Support NeoGAF

[bigedole]

Im just explaning to you theres no posible way to escape from that batlle. ITs all or nothing

NK have dragon, you cant outrun that even with horse

Like I said, one idea would be having Bran warg into him and temporarily controlling/disabling the entire army of the dead to make time for them to escape. You have no imagination, obviously, and it's hilarious to me you're willing to make such absolutist statements about other people's ideas without expanding any critical thought about what actually happened in the episode.

 

[MetalAlien]

The NK is older than all the political bullshit that was going on. 8000 years he planned for that battle was it? The whole point of the NK was to remind everyone that the politics are meaningless because he is coming and doesn't care about any of that shit....

Over in one battle. They were suppose to be forced to drop all their differences and come together to defeat him, yes even Cersei. Doesn't mean they wouldn't start fighting right after but that is the ending they teased the whole show... and it didn't happen... what we got was cheap and absolutely pointless. Bran or Melisandre should have caused a distraction and the bulk should have retreated to Kings landing, The final battle should have started with the North vs the South until the NK shows up an the North and South have to fight together. Jon should have killed the NK because it was his friggen destiny.

It's not ok.

 

[AV]

Those are 4 scenes in years of material cmon man.. yes they were very important but main antagonist? most important threat overall I can agree with tho

That's my whole point. Years worth of build up leading to... what? A dagger in the belly. Bad guy dead. And if you're trying to argue that the white walkers somehow aren't one of the main antagonists in Game of Thrones then, shit, I'm all out of ideas. I think you've been watching a different show.

I just explained to you theres no posible way to escape from that batlle. Its do or die, all or nothing for them. NK have flying dragon, you cant outrun that even with horses

You keep falling into the trap of assuming that the battle had to happen like it did in the first place. They didn't write episode 1, then film it, then 2, then film it, then 3... they've planned the whole story out a long time in advance.

I get that in your head there's only two options, but you're not a writer. Brann couldn't have done anything? There couldn't have been escape tunnels in the crypt that we hadn't known about? John & Dany couldn't have carried some key characters away on their dragons?

 

[Airbus Jr]

Like I said, one idea would be having Bran warg into him and temporarily controlling/disabling the entire army of the dead to make time for them to escape. You have no imagination, obviously, and it's hilarious to me you're willing to make such absolutist statements about other people's ideas without expanding any critical thought about what actually happened in the episode.

fuckin hell

if 3ER can just warg into NK head he doesnt need Bran or wait until Season 8 to do that

You re accusing people of lacking imagination but you yourself had the weirdest idea going on out there

Your lack of understanding of how everything works in game of thrones shows how clueless you are

 

[MetalAlien]

fuckin hell

if 3ER can just warg into NK head he doesnt need Bran or wait until Season 8 to do that

You re accusing people of lacking imagination but you yourself had the weird idea going on out there

Your lack of understanding of how everything works in game of thrones shows how clueless you are

Hey super genius. The NK wasn't the only person with magic in this show. There are ways to retreat even with the ice dragon flying around.

 

[bigedole]

fuckin hell

if 3ER can just warg into NK head he doesnt need Bran or wait until Season 8 to do that

You re accusing people of lacking imagination but you yourself had the weird idea going on out there

... it's hard for me to reply to you in good faith. I think you might actually just be a kind of dumb person who means well but is incapable of any deep thought.

 

[Airbus Jr]

... it's hard for me to reply to you in good faith. I think you might actually just be a kind of dumb person who means well but is incapable of any deep thought.

Says the guy who says 3ER can warg into NKs head

Would love to see you shows any part in the book where 3ER can display this incredible ability

 

[Jon Neu]

For every 5 min of ww scenes there were about 3 hours worth of politics and conversations.

Well, that's how build up works. You give a little hint of what is going to happen (the white walkers) and you build up slowly from there.

Also, white walkers are expensive, and yet we have seen them a lot.

The mystery of the NK and Walkers were never ever put front and center. Don't argue this because you know it's true.

It's literally said by various characters through all seasons that "the only thing that matters is the war against the dead".

Have you like even watched the series?

The worst thing Lost did was try to explain all the interesting mysteries.

On that I agree, when you don't have the capacity to explain something in a satisfying manner, is better to let it in the air.

But if you don't have the capacity to pull it off in a satisfying manner, then that's valid criticism.

