The Game of Thrones Fantasy League – 6.10 – The Winds of Winter

Game of Thrones – 6.10 – The Winds of Winter

Holy shit.

What an outstanding season. This show continues to top itself each year, this was perhaps the best finale they’ve done: spectacle, suspense, surprise, revelation, gore, murder and a total overpowering of the patriarchy. This episode contained a number of extraordinary and satisfying moments and managed to make us hunger for season seven without having to leave us dangling off any cliff-hangers like last year. This was a finale that served as a perfect closing chapter to a brilliant season and I can’t wait for the next one.

The soundtrack surpassed itself, the opening sonata in King’s Landing is just absolutely phenomenal and has been heavily rotating at my home since the episode. They definitely need to get Miguel Sapochnik directing for every season. That entire sequence was brilliantly tense and a dynamite way to open a finale. It is up there with Hold the Door as my favourite moment of the season. In one fell swoop, so many characters just got eliminated from Season 7! Tommen’s suicide was beautiful and artful. Pycelle’s version of “For The Watch” seemed a little unnecessary. I appreciated that it was a nod to the book but I don’t know why he was not made to blow up in the Sept with everyone else: the Grand Maester didn’t appear to do anything particularly reprehensible to Cersei to warrant this separate punishment so I’m not sure why that’s there really other than to reference a moment from the books (that actually happens to one of the characters IN the explosion). God knows what’s happening to Septa Unella but I think I don’t need to add her to next year’s league. I’m so pleased that this year I got to bust out the points behemoth “is officially declared ruler of Westeros”, I wasn’t expecting any character to gain it, but I’m pleased to bestow it on Cersei. Long may she reign.

Arya said she was going to Winterfell, but has instead stopped at the Twins to exact revenge on Walder Frey. I am glad that she was the one to kill him as he deprived her (and us) of reuniting with her mother and brother but I REALLY hope she finds out that Jon and Sansa are at Winterfell and gets her arse back there instead of being consumed by revenge. If she is heading north, it’s possible that she might cross paths with the Brotherhood Without Banners and have a reunion with the Hound.

I also think that the Brotherhood may run into Melisandre now that she has been banished south. With nowhere else to go, it makes sense that she would look to finding another priest of R’hllor. Melisandre did say back in season 3 that she and Arya will meet again - and The Red Woman was on Arya’s list. Perhaps all three will clash at the same time and Arya will kill Melisandre for abducting Gendry.

Jon’s exile of Melisandre was a good call, honourable and decent: what you want in a leader. I am hoping that Sansa can be as humble as Theon to stand aside and let the right person be in charge but it doesn’t look like it. Littlefinger has sowed seeds of dissent and her jealousy at not being given credit for rallying the Knights of the Vale could break up this once happy pairing. And, er, you know, you’d probably get more credit for getting the Vale Knights to turn up if you’d, you know, actually told someone that they were coming, but whatever, Sansa.

And yet this whole power struggle for Lord/Lady of Winterfell might just be moot as Bran has now made it to the Wall and is heading south. He is the rightful heir of Winterfell so hopefully in season seven he will claim his title and keep us in visions! There IS a weirwood tree in the castle grounds, as we were reminded this episode, so hopefully that will come into play next year. I thought the transition from Lyanna’s baby to Kit Harington’s dark brown eyes was an exceptionally beautiful moment, although predictable for most of us. While we know now for certain who his mother is, what was missing from this revelation was the impact it has on Bran. I’m not sure why the sound is muted when Lyanna is telling Ned what to call her baby, whether it was to keep the identity a secret until the visual cut to Jon or that his name might not actually be Jon. I hope the former as the latter’s stupid. What will happen with this revelation next year? Perhaps Bran returns to Winterfell and tells Jon about his mother, leading him on a quest to find out who his father was, if not Ned...though at this point a large percentage of the audience has already figured this out!

There is a theory that if the magic that stopped the wights and White Walkers from entering the Three Eyed Raven’s cave is the same as what prevents them from passing the Wall, Bran’s mark from The Night King may result in those enchantments not working. However, we’ve already seen those enchantments fail when Jon, Ghost and Jeor Mormont had a wight fight in season one at Castle Black. For safety’s sake, Bran should probably just have gone by boat around Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. In fact, I’m not sure why no one has suggested this before: Bran’s arms work, it’s not like he can’t row!

Filming restrictions at the Alcazar of Seville means that Dorne scenes are always hurried with little time for pause. The new alliance between the Martells and the Tyrells (well, Tyrell) should mean that the Sands will be travelling out of Sunspear, allowing for some fleshed out scenes in the future.

The scene between Daenerys and Tyrion was emotionally resonant and one of the finest in the series. They make terrific scene partners, Clarke and Dinklage are at their best when they are together and I’m encouraged at their alliance, crossing the Narrow Sea into Westeros with a massive fleet, an army of Unsullied and Dothraki and three bigass dragons.

