Game of Thrones: "So what was the deal with that red comet?" and Other Things the Show Forgot *FULL SPOILERS*

[SolVanderlyn]

I remember this being a really cool part of the show. A part of the prophecy about The Prince Who Was Promised and all that.

This entire prophecy means nothing at the end. Melisandre, in the show, is shown to be wrong about things several times and ultimately kills herself because everybody hated her incessant ravings of lunacy.

Her God clearly does exist to some extent in this world. She has powers. Beric Dondarrion and Jon Snow are proof of this (and Lady Stoneheart in the books). But there is no satisfying conclusion to her prophecy or her powers. She basically fucks off and says "woops, I was wrong about Stannis, and I think Jon might be something but I dunno lol, I'm gonna kill myself now."

That red comet scene was so cool. It drew the line between legend and reality. I feel like that sense of the mystical unknown all but vanished later on, especially after Season 6.

What are some other things the show seemingly forgot or didn't properly conclude upon?

 

[Avada Kedavra]

Dragons are born.

 

[Speevy]

What was the deal with Howland Reed?

 

[Phantom]

The answer is: basically everything, from Unsullied to Wildlings to prophecies.

 

[Directed by Fulci]

She kills herself because her purpose is fulfilled. The "long Night" is over. Fire won.

It's ludicrously tidy and incredibly unsatisfying, but "from 10,000 feet," if you will, it makes sense.

 

[Dark Knight]

That red comet scene was so cool. It drew the line between legend and reality. I feel like that sense of the mystical unknown all but vanished later on, especially after Season 6.

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Did it though? Comets are totally explainable phenomena. You can point to anything and say it's a sign of God.

If anything the shadow baby was the real "wtf magic" moment.

 

[Speevy]

What was the deal with the lord of light?

 

[HotHamBoy]

I eagerly await a full list of hanging plot threads.

 

[Kevers]

Sometimes a comet is just a comet.

 

[Speevy]

Why did the wildlings not claim land in Westeros when everyone allied with Jon agreed with him that they should not be kept out?

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Sometimes a comet is just a comet.

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Not in fiction where it's directly mentioned in a prophecy and multiple camera pans of characters looking at it in awe are a major focus.

 

[Forkball]

The comet is just one of many unique events that show something major is happening to the world at an almost cosmic scale. We never get a real explanation as to why the white walkers suddenly got it together and started marching south. Don't say, "Because dragons" because even the birth of dragons and Dany surviving the flames is a miraculous event that we also don't the reasons behind.

I don't think everything will be neatly explained in the books, the comet probably has no real significant meaning (the interesting part about it in the books is the various interpretations), but the show really ignored many of the magical phenomena.

 

[R0987]

'We kind of forgot about the previous seasons while writing this one'

D&D most likely probably

 

[Sub Boss]

The red coment means BLOOD

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Oh, the White Walker spiral symbol is another thing.

 

[AndrewDean84]

I don't remember the comet either, so no biggie.

 

[Ocean Bones]

Game of Thrones: "So what was the deal with that red comet?" and Other Things the Show *KINDA Forgot *FULL SPOILERS*

Fixed the thread title.

 

[Seductivpancakes]

Oh, the White Walker spiral symbol is another thing.

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That's just their version of the circle of life.

What lives must die.

Spoiler

I'm making this up.

 

[WrenchNinja]

The point was nothing matters and nobody changes

 

[SupremeWu]

Dragons are born.

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Yah pretty much just figured red comet meant Dragons are back

 

[Lunar Wolf]

I remember this being a really cool part of the show. A part of the prophecy about The Prince Who Was Promised and all that.

This entire prophecy means nothing at the end. Melisandre, in the show, is shown to be wrong about things several times and ultimately kills herself because everybody hated her incessant ravings of lunacy.

Her God clearly does exist to some extent in this world. She has powers. Beric Dondarrion and Jon Snow are proof of this (and Lady Stoneheart in the books). But there is no satisfying conclusion to her prophecy or her powers. She basically fucks off and says "woops, I was wrong about Stannis, and I think Jon might be something but I dunno lol, I'm gonna kill myself now."

That red comet scene was so cool. It drew the line between legend and reality. I feel like that sense of the mystical unknown all but vanished later on, especially after Season 6.

