Already some are forming for Royland and Duncan. Is the former a horrible Blood Knight with no other plan than "attack, attack, attack" or someone with a realistic understanding of the fact they're dealing with a bunch of Obviously Evil psychopaths who respect only strength? Is Duncan The Good Chancellor and a wise diplomat or a Social Climber who sacrifices his own nephew in hopes of getting a promotion?
Episode 5 reveals that, quite shockingly, both Duncan AND Royland are determinately traitors depending on who you choose to be the Sentinel. With the traitor being whoever is not granted the title as the Sentinel, the entire scenario shows that both of them are willing to sell out the Forresters if they are not given the title they believe they deserve.
Is Margaery Tyrell an actual friend to Mira or someone who considers her, at best, a potential ally which may have to be discarded if she becomes inconvenient?
Episode 3 points to the latter when Margaery finds out about Mira's dealing with Tyrion. She's not at all pleased that Mira went behind her back and makes it clear that she will replace her if she continue to become a problem for her.
Is Sera Flowers a true friend to Mira or does her need to improve her position mean she'll oust her at the first opportunity?
Thankfully, that question is answered in Episode 5. While she doesn't oust Mira, she outright abandons her, now that Mira's on Margery's shitlist. Even if you outright lied to help secure her betrothal.
Did Lord Gregor tell Gared "The North Grove must never be lost" because of its Ironwood and Magic or because his bastard children who are Wargs live there?
Aluminium Christmas Trees: When Gared's leg is split open, House Forrester's maester treats it by sewing maggots into it. Maggots really are still used today to treat wounds, as they only eat dead flesh and expire once the dead flesh has been eaten. This treatment is even seen in the Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon.
Anti-Climax Boss: Harys; the fight with him is as good as Telltale QTEs can be, but he is just some Mauve Shirt. So when he turns out to be the final boss who kills Elissa Forrester (the mother) if she is still alive and harms Asher/Rodrik after the deed in the last episode only because all his posse backed him up, it's kind of underwhelming emotion-wise. And no choice made beforehand helps the fight unlike the Whitehills where you need to make choices and get payoffs from those decisions.
Ass Pull: Whoever you don't choose to be your sentinel ends up being the traitor to House Forrester. This has been very negatively received for two reasons. Firstly, Duncan and Royland have been shown to be opposites personality-wise until the reveal, so the fact that they could both do the exact same thing and for the exact same reason is a reach. Secondly, the reason for their treachery doesn't make sense for either of them. Basically, they betray House Forrester because, no matter what Rodrik does, Duncan or Royland will somehow think him an unworthy ruler. So what better way to ensure your house doesn't fall because of its leader than to give information to the people who want to destroy the household and kill everybody?
Awesome Music: Talia's funeral song at the end of episode two. As heartbreaking as it is, when the drum hits, it hits.
Gwyn Whitehill, fans opinions can go from whether she is the White Sheep in a house full of monsters who is trying to make peace between the Forresters and the Whitehills with genuine efforts on her part, to a very naive person for thinking that peace is possible after everything that's been happening between the houses, who constantly refuses to hold her father accountable for his actions and unjustly blame the war on the Forrester for going againts her father's abuses. The fact that she either joins Asher if he calls off the ambush/poison plan, or stabs him if he still goes with it can give evidence to all the interpretations of her.
Ramsay Snow was already a Base-Breaking Character in the TV series due to his sadism and cruelty, but this game runs into a problem of its own with him: the fact that he effectively has Plot Armor. While in the show Ramsay always could and eventually did receive comeuppance for his actions, obviously they aren't going to kill off one of the show's major antagonists in a Spin-Off video game. As such, there is a divide as to whether this makes him a frustrating Invincible Villain who always comes out ahead no matter what, or the perfect antagonist for a game meant to showcase just how bleak and cruel Westeros is.
Talia gets just a little of this for her actions regarding the traitor of House Forrester. She wants you to promise that, no matter who it ends up being, you'll kill them for their treason. Nevermind that you could use the traitor as an informant. Players' reaction to her anger should you spare the traitor is either guilt or dismissiveness.
Broken Base: The finale is a HUGE one. Either it's good and thematically appropriate for a setting as dark as Game of Thrones, or it's over-the-top depressing in a way that makes it painfully transparent how meaningless all your choices are. Not helping is that the series seems to end on a Cliffhanger, so those who are OK with the ending being depressing dislike it for failing to wrap up all the plot threads.
Catharsis Factor: In Episode 6, you finally have the option to kill Ludd or Gryff. It's especially satisfying if Rodrik is the one who takes down Gryff, as the man literally begs for his life just before Rodrik cleaves his head off.
