks Ludd across the temple with the spear haft while it's still in him mind you, stunning the oaf, before he pulls the head clean out and shoves it straight under Ludd's breastplate in return, piercing through his belt and into his bowels, before snapping off the pole-arm to cause his nemesis further anguish.
  • The piece de resistance of said duel?
  Lord Rodrik Forrester: (growling in the throes of adrenaline and forthcoming retribution, he picks up his father's great-sword) It's over, Ludd.
  Lord Ludd Whitehill: (trembling in shock and mortal agony) I underestimated you, cripple. But it won't do you any good. My soldiers... Are already tearing down your gates. They'll kill your mother. Your sisters. And Ryon... Gryff's cut his throat by now...
  Lord Forrester: You might be right. About all of it. But I'm still the last lord standing.
  • Then it's Off with His Head!
• Asher vs Gryff: Although Gryff surprises Asher with a new-found ferocity, the only blow he lands is a headbutt, all while Asher effortlessly dodges and parries his every flailing strike, leaps over a low sweep of Gryff's sword and up onto a dining table to re-enact an Errol Flynn Classic before using a spinning elbow strike to knock Gryff into the Great Hall's main firepit. We get a couple of satisfying seconds of seeing Gryff writhe in the flames, his clothes catching alight and his armour blackening, before Asher impales the squealing coward and gives him a Pre-Mortem One-Liner.
• When the Whitehills come to battle, Elissa refuses to cower in the cellars. She in fact saves her son's life, at the cost of her own. Let it never be said that the Forrester matriarch ever lacked the courage of her husband and children.
• Rodrik/Asher killing Harys by shoving the Forrester great-sword through his mouth, despite the former already being impaled through the stomach themselves. The fact Harys's last expression is one of utter disbelief and terror before Rodrik/Asher feeds him a good metre of steel is just the icing on the cake.
• The Sentinel gets a moment of awesome when he saves Rodrik/Asher's life just as it looked like Rodrik/Asher was going to be slaughtered.
  • If Rodrik execute the traitor, the Sentinel will survive his close encounter in the siege and regroup with Talia and Rodrik/Asher.