What are some other things the show seemingly forgot or didn't properly conclude upon?

Click to shrink...

The comet is signaling the birth of dragons and Bran's ascension. Parallel events happening in the same book.

"The bleeding star bespoke the end," he said to Aeron. "These are the last days, when the world shall be broken and remade. A new god shall be born from the graves and charnel pits."

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In the books, Euron(he's basically Evil! Bran in the books) thinks it's a sign of him becoming god-king of Westeros.

It's actually a sign that Bran will.

We even see Bran as the comet in his dream in AGOT:

Bran looked down, and felt his insides turn to water. The ground was rushing up at him now. The whole world was spread out below him, a tapestry of white and brown and green. He could see everything so clearly that for a moment he forgot to be afraid. He could see the whole realm, and everyone in it.

He saw Winterfell as the eagles see it, the tall towers looking squat and stubby from above, the castle walls just lines in the dirt. He saw Maester Luwin on his balcony, studying the sky through a polished bronze tube and frowning as he made notes in a book. He saw his brother Robb, taller and stronger than he remembered him, practicing swordplay in the yard with real steel in his hand. He saw Hodor, the simple giant from the stables, carrying an anvil to Mikken's forge, hefting it onto his shoulder as easily as another man might heft a bale of hay. At the heart of the godswood, the great white weirwood brooded over its reflection in the black pool, its leaves rustling in a chill wind. When it felt Bran watching, it lifted its eyes from the still waters and stared back at him knowingly.

He looked east, and saw a galley racing across the waters of the Bite. He saw his mother sitting alone in a cabin, looking at a bloodstained knife on a table in front of her, as the rowers pulled at their oars and Ser Rodrik leaned across a rail, shaking and heaving. A storm was gathering ahead of them, a vast dark roaring lashed by lightning, but somehow they could not see it.

He looked south, and saw the great blue-green rush of the Trident. He saw his father pleading with the king, his face etched with grief. He saw Sansa crying herself to sleep at night, and he saw Arya watching in silence and holding her secrets hard in her heart. There were shadows all around them. One shadow was dark as ash, with the terrible face of a hound. Another was armored like the sun, golden and beautiful. Over them both loomed a giant in armor made of stone, but when he opened his visor, there was nothing inside but darkness and thick black blood.

He lifted his eyes and saw clear across the narrow sea, to the Free Cities and the green Dothraki sea and beyond, to Vaes Dothrak under its mountain, to the fabled lands of the Jade Sea, to Asshai by the Shadow, where dragons stirred beneath the sunrise.


Finally he looked north. He saw the Wall shining like blue crystal, and his bastard brother Jon sleeping alone in a cold bed, his skin growing pale and hard as the memory of all warmth fled from him. And he looked past the Wall, past endless forests cloaked in snow, past the frozen shore and the great blue-white rivers of ice and the dead plains where nothing grew or lived. North and north and north he looked, to the curtain of light at the end of the world, and then beyond that curtain. He looked deep into the heart of winter, and then he cried out, afraid, and the heat of his tears burned on his cheeks.

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Literally Brandon Stark:

 

[Sheepinator]

Oh, the White Walker spiral symbol is another thing.

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That's a Children of the Forest thing, and I'm not sure it needs to be explained. Spirals are common in nature and in our pre-history, from cultures all over the world.

Something they never confirmed was what did Varys hear in the flames? It was mentioned twice in the show iirc, once when Varys was telling Tyrion about when he was castrated, and again when a priestess offered to tell him what he heard. Presumably it was Dany's voice saying, "Dracarys".

 

[MajesticSoup]

Why didnt someone just summon another shadow creature to kill Cersei or the night king.

 

[R0987]

Oh, the White Walker spiral symbol is another thing.

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Wasnt this confirmed as some sort of act of blasphemy by the ww like the nk giving the finger to the CoTF.

 

[Border]

Did you really think they were going to turn around and bring up the comet 7 seasons later? It's just a strange omen......it doesn't have some kind of huge purpose or backstory.

 

[Window]

GoT: Everything was Bran.

 

[Sobriquet]

😐

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Did you really think they were going to turn around and bring up the comet 7 seasons later? It's just a strange omen......it doesn't have some kind of huge purpose or backstory.