And before that you get the opportunity to deliver an enormously satisfying beatdown to Gryff which involves jabbing out his eye. Considering how loathesome that snot-nosed fourthborn was in his introduction alone, the majority of people relished the opportunity to smash his eye into jelly. Hell, even Ramsay himself actually found it entertaining.
Complete Monster: Ramsay Snow is the representative in the North for the as-yet-unseen Roose Bolton, orchestrating the conflict between the Forresters and Whitehills for profit and enjoyment. Ramsay is introduced while flaying a man alive for recreation, lamenting that the result is "not [his] best work". After entering the Forresters' estate by force, he tries to take Talia hostage with clear lascivious intent before pragmatically settling on her brother instead, and murders the teenage Ethan on a whim. He later returns to "break" Rodrik by forcing him to witness his torture (and eventual murder) of Rodrik's friend Arthur. He later pits the Forresters and Whitehills against each other in a war of annihilation, passing up potential profit for the sake of a bloody spectacle. A sadist who lives only to relish the suffering he inflicts on others, Ramsay is feared and loathed throughout the North.
Asher's ally Beskha is quite well liked. She is in the same vein as Brienne and Asha Greyjoy, Ensembles themselves, for being an Action Girl.
A lot of players were really upset at the end of Episode 1 when Ethan Forrester was killed.
Arthur Glenmore seems to have gathered up quite a few fans despite not appearing much, partially due to an easter egg conversation Rodrik can have with him.
Asher seems to be one among the protagonists, which is particularly noteworthy since Asher becoming lord of the house while Rodrik gets killed is the POPULAR choice.
A Song of Wood and Iron, A Game of Trees, and The Medieval Walking Dead
Lord Whitehill has been nicknamed 'Piggy' by Telltale forum fans.
Guide Dang It!: Judging from Internet discussions on Tumblr, YouTube, and others, a lot of players have a hard time successfully securing Elaena Glenmore's engagement to Rodrik. Depending on whether or not Mira forged a letter from Lady Margaery, the solution is different:
If you did have Mira forge a letter, it will backfire, as Elaena will feel "manipulated" since it's difficult to refuse suggestions from the Tyrells. You can secure the betrothal by telling her that she is free to choose; if you do that, she will choose Rodrik.
If you did not have Mira forge a letter, Elaena's father will have talked her into having doubts about the marriage, so to secure the betrothal, Rodrik needs to be practical and offer the Glenmores half the Forrester ironwood should the Forrester house survive.
Basically you have to be selfless and desperate. The latter of which is true no matter what.
If Finn is with Gared's crew when they go to the North Grove, he'll spend most of his time complaining that he's gonna get killed and off-handedly remarks that he "may as well get warm before he dies." Not even twenty minutes after he says this, he does die.
If you don't kill the traitor after making your promise to Talia, she'll call Rodrik a coward. Now jump to the ending of Episode 5. If you chose to let Rodrik stay behind to save Asher, then these will be the last words she says to her brother.
Listen to Talia's ballad again. When she sings "I'd bear by neck to Illyn Payne", Mira is on screen, cleaning herself up after the murder of the Lannister guard. Flash forward to episode 6, when Mira may be beheaded by Illyn Payne for this very crime.
Asher's determinant warnings to Daenerys about her dragons being dangerous, despite her protests, become this when Drogon burns a little girl to scorched bones, which leads to Dany locking the other two under the pyramid of Meereen.
Hilarious in Hindsight: In Episode 2, Jon Snow states he doesn't believe Roose Bolton or Walder Frew would get what they deserved. Fast forward to the end of Season 6 of the TV series and both of them suffer from Karma Houdini Warranty and they get their respective Karmic Deaths.
Memetic Badass: Asher is one in-universe as his mother thinks he's capable of solving all of their problems through sheer awesome.
Several in the first episode. The Freys cross it within minutes by kickstarting the Red Wedding. The Whitehills cross it soon after when they kill Gared's innocent father and eight-year-old sister, just to goad Gared into fighting back as an excuse to get him punished. Ramsay crosses it when he murders Ethan for no other reason than whim.
The Whitehills cross the moral event horizon again in episode 3 when they put on a performance mocking Ethan's death.
The Whitehills do it yet again in episode 6, when they stick Asher's head on a pike, and force Ryon to carry it when the Whitehill army begins the siege of Ironrath.
Courtesy of Lady Forrester. "Man without honor are... Lower than dogs!" The overly melodramatic way the phrase is said makes it unbelievably hilarious, despite the situation being quite serious.
That being said, since the Whitehill men laugh at her exclamation, it was perhaps intentional.
Talia's reaction to Rodrik if he stays up and doesn't let Gryff walk all over him. Her "You didn't let him do it! You didn't let him keep you down!" sounds really out of place in the setting, and something you'd see in a cartoon or something.
