LIST: 5 ways to prep for the final season of 'Game of Thrones' without a full rewatch
LIST: 5 ways to prep for the final season of 'Game of Thrones' without a full rewatch
By The Signal Online Editor Alyssa Shotwell
The final season of "Game of Thrones" is days away and everyone is ready to see who lives, who dies and who will sit on the Iron Throne, assuming anybody exists after White Walkers arrive, however, one may not necessarily have all the knowledge of the previous seven seasons on hand. There are characters and subplots that may have been forgotten in the chaos of the last seven seasons.
Here are five ways to get ready for the new seasons without rewatching all 63.5 hours of episodes or rereading all of the novels released thus far.
This list mentions light spoilers and each link has lots of spoilers.
By The Signal Online Editor Alyssa Shotwell
The final season of "Game of Thrones" is days away and everyone is ready to see who lives, who dies and who will sit on the Iron Throne, assuming anybody exists after White Walkers arrive, however, one may not necessarily have all the knowledge of the previous seven seasons on hand. There are characters and subplots that may have been forgotten in the chaos of the last seven seasons.
Here are five ways to get ready for the new seasons without rewatching all 63.5 hours of episodes or rereading all of the novels released thus far.
This list mentions light spoilers and each link has lots of spoilers.
Io9’s “Everything to Know about GOT in 90 seconds recaps
youtube embed goes here!
If the new season starts in an hour or life will inevitably not present an opportunity to explore other options on this list, watching Io9’s 90 second recaps of seasons two through seven is the quickest way to be prepared for season 8.
The first season recap is a six minute video and just as comprehensive.
The Take's Explains
youtube embed goes here!
The house symbolism series looks all the major houses in the Seven Kingdoms. This includes House Lannister, Stark, Baratheon, Tyrell, Martell, Targaryen, Mormont, Greyjoy, Bolton, Tarly, Arryn and even non Westerosi cultures like the Dothraki in Essos.
Screen Prism's The Take has over 20 videos analyzing different aspects of "Game of Thrones." These videos are not designed to be recaps, however, the playlist offers a fuller and deeper picture of past events. The video essays tackle battling ideologies, house symbolism and characters studies.
The series that analyzes house symbolism go into detail by looking at colors, banners, mottos and values as well as the individual personalities of characters within that House bastard or not. Getting a break down like this can help viewers predict how allegiances will play out in season 8.
CBGirl 19’s “Epic Histories”
youtube embed goes here!
This playlist, like The Take’s, can serve as reminders of the underlying similarities towards those in the same house. Danika’s playlist also offers more on The Children of the Forest and the namesakes of many of the major players in the game of thrones.
Danika's, also known as Comic Book Girl 19, “Epic History” series is slightly dated as it was created in 2013, however, there is very valuable information to the story much of which comes from the novels.
She has five videos that deep dive into the main four houses - Targaryen, Stark, Baratheon and Lannister. Each video starts with the event that happened before Robert’s Rebellion, the events of Robert’s rebellion, the events of the show and then speculation on the upcoming season at the time of filming. The Jon Snow’s parentage reveal in season six, 2017, is mentioned in the video several years before it was confirmed.
Who is Azho Ahai?
youtube embed goes here!
Alt Shift X has a lot of deep dive content on his channel about different subjects within the television show and “A Song of Fire and Ice” novels.
Since Melisandre mostly speaks on the “the prince who is promised” and she is has proven to be wrong on who the Christ-like figure is, it seems like an lesser issue in the grand scheme of the story. The fight for the “Iron Throne” and the White Walkers’ movement has taken precedence in most characters and viewers minds, however, this prophecy is hinted to be the key to fighting the White Walkers.
This video by Alt Shift X is a sixteen minute reasoning of who this person could be in the story. Like Danika’s video, seasons have come out since the making of it, but he offers evidence for the books and show that is still relevant. In the show Melisandre seems to to be the only one interested in “the prince who is promised,” but in the novels he or she is someone many characters have referenced though often by different names and with the details a little different.
Last season noticeably dropped in quality in regards to writing and its disregard of time, but a lot of monumental events happened that make it worth revisiting in full. This is still a big time commitment with seven hours needed to complete, but very much achievable between now and April 14.
Watching select episodes can be approached a few different ways. Everyone and their mother has a list of ‘must-watches’ episodes before season eight (including writer and executive producer Bryan Cogman,) but really it is up to the viewer. One method of narrowing down a few is by picking from moments referenced in other videos above.