Television Game of Thrones (TV) • The watch has ended

Annihilate Now! said:
Here's a new topic... what is the worst acting performance to have taken place on the show?

For me it's this head sand snake woman (Google tells me her name is Ellaria Sand) ... whoever is playing her is doing a dreadful job (true the writing/story is also garbage... but still).
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Definitely the look she gives as they're captured after that dreadfully choreographed fight with Jaime and Bronn. The stable boy that Arya stabs in season one gets an honourable mention though.
 
Uzz said:
On the Unsullied - whytf would you fight with a spear? It's so impractical. Spears are for throwing, not for close hand to hand combat.
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Dragons, Ice Zombies, Magical priestesses, people warging into animals, emilia clarkes dark eyebrows and blonde hair - if I can go along with all that I can put up with people using a spear instead of a sword / nunchucks / sai's etc
 
Kaos said:
Their primary weapons were spears (well in the case of the Macedonians and Spartans). They'd use them in close quarters combat quite comfortably and expertly, though granted the average fighter would probably be more comfortable with a sword.



Because its fictional Westeros, not Detroit.
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It's colder there than in the D though.
 
sun_tzu said:
Dragons, Ice Zombies, Magical priestesses, people warging into animals, emilia clarkes dark eyebrows and blonde hair - if I can go along with all that I can put up with people using a spear instead of a sword / nunchucks / sai's etc
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I mean, all that stuff I can get along with - but close combat with a spear? That's where I draw the line.
 
Amethyst said:
Definitely the look she gives as they're captured after that dreadfully choreographed fight with Jaime and Bronn. The stable boy that Arya stabs in season one gets an honourable mention though.
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stable boy gets my vote

Played by actor Hugo Culverhouse, this character doesn’t even have a real name, but has become legendary amongst fans of the show for what occurs in one rather brief scene – namely due to an instance of very bad acting.

So “Stableboy,” as he’s known, appears in episode eight of season one. As Arya Stark tries to escape Winterfell, said character tries to stop her. His line delivery – “Want you, Wolf Girl. Come here…” – is so awful that it’s genuinely bewildering as to how the actor was signed for the part. When he grabs Arya, she stabs him. And guess what? Stableboy smiles. He smiles. Not on purpose, mind; the actor – paid to do this role, mind – just couldn’t stop himself.
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sullydnl said:
I dunno, people have found ways of co-ordinating attacks for hundreds of years, I'm sure there's a way of doing it. If nothing else the first fire that gets set would be a signal to the rest.
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Wasn't really about coordination though. It looks like the fires went up after they left the camp, but I suppose they could've used fuses. Not a big deal really, but I did find it a bit odd when watching.
 
The unsullied, it seems to me, are based off of a hoplite and as such are supposed to be fighting in a traditional greekesque phalanx. Basically everyone is locking shields and stabbing over their shields in a big locked block of soldiers.

A long spear like the ones they use are not going to be efficient individual close quarter battle weapons. Plus, have we seen any unsullied get straight up jacked 1v1? I can't think of any cases like that. Usually it's after they kill someone and then from behind by a third party which makes sense.

For the uninitiated (ok for the normal people) Spartans were hoplites and fought in a phalanx as well. The Macedonians previously mentioned didn't fight in the same manner although their method was also called a phalanx.
 
Did anyone else think that Melisandre was the one who started the fires with all her magic and shit as a way to convince Stannis to do what needs to be done?
 
Eboue said:
When it first happened I thought it was her, but then they explained it and I forgot about it.
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I still have a feeling it was her, as has been pointed out the fires started almost magically without sight of a single person by us or the guards.

Also it seems a bit convenient that Ramsay says 20 men and then Davos estimates the exact same number, maybe a blatant attempt to throw you off.
 
Vidic_In_Moscow said:
Did anyone else think that Melisandre was the one who started the fires with all her magic and shit as a way to convince Stannis to do what needs to be done?
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Well, I think you raise a very good question. Obviously we were told in the previous episode who was going to attack the camp. Ramsay saying he needed 20 good men and blah blah. However, when the scene started and fires are magically starting all over the place. All I could think is, this is a highly unrealistic scene, I mean how the feck are all these fires magically starting at the same time with nobody actually there with a fecking flint or a stick and string or a couple of sticks? Nobody had matches, nobody had lighters this is still the stone age when it comes to starting fires. Pretty sure time-delayed incendiary grenades don't exist in GoT.

Surely someone would have noticed dudes walking around with either torches, or firestarter kits huffing and puffing and blowing their forearms out while making fire.
 
