They’re KG so they’re good fighters. Pretty much all the KG up through the Mad King (who had the Dream Team lineup of KG) were all the best knights in the realm. It was when the Lannisters took over that they used it more for political purposes, so the twins aren’t specifically called out for their great swordsmanship but they’re still really good fighters and gave Cole a run for his money.
If theyre on the Kings Guard, I presume they are pretty good and at least won some tourneys. But none of them have seen real action except Cole, so no one really knows. We've been in training camp. The season is about to start.
I’m sure I’m missing some but goddamn, the Mad King had -Gerold Hightower -Arthur Dayne -Barristan Selmy -Jamie Lannister
I remembered it in GoT, I was wondering it’s importance as it relates to this show. It sounds like the answer will spoil the next episode, so I’ll wait to see next week. I just thought maybe I had missed something.
Otto (I think it was him) mentioned lord Baratheon during the small council meeting while discussing the plans to usurp
Oswell Whent and Lewyn Martell, yes. It's a great trivia question and the first six are fairly easy to remember but the last is a bitch. Jon Darry. There were others (Jaime replaced a knight who died of old age) but if we're talking KG at the time of Robert's Rebellion that's your seven. Whent, Hightower, and Dayne died at the ToJ, Martell and Darry at the Trident, leaving only Selmy and Jaime to survive. Always kind of annoyed at the TV ToJ because Ned and his five friends cut down three KG, not two. Guess they wanted to make Dayne look as cool as possible for his short appearance.
Biggest complaint among the podcasts seems to surround why Rhaenys didn’t end the war before it started there at the end.
It’s not that it’s so bad to make significant changes to the book material… it’s that you added this subplot out of thin air for a cool scene that makes a major character make an insane choice that can only be described as pure plot service. This was “Dany just kind of forgot about the Iron Fleet” level terrible writing. Using the penultimate as a pure table setter that often felt like dithering for dithering’s sake was the first real misstep to me. Not unforgivable or all that bad, just not great
I didn’t hate it but it’s kind of unnecessary as all she did was make a huge mess and fuck up a bunch of people who shouldn’t have been standing there.
I liked the idea that Rhaenys wouldn’t want to do that to a fellow mother while she just barbecued a couple hundred mothers. Small folk so it’s different, but still.
They’re a powerful house. Lords Paramount of the Stormlands and one of the closest allied houses of the Targaryens along with the Velaryons (The house’s founder Orrys Baratheon was Aegon the conqueror’s bff and alleged bastard brother). If there’s to be war, they’re definitely one of the biggest chips on the board. We’ve been there in this show too. The scene where Rhaenyra was meeting all her suitors and the Bracken got put on a t-shirt was at Storm’s End. Also Lord Boremund Baratheon (the guy who was advising her in that scene) asked for Rhaenys’ favor in the tourney during episode 1. They’re cousins I believe.
you mean Targaryen? it was a rumor that the founder of house Baratheon was a Targ bastard (and Aegon’s half-brother). but otherwise I don’t think the house had any ties to Old Valyria.
Yeah they’re from Valyria. Well he is at least. I don’t know if they were an actual house there or not but Orlys is from Valyria. Orlys’ race is Valaryian.
I apologize if I’m misunderstanding you but the Targaryens were settled on Dragonstone for like 100 years before the Conquest. nobody was from Valyria anymore.
I have absolutely no issue with Rhaenys not toasting everyone, it seemed to me she was more or less calling their bluff. Comparing that to season 8 of GoT isn’t fair.
Not killing them makes narrative sense. Blasting through the floor and killing hundreds if not thousands of common folk makes zero narrative sense. But it looked cool.
I just took her blasting through the floor as foreshadowing You’ve got a family willing to tear the realm apart with these massive dragons over a throne that the guy they’ve installed doesn’t even want.
should have just made her dragon eat Otto like the dude on the toilet in Jurassic Park and kept it movin
One of the funnier things I’ve heard listening to reactions from mostly non book readers in the ASOIAF ecosystem: Spoiler Everyone complaining about how they can’t tell the Cargyll twins apart. Yep, that’s the point
Disagree. It was contrived bs. Which most of this episode was. Or at least the bs of getting to the prince was. Rhaenys has been portrayed as calculating as they come. She could have ended the incoming war that was just started and eliminated anyone who could have chased pursued her on dragon back right then and there. It made absolutely no sense no to smoke them fools and while I’m okay with characters doing dumb shit to push the plot forward it has to at least be set up by their character development. The plot developing organically through characters making wise and foolish decisions based on their characters development was an underrated aspect of what made GoT so enjoyable. When the show writers ran out of book to follow the amount of contrived dumb shit increased episode by episode and ended up ruining the show. I don’t know why I’m so heated about this but I guess I’m just triggered by the last few seasons of GoT.
Yea and Michael Jordan used a number 1 overall pick to draft 18 yo kwame fucking brown. Jamie was a sister fucker who got curbed stomped by the goat, lost his hand to a d-leaguer, then died as collateral damage in the fight for Kings landing just so he could hold hands with his unhinged sister former lover who was cuckolding him with a pirate who looked like the side character from Dawson’s Creek foh
Anyone who watched the tv show and thought the Jamie Brienne fight was fair is a complete moron. He was in chains during the fight and had been a prisoner of war for over a year by then.
He also went toe to toe with the Smiling Knight as a squire and held his own. It took I believe Dayne beating him with Dawn. He was considered like the Mountain then, not as big but fierce in combat.
you talk like great knights don't die easily sometimes. almost half that "goat KG" list dies in a fucking 6v3 to Ned Stark, a dwarf, and four nobodies. you telling me Dayne, Hightower (LC of the KG), and Whent can't handle a 2v1?
House of the Dragon must be good if we are having discussions reminiscent of 10+ years ago. I almost want to go back and do a re-read
seven, yea, my mistake. I stand by the rest, though. Barristan Selmy is 70 years old, swordless, and murders two Gold Cloaks while escaping King's Landing and these guys can't handle slightly bad odds and they're some of the greatest knights to ever live. all I'm saying is they're still human and able to die with remarkable ease, Jaime dying as "collateral" (in the show, no less) doesn't make him an inferior knight.
I think I agree here as a one off its not a big deal you can just ignore it as it doesnt change the story dramatically. But with the looming the context of s8 of got the writers writing dumb shit just to have "epic" moments it makes you a little bit more nervous about the rest of the show. Thankfully they don't have much to improvise in this case.