I can’t wait to see Cersei’s face when Tyrion turns up in King’s Landing with the posse. Ha!

But presumably, the Targaryen fleet will get into an over water battle with Euron Greyjoy and his war machine before that moment, with perhaps one of the dragons getting quite badly injured or dying, so that the eventual fight against Cersei’s forces won’t be too one-sided.

So, onto the scores for the finale: Despite EIGHT fantasy league characters dying in this episode, this was the second highest scoring episode of the season, behind The Door. You will learn who the Season Six champion is after some final points on how some debatable scores were permitted.

Possible points of contention:

Arya should have received Witnesses Magic points for the Waif’s facial transformation back in episode seven. That has been amended to her score for that episode.

Grand Maester Pycelle and Ser Loras both get points for having the first line. Loras makes the first noise, Pycelle is the first fantasy league character to speak a line of dialogue.

Kevan and Lancel gain points for encountering each other for the first time this season, as do Mace Tyrell and Ser Loras.

Arya gets haircut points for her transformation before killing Walder Frey. She only gets minus points for killing Frey, not his sons, as that occurs off screen.

There is sufficient walking and plotting in the Winterfell gardens for Littlefinger to gain points for walking around a garden plotting. However Sansa does no plotting so she does not get points.

There is no walking in the Water Gardens of Dorne so none of the Sandsnakes or Olenna can gain plotting points.

Sansa, Jon, Tormund and Davos gain points for eating but not for drinking wine as its unclear what drink they have in front of them.

Varys gets points for crossing the Narrow Sea twice as he arrives in Dorne from Meereen then inexplicably is back in Meereen in time for the end of the episode.

Grey Worm, Missandei and Tyrion get points for encountering only Viserion and Rhaegal as they have recently had a scene with Drogon. Varys, Yara and Theon get points for encountering all three dragons.

The last spoken dialogue from a fantasy league character is Qyburn crowning Cersei, but the last noise is from one of the dragons and it is difficult to identify which. As such, Qyburn and all three dragons gain points for having the last line of the episode.

Everyone in the final scene gets points for being the last on screen as the final shot is a giant wide of the entire area, so all arguably were the last on screen.

Character Scores

Here is a full list of the characters and their awarded points. If one of your characters does not appear in the following lists, this is due to their absence from the episode, for which you shall be deducted five points per character:

Group A – Main Characters

Arya Stark – 65 points: appears (+5), crosses the Narrow sea (+50), has a haircut (+20), kills someone (-10)

Bran Stark – 145 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10), has vision (+40), 3 X reunites with previously lost blood relative (+30)

Cersei Lannister – 153 points: appears (+5), first on screen (+15), drinks wine (+8), inflicts harm (-5), is officially declared ruler of Westeros (+100), reunites with previously lost blood relative (+30)

Daenerys Targaryen – 58 points: appears (+5), drinks wine (+8), travels by boat (+15), last on screen (+30)

Jaime Lannister – 60 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10), visits King’s Landing (+15), reunites with previously lost blood relative (+30)

Sansa Stark – 27 points: appears (+5), has kiss (+15), eats (+7)

Tyrion Lannister – 98 points: appears (+5), drinks wine (+8), travels by boat (+15), last on screen (+30) 2 X encounters dragon (+20)

Group B – Supporting Mains

Margaery Tyrell – -25 points: appears (+5), dies (-30)

Melisandre – 15 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10)

Petyr Baelish – 35 points: appears (+5), walks around a garden plotting (+15), mentions Iron Throne (+15)

Samwell Tarly – 5 points: appears (+5)

Ser Davos Seaworth – 23 points: appears (+5), unsheafs sword (+10), eats (+7)

Theon Greyjoy – 110 points: appears (+5), travels by boat (+15), last on screen (+30), 3 X encounters dragon (+20)

Varys – 210 points: appears (+5), 2 X crosses the Narrow Sea (+50) travels by boat (+15), last on screen (+30), 3 X encounters dragon (+20)

Group C – Rest of the Mains

Daario Naharis – 13 points: appears (+5), drinks wine (+8)

Ellaria Sand – 13 points: appears (+5), drinks wine (+8)

Gilly – 5 points: appears (+5)

Missandei – 90 points: appears (+5), travels by boat (+15), last on screen (+30) 2 X encounters dragon (+20)

Ser Bronn – 55 points: appears (+5), drinks wine (+8), eats (+7), says C word (+10), rides horse (+10), visits King’s Landing (+15)

Tommen Baratheon – -25 points: appears (+5), dies (-30)

Tormund Giantsbane – 12 points: appears (+5), eats (+7)

Group D – Side Characters

Grand Maester Pycelle – -15 points: appears (+5), first line (+10), dies (-30)

Grey Worm – 90 points: appears (+5), travels by boat (+15), last on screen (+30) 2 X encounters dragon (+20)

High Sparrow – -25 points: appears (+5), dies (-30)

