Game of Thrones - season 6

[Freddy G]

I must admit, I laughed like hell when Tommen went down.

Me too! Useless little sack of sheep dip!!!

My one regret though was Maergary....I'll miss those eyes and that lip.

Oh well, still it was worth her burning just to see Cercei burn them all.

Ya gotta crack a few eggs to make an omelete right?

 

[OldBenKenobi]

I don't know very much about how kings become kings except for bloodline and the order of succession.

Oldest male offspring dies, then the next brother down the line succeeds to the throne, etc. King dies, oldest son steps in, etc.

But what if the king is childless, then dies, then wifey dies? Uncles? cousins? Largest, most important House of the Realm if no one else is suitable?

Britain's Henry VIII had only one legitimate son, crowned at age 9.

And how do the first kings of the bloodline get chosen?

I ask this, because I "assume" the GOT follows our own world customs of history.

After all, Jon Snow wouldn't be the first king to be "people's choice".

The way GRRM put it is the realm is governed by men rather than laws. The laws of succession are vague and contradictory and leave loopholes like this.

Just look at Season 1. Robert signs a royal decree claiming Ned to be Joffrey's regent. All Cersei has to do is rip it up and put Joffrey's butt on the throne, because Cersei has the firepower to take it.

Legally Robert took the throne because he is descended from Aegon Targaryen and is next in line after all of the Targaryens are dead. But in reality he took the throne because he had the army to back it up.

An empty throne is up for grabs and anyone can take . The families are so old that there is a little blood from all of them in most of them. It gets settled through war.

Highgarden was originally ruled by House Gardner. During Aegon's Conquest House Gardner was wiped out. There were two claimants for the title: House Tyrell and House Florent. The title went to the Tyrells despite the Florents actually having a better claim. If the letter of the law was followed the Florents would be the ruling family of the Reach, but thems the breaks (maybe they'll take another shot now).

Ben, wouldn't Bran Stark be the legitimate heir to House Stark, if he ever showed up?

Yes. If Bran were to pop up in Winterfell he could force a claim for the crown. And after this last episode, he could also negate Jon's claim.

Me too! Useless little sack of sheep dip!!!

My one regret though was Maergary....I'll miss those eyes and that lip.

Oh well, still it was worth her burning just to see Cercei burn them all.

Ya gotta crack a few eggs to make an omelete right?

Absolutely. Case in point:

 

[Eddye]

It makes you wonder... if Jon Snow doesn't legitimize himself and keeps the crown will his dynasty still be a Stark dynasty? If his heirs are fathered by a bastard can they be Starks? In the books it's a bit cleaner as Robb wrote a decree legitimizing Jon and naming him his heir (then again, in the books Jon Snow is currently bleeding out from multiple stab wounds while Stannis is marching a very capable army against the practically imploding Boltons).

And I don't think Tyrion is actually aware of there being a real war to fight.

Wouldn't it be even better if Jon names himself a Targaryen? Bran is reasonably close to Winterfell, and Bran wouldn't keep it to himself, I think.

Tyrion might not be aware of how precarious the situation in the North is, but he is certainly aware of the need of the Night's Watch. When Daenarys concers King's Landing, she'll need/get a Maester from the Citadel who will be aware of the situation in the North through Sam. Perhaps the Maester will be Sam.

 

[bildozr]

So who is actually the next Baratheon? Tommen and joffrey were treated as Roberts sons even though everyone kinda knew otherwise.

Cersei has no claim by blood. Did she just assume it because the gold cloaks and the Lannister army support her?

Robert only has a living bastard, Gendry, who set sail on the S.S. Abandoned Plotlines.

Stannis was the last living Baratheon according to the show.

Cerise, does.. It's kinda complicated, and I really only have heard it second hand from people who've looked into World of Ice and Fire, but pretty much all of the noble houses have intermarried at some point, so several are really distant cousins. (As mentioned previously) I think the Lannisters have some type of relationship to the Targaryens, like Tywin's grandfather.

Everyone in her way is gone. There's no real opposition. She was the Queen Regent. The King and Queen are dead. She's got the military force.

 

[Deus Vult]

Obviously whoever has the army is in control. I was just wondering if she had any Blood claim.

And who would have the strongest claim from the Baratheon line.

 

[Shortscale]

But Jaime is the male brother meaning more of a claim than her and he had the army with him so... ?

I predict first episode in S7 he'll shout out Shame! and throw feces at her and everyone will laugh and then, umm...

Hmm, Jaime might need the Hound after all seeing as she does have Sir GregorStein.

 

[poro78]

Well, that was nice. I was expecting heads to roll, but wow.
(They air the show a day later here in Finland, I have to avoid this thread for almost two days before that )
Things are wrapping up quite fast, hopefully they get everything settled without rushing too much in 13 episodes.

Of course since this could be considered as a zombie apocalypse story, you can end it like Romero if the time runs out.

 

[OldBenKenobi]

It's not known who is the closest living relative to House Baratheon. There has to be distant cousins out there somewhere.

