More Characters Are Overlapping In Season Seven, Says Iain Glen

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Iain Glen talked to Radio Times this week to promote his new Sky drama Delicious and shared a few words about the new season of Game of Thrones. The actor reassures viewers about the shortened seventh season but is evasive about his character Jorah Mormont’s future on the show. We last saw Mormont taking leave of Daenerys in season six, with her commanding him to seek out a cure for his deadly case of greyscale.

“They are taking the length of time it takes to shoot ten episodes to shoot just seven this year and six next year. There are fifteen more hours left in Thrones as we understand it, but that may change, but that’s as far as we know,” Glen says.

He tells RT, “I think the scale and size of the set pieces, the world that is being created it’s just getting more and more extraordinary and they feel they need that time to shoot seven hours as opposed to ten.”

Speaking of those “fifteen hours left,” Radio Times reports that Glen claims he doesn’t know if Jorah will make it to season eight. The actor says, “I don’t know of course if I am going to make the last one. I am sort of doing a head count, but I think it’s certainly under ten people who were in the original pilot and have been in every season since. I have grown very attached to it. I love the people involved. Dan [Weiss] and David [Benioff] are very benign showrunners and very good people.”

We can take Glen’s teasing with a grain of salt, however. Given that season seven is within two months of completing filming, and Glen has seen all of his scripts by now, it’s safe to say he knows whether or not his character survives and will be making it to the eighth and final season.

As for the show’s endgame, Glen wraps it up by sharing a nice tease with RT. “This season you feel that the drama is moving towards its end game, more characters are overlapping so we are seeing a lot more of each other, than perhaps in the past. In the same scenes and we are going to the same places.”

There you go- a juicy hint for those of you who like to skip hardcore spoilers but still want a taste. What are your hopes for Jorah in season seven?

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Sue the Fury
Susan Miller, Editor in Chief of WatchersOnTheWall.com

98 Comments

  1. My hope is for Jorah to fall in love with someone else and abandon the Friendzone, but that ain’t happening.

  2. I hope that Jorah’s interactions with

    Jon and Sam will help him feel reconciled with his father, even though the show did not include the Old Bear’s deathbed speech from the books saying that he forgave his son.
  3. “They are taking the length of time it takes to shoot ten episodes to shoot just seven this year and six next year. There are fifteen more hours left in Thrones as we understand it, but that may change, but that’s as far as we know,” Glen says.

    I hope Glen is correct in saying there are 15 hours left, even if there are only 13 episode. 15 hours is a lot better than 13 hours. Of course, that would mean several episodes would have to be super-sized like “The Winds of Winter”. I’m not against that at all but it would be a departure for the show.

    Flayed Potatoes:
    My hope is for Jorah to fall in love with someone else and abandon the Friendzone, but that ain’t happening.

    Jorah has shit luck in the love department, so I don’t know if falling in love again is in the cards for him. But something he has expressed is his desire to go “home” and I hope he gets that, if he survives to the end. For all his travels, I get a sense that Jorah is still a Northerner at heart so I want him to retire to Bear Island and become a trusted adviser to his cousin Lyanna.

  4. 13 episodes left, but 15 hours, eh? That’d be perfect to me if true.

    I wonder if after Season 8 there’s a two-hour wrap-up “flick” in 2018.

  5. I was most interested in “15 hours left” part. I really hope this is true, which would mean super sized episodes in the last two seasons.

    Flayed Potatoes,

    Poor Jorah is going to have no such luck I am afraid. My hope is that he survives and finds some peace with himself. I like the idea of him returning north at the end to be an advisor to BabyBear Mormont.

  6. I hope Jorah interacts with his awesome cousin Lyanna, but I don’t know if he’d survive the inevitable burn she’d give him.

    I hope that if there are truly 15 hours left, they give us supersized episodes and not one “wrap up” movie coming to a theater near you. I want it to stay on TV and I want it wrapped up with season 8.

  7. Who is still (more or less) alive from the first episode?
    – The North: Jon, Sansa, Arya, Bran, Benjen, Theon
    – Kingslanding: Tyrion, Jaime, Cersei, the hound
    – Across the narrow sea: Danny, Jorah, Illirio
    Is that all? Did I forget someone?

  8. God, I’m guessing the GoT buget is increasing season to season so these next two seasons we are basically going to see Hollywood scale and quality with every episode… Not like GoT isn’t already, I just mean even more so.

