Monday, July 04, 2016

Miscellany (Including some Spoilers.)



Regarding the Warcraft Movie:

While the movie was predictable in some ways, I still found it to be entertaining. There was only one major problem with it from my humble point of view.

Whatever in hell those over muscled things were, I can not realistically think of them as Orcs. They are too physically imposing, too (relatively) intelligent and possess few if any weaknesses. I also had a problem with an Orc Shaman being able to wield powerful Life Magic. Orc Shamans are rather low on the magic totem pole and simply don't have that level of magic knowledge. It made more sense that the main human mage opposing the Orcs had that sort of magic but I would call him a Patriarch (who DOES have life magic knowledge... although of the evil kind.). There is also the problem with one of those monster things riding a human horse. If one of those toothy monsters weighs let's say 400-500 pounds and a average horse weighs between 700-1100 pounds, one of those monsters wouldn't realistically be able to ride one of those horses. If the horse was a Percheron (weighing in at 2000+ pounds), that would be different but Percheron's are war horses who would not tolerate a strange rider. The monsters in the movie would be better called trolls or even giants, not Orcs.

Regarding The Game of Thrones (Spoilers here too!)



Season 6 is done on HBO and somewhere in the USA, George R.R. Martin is cranking out 'The Winds of Winter' (probably one word at a time). The finale for Season 6 was decent and now looking forward to Season 7, here are some things I would like to see in the HBO Series. (These will be N/A regarding the books).

- Have more giants appear and have Jon Snow step in to protect them.

- Arya makes it back to Winterfell (in a faceless disguise) but only revealing herself to Jon and Sansa when she is caught practicing with Needle.

- When Daenerys attacks Kings Landing, those in the city respond with wildfire once again. While the Unsullied are susceptible to swarming attacks, their spears and shields together make a formidable fighting wall. If used in concert with the Dothraki skirmish attack, the combination could be deadly. Daenerys makes landfall with assistance from Houses Dorne and Tyrell and begins suborning the area surrounding Kings Landing.

- Bran Stark also makes it back to Winterfell but he not only vacates his claim to Sansa, he tells Jon of his true parentage. Jon and Sansa  wed so that they are King and Queen of the North. As such, they harshly rebuke a Lannister order to bend their knees to Cersei. before Arya leaves River Run, she releases Edmure Tully and his banner men so that they can take back the Tully home. Almost every Frey is killed in retaliation for the Red Wedding.

- Arya helps an injured giant and gains his loyalty as a reward. She and Lyanna Mormont become fast friends. A White Walker attacks Winterfell with a small horde of  cold walkers (What I call the 'wights'. A Wight has more intelligence than a blue eyed frozen zombie.) and Arya only avoids getting killed by the WW by sheer luck. Her sword Needle is shattered into pieces and only a blow from Jon Snow's sword saves her from death.

- Lyanna Mormont welcomes the arrival of more of her banner men and the large chest they bring with them. The trunk was used by her grandfather but only recently found and is sealed by a rusty lock. Once the lock is broken, the chest has a lot of things inside. In addition to armor of a proper size for the Little Bear, there are also several swords including a bastard sword made of  Valyrian steel and a small sword made of the same. Lyanna gives the bastard sword to Arya to replace Needle; it was called Bear's Bane by a Mormont ancestor.

- Another White walker/ cold walker attack happens at Winterfell but the results are drastically different. While Arya's giant friend  (Hur Knur) smashes apart the cold walkers, Arya confronts and then kills two White Walkers (Including one attacking the Little Bear). Arya is lifted up to Hur Knur's shoulder where she can use her bow with dragon glass arrows. She kills a third White Walker as the attack is finally defeated.  Her prowess in battle causes a group of knights to call themselves 'Arya's Legion'.

- A meeting between Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen occurs. Common ground is found and an agreement is reached. House Lannister's fate is sealed as banner men are called and the largest army ever created in the history of Westeros looks to the north. By this time, only King's Landing is held by the Lannisters; the houses of the surrounding lands are either exterminated or have sworn allegiance to Daenerys.

- Arya still shows that she dwells on the dark side of humanity. She freely admits to killing Walder Frey in retribution but she is far from done. Unknown to even Hur Knur, Arya has cut the faces from more than one cold walker and is undetectable by even a White Walker while in such a disguise. She sneaks beyond the wall where the cold walker hordes are massed but her attempt to assassinate the WW Leader is foiled by another WW. Before Arya floats away south on a coracle, she has added two more White Walkers to her kills. The Night's King is as angry as one such as him could be and he decides to attack the south with his full might.

-The battle against the Night's King has caused losses on both sides. The fell ferocity of the cold walkers is matched with fire arrows, giants with massive fiery scythes and  those with Valyrian steel killing White Walkers. The Night's King finally appears at the front of his army as Jon Snow answers in kind. There are no words spoken but the two know that they will join in single combat. The Night's King is a skilled combatant but Jon Snow holds his ground. A cold walker bear charges Jon Snow and while he is distracted by the beast, the Night's King grievously wounds Jon Snow. The bear is set on fire by some archers but there are many on the side of the living that expected such treachery. The cold walker hordes now charge forth to once again join in the melee of battle but the Little Bear has brought along a surprise. Three motionless giants come to life as they hurl barrels of wildfire into the cold walker hordes. A few fire arrows stop their charge as the wildfire will burn whatever it touches. Even a WW  isn't safe from the attack as they melt into the ground along with most of the cold walkers being destroyed. The unexpected response has caused the Night's King to pause from moving forward. As the forces under Jon's command begin chanting 'King of the North', Jon Snow gets to his feet but sets his sword on fire.  The night's King attempts to defend himself but a powerful blow from Jon Snow shatters the Night King's weapon and then the Night king himself. With his death, the cold walkers lose their animation.

Regarding the Omnicider attacks on July 4th (No Spoilers here!)

 
An omnicider struck in a Shi'a enclave using an ice truck to draw people in before detonating the explosives concealed under the ice. A group of dysgenes called ISIS claimed responsibility for the act but why did this occur anyways? This proves that even with the mythical concept of Dar Es Salaam (The House of Peace), the omniciding will still occur. This attack (along with others) all but proves that at least some of Islam are fell liars and that they are not doing this to even further their religious cause. They are murderers and any that don't condemn such as these are as complicit in the crime as the actual perpetrators. You can't negotiate with people like this nor can you appease them; they will not stop until they have killed everyone they consider to be an infidel and it is very easy to get on their list. I have an alternative solution to waiting for them to attack us yet again on US soil. Weapon up as best as you can so when the terrorist shitheads arrive, they can be greeted in proper fashion... in a hail of lead.
 
 
A Jaded Bard