u/blakhawk12

I'm currently on my third playthrough of VTMB2 and for the first time I selected the option to skip Fabien's segments. They were simply too long and dragged down the pacing of the game. That said, they also contain most of the important story beats and losing them entirely just feels like gutting the game's narrative. It doesn't even keep the parts where the Gardener speaks to you in the field of flowers, which feels really strange because those aren't even really Fabien segments. He's talking to Phyre. I really wish there was an option to keep the important bits while trimming the fat, so to speak, so I'm going to attempt to brainstorm how to do just that.

The Cigarette Girl: Skip the opening at the police station and just start outside the Makom Bar.

Blood Sisters - The Night Out: Skip the entire investigation around the city. Just use Fabien's Scry the Soul ability to discover that Verona has a twin sister she's hiding. Then teleport Fabien to outside Atrium.

In Memorium: Teleport from Weaver Tower directly to the Pioneer Square crime scene. Use Spirit's Touch on the elixir to discover it's memory enhancing properties without running around to Safia and Mrs. Thorne. Move Tolly to the scene so we can question him right there about who would need the elixir. Teleport us to right outside Willem's Haven.

The Mother: After investigating the crime scene, teleport Fabien to the police station. After looking through the files, Fabien realizes he knows all these people. Instead of hunting them down around the city, have Fabien go to Benny's office and request that they be brought in for questioning. Fabien can then question Mr. Lemon, Guru, and Carla in the holding cells downstairs. Teleport Fabien to St. Stephen's.

The Prince of Seattle: Simply remove Tolly and let Fabien enter the elevator. This is probably the most egregious example of meaningless time wasting in Fabien's part of the game.

Service, Pride, and Dedication: Skip stealing the tape recorder, speaking to Ryong, snooping in Cambell's office, talking to Tolly and Benny. Begin with Katsumi telling Fabien where Cambell is.

I think these changes would preserve the core narrative beats in Fabien's segments while trimming the majority of the walking-simulator portions and meaningless busy work that drag down the game's pacing.

There have been lots of vague and often contradictory statements regarding the exact timeline of “the Mandoverse” era. This includes The Mandalorian seasons 1-3, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka seasons 1-2, Skeleton Crew, and The Mandalorian and Grogu. It’s all confirmed to start in 9 ABY, but how many years have passed, if any? And when does each season take place? I’m going to do my best to figure this out using in and out-of-universe clues.

Mando Season 1:

9 ABY. This is the only confirmed date for the Mandoverse. Season 1 of The Mandalorian begins in 9 ABY. But we can get more specific: The Mythrol who Din Djarin captures in the first episode mentions he had hoped to be home for Life Day, but that, “I guess that’s not gonna happen,” implying it was coming up soon. Life Day is November 17. That episode premiered on November 12. This is our first hint that seasons might more or less coincide with the date of their premieres. 

So in this case, Mando S1 takes place in late 9 ABY, roughly November to December. 

Mando Season 2: 

As far as I’ve been able to tell, there are no in-universe hints about when this season takes place. However, since season 1 took place at the end of 9 ABY, we can assume season 2 is set in 10 ABY. We also know this season aired in October. Now, it doesn’t explicitly say there’s been a significant time jump since season 1, but it doesn’t say there *hasn’t* been one either. If S1 ended in December of 9 ABY, I think a 10 month jump to cover the time Din was looking for leads on other Mandalorians is believable. As for how much time the show covers, I would assume less than the time it took to air, so at most a couple months, but Favreau stated later that seasons 1 and 2 spanned “many years.” So it’s possible S2 extends into 11 ABY, either by starting later or just spanning more time than is apparent on-screen. (This question will also factor into deciding the BoBF timeline).

So Mando S2 takes place in mid-late 10 ABY and ends in either late 10 or (imo less likely) early 11 ABY at the latest. 

Book of Boba Fett:

This is where we start getting contradictory statements from Jon Favreau about the timeline. He first commented that Grogu trained with Luke for 2 years. He later backtracked and said it had been, “Between zero and two years.” There really aren’t any clues in-universe, so I will again be relying on release dates. And interestingly, if we do that we can actually reconcile Favreau’s two seemingly contradictory statements. 

