I mean, in our world, religions form, grow, and expand, but there are still belivers in the original holy lands to those faiths. So why aren't there any large colonies of believers of the 7 in Essos?

In S1E1, Will sees the White Walkers beyond the Wall, escapes, and is later captured and beheaded by Ned Stark.
But how did he get back south of the Wall? He was riding his horse when he was found, so he couldn’t have simply climbed over the Wall.
And how could he have passed through one of the Night’s Watch castles without being stopped as a deserter?

Renly was Robert's younger brother. Stannis was the older brother and had the stronger claim to the throne. So why couldn't Renly just accept that and support Stannis??? Then Melisandre would never have had so much power over Stannis.

If Renly had simply known his place and backed Stannis, SO MUCH SHIT could have been avoided. The whole situation could've played out completely differently.

Like bro, I get that you had the army and the charisma, but having more people on your side doesn't magically give you the better claim.

Oldtown=Ptolemaic Alexandria. The Greek successor kingdom of Alexander the Great which saw a greek pharao and a great emigration of greeks settle Egypt together with local egyptians and rule a powerful kingdom and city for centuries. Famous for its great lighthouse and library, and focus on knowledge and religion.

Lannisport=London. Medieval London was like Lannisport a successful and wealthy trading hub, known for skilled smiths. And Casterly Rock being inspired by Gibraltar also works with the english connection as it fell under english rule as of 1704.

Kings Landing=Any center of political power like Constantinople, Paris etc. But fittingly also the city it was filmed at, Dubrovnik in Croatia which thrived as a political and trading center in the late medieval age.

White Harbour=Talinn, Estonia. A minor but relatively large for its area, city in the north thriving on maritime trade.

Bravoos=Medieval Venice. Like Bravoos Venice is of course a city on the waters, a wealthy banking center, and had a famous festival of masquerade like Bravoos has the "festival of unmasking".

Gulltown=Visby, Gotland, Sweden. Medieval Visby was a connecting point between trade routes like Gulltown and drew in wealth thus. Also acting as a buffer zone to the Swedish kingdom (when not conquered briefly by Denmark) like Gulltown buffers the Vale of Arryn, and both had its own fleet.

Tommen was younger, was he not? Yet there was the whole plot line in season 5 and 6 of Cersei simply being the ‘Queen mother’ that did not hold much power on paper. Yet, this was not an issue in earlier seasons with her and Joff.

Is it to do with the fact Tommen married Margery and she was an adult?

As I first did cities I now also want to share the characters I see in real history.

Tywin Lannister=King Edward "Longshanks" Plantagenet. This is the most obvious one as Martin himself said that it was the source. Edward as a young man took the reins from the ineffectual and weak rule of his father king Henry III and obliterated the rebellious barons to his father spearheaded by the powerful vassal Lord Simon de Montfort (Roger Reyne) whose blazon was a silver lion on a red field, rebelling against the golden lion. Edward annihilated the Montfort house and its power and restored royal control (rains of castamere story). He was a fierce and stern man, once said to have stared down a maid that displeased him so hard that she died of a heart attack. And he presided over a powerful and prosperous England, but suffered a son and heir rather disinterested in ruling (Edward II=Jaime Lannister).

Robert Baratheon=William the Conqueror (though Aegon obviously fits as well). Now many say that Robert is Henry VIII, but I disagree. Robert wasn't nearly as mad as he, and the one similarity is the fatness in later age. Like Robert, William grew up once a dear friend of the king of England Harold Godwinson (Robert and Aerys) but rose up against him, some sources even indicate William was bethroted to King Canute's daughter blown off by King Harold (Lyanna Stark). William shatters a dynasty and conquers a kingdom, a powerful warrior who in later ages is said to have quarreled a lot with his brother Odo (Stannis).

Alicent Hightower (book)=Eleanor of Aquitaine. A shrewd and powerful woman from a powerful and influential family with a lot of wealth who navigated politics through marriage and initially was wed to a king she did not care much for but used for her gain (Eleanor and king Louis of France).

Arthur Dayne=Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar or "El Cid". Like Arthur, Rodrigo was a legendary knight of Castile in the 11th century who never lost a single battle in life. And again like the Sword of the Morning, operated in Spain, one of the cultural inspirations of Dorne. His greatsword Tizona (Dawn) is on display at a museum in Spain.

Barristan the Bold=William Marshal. Like Barristan, Marshal was a famous english knight of incredible skill known both in battle and tourneys, who survived multiple kings he served into a ripe old age, dying at 73.

