Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Not exactly. In Feast Sam read something about Dragon steel being effective when he was researching how to defeat the White Walkers. Jon and him thought that Dragon steel may be the same thing as Valyrian Steel.

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Not being a book reader I always got the impression they were very rare and valuable but certainly more than that. Even minor houses like Mormont and Tully have one. Just because they were not specifically named doesn't mean they don't exist.

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

So if Jon had an arrow with a head made of dragon glass, could he have killed the King Walker?

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Loved every minute of this episode. Switched over after the first airing ended to catch one that was about half way in so that i could see the final attack again.

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Valyrian Steel swords and blades were originally forged using magic in ancient Valyria which was destroyed in the "Doom" (volcanoes + magic + unknown forces destroyed the place. What's left of Valyria is the smokey place where the Stone Men attacked Jorah and Tyrion).

Because of the destruction of ancient Valyria, the knowledge of how to make Valyrian Steel was lost to the world. However the best swordsmiths can take existing Valyrian Steel and reforge it into new weapons (as happened to the Stark family sword named "Ice" at the very beginning of Season 4).

Due to its rarity, Houses in Westeros that own a Valyrian Steel sword usually pass it on from generation to generation. Lord Commander Mormont had initially given his family's Valyrian Steel sword to his son, Jorah. But when Jorah had to flee Westeros, he sent the sword back to his father, who kept it at Castle Black until he gave it to Jon Snow.

House Lannister did not have a Valyrian Steel sword in the family anymore and so Tywin reforged Ice into 2 blades to rectify that situation, giving one to Jaime and the other to Joffrey (and Tommen probably has that one now).

Jaime then gave his Valyrian Steel sword to Brienne, who named it "Oathkeeper" because such swords usually have names, and she has used it as her weapon since leaving King's Landing with Podrick to find the Stark girls. And with a good swing, Valyrian Steel can even cut through some armour. (If you go back to when Brienne fought some of Littlefinger's guards earlier this season, you'll see her Valyrian Steel sword cut completely through the armour of one of those guards.)

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

I assume so, but I doubt the King Walker would just stand there while the arrow was coming at him.

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

That was an absolutely amazing episode. Wow. Had no idea that was coming.

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Always great to see a giant..

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Excellent episode, did not see it coming.

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Holy shit. That was a mind-blower. Top 5 episode of the entire series.

I'm a little fuzzy on the Wraith vs White Walker though. Did the WW king just turn all the bodies into WWs? If so, and if they're much more powerful than wraiths, then why are there armies of wraith/zombies? I had assumed that the WWs were some other sort of creature. Now I'm kind of confused.

And it's almost forgotten after that battle, but the Danni/Tyrion scenes were amazing! Such great stuff.

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Yes, the White Walkers, or 'Others', are an ancient race and are only killed by dragonglass and Valyrian steel, as we saw. The army of the dead, or Wights, are simply reanimated dead and are fully killed by fire.

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Great episode, top to bottom. Such a fast hour of television.

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Yeah I don't know how many, but Tywin was always pissed that the lannisters only had a couple.

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Well, there's ONE thing that's still out there that was strongly foreshadowed...

But, yeah, other than the Iron Islands stuff (which isn't germane to anything going on anywhere else) I think that the by the time this season ends we won't have to worry about hiding book spoilers.

Not sure what to do about speculation based on stuff from the books like the possible identity of the High Sparrow, which is kind of a longshot based on a handful of lines in the books.

It's interesting because now we're getting into territory where the tv show can start spoiling upcoming books.

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Seen elsewhere:

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Don't insult GoT by comparing it to that piece of shit show!

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

We at HBO would like to apologize for that fight at Dorne with THIS, MOTHERFUCKERS!

Holy shit on a stick that was some of the greatest TV ever.

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

hahah...me and my wife were like 'Come at me, Bro'.

Anyways, that definitely was awesome. World War Game of Thrones, crazy wights wow.

Great episode!

Things I loved:

Tyrion/Dany Scenes.
Sansa being at the depths of the barrel, and Theon/Reek gave her life/hope that her brothers are alive.
Seeing Cersei fall apart
Hardholme. Wow. Just brutal in every way.

We finally understand now that the wars between men are small potatoes, the real war will be for humanity. This is an 'all hands on deck' kind of war.

Amazing set up by GoT. Someone mentioned top 5 episode, and I tend to agree, because we are so off the tracks compared to the books

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

That zombie battle beat everything in TWD. Everything.

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

I was sort expecting to see Daryl at Hardhome, shooting wights with his crossbow.

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

I can't remember the last time a TV show had me on the edge of my seat like that. Amazing.

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Critics are loving tonight's episode:

http://www.hitfix.com/whats-alan-wat...ot-entertained

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

I was expecting that scene to cut to this song over the credits:
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sVzvRsl4rEM?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Re: Game of Thrones (S5E08) -- "Hardhome" -- 5/31/15
 

Was it a coincidence that the White Walkers attacked Hardhome while Jon and the other Nights Watchers were there, or did they attack because he was there?

And, book speculation that won't mean anything to those who haven't read the books because it hasn't been brought up yet in the tv series...