Meera Reed – 35 points: appears (+5), witnesses magic (+30)

Obara Sand – 5 points: appears (+5)

Olenna Tyrell – 5 points: appears (+5)

Tyene Sand – 5 points: appears (+5)

Group E – Side Characters to the Side Characters

Kevan Lannister – 5 points: appears (+5), reunites with previously lost blood relative (+30), dies (-30)

Lancel Lannister – 0 points: appears (+5), reunites with previously lost blood relative (+30), gets injured (-5), dies (-30)

Mace Tyrell – 5 points: appears (+5), reunites with previously lost blood relative (+30), dies (-30)

Nymeria Sand – 5 points: appears (+5)

Ser Loras Tyrell – 10 points: appears (+5), first line (+10), reunites with previously lost blood relative (+30), gets injured (-5), dies (-30)

Group F – Weirdos

Qyburn – 25 points: appears (+5), last line (+20)

Ser Robert Strong – 5 points: appears (+5)

Group G – Animals

Drogon – 55 points: appears (+5), last line (+20), last on screen (+30)

Rhaegal – 55 points: appears (+5), last line (+20), last on screen (+30)

Viserion – 55 points: appears (+5), last line (+20), last on screen (+30)

Group H – Definitely Dead?

Benjen Stark – 15 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10)

Jon Snow – 67 points: appears (+5), has kiss (+15), appears in vision (+40), eats (+7)

Group I – Where are these fuckers?

Yara Greyjoy – 110 points: appears (+5), travels by boat (+15), last on screen (+30), 3 X encounters dragon (+20)

The Leaderboard            

Players can see their scores by consulting their initials in the table below. This week’s points champion is AA who managed to claw her way into the top five with this episode’s highest score of 493!

I would also like to give praise to RCB, HC, DT, AA, SR, YD, MS, LH, AB and NA for managing to avoid getting a negative score for any episode this season!

This year’s wooden spoon goes to JM whose poor team made him score negative points for all but three episodes, leaving him stranded on minus points until finally the finale which brought him to an overall total of 99 points.

…and the winner of the Game of Thrones Fantasy League Season Six is…CH! After blazing ahead with gaining nearly 900 points for episode five, it remained all but impossible to catch up with her for the rest of the season. This was an outstanding achievement, considering that she was one of the few players to have not picked Jon Snow for her team. Had she done so, she would have had even more of an unbeatable lead. Absolutely well done, CH, I will be in touch about your prizes very soon!

In the following few weeks you can expect some tips on how to win the league next time and I’ll rearrange the groupings for season 7 to include new characters and switch up some of the placements!

The Game of Thrones Fantasy League – 6.09 – Battle of the Bastards

Game of Thrones – 6.09 – Battle of the Bastards

Nooooo, the season is nearly over! It’s been getting so good! This season has truly shaped up to be one of the best. I am deeply saddened to hear that the makers would like to reduce the order of episodes next year as I am quite happy to spend time in Westeros and Essos every week. This was an extraordinarily epic episode with fantastic scenes standing out, my favourites including Rickon’s charge, the Bolton shield offensive, and Jon halting arrows with his shield (that’s going to be added to the list of possible points to gain next year!). I’m also pleased that despite last week’s glaring, Dany didn’t give Tyrion a hard time about the Masters attacking because, seriously, what would you expect Meereen to be like after the state she left it in? In spite of only 19 fantasy league characters being featured in the episode, we’ve had a rise in points awarded, with 422 for the episode overall. This was due to lots of horseriding, family reunions and leading armies into battle. There have been some changes up and down the leaderboard but all will be decided next week. I can’t wait to get there but I’m so sad that this is going to be the end for 2016!

The scores for the penultimate episode of Season 6 shall be given after a few ruling details.

Possible points of contention:

The dragons gain points for both encountering previously lost blood relatives and encountering dragons. Viserion and Rhaegal get points for encountering one dragon/relative, whereas Drogon gets points for encountering two dragons/relatives.

Daario probably killed more than one Harpy but as we only see him kill one, he’s deducted points for just the one death.

Sansa and Jon gain points for reuniting with Rickon and vice versa.

Jon gets crowdsurfing points for getting swept up above the army near the end of the skirmish.

Sansa and Littlefinger gain points for leading the Vale army into battle. Tormund gains points for leading the wildling army into battle, as does Davos for the archers.

Sansa does not get points for killing Ramsay as he is technically killed by his dogs.

Ramsay gets points with Sansa for being last on screen as you can see him squirming in the backgound. I have also chosen to award him death points this episode (unlike Hodor) as it is fairly implicit we shan’t see him again.