Aegon the Unworthy=Henry VIII. Now here is our Henry. Started out very well, was a very handsome, charismatic and promising regent in youth, but had difficulty controlling impulses. Ended up a psychotic and hedonistic monarch who damaged the realm greatly.

Which characters do you see?

When Catelyn was confronted by Tyrion and decided to stop ignoring him, the whole scene where she's reaffirming ties with her fathers bannermen and going around to each one asking about their families and then at the very end just making her order as the daughter of Hoster Tully was really cool to watch and kind of similar to the scene with Cersei and Littlefinger where she said power is power.

I also found it interesting how this same episode had Cersei comment to Ned how Sansa only took after her Tully mother and then we have this scene where Catelyn is acting as a Tully and using Tully allies. .

As a king, you can't just have a massive group of people who refuse to bend the knee just running about, it threatens your whole legitimacy.

Was there ever any hope for the freefolk to live south of the Wall?

How the FUCK do you stand there and let your own daughter be sacrificed because Melisandre told you so??? THAT WAS YOUR CHILD.

He could've said NO. He could've chosen his daughter over a fucking crown. Instead, he just stood there and watched. And for WHAT??? THEY ALL DIE ANYWAY. Stannis dies, Selyse dies, and Shireen dies for absolutely NOTHING.

And Selyse??? HOW can you stand there as a mother and allow this to happen to your own daughter? Shireen was innocent and trusted them. It genuinely breaks my heart.

Let’s set aside his illegitimacy for the purposes of this discussion.

I have long thought “Succession doesn’t work backwards,” when Cersi is crowned. But then who is left of House Baratheon? I don’t think anyone on the show… None of Robert’s “issue” had children.

Stannis and Renley are both dead. Renley had no kids and the show seems that Shireen was Stannis’s only child.

I suppose if they really looked there was probably some distant cousin. There is Gendry but no one to legitimize him.

They were competing with Fabien Frankel (House of the Dragon), Amy Adams (Cape Fear), Anya Taylor-Joy (Lucky), Jennifer Garner (The Five Star Weekend), Juliette Lewis (Cape Fear), Natalie Alyn Lind (Dutton Ranch) and Tatiana Maslany (Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed).

The link to the texts about their performances: https://www.spoilertv.com/2026/08/performer-of-month-july-2026-results.html

How woul he react if he found out when they meet in season 1 that Ned hid the truth about Lyanna and if Ned told him that Rhaeghar and his sister were in love? Would he forgive Ned for keeping this secret for so long? Would he eve believe him?

The night watch being jumped by the white walkers.

Plot?

Ship?

Length?

I'm curious.

Edit: I meant show, not shoe. Damn.

And feed it to the sick?

The fuck?

Just finished rewatching Game of Thrones, and I honestly cannot stand Sansa. For me, she is one of the most frustrating characters in the entire show, mainly because the series eventually tries to present her as some political genius when so many of her own decisions created problems for everyone around her.

1. Her obsession with Joffrey and becoming queen mattered from the start.
When Ned wanted to send her back to Winterfell because King’s Landing was becoming dangerous, Sansa was more worried about leaving Joffrey and losing her chance to become queen.

She eventually became a Lannister hostage, which gave them a huge advantage over the Starks.

2. Her captivity contributed to the Jaime disaster.
The Starks had Jaime, probably their most valuable prisoner. But because Sansa was still a hostage, Catelyn became desperate and released Jaime hoping to get her daughters back.

That decision weakened Robb, helped create the Karstark crisis, and became one more domino on the road to the Red Wedding.

I’m not saying Sansa caused the Red Wedding, but her being a hostage absolutely affected the decisions that weakened Robb.

3. She kept trusting Littlefinger over people who genuinely wanted to protect her.
Brienne offered to protect her because of her oath to Catelyn. Sansa refused and stayed with Littlefinger.

Littlefinger then took her straight into the Ramsay Bolton nightmare.

Obviously what Ramsay did was not her fault, but it makes the later idea that Sansa became some brilliant judge of character pretty funny.

4. The show acts like suffering automatically made her smarter than everyone else.
Yes, Sansa suffered terribly.

But so did Jon, Arya, Bran, Theon, Daenerys and basically everyone else.

Jon literally died. Arya watched her family get destroyed. Daenerys lost almost everyone she loved.

Yet somehow Sansa’s suffering becomes proof that she is now the smartest person in Westeros.