BoBF premiered roughly a year after Mando S2, in the last week of December. If we use late 10 ABY (possibly early 11) as an end date for Mando S2, then BoBF would begin in December of 11 ABY. But here’s the thing: the show clearly spans at least a week, and Din and Grogu don’t reunite until the finale. So they wouldn’t see each other until 12 ABY. And that’s where Favreau’s statements begin to make sense. 

Imagine someone asks you how long Mando and Grogu were apart. You’re put on the spot and start running through dates in your head: “Grogu goes with Luke in 10 ABY, gets back with Din in 12, so that’s two years apart.” Easy answer. But then you think back and realize, “Ah shit but he leaves at the *end* of 10 and they reunite at the *beginning* of 12, so it’s really only been about a year and a few months max. But then we also don’t know exactly how long Mando S2 covers, with it possibly ending in 11 ABY, so maybe they weren’t even apart for a whole year?” And that’s how we get Favreau’s vague answer of, “Zero to two years.” It covers all his bases.

Personally, I think about a year is the best bet, so BoBF takes place at the very end of 11 ABY into the first month of 12 ABY.

Mando Season 3:

This is where we start getting some concrete in-universe clues about the timeline. First off, Din and Grogu are on Tatooine for Boonta Eve, which is in the third month of the year. The show premiered in March, so once again the timeline is matching up with the release date. But is this still 12 ABY, or has there been another year-long time-jump? Well, we have both in and out of universe answers. First, Din tells his covert that they might remember rescuing him from Greef Karga’s ambush “many cycles ago” on Nevarro. Then we have Filoni and Favreau saying in an interview that Grogu is 53 in Mando S3, whereas he was stated to be 50 in the season 1 premier. 

All this together points to Mando S3 taking place three years after S1, just a few months after BoBF, in early-to-mid 12 ABY. 

Ahsoka Season 1:

Again, we have no real info on when exactly this takes place. We can assume some time has passed since Mando S3, since Carson Teva and Senator Xiono seem well-briefed on the events of that season’s finale. The show premiered in August, which I think is a fair placement for the events in-universe. Roughly 3-4 months seems like a reasonable time for the news to spread about Moff Gideon’s death and the reclamation of Mandalore. 

So Ahsoka is set in mid 12 ABY. 

Skeleton Crew:

This is the show we have the least info on. It’s a standalone story, so there’s not really any contextual clues we can figure aside from the fact it happens after Mando S3 (due to a pirate character who makes a return appearance). Aside from that, it’s really anyone’s guess. For me, I’m going with late 12, maybe early 13 ABY, just because the show aired from December to January and as we’ve seen, the air dates seem to loosely correspond to when the shows are happening in-universe.

So Skeleton Crew is late 12 to early 13 ABY. 

The Mandalorian and Grogu:

On the Mandalorian and Grogu podcast Favreau mentioned that we are “about 10 years” into the era between RotJ and TFA. That would place us in 14 ABY. However, the operative work is “about.” I take that to mean it’s not *quite* 14 years. If Skeleton Crew transitioned us into 13 ABY, I could see Mando & Grogu taking place a few months later, also in 13 ABY. If we again use its release date of May 22 as a loose reference, that would also place it about a year after Mando S3, which leaves time for Din to settle into his homestead on Nevarro, befriend Zeb, and gain a reputation hunting down imperial warlords. I think this makes sense. 

So Mando & Grogu is early-mid 13 ABY.

Ahsoka Season 2:

As this has not been released, it’s impossible to say anything for sure. My instinct would be to fall back on the release date and say that it’ll pick up at the beginning of 14 ABY, but a year and a half between the end of season 1 and beginning of season 2 seems like a bit much. Sure, Thrawn might have spent some time building his forces before publicly announcing his return, and from the trailer we can see Sabine’s hair has had time to grow out a bit, but I still have a hard time believing it’s been more than a year.

BUT, Ahsoka S2 *was* delayed. It was originally projected to come out in the back half of 2026, which would chronologically place it a few months after Mando and Grogu, roughly a year after season 1 of Ahsoka, and still squarely in 13 ABY. This still feels a bit long, but I can buy it. Thrawn can’t build a fleet in a day. 

