Sure, I never claimed otherwise.
I guess I deleted the wrong part of your post - I take issue with your assertion that it was set up that he needed to specifically be assassinated, and as such, they need a badass assassin to do it.
(I'm referring to assassination as a planned surprise attack on an unsuspecting target, not just the murder of a leader)
Yes, Arya had several seasons being trained up as fighter and an assassin, literally by assassin's who's motto revolved round telling the god of death not today and people are surprised she ended up in this story?
besides i don't think we are done with the larger threat but if we are i'm still happy
I read a theory that the white walkers DID see her, you can even see one glance to the side as she rushes by him. That's how the NK knew she was coming and turned around to catch her. He was told by his WWs, he just assumed he could easily deal with her himself. Overconfidence and all.
No, ending the White Walkers story with a Deus Ex Machina is not satisfying.
There was no plan that led to what happened, they overcame the dead army by complete chance and by losing. Cool.
Finally was able to finish the episode. Had to watch it in three parts over the last few days. Had the Arya kill spoiled after one of those days, but Melisandre pretty much already spelled that out.
In a vague, sort of outline view, I'm ok with Ayra getting the kill. In specifics, though, I think my own feelings and the divisiveness of it comes from them completely and utterly botching Arya's training. Like, no one complained that she took down the Freys, because that seemed pretty much in line with her abilities and what she received in Braavos. She can wear faces and disguise herself as someone else. Ok, that's understandable. She never really got the crazy training that seems to now be implied by this and her fight with Brienne last season, etc. It seemed like she was mostly doing stupid chores, then beaten up badly, and kind of fumbled into beating the Waif and that whole sequence never really made a lot of sense back then either. Well that feeds into now.
The whole episode further drove home how the show has changed. It was amazingly well directed and scored. Beautiful, really. But, everyone was in these crazy situations. People were heroic, those who lived really shouldn't have and barely escaped, and what deaths happened were courageous and epic. It was like a fantasy legend or retelling of some battle to where it starts to become fantasy. I know what you're thinking, this is fantasy. Well, except when GoT started it was precisely the antithesis of that type of fantasy. Heroes weren't really heroes. It was gritty. People died for being fucking stupid. They didn't survive just because that's the way it had to be. It was against all that, and that's part of why everyone fell in love with it. That was the original pitch to me anyway.
Now people have plot armor. Not really just that, but it's written for maximum drama. Oh they couldn't escape that... but they did! ... somehow. It's Walking Dead syndrome, which really blows. It kind of shows a lack of writing and in a way a lack of faith in the fans that they have to drum up fake drama rather than more realistic situations.
Overall I do applaud the directing, the acting, and the scoring on this, but man D&D dropped the ball on this one... and the last few seasons.
Sauron barely conquered anything outside Mordor and died after two battles without even showing up. And after all that build up, Aragon didn't even fight anyone important.
This is a false dichotomy. There are plenty of ways to write around this, one of which is, you know, not making it so that "kill the NK = the entire night army dies" (an invention of the show, by the way).The only way to defeat the WWs is to kill the Night King. That leaves 2 ways to resolve the plot line:
1) WWs win and everyone dies.
2) Someone assassinates the Night King.
This is a false dichotomy. There are plenty of ways to write around this, one of which is, you know, not making it so that "kill the NK = the entire night army dies" (an invention of the show, by the way).
But that's the problem, it didn't "work", it was stupid and a lot of people hate it for a reason.but if not they were incredibly fucking lucky, because in hindsight it all worked toward this.
But that's the problem, it didn't "work", it was stupid and a lot of people hate it for a reason.
So, more like they wrote themselves in a corner with that "defeat the NK and everything is over" trope and were forced into this false dichotomy and had no more episodes/seasons to do a proper Long Night story arc...
It didn't work narratively, I mean.
I think that's kind of the point. They had a stupid plan that was hastily put together by a guy known for his charisma but not his strategic competence. They won purely because one person had balls enough to try a sneak attack while NK was distracted and pulled off a clever but rudimentary knife stunt. Jon lost the Battle of Bastards too before the Vale knights saved his ass.No, ending the White Walkers story with a Deus Ex Machina is not satisfying.
There was no plan that led to what happened, they overcame the dead army by complete chance and by losing. Cool.