Nucks said:
Well, I think you raise a very good question. Obviously we were told in the previous episode who was going to attack the camp. Ramsay saying he needed 20 good men and blah blah. However, when the scene started and fires are magically starting all over the place. All I could think is, this is a highly unrealistic scene, I mean how the feck are all these fires magically starting at the same time with nobody actually there with a fecking flint or a stick and string or a couple of sticks? Nobody had matches, nobody had lighters this is still the stone age when it comes to starting fires. Pretty sure time-delayed incendiary grenades don't exist in GoT.

Surely someone would have noticed dudes walking around with either torches, or firestarter kits huffing and puffing and blowing their forearms out while making fire.
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You can easily create sparks and start fires with stones, me and my cousins used to do it all the time as a kids. I can only imagine how much more efficient a grown up sadist would be at it.
 
Vidic_In_Moscow said:
Did anyone else think that Melisandre was the one who started the fires with all her magic and shit as a way to convince Stannis to do what needs to be done?
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she clearly has a surprised face (alone in her tent)... so no... it wasnt her.

(maybe the Lord of light? that would surprised her i guess)

Just like the vietnamese people give a hard time to the american feckers, its obvious the local people will be much more effective and dangerous than people coming from other places. Its like Di Maria in winter... he can barely move in the cold. Think the same for Stannis army (they dont even have food ffs). At least for me, the fires did make perfect sense. Its how i would decimate an army like that...
 
Vidic_In_Moscow said:
Did anyone else think that Melisandre was the one who started the fires with all her magic and shit as a way to convince Stannis to do what needs to be done?
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Great question.

Imagine the next episode starts with Ramsay and his men on the way to the camp and a scout of theirs comes back and says "turn around, somebody did the work for us" haha.
 
Silva said:
You can easily create sparks and start fires with stones, me and my cousins used to do it all the time as a kids. I can only imagine how much more efficient a grown up sadist would be at it.
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Yea, those rocks are called flint ;p Which I mentioned in the post. Starting a fire with them isn't easy. It isn't even easy for guys who have spent their entire life practicing it.
 
na that was done by Ramsay's men because Davos clearly said they were around 18-20 men and Ramsay asked for 20 men from Roose Bolton.
 
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Redlambs said:
Not sure I get the point of what they've done with Stannis. It's getting a little boring taking away the hope that a 'good' guy will finally get a win.

They've just made him completely unlikeable now and possibly means he'll win the battle and we'll lose two more interesting characters in Ramsay and Roose. I think they are well overdoing the shock aspects now tbh, this is definitely feeling far more tv writing now than book adaption which can never be a good thing.
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These two sentences are at odds....
 
Maybe Davos guessed the number of intruders correctly because he was the mole in Stannis' camp all along and he almost let his secret slip by revealing the exact number of men.
 
George Owen said:
she clearly has a surprised face (alone in her tent)... so no... it wasnt her.

(maybe the Lord of light? that would surprised her i guess)

Just like the vietnamese people give a hard time to the american feckers, its obvious the local people will be much more effective and dangerous than people coming from other places. Its like Di Maria in winter... he can barely move in the cold. Think the same for Stannis army (they dont even have food ffs). At least for me, the fires did make perfect sense. Its how i would decimate an army like that...
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Ramsay is not local to where the stannis army was camped.

Didn't a shit load of horses just die? I'd say they have plenty of food.
 
Redlambs said:
No they aren't.
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I don't see how they could end the Melisandre arc with the Arya and Jon link being hinted at so heavily. That doesn't mean that Stannis has to continue, although I suspect that he will. I am guessing that Roose will be killed by magic but will Ramsey be seen by Stannis as a big threat to the throne or more his unborn brother? I have a feeling that Ramsey might last beyond this season. I am probably totally wrong like.
 
It's really bugging me, who is this dude and why does a shot end on his face in the camp after the raid.

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Kinda looks like Theon but too old.
 
Shamwow said:
It's really bugging me, who is this dude and why does a shot end on his face in the camp after the raid.

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Kinda looks like Theon but too old.
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Wasn't it just to show how they were all freezing to death? I don't think he is anyone important really.
 
Oggmonster said:
Wasn't it just to show how they were all freezing to death? I don't think he is anyone important really.
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Aye just spotted him in this scene as well. Definitely a nobody, he looked well familiar first time round though.

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Shamwow said:
It's really bugging me, who is this dude and why does a shot end on his face in the camp after the raid.

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Kinda looks like Theon but too old.
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Looks like one of the time bandits
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Shamwow said:
It's really bugging me, who is this dude and why does a shot end on his face in the camp after the raid.

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Kinda looks like Theon but too old.
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He was shown after being told they had no food and weapons, and were still going to march on winterfell. His face was just a "oh great we are all going to die cold and hungry" reaction, nothing significant.