So Ahsoka S2 will likely take place in either mid-late 13 ABY or early 14 ABY. 

The End?

So where does this leave the Mandoverse? Well, Favreau has said the Mandoverse takes place in the “first third of the second gap.” This refers to the first ten years (4-14 ABY) of the thirty-year gap between RotJ and TFA. Assuming the plan is still for Filoni to direct an event film as the climax of the era, I predict that it will take place in 14 ABY, thus neatly capping off this “first third.” 

And that’s that. This is my breakdown/analysis of the Mandoverse timeline. Let me know what you think! 

There have been lots of vague and often contradictory statements regarding the exact timeline of “the Mandoverse” era. This includes The Mandalorian seasons 1-3, The Book of Boba Fett, Ahsoka seasons 1-2, Skeleton Crew, and The Mandalorian and Grogu. It’s all confirmed to start in 9 ABY, but how many years have passed, if any? And when does each season take place? I’m going to do my best to figure this out using in and out-of-universe clues.

Mando Season 1:

9 ABY. This is the only confirmed date for the Mandoverse. Season 1 of The Mandalorian begins in 9 ABY. But we can get more specific: The Mythrol who Din Djarin captures in the first episode mentions he had hoped to be home for Life Day, but that, “I guess that’s not gonna happen,” implying it was coming up soon. Life Day is November 17. That episode premiered on November 12. This is our first hint that seasons might more or less coincide with the date of their premieres. 

So in this case, Mando S1 takes place in late 9 ABY, roughly November to December. 

Mando Season 2: 

As far as I’ve been able to tell, there are no in-universe hints about when this season takes place. However, since season 1 took place at the end of 9 ABY, we can assume season 2 is set in 10 ABY. We also know this season aired in October. Now, it doesn’t explicitly say there’s been a significant time jump since season 1, but it doesn’t say there hasn’t been one either. If S1 ended in December of 9 ABY, I think a 10 month jump to cover the time Din was looking for leads on other Mandalorians is believable. As for how much time the show covers, I would assume less than the time it took to air, so at most a couple months, but Favreau stated later that seasons 1 and 2 spanned “many years.” So it’s possible S2 extends into 11 ABY, either by starting later or just spanning more time than is apparent on-screen. (This question will also factor into deciding the BoBF timeline).

So Mando S2 takes place in mid-late 10 ABY and ends in either late 10 or (imo less likely) early 11 ABY at the latest. 

Book of Boba Fett:

This is where we start getting contradictory statements from Jon Favreau about the timeline. He first commented that Grogu trained with Luke for 2 years. He later backtracked and said it had been, “Between zero and two years.” There really aren’t any clues in-universe, so I will again be relying on release dates. And interestingly, if we do that we can actually reconcile Favreau’s two seemingly contradictory statements. 

BoBF premiered roughly a year after Mando S2, in the last week of December. If we use late 10 ABY (possibly early 11) as an end date for Mando S2, then BoBF would begin in December of 11 ABY. But here’s the thing: the show clearly spans at least a week, and Din and Grogu don’t reunite until the finale. So they wouldn’t see each other until 12 ABY. And that’s where Favreau’s statements begin to make sense. 

Imagine someone asks you how long Mando and Grogu were apart. You’re put on the spot and start running through dates in your head: “Grogu goes with Luke in 10 ABY, gets back with Din in 12, so that’s two years apart.” Easy answer. But then you think back and realize, “Ah shit but he leaves at the end of 10 and they reunite at the beginning of 12, so it’s really only been about a year and a few months max. But then we also don’t know exactly how long Mando S2 covers, with it possibly ending in 11 ABY, so maybe they weren’t even apart for a whole year?” And that’s how we get Favreau’s vague answer of, “Zero to two years.” It covers all his bases.

Personally, I think about a year is the best bet, so BoBF takes place at the very end of 11 ABY into the first month of 12 ABY.

Mando Season 3:

This is where we start getting some concrete in-universe clues about the timeline. First off, Din and Grogu are on Tatooine for Boonta Eve, which is in the third month of the year. The show premiered in March, so once again the timeline is matching up with the release date. But is this still 12 ABY, or has there been another year-long time-jump? Well, we have both in and out of universe answers. First, Din tells his covert that they might remember rescuing him from Greef Karga’s ambush “many cycles ago” on Nevarro. Then we have Filoni and Favreau saying in an interview that Grogu is 53 in Mando S3, whereas he was stated to be 50 in the season 1 premier. 