5. The Battle of the Bastards makes no sense from her side.
She knew Littlefinger and the Knights of the Vale could potentially help.

She secretly contacted him.

But she never told Jon.

Jon was desperately searching for more men and was badly outnumbered. Even if Sansa wasn’t sure the Vale would come, why not tell him they were a possibility?

Jon could have planned around them.

Instead, Jon and his men nearly got wiped out, then Sansa arrived with the Vale at the perfect moment and later reminded Arya that she was the reason they won.

6. She clearly wanted power in Winterfell.
When Jon was named King in the North, she didn’t exactly look thrilled.

Littlefinger had already been feeding her ideas about power and ruling Winterfell.

I’m not saying she wanted Jon dead, but she clearly wanted more authority than she had.

7. Jon understood that the White Walkers mattered more than Northern politics.
Jon risked everything to get Daenerys’s help.

And people forget that Daenerys agreed to fight the Night King before Jon bent the knee.

She lost Viserion saving Jon and his men, then promised to fight for the living.

Jon bent the knee afterward.

And honestly, Jon choosing survival over a crown made sense. Torrhen Stark literally did the same thing with Aegon.

8. Daenerys came North to save them, and Sansa treated her terribly.
Daenerys brought the Unsullied, Dothraki and dragons to fight a war that threatened the North first.

Sansa’s response was hostility, smug looks and arguments about independence.

There is a time to discuss politics.

Maybe wait until after the woman finishes risking her life to stop the dead from killing everyone in Winterfell.

9. Daenerys actually fought for Winterfell.
She fought on dragonback, fought on the ground, nearly died and lost Jorah.

Sansa stayed in the crypt because she wasn’t a fighter, which is completely fine.

But then maybe stop acting like the people outside risking their lives are all idiots.

10. Even after the battle, Sansa was still incredibly ungrateful to Daenerys.
Daenerys brought armies and dragons North, lost huge numbers of Dothraki and Unsullied, fought personally, and watched Jorah die protecting her.

Yet afterward, Sansa basically dismissed all of that with “Arya killed the Night King.”

Yes, Arya delivered the final blow. But she didn’t win that entire battle alone.

Ignoring everything Daenerys sacrificed just because Arya got the kill shows exactly how unwilling Sansa was to give her any credit.

11. Jon trusted Sansa with his secret, and she immediately broke that trust.
Jon made Sansa and Arya swear not to tell anyone about his parentage.

Sansa told Tyrion almost immediately.

Tyrion told Varys.

Varys started plotting to replace Daenerys with Jon.

That is exactly what Daenerys feared would happen.

12. Sansa didn’t cause Daenerys’s downfall, but she absolutely helped destabilize her.
Sansa revealed Jon’s identity knowing exactly what it could do politically.

Then Varys turned against Daenerys, Jon and Daenerys’s relationship broke down, and Daenerys increasingly felt betrayed and isolated.

Add Jorah’s death, Rhaegal’s death and Missandei’s execution, and everything started collapsing around her.

That does NOT excuse Daenerys burning King’s Landing.

But Sansa absolutely helped plant the political seed that made things worse.

13. And somehow Sansa benefits more than almost anyone.
Ned dies.

Robb dies.

Catelyn dies.

Rickon dies.

Daenerys dies.

Jon saves everyone multiple times and ends up back at the Wall.

King’s Landing gets destroyed.

Bran somehow becomes King of the Six Kingdoms.

And Sansa?

She gets her own kingdom and becomes Queen in the North.

The girl who started the story dreaming about becoming queen somehow ends the story with a crown while almost everyone around her loses everything.

And don’t even get me started on Bran.

Because after rewatching the show, Bran and Sansa somehow look like the two people who benefited the most from everyone else destroying each other.

Bran gets six kingdoms.

Sansa gets the North.

Jon gets exile.

Daenerys gets a knife in the heart.

Tell me again who actually won the Game of Thrones.

Im going off of show Alliser, but he did the right thing by killing Jon Snow.

He said Jon was going to destroy the Nights Watch, and bringing the wildlings south of The Wall was a betrayal to the Nights Watch.

Jon got a lot of his brothers killed going to Hardhome, so yes that can be seen as a betrayal to his brother's. Then later on, Jon Snow goes on a mission north of the wall, gets in a bind and has Daenerys come bail him out.

Now because of Jon's mission, the Night King has a dragon, and uses it to destroy the very wall that was meant to "guard the realms of men."

So yes, Jon did destroy the Nights Watch.

Alliser Thorne did the right thing.