Character Scores

Here is a full list of the characters and their awarded points. If one of your characters does not appear in the following lists, this is due to their absence from the episode, for which you shall be deducted five points per character:

Group A – Main Characters

Daenerys Targaryen – 60 points: appears (+5), first on screen (+15), 2 X encounters dragon (+20)

Sansa Stark – 92 points: appears (+5), 2 X rides horse (+10), leads army into battle (+22), encounters previously lost blood relative (+30), last on screen (+15)

Tyrion Lannister – 35 points: appears (+5), first line (+10), encounters dragon (+20)

Group B – Supporting Mains

Melisandre – 5 points: appears (+5)

Petyr Baelish – 37 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10), leads army into battle (+22)

Ramsay Bolton – 17 points: appears (+5), 2 X rides horse (+10), 2 X kills (-10), leads army into battle (+22), gets injured (-5), dies (-30), last line (+10), last on screen (+15)

Ser Davos Seaworth – 57 points: appears (+5), 2 X rides horse (+10), leads army into battle (+22), unsheafs sword (+10)

Theon Greyjoy – 5 points: appears (+5)

Group C – Rest of the Mains

Daario Naharis – 27 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10), leads an army into battle (+22), kills (-10)

Missandei – 25 points: appears (+5), encounters dragon (+20)

Tormund Giantsbane – 22 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10), mentions C word (+10), leads army into battle (+22), 2 X kills (-10), gets injured (-5)

Group D – Side Characters

Grey Worm – 5 points: appears (+5), encounters dragon (+20), 2 X kills someone (-10)

Group E – Side Characters to the Side Characters

Another episode this year devoid of side characters’s side characters.

Group F – Weirdos

I feel that I should have thought to include Wun Wun in this category when I was making the league last year. Shame I can’t add him for season seven's lineup any more.

Group G – Animals

Drogon – 85 points: appears (+5), 2 X encounters dragon (+20), 2 X kills (-10), 2 X reunites with previously lost blood relative (+30)

Rhaegal – 35 points: appears (+5), encounters dragon (+20), reunites with previously lost blood relative (+30), 2 X kills (-10)

Shaggydog – 5 points: appears (+5)

Viserion – 35 points: appears (+5), encounters dragon (+20), reunites with previously lost blood relative (+30), 2 X kills (-10)

Group H – Definitely Dead?

Jon Snow – 105 points: appears (+5), 2 X rides horse (+10), drinks wine (+8), encounters previously lost blood relative (+30), leads army into battle (+22), unsheafs sword (+10), 2 X kills (-10), gets injured (-5), inflicts harm (-5), crowdsurfs (+40)

Group I – Where are these fuckers?

Rickon Stark – 35 points: appears (+5), 2 X encounters previously lost blood relative (+30), dies (-30)

Yara Greyjoy – 5 points: appears (+5)

The Leaderboard                                          

Players can see their scores by consulting their initials in the table below. Congratulations to CH for maintaining first place for five consecutive episodes! I’m amazed: she is the one to beat! And well done to KC for being this week’s points queen! She gained the most points for episode 9 and knocked her husband out of the top 5. Congrats!

See you next week to announce the scores for episode 10, The Winds of Winter, and to announce this year’s champion!

The Game of Thrones Fantasy League – 6.08 – No One

Game of Thrones – 6.08 – No One

This episode was another season low for points, taking 132 overall. In spite of that, I really enjoyed it. The reintroduction of Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr makes me feel that the ending of A Storm of Swords could actually get realised on screen. It also gives me a lot of amusement that every single character in my Where Are These Fuckers group has returned to the show during Season Six with one rather large exception – GENDRY! A third of the players in the league chose him as their Group I champion, he’s really letting them down. Could he turn up in the last two episodes, kill a white walker and get declared official ruler of Westeros in time for Season Seven, making a huge reversal in fantasy league fortunes? It’s really not likely, but perhaps he might turn up in Oldtown to greet Sam to the Citadel, or maybe he’s still rowing and might bump bows with the ship Arya is presumably going to take for her passage to Westeros? I’m very intrigued to see what Cersei is going to do now her trump card has been discarded. The deck is stacked against her, maybe she really should have fled like Olenna suggested. There’s been a common theme of people stubbornly staying in locations this season but certain characters, like Arya and Jon, and even to some extent Edmure have come to realise when they should admit defeat and do something different. I’ll be interested to see how the final two episodes comment on this theme.

Here are my reasons for some debatable scores in the eighth episode of Season 6.

Possible points of contention:

Jaime is seen riding his horse on three separate occasions, granting him Rides Horse points thrice.

Cersei and Lancel gain points for reuniting with each other as this is the first time they’ve been together since Cersei’s imprisonment.

On initial viewing, Grey Worm and Missandei seemed a lock for gaining both Drinks Wine and Turns Down Wine but on closer inspection, they don’t turn the wine down, they just hold the glass.

We can assume the liquid that The Hound is drinking from Thoros’ skein is wine as he is known to moan if it’s any other liquid. The lack of griping suggests it is wine, thus they both gain points.

Qyburn says that Tommen is currently praying, which is enough to gain Tommen points for communicating with deity.