All this together points to Mando S3 taking place three years after S1, just a few months after BoBF, in early-to-mid 12 ABY. 

Ahsoka Season 1:

Again, we have no real info on when exactly this takes place. We can assume some time has passed since Mando S3, since Carson Teva and Senator Xiono seem well-briefed on the events of that season’s finale. The show premiered in August, which I think is a fair placement for the events in-universe. Roughly 3-4 months seems like a reasonable time for the news to spread about Moff Gideon’s death and the reclamation of Mandalore. 

So Ahsoka is set in mid 12 ABY. 

Skeleton Crew:

This is the show we have the least info on. It’s a standalone story, so there’s not really any contextual clues we can figure aside from the fact it happens after Mando S3 (due to a pirate character who makes a return appearance). Aside from that, it’s really anyone’s guess. For me, I’m going with late 12, maybe early 13 ABY, just because the show aired from December to January and as we’ve seen, the air dates seem to loosely correspond to when the shows are happening in-universe.

So Skeleton Crew is late 12 to early 13 ABY. 

The Mandalorian and Grogu:

On the Mandalorian and Grogu podcast Favreau mentioned that we are “about 10 years” into the era between RotJ and TFA. That would place us in 14 ABY. However, the operative work is “about.” I take that to mean it’s not quite 14 years. If Skeleton Crew transitioned us into 13 ABY, I could see Mando & Grogu taking place a few months later, also in 13 ABY. If we again use its release date of May 22 as a loose reference, that would also place it about a year after Mando S3, which leaves time for Din to settle into his homestead on Nevarro, befriend Zeb, and gain a reputation hunting down imperial warlords. I think this makes sense. 

So Mando & Grogu is early-mid 13 ABY.

Ahsoka Season 2:

As this has not been released, it’s impossible to say anything for sure. My instinct would be to fall back on the release date and say that it’ll pick up at the beginning of 14 ABY, but a year and a half between the end of season 1 and beginning of season 2 seems like a bit much. Sure, Thrawn might have spent some time building his forces before publicly announcing his return, and from the trailer we can see Sabine’s hair has had time to grow out a bit, but I still have a hard time believing it’s been more than a year.

BUT, Ahsoka S2 was delayed. It was originally projected to come out in the back half of 2026, which would chronologically place it a few months after Mando and Grogu, roughly a year after season 1 of Ahsoka, and still squarely in 13 ABY. This still feels a bit long, but I can buy it. Thrawn can’t build a fleet in a day. 

So Ahsoka S2 will likely take place in either mid-late 13 ABY or early 14 ABY. 

The End?

So where does this leave the Mandoverse? Well, Favreau has said the Mandoverse takes place in the “first third of the second gap.” This refers to the first ten years (4-14 ABY) of the thirty-year gap between RotJ and TFA. Assuming the plan is still for Filoni to direct an event film as the climax of the era, I predict that it will take place in 14 ABY, thus neatly capping off this “first third.” 

And that’s that. This is my breakdown/analysis of the Mandoverse timeline. Let me know what you think! 

Disclaimer: This is not a complaint or a hate post. It’s just something interesting I noticed.

After the Order 66 mission there is a time jump of exactly one year. We know it’s exact because we can listen to the imperial broadcast celebrating Empire Day. Shortly after this, we have a run-in with Trilla, the Second Sister.

Thing is, in Jedi: Fallen Order we see flashbacks of Trilla being tortured and becoming an inquisitor, and in those flashbacks there are stormtroopers present in their classic armor, which had not yet been introduced at the point Zero Company takes place. In 18 BBY the Empire had only just begun the phasing-out of clones and the introduction of TK armor, which we see in-game.

In the grand scheme of things this is a meaningless continuity error and I’m not here to say ZCOM has ruined Star Wars or anything.

Disclaimer: This is not a complaint or a hate post. It’s just something interesting I noticed.

After the Order 66 mission there is a time jump of exactly one year. We know it’s exact because we can listen to the imperial broadcast celebrating Empire Day. Shortly after this, we have a run-in with Trilla, the Second Sister.

