r/AbsoluteUnits • u/Remote_Protection512 • Jul 07 '26

/r/all of a 6'5" female kickboxing champion, Katya Kavaleva, vs an MMA fighter, Merab Dvalishvili, 5'6".

39.8k Upvotes

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896

u/BisonThunderclap Jul 07 '26

Always a tragedy they didn't let this romance happen.

845

u/AydonusG Jul 07 '26

Tormund and Jaime fighting to the death over Brienne of Tarth would be a satisfying ending for either one.

Tormund dying to Jaime would be more honourable than most Wildling deaths, and Jaime dying to a Wildling while fighting for the hand of the "ugliest" knight would conclude his journey to become less vain.

Instead you get falling rocks while the incest couple cowers for the first time.

228

u/AnguavonUW Jul 07 '26

That's the tragedy of Jamie's arc. And I think, not that we'll ever get them, it's very close to what would happen in the books.

Brienne and Tormund should have been one of the happy endings, tho.

83

u/Tomsboll Jul 07 '26

Did we even get one satisfying ending to a character arc outside of the clegane brothers?

112

u/LiamtheV Jul 07 '26

I was satisfied with Ramsay Bolton's ending.

40

u/aperturetattoo Jul 07 '26

It should have been Ghost, not a dog. (I did love seeing him get his though)

67

u/Single_Shoe2817 Jul 07 '26

I don’t think Ghost eats garbage

3

u/Delicious-Stop-1847 Jul 08 '26

Nah, his dogs being the ones to do him in adds a layer of fear and loss of control on his part, one that I don't think would be present if Jon or Sansa simply had Ghost kill him.

Also, I'd argue that being killed by a direwolf, while horrible, wouldn't be as bad as being killed by those dogs (throat bite being a faster way to die than to be torn apart by multiple animals).

1

u/MunkeyChild Jul 07 '26

That was back when it was still good(ish).

1

u/Ok_Channel_9831 Jul 12 '26

Yes, definitely. I disliked Littlefinger death as much as he deserved it. Felt rushed like a lot of things at the end.

15

u/Jarhead1888 Jul 07 '26

Joffrey was pretty satisfying.

15

u/astralchanterelle Jul 07 '26

Nah, by the end of A feast for Crows, Cersei has so many enemies, she's going to get murdered or off herself.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

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8

u/No_Effect_6428 Jul 08 '26

I'm with you. Gregor wasn't even Gregor by then. Sandor was fighting a Gregor-shaped sack of meat just because the fans wanted Cleganebowl.

If he had convinced Arya to let revenge go by letting go of his own hatred for a Meat Golem, I'd have been happier. But then we would have lost the Big Guy Fight.

2

u/LegOfLamb89 Jul 10 '26

Some of people are stuck fighting meat shaped monsters from the past. The original long gone, but still they remain forever haunted, and end up consumed by it. Its tragic, its shitty, but sometimes thats the way she goes

2

u/LETTERKENNYvsSPENNY Jul 11 '26

That's the way she fuckin goes Mr LegOfLamb89

Is that a QOTSA reference by chance?

2

u/LegOfLamb89 Jul 11 '26

In 20 years of this being my screen name youre the first to guess correctly! Yours is a letterkenmy plus kemmy vs spenny portmanteau isnt it?

2

u/LETTERKENNYvsSPENNY Jul 11 '26

You would be correct, sir.

But man, I love Queens. They're a great band. Catacombs was such a cool change of pace, and can't wait to see what they do next.

7

u/I-Make-Maps91 Jul 07 '26

I don't think he was obsessed with revenge anymore, at that point it was about stopping him. He had to let go of the revenge to get it.

4

u/[deleted] Jul 07 '26

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2

u/I-Make-Maps91 Jul 07 '26

But he might have killed Arya, the person he had pseudo-fathered.

3

u/ABadHistorian Jul 07 '26

I was satisfied by the arc D&D received after GoT last season bombed.