Arya drinks the soup but as soup is a food, she may have points for eating.

Arya does NOT get minus points for killing the Waif, and that’s due to one line of dialogue in the episode. Arya says that the Waif is a girl with no name, therefore she is no one. Specifically you lose points if you kill SOMEONE. Killing no one doesn’t count as killing someone and so with that in mind, technically Arya cannot lose ten points for killing the Waif.

Character Scores

Here is a full list of the characters and their awarded points. If one of your characters does not appear in the following lists, this is due to their absence from the episode, for which you shall be deducted five points per character:

Group A – Main Characters

Arya Stark – 62 points: appears (+5), first line (+10), first on screen (+15), takes milk of the poppy (+5), eats (+7), gets injured (-5), last line (+10), last on screen (+15)

Cersei Lannister – 43 points: appears (+5), drinks wine (+8), reunites with previously lost blood relative (+30)

Daenerys Targaryen – 5 points: appears (+5)

Jaime Lannister – 35 points: appears (+5), 3 X rides horse (+10)

Tyrion Lannister – 13 points: appears (+5), drinks wine (+8)

Group B – Supporting Mains

Brienne of Tarth – 30 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10) travels by boat (+15)

Varys – 5 points: appears (+5)

Group C – Rest of the Mains

Jaqen H'ghar – 30 points: appears (+5), says episode title (+10), last on screen (+15)

Missandei – 13 points: appears (+5), drinks wine (+8)

Ser Bronn – 20 points: appears (+5), says C word (+15)

Tommen Baratheon – 20 points: appears (+5), communicates with deity (+15)

Group D – Side Characters

Grand Maester Pycelle – 5 points: appears (+5)

Grey Worm – 13 points: appears (+5), drinks wine (+8)

Podrick Payne – 30 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10), travels by boat (+15)

Group E – Side Characters to the Side Characters

Kevan Lannister – 5 points: appears (+5)

Lancel Lannister – 35 points: appears (+5), reunites with previously lost blood relative (+30)

Mace Tyrell – 5 points: appears (+5)

Group F – Weirdos

Qyburn – 5 points: appears (+5)

Ser Robert Strong – -5 points: appears (+5), kills someone (-10)

Group G – Animals

Drogon – 5 points: appears (+5)

Group H – Definitely Dead?

Sandor Clegane – 0 points: appears (+5), 2 X kills (-10), eats (+7), drinks wine (+8)

Group I – Where are these fuckers?

Beric Dondarrion – -5 points: appears (+5), kills someone (-10)

Thoros of Myr – 13 points: appears (+5), drinks wine (+8)

The Leaderboard

Players can see their scores by consulting their initials in the table below. Well done CH for a practically unbeatable team, somehow managing to stay on top despite her Group A character being absent for two straight episodes. Special congratulations must be given to RCB for being the player to earn the most points this week! Well done, darling.

This is so close to ending, what will happen to the leaderboard over the next two weeks? I cannot wait for episode nine: The Battle of the Bastards!

The Game of Thrones Fantasy League – 6.07 – The Broken Man

Game of Thrones – 6.07 – The Broken Man

We’re coming in to the home stretch now, the people in the lead are really leading and it’s going to take something big to help some of the players who are lagging behind catch up. Fortunately this is Game of Thrones and it’s likely that Very Big Things are round the corner. This episode had a different structure to most: where in recent years the show’s style has been to tell each story by location, this one allowed for a more thematically coherent and focused episode, returning several times to the procedural story of building the Stark army, the Hound examining his identity, and the Lannister conflict with the Tullys. However, this was a disappointing episode for anyone hoping for a significant change of fortune as the decision to pare down the number of storylines meant that this contained far fewer characters than usual. With only 15 fantasy league characters featured, there was an overall total of 157 points this episode, the lowest of the season so far. My heart goes out to everyone who picked Arya Stark, it really has become a running joke that she is doing quite awfully. Out of the 73 characters in this game she has the 39^th lowest score, being beaten by characters who have had mere seconds of screen time like Myrcella Baratheon and Kevan Lannister. After a season of being beaten and now getting stabbed, one really hopes that she’s seen enough misery and can start getting back on top of things. Sandor Clegane owned this episode but no one actually picked him for their team so he has a slew of unclaimed points. If he lives to season seven, I’m sure it will be a different story.

Here are the scores for the seventh episode of Season 6 after some reasons for rulings.

Possible points of contention:

Jaime obviously does not get points for saying “A Lannister Always Pays His Debts” as Bronn cuts him off before he can.

Jaime gets points for riding a horse twice as we see him riding on the way to the Riverlands, and then again to treat with the Blackfish.

As a character who was considered dead but has returned to this season alive, Sandor Clegane gets 45 points for coming back from the dead.

The Hound and Arya both get points for having the last line as Sandor makes the last noise, but Arya has the last spoken line.

Theon and Yara are in Volantis and thus gain points for crossing the Narrow Sea. Neither gain points for drinking wine as Yara refers to their drinks as ale.