Thing is, in Jedi: Fallen Order we see flashbacks of Trilla being tortured and becoming an inquisitor, and in those flashbacks there are stormtroopers present in their classic armor, which had not yet been introduced at the point Zero Company takes place. In 18 BBY the Empire had only just begun the phasing-out of clones and the introduction of TK armor, which we see in-game.

In the grand scheme of things this is a meaningless continuity error and I’m not here to say ZCOM has ruined Star Wars or anything.

For those who haven’t played Outlaws, you basically have four factions that you interact with and the game tracks your relationship with each. Tresspassing, stealing from, and fighting with their soldiers decreases your reputation, while completing contracts or selling them information you’ve collected around the map increases it. Some contracts for one faction will decrease your reputation with another, and vice-verse, and you can sometimes choose to backstab the original quest-giver and gain reputation with their competition. As you gain or lose tiers of reputation with each faction you can earn rewards, better prices from their shops, and access to their territory which would otherwise be restricted.

It’s not the deepest system or the best-implemented, but it has potential. And I think it would be great for Assassin’s Creed in place of a generic notoriety/wanted system.

Billy Dee Williams was 43 when he played Lando in Empire Strikes Back. He was 46 in Return of the Jedi. Donald Glover is turning 43 in one month. By the time a project involving him got into production he’d be old enough to play OT/Early Sequel era Lando. Put him through a bit of hair and makeup and he could be aged up a few years to star in things like the rumored Heir to the Empire movie as Lando.

Harrison Ford was 40 in Return of the Jedi. Alden Ehrenreich is 36. Same as Glover, with a few more years and some easy aging makeup he could play Han again.

Edit: Also, according to Battlefront II’s campaign Han Solo canonically grew a beard after RotJ which would help make Alden look older. And it would make the sudden transition back to him during rewatches less jarring, since the character would also have a visual change along with the actor.

To those who don’t know, the US demobilized nearly 90% of its military in just two years post-WWII. This was almost entirely a political campaign, as you can read reports from military officials detailing how frustrated they were at the near combat-ineffectiveness of the units that remained. Some specifically mentioned Russia as a rising threat that they felt the demobilization was leaving them vulnerable to.

This mirrors the situation we’ve seen in shows like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, where military members like Carson Teva and Hera Syndulla are frustrated by the lack of manpower and equipment the NR is willing to supply them and believe the demilitarization is ignoring remaining threats like the Imperial Remnant and Thrawn.

Back to real history, when the Korean War kicked off in 1950 the US was hopelessly ill-prepared. Truman called for a blockade of North Korea, only to be told that the US Navy no longer had enough ships to do so. Army officials had to salvage tanks from WWII battlefields and museum displays to outfit tank battalions, while the Navy pulled propeller-driven aircraft out of storage to send to the front-line. Troops were sent into combat with old firearms in need of repair and lacking artillery, ammunition, or anti-tank weaponry. In short, the US demobilized so effectively that within five years of the end of WWII, where it was fighting in over 50 different combat theaters, it was almost incapable of supplying an effective fighting force to a single theater.

Thrawn’s return will be the New Republic’s Korean War. It will push their downsized military to the brink. But like Korea in the American mythos, it will largely be forgotten or made a footnote in the era of “peace and hegemony.” The lessons learned will be forgotten, if they are even taught, the same way most Americans today have no idea what even happened in Korea. That is why the First Order will be allowed to grow in strength. The NR will reason that they handled Thrawn just fine (when in reality he should have been a warning that they needed a larger military) and write off the First Order as just another pathetic attempt by Imperial loyalists to cause a fuss.

Title has a character limit, so here’s the full question:

What if Viserys never remarried, Rhaenyra became queen upon his death in 129 AC, but then she and Jace died of Winter Fever in 134 AC?

Would Luke become king, uniting houses Targaryen and Velaryon into one dynasty? Or would the crown skip him and go to Joffrey?

I’m working on a Star Wars crossover, which is basically just me stealing characters and inserting them into ASOIAF as OCs. I’m trying to make their names sound more in-line with GRRM’s world and could use some advice/feedback.