    They will have more money and time to shoot fewer episodes with fewer storylines so basically it’s going to be a much more densely packed final two seasons.

    I wonder if the finale episode of season eight is going to be a massive two hour epic climatic grand finally and par with a modern day movie release.

    It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if it was, after all this is HBO we are talking about here and GoT is their freaking flagship that everyone expects to totally bring TV series endeavors to unprecedented levels.

    Take my money HBO, just keep bringing it to levels unseen on TV and you will continue to have subscriptions.

  9. Hi,

    Jorah is my favorite and i hope he will make it to the end game. I hope he get’s cured and finally will get together with dany…and become Azor Ahai ???

  10. I love Iain Glen, amazing actor. Whenever I see him and Emilia have their emotional scenes my heart flutters. I hope for Jorah to survive and find true happiness.

  11. The End Is Coming.

    Arthur: I wonder if the finale episode of season eight is going to be a massive two hour epic climatic grand finally and par with a modern day movie release.

    I imagine it will. Season 1 of Westworld ended with a 90-minute episode. If they are doing that for a series that has just started, imagine what they will do to their most succesful series.

  12. They have likely already planned for a couple of super-sized episodes in the final season. Would not be shocked to see the series finale end up as two hours. I mean, look at the WESTWORLD season 1 finale… and that’s not a series finale. GOT will get a massive ending.

  13. I wonder how long each episode of season 7 will be?
    Noticeable that Westworld got in ~60 min. each episode with E1 running 68 and E10 running 90. Long ago Benioff said they shoot for a season of 540 min. , always went over, but why not 600 min.? Many a time 5 to 10 extra min. would have helped the narrative.
    We shall see.

  14. Sheesh. The ’15 hours’ is probably an approximate. And no, 15 hours wouldn’t necessarily be an improvement over 13 – all would depend on whether the additional scenes would tell us something important, or boggle down the narrative. More isn’t always necessarily better, as AFFC/ADWD show plenty.

    Side note, but I’m so happy that so many spoilers got released so early this year. It took all the edge and worrying off of news. Also, the customary fandom bitching has already moved into the “been there, done that” phase.

    Happy Next Season, Everyone!

  15. Yaga,

    You know some of the early spoilers seem to pan out.
    Other spoilers lately , just lately, seem wrong, I always check at this site to what’s been discounted, but been kind a thin on that info lately.

  16. Based on his statement:

    I am sort of doing a head count, but I think it’s certainly under ten people who were in the original pilot and have been in every season since.

    Jon, Arya, Sansa, Theon, Cersei, Jaime, Tyrion, Dany, Jorah, The Hound

  17. Cersei’s Brain:
    mariamb,

    Which of these will make it through the finale?I predict Arya, Jon, Tyrion – that’s it!

    That’s the big question!

    I’m not sure about Arya…she seems destined for death. Of those nine characters, I predict Jon, Sansa, and either Jaime or Tyrion.

  18. Take what he said with a grain of salt? It seems like said he didnt know if he was in the last episode, not season

  19. Iain Glen’s off-the-cuff estimate is about the small circle of original cast members remaining is on point. By my count, the actors who appeared in the pilot, have appeared in all six seasons to date, and whose characters are still alive heading in to Season 7 are: Peter Dinklage (Tyrion), Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (Jaime), Lena Headey (Cersei), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys), Kit Harington (Jon), Sophie Turner (Sansa), Maisie Williams (Arya), Alfie Allen (Theon), and Iain Glen (Jorah). That’s nine. Pretty exclusive club!

    [Isaac Hempstead-Wright (Bran) and Rory McCann (Sandor Clegane) also appeared in the pilot, of course, but both of them sat out Season 5. In a related vein, Aidan Gillen (Littlefinger), Conleth Hill (Varys), John Bradley (Sam), and Jerome Flynn (Bronn) have appeared in all six seasons to date and will continue on to Season 7 as well, but none of them appeared in the pilot. If you’re counting actors who have played multiple characters, you could add Ian Whyte into that group as well (I believe he played the White Walker in the pilot) though his return for Season 7 hasn’t been officially confirmed.]

