“Death is the enemy”
“Beyond the Wall” is written by David Benioff & D.B. Weiss and directed by Alan Taylor, back on Thrones for the first time since Season Two.
Check out the official photos here and here!
Geoffery: I cannot wait for this episode! Flamey Beric sword! Gendry and his big ol’ war-hammer! Jorah in his lovely furs! (I’m shallow, what can I say?) Although I have serious worries about who will make it back alive, the action is sure to be spectacular.
*Please do not post any leaked spoilers in this post, covered or not. Thanks!*
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Hodor.
Sucks that this leaked so early. The Spoils of War leaked on a Friday, so viewership rating didn’t take a hit. Beyond the Wall leaked on Tuesday, 5 days before the official airing, so I expect viewership to take a hit.
That’s reasonable, Jack. I didn’t watch either leak, though it was easier to wait only two days (also, I had seen the script of Ep 4). But even the people who have seen Ep. 6 (and some apparently saw it multiple times), want to see it on a large screen with proper sound. Probably ratings won’t suffer much if at all because of that and the fact that we get The Inglorious Magnificent Seven Samurai Basterds fighting ice zombies. Add that and dragons, a dash of tempest-in-a-teapot melodrama, and the essence of J + D = Victory, and you have a winning recipe for almost everyone.
Jack Bauer 24,
We always expect a drop after a viewership record so even without a leak we’d be saying that. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the numbers this season though and have been wrong is guessing. As I just mentioned in another thread, there just hasn’t been much going on in entertainment during this run on the level of GoT so it sort of has most of the focus. So… I’m going to go ahead and guess episode 6 breaks 10 million as well. If not it should still be close.
Jack Bauer 24,
The bigger difference is quality of the leak. I rewatched spoils of war because it was poor quality. This episode was in perfect quality.
So hyped for this episode for obvious reasons, but also really looking forward to seeing Alan Taylor return!
Winter is Here!
Will be loving it on the big screen!
Do you people really normally just watch the episodes once!? I swear I’ve seen “Eastwatch” almost ten full times already and that’s not unusual. I turn to it every time it’s on one of my HBO channels. I even watched 20 minutes of it dubbed in Spanish the other night.
I’d say I’m a massive fan, and yet I refuse to watch leaked episodes. If people are so much more anxious than even me that they can’t wait then they should be watching the official first airing as well.
By the way, that preview trailer is insane. I could watch that over and over and over.
Couldn’t care less about the leaks or spills or publicity stunts…whatever they are. Never have, never will. It’s a scheduled event, with Ommegang, lembas and hot pie…Sunday @ 9pm ET or 7pm MT, depending on where I am for the week.
Unfortunately, the speculation crowd has really thinned, with minimal feedback. Used to be quite fun. Now, who knows who you’re discussing GoT with…a spoiled faceless man, a wild direwolf or a harpy?
My intentionally ignorant question is as follows: Will we ever get to hear the NK speak? Maybe he sounds like Gilbert Gottfried? Will Jon or anyone ever get the balls or plot armor to ask him what he wants? Or is it just lascivious stares until the final Valyrian steel blow?
LOL. Actually, I’d be disappointed to hear him speak…I don’t think they could really do it justice. Of course, he reminds me a lot more of a Muppet than Richard Brake’s NK, so if he sounded like Beaker that’d be cool.
Jon: “I just want to know why. Why, after decades and centuries, summers and winters, rulers and kings, times of peace and times of war – why have you come back NOW??? What is your purpose?”
NK: “….MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!!!!”
*wall falls down*
Jon: “Right then. I’ll be off.”
Stark Raven’ Rad,
This seems pretty “I’ve already watched it and this is what happened” spoiler-ish. You might want to mark it as such!
Thx. I needed that. I just need to get this ridiculous Dormammu voice out of my head. 🙂 Maybe he speaks with telepathic images, like Bran’s visions but less jumbled? Maybe that is why Bran is distant and pensive…maybe he realizes there is a Stark connection to all this madness?
I cannot imagine how this goes harder than HH or BoTB though i’m confident that they have found ways to push the excitement further. I am curious to hear this years finale soundtracks from Ramin when we get to episode 7.
Hodors Bastard,
I hope he does a mixture of both, speaking and telepathically communicating. The “problem“ (which is not really one at all so far but could become one) with the NK is that he is this clear-cut larger than life entity, which is something not really known anywhere else in GOT. Everyone has some sort of humanizing factor to make them believable, NK does not so far. If they don’t show him talking like a person with emotions and motivations at some point in the future,I think they might be in danger to let him become this style-over-substance character without a humanizing factor and greensight-telepathy may not be enough to communicate a complex character to the viewers, especially more casual ones. I believe we have to hear his side of the story from himself at some point in dialogue form, to make him relatable and more than an awesome looking, icey demon-man.
I’m waiting for a Light of the Seven kind of track. A special one. Haven’t heard it yet.