Then it should have been obliterated. The only reason it exists is as a momument of the Others first defeat. If they wanted it to feel threatening, then the long night should have effected the entire world like in the past, and not just a single night at Winterfell.How can anyone say the dead were not much of a threat?! Winterfell would have been obliterated. In fact they were about to be! Even though they prepped and had 2 dragons.
we already knew his motivations. He was a defense mechanism of the pixies gone awry. That's it.
How interesting is "I have the claim", "no, I have the claim" ad nauseum
Surprised you made it 8 seasons then. I think it's odd to assume this last episode was the climax of the season and series and that there will be not much left. Even show runners who didn't sign up to make GOT fanservice understand that wouldn't go over well.How interesting is "I have the claim", "no, I have the claim" ad nauseum
It's hilarious how Season 7 had characters teleporting across the world every other episode.
That explains why he wants to destroy all humans. It does not explain why he hates Wikipedia, and needs to expose himself to danger just to destroy it himself.
Doesn't he know that if he kills all humans, he won't need to worry about people updating or reading Wikipedia? Yeesh.
I could get if the Three Eyed Raven was considered a major threat by the children, and the Night King was specifically programmed to treat him as a priority target . . . But that's never really explained, or even alluded to, by the show.
The whole scenario just felt super contrived.
It's also annoying that a little poke from valyrian steel was all that was necessary to make the NK explode like the death-star. It's frustrating to think, in hindsight, that all Jon and company needed to do at Hardhome to end the centuries-old threat of the NK forever was to just shoot him with a single valyrian steel-tipped arrow.
I didn't hate the episode, but it was super underwhelming and I found most of the action to be mindless and boring. They could have done A LOT better.
The three eyed raven has the knowledge to stop him. That's all the motivation he needs. The show makes it plain he's aware of the three eyed raven and wants to kill him. He's been chasing him for years by that time TER is introduced as a character.That explains why he wants to destroy all humans. It does not explain why he hates Wikipedia, and needs to expose himself to danger just to destroy it himself.
Doesn't he know that if he kills all humans, he won't need to worry about people updating or reading Wikipedia? Yeesh.
I could get if the Three Eyed Raven was considered a major threat by the children, and the Night King was specifically programmed to treat him as a priority target . . . But that's never really explained, or even alluded to, by the show.
The whole scenario just felt super contrived.
It's also annoying that a little poke from valyrian steel was all that was necessary to make the NK explode like the death-star. It's frustrating to think, in hindsight, that all Jon and company needed to do at Hardhome to end the centuries-old threat of the NK forever was to just shoot him with a single valyrian steel-tipped arrow.
I didn't hate the episode, but it was super underwhelming and I found most of the action to be mindless and boring. They could have done A LOT better.
What's interesting now is that Dany's army has been completely decimated, so how the hell is she gonna win the war with Cersei?
I kinda think that was the narrative purpose of the Night King. To make the final war a lot harder for Dany to win.
The three eyed raven has the knowledge to stop him. That's all the motivation he needs. The show makes it plain he's aware of the three eyed raven and wants to kill him. He's been chasing him for years by that time TER is introduced as a character.
They just need to kill Cersei. There's nothing tying either the Golden Company or Euron and his fleet to King's Landing if she isn't there so there's really no reason to believe that they'd keep on fighting if she were to die.
Essentially they just need to get Arya to sneak into the crypts (as Tyrion and Davos did in Season 7), sneak past the Mountain (who has already been shown to not do well with DEX builds) and they've won.
EDIT: I guess she'd have to kill Euron as well just in case. But considering how easy Theon of all people was able to save Yara that wouldn't seem like it would be an issue for Arya either.
Yeah when you put out that way it sure seems like it will be easy, but I'm guessing the show isn't gonna go that route. For whatever reason. It'll probably be a dumb reason.
The Mountain will suddenly be some super-dexterous fighter that can take down even the fastest of foes (until he dies at the hands of his brother at Memebowl). Either that or Arya will suddenly forget how to sneak and just run in to Cersei's final boss room like an idiot allowing the Mountain and the Queen's Guard to surround her. Or both.
THIS TV show however spent 7 seasons putting all the parts in place to defeat the enemy they had in the way it needed to be defeated. Maybe it wasn't planned that way from the start, but if not they were incredibly fucking lucky, because in hindsight it all worked toward this.