The Game of Thrones (Season 3) Official Thread - New Poll!

[binary solo]

Andrespetmonkey said:

Augen said:

Andrespetmonkey said:
I don't understand the last episode. Does that mean all that build-up was for nothing? Seems like a waste of screen time and a shitty end to that part of the story. I'm not even pissed about those characters dying really, just that it seemed pointless. Book readers, is there a point to it?

That conventions of story telling don't confom to reality.   The notion that life to have a "point" needs some ending is based on our custom of story telling.  A Song of Ice and Fire is in certain respects a counter to traditional high fantasy tropes.  We want our bright hero to slay our dark villain in glorious fashion, but that is not how life works.  Westeros is more real than many other fantasy worlds because it is grim like medieval Europe truly was.  Book readers do not know how this ends (least the honest ones admit that) and that is part of the joy for me.  I have no clue who will sit on the Iron Throne and who will remain after this tumultous era.  It is refreshing that book 5 threw another curve ball making me go "WHAT?" yet again so cannot wait for book 6.

I am not saying it is for anyone, but I adore it.

I'm not saying I want the good guys to always win, I'm just saying killing off main characters for no reason seems like bad writing. 

The writers can kill whoever they want, even my beloved daenerys (pls no), but if it's just for the sake of it then it seems like a waste and lost potential, even if it makes it more "real" at the same time. If you like it, awesome, but I don't buy your justification. 

It's bad writing to get you to feel that the untimely death of someone is a waste and lost potential? Seems to me that's actually excellent writing. Seems to me that's a large point of Robb and Cat's death.

But if you want to know how it advances the story, well you'll have to keep watching. For instance, if Robb and Cat hadn't died and The Hound ransomed Arya back to them that puts Arya on a very different path than the one she's on with them dead. In many ways Robb and Cat surviving makes all the time invested in Arya and her experiences on her journey totally pointless. Arya's story ends when she's reunited with her mother and brother. But now that the last family encumbrance is gone her story opens up into a great unknown.

So it turns out Arya is a more important player in this Game than Robb and Cat, and for her potential to be unleashed the story needed Robb and Cat out of the way. Well now we have it.

The Lannisters think they've got this thing all sown up. Robb dead, Stannis routed and only a matter of time before they take him down completely. Balon Greyjoy will get his. Bolton and Frey are now united under Joffery and heading North to clear out the seaweed. The Lannisters feel really safe now. Yeah, I'm sure that's gonna last for the whole of the rest of the story. It takes Robb and Cat's death to put the Lannisters into a position of total dominance in Westeros.

Sure, all of these things could have been achieved by Jaime defeating Robb in the whispering wood at the end of S1. But this way its way more dramatic, and far more emotional.