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

NinjaZombie said:
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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I dont know... certainly the Katana / anti burglar device I have seems fairly good quality!
http://www.coldsteel-uk.com/store/Warrior-Series.html

But I imagine that back in the day it would be very difficult to produce a curved blade of consistent quality using folded steel and if there was any error in the crafting they would be prone to damage far more than a straight / western style sword.

Still the very best swords today are the hand forged ones so if the workmanship is up to spec then I imagine the best swords of the time were still those.
 
Alright, I'll stay out. I actually thought the thread title was tongue in cheek. Just assumed that we'd be trusted not to be cvnts and reveal spoilers in such a thread. My apologies.
 
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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@CassiusClaymore
 
Thanks @Eboue. Good question @NinjaZombie and no doubt one we've all been thinking about as the series has progressed. Have a look at this video I made a few years back comparing the 2. I think you'll find it most informative....



Any further questions don't hesitate to ask @RedSky
 
@sun_tzu - I maintain that if you were in a dark, tight tunnel/underground (where Ser Barristan died) and you had a choice of a spear or a sword, you'd go for a sword. Likewise, if you had to chase/were being chased by those Harpy lads down narrow, inner city corridors, you'd want a sword over a spear.

But for all battle or war purposes, a spear has an advantage.
 
Halberds are the shit, if I were a medieval king I'd make sure my infantry equipped one as standard.

It has the range and penetration of a spear, but it also doubles up as an axe so you can swing and wreck shit in close quarters too.

They also look cool AF.
 
Uzz said:
@sun_tzu - I maintain that if you were in a dark, tight tunnel/underground (where Ser Barristan died) and you had a choice of a spear or a sword, you'd go for a sword. Likewise, if you had to chase/were being chased by those Harpy lads down narrow, inner city corridors, you'd want a sword over a spear.

But for all battle or war purposes, a spear has an advantage.
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technically Id go for sais - very good against swords, perfect for tight conditions and you can run faster with them but to put a touch of (semi) reality into it - well as much as you can when there are dragons, ice zombies, magic, wagring and impossibly blonde hair with dark eyebrows Id say an interesting thing when you train multiple martial arts is that you have to untrain your decision making process from things you have learned before - eg MMA or JKD / Krav Maga for example you train to fight over multiple ranges but if you bring somebody from a boxing background, or ju jitsu or karate say they make awful decisions about multiple attackers, weapons, and engagement ranges - simply because they have trained for many years in one form and think in one way - If you had trained all your life to fight with a spear and you had a spear in your hand you would use it instinctively rather than think would I be better off with a sword or why the F didn't I bring my sais...
Anyway If I can believe that Dragon Glass can kill ice zombies, that magic can bring people back to life, that sam has not lost any weight whilst living up at the wall and that you can have hair that blonde and eyebrows that dark and not need to be dying your hair in every other scene then I'm not going to make a fuss about a guy using a spear because its just a tv show and a bit of light entertainment
 
sun_tzu said:
technically Id go for sais - very good against swords, perfect for tight conditions and you can run faster with them but to put a touch of (semi) reality into it - well as much as you can when there are dragons, ice zombies, magic, wagring and impossibly blonde hair with dark eyebrows Id say an interesting thing when you train multiple martial arts is that you have to untrain your decision making process from things you have learned before - eg MMA or JKD / Krav Maga for example you train to fight over multiple ranges but if you bring somebody from a boxing background, or ju jitsu or karate say they make awful decisions about multiple attackers, weapons, and engagement ranges - simply because they have trained for many years in one form and think in one way - If you had trained all your life to fight with a spear and you had a spear in your hand you would use it instinctively rather than think would I be better off with a sword or why the F didn't I bring my sais...
Anyway If I can believe that Dragon Glass can kill ice zombies, that magic can bring people back to life, that sam has not lost any weight whilst living up at the wall and that you can have hair that blonde and eyebrows that dark and not need to be dying your hair in every other scene then I'm not going to make a fuss about a guy using a spear because its just a tv show and a bit of light entertainment
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I know, I know, my comment was tongue in cheek.

Tbh, I think the most unrealistic part of the show was the bit where Ned Stark said 'Winter is coming'.
 
Speaking of weapons, I saw this on Reddit. Daario's dagger has a fairly cool design. I'll say NSFW just to be sure...

xpL2h6y.jpg


M3NaaJA.jpg
 
Regarding different historical swords. This is a really informative, pretty easy to understand article. It talks about the grade of steel different "famous" swords had.

http://www.tameshigiri.ca/2014/01/21/razor-edged-3-comparing-metallurgy/

All three sword styles covered here were using extremely sophisticated techniques to attain edge hardness that would rival modern steel.