I appreciate that. It seems like we glimpsed the tail-end of some revelation last season when the CotF injected the obsidian steroid into that “first man.” Why did they choose him and did they know the risk? Obviously, their frankenman agenda derailed (or did it?) with that specific act because Benjen received the same treatment, with more beneficial results. Perhaps a spell went awry?
It would be nice to get an indication of intent and purpose at some point soon. Hopefully, his rationale is relevant to factors maturing over the past six seasons and not a simple “I’ve come to retrieve Ser Pounce who was stolen from me by Brandon the Builder many millennia ago.“
In “Hardhome” he muttered “The Wight Walkers always pay their heating bills.” To these ears he sounded just like Bea Arthur. 😉
The article expressly warned: “* Please do not post any leaked spoilers in this post, covered or not. Thanks.*
So why are so many comments talking about the leaked [episode] spoilers????
🚱🚱🚱🚱😡
I haven’t seen anyone give a spoiler.
Finally! I’ve never been able to fully comprehend that scene until now!
So, instead of joining the humorous speculation, you think we’re spoiling? I have no idea what you’re referencing.
I think the viewership will take a hit because of the quality of the episode, EP4 I couldn’t wait to watch again, this one. not so much.
Hodors Bastard,
Yes, I hope so, too. I would love to see his own thoughts, his own motivations and reflections explained to some extent, especially if they really are HIS own thoughts etc and not just retellings of events that happened. You´re right, just simple “they did this so I will do this” would not really cut it.
This would also be a problem with Greensight-flashbacks in this case; So far, Greensight has been shown to retell the events exactly how they happened or at least it hasn´t been stated otherwise (even though Bran may have a couple manipulations going on here and there), so if the whole NK-arch would boil down to “they definitely did this, so I will do this” and they would show just the events how they happened without any commentary of the NK, it would fall pretty flat. His motivation just being “you know, it´s cold enough and we´ve been twirling our mustaches for some time now, so why not?” would just not do justice to the level on which GOT has operated on so consistently.
But all in due time, I guess, the really big secrets of the Others will not be revealed till mid-season 8 or even later, I would think.
Wimsey and I had a conversation last year regarding the possible ongoing conflict between The Great Other and R’hllor, with the humans, CotF and weirwoods caught in the middle. Given what transgressed last season with the CotF creating a WW…a revelation that does not coincide with lore….what exactly are the Others? Are they simply Gilly’s male relatives nurtured by the NK who is a master warg with a dubious history? If the NK was indeed created by the CotF, is there such a thing as the Great Other? Is this mess just R’hllor (the great rez master) shenanigans? I’m curious to know if the bigger picture involves the relevant deities or not.
I’ve avoided video but a couple of screenshots have gotten me… it looks like something I always thought would happen though.
Hodors Bastard,
To some extent it will involve a deity-mythos of some sort, I think, at least R´hllor since the show has put emphasis on him and his connection with Azor Ahai. In general, it would be strange if Martin would put a basically religious conflict between two deities in the center of his fiction, but I think the genereal idea might just be that all these fables, mythical heroes and some deities can be traced back to the same sources and events and then fact and fiction intermingled. These fables spread across the continents and finally ended up twisted and differently retold from region to region while the actual events got forgotten or put in a mythical context. So I think that it will be laid open where the Others come from and what everyone has to do with them, but the potential conflict behind it with R´hllor and The Great Other may just stay shrouded in darkness and never be resolved. It may very well be a symbol or even an allegory for Jon Snow v NK with some imagination and twisting of the depictions, who knows.
However, there is also a very pragmatic reason speaking against going explicitly into deity-territory in the end. GRRM seems to be respectful and inclusive towards believers of all faiths, so it would potentially have a strange connotation if he would basically say that all these religions of Westeros and Essors are basically just a bunch of …….. in the end. Might not sit well with some and miss the point of GoT essentially being about “the human heart in conflict” and not pre-destined fighting for a solution in a strictly binary conflict.
In the end, I think it will be a rather humane, not necessarily dark reason why the Others attack and why they even exist, all while the bigger religious subthemes except R´hllor and Azor Ahai will stay unresolved or as implied solutions. I think it would be the safest bet to assume that the NK and his forces attacking now has something to do with the resurgence of magic per se and for some reason, maybe not even selfish ones, they do not want it to flourish. Furthermore, they seem to be aware of some Last Hero or Azor Ahai-Mythos and may see him as their bane of existence, as they seem to be on the search for someone who could fulfill the prophecy, which is where Azor Ahai could tie into it (hints: Royce in the very first scene looks a lot like Jon, the way the WW stopped as if he saw sth important in the hut in hardhome when he saw Jon, the general posture of the NK towards Jon in hardhome).
