Board Thread:TV Show Discussion/@comment-8331-20170908192738/@comment-5014364-20170913024941

(ack, I already posted a thread on this a few weeks back but it was too early - I've closed it and reposted content here: )

They've already covered most historical stuff in prior seasons. Clearly they're reading and adapting sections from The World of Ice and Fire (it's what I'd want them to do).

Much of what they might need to see this season is overlap - i.e. they already adapted all the World book chapters on the Dothraki last season.

This isn't always a "bad" thing, as sometimes new ones go into more detail than old ones, with better artwork - i.e. compare stuff about the Targaryen Conquest from Season 6 to stuff from Season 1 that glossed over much of it. OR, alternate perspectives - we've got a "Dragonstone" video by Stannis, sure, but not one by Daenerys, which would be pretty different.

We never got regional histories for the Iron Islands or the Crownlands, though frankly we probably won't (and Iron Islands last year..."the Old Way" and "the Kingsmoot"...kind of were their regional history, just not bothering to point out a few vassal Houses).

Starring cast who never did a video are Daenerys, Cersei, Tyrion, Arya, Melisandre, I hope they get some this year.

So halfway through Season 7, after episode 4, there are things I'd like to see...what should be in it, a combination of what I anticipate and what I'd like:

Major locations this year seem obvious:


 * Dragonstone - maybe more than one. Explaining how the Valyrians settled it.  Daenerys explaining she was born there but doesn't remember it.  Good for getting a Daenerys video - even if we already have a Stannis one from Season 2, this could be in an alternate style.  Possibly a few more images showing Daenerys's travels bouncing around the Free Cities begging (i.e. new artwork of some of the other Free Cities).  Probably multiple videos.  Also perhaps one reiterating that Rhaenyra was based there in the Dance of the Dragons, the search for dragonseeds, etc.
 * Casterly Rock - hopefully narrated by Tyrion? World book history they only glossed over.
 * Highgarden - ...Olenna? World book history they only glossed over.  Explaining with a map how the Reach for a time was four petty kingdoms that gradually got won over to Highgarden through marriage alliance (Gardener, Hightower, Tarly, Redwyne).
 * The Citadel - While explained a bit in Season 1, and "Oldtown" had one in Season 6, this would be a way to use Archmaester Ebrose to narrate, explaining in a little more detail than we've seen before how the Citadel specifically functions day to day - Archmaester council voting on Grand Maesters, something about how the archmaesters have a rod of their metal denoting their field, day to day stuff like the Seneschal, etc. Also reiterating "Maesters are politically neutral" and this is why Wolkan is still around at Winterfell.
 * Eastwatch-by-the-Sea - will be more important later this season. Mostly just good artwork, but explaining how it's their port.
 * The Dragonpit - the history of the Dragonpit from its construction to how it was left in ruins after riots in the Dance of the Dragons.

Would be nice:


 * Naath - mentioned prominently enough in two episodes, and there's certainly material for it not used in prior videos.
 * The Lands of the Summer Sea - frankly, I wanted a Missandei & Grey Worm -centered version of Euron's "Summer Sea" video from last year...which did discuss the Basilisk Isles, and the ships of Summer Islanders and Ibbenese. But I want one explaining "This is what Naath, the Summer Islands, and mainland Sothoryos are like" with a lot....a lot of cool artwork of like Yeen and the Green Hell (King Kong is there, it's Skull Island!).

Apart from locations...let's see...


 * House Mormont of Bear Island - narrated by Lyanna Mormont and Jorah Mormont? Popular enough with Lyanna it merits a video - they've never explained before the whole thing about "we train our daughters just like our sons to fight due to constant sea raids".
 * The Golden Company - more Blackfyre history, really. The TV stuff has never explicitly mentioned how the Blackfyres made the Golden Company.
 * Guest right - Arya Stark. Because we haven't had an Arya video before, and while we've heard of guest right before, it comes up twice for her in the season premiere (she won't kill the Lannister soldiers because they invited her as a guest).
 * The Raid on Lannisport - Euron's perspective? Covered in broad terms last season, but it's spoken of so prominently when he shows up in King's Landing this season and talks to Jaime about it.
 * Asshai - narrated by Melisandre. We've never had a Melisandre video.  Cool artwork of Asshai talking about World book info.
 * The Prince That Was Promised - bit of overlap with the Azor Ahai video Thoros already did, really, but it bears repeating. Thoros and/or Melisandre?
 * Legends of the Long Night - from around the world, not just Westeros; basically Samwell and Gilly narrating stuff they've learned in books about legends from the rest of the world beyond Westeros about it - World book stuff like from Hyrkoon and Yi Ti, recapitulating a few Westeros things.

Would be nice....


 * Robert's Rebellion - Cersei Lannister's perspective. We never had a Cersei video before.  A lot of her backstory with Rhaegar, etc.
 * Torrhen Stark, the King Who Knelt, and other Field of Fire / Dance of the Dragons stuff.
 * Problem is, most of this was covered already in prior TV seasons. Even Torrhen was covered pretty well.  Field of Fire had 4-5 videos depicting it over the years.
 * Burning Rickard Stark - similar problem...multiple other videos already covered this extensively - to the point that it might be better to just shove into a vaguely-related video (like Cersei remembering Robert's Rebellion)
 * Dragon warfare - tactics and counter-tactics. Mostly about using a scorpion-launcher against Meraxes] - already covered last season, by Ellaria but not say Qyburn.  More of a broad overview talking about dragon tactics thematically; Visenya took an arrow to the shoulder at the Field of Fire so they try to avoid archers, a scorpion-bolt downed Meraxes, after that they're careful to avoid those and go on quick bombing runs instead of staying close to the ground, examples from the Dance of the Dragons such as at the Siege of Rook's Rest, etc.


 * Something about the Dragon-skulls, possibly overlapping with "Dragon military tactics", explaining how the 19 skulls go there (not all skulls were ever recovered, and some of the skulls are ancient relics the Targaryens acquired over time that died thousands of years ago).


 * The Crownlands - a regional history video, talking about how Visenya made them - overlapping with info about Dragonstone. I doubt we'll actually get this, mostly it would be about King's Landing, Dragonstone, maybe namedrop Stokeworth.  I doubt it.


 * Legends of the Long Night from around the World - Samwell and Gilly talk about legends from lands beyond Westeros, which they've read in books, about the Long Night. How it affected Rhoynar, Hyrkoon, Yi Ti, etc.  World book info.  Brief reprise of Westeros as well, already covered elsewhere.


 * What could possibly be said about the Valyrian steel dagger that hasn't been already?


 * ...they already did Dothraki videos. Something about the hypocrisy of Cersei and Randyll thinking they're "barbarians".  Something like Cersei's voiceover describing how barbaric they are, raping, pillaging, burning...overlaid on images of the Mountain and his Lannister men doing the same thing in the Riverlands of Westeros.


 * While we have had some videos explaining the Karstarks, and "Northern Allegiances" last year by Sansa was basically an adaptation of the North history section from the World book....the Karstarks pop up again prominently in the Season 7 premiere, and we never really exhausted all North history. So something like........Sansa discussing the debate about whether or not to show the Karstarks mercy, by explaining the long history of White Harbor i.e. introducing House Greystark, explaining how they were also a cadet branch who turned on them, and for five hundred years held the Wolf's Den (White Harbor), but then joined the Boltons in a rebellion and were wiped out completely.  From that whole history section that Davos reads in the fifth novel.  Yeah....lot of parallels between the Greystarks and Karstarks, I hope they'd do this, having Sansa draw a parallel, mention that she knew Alys Karstark before the War of the Five Kings broke out.