    Glen’s comments about there being 13 episodes left in the series but potentially 15 hours of Game of Thrones overall may not mean anything at all – it could just be a rough estimate, or a simple discrepancy. But one can hope, as I do, that it may suggest the potential for a few supersized episodes over the course of the show’s final two seasons.

    Personally, I’d be very happy to see a two-hour series finale (which would be a de facto movie, albeit one that would and should air on HBO as part of the regular series), and then another hour distributed somewhere amidst the remaining 12 episodes. That hypothetical extra time could come in the form of two 90 minute episodes (perhaps the Season 7 finale and the Season 8 premiere), four 75 minute episodes, or multiple episodes extending slightly over an hour. It would be something of an adjustment (most GoT episodes to date have been fallen in the 50-60 minute range) but I’ll take all of the Thrones I can get. 🙂

  20. Cersei’s Brain,

    I think that all six of the primary protagonists will survive. “Living with the consequences” has been a major aspect of the stories so far: and they have to live to live with the consequences!

  21. Mazarin:
    Ser Broccoli McBroccoliface,

    Miguel Sapochnik needs to direct the Series Finale, do we all agree ?

    Not if that means that the final scene will be an apocalyptic battle. I will be disappointed if there isn’t at least a half-hour of smaller, more intimate windup scenes involving pairs and small groups of characters we love after the last big action set piece. I need emotional resolutions most, not eye-popping pyrotechnics.

    And I think the people are right who have guessed that the absolute final scene will involve a much older Grandmeister Sam finishing up his history of the War for the Dawn in the Red Book of Westerosmarch and giving it to Little Sam or some other young person.

  22. “Appeared in every season” is kind of a technicality. Most people think in terms of who’s still alive. Bran was still alive in Season 5. Even the Hound was not definitely dead, and we book readers mostly expected him to return as the Gravedigger or his equivalent. So I”d add those two back in. Those fighters who will die battling the Others, probably including Jorah, will no doubt go down in great, memorable, and historic glory.

    As for who ultimately survives, the easiest thing to say is the safe five–Jon, Tyrion, Bran, Arya, Sam–and maybe Sansa and/or Dany. Dany is probably the most vulnerable of that group. Tyrion, Bran, and Sam are certain, Arya likely. At some point Jon remarked, “We Starks are hard to kill”. Plus Jon, Bran, and Arya have all survived death in some form and that gives them some extra plot armour. Arya also still has the Parris (Mrs GRRM) Martin armour. Sansa cannot actively contribute to the endgame, so as she has aligned herself with the Big Bad (Littlefinger), dramatically it would be poetic justice for them to in some way go down together. Some fans think she’ll be some sort of queen, which is possible but morally and ethically and pragmatically ridiculous, even if it’s what she wants and has always wanted. Bran’s a god and Sam is both history-preserver and ordinary good man who overcomes cowardice to be a hero, like Samwell in LoTR. Tyrion is GRRM’s favourite and the best equipped to pick up the pieces of Westeros, so the end needs him. Tyrion for President!!!

  23. Stark RAven’ Rad: Tyrion is GRRM’s favourite and the best equipped to pick up the pieces of Westeros, so the end needs him.

    In no way does that conclusion follow from the prior two statements. And, afterall, these are not stories about Westeros: they are stories about people, one of whom is Tyrion.

  24. Wimsey:
    Cersei’s Brain,

    I think that all six of the primary protagonists will survive.“Living with the consequences” has been a major aspect of the stories so far: and they have to live to live with the consequences!

    Along those lines, I think that Jorah’s fate will be to find the cure–either too late to keep it from horribly disfiguring him or he’ll sacrifice taking it to save Dany. Then Lyanna will recognize his sacrifice but still banish him, or he will die. No happy ending for this Bear.

    Yet, as Pigeon says, he will remain a sexy beast. 😉

  25. Wimsey,

    Just don’t see both Jon and Dany making it through – would say one has to go and Dany seems more likely. Oh, and didn’t say it above but I do expect Sam to be around through the end.

  26. Ser Broccoli McBroccoliface:
    I can see a two hour finale.

    For season eight, I can definitely see this – and I would not be shocked if the season seven finale was longer than The Children and Winds of Winter, which were both around 65-70 minutes. If they were to give us a 75 minute finale in season seven, a two-hour finale in season eight, and keep the remaining episodes just over 60 minutes, then that would give us around 15 hours total. I think!