In the books House Arryn is in a similar situation. Jon Arryn was only able to sire a single son, Robert (Robin in the show). Almost every one of his male relatives has died, so if Robert dies the Vale will pass to Jon's sister's grandson, who is from a much poorer branch of the family and doesn't even carry the Arryn name.

This is the man who Littlefinger arranges for Sansa to marry, as she would become Lady of the Vale when Robert dies (he is sickly and Sansa is helping things along by poisoning him), which would let her command the Vale's army to take back Winterfell.

But Jaime is the male brother meaning more of a claim than her and he had the army with him so... ?

I predict first episode in S7 he'll shout out Shame! and throw feces at her and everyone will laugh and then, umm...

Hmm, Jaime might need the Hound after all seeing as she does have Sir GregorStein.

Jaime has no interest in ruling. In the books Cersei actually tries to name him Hand of the King but he refuses on the basis of being unfit for the job.

 

[MikeyTheCat]

Wouldn't it be even better if Jon names himself a Targaryen? Bran is reasonably close to Winterfell, and Bran wouldn't keep it to himself, I think.

That's what I was thinking, Jon is equal parts Stark and Targaryen.

 

[Frankg11]

omg there are more episodes coming? I thought 10 a year and then I have to wait a year. poro say's 13? Really?

BTW -- I guessed pretty well as to what was going to happen. However I expected more of KL to be destroyed. Also Tomen's dive was quite un-spectacular. Here let me just walk out the window. Umm!!! I expected fratricide from Cersi in some way.

It was good to see Aya back and in full Aya mode! Just deserts to that vile man.

Jon is a targaryan the question is since he is back from the dead, fireproof? Did he go though a transformation.

I didn't see the Red Witch getting ejected though. That was a surprise.

Lot's of stuff to go over on this episode.

 

[Kashmir]

As usual, I WILL watch it again, probably Wednesday.

 

[OldBenKenobi]

omg there are more episodes coming? I thought 10 a year and then I have to wait a year. poro say's 13? Really?

This season is over.

The rumor mill says that there are only going to be 13-16 episodes in the remainder of the series, split between two seasons. So we could be looking at six episodes, then a year off, then seven to end it.

 

[Kashmir]

This season is over.

The rumor mill says that there are only going to be 13-16 episodes in the remainder of the series, split between two seasons. So we could be looking at six episodes, then a year off, then seven to end it.

That's kind of sad. What withdrawal!

 

[OldBenKenobi]

That's kind of sad. What withdrawal!

The optimistic among us dare to hope that this year's withdrawal will be mitigated by the release of The Winds of Winter.

 

[poro78]

Now that you mention it, a pretty popular theory is that Syrio Forel is the Faceless Man who would later take on the identity of Jaqen H'Ghar. Kinda makes sense, since he was Braavosi, taught Arya basic lessons that would be expanded on by the Faceless Men, and disappeared from the story right when Jaqen appeared as a prisoner.

But that's pretty much exclusive to the books, since the show went in a different direction with Jaqen.

IMO, that theory is more tinfoil department than the gravedigger theory.
I believe that the Water Dancers are totally different breed, more mundane sword fighters than the cultist type assassins aka the Faceless Men.

If I remember right, Jaqen was found from the black cells and the two other prisoners were afraid of him.
I don't think there was enough time between Syrio's match against Meryn Trant's gang and the jail time.
I also don't think that both Trant and Syrio would had survived that encounter - one of them had to die. This time it was the guy who was highly skilled with the swords, but had no chance against too many foes in too much armor.

I believe it was just as simple as Syrio being a swordmaster that was available for Ned to hire when Arya needed something "boyish" and controllable to do.
Got fond of his pupil, got killed because of that, and then Arya simply bumped into something totally different, because random things happen.
Of course it would be fascinating plot if the Faceless Men had an ultimate plan to make Arya the next big thing in their club, but for me it sounds highly unlikely.
I don't think Jaqen (or whatever his real name is) had much hopes for Arya coming to the House of Black and White when he gave him the coin and the passphrase - it was just an option, because she had interest in being able to "take names" just like that.

 

[LtDave32]

This season is over.

The rumor mill says that there are only going to be 13-16 episodes in the remainder of the series, split between two seasons. So we could be looking at six episodes, then a year off, then seven to end it.

Wait, what? The season is over? No GOT next Sunday?

 

[Shortscale]

Yep, We can cancel our HBO subscriptions now

 

[LtDave32]

Which is precisely what I'm going to do.

 

[Cozmik Cowboy]

Or by war. Robert Baratheon became king through war.

In an appendex to one of the books, or maybe World Of Ice And Fire, it says "Robert used to say his claim was his warhammer."

And I think anyone who gets gooey over royals should be made to watch this whole thing (in concert with The Borgias and The Tudors) to see just how Lizzie, Chuck, Willie, et al, got their gigs.....

 

[James R]

The optimistic among us dare to hope that this year's withdrawal will be mitigated by the release of The Winds of Winter.

I've been reading (no official source) that it's in the proofreading stages and is tentatively set for a January 2017 release?