Phaneron

15th Jan 2023

Game of Thrones (2011)

The Red Woman - S6-E1

Stupidity: When Trystane is engaging Nymeria in combat, he pivots right in front of Obara, whom he knows is armed with a spear, and leaves his entire backside exposed. Anyone with a modicum of sword training would know not to expose themselves to an armed opponent like that. He ends up immediately being speared through the back of the head because of it.

Phaneron

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: They ask him who he chooses to fight. He chooses Nymeria, believing the others will not interfere. He was wrong.

lionhead

Two women snuck aboard his ship intending to murder him, and he trusted them to be honest about fighting fair? That just adds to the stupidity.

Phaneron

That's naivety at best, not stupidity. Plus they didn't sneak on board, they announced their intentions.

lionhead

If two armed people entered your house and told you they were going to murder you, but would give you the opportunity to fight your way out, would you actually believe them as well as immediately turn your back to one of them? Trystane is a prince who undoubtedly had education and combat training. This goes beyond naivety.

Phaneron

You are forgetting he is also only 15 or 16 years old and never left Dorne (what I take from the show). What does he really know? He probably never actually fought anyone in his life.

lionhead

The women that killed him were previously locked in a cell for trying to kidnap his betrothed, which he knew about. He also knew she died on the journey back to King's Landing under suspicious circumstances, and likely knew it was from poisoning and that they were involved. Based on the show's lore, someone in his position would have had schooling about the world and its people from a maester and combat training from a master-at-arms. He knew full well not to trust these women.

Phaneron

1st Sep 2020

Game of Thrones (2011)

Show generally

Corrected entry: In a show about zombies, dragons and magic, Littlefinger's survival is the least believable thing. He fell into the hands of the likes of Catelyn, Renly and even Cersei, but they always spared him because of paltry reasons. By season 6 he's practically daring anyone to kill him, but they never do. Sansa, Brienne and Jon Snow were all itching to kill him, but they always stopped for no reason. This is a poor and artificial way of prolonging drama.

Correction: That's just your opinion, not a stupidity in the show.

lionhead

Correction: Littlefinger is extremely wealthy and resourceful and has spent the entirety of the show (and even before the start of it) orchestrating events behind the scenes that make him more and more powerful, including the murders of Jon Arryn and Joffrey. Characters aren't in a position to straight up kill him because he controls the Vale army and has influence over Robyn Arryn. It isn't until his betrayal of Ned and Catelyn is finally revealed that the Vale army and the Lords of the Eyrie no longer have his back, which gives Sansa and Arya a reason to execute him without fear of reprisal.

Phaneron

Littlefinger only told Sansa about the Knights of the Vale after she had faltered again in her promise to kill him. That's just terrible negotiation. He's not allowed to die until the writers say so.

He told her his army would aid her. That doesn't mean only she knows he has the army. It's undoubtedly known by the Lords and Ladies across Westeros that Littlefinger married Lysa Arryn and became the de facto Lord Regent and Protector of the Vale after Lysa's death. And saying he's not allowed to die until the writers say so isn't even a valid argument. Every fictional character that dies does so when the writers say so.

Phaneron

Correction: Just because the powers that be don't like or trust Littlefinger doesn't mean they don't think he is useful for their own goals. They try and include him in their own schemes, but he played the game of thrones better than they did.

30th Jul 2019

Game of Thrones (2011)

Season 8 generally

Question: Why does everyone argue over the best way to remove Cersei from power with minimal civilian casualties when they could have just sent Arya to assassinate Cersei? Given her training with the Faceless Men, she could easily infiltrate the Red Keep and get the job done. On top of that, Arya wants to kill Cersei.

Phaneron

Answer: Daenerys and her allies don't just want to kill Cersei, they want to claim King's Landing and free her people from Cersei's grip. The problem is the people of Essos viewed Daenerys as a liberator but the people of Westeros view her as an outsider and usurper. They would never follow Daenerys if she had Cersei assassinated. That is Daenerys' dilemma, she certainly has the ability to wipe Cersei out and obliterate her armies but doing so would make her a tyrant. Which as it turns out is exactly what happens.

BaconIsMyBFF

But no-one has to know that Cersei was assassinated. Arya has the ability to impersonate anyone she kills, so she could pretend to be Cersei afterwards and profess to the citizens of King's Landing that she has yielded the throne to Danaerys and that she is going into exile.

Phaneron

That plan would be incredibly suspicious. Knowing what they know of Cersei it is highly unlikely the people of King's Landing would believe that she would accept defeat so easily and then voluntarily exile herself, never to be heard from again. In order for that to work, all of Cersei's advisers and closest allies would have to be similarly eliminated, or they would have to be on board with the exile plan. If they are all killed it sort of makes it obvious that something is amiss. There's no way they would be fooled by Cersei suddenly doing a 180 and completely changing her personality by accepting defeat without a fight. If any part of this plan goes wrong then Daenerys would look worse than just an assassin, she would also be deceitful to the people she hopes will willingly accept her rule.

BaconIsMyBFF

24th Aug 2017

Game of Thrones (2011)

Beyond the Wall - S7-E6

Corrected entry: Jon sends a raven to Daenerys in Dragonstone, and Gendry runs back to Eastwatch, reporting their dire position. Both of them get there surprisingly quickly, and then Daenerys manages to fly to them in basically no time at all, despite them being at least 1,500 miles apart, according to previous distance implications.

Correction: This is explained numerous times by un-synced timelines. This is not an error.

While there are numerous examples of un-synced timelines in this show, this is not one of them. Jon and crew are stranded on the island of ice for a couple days at most, and it would take at least that long for a raven to fly from Eastwatch to Dragonstone, and at least another day for Dany to fly from Dragonstone to Eastwatch. This doesn't even include the time it would take for Gendry to run back to Eastwatch and get the message out in the first place. Even by conservative estimates, Dany's arrival happens too quickly. This is just one of many times in the last couple of seasons where the writers threw logic out of the window in favor of rushing through the story.

Phaneron

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