The religion of the Lord of Light is centered on belief in the existence of two deities, in the words of Melisandre: "A god of light and love and joy, and a god of darkness, evil, and fear, eternally at war."[2] R'hllor is the god of fire, which provides light, heat, and life, and struggles against darkness, cold, and death, represented by an opposing deity, the Great Other.[3]
Due to the dualistic worldview of this religion, its more fanatical followers believe the Lord of Light is the "one true god", and all other gods from other religions - the Old Gods of the Forest, the Seven-Faced God, the Drowned God, etc. - are demons and false idols that must be cast down and burned.
the WW and NK and the Wildlings/Free Folk can be an allegory for many things, many of which are political.
I have a hard time believing the North and pals is going to be in any shape to attack if they manage a W and snipe the NK. So this week's episode is far from the finale, and obviously there's gonna be some other big battle involving Kings Landing that covers the last 2/3... and we got 6 left.. so what's the in between?
Biggest thing I want to see is how they reconcile the religious aspects of the story:
Lord of Light & The Great Other
R'hllor
Bran is bait but I don't think he kills the NK.
Melisandre & Thoros should play a part since they worship his counter
But then the NK is mixed in with the Old Gods of the Forest - kinda breaking that "duality" that's mentioned in the wiki.
And the Faceless men believe in only 1 god, so Light & Death would be one & the same, making ties with Arya on both sides.
I hope we get a decent "conclusion" here and it's a point where I believe Bran/NK/Thoros/Melisandre... even Arya, all will play a critical part, and perhaps there is no true "death" for any of them.. but something else. In fact, you have nearly 7 players here alone, perhaps forming a representation of the Seven.
i could be wrong, but things seemed pretty peaceful before the Targaryans took over all the kingdoms. they had the dragons and nobody could beat them. now most of the First Men/Andal Houses are gone. even if the NK and WW turned around and went back home right now. the Westeros landscape will never be the same.yes, sure, but it's NOT an allegory. the very first scene in the very first episode is whitewalker attacking some night's watch.
don't get me wrong, the iron throne is a huge draw, but GRRM has CONTINUALLY shown that PLAYING the game of thrones leads to death. when was the last time the king of westeros, or any place, died peacefully after a long happy reign? you have people like cersei and littlefinger playing with people's lives just to solidify their own power. dany's next. but here's jon. gives up everything, continually. he gave up the right to have children when he took the black. he became the leader of the watch and gave that up. he became the king in the north and gave that up. he's doing everything in his power to NOT PLAY because the white walkers are the real threat.
I think at least 1 dragon survives so we still get the KL raid as seen in those flashbacks Daeny had in Season 1? 2? Where dust was falling in the throne room.
i could be wrong, but things seemed pretty peaceful before the Targaryans took over all the kingdoms. they had the dragons and nobody could beat them. now most of the First Men/Andal Houses are gone. even if the NK and WW turned around and went back home right now. the Westeros landscape will never be the same.
dust? that's snow. and it's a vision so it's all metaphorical. so either jon snow sits on the iron throne, or the night king comes and... erm... sits on the iron throne.
it was definitely more stable, we wouldnt have had all these noble houses that lasted for 6-8000 years if shit was in constant turmoil. Targs have only been around for 300 years and now most everything is gone. Targs definitely pissed in the Westerosi cheerios.well the lore back then is pretty vague, so even if the land was all sunshine and lollipops, the targaryans ruled for how long? pretty long.
I always liked the argument that the undead & white walkers are just some side story nothingness... the show and books start with them, just because they are not the yuuge prevelant thing for years, as I explained above, is not how it was all founded on being initially.
I'd like to believe we get the same visual but it's dust instead. Sure, it transitions to the North, but dust & snow can look similar. I just don't know how else Daeny will win KL without a dragon wreaking havoc, especially after this battle.
yeah, I did want to mention Melisandre almost certainly showing back up. I'm not certain where and what part she could play exactly though.Don't see the WW being defeated at Winterfell. Unless they just decided to write her off the show, Melisandre is returning with something/someone and I can't see her giving a shit about Westeros unless it involves stopping WW. So unless she arrives just in time for some retarded deus ex machina shit like Littlefinger for the Battle of the Bastards, I think the more likely scenario is her returning to help with whatever final stand is made in the South/KL.
Mel is 90% fraud and maybe 10% the real deal, Thoros was probably waaaaay more powerful than she was and he didnt go full zealot like she did. Mel was using her parlor tricks to make herself more than what she really was. she isnt going to do any Deus Ex stuff unless the show goes full retard and gives her uber powers she never had before.yeah, I did want to mention Melisandre almost certainly showing back up. I'm not certain where and what part she could play exactly though.
I could see her throwing in with Circe. Not sure Circe would give 2 shits about her though.
another option is "sequel bait". as people have mentioned, the kraken, etc. I could also see NK beaten, foes vanquished. Tired and beaten Westeroes sits in respite, as we cut to Melisandre awakening her Red God in Voltanis, who is a great and terrible dragon set to alight the world on fire.