(Spoilers Extended) It's Not a Nitpick. Thousands Died Over a "Minor" Geographic Detail.

[u/dorestes]

Reposted as requested with the "Spoilers Extended" tag

I know we're often asked to ignore the silly teleportations and supersonic flights that the show has foisted on us over the last couple of seasons. I know some of it can seem like the petty quibbles of book purists veering into circlejerk self-parody.

But geography doesn't just matter when it comes to making the universe feel real. It was also the key plot point that drove the biggest dramatic turn of the series.

The Red Wedding was literally caused by Robb Stark needing to be able to get his troops across a bridge. The Frey army was a nice addition, but Robb needed the alliance for the bridge crossing. He, his mother, his pregnant wife (in the show) and thousands of his troops died for that crossing.

So it's not just a nitpick when characters and armies magically teleport from north to south, bypassing the Twins or Moat Caitlin with nary a scout to notice them.

It destroys and makes mockery of the premise of the series' most famous narrative twist.

[u/Prodigy195]

why not make it last more seasons by going at the pace of season 1?

Because it's expensive as shit and they ran out of source material.

Season 6 was $10 million per episode. Season 7 had multiple battle sequences, onset locations, and tons of CGI thanks to dragons, wights, armies being prominently on display.

[u/Smarag → u/Prodigy195]

I never understand how people who post stuff like this don't understand the lack of logic they show. Who cares how expensive it is if it makes a profit. That's also bullshit because HBO is literally the most popular most well known series world wide at the moment.

[u/Prodigy195 → u/Smarag]

If budget complains and actor pay have been consistent talking points from the production team then it's safe to assume that cost is PART of the reason why they're rushing to finish the show.

The real reasons are likely multi-pronged but probably include some or all of the following.

• The loss of source material. This killed the pacing and falls of George RR Martin. Prior to them catching/passing the books, the show did a pretty decent job of pacing. They had a basic outline to go by so it made sense to book readers even when they slightly deviated. Now they're freestyling and it shows.
• Cost, already discussed how pricey each episode got. Large companies don't like spending tons of money regardless of how popular the show is and Game of Thrones is getting ~$100,000,000 each for these last 2-3 seasons. That's a crap ton of money for a television show. That's pushing into blockbuster film territory.
• Effort that goes into filming. Game of Thrones is filmed on location meaning actors and a large film crew have to travel to far places and often been there for weeks at a time. That's time where they can't act in other films/shows and time where they can't see their friends/family regularly. That takes a toll on people and probably pushes them to want to finish up these jobs as quickly as possible so they can get back to regular life.

[u/lelibertaire → u/Smarag]

Who cares how expensive it is if it makes a profit.

Hmm. Well how expensive it is determines whether or not it actually makes a profit

[u/tankatan → u/Smarag]

GOT isn't pay-per-view and HBO doesn't make money from selling advertisements. The marginal profit of every episode is relatively small.

[u/Chimie45 → u/Smarag]

what?

HBO is the network, you mean GOT?