Yara kisses a prostitute and Theon, gaining kissing points for both.

Character Scores

Here is a full list of the characters and their awarded points. If one of your characters does not appear in the following lists, this is due to their absence from the episode, for which you shall be deducted five points per character:

Group A – Main Characters

Arya Stark – 10 points: appears (+5), gets injured (-5), last line (+10),

Cersei Lannister – 5 points: appears (+5)

Jaime Lannister – 20 points: appears (+5), 2 X rides horse (+10), inflicts harm (-5)

Sansa Stark – 40 points: appears (+5), mentions Lyanna (+25), rides horse (+10)

Group B – Supporting Mains

Margaery Tyrell – 5 points: appears (+5)

Ser Davos Seaworth – 15 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10)

Theon Greyjoy – 85 points: appears (+5), crosses narrow sea (+50), visits brothel (+15), gets kissed (+15)

Group C – Rest of the Mains

Ser Bronn – 15 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10)

Tormund Giantsbane – 5 points: appears (+5)

Group D – Side Characters

High Sparrow – 5 points: appears (+5)

Olenna Tyrell – 5 points: appears (+5)

Group E – Side Characters to the Side Characters

Living up to their name, these folks stuck to the sidelines this week.

Group F – Weirdos

Ser Robert Strong – 5 points: appears (+5)

Group G – Animals

Sadly, this was an animal free episode.

Group H – Definitely Dead?

Jon Snow – 15 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10)

Sandor Clegane – 117 points: appears (+5), first on screen (+15), first line (+10), eats (+7), back from the dead (+45), last line (+10), last on screen (+15)

Group I – Where are these fuckers?

Yara Greyjoy – 100 points: appears (+5), crosses narrow sea (+50), brothel (+15), 2 x has kiss (+15)

The Leaderboard

Players can see their scores by consulting their initials in the table below. Congratulations to CH for continuing to hold on to number one for another week! And well done ME for being the player who gained the most points this episode. Chances are, if your surname happens to begin with an H, you're going to be in the top five. Not long now, see you next week for No One!

The Game of Thrones Fantasy League – 6.06 – Blood of My Blood

Game of Thrones – 6.06 – Blood of My Blood

This marks a momentous occasion: an episode in which Arya appears and DOESN’T get injured. 

Finally some of the players who’ve picked her for their team can gain some actual points this week. This was yet another episode this year focusing on bringing characters back to their family, for better or worse. Shockingly of all, Benjen Stark reunited with his nephew, Bran: so far Benjen is actually scoring higher than any of the characters in Group B, and out of the characters in Group A has only scored lower than Bran and Jaime, which goes to show that with this current season, no gamble is too out there. Samwell reunited with his family and discovered that killing a white walker doesn’t matter to a father if he already has Cormac McLaggen for a son. And finally, Daenerys reunited with Drogon in an oddly unearned scene. She intends to rides to Westeros on her dragon: now, who’s going to be riding the other two?

After the following reasonings for some of the points rulings, here are the scores for the sixth episode of Season 6.

Possible points of contention:

As mentioned in the last post, Hodor gets deducted 30 points at the beginning of this episode for dying last week.

Bran’s vision, because it contains footage of him falling off the tower from the first episode, counts as a flashback as well as a vision, gaining him 50 points instead of the usual 40 points one would get for having a vision.

Several characters appear in Bran’s vision but do not actually feature in the episode, such as Roose Bolton, Catelyn Stark, Jon Snow, Leaf, The Night King, and the Three Eyed Crow, resulting in the highly bizarre score of 40 points for appearing in a vision but -5 points for not being in the episode. The characters and their respective scenes in his visions are from previously aired episodes which is why they don’t get awarded points for appearing in this episode, whereas the characters appearing in Bran’s visions from previous episodes (like Benjen in “Home”), gained appearance points as it was brand new footage.

Meera and Bran both get points for having the first line of episode as we hear Meera’s panting first but Bran speaks first.

Daenerys and Drogon both get points for having the last line of the episode. Daenerys has the final line of dialogue, Drogon makes the last sound.

Samwell, previously lost to the Night’s Watch, reunites with his mother, father, sister and brother giving him a staggering 120 points for reuniting with four relatives.

Lady Olenna and Mace Tyrell gain points for encountering Margaery, and she gains points for encountering them both.

Jaime and Lancel gain points for encountering each other as this marks the first time they have seen each since Jaime got captured in Dorne.

Jaime and Cersei sit at a table set with food and goblets, from which we can logically gather that they have been eating and drinking wine.

Unfortunately, neither Jaime nor Mace Tyrell gain points for leading an army into battle as there was no battle.