At times it becomes pretty obvious how much the story was written around which actors from the show they were able to get, especially Joffrey's complete lack of onscreen appearances.
Overall, the Whitehills' sheer, overwhelming dickishness can come across as cartoonish, especially since Gryff is a rather transparent Expy of Joffrey. It also makes the game's attempts at Grey-and-Gray Morality seem rather shallow.
Older Than They Think: Some people believe that this is the first Telltale series to get six episodes. That would be the first season of Sam & Max: Freelance Police. It was only afterwards that Telltale decided to go with a standard five episode format for most of their series.
Padding: Unfortunately, when taking the whole game into account, Mira's ENTIRE storyline basically amounts to this. Try as she might, Mira spends the story mostly unable to get anything done. It has by far the most Mortons Forks in the entire game, as every character in Mira's story pretty much goes out of their way to make things as difficult as possible for Mira, be it Margaery becoming completely unpleasable, Sera making incredibly stupid decisions, Andros and Morgryn plotting against her, or Tyrion sincerely offering to help but getting arrested before he can do anything, Mira is left fumbling about powerless. The sole victory Mira is able to accomplish is getting Andros arrested and executed, and even then, it doesn't save her family in the long run, and it relied on Cersei of all people keeping her word and doing it for Mira. It all culminates in Mira being at the end of her rope, staring down one of two terrible choices: either let Tom the Coal Boy die and become a slave through marriage to the man most responsible for Mira's sorry state, or allow herself to be executed. And given the latter choice and how Telltale typically handles determinant characters, Mira probably would have been killed off regardless even if this game did get a sequel.
Paranoia Fuel: King's Landing appears to be made of this trope. The game uses menacing camera angles, music, and innuendo to give the impression anyone could be a spy or false friend.
To drive the point home, someone does turn out to be a false friend in Episode 2: Damien, who sends Mira a note supposedly with the intention of telling Mira some information on the Whitehills, but when they meet, Damien apologizes that Mira has made enemies of the "wrong people" and attempts to kill her.
And now it's not just King's Landing since Gwyn Whitehill tells you, and proves, that there's a traitor on your small council.
If you chose to bring Finn with you to the North Grove, he ends up getting Impaled with Extreme Prejudice when Gared's group encounters the wights.
Finding out that the traitor is the man you didn't pick to be the Sentinel. It's much worse if the traitor is Duncan and you've done every reckless action he begged you not to do. Because when he gives you "The Reason You Suck" Speech, in the back of your mind, you know he's right.
If you spare the traitor after promising Talia you'll kill him, she'll coldly call you a coward. Coming from her, that's pretty damn harsh.
The Whitehills ambush Rodrik and Asher, and the portcullis is jammed, trapping them. One of the brothers has to sacrifice their life to save the other. There is no third option. Even if you let the timer run out to see what happens, both brothers opt to stay behind and are cut down even faster than the proper ending.
And then there's Episode 6, which is even worse than the previous episode:
Amaya and all of the Pit Fighters (excluding Bloodsong, maybe) are all slaughtered at the end of the episode anticlimactically after putting up an amazing fight. Like Cotter, there's nothing you can do to save her.
The death of Lady Elissa. Again, there is nothing you can do to save her. Either she's poisoned, or she's impaled by Harys after saving Asher/Rodrik's life. The latter death is especially tragic, because it happens with little buildup.
The fate of Mira. Either she's forced to marry Lord Morgryn, and later witnesses Tom the coal boy's execution, or she refuses to marry him, which leads to her being executed. Surprisingly, the former option is the choice that most players didn't pick.
The ending, which reminds all the players very bluntly that this is based off Game of Thrones, a show that rarely ever gives its protagonists a break. Ironrath falls. The Forrester army is decimated. Ludd (or Gryff) is still alive and well. Rodrik/Asher is heavily wounded with no one at his side except for Talia and Duncan/Royland/Gwyn. The only good thing to come out of this season is that Gared finally reached the North Grove, and Beshka successfully rescued Ryon, regardless of the player's choices.
The Scrappy: Frostfinger for being a one-dimensional Drill Sergeant Nasty and for continuously antagonizing and belittling Gared in practically all of his scenes regardless of what choices the player makes. His orders to have Gared executed for killing Britt in Episode 4, while ignoring how said event had played out have only gained more ire from the fandom.
Arthur Glenmore. A very competent, loyal, and badass ally who's well-loved by the fans and has a humorous easter egg conversation with Rodrik. He easily could've joined House Forrester and greatly aided them in the final battle against the Whitehills. Gets killed by Ramsay before we find out much about him.
The Beast, a very large, corpulent barbarian who, like Arthur, could've aided House Forrester during the final battle as either The Big Guy or The Berserker. Gets speared in Episode 5 after having very few lines.