I'll just add as well regarding the article cut/paste on the last page regarding the Samurai and their weapons.

The spear was not their primary weapon, the bow was, then the spear, then the sword. The reason is simple and the article pretty much nails it. The spear, or more specifically the pike is the most dominant hand to hand military weapon of the pre-gun powder age. The Yari, which was the spear used by the Japanese in this period was more pike than spear. The Ashigaru (the peasant conscripts) were fielded en-mass with Yari which would have been 15-20 feet long.

The sword had a brief stint under Rome, but that was more a reflection (I think anyways) of the enormous bureaucratic, administrative, and logistical machine that was Rome. Rome could have conquered what they did with just about any stabby or slashy weapon.

The Macedonian phalanx is basically the first instance of western pike combat. It's no shock that almost 1500 years later at the onset of the gunpowder age, pike blocks again ruled the battlefield. A wall of pikes wheeling together and holding cohesion is basically unstoppable frontally and properly drilled is difficult to flank.

Rome killed the Macedonian phalanx in Europe when they defeated Macedonia, but the Macedonia they defeated was a shell of its former self. Made up mostly of undrilled levies. A far cry from Philip II and Alexander's elite professional phalangite corps.

I'm totally outing myself as a massive nerd with too much knowledge of unpractical things!
 
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@Nucks - That's actually quite interesting (only had a brief skim of the article, though). I remember in GCSE Chemistry class, my teacher mentioned how the Samurai blade was made in two parts (i.e the inner curvature, and the outer curvature) having distinctly different treatments, and heating/cooling methods. The actual metallic properties were different, as well. Which is why he thought it was the best blade out there.
 
Uzz said:
@Nucks - That's actually quite interesting (only had a brief skim of the article, though). I remember in GCSE Chemistry class, my teacher mentioned how the Samurai blade was made in two parts (i.e the inner curvature, and the outer curvature) having distinctly different treatments, and heating/cooling methods. The actual metallic properties were different, as well. Which is why he thought it was the best blade out there.
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I certainly wont claim to be knowledgeable in the field, but indeed the Japanese smithing techniques for their blades were incredible.
 
Uzz said:
@Nucks - That's actually quite interesting (only had a brief skim of the article, though). I remember in GCSE Chemistry class, my teacher mentioned how the Samurai blade was made in two parts (i.e the inner curvature, and the outer curvature) having distinctly different treatments, and heating/cooling methods. The actual metallic properties were different, as well. Which is why he thought it was the best blade out there.
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If you read the whole article, the idea of a softer core and a harder edge is pretty much universal. It gives the blade the ability to flex and what not. What is insane is how hard the edge of some of those Japanese swords is.

Even crazier is the Ulfberht swords which were being made in the 8th century.
 
jem said:
So explain mate.
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Quite simply, It's getting a little boring how the 'good' guys (and I put it like that because there's not really good or bad as such in Got) need to either go through a bad moment or die. Not that I really minded Shireen being burned, as obviously it's a bigger picture thing, but how they did it seemed to be done in that short time purely to make it the big shock of episode 9.

I never once said who I personally want to win, but it is always boiling down to good vs bad (or again, as close as got gets to that) and the rug gets pulled from under the good guy's feet. I miss the more political side of it all in those circumstances I guess.

The second paragraph pretty much sums up my thoughts that Stannis will probably get some kind of win now which means we may end up losing Roose/Ramsay and I think both of which are potentially the better characters and aren't properly explored. Ramsay is instead going further and further cartoon villain-ish and Roose could well have had a decent storyline holding onto the north (where the feck are everyone else btw? Stark's bannermen for example?).

Obviously it's just my opinion, but the writing this season just seems a little flat and it's getting, not so much predictable, but more formulaic than ever.
 
Redlambs said:
Quite simply, It's getting a little boring how the 'good' guys (and I put it like that because there's not really good or bad as such in Got) need to either go through a bad moment or die. Not that I really minded Shireen being burned, as obviously it's a bigger picture thing, but how they did it seemed to be done in that short time purely to make it the big shock of episode 9.

I never once said who I personally want to win, but it is always boiling down to good vs bad (or again, as close as got gets to that) and the rug gets pulled from under the good guy's feet. I miss the more political side of it all in those circumstances I guess.

The second paragraph pretty much sums up my thoughts that Stannis will probably get some kind of win now which means we may end up losing Roose/Ramsay and I think both of which are potentially the better characters and aren't properly explored. Ramsay is instead going further and further cartoon villain-ish and Roose could well have had a decent storyline holding onto the north (where the feck are everyone else btw? Stark's bannermen for example?).