Names I have so far:

Baylan Skoll: Baelon Targaryen, second child and only son of Viserys I and Aemma Arryn, current king of Westeros. This name was super easy to translate.

Shin Hati: Shinaera Targaryen. Niece of Baelon, daughter of Viserys II and Visenya, younger half-sister of Aegon IV, Aemon, and Naerys. I’ve been calling her Shinaera, but I’ve also considered Shinerys, Shaenaera, Shaenerys, or simply Shaena. I think swapping the I for AE is more in-line with Valyrian naming conventions, but some of those are kind of a mouthful and make it so her friends can’t call her Shin for short.

Marrok: Maerok Targaryen, grandson of King Baelon, son of Jaehaera and Gaemon “Palehair,” named for his uncle Maelor.

Morgan Elsbeth: Morgan, Red Priestess of R’hllor. Morgan is a name in ASOIAF so no change needed here.

Sabine Wren: Sabyne of House Wren. Dornish with a grandfather who came to Westeros from Yi Ti upon the Sea Snake. I thought Sabine was a decent-sounding name and just changed the spelling since Dornish naming conventions seem to favor the use of Y over I.

Ezra Bridger: Ezra. I figured the name sounds fine for a street kid from the Free Cities.

Kanan: Again I’ve left his name unchanged. I think it sounds Westerosi enough.

Hera: This is a tough one. Hera is the name of a Greek goddess, which obviously don’t exist in ASOIAF. I’ve considered Harra, which is a name that exists within Martin’s world, or maybe Herra. There’s also Herys, which could work as a play on the existing Harys, which is a boy’s name.

In the last two episodes we’ve gotten explicit references to:

House Gardener

“The Yellow Toad” Meria Martell and her fight against Aegon the Conqueror.

Aegon and the Field of Fire

Rhaena’s residence at Harrenhal

Edit: Alys talks about Harrenhal’s creation and the laborers that died there

Now these could just be name-drops for lore nerds, but I feel like some of them, particularly the revelation of a Targaryen having lived at Harrenhal and left dragon eggs there, are pretty surprising inclusions that might feel like they came out of left field for casual viewers. So why include them? Well, what if HBO has a long-term plan to feature these events and characters in other projects and wants these lines to serve as tie-ins to those projects?

For example, the Aegon’s Conquest project was just recently confirmed, and suddenly a bunch of references to that conquest and the people involved are popping up in HotD? It seems like an awfully convenient coincidence.

Then the Rhaena reference. HBO will need a new “flagship” ASOIAF property to take HotD’s slot after it finishes up. Could it be possible they intend to tell Rhaena’s story at some point? Start with Aenys and Maegor’s reigns, cover the debacle with Elissa Farman and the stolen eggs, Androw Farman’s murder of her friends, Aerea’s tragic death, and Rhaena’s self-exile to Harrenhal?

It seems to me that these lines are meant to serve as retroactive callbacks/references to shows/movies which haven’t come out yet.

A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms is planned to be a yearly release with a smaller focus, shorter runtimes and fewer episode counts. If it keeps the same quality as season 1 it will definitely be a fun spinoff/supporting show for the franchise, but it hardly brings the big-budget scale and political intrigue that people expect from ASOIAF. So what do we think will come after HotD to fill that “flagship” role?

I personally think the two most likely are (working titles): “Heirs of the Dragon,” taking place during the reigns of Aenys and Maegor, or “Blackfyre,” the story of the first Blackfyre Rebellion.

Heirs of the Dragon

Pros:

Assuming the Aegon’s Conquest movie that is supposedly in production actually comes out, this show would be a nice bridge between that movie and House of the Dragon.

Plenty of big-budget spectacle with dragons, battles, and brutality galore.

Fire & Blood as source material.

Cons:

Might feel narratively jarring to go from “This is how all the dragons died!” in HotD to “Look everyone! The dragons are back!”

Similarly, doing a prequel to a prequel might frustrate casual viewers who may feel like they’re watching a story in reverse. (Though a counterpoint to this is that it could also be framed as a sequel to the Aegon’s Conquest movie)

Would require a massive budget, which is something HBO seems to be hesitant about recently (HotD budget cuts)

Dragon fatigue

Also abbreviated to HotD. My working title may need to change :(

Blackfyre

Pros:

Would act as a nice bridge between HotD and AKotSK. Would feel like a continuation of the story, not a regression.

