22 December 2024: The three latest written interviews of me are here, here and here.

Sunday, August 6, 2017

Game of Thrones 7:4: Dragon vs. Byzantium

Well, this is the episode of Game of Thrones we've been waiting for - or least, one of the episodes.  In 7.4, we finally get to see one of the fearsome firespewing dragons in battle ... against Jaime Lanister's army.

Except it's more than just an army, modeled in fantasy retrospect after the Romans, wearing red and all.  But just as the Romans and even more so their Byzantine successors were known for their ingenuous weapons, the Lanisters have on their side the dragon-slaying auto-spear we've seen in development this season.

It's never been used before.  It's powerful, but is it enough to bring down a dragon?  Well, it depends where it hits.  And after missing the first time, it indeed hits - but not in the head.  Our dragon with Daenerys astride is wounded, brought down, but still more than to fire its fire.

Jaime makes a desperate, heroic attempt to kill it, but a man on horse with a spear is not as potent as the mechanized spear machine, and Jamie doesn't get close enough.  His charge is refuted by dragon fire.  We see Jaime floating under water in the last scene.  Is he dead?  I don't know - I haven't read the novels, and I've seen no spoiler.  But if I had to bet, I'd bet on his surviving.

But we and Cersei have learned something very important - the dragons are not invincible.  They can be slowed down and stopped, and likely even killed.  Just as the Romans were stopped in the end, as well as the Mongols - stand-ins for the Dothraki in this timeless fantasy drama - so the dragons, like all living things, can be stopped, too.

Which leaves us with the dead of the way north.   They'll be the hardest of all to stop, seeing as how they're no longer alive.  At this point, only Bran may be privy to their ultimate fate.


And see also Game of Thrones 6.1: Where Are the Dragons ... Game of Thrones 6.2: The Waking ... Game of Thrones 6.5: Origin of a Name ... Game of Thrones 6.6: The Exhortation ... Game of Thrones 6.7: Giveth and Taketh ... Game of Thrones 6.8: Strategic Advantage ... Game of Thrones 6.9: A Night for the Light ... Game of Thrones Season 6 Finale: That Library

And see also Game of Thrones 5.1: Unsetting the Table ... Game of Thrones 5.8: The Power of Frigid Death ... Game of Thrones 5.9: Dragon in Action; Sickening Scene with Stannis ... Game of Thrones Season 5 Finale: Punishment

And see also Games of Thrones Season 4 Premiere: Salient Points ... Game of Thrones 4.2: Whodunnit? ... Game of Thrones 4.3: Who Will Save Tyrion ...Game of Thrones 4.4: Glimpse of the Ultimate Battle ... Game of Thrones 4.6: Tyrion on Trial ... Game of Thrones 4.8: Beetles and Battle ...Game of Thrones 4.9: The Fight for Castle Black ... Games of Thrones Season 4 Finale: Woven Threads


And see also Game of Thrones Back in Play for Season 2 ... Game of Thrones 2.2: Cersei vs. Tyrion

And see also A Game of Thrones: My 1996 Review of the First Novel ... Game of Thrones Begins Greatly on HBO ... Game of Thrones 1.2: Prince, Wolf, Bastard, Dwarf ... Games of Thrones 1.3: Genuine Demons ... Game of Thrones 1.4: Broken Things  ... Game of Thrones 1.5: Ned Under Seige ... Game of Thrones 1.6: Molten Ever After ... Games of Thrones 1.7: Swiveling Pieces ... Game of Thrones 1.8: Star Wars of the Realms ... Game of Thrones 1.9: Is Ned Really Dead? ... Game of Thrones 1.10 Meets True Blood

And here's a Spanish article in Semana, the leading news magazine in Colombia, in which I'm quoted about explicit sex on television, including on Game of Thrones.

And see "'Game of Thrones': Why the Buzz is So Big" article in The Christian Science Monitor, 8 April 2014, with my quotes.

Also: CNN article, "How 'Game of Thrones' Is Like America," with quote from me



"I was here, in Carthage, three months from now ..."



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