So in my eyes, in GoT, yes the characters have actually speak and have a personality are infinitely more interesting than some killing machine. All he wants is death. What mystery is there to unravel?

The problem is that you writed the Night King to ultimately be a killing machine and you destroyed all the build up lore, profecies and foreshadowing to just transform it into that. That's why is dumb.

 

[MetalAlien]

Says the guy who says 3ER can warg into NKs head

ok here's one that doesn't use magic. Dani's dragons could have kept the NK busy while they retreated...

 

[Airbus Jr]

ok here's one that doesn't use magic. Dani's dragons could have kept the NK busy while they retreated...

Heres why it doesnt work

the idea for them is to fight not to escape in the first place

By the time they got overrun in the last part everyone in the ground and the dragon itself would be trapped/too wounded/ exhausted to escape

Not to mention its a long road from winterfell to kings landing meanwhile the zombies have unlimited stamina to run and catch them

 

[MetalAlien]

Heres why it doesnt work

the idea for them is to fight not to escape in the first place

By the time they got overrun in the last part everyone in the ground and the dragon itself would be trapped/too wounded/ exhausted to escape

Not to mention its a long road from winterfell to kings landing meanwhile the zombies have unlimited stamina to run and catch them

I'll do you one even better. When they find out Cersei isn't coming they know they can't win. They say if Cersei won't come to us, we'll bring the fight to her. The start retreating right then and there. A small group refuses to leave and that would have been episode 3 the battle of Lady Mormont or whoever decided to stay. Maybe Dani and Jon could have stayed as well since the dragons can fly them out fast.

Then Cersei is shocked to see the entire army of the north coming her way and they start fighting only for the NK to show up and forces everyone to fight together.

 

[AV]

Would love to see you shows any part in the book where 3ER can display this incredible ability

They've been off-book for 3 seasons. What happens in the books is irrelevant now. They can write what they want to, and they are, which is why it sucks compared to old Game of Thrones.

 

[ruvikx]

I'll do you one even better. When they find out Cersei isn't coming they know they can't win. They say if Cersei won't come to us, we'll bring the fight to her. The start retreating right then and there. A small group refuses to leave and that would have been episode 3 the battle of Lady Mormont or whoever decided to stay. Maybe Dani and Jon could have stayed as well since the dragons can fly them out fast.

Then Cersei is shocked to see the entire army of the north coming her way and they start fighting only for the NK to show up and forces everyone to fight together.

It's that hilarious moment when fan theories are all better than what we saw on screen. Other than the action, there was nothing on Sunday which people will be talking about in 10 years. It wasn't "subversive", it was predictable, lazy & betrayed the lore & themes of the series... if it truly marks the end of the white walker threat & Cersei as the now ultimate bad. I still hope there's some sort of twist coming & a real payoff to the central white walker storyarc. Horror stories often have a "we think it's all over... but it's not" twist. I'll cling to that until the end at this point.

As things stand, Arya will be a hero of the north, she loves Sansa (whom she believes is the smartest person she knows...) & Sansa will potentially not be okay with Dany ruling the north. Yet who gives a damn now that the existential threat to everyone is over? I feel like Charmed, Marvel & Buffy the Vampire Slayer writers have taken over Game of Thrones. All things considered, Cersei isn't even the worst ruler of Westeros in its recent history (Joffrey & the mad king have that title). So overthrowing her as the finale of a 9 year saga would be a total letdown.

 

[Airbus Jr]

I'll do you one even better. When they find out Cersei isn't coming they know they can't win. They say if Cersei won't come to us, we'll bring the fight to her. The start retreating right then and there. A small group refuses to leave and that would have been episode 3 the battle of Lady Mormont or whoever decided to stay. Maybe Dani and Jon could have stayed as well since the dragons can fly them out fast.

Then Cersei is shocked to see the entire army of the north coming her way and they start fighting only for the NK to show up and forces everyone to fight together.