Concerning the NK himself; he´s a Greenseer-Warg, I´m pretty convinced of that. There are so many theories on that, I feel like I would not be doing it justice by recapping it in short now. Plus, it´s really late where I am right now and everyone has to sleep at some point 😛
So many questions, so little answers yet. I will both laugh out of joy and weep at the same time when finally the origin of the Others and their whole deal is revealed.
Thx for that. A good read. I wonder if GRRM/D&D have already made the “shrouded in darkness” comment on the afterlife when Jon mentioned experiencing “nothingness” upon his rez, much to the disappointment of Mel. I’m not so sure that GRRM has much respect for a deity’s meddling in human affairs, given that scene (if it is indeed an adaptation from TWoW) and other “religious” aspects to this work.
I guess we’re starting to see every character address their “heart in conflict with itself”. Jon’s handling of his identity will be most interesting.
Yes, I share your view that the NK has already seen something in Jon. Was that an expression of respect, concern or envy as he gazed from the hilltop at HH? Then from the shore, was the NK demonstrating his power as an act of intimidation or was he trying to communicate something to Jon about his own rez? The NK must be intimately familiar with AA so there must be something more than what meets the eye going on here.
Haven’t watched the leaks
Looking forward to the North of the Wall Iceland scenes, they are always fantastically beautiful because of the natural setting
Should also be good for character development, eg so many central characters in a situation of “men against overwhelming odds” etc, eg ze German submariners in Das Boot or British Soldiers at Rorkes Drift in Zulu
Jon hasn’t wanted to talk about his experiences but I’m hoping that being able to talk to Beric who can relate and to Thoros as well will “help” in that regard
Really looking forward to Tormund and the Hound, Tormund may be the only guy the Hound may respect lol?
Am hoping that the Hound holding Gendry’s warhammer is a case of Gendry being the bag boy, eg holding the sack to put the Wight in…
Can we stop stop the last episode was leaked? It’s wasn’t… it was broadcast due to another HBO fuckup (although I suspect it’s no accident- as the internet is on fire over this)
Jumpedthe shark,
I don’t need to hear your opinion of an episode that I have chosen not to watch before its official screening. Thanx.
I don’t understand how so many people have already seen Beyond the Wall…
key word: HOW?
There’s is Beyond the Wall youtube reviews and tons of Beyond the Wall youtube comments –
What do these people do to see Beyond the Wall?
I guess you have to know the right people – I hope there is someone that will tell me… I am going to wait to watch but I am still curious how…
Hopefully this episode puts an end to the senseless criticism of Dany.
Who am I kidding? No doubt the critics will find some ridiculous angle to take a sh!t on the character.
The info on how to access the leaked episode has been in the quarantine section of the forums here for a few days now.
And yes, ‘Apollo’, the episode was LEAKED. HBO Spain did put it online but then removed it. It was then widely leaked by users who had copied it.
I think the mods should have said NO discussion at all of the leaked episode instead of just not to post spoilers. Some users seem to think their opinions of the episode don’t count as spoilers.
I don’t want any of the characters going beyond the wall to die. They’re all great in different ways.
All the characters, well, the three I want to die are all in King’s Landing. Oh, and that one in Winterfell. Four characters.
Lord of Coffee,
Thanks Lord Coffee!!!
Watched the leaked episode. Freaking out for the next episode’s preview!!
Maybe HBO will show an extended summary/preview for the final episode of season 7
The show has mentioned The Stranger in at least a few episodes this season.
the the 7th God of the Faith of the Seven is The Stranger so I am thinking Ayra – Euron – Gendry, maybe Varys and maybe even Jorah will have big scenes in the finale.
Sorry if I missed any discussion on this, but earlier reports said that the episode was pulled after an hour. Does that mean the final 10 minutes hasn’t been seen?
robrrt,
No, the entire episode is leaked- I did verify that before reporting it. “An hour” was something of an estimate, I think.
Pigeon,
Pigeon, it’s good to know that there’s another Richard Brake groupie on here! He was SO much scarier than the current guy. I don’t know if it’s the shape of his face, or just the pure menace his body language was able to portray, but I think the NK loses so much without him.
I agree. I think part of it is his narrower, more angular face and physique, his stare, the set of his mouth. Vladimir is good, but for some reason the more muscular body isn’t as …. I don’t even know. I do think it’s neat that the actor is in other scenes that i didn’t realize until lately (ToJ being one). I just prefer Brake’s NK. That stare and arm raise at Hardhome made me feel like Jon looked.
I do feel a bit bad that Vlad’s NK is rarely used in a lot of articles about GoT – they often default to a photo of Brake at Hardhome as the most recognizable.
Clob,
I usually watched episodes 2-3 times, even more if I love the episode – I think I watched the Door and Hardholme at least double that the week they aired.
I must admit I watched Beyond the wall twice via stream and have yet to watch it on my 55″ tv where I’m sure the visuals will be even better. I think it’s because I have mixed feelings on this episode.