  27. Ashara D,

    Yeah, trying to predict the fates of secondary characters is a lot tougher. Ultimately, I think that it will rest on Daeny: Jorah has been one of her main foils since the start, and she has a very conflicted relationship with him. Tyrion has another love-hate relationship with Jorah, but there really was only one season’s worth of development for that.

    As for the other A-list characters, Jon had a relationship with Jorah’s father, but not Jorah, himself; Sansa, Bran & Arya have no relationship with him at all.

    I really do not think that it will be down to Lyanna: she’s a tertiary character, and it would be pretty arbitrary for her to do something, unless she is a foil for Daeny’s decision. That stated, Daeny influenced by Jon & Lyanna might “offer” (as in “an offer you cannot refuse”) Jorah the chance to take the black: caveated on the two big if’s of 1) Jorah surviving; and, 2) the Watch being relevant in the end.

    That stated, my prediction is (drum roll…. ok, fingers tapping on desk roll…..) Jorah will wind up dying in some way that sticks with Daeny and affects whatever “big choices” she makes in the grand finale. In particular, if it is something bittersweet – that is, Daeny has both regret and gratitude for what Jorah does – then it could really feed the story.

    But there in lies the most difficult part: we don’t know what the story is going to be! OK, we know that it is going to be “Conflicted feelings of BLANK”: but every season has had it’s own BLANK. Of course, this also is circular: if we knew what conflicted feelings the secondary & tertiary characters would create for the main characters, then we would know the story; so, to know what the story predicts might happen to Jorah, we need to know what happens to characters like Jorah!

    Oh, and Happy New Year to the Dayne Fans…. 😀

  28. Cersei’s Brain: Just don’t see both Jon and Dany making it through – would say one has to go and Dany seems more likely.

    I see no reason why either of them has to go. Given the nature of these stories, I expect that one of the things we will have in the end is the knowledge that the main characters now have to live out their lives with the consequences of what they have done, and forever wondering if they really did choose the least of the possible evils. If done correctly, then there might even be disagreement among viewers as to whether they did. (JMS promised this for Babylon 5, but he overestimated his fans quite a bit!) In a way, I think that all of Ned’s angst at the outset is a taste of what awaits the 5 or 6 main characters in the end.

  29. In a way, I think that all of Ned’s angst at the outset is a taste of what awaits the 5 or 6 main characters in the end.

    I agree – Ned emerged from Robert’s Rebellion on the victorious side; they had won, but at a great cost. His brother, sister and father were dead, and he was left to pick up the pieces. He returned home with his nephew knowing that if Robert ever found out who he was, then it would likely mean more than Jon’s life. After the war against the White Walkers (assuming of course, that it is won!) the surviving characters will need to rebuild their lives while dealing with the cost of their victory.

    There have been so many Jon/Ned parallels, that I wonder if this will be one too – if Thorne’s words about Jon “fighting their battles forever” will be prophetic, and he will never know peace or be able to simply go south and get warm as he wants to right at the start of 604.

  30. Cersei’s Brain,

    I agree; I don’t see both Jon and Dany surviving to the end. And I believe that Sam and Gilly (and Little Sam) survive and that Sam records the tales of what he has experienced.

  31. Alba Stark: There have been so many Jon/Ned parallels, that I wonder if this will be one too

    Yeah, and I think that when Jon learns how much public honor Ned sacrificed in the name of personal honor, an even bigger parallel will be set up. Of course, we’ve gotten setup for this already: Jon basically betrays his vows insofar as everyone in Westeros is concerned by letting the Wildlings “invade” Westeros because Jon thinks that the White Walker invasion is a much, much graver threat. My bet is that we are going to get something bigger here.

    I anticipate something similar for Daeny. Daeny does not have an obvious Ned figure yet, but it could be that Rhaegar will wind up being that. If she (and we) learns that her brother Rhaegar committed his dishonorable acts (dumping his essentially barren wife for a young “hottie” from the North and fathering a bastard on his paramour) in the name of greater private honor, then this, too, could influence where she goes come “crunch” time.

  32. 13 eps yet 15hrs ah!!!
    I see I aint the first to go ding ding ding maths don’t add up here!
    I am just HOPING he is not including “Extras” like the behind the scenes stuff, and ALLLLLL time is episode related.