Never mentioned in episode 1 or 2 anyone in Winterfell told us this ( that Lannister army will be the deciding factors for them). In fact i believe pre winterfell war Daenarys alone have more ground forces than Cersei

Many of the Lannisters ground forces are already decimated by danny after they raid Tyrells castle

In fact it will be bad idea if they abandoned Winterfell

Take a close look at the map of Westeros

Ep 1 the dead already passed Last Hearth, its actually not far to Winterfell, meanwhile winterfel to kings landing is a long road, a small group of resistance in winterfell wont buy enough time to delay the attack, the journey is just too long

Your suggesting them to abandon their fortifications in Winterfell just to go south, in which i believe midway they l be exposed to fight the dead without any structural defences at all early on

believe me the fight will ended up much quicker than you expected just like how we see the dothraki get wipes up in second in ep 3

But ok....let us go with your plans here...lets just say they can miraculously arrived in Kings Landing...

Theyl be having even more imposible fight to win because theyl have to fight two fronts ( have to face White Walkers wave from the north without any fortifications ) and (Lannister + Golden Company in the south) at the same time!

 

[Stitch]

yahoo needs those delicious clicks

 

[Airbus Jr]

They've been off-book for 3 seasons. What happens in the books is irrelevant now. They can write what they want to, and they are, which is why it sucks compared to old Game of Thrones.

Alot of people arent happy with Theons death because they want Theon to be alive to fight Euron..or perhaps Hound vs Mountain or Jamie vs Cersei...

A lot of people also wanted some predictable duel between the NK and Jon, but I think it worked best the way it did. The NK turned his back to Jon because he meant nothing to the NK

A lot of people seem to want all of these one-to-one matchup confrontations to occur, where this person must kill that person, because it makes "perfect sense' and wraps everything up in their mind

People forget this is Game of Thrones.

Not everything works out according to each person plans and idea

According to the showrunners, Arya killing the Night King was planned multiple seasons ago. Which could very well mean this is one of the plot points that Martin gave the showrunners as he outlined all the major events leading up to the ending. So this show isnt totally off the book

This is precisely why people need to stop obsessing over theories and prophecies because they get so attached to them that when they don't come to fruition they're almost lost.

 

[AV]

A lot of people also wanted XYZ... People forget this is Game of Thrones. Not everything works out

Meh, I didn't want any of that. I don't like it when GoT is predictable (which is generally has been for 3 seasons now). I just wanted the way in which they defeat the ultimate ancient evil to be something smarter than "Arya jumps in out of nowhere and stabs him". Even if they wanted her to be the one to kill him, I think they could've come up with something better in the 3 years they've been planning it.

 

[MMaRsu]

It's literally said by various characters through all seasons that "the only thing that matters is the war against the dead".

Yeah for them, not for us ( the viewers ). Since it's obvious they were going to win it.

The show ending with NK destroying everyone and everybody would have been, albeit slightly boring.

But sure the entire premise of the show is about the White Walkers, despite multiple episodes, arcs spanning not even including them in many episodes.

Like I said they are the driving force between getting the characters to where they need to be for the story.

So in a way they are very important. In the end though, they didn't win and that's the end of it.

 

[MMaRsu]

The problem is that you writed the Night King to ultimately be a killing machine and you destroyed all the build up lore, profecies and foreshadowing to just transform it into that. That's why is dumb.

I disagree. He was never an interesting character. The lore about the Three Eyed Raven, the making of the NK didn't happen till SEASON 6.



This was interesting in it's own right. Could they have given us more exposition? Sure.

Do we need it to have an antagonist? No. He was created by the children of the forest to be a killing machine, an unstoppable force.

He was never more than that, and apparantly he was never going to be more than that either.

There has never been anything interesting about the NK except that he was a menacing fuck, threatening to destroy all of the seven kingdoms. Ofcourse they had to stop them. It IS the most important thing to THEM.

The SHOW however is not just about the White Walkers, the NK and the lore behind them. Far from it.

 

[Jon Neu]

Yeah for them, not for us ( the viewers ).

Yeah, the viewers are more invested in Danny fulfilling her bitchy dream of becoming queen of westeros.

Right?

The show ending with NK destroying everyone and everybody would have been, albeit slightly boring.

Who sits on the iron throne is something that changes all the time, yet for the most part, nothing changes. It's just a bunch of egos fighting for power.

And it's especially boring when the throne is going to be disputed by dumb writing and "badass" aspirants to the throne instead of the political scheming of the likes of Littlefinger, Varys, Tywin, Olena, Cersei -before she became a caricature of herself-, Tyrion -idem-, etc...

The fight for the throne in the early seasons was amazing because it had that amazing political element. Now it's just lazy storytelling to give the casual viewers some fanservice.

