Tuesday, April 5, 2016

SB on Episodes 4.9, 4.10, 5.1, & 5.2 (for 4/12/16)

SB on Game of Thrones: Blog Entry Twelve – Episodes 4.9, 4.10, 5.1, & 5.2 (For 4/12/16) 
Further Support for My “Ragnarok” Prediction from Last Week’s Blog
            In last week’s blog entry, it was explained how all of the characters from the universe of Viking mythology (and the universe of Viking mythology, itself) were destroyed in an epic, final battle that is known as “The Battle of Ragnarok” in Else Roesdahl’s The Vikings (and known as “The Twilight of the Gods” in Hazel Mary Martell et al.’s World Myths).  Last week, I predicted that since the television series Game of Thrones shares commonalities with the universe of Viking mythology, the television series Game of Thrones (in the final episode 7.10) will end with the destruction of all of the characters from the Game of Thrones universe (and with the destruction of the Game of Thrones universe, itself).
            This week’s set of episodes provided further support for my prediction that the series Game of Thrones will end with the destruction of the Game of Thrones universe.  As explained in World Myths and The Vikings, all of the diverse creatures from the universe of Viking mythology met in the battle of Ragnarok.  Similarly, there have been more diverse creatures interacting with each other, in this week’s set of episodes of Game of Thrones.   For instance, consider the major battle in episode 4.9 where there were giants riding wooly mammoths.  Also, consider how Daenerys’s dragons are getting so out of control that Daenerys had to chain the dragons in episode 4.10.
            As discussed by Roesdahl and Martell et al., all of the major heroes from Viking mythology (even those who had not yet met each other) met and destroyed each other in the epic battle of Ragnarok.  Similarly, some major Game of Thrones characters (who have not yet interacted with each other) have met and destroyed each other, in this week’s set of episodes.  For example, Arya and the Hound met Brienne and Podrick.  I thought that these two pairs would get along a lot better, but Brienne and the Hound battled to the death.  The Hound was left for dead by Brienne and Arya. 
            Deaths of Major Characters as Support for “Ragnarok” Prediction.  In this week’s set of episodes, some major Game of Thrones characters died.   While pointing an arrow at John Snow in episode 4.9, Ygritte was shot in the back and killed.  At the end of episode 4.10, Jaime freed Tyrion and, immediately after being freed, Tyrion murdered Shae and Tywin.  In episode 5.1, (referring back to the topic that was introduced in Matthew Tedesco’s article titled “It Would Be A Mercy: Choosing Life or Death in Westeros and Beyond the Narrow Sea”) John Snow “mercy killed” Mance Rayder in a very Last of the Mohicans-like fashion:  when Mance Rayder was about to be publicly burned, John Snow shot Mance Rayder with an arrow so that Mance Rayder would die a quick death and not suffer.  Also, there was a brutal public execution that happened before Daenerys at the end of episode 5.2 and is worthy of mention. 
Summation/Conclusion
            Similarly to “The Battle of Ragnarok” from Viking mythology, this week’s set of episodes of Game of Thrones showed many diverse creatures interacting with each other and showed many major characters dying brutal deaths.  These observations provide support for my assertion that (like the universe of Viking mythology) the Game of Thrones series will end with the destruction of the Game of Thrones universe (namely, with its own version of the “Battle of Ragnarok”). 
Further, I assert that this epic, final battle has already begun in recent Game of Thrones episodes:  more and more major characters (like Brienne and the Hound) who have not yet interacted with each other are beginning to interact with each other, mythological creatures (like dragons and giants riding wooly mammoths) are beginning to have a greater amount of presence, and major characters (like Ygritte, Shae, and Tywin) continue to die unexpectedly.   This week’s set of episodes (which included more giant creatures and more deaths of major characters) provided support for my assertions that (a) Game of Thrones and Viking mythology share commonalities and that (b) the series will end with the destruction of the Game of Thrones universe.

Works Cited
Martell, Hazel Mary, et al. World Myths.  Florence, Italy: McRae Books, 2002. Print.
Roesdahl, Else. The Vikings. London, England: Penguin Books, 1998. Print.
Tedesco, Matthew.  “It Would Be A Mercy: Choosing Life or Death in Westeros and Beyond       the Narrow Sea.”  Game of Thrones and Philosophy:  Logic Cuts Deeper Than Swords.        Eds.   William Irwin and Henry Jacoby. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012. 99-112.        Print.

3 comments:

  1. Martin has publicly commented that the ending will be "bitter sweet." I interpret that to be bitter in that a lot of our favorite characters will be offed, but also sweet in that there will be some sort of positive resolution--but not an apocalypse. But who knows? A wild guess is that Daenerys needs to control the dragons--hence she needs a Warg like Bran or Jon Snow to do mind control over them. She needs an adviser like Tyrion to figure out how to do better social organization in the kingdom. But above all she needs to incinerate all those White Walker creatures coming over the Wall. That's a big order and I am not quite sure how characters like Sansa, Arya, the Lannisters are going to fit into those developments.

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  2. Wow, when you list them all out, there sure were a lot of major deaths this week. I enjoy that you followed up your prediction and look forward to reading more!

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  3. The spectacular battle scenes that could be reminiscent of the Ragnarok are really helped by the boosts in special effects we've seen throughout the series. I read the other day that season 6 features the largest scale battle in the series thus far.

    The amount of resources at HBO's disposal will allow them to portray the potential battle you're predicting in all it's fantastic and terrible glory.

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