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Not the comet itself but at least a satisfying end to the prophecy it was a part of.

The comet is signaling the birth of dragons and Bran's ascension. Parallel events happening in the same book.



In the books, Euron(Evil! Bran in the books) thinks it's a sign for him becoming god-king of Westeros.

It's actually a sign that Bran will.

We even see Bran as the comet in his dream in AGOT:



Literally Brandon Stark:

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This is what I'm talking about... this brings a lot more purpose into it besides a cool spectacle.

 

[Deffers]

Why didnt someone just summon another shadow creature to kill Cersei or the night king.

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Well, apparently, shadow babies are magic (which is a hilarious sentence)-- and magic is super rare in Westeros. Maesters who study it do so mostly to check that, if it ever worked, it certainly mostly doesn't now. Which makes people like Melisandre and the three-eyed raven even weirder than they already are, and holding on to knowledge or natural talents that are outside the reach of most people. So the first problem is nobody knows HOW to make shadow babies. The second problem is you need to hand the shadow baby something made out of dragonglass or valyrian steel for it to actually do any damage to the Night King, and the Night King is superhuman and one of the only people who knows magic too. As for Cersei... good question. I guess Melisandre wasn't up for it and nobody else knew how to make shadow babies.

 

[HamCormier]

Did you really think they were going to turn around and bring up the comet 7 seasons later? It's just a strange omen......it doesn't have some kind of huge purpose or backstory.

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It might, though. The prequels might explore a lot of the unanswered questions. I think it'll just give more depth to the HBO GoT lore... might be interesting to see how they connect things together, in the end.

 

[Lunatic]

Oh, the White Walker spiral symbol is another thing.

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It's kind of like a wheel? The WW were warning us about Bran all along smh

 

[Border]

Not the comet itself but at least a satisfying end to the prophecy it was a part of.

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Seems like they tried to keep it nebulous about who the true gods are, so I wouldn't expect everything Melisandre says to pan out.

 

[ryseing]

What was the deal with Howland Reed?

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IF THIS IS MEANT TO BE HIM WHY WOULDN'T YOU MENTION IT YOU HACKS

Sorry. I got angry all over again.

Why didnt someone just summon another shadow creature to kill Cersei or the night king.

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Books touch on this, dunno about the show-

Stannis was too drained from creating the first two, and nobody else was down to help Melisandre out on that front. Wouldn't work on the NK anyway.

 

[UltraMagnus]

In the show-verse it's basically to signify the birth of the dragons/ascendancy of Dany.

I mean the show really doesn't give too much of a shit about the prophecy stuff so it doesn't really prioritize that stuff. It's a cool moment though.

 

[danm999]

Why did warging and skinchanging drop away?

Why did Euron never have a dragonhorn? Where was his shade of the evening he drank to give him visions?

Why were there no glass candles at the Citadel? Why did Quaithe stop appearing to Daenerys?

Why did we never see a Kraken?

What exactly were the mechanics of the magic of the Wall, and why did undead Dragonfire break it?

Why no Marwyn, Ghost of High Heart, Moqorro or the Damphair?

The show basically, was unable or unwilling to explore this stuff, and gave very vague, confusing explanations to the mysteries it DID have to engage with (ie where the White Walkers came from).

 

[thetrin]

Why did warging and skinchanging drop away?

Why did Euron never have a dragonhorn? Where was his shade of the evening he drank to give him visions?

Why were there no glass candles at the Citadel? Why did Quaithe stop appearing to Daenerys?

Why did we never see a Kraken?

What exactly were the mechanics of the magic of the Wall, and why did undead Dragonfire break it?

Why no Marwyn, Ghost of High Heart, Moqorro or the Damphair?

The show basically, was unable or unwilling to explore this stuff, and gave very vague, confusing explanations to the mysteries it DID have to engage with (ie where the White Walkers came from).

Click to shrink...

The actor that plays Euron said that D&D very plainly said they didnt want to do that stuff for Euron. It's a fucking shame, because that shit was cool as hell. Even the actor who played him was pumped for the blue lips and eye patch.

 

[MajesticSoup]

Stannis was too drained from creating the first two, and nobody else was down to help Melisandre out on that front. Wouldn't work on the NK anyway.