Character Scores

Here is a full list of the characters and their awarded points. If one of your characters does not appear in the following lists, this is due to their absence from the episode, for which you shall be deducted five points per character:

Group A – Main Characters

Arya Stark – 5 points: appears (+5)

Bran Stark – 150 points: appears (+5), first on screen (+15), has flashback (+50), first line (+10), encounters wight (+20), encounters previously lost blood relative (+30), rides horse (+10), mentions dragonglass (+10)

Cersei Lannister – 35 points: appears (+5), drinks wine (+8), eats (+7), has a kiss (+15)

Daenerys Targaryen – 85 points: appears (+5), appears in vision (+40), rides a horse (+10), encounters dragon (+20), last line (+10)

Jaime Lannister – 115 points: appears (+5), appears in vision (+40), rides horse (+10), encounters previously lost blood relative (+30), drinks wine (+8), eats (+7), has a kiss (+15)

Sansa Stark – -5 points: does not appear (-5)

Tyrion Lannister – -5 points: does not appear (-5)

Group B – Supporting Mains

Margaery Tyrell – 65 points: appears (+5), 2 X encounters previously lost blood relative (+30)

Samwell Tarly – 147 points: appears (+5), 4 X encounters previously lost blood relative (+30), eats (+7), has a kiss (+15)

Group C – Rest of the Mains

Daario Naharis – 35 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10), encounters dragon (+20)

Gilly – 27 points: appears (+5), eats (+7), has a kiss (+15)

Jaqen H'ghar – 5 points: appears (+5)

Roose Bolton – 35 points: appears in vision (+40), does not appear in episode (-5)

Tommen Baratheon – 5 points: appears (+5)

Group D – Side Characters

High Sparrow – 5 points: appears (+5)

Meera Reed – 90 points: appears (+5), first on screen (+15), first line (+10), witnesses magic (+30), encounters wight (+20), rides horse (+10)

Olenna Tyrell – 35 points: appears (+5), encounters previously lost blood relative (+30)

Group E – Side Characters to the Side Characters

Kevan Lannister – 5 points: appears (+5),

Lancel Lannister – 35 points: appears (+5), encounters previously lost blood relative (+30)

Mace Tyrell – 45 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10), encounters previously lost blood relative (+30)

Group F – Weirdos

Leaf – 35 points: appears in vision (+40), does not appear in episode (-5)

The Night’s King – 35 points: appears in vision (+40), does not appear in episode (-5)

Three Eyed Crow – 35 points: appears in vision (+40), does not appear in episode (-5)

Group G – Animals

Drogon – 70 points: appears (+5), appears in vision (+40), last on screen (+15), last line (+10)

Group H – Definitely Dead?

Benjen Stark – 110 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10), encounters wight (+20), encounters previously lost blood relative (+30), 3 X kills wight (+15)

Jon Snow – 35 points: appears in vision (+40), does not appear in episode (-5)

Catelyn Stark – 35 points: appears in vision (+40), does not appear in episode (-5)

Group I – Where are these fuckers?

Good question!

The Leaderboard

Players can see their scores by consulting their initials in the table below. Congratulations to CH for holding on to the top spot for another week! And also well done to RF for gaining 312 points this episode! She has moved up from 27^th to 24^th place so still has a long way to come, but keep it up! She gambled by choosing Benjen for her Group H character – that gamble has paid off this week, let’s see how well this plays out over the season! See you next time, for The Broken Man!

The Game of Thrones Fantasy League – 6.05 – The Door

Game of Thrones – 6.05 – The Door

Unbelievably, we are at the halfway point of the season and the league. This is shaping up to be possibly my favourite year. Last week’s episode was a crowd pleaser and we should have seen it coming that this episode would be an immense downer. The final scene was perhaps the most poignant and moving in the show’s history. I watched the final moments in awed silence. This episode featured a large revelatory infodump wherein we learn the Children of the Forest brought about the existence of White Walkers, like Tony Stark mistakenly creating Ultron. There are no strings on them, that’s for sure. Speaking of Starks, I think a lot of players are regretting picking a direwolf for their team animal! There are now only two left, Ghost and Nymeria...this does not bode well for the Stark family!

This episode awarded overall 1995 points. That’s not a typo, one thousand nine hundred and ninety five points were awarded to characters this episode. The previous high was 935. The tables have turned this week! Some players trailing behind are now racing ahead and it goes to show that anything can happen in this season.

Here are the scores for the fifth episode of Season 6, after a brief explanation of some of the points rulings.

Possible points of contention:

Bran, Meera, Hodor, Leaf, Summer and the Three Eyed Raven come into contact with something like a billion wights this episode. So that their scores don’t go into ridiculous numbers, I’ve implemented a cap: if the character encounters three or more wights, you gain 45 points maximum.

A similar cap is in place for points gained for saying the episode title. If a character says the episode title four or more times in the episode, they gain a maximum of 40 points.

Bran has three separate visions and gains points for each.

Bran gets witnesses magic points for watching the Three Eyed Crow evaporate.

Bran encounters Ned Stark, Ned’s father, and I’m assuming uncle Benjen. He gets points for encountering all of them.

