Mental_Giant

Originally Posted by Tenzhi

Next you'll say Wile E. Coyote's plight is depressing. All the pain and suffering he goes through just trying to get a meal. And then when he finally catches his prey it's *still* beyond his reach. None of the action involved changes this inherently depressing situation. At all. Presentation is meaningless.

Originally Posted by Slaunyeh

Eowyn: I am no man!

Originally Posted by Tenzhi

The same sort of planet where the best thing in life is to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentation of their women. The same one where the stranger with no name wanders into town and is coerced into helping the townsfolk drive off a brutal gang of miscreants. The same one where a man/child witnessing the murder of his family isn't driven to a life of therapy, but rather to a life of vengeance/justice.

Originally Posted by Tenzhi

Two-headed, four armed, six legged "humanoid" pink elephant... that's water soluble and worships a VHS tape of Dumbo and dreams of someday flying.

Originally Posted by Tenzhi

Firs I've heard of it, though the breakdown on wikipedia reminded me of The Dark Tower series. It doesn't sound like the sort of post-apocalypse scenario that inspires costuming, though.

Originally Posted by Tenzhi

When I think "post apocalyptic", the first two things that come to mind are Fallout and Gamma World, both of which have a humorous bent. The third thing that comes to mind is Mad Max, which still isn't particularly depressing - more like a pulp adventure, really. Indeed, I'm having trouble thinking of something post apocalyptic that's depressing.

Originally Posted by Dark One

Most depressing ending?

The entire series was Walter still in the mental institution... "Olivia" is actually his doctor that recommends him for a total frontal lobotomy. Peter is the janitor in the institution and Walter never actually had a kid.

Originally Posted by Father Xmas

Last week's episode added another "new" universe. Even though the episode was set in 2036 it's apparent that the team time skipped from a universe that's different still than any of the ones we've seen so far. At least they showed a seemingly young William Bell

Originally Posted by Toril

Nor do most of our threads here in the land of Victory.

Originally Posted by MentalMaden

I think an interesting thought (not a solid theory, just musing for fun) is Dany realizes that being Queen of the realm is no different than the slavers in Essos and melts the iron throne and allows the 7 kingdoms their own sovereignty. Jon the North, Tyrion the West, Sansa the Eyrie and Riverlands, She returns to the Stormland and Dragonstone, blah blah blah. [Insert whatever else here] Just typing out loud.

Originally Posted by Olantern

Initially, upon reading the first book, I thought so, too, but I revised my opinion about whether who holds the Iron Throne is important after several books.

Currently, my expectations have been set up to be the following:

1) Jon Snow is killed off (or stays dead) doing something of some significance, though possibly ultimately fruitless. ("Martyred by Others" has been my favorite idea here, but we've seen so little of the Others themselves that I consider that a stretch.)

2a) A book or several hundred pages later, one character makes an offhand remark to another, "Oh, yeah, that Jon Snow guy? He was actually the legitimate son of Rhaegar Targaryen/Paet the Pig Boy/Darth Vader/what-have-you. Too bad he's dead now."

-or-

2b) Just before he accomplishes his Dying Thing of Significance, Snow receives the revelation of his parentage, but is unable to do anything with it. Despite the fair amount of experience he's received, I can't see him (or anyone, really) actually achieving the Iron Throne.

Of course, those expectations arose through several books of reinforcement. All of that could just be misdirection on an immense scale.

This thread brought a related idea to mind. I had been assuming all along that all the prophecies relating to R'hlor the Red Lord (or however you spell his name), the Prince That Was Promised, and the like, referred to Danaerys, the character most associated with fire. This thread suggests to me that the feeling among fandom is that many refer to Jon Snow. Assume, for the sake of argument, that the supposition about Rhaegar is correct. Given the creepy Targaryen propensity for brother-sister marriages, while I would have discounted it until I saw you all suggest it, I suppose we could see some kind of relationship towards the end of things between Snow and Danaerys.

This brings us to another thing that's bothered me for several books now- how is Danaerys going to get killed off? I've kind of been assuming she will meet an unpleasant fate before the series's end since about the second book. Despite having one of the best claims to the Iron Throne, as well as, unlike most of the claimants, a sincere desire to rule well and a plan to do so, I've always gotten more of a "saintly" than "kingly" vibe from her. She isn't so much a political organizer (look how the slaver cities turned out in Dance) as a focus for inspiration and loyalty, a hero. That kind of character in this kind of story tends not to survive, yet we have an elaborate prophecy about all her future deeds.

However, if she ended up with Snow and he rather than she is playing the role of the Red Lord, he can slaughter her to reignite the flames of the universe, or ... well, I'm kind of hazy on Red Priest theology, but you get the idea. My main problem with this idea is that we haven't seen much of the threat of this scale, though we know it's out there. I'm not sure it's intended as anything more than window dressing for the more personal dramas of individual characters. We will have to wait and see.

Originally Posted by Alpha_XBS

I think you can check on your NCSoft account, go to Billing Summary and it will show you, under Microtransactions I think, when the VIP allotment is applied to your account.

Originally Posted by Olantern

On reading the first book, I got the impression that Jon Snow's parentage would turn out to be a significant development. The multiple stories lead me to believe that none of them is likely to be right. However, they've also left me with the impression that we'll get some kind of big reveal of the "true truth" down the line, but it won't affect the course of events at all. This would seem to me to be in keeping with the "at random" feel of the story so far. (Note that I'm not saying the author has no plan; I'm saying he wants to create the appearance of the story being "realistically" unplanned, rather than the sense of inevitability that acts as a draw with much fiction.)