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I think at one point the show was leading us to believe gendry was totally gonna be used. And he probably wouldn't be against it.. Then they just left it alone.

 

[danm999]

The actor that plays Euron said that D&D very plainly said they didnt want to do that stuff for Euron. It's a fucking shame, because that shit was cool as hell. Even the actor who played him was pumped for the blue lips and eye patch.

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Hey you know what might have made Euron's seemingly magic powers go down better? If he had actual magic powers!

 

[UltraMagnus]

Why did warging and skinchanging drop away?

Why did Euron never have a dragonhorn? Where was his shade of the evening he drank to give him visions?

Why were there no glass candles at the Citadel? Why did Quaithe stop appearing to Daenerys?

Why did we never see a Kraken?

What exactly were the mechanics of the magic of the Wall, and why did undead Dragonfire break it?

Why no Marwyn, Ghost of High Heart, Moqorro or the Damphair?

The show basically, was unable or unwilling to explore this stuff, and gave very vague, confusing explanations to the mysteries it DID have to engage with (ie where the White Walkers came from).

Click to shrink...

No, the biggest mystery was King's Landings famous brothels and whether or not they'd be rebuilt. We needed to know that. Lets end the series on a conversation about that.

 

[ryseing]

Why did warging and skinchanging drop away?

Why did Euron never have a dragonhorn? Where was his shade of the evening he drank to give him visions?

Why were there no glass candles at the Citadel? Why did Quaithe stop appearing to Daenerys?

Why did we never see a Kraken?

What exactly were the mechanics of the magic of the Wall, and why did undead Dragonfire break it?

Why no Marwyn, Ghost of High Heart, Moqorro or the Damphair?

The show basically, was unable or unwilling to explore this stuff, and gave very vague, confusing explanations to the mysteries it DID have to engage with (ie where the White Walkers came from).

Click to shrink...

Because they had a clear disdain for the non-dragon fantasy elements. Also why no LSH.

 

[Deleted member 12555]

What the hell was Bran trying to see when he warged those ravens during the battle of winterfell? I thought that was implying he was doing something useful, but it was never explained.

 

[Syder]

What was the deal with Howland Reed?

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Yo, they did Meera dirty

 

[danm999]

No, the biggest mystery was brothels and whether or not they'd be rebuilt. We needed to know that.

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You see, Bronn is very horny, and brings that horniness to his role as Master it Coin.

 

[requiem]

The comet is signaling the birth of dragons and Bran's ascension. Parallel events happening in the same book.



In the books, Euron(he's basically Evil! Bran in the books) thinks it's a sign of him becoming god-king of Westeros.

It's actually a sign that Bran will.

We even see Bran as the comet in his dream in AGOT:



Literally Brandon Stark:

Click to shrink...

This is my absolute favourite passage in all of ASOIAF. Never had a piece of writing gripped me and captured my imagination quite like this.

 

[requiem]

What was the deal with Howland Reed?

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I was so disappointed he didn't turn up at Winterfell for the Great War. I suspected he would be the one to tell the Northern Lords that Jon was actually Aegon.

 

[Linus815]

The fantasy elements were totally neutered towards the end, aside from the dragons. I don't think they've even shown Bran warg in S8 aside from a brief moment in the Long Night where it was bascially just used as a spectacle to reveal the Night King's position in the battle.

 

[UltraMagnus]

The fantasy elements were totally neutered towards the end, aside from the dragons. I don't think they've even shown Bran warg in S8 aside from a brief moment in the Long Night where it was bascially just used as a spectacle to reveal the Night King's position in the battle.

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They did get the fucking zombie polar bear they'd been begging for tho.

 

[Linus815]

They did get the fucking zombie polar bear they'd been begging for tho.

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[FreeMufasa]

Only thing I wanna know is who the fuck craster was. Did he have some deal with the white walkers? So it's possible to communicate/negotiate with them?

 

[Linus815]

Only thing I wanna know is who the fuck craster was. Did he have some deal with the white walkers? So it's possible to communicate/negotiate with them?

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Remember when a white walker looked directly at Sam in the S2 finale? And let him live anyway?
I don't thnik the WWs were meant to be mindless killers, at least initially.