The 13 Absolute Worst Game of Thrones Decisions Made In Season Six

Why would Tyrion do this? What is there to gain? With all of the evidence pointing towards the dangers of trusting a Red Priest, it's strange that Tyrion would take such a blatantly un-calculated risk.

I mean, the former people of Mereen (the majority of the city) already love Dany. The Red Priests are already preaching she is Azor Ahai reborn, so why even do anything? Especially when you have a peace deal on the books? Seems contrived and ultimately out of character for Tyrion.

So we see Lord Baelish in the Vale manipulating the young Lord Arryn and indirectly threatening the rest of the Lords. Cool. Sansa gets to Castle Black and has an awesome reunion with Jon Snow. Also cool.

But the next time we see Sansa, she is scolding Littlefinger for setting up the marriage between her and Ramsey...in Molestown...which is just south of Castle Black. How the hell did he get up there? How did he get past the Twins, full of Freys, and Moat Cailin, and Winterfell, without rousing suspicion? Especially after the Boltons know full well that he is connected with Sansa. Not only that, but he gets there instantly! In a single episode, he goes from the Vale, all the way Molestown, and then back to Vale. HOW?

After disobeying another direct order from the Faceless Men, Arya gets stabbed by the Waif and is bleeding out, but is saved by the actress whom she spared and episode earlier. The actress bandages her up, and tells her to rest after giving her milk of the poppy. Cool.

But then the Waif comes, of course, and Arya is instantly pulling some crazy acrobatics and runs halfway across Braavos with these injuries, only to lead the Waif into a dark room where she slays her with Needle. There are so many things wrong here, but the worst of it is that Arya should by no means have been able to pull all that off without passing out.

Why does the Waif have it out for Arya? Given that now she's dead and there's seemingly nothing left to know about her, exactly why did she hate her so much? Not only does it make zero sense, it's infuriating to watch.

Here is "No One" training Arya to also be "No One," but for whatever reason is taking enjoyment out of beating her? Sounds like there's definitely "Someone" peeking out there. How could the Waif ever rise to a level where she is training someone and have that little control over her own emotions and personality? By doing this, the Faceless Men come off as a farce, whereas they're supposed to be the most feared assassins in the world, but they can be defeated by a half-trained, half-dead child by letting their emotions get the better of them? Weaksauce.

We already discussed the strange manner in which Littlefinger gets to the North in hilariously tiny amount of time. But, during his meeting with Sansa, she starts seriously scolding him and threatening him. WHY?

She literally just started getting good at "the game," and she thinks she's in a position to threaten the one person who has saved her time and time again? REALLY? Yes, Ramsay, of course. That was awful. But really? Yelling at him like a child? And then after all of that, she writes back to him asking for aid from the Knights of the Vale. And Littlefinger just sits there and takes it. So out of character, for both of them. It felt incredibly stupid, especially considering the progression of the season.

For the second time, Arya refuses to obey a direct order from the Faceless Men. Since there are no third chances, the Waif is sent to kill Arya. She knows this. She knows they are coming after her.

So why did she get a haircut and take a leisurely stroll around Braavos? Doesn't that just seem like a bad decision? After all Arya has been through, she doesn't have the sense to keep a low profile and barter passage out of Braavos without attracting attention? At first it seemed like Arya could've been setting a trap, but then the way the story progressed, that was null and void. It felt very off and was just infuriating to watch. Especially after more than a season of dealing with the painstakingly slow plot line in Braavos.

Ok so Bran is getting trained by the Bloodraven, who was the last Greenseer until now. He takes Bran to different time periods to have him learn something particular as well as grow his skills in greensight. Cool.

It was expected that Bran would get cocky about his training and do something stupid. We all totally knew it would happen. But something very, very strange happened with the Night King. How could he see Bran? How could he touch him? He wasn't in physical form, and also, was he not in the past? That's how greensight has been presented to us this entire time, and suddenly Bran can make jumps into the present too? And the dark mark? What, is the Night King Freddy Krueger now?

None of this lines up at all with what they've been setting us up for. Not only that, but this changes absolutely everything in Bran's story line, and, what, immediately as this happens, the Wights and Walkers are somehow already at the Weirwood Grove? No. Just No. That's ridiculous. That is asking way too much of the audience to accept without SOME kind of explanation.

What a strange decision this was! Why would you recast a character with a legendary actor, only to kill him off after only a few episodes? It puts a strange highlight on a character, who ultimately does nothing.