  33. mau,

    VF mentioned that there is a rumour he will direct huge part of the last season, and apart from amazing insight Joanna has reliable resorces. I’ll try to find you the link

  34. I could definitely see a few episodes of Season 8 being 90 minutes, à la Westworld S1 finale and True Detective S2 finale.

    Alternatively, Iain Glen may suck at math.

  35. Stark RAven’ Rad: “Appeared in every season” is kind of a technicality. Most people think in terms of who’s still alive. Bran was still alive in Season 5. Even the Hound was not definitely dead, and we book readers mostly expected him to return as the Gravedigger or his equivalent. So I”d add those two back in. Those fighters who will die battling the Others, probably including Jorah, will no doubt go down in great, memorable, and historic glory.

    Yes a good observation, Gendry is in there too.
    It is hard to figure out who makes it out of S7 .
    Thought we might get an indication from who was at the ‘Dragon Pit’ meeting. Apparently Joe Dempsie was not there? Of course Arya and Sansa were not either, did Gendry go on the ‘capture a wight’ expedition ? Even the absence of Gemma Whelan may mean nothing, tho I am worried about that.
    Anton Lesser was supposedly at the Dragon Pit scene I figured Qyburn to be a goner by that meeting.
    I am still thinking that Stannis and Ser Barry will go up against the Others , in another universe!

  36. Mazarin:
    Ser Broccoli McBroccoliface,

    Miguel Sapochnik needs to direct the Series Finale, do we all agree ?

    I would love this to happen! Hardhome, Battle of the Bastards and Winds of Winter are three of the best episodes that the show has ever produced. All were directed by Miguel Sapochnik, and it is a shame that it is impractical for him to direct all of season eight! As he cannot direct all of it, he has to direct the finale.

  37. Wimsey: Yeah, and I think that when Jon learns how much public honor Ned sacrificed in the name of personal honor, an even bigger parallel will be set up.Of course, we’ve gotten setup for this already: Jon basically betrays his vows insofar as everyone in Westeros is concerned by letting the Wildlings “invade” Westeros because Jon thinks that the White Walker invasion is a much, much graver threat.My bet is that we are going to get something bigger here.

    Exactly! It is interesting that in season one, when Aemon asks Jon what choice Ned would make if forced to choose between honor and those he loved, Jon replies that Ned would do what was right “no matter what”. Jon has always tried to follow this principle (even if he hasn’t always succeeded) and modeled himself on Ned. The truth is more like what Jaime says about vows conflicting, and Jon will need to learn this before the end. I wonder if, in the end, Jon will have to make some kind of honorable sacrifice in the way Ned did.

    Wimsey:

    I anticipate something similar for Daeny.Daeny does not have an obvious Ned figure yet, but it could be that Rhaegar will wind up being that.If she (and we) learns that her brother Rhaegar committed his dishonorable acts (dumping his essentially barren wife for a young “hottie” from the North and fathering a bastard on his paramour) in the name of greater private honor, then this, too, could influence where she goes come “crunch” time.

    I kind of feel sorry for Daenerys; Viserys raised her to admire Rhaegar and Aerys, and she has been forced to come to terms with the reality of the latter’s reign. While Jorah and Barristan have praised Rhaegar to her, it will be interesting to see what is said when she encounters any of the Starks, raised to think of Rhaegar as the man who kidnapped and raped Lyanna. Rhaegar didn’t always do the right thing – even if (as I suspect) Lyanna went with him willingly – but I think that his misguided intentions were mostly for ultimate good. If there is one close family member she will try to follow, I think it will be Rhaegar. That said, there has been some emphasis on her being a conqueror like Aegon I, so who knows!

  38. Alba Stark: Rhaegar didn’t always do the right thing – even if (as I suspect) Lyanna went with him willingly – but I think that his misguided intentions were mostly for ultimate good. If there is one close family member she will try to follow, I think it will be Rhaegar. That said, there has been some emphasis on her being a conqueror like Aegon I, so who knows!

    We do not even know if Rhaegar’s intentions were misguided. If the prophecy is true, then they were actually well-guided. And given what development we have gotten for Rhaegar, it seems very improbable that he eloped with Lyanna simply for pleasure: there might have been pleasure in it, but even that might have magnified the guilt.