No dragons = lower budget (HBO execs like this)

Cons:

Might feel like a rehash of HotD but with lower stakes (Succession crisis including Targaryen bastards leads to a civil war involving a badass swordsman named Daemon)

No dragons :(

AKotSK already spoiled who’s going to win.

Very sparse source material, even more so than HotD, Aegon’s Conquest, or the hypothetical Heirs of the Dragon show.

His attitude and little comments in the background are gems in the sea of anxiety that is this episode.

“Would you like to be Lord of Oldtown, Ulf?”

-

“Nobody asked you.”

-

“If he did [tell someone where the gold is] it would have been lord Jasper… Ironrod.”

“He he he. Oh dear.”

-

“It is a never ending inconvenience this insistence that the people be fed.”

-

“We don’t have a bounty, it would seem.”

-

“You still have to kill Daeron!”

Edit: How could I forget when he twitched his sword towards Ulf’s neck while knighting him just to fuck with him.

I’m imagining something taking heavy inspiration from the Alien franchise, with Aerea landing in the ruins of Old Valyria and slowly realizing that her adventure is turning into a living nightmare. The possibilities for horror/thriller elements are endless. Maybe there’s a survivalist cult that wants to sacrifice her thinking her “untainted” Valyrian blood will lift the curse on their land? Human-dragon hybrid creatures stalking the shadowy ruins of the dead city? Body horror with Aerea trying to cut out parasites crawling beneath her skin? And of course a climax of escaping on Balerion while fighting off some sort of horrific fire-wyrm monster.

And then, again taking inspiration from Alien, we could transition into a surprise fourth act where Aerea makes it back to King’s Landing and we think the danger is over, but then the maesters discover that she’s infected with something. They could really play up the containment angle, with Jaehaerys ordering all ports closed, all ships from Essos turned away, and all Westerosi suspected of visiting Valyria put to death. Meanwhile Aerea’s condition gets worse and worse, again playing into the body horror element, until the horrifying ending in the bathtub.

The movie would end with Jaehaerys swearing his council to secrecy, putting out the cover story of Aerea dying from a fever, and forbidding anyone from ever visiting Old Valyria again.

If HBO wants to keep milking the ASOIAF cash cow, there’s only so many succession crises and rebellions they can pump out as shows before they start to feel stale. I think a fantasy horror/thriller could spice things up and keep the franchise feeling fresh. GRRM obviously likes these kinds of stories, or else he wouldn’t write them into his books, so there’s definitely a place for them on screen.

I just rediscovered it while scrolling through my Drive and was curious what you all thought. Would this be doable?

The argument that his granddaughter Daenaera wouldn’t exist to marry Aegon III and thus alter the whole future of Houses Targaryen and Blackfyre is ridiculous. The obvious solution would be to just merge the characters of Daenaera and Laena (Daughter of Alyn and Baela). Aegon III is younger in the show, so his wife also being born a few years later would fit the new timeline. The change would also further reinforce Aegon’s hatred of dragons, as his own wife was maimed by one as an infant.

They really thought they could just roll up and break the Velaryon blockade with no dragon support? Did everyone just forget Prince Morion’s Madness just a generation before? Three dragons annihilated an entire fleet without support, but the Greens thought they could defeat the Velaryon fleet in the shadow of Dragonstone and its half dozen dragonriders? It’s truly baffling.

And what makes even less sense is that the plan actually kinda works? They somehow manage to sack Spicetown and High Tide and destroy a third of the Velaryon fleet even while being attacked by five dragons. The battle’s depiction in HotD makes a bit more sense, as Vermithor, Seasmoke, and Silverwing were away at the start and Sheepstealer was running amok, leaving just the young Vermax and Moondancer to juggle the Triarchy and a wild dragon, but the Greens had no way of knowing that would be the case. They really thought they would just sail into the Gullet and… what? Rhaenyra wouldn’t send any dragons? She already showed she would with Rook’s Rest. Was their whole plan to just throw the Triarchy fleet to its death and hope they did some damage to the blockade first? Because anything other than that seems wildly optimistic.