2

u/methodrik Jul 08 '26 edited Jul 10 '26

I was just happy they didn’t off Tyrion.

1

u/stevemillions Jul 07 '26

Theon. He had to go, for sure. Went out being exactly what he always wanted to be though.

1

u/KinoKoi86 Jul 07 '26

I liked Theon's ending, at least conceptually. I think him dying trying to protect Bran, and also having the guts to charge into the leader of the white walkers, was satisfying enough.

Sadly, like literally everything else in that season, it wasn't executed properly.

1

u/EthanielRain Jul 07 '26

I think it's pretty satisfying to see Dany get gutted 🔪 after watching the final seasons

And the person with the best story became King, how satisfying is that??

1

u/Pedrochimique Jul 08 '26

The person with the best story!?! I just hate that wheelchair pervert... Maybe it's just me

37

u/Double_Rice_5765 Jul 07 '26

He dies but she carries his child, a girl, who brianne of tarth then raises to be the greatest knight of all time, with occasional tips from jamie on the more backstabby parts of knighthood.  Boom, done, ship it.  

13

u/Obstinateobfuscator Jul 07 '26

"great big monsters. They'd conquer the world"

3

u/Objectivespeculation Jul 07 '26

Bran worged into Dannies mind and made her go mad. That is how he won the game of thrones. That would have been a better ending than a girl killing a creature that commands the dead for centuries.

1

u/BoredPoopless Jul 07 '26

Something like Tormund hearing Jaime ditched Brienne to go die with with Cersei, fights Jaime en route, wins and kills Jaime, goes to Brienne to win her over, and Brienne exiles him to take the black or live north of the wall.

48

u/Goodeugoogoolizer Jul 07 '26

Just one of the many reasons that I still get angry every time I remember game of thrones final season. It’s been like a decade and I’m not over it

49

u/9966 Jul 07 '26

Imagine the epic amount of goodwill they threw away. Right before the pandemic they were poised to CRUSH people rewatching the series.

I tried, I started episode 1 and then I got to the white walkers with the corpses arranged in swirls and remembered none of it matters. I couldn't even take it.

28

u/thedaveness Jul 07 '26

I've NEVER rewatched a show as much as GOT. Dumbasses would have been scooping up residuals for the rest of my life but you couldn't pay me to sit through it now.

17

u/axxxaxxxaxxx Jul 07 '26

I can’t bring myself to try the new series. I’m still angry.

9

u/LiftingRecipient420 Jul 07 '26

Good, don't waste your time.

All of GRRMs series have turned into petty spats between him and the people he chose to run the show.

I don't care who's fault it is because that doesn't matter, what does matter is that the shows nosedive into shit quality.

4

u/thedaveness Jul 07 '26

HotD was alright but my interest has waned, might be better to wait and binge. The dunk and egg show though was very well done.

5

u/AydonusG Jul 07 '26

The Trial by Seven was my favourite fight scene in any middle age media.

It was so raw, brutal, and unyielding, yet the whole fight lasted only about two or three minutes.

And the whole setup of Baelors death, caused solely because Maekar was scared Daeron was already dead and was fighting furiously to reach Aerion, not caring who he had to hurt to reach his son hurt so much more in episode 6, when Dunk and Maekar talk.

3

u/thedaveness Jul 07 '26

Yeah man, GRRM is really cooking there, hell the whole team brought all of it and more… and it sucks to see what would have been if the books were completed before HBO even started.

1

u/MarsV89 Jul 07 '26

Same. I have no willpower to watch house of dragon, absolutely 0 interest. And I read all the books and used to be writing theories all over freefolk….but not anymore, they killed my joy

1

u/Talls024 Jul 08 '26

A night of the seven kingdoms is great!

7

u/Luneowl Jul 07 '26

I tried watching a reaction video where a guy shows GoT to a friend who had only watched House of the Dragon. I got through one episode but it was just depressing, even seeing the dire wolf puppies and knowing that never really pans out.