Concordantly, Benjen gets points for appearing in the episode and in a vision.

I believe the place where Littlefinger holds his meeting with Sansa and Brienne is the brothel where Gilly used to hang out in season 4. Therefore they all get points for visiting a brothel.

Hodor, while surely dead, did not die by the end of this episode. He will receive minus points for dying if we learn he is dead next episode.

Character Scores

Here is a full list of the characters and their awarded points. If one of your characters does not appear in the following lists, this is due to their absence from the episode, for which you shall be deducted five points per character:

Group A – Main Characters

Arya Stark – 0 points: appears (+5), gets injured (-5)

Bran Stark – 465 points: appears (+5), 3 X has vision (+40), 3 X encounters wight (+20), 4 X encounters white walker (+40), 3 X encounters lost relative (+30), witnesses magic (+30)

Cersei Lannister – -5 points: does not appear (-5)

Daenerys Targaryen – 15 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10)

Jaime Lannister – -5 points: does not appear (+5)

Sansa Stark – 55 points: appears (+5), first on screen (+15), first line (+10), visits a brothel (+15), rides horse (+10)

Tyrion Lannister – 13 points: appears (+5), drinks wine (+8)

Group B – Supporting Mains

Brienne of Tarth – 30 points: appears (+5), visits a brothel (+15), rides horse (+10)

Melisandre – 15 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10)

Petyr Baelish – 20 points: appears (+5), visits a brothel (+15)

Ser Davos Seaworth – 15 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10)

Ser Jorah Mormont – 15 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10)

Theon Greyjoy – 70 points: appears (+5), has haircut (+20), reunites with relative (+30), travels by boat (+15)

Varys – 5 points: appears (+5)

Group C – Rest of the Mains

Daario Naharis – 15 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10)

Jaqen H'ghar – 5 points: appears (+5)

Missandei – 5 points: appears (+5)

Tormund Giantsbane – 15 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10)

Group D – Side Characters

Grey Worm – 5 points: appears (+5)

Meera Reed – 345 points: appears (+5), 3 X encounters wight (+20), 4 X encounters white walker (+40), witnesses magic (+30), 2 X kills a wight (+15), kills white walker (+50), 4 X says episode title (+10)

Podrick Payne – 15 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10)

Group E – Side Characters to the Side Characters

Hodor – 165 points: appears (+5), appears in vision (+40), 3 X encounters wight (+20), encounters white walker (+40), 4 X says the episode title (+10), last on screen (+15), last line (+10), injured (-5)

Group F – Weirdos

Leaf – 310 points: appears (+5), appears in vision (+40), 3 X encounters wight (+20), 4 X encounters white walker (+40), witnesses magic (+30), 3 X kills a wight (+15), dies (-30)

The Night's King – 67 points: appears (+5), appears in vision (+40), rides horse (+10), leads an army into battle (+22), kills someone (-10)

Three Eyed Crow – 305 points: appears (+5), 2 X appears in vision (+40), witnesses magic (+30), 3 X encounters wight (+20), 4 X encounters white walker (+40), dies (-30)

Group G – Animals

Summer – 105 points: appears (+5), 3 X encounters wight (+20), encounters white walker (+40), 2 X kills a wight (+15), dies (-30)

Group H – Definitely Dead?

Benjen Stark – 45 points: appears (+5), appears in vision (+40)

Jon Snow – 15 points: appears (+5), rides horse (+10)

Group I – Where are these fuckers?

Yara Greyjoy – 50 points: appears (+5), reunites with relative (+30), travels by boat (+15)

The Leaderboard

Players can see their scores by consulting their initials in the table below. Congratulations to CH for not only gaining the most points this week, but fighting her way into first place! And she doesn’t even have Jon Snow on her team. Well done!

Halftime Assessment

At this halfway point, I would like to examine who our best performers are and what the ultimate team would be.

Bran Stark – 775 – his many visions of lost family members have gained him more points that any other character.

Melisandre – 200 – she is an often nude magician who changes appearance.

Tommen Baratheon – 95 – he has reunited with many lost family members.

Meera Reed – 335 – she’s a total badass who has killed wights and white walkers alike. NO ONE picked her for their team. You must be kicking yourselves now.

Hodor – 265 – I can’t just yet, too painful.

Three Eyed Crow – 490 – appearing in so many visions makes the points stack up.

Summer – 85 – OK, so if you’re around Bran, you’ve basically won.

Jon Snow – 267 – reuniting with relatives, and pretty much being at the beginning and end of every episode helps a lot.

Yara Greyjoy – 105 – The only character in her group to have appeared in more than one episode and not die. She’s reliable.

If a player had that team, they would currently be on 2617 points. This week’s leader has a total of 1502 points. Who knows where we’ll be next week? Maybe we’ll have some more reunions or dare I say it, dragons? You would hope, with an episode called Blood of my Blood. See you next week!