Ethan Forrester. Among some players, they thought his death was a waste, given his good nature, his coming to become the Lord and finding his feet before unceremonially being killed by Ramsay for the evulz. They wished he had survived longer as one of the player characters (especially after the poor ending of Mira's story and believed there would have been a good story with him either a)learning to be a fighter and leading the House or b)him learning Rodrik had survived the RW and Ethan finding his own niche within the House while no longer being lord.
While the determinant choice between Rodrik and Asher at the end of Episode 5 has generally been well-received despite forcing fans to choose between two very popular characters, the determinant choice in Episode 6 between Mira and Tom is pretty much reviled among the fans. Basically, it turns Mira's whole arc into a shaggy-dog story: either she died without ever managing to help her family or make any real impact on the plot outside of her own story, or she's locked up in a loveless and abusive marriage and, despite all her past resourcefulness, seems to have no plans to help her family beyond ensuring her own survival. For Tom's part, whoever dies we never learn his motivations or who sent him to help the Forresters. The convolutions of a multi-season branching story-line probably mean that neither character will appear or make much impact in Season 2, and fans generally agree that Mira's determinant status, while having shock value, detracted from the story for this reason by essentially making none of the decisions from that part of the game mean anything. A lot of people actually thought that Tom was working for the Spider (or Littlefinger), and that Mira - if she played her cards right - would become one of his "little birds."
Rodrik and Asher. One of them dies at the end of Episode 5. They're so cool that the decision on who to leave behind is one of the few where the players are split almost perfectly down the middle.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: The characters from the TV show are modelled after their actors and can look kind of off. It doesn't help when being placed next to the game's original characters which take on a different, more conventionally 'Telltale' style.
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Gwyn Whitehill is meant to come off as Token Good Teammate of the Whitehills as she is the only one who wants true peace between the two families. However, given how cartoonishly evil both Ludd and Gryff are, it is very clear from the outset that they will only settle for either House Forrester's complete and total subjugation or destruction. In fact, in the very scene where she tells Rodrik that she wants peace, we see that Ludd has already clear cut much of the ironwood tracks, making the land worthless and dooming the ironwood trade he so desperately wants control of in the first place and in the next two scenes with Rodrik we see Gryff's men put on a play mocking Ethan's death and Gryff himself beating the crippled Rodrik respectively. It is very obvious that, no matter what you do, it won't be enough for the peace to last. At best, Gwyn comes off as making excuses for Ludd and Gryff. To her credit, in episode 6, she can optionally be made to see the truth about her father and brother, but seeing as it comes at the cost of either Rodrik or Asher's life and that even then it might not be enough to convince her, it comes across as too little too late.
Poor Gared Tuttle suffers a ridiculous series of increasingly horrible events through the span of Episode 1. It gets even worse in Episode 2, as he ends up taking the fall twice for problems started by other recruits, causing Frostfinger to think he's "trouble", and by Episode 4, he's on the run from the Night's Watch thanks to Frostfinger's refusal to hear self-defense pleas for Britt's death.
Every member of House Forrester might qualify as this to some extent, but as far as the bigger ones go:
Elissa Forrester lost her entire birth family save for her brother Malcolm during Robert Rebellion due their loyalty to the Targaryens and it only gets worse for her in present day. She never saw her husband again after he rode off to fight for Robb Stark, as he was killed at the Twins by the Frey's, and was led to believe her eldest child, Rodrik, had also perished. If that weren't enough by itself, when Ramsey Snow comes to call, he murders another of her sons, Ethan, right in front of her and then kidnaps her youngest son, Ryon. She experiences a brief reprieve when Rodrik turns out to still be alive, but even so, must contend with the Whitehills terrorizing her family for the entire story. Her story ultimately ends in tragedy as she will lose another son (either her second eldest son Asher or Rodrik himself), potentially her eldest daughter as well, and then her own life protecting her remaining son while her home is destroyed by the Whitehills.
Mira might just have, pound for pound, the worst luck of any of the Forresters. In addition to being away from her family and hearing of their troubles through letters, in her position as handmaiden to Margaery Tyrell, there are a total of two people in King's Landing she meets who won't use her or betray her in some way. No matter what she does, both Margaery and Cersei will leave her high and dry in case of trouble, helping her friend Sera will only make things worse between Mira and Margaery, Tyrion will be arrested before he can meaningfully help her, and Morgryn will back her into a corner. Considering all she is put through, and how horrible her wedded life would be to Morgryn, perhaps her potential death if she refuses can be considered a blessing.
Rounding out the woes of House Forrester is Ryon. The youngest of the Forrester children, Ryon barely has time to mourn his father before witnessing Ramsey kill Ethan and being kidnapped by the Whitehills for the entire story. The poor boy will have a knife put to his throat and will potentially carry his brother's head on a spike before his rescue.
