u/Interesting-Egg4295

The level of fear this plot asks us to accept doesn’t seem proportional to the Rhaenyra the show has spent two and a half seasons establishing. Rhaena is terrified of returning to Rhaenyra. But why? What does she realistically think Rhaenyra is going to do to her?

She’ll likely be angry at her. Maybe cold and mistrusting. But what beyond that? Beat her? Imprison her? Execute her? Nothing we’ve seen from Rhaenyra suggests she would respond in a way that makes hiding in mountain caves and surviving on charred sheep carcasses seem like the safer option.

And even if Rhaena is catastrophizing because she’s a frightened teenager, why is Daemon acting the same way? He knows Rhaenyra far better than Rhaena does. He knows what happened. Why isn’t his response simply, “Let’s go tell Rhaenyra the truth”? Honestly, the show makes it seem that Daemon is typically the driving force behind all of Rhaenyra’s more violent actions anyway.

That’s the part I can’t reconcile. The story seems to need both Rhaena and Daemon to fear Rhaenyra far more than the show has actually established.
So what am I missing? It's like they came up with the plot, set it up, but didn't even bother to make it convincing.

This scene is exactly why the Jasper Wylde/Alicent scene feels so ridiculous to me.

Littlefinger does not even physically touch Cersei. He does not attack her. He only makes a veiled threat by implying he knows about her and Jaime.

And Cersei immediately reminds him what his position actually is. He may be clever. He may be informed. He may have power. But he is still standing in front of the Queen Mother, inside the Red Keep, surrounded by royal guards. That is the world these stories take place in.

So the idea that Jasper Wylde, a Small Council lord with barely any prior establishment, could just walk into Alicent Hightower’s chambers in broad daylight and physically attack the former queen consort/queen mother is absurd. In the world of ASOIAF/GOT, that is a suicidal political act.

People complain that criticism of HOTD is too negative, too harsh, or unfair.

But honestly? The show deserves more criticism. Not less. More. And not softened criticism, either. It deserves to be criticized in the harshest terms possible, because the problems aren’t minor nitpicks. They are foundational failures in character logic, narrative consistency, adaptation choices, and just basic storytelling. I wish GRRM felt comfortable enough to repost his criticisms, as well.

I’ve noticed them across most of the ASOIAF subreddits. They all have the same structure.

Some were posts that were seemingly following bullet points. They had (or attempted) an “aw, shucks” vibe to them. Usually following a a format of “Hey, I was a little disappointed by ‘x, y, z’ in season one/two, but I just did a rewatch and was surprised how much my opinion changed! And after watching the trailer, I’m actually really pumped for season three! Am I the only one?”

Some are “Oh my god! Did you see how many views the season three trailer got on [insert social media platform]?”

Or a post about how season three premiere is headling some media festival that nobody has ever heard of but apparently it’s “a huge deal! It's never been done before!”

Did this happen last season? I mean, what are they worried about? HOTD is still related to the GOT/ASOIAF universe. They will still get a huge number of viewers regardless of whether it is good or not. They are still gonna get rich off it. Even plenty of people who don't like it, but are book fans and GOT fans, will still watch it.

I know the Others are the obvious existential threat, and I’m not trying to downplay that. But on reread, I sometimes find the “fire people”, Melisandre, the red priests, and the broader R’hllor faith, even more unsettling in a different way.

Fire is terrifying on its own in this series. We see how destructive it is with wildfire, dragons, burning people alive, prophetic visions, etc. But when fire gets combined with religious certainty, fanaticism, sacrifice, prophecy, and the fanatical belief that horrific acts can be justified for some greater cosmic purpose, it starts to feel like a massive danger that a lot of characters aren’t fully recognizing.

The Others are inhuman and distant for much of the story, which makes them frightening. But the R’hllor/fire-associated threat feels more human and somehow more sinister. Humans choosing horrific violence because they believe they are serving the “one true god” or preventing the end of the world. That kind of conviction can be terrifying because it can make pretty much anything feel permissible.

I’m not saying the Others are less important as the endgame threat. I’m more asking about which side feels more psychologically disturbing to read.

TLDR: Does anyone else read the fire/R’hllor side of the story as more immediately unnerving than the Others? Not necessarily more evil or more dangerous in the final cosmic sense, but more disturbing because it is already operating openly through actual human beings?

Edit: I’m curious about the storylines/plots/major characters you actually “ENJOY/LIKE” that you would be willing to sacrifice. NOT the ones that annoy you or you don't like.

At this point, it feels very possible, even likely, that GRRM may never finish the series. And even if he does, it seems clear that he’s struggled for a long time with how to bring this enormous story to a close.

So my question is: what character, POV, or major plotline do you genuinely like/enjoy that you’d still be willing to lose if it made the overall story tighter and easier to finish?

I don’t mean stuff you already dislike. A lot of people would gladly cut the Dornish plot, Young Griff, Meereen, Darkstar, Quentyn, etc. I’m asking for something you’d actually be sad to lose.

For me, the painful answer might be Davos. He may honestly be my favorite character. I love his chapters and how he sees power from the perspective of someone who was never born with it. But if I’m being ruthless, I could imagine cutting or heavily reducing the whole Stannis/Davos/Melisandre part of the story.

And this hurts to say too, but maybe Brienne. I love her, and her chapters are some of the best material in the series for showing the human cost of war. But if the goal were to simplify the story, I could see her Riverlands quest being heavily compressed or removed, with some of that thematic weight shifted elsewhere.

TLDR: what part of ASOIAF do you love, but would still sacrifice for the sake of a tighter, more finishable series?