Think about it. What does the Bloodraven actually do in season 6? He dies. That's it. He doesn't explain anything nor does he give Bran any actual training in greensight, at least not apparently. Then, after the curious "dark mark" incident, the Night King just comes up and kills him? Really? It's just so anti-climactic that it makes it seem like a meaningless plot device rather than the death of a revelatory character.

For book readers, this was an especially brutal event. The betrayal of Smalljon Umber was intense. There's a whole lot that the showrunners are asking us to accept by writing this in.

House Umber have been loyal to the Starks for thousands of years. Sure, they hated wildlings, but so does everyone South of the wall. So did Jon Snow. If they got word that Ned Stark's son was recruiting wildlings against the White Walkers, they would ask questions, rather than go seek an alliance with the family that betrayed their cause and killed their Lord. Oh yea, remember that? The Boltons helped in the Red Wedding, betraying the Umbers too. Why would the Smalljon ally himself with the people who killed his father? Because he hated his father? Convenient, because that's never mentioned, but it is mentioned that Smalljon was very loyal to Rob Stark.

Many book readers were disappointed this season, as the final nail in the coffin of Lady Stoneheart in Game of Thrones, who is a resurrected Catelyn Stark, with nothing left in her but hate.

How awesome is that? Moreover, how amazing would it be to have the remaining Starks have to deal with their zombie murder mommy? But this season, all hopes were dashed as we see Beric Dondarrion--who sacrifices himself to resurrect Lady Stark in the books--is still alive, with Thoros of Myr, and heading north. This character has great imagery attached to it and adds another layer of complexity that adds richly to the texture of the character developments. Shame they left it out.

So all your ships are stolen from the niece and nephew you mean to murder out of cold blood? You build new ones. Totally. The problem is, they are already halfway around the world (somehow), and you're still building ships.

How are you going to build a thousand ships on the Iron Islands, which do not have much forest to begin with? Those ships were built over a number of years, and you think you can build ten times the number you lost, and catch up to them and kill them? Not only that, but Euron plans to force Dany to marry him and to tame her dragons? It's all so ballsy, it just seems destined to fail. Hopefully he has a special something, which he has in the books; however, it doesn't seem likely anymore. At this point, who is crazier, the character, or the writing?

At this point, we all know about Cleganebowl. This beautiful fan theory was completely dashed to pieces after some serious setup this season. So, why even take that time to set it up?

Game of Thrones has so much happening in it. There are multiple plots with multiple characters happening at various locations across an entire world. So with all that is happening, and all the material that seems to be blatantly omitted from the books--great material, mind you--it seems like straight up pandering that they would waste so much screen time to tease us about fan theories. What's the point? To piss off the very foundation and core of their fanbase?

Of course, they are setting up the finale. But having the trial by combat become illegal is a strange curve ball that derails Cleganebowl completely, and for no reason. Cleganebowl in itself would have ever only been a plot device anyway. It holds little impact on the overall story, so again, why even take the time? Rather than reacting to the internet, why don't the showrunners focus on telling an interesting story, especially at a time when they will be facing more pressure due to this season being the first one that truly goes off-book?

This is it. The single worst decision made in season six so far. The White Walkers were created by the Children of the Forest in response to the invasion of the First Men. REALLY?

According to the lore, the First Men invaded Westeros about 12,000 years before Aegon's Conquest. The ensuing war between the First Men and the Children lasted 2,000 years, with the White Walkers only showing up 8,000 years before AC. The problem here, is that the Children of the Forest and the First Men fought in tandem against the White Walkers a full two thousand years after they made peace on the Isle of Faces. Moreover, it's stated over and over that the Children of the Forest broke the Arm of Dorne to stave off the First Men invasions, albeit in futility, which the White Walker creation also was. It seems the showrunners decided to swap these two events...

It is said over and over in the books that the Others come from the Lands of Always Winter, not Southern Westeros, where the First Men invaded. Even so, if the Children created them, why did they not actually do anything for two thousand years? The Children were skilled in magic, so why wouldn't they be able to control them? It just takes so much away from the lore of the White Walkers, which was so carefully adhered to in the first couple of seasons in order to successfully create the world of Westeros. Ultimately, it's a sloppy reveal that takes away from the story, rather than adding to it. Worst of all, it retcons established lore, and that's the biggest no-no of them all.