If Melisandre could know what ygritte said to Jon snow "you know nothing Jon snow", then surely she could know Ramsey and his men were coming?.

Probably thinking and analysing the show too much to see through its plot holes, but does make you wonder.
 
Melisandre sees visions in the fire. The fact she knows about "you know nothing, Jon Snow" doesn't mean that she's omniscient.
 
Uzz said:
I mean, all that stuff I can get along with - but close combat with a spear? That's where I draw the line.
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C'mon... of you can get over the blonde hair and dark eyebrows (plus dragons, ice zombies and shadows killing people etc) you can go along with the spear stuff...

Which medieval close combat weapon was the most effective?

submitted 2 years ago by [deleted]

The mace, sword, axe or other? I know it's hard to compare but what advantages or disadvantages did the weapons have?




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AsiaExpertChina, Korea, and Japan 2054 points 2 years ago



The general consensus is that for individual warriors of the time it was highly dependent on a great deal of factors how effective their weapon was in battle, such as skill, quality of the weapon, way it was used, etc.

Thus, we can safely assume that it is a mostly moot point to discuss which weapon was most effective on an individual scale in an objective sense. We could debate it all day and get no where.

So I would like to bring us to the macro scale. What was the most effective weapon for war making? The Spear

The spear was the most fundamental weapon across almost every culture and people, from East to West, whether they were knights or tribal warriors or samurai, and for good reason.

It was the AK47 of medieval times. It was easy & cheap to manufacture, easy to maintain, and simple to use. It was a good balance between weight, speed, handling, and striking power. And when used correctly, just as deadly as any expensive sword.

It's also incredibly important that spears benefited from formations and group fighting much more than sword fighters did, who would invariably engage in mostly individual battle as opposed to the united front a unit of spears could present.

To show how important the spear was considered, I'll give an example from my expertise. The samurai.

Everyone knows the samurai. A warrior class that were supposed to adhere to a strict code that dictated what they should do in and out of battle. And everyone knows their iconic weapon, the katana, right? Everyone knows the katana was the most important thing, the very soul of a samurai right? Wrong.

The katana did not gain its romantic concept even among the Japanese until long after its bloodiest wars had been fought and won already. It was only under the Tokugawa Shogunate, a time of relative peace and prosperity that the katana become the symbol of the samurai.

Before this, notably during the Sengoku Era or "Warring States Era", the samurai's weapon of choice was not a katana but a spear. It was one of the fields of mastery on which a samurai was judged on his martial prowess along with archery on horseback, which was the weapon of choice before the concept of conscription and levy armies were introduced.

The katana was not to be underestimated of course. But because of the historic lack of quality metals in the Japanese homeland, their metal blades could only be folded on itself so many times and a cap on quality was hard to break past with the techniques of the time. That being said, they did do spectacularly well with what they had and one could only imagine what they would have made if they had access to better materials...

Back to the godly spear. The samurai would often carry more than one into battle with them, along with their swords and a short dagger meant for finishing enemies in grappling. Their katana were treated as a sidearm, and only used if they could no longer use spears.

With a spear, they were expected to be able to strike just as fast and kill as efficiently as if they were holding a sword or bow. There were a great deal more schools for the way of the spear than there were for the way of the sword for a long time in Japan.

And in China, forget about it. China's wars were all about mass formations and grand tactics. Swords were for officers and generals, not fighting men who killed and were killed in the mud and dirt. The grunt's most trusted tool was the spear. And the spear always answered faithfully.

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Dante said:
Melisandre sees visions in the fire. The fact she knows about "you know nothing, Jon Snow" doesn't mean that she's omniscient.
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Ah right, just gets snippets of things then.
 
Alright, after 5 seasons of watching the series, I finally gave in, and bought all 5 books. I'd already read the first one before the second season aired. Now halfway through the second one. It's like having the best of both television and books. I can properly visualize how certain scenes look like, and I can understand and empathize with the characters, their feelings and motivations.

sun_tzu said:
C'mon... of you can get over the blonde hair and dark eyebrows (plus dragons, ice zombies and shadows killing people etc) you can go along with the spear stuff...
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Interesting article. And you're aptly named. I've heard about katanas being low quality swords compared to western medieval long swords. How true is that?
 
It's fascinating how difficult to understand the words "Book readers STAY OUT or GET BANNED" seem to be.
 
NinjaZombie said:
Alright, after 5 seasons of watching the series, I finally gave in, and bought all 5 books. I'd already read the first one before the second season aired. Now halfway through the second one. It's like having the best of both television and books. I can properly visualize how certain scenes look like, and I can understand and empathize with the characters, their feelings and motivations.



Interesting article. And you're aptly named. I've heard about katanas being low quality swords compared to western medieval long swords. How true is that?
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@Eboue save us
 
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