Obviously it's just my opinion, but the writing this season just seems a little flat and it's getting, not so much predictable, but more formulaic than ever.
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I disagree that Stannis burning Shireen was done for shock, in the early episodes he along with Melisandre are burning people alive on the beach as a sacrifice to the lord of light. Since then he's killed his own brother along with betraying his wife and also burned Mance Rayder. I'm not sure if he's a a power hungry ruthless maniac like littlefinger or a military general whose completely convinced he's been chosen by the lord of light and only he can defeat the white walkers but either way most of these decisions he seems to brush off as the price of being a general and making tough calls, it'll be interesting to see how he deals with this.
 
goin4glory said:
I disagree that Stannis burning Shireen was done for shock, in the early episodes he along with Melisandre are burning people alive on the beach as a sacrifice to the lord of light. Since then he's killed his own brother along with betraying his wife and also burned Mance Rayder. I'm not sure if he's a a power hungry ruthless maniac like littlefinger or a military general whose completely convinced he's been chosen by the lord of light and only he can defeat the white walkers but either way most of these decisions he seems to brush off as the price of being a general and making tough calls, it'll be interesting to see how he deals with this.
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Again though, I'm talking about how it was done. I know the show is only 10eps per season and all that, but I don't think the build up was great at all nor did it get the point across. It just seemed they wanted it for the number 9 big shock more than anything.

I don't have a problem with it happening though, it's just it's obviously a bigger picture thing and the show doesn't convey that. Maybe I'm wrong, but the build up to the other big events seemed much more well done.
 
Ive never seen Stannis as a religious fanatic. He seems like the arch pragmatist, and just uses Melisandre as means to an end more than anything.
 
GloryHunter07 said:
Ive never seen Stannis as a religious fanatic. He seems like the arch pragmatist, and just uses Melisandre as means to an end more than anything.
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Yes, but didn't he also see in the fire what was happening beyond the wall? The bigger picture being he did it for a lot more than them being stuck in the snow. The burning of the tents seemed to be the final straw. At least that's what I think, because it makes even less sense if he did it for just that reason.
 
Redlambs said:
Yes, but didn't he also see in the fire what was happening beyond the wall? The bigger picture being he did it for a lot more than them being stuck in the snow. The burning of the tents seemed to be the final straw. At least that's what I think, because it makes even less sense if he did it for just that reason.
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I agree, he would have left shireen at the wall if it wasn't in the back of his mind.

I don't remember the bit about seeing beyond the wall, can anyone confirm?
 
GloryHunter07 said:
I agree, he would have left shireen at the wall if it wasn't in the back of his mind.

I don't remember the bit about seeing beyond the wall, can anyone confirm?
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Isn't it the reason he went north and saved the wall? He saw in the fire and Melisandre says there is a more important fight elsewhere, or something like that.
 
Just watched the episode. Hilariously terrible again. I love how she just flew of with her dragon and left the people who were protecting her behind. Also the rolly polly move Mormant used to kill the last guy :lol:. They should be able to do better than that.
 
Redlambs said:
Quite simply, It's getting a little boring how the 'good' guys (and I put it like that because there's not really good or bad as such in Got) need to either go through a bad moment or die. Not that I really minded Shireen being burned, as obviously it's a bigger picture thing, but how they did it seemed to be done in that short time purely to make it the big shock of episode 9.

I never once said who I personally want to win, but it is always boiling down to good vs bad (or again, as close as got gets to that) and the rug gets pulled from under the good guy's feet. I miss the more political side of it all in those circumstances I guess.

The second paragraph pretty much sums up my thoughts that Stannis will probably get some kind of win now which means we may end up losing Roose/Ramsay and I think both of which are potentially the better characters and aren't properly explored. Ramsay is instead going further and further cartoon villain-ish and Roose could well have had a decent storyline holding onto the north (where the feck are everyone else btw? Stark's bannermen for example?).

Obviously it's just my opinion, but the writing this season just seems a little flat and it's getting, not so much predictable, but more formulaic than ever.
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Fair enough and well put. I think they've missed a trick with Ramsay. He was interesting in the 3rd season (his first appearance,) but he's become increasing one-note since then. Roose should be developed more, as he does come across as a nuanced character, in the limited screen time that he gets.
 
Jagga7 said:
Just watched the episode. Hilariously terrible again. I love how she just flew of with her dragon and left the people who were protecting her behind. Also the rolly polly move Mormant used to kill the last guy :lol:. They should be able to do better than that.
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Mate that was clutch.
 
Uzz said:
Question: When Dany was holding Missandei's hand, did anyone else think she telepathically or magically (or whatever) sensed/summoned the dragon? I need to rewatch it, but she closed her eyes and tilted her head back. I think the background noise faded out too. It was very Charles Xavier-esque.
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I thought something similar. Could be a possibility. She is the mother of dragons and all.
 
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