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!