Game of thrones thread go! [ S8 ]

have Bran use his warging powers to attract the NK LotR-style (aka the NK can see Bran when he does that, just as Sauron could sense Frodo when he wore the ring). Tbf, D&D might very well have been going for that in the actual episode when they had Bran warg, but they failed to show the NK responding to it and so whether that was the purpose is left unclear. However, after doing that, Arya switches places with Bran, using her Faceless Men powers to impersonate him (aka this whole gambit was planned). The NK arrives in the grove, and so do Jon and Dany (on her dragon above). Jon's dragon keeps the NK's dragon at bay. We then have an epic duel between the NK and Jon (hopefully with flaming sword courtesy Melisandre, or maybe just some oil ala Beric-style) + Theon, while Dany attempts to provide support from above but gets tangled up fighting the White Walker generals with their Olympic spearthrowing skills (and the wights if she lands). Still, both the NK and his forces are actually occupied, and therefore distracted, while the good guys need to be wary that Bran doesn't get in trouble. At some point, the NK proves his dominance by overpowering Jon, but before he can kill him, Theon gets in the way and therefore actually dies meaningfully (as opposed to just being a minute too early with his stupid charge, before the guy he was trying to kill dies anyway). Jon gets to kick the NK back as he gets back up, right at 'Bran'. The NK sees his moment, and takes 'Bran' hostage - not, mind you, that he needs a hostage, but he just wants Jon to see his victory as he kills Bran (who, if we could rewrite more than just this episode, hopefully actually has been shown to have some mystical significance). However, just as the NK raises 'Bran' up to deliver the coup-de-grace (or, alternately, to convert 'him' into a White Walker as well), 'Bran' removes his facemask to reveal Arya - just as she presses a little Valyrian steel dagger into his chest. BOOM! NK dies, and so does his army just as depicted in the episode.

Also, hopefully Melisandre dies using the last of her magic to light up Jon's sword or something (or maybe just when she struggled to light up the trenches earlier) so that her death makes more sense too, as opposed to just "Oof! My role in prophecy is over - which is code for 'the writers don't need me anymore' - and so Imma go commit suicide now!" Which is to say, let her die actually doing something, not tossing herself away like some unnecessary rubbish. Ditto Beric.

Btw, you could rightfully ask why they were fighting to keep the NK away from 'Bran' in the first place, if the plan was to let 'him' kill him when the NK got close? Well, this version would require Arya to have opened up about her Faceless Men abilities before the battle (hopefully before this episode) so they could plan around that. Presumably they'd show her lacking in confidence that she could really fool the NK - and hopefully they'd presage it even better by showing her having a close encounter with him at some point earlier and him seeing through her when up close, but that's a lot of prefacing so let's just go with her lacking in confidence to keep it simple. Hopefully, the fight at the end is preceded by the NK getting close to 'Bran' and then pausing, tilting his head to indicate he senses something is off, before Jon and Theon jump at him and begin the sequence. Then later when the NK raises 'Bran' up to kill him, he doesn't get suspicious because he's distracted while in the middle of a protracted fight. You could even emphasize this further by having Dany get a free moment to try spitting a gout of flame at him then, but hesitating when she sees him holding up 'Bran'. He smirks at her (if you really have to include him smirking, now would be a good time for it), then turns to Jon and, just as he's about to do his thing, the wool is pulled and Arya gets her kill.

FUCK THEY WERE ALL TRUE GOD DAMMIT LOL MAD QUEEN MODE ACTIVATED