But sure the entire premise of the show is about the White Walkers, despite multiple episodes, arcs spanning not even including them in many episodes.

The entire premise of the show was to face this mythical foe in a legendary and apocalyptic event that was foreshadowed. That's much more important than who happens to sit on the throne after Cersei. Pretty much all the characters on the show understood that, except Cersei, because she is so le evil, crazy and badass.

I disagree. He was never an interesting character. The lore about the Three Eyed Raven, the making of the NK didn't happen till SEASON 6.

Dude, is incredible how little you understood the show.

So Bran having dreams about a three eyed raven, Bran being told by Jojen that he is the only thing that matters because the great war is coming, Melisandre and the prophecies of Azor Ahai, Craster and his pact, The Nightwatch and their excursions beyond the wall, the wall itself and even Old Nan telling stories about the White Walkers and the Long Night... All those things happened in the first or the second season.

And yet, all of that wasn't about the Three Eyed Raven or the WW at all, apparently. Did you actually watched the show? Because it's amazing how detached from it's reality you can be.

 

[ConnorDuffy1977]

The entire premise of the show was to face this mythical foe in a legendary and apocalyptic event that was foreshadowed.

At this point of the series, you appear to be wrong.

The amount of Monday-morning-armchair-writing is just funny at this point. If only Benioff & Weiss would peruse GAF. They could have saved themselves from this abomination. No?

 

[nkarafo]

Holy shit at all those deus ex machina saves.

And what was the point of the Dothraki sacrifice anyway?

This isn't GoT. This felt like a dumb summer movie or something.

Visual effects were nice, the dark must have helped though.

 

[Jon Neu]

At this point of the series, you appear to be wrong.

Yes, and that's why it's so dumb and anticlimatic.

 

[ConnorDuffy1977]

Yes, and that's why it's so dumb and anticlimatic.

You'll still watch. Who are you kidding?

 

[Jon Neu]

The amount of Monday-morning-armchair-writing is just funny at this point. If only Benioff & Weiss would peruse GAF. They could have saved themselves from this abomination. No?

Implying that the creators of that magnus opus called Wolverine: Origins are capable of writing anything that is not an abomination.

You'll still watch. Who are you kidding?

Of course. It's like when Redlettermedia watches all those atrociously bad B movies.

You just can't stop laughing.

 

[ConnorDuffy1977]

Of course.

And there it is.

 

[Jon Neu]

And there it is.

 

[MMaRsu]

So you hate what the show has become? At that point why even bother arguiing with people if you don't really like the show at all anymore.

No it's not about Dany. I personally don't want to see her take the thrown at all. I think many people will agree with me.

I'd rather have Tyrion or Varys take it, ofcourse that's not happening but still.

 

[MMaRsu]

Also it seems to me the only problem who consistently try to shit on the show as it is now ( I personally found S7 and S6 to be amazing still, even if they did have no material to write from ), are people who have read the books and form their assumptions based on what they want and expect to happen.

It's fine to be disapointed in the way the story goes. But I generally try to stay away from sweeping generalizations like " the acting is shit now, the characters are written poorly now..All fans want are tits & dragons & dany YAWN.. etc "

 

[Jon Neu]

So you hate what the show has become? At that point why even bother arguiing with people if you don't really like the show at all anymore.

That's like the most stupid thing ever. You can't be invested in a show for so long and then stop talking about it all of sudden.

It's just your crappy way of trying to silence criticism.

I'd rather have Tyrion or Varys take it, ofcourse that's not happening but still.

Varys? He has been a literal nobody for 3 seasons. That wouldn't make any sense. So by show standards, it's possible.

If those D&D hacks still have any attachment to the show and remember all the foreshadowing, they are going to have Jon on the throne.

Also it seems to me the only problem who consistently try to shit on the show as it is now

You can go and search my messages about the first two episodes.

I personally found S7... to be amazing still

are people who have read the books and form their assumptions based on what they want and expect to happen.

I have watched the show first and read the books later.

 

[Achelexus]

At this point I think that HBO is intentionally making the story as bad as it could possibly be just so George has a reason to finish the books.

 

[Kadayi]

Honestly, I'm amazed there are so many people on this forum who thought the Night King would be the final battle in the show. People bitching about battle plans, but are seemingly incapable of comprehending that there was no way for the entirety of the North to migrate on mass south with the Night Kings army bearing down on them. The dead don't need, sleep, food or respite. They don't suffer from morale loss either. They just march and kill.