    In a way, there might be a converse with Ned. Ned had a dutiful relationship with Catelyn and “loved” her, but he was never in love with her; it is quite possible that Ned actually was in love with Ashara Dayne. Similarly, it seems that Rhaegar had a dutiful relationship with Elia and “loved” her without every being in love with Elia; but Rhaegar might very well have fallen in love with Lyanna. That sort of conflict – being true to yourself or being true to your commitments – induces guilt and/or regret regardless of which choice you make.

    It would be pretty easy for the books to do this (standard caveat about how we probably will never see the books!), but it would be a bit tougher to do on TV because Rhaegar never has been featured. Still, “tougher” ≠ “impossible!” Moreover, at some point, using Ned like this for Jon will require similar cinematic devices. (Please: find a way to show it rather than trying to say it!!!)

    (Hey! How about having Sean Bean reprise Ned and getting Orlando Bloom to play Rhaegar, and they can sing a duet of “How do you solve a problem like Lyanna?” while Jon and Daeny do some post-coital snuggling under a Weirwood tree?)

  39. Wimsey: (Hey! How about having Sean Bean reprise Ned and getting Orlando Bloom to play Rhaegar, and they can sing a duet of “How do you solve a problem like Lyanna?” while Jon and Daeny do some post-coital snuggling under a Weirwood tree?)

    LOL! Very funny, Wimsey. I’ve been keen to see Bean back at least for a cameo ever since S1E9. Ned is the “auld acquaintance” I’ve ne’er forgotten. Meanwhile, happy new year, everyone.

  40. Wimsey: (standard caveat about how we probably will never see the books!)

    Why, oh why do some folks on this site consider it mandatory to say this every time the books are mentioned? We are presumably all adults and know that we don’t always get what we were hoping for; when our expectations are not met, we adapt to changing circumstances and move forward. To me, these sorts of statements feel like someone sneaking up behind the author at his word processor and giving him a kick in the kidneys, just for spite. Please, it’s a New Year – let’s not start it off on a mean-spirited note. We’ll get more than enough of that from the White House.

  41. Firannion: Why, oh why do some folks on this site consider it mandatory to say this every time the books are mentioned?

    What we need is a special asterisk! 😀

  42. I would like to see Jorah-Iain in a romantic and passionate scene with Daenerys (following the reunion) where we can appreciate how hot Mr.Glen is, followed by some heart-wrenching development due to the War for the Dawn.
    I drool over the man (as many ladies, and I suspect even many men) but I also like it angsty! 🙂
    (D&D please note this and add a scene à la Delicious. It is only a few hours’ work. You can do it. LOL)

  43. Bran’s built-in White Walker GPS,

    I am so so happy when they came to casting Jorah they were like “screw making this character look like his book counterpart, instead let’s make him a hot older guy that will steal women’s hearts and some men too, and saying to the TV that we’ll be your Khalessi if Dany doesn’t want you”

  44. TYRION: Did he have an opportunity to take off his shirt?
    DAENERYS: Yes, many opportunities.
    TYRION: And did he?
    DAENERYS: No.
    TYRION: He worships you.
    DAENERYS: So I should kill him?
    TYRION: He is in love with you, I think.
    DAENERYS: Love? Love!? How can you say that to me? Any other man and I would have him executed, but him, I don’t want his shirt in my city. Remove Ser Jorah’s shirt from the city.

  45. Tootie: Essentially barren? Two kids and lots more to come – Elia of Dorne was young!

    There were no more to come.

    Elia barely survived Aegon’s birth and she was told that she would not survive another pregnancy.
  46. Alba Stark,

    The theme of public vs. private honor is also a major part of the character development of Jaime–becoming the Kingslayer is his first act of redemption but condemns him in the eyes of just about all of Westeros. We don’t see it in the show for Brienne, but in the books, she is also experiencing this conflict.

  47. Lady Commentariat: becoming the Kingslayer is his first act of redemption but condemns him in the eyes of just about all of Westeros.

    Ah, but that’s just it: as far as many Westerosi are concerned, this is not a “redemptive” act. A Kingsguard is supposed to follow orders, come hell or high water. Remember, this is a culture in which the Nuremberg defense is still acceptable.

    The particular story to which this was relevant was the conflicted loyalties story (i.e., the 2nd one). Jaime’s real alternative was loyalty to his King or loyalty to his family. Given Westerosi morals, both are requisite. We learn that Jaime was stuck in a position where he had to be disloyal to one to be loyal to the other. All of the protagonists faced the same dilemma in that story. Brienne was not a protagonist in that tale: she was still a foil for Catelyn, who had the dilemma of loyalty to her son or loyalty to her daughters.

  48. Rygar: My pick would be Tim Van Patten for the finale. He started the series.Would be nice to have him back to end it.

    Now that you mention it, I totally agree. Miguel Sapochnik is a Great director, particularly with action scenes, but he may not be right for the finale.
    We fans will be in a state of shock and mourning for characters and the show; we’ll be yearning for the right closure. I’ve always envisioned the final episode as a “picking up the pieces, tying up the loose ends” episode. This is where GRRM’s ‘bittersweet’ really comes into play, which means it must be handled with some emotional delicacy. It must be elegiac, lyrical, and have nostalgic resonance as well as a sense of hope. Ideally, it will include a bookend to the first episode with an extended Winterfell scene and the (hopefully) four remaining Starks united in facing the future. Also, IMO, it must have a re-forging of Ice scene. It would indeed be poetic justice for Tim van Patten to bring the tale to a close, but more important–he established the loving family norm that has been the subtle backbone to the story all along. So most likely he can handle this dream of spring perfectly. Yes, I hope D&D ask him to do it.

  49. I think the best outcome for Jorah is Jon pardons him, he gets Longclaw back, reconciles with Lyanna and becomes a northerner again. He still has a role to play as Dany’s longest running advisor, but he doesn’t need to stay by her side forever torturing himself. I don’t know how he would reintegrate into House Mormont, as the lady that led them into battle deserves her seat in the lord’s chair, but maybe he can join the Night’s Watch if it still exists at the end and succeed his father as Lord Commander.

  50. Stark Raven’ Rad,

    Nicely said. Not taking anything away from MS, but TVP is a masterful director as well and would certainly do justice to complete the series. His Boardwalk Empire finale was one of the best directed episodes I have ever seen.

  51. Nice… 15 hours makes more sense. I think the problem is the actors pay with the main 5 making 500k each per episode, and who knows about the rest, so how to cut costs? Fewer, longer episodes, and cut actors out of one altogether. Ok Lena, here is your 500k per and you are in 2 episodes next year, so 1 mil. Think if they hadn’t been so greedy, coulda made 2 more with 10.

  52. Adam,

    That sounds like a pretty elaborate scenario for a secondary character! And given that he’s Daeny’s foil, not Jon’s, it really should be down to her what happens to him: and the choice should be excruciating either way.

  53. Wimsey,

    Jorah may be a secondary character but his one of the bigger ones in some seasons his screen time rivals Tyrion.
    It’s hard to say what Jorah’s endgame will be, if it’ll be any different then his book counterpart. I know when his father Jeor was dying in the books he told Sam to tell his son if he joined the Nights Watch he would be forgiven but if they defeat the WW there will be nothing beyond the wall anymore no wildlings and no undead so it would be pointless but I agree it should be Dany that helps decide Jorah’s fate whatever that may be and I think helping Dany abolishing slavery gas more than made up for his crimes.

  54. Mel: Jorah may be a secondary character but his one of the bigger ones in some seasons his screen time rivals Tyrion.

    Jorah’s screen time is always as a secondary character: he is there to create issues/plot points for either Daeny or Tyrion. Jorah never is the storyline character.

    Given the stories that GRRM (and B&W) like to tell, it will probably come down to this: Daeny will have some choice determining (or at least strongly affecting) Jorah’s fate, and she will both want and not want the outcomes. She has the most emphatic love/hate relationship with Jorah: Tyrion’s relationship with Jorah is more antagonistic, and Jon & Sam know Jorah only as a name. And, of course, Jorah means absolutely nothing to Bran, Arya or Sansa.

  55. Wimsey,
    All of that can happen in one scene with Jorah remaining a secondary character. Jorah will make his own decision if Dany dies giving birth.

  56. Wimsey,

    I never said he wasn’t just that his a bigger side character than some of the other ones like Sam. The only say the northerners might have in Jorah’s fate is whether or not they accept him back as a Northerner and considering his crimes aren’t that bad, people in the North have done worse I don’t see the issue. I do imagine it will be a hard decision for Dany she feels a family bond with Jorah and wants him by her side but at the same time knows his in love with her romantically and will have to consider whether it’s best for him and his own happiness to be by her side.

    Rygritte,

    What’s everyone’s obsession with Dany dying during childbirth? Making her not even conceived child as of yet go through what she, Tyrion and Jon have gone through life without a mother and in the case of Dany and Tyrion being blamed for their mother’s death by a sibling.

  57. Mel, who’s going to deliver a baby, Sam?

    An excerpt from A Clash of Kings:

    “Knights die in battle,” Catelyn reminded her.

    Brienne looked at her with those blue and beautiful eyes. “As ladies die in childbed. No one sings songs about them.”

  58. Rygritte,

    Even if Dany were to fall pregnant, why would she be alone during childbirth? Not every woman who has a child dies, if Dany were to have a child in say the North i’m sure they have doctors who could deliver her child, all the houses have maesters who are usually quite good with medical treatment, Winterfell still has Ramsay’s maester who delivered the little brother of Ramsay he fed to the wolves and his step mum died from being eaten not childbirth. Besides I seriously doubt that even if Dany fell pregnant at the end of next season, the WW are gonna wait 9 months before they attack. So I can’t see Dany not being involved in that war and if she’s in her first trimester she’s not gonna be giving birth during the war.

  59. Rygritte: Jorah will make his own decision if Dany dies giving birth.

    This really is a “story” vs. “reality” difference: in the real world, there are no protagonists or supporting characters or anything like that, and individuals exist for their own purpose; in stories, secondary characters exist purely to provide development and evolution for the main characters. Jorah is there to get Daeny to “debug” herself.

    The same thing applies to Daeny arbitrarily dying via childbirth or something like that. In the real world, it’s fine for FDR or Hitler to die before WWII ends: history is all plot and no story, and thus very arbitrary; in a story in which an FDR or Hitler is a protagonist, then they’ve got to be there at the zenith: and then things cannot be decided by, say, crop failures or somebody background character pulling out a secret weapon, but instead by some key decisions to which the tale has been building Story!FDR to make.

    Mel: his a bigger side character than some of the other ones like Sam.

    ah, but Sam is not a side character: he’s actually a minor protagonist! In many of Sam’s scene’s, he is the principal character, after all: and in many of the others, he’s a co-principal. (Still, he does more as a 3rd party PoV than as a protagonist!)

  60. Wimsey: Jorah’s screen time is always as a secondary character: he is there to create issues/plot points for either Daeny or Tyrion.Jorah never is the storyline character.

    Given the stories that GRRM (and B&W) like to tell, it will probably come down to this: Daeny will have some choice determining (or at least strongly affecting) Jorah’s fate, and she will both want and not want the outcomes.She has the most emphatic love/hate relationship with Jorah: Tyrion’s relationship with Jorah is more antagonistic, and Jon & Sam know Jorah only as a name.And, of course, Jorah means absolutely nothing to Bran, Arya or Sansa.

    Agreed, though he knows nothing of them either (but he did know and resented their father). Not being a book POV character is an indicator of Jorah’s secondariness and indeed, he’s a major factor in Dany and Tyrion’s stories. In the books and show, Jorah’s loyalty and badassery do made him quite memorable. And Iain Glen’s noble but sad unrequited love makes him seem more like a primary.

    Since several of you brought up Dany dying in childbirth, I hope that doesn’t happen. It’s a tired trope, and far too many writers of books, films and lots and lots of telly programmes use it to get the woman/mother out of the way. My feeling is that Dany should survive, but if she must die she shouldn’t passively succumb in a Lyanna-like bed of blood. That is too trite and unworthy of how she’s grown and what she’s accomplished. She should die in a blaze of glory worthy of the world-conquering life she has led.

  61. Jorah may be secondary character, but he’s main cast. I consider him as I do Davos – someone who is of value and character outside of whose story they are supporting. Hopefully he’ll make it to the end, very probably he won’t, but I and many love him as more than a pretty face. ?

    My respect always goes up a notch for the guys and girls who do their own fight scenes.

  62. I totally agree with Jorah being Azor Ahai! The clues were there all along; Dany might die because of him but I wouldn’t mind?

  63. Pigeon: My respect always goes up a notch for the guys and girls who do their own fight scenes.

    Mine too, specially when they do them LEFT-HANDED. And Jorah is a terrif character who’s importance to the story is only gonna increase now that he’s in westeros.

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