The fan fiction in your head was erroneous, learn to take it with some good grace.

 

[Jon Neu]

there was no way for the entirety of the North to migrate on mass south with the Night Kings army bearing down on them.

It's almost as if we haven't seen the wildlings and the Nightwatch escaping the Night King and his army by slowly going away in boats.

Now imagine if you had actual ships and dragons.

 

[NickFire]

Honestly, I'm amazed there are so many people on this forum who thought the Night King would be the final battle in the show. People bitching about battle plans, but are seemingly incapable of comprehending that there was no way for the entirety of the North to migrate on mass south with the Night Kings army bearing down on them. The dead don't need, sleep, food or respite. They don't suffer from morale loss either. They just march and kill.

Completely agree. I was hoping for more to be learned about the NK, but the notion they could have fled when the dead were already close is silly to me too. For all the reasons you said, and also because logistically it takes time to prepare for a trip like that by an entire community.

 

[Kadayi]

It's almost as if we haven't seen the wildlings and the Nightwatch escaping the Night King and his army by slowly going away in boats.

Now imagine if you had actual ships and dragons.

Christ on a fucking bike Winterfell is in the middle of the North . It not on the coast like Hardholme was, and the Dragons aren't going to a Uber everyone away.

 

[daveonezero]

I think it needed to go one of two ways. Either they all die and the NK returns to Kings landing or they win. I thought the episode was great. I don't know how else you have 1.5 hours of very little dialogue while sill keeping attention of the viewer. They had 7 seasons of character development and I though it fit together pretty well and was a major feet just to pull off.

It's almost as if we haven't seen the wildlings and the Nightwatch escaping the Night King and his army by slowly going away in boats.

Now imagine if you had actual ships and dragons.

They don't have any more ships they were all destroyed except what 3 or 4? we saw that in the meeting at the finale.

 

[Airbus Jr]

It's almost as if we haven't seen the wildlings and the Nightwatch escaping the Night King and his army by slowly going away in boats.

Now imagine if you had actual ships and dragons.

Thats a very poor comparison

Wildlings are nomadic clan that used to travel lightly from one place to another, same goes to the small group of nightwatch who runs from the wall

Were talking about migrating the entire northern army kingdom en massess here and people with hundred thousands posibily billions of population carrying lots of war equipment, carying catapult, ladders, shield, armor, elders and kids and incredible amount of food supply for their people and their horses of course they wont travel as fast.

The ships you mentioned wont be enough to carry everything

Just look at the map distance from Last Hearth to Winterfell if you ever think the roadtrip escape for northern migration is possible

 

[MMaRsu]

I'm not trying to silence anyone lol

I'm just saying ok we get it you didn't like it for so many reasons, for you the show is horrible now.

Plenty of folks still enjoying it, and it has nothing to do with Dany, Dragons Tits or Ass.

 

[Jon Neu]

Christ on a fucking bike Winterfell is in the middle of the North . It not on the coast like Hardholme was, and the Dragons aren't going to a Uber everyone away.

Well, I was talking about the important characters. But in fact, according to Bran the NK is after him, so they can deviate the danger by sending Bran into other direction. Like you know, in one of those dragons that can travel the entire north in minutes.

Still a better plan that putting Bran on the Godswood and sending everybody out of the castle to die.

Actually, they could have literally sended Bran to meet the Night King at some random tree, and when the Night King was close, someone can fall from the tree and kill him.

And also, you can write the episode in a way that they lose the battle and the few survivors are forced to escape.

They don't have any more ships they were all destroyed except what 3 or 4? we saw that in the meeting at the finale.

And yet Yara tells Theon that she would go to the Iron Islands to secure an escape if Danny needs it.

Thats a very poor comparison

Wildlings are nomadic clan that used to travel lightly from one place to another, same goes to the small group of nightwatch who runs from the wall

Were talking about migrating the entire northern army kingdom en massess here and people with hundred thousands posibily billions of population carrying lots of war equipment, carying catapult, ladders, shield, armor, elders and kids and incredible amount of food supply for their people and their horses of course they wont travel as fast.

The ships you mentioned wont be enough to carry everything

Billions? Dude, they weren't even a million. Danny has 13.000 unsullied and they were by far the faction more numerous in the battle. Do you think is space enough at the crypts for billions of people? They were barely a thousand down there.

 

[Airbus Jr]

Well, I was talking about the important characters. But in fact, according to Bran the NK is after him, so they can deviate the danger by sending Bran into other direction. Like you know, in one of those dragons that can travel the entire north in minutes.

Still a better plan that putting Bran on the Godswood and sending everybody out of the castle to die.

Actually, they could have literally sended Bran to meet the Night King at some random three, and when the Night King was close, someone can fall from the three and kill him.

And also, you can write the episode in a way that they lose the battle and the few survivors are forced to escape.



And yet Yara tells Theon that she would go to the Iron Islands to secure an escape if Danny needs it.



Billions? Dude, they weren't even a million. Danny has 13.000 unsullied and they were by far the faction more numerous in the battle. Do you think is space enough at the crypts for billions of people? They were barely a thousand down there.

She has over 100,000 dothraki, 10.000 unsulied. No to mention Jon Snow forces ( Northerns) and northern citizen. The north are different from Kings Landing where most of the people are concentrated in one huge places, theyre scaterred into many different places, to collect them all alone is diffficult task and will took days meanwhile the undead ( by the Tormund arrived in winterfell) have already passed Last Hearth and expected to be arrived before sunrise

Also letting him to kill Bran wont solve the problem/save you /stop NK from anihilating everyone. Yes hes part of his target but its not his only goals, his goals and purposes overall is to eradicate humanity

 

[Jon Neu]

She has over 100,000 dothraki

Lol, no.

The Dothraki were far outnumbered by the Unsullied. And they all were genocided literally in seconds.

You can count them if you want, but I can pretty much tell you there isn't 100.000 Dothrakis there. Probably not even 3.000.

have already passed Last Hearth and expected to be arrived before sunrise

Which tells you that Dolorous Edd and Tormund are actually much more faster than the White Walkers.

Show consistency is the best.

Also klling Bran wont save you or stop NK from anihilating everyone. Yes hes part of his target but its not his only goals, his goals and purposes overall is to eradicate humanity

Bran is the memory of humanity, that's why he is after him first. That's the show canon.

You can literally use the same plan using Bran as decoy, but putting him away from Winterfell so nobody has to die.

You still can have Arya killing him, the only difference is that she would be jumping from a tree instead of from a literal plothole.

 

[CrankyJay™]

Just a random thought, but I was almost certain we would have seen Benjen Stark at some point during that battle, since the wall and magic that kept him out was destroyed.

 

[EviLore]

Just a random thought, but I was almost certain we would have seen Benjen Stark at some point during that battle, since the wall and magic that kept him out was destroyed.

Benjen died giving Jon his horse last season. There was "no time" for both of them to ride.

 

[CrankyJay™]

Benjen died giving Jon his horse last season. There was "no time" for both of them to ride.

That's right. I should have given season 7 a second re-watch.

 

[Achelexus]

You can count them if you want, but I can pretty much tell you there isn't 100.000 Dothrakis there. Probably not even 3.000.

I think that canonically she's supposed to have 100k dothraki, but the showrunners just kind of decided to hope nobody noticed the difference.

 

[RedVIper]

Just a random thought, but I was almost certain we would have seen Benjen Stark at some point during that battle, since the wall and magic that kept him out was destroyed.

He's dead.

 

[RedVIper]

I think that canonically she's supposed to have 100k dothraki, but the showrunners just kind of decided to hope nobody noticed the difference.

The number 100k probably includes, woman, children and the elderly.

The number of combatants would be much smaller.

 

[Sybrix]

Do we know what this symbol means?

 

[prag16]

Pretty sure GRRM told them how he intended the story to end around season 4 in case he died before it was done. But it seems everything else in between has been them doing whatever the fuck they wanted to do.

At this point I’m wondering if they even land on his intended ending, or if they do it’s seen as minor outcome to the whole thing.

I can't see RR going with what they did in episode 3. Maybe something similar, but with a lot more 'meat' on the bone I'd expect.

But at this point who knows if he even ever finishes it. Book 6 doesn't have a release date (or even a release year), and he mused about the possibility of expanding things such that there ends up with a total of 8 books rather than 7. These each take him YEARS to write and he's not getting any younger.

 

[Achelexus]

Do we know what this symbol means?

All the fan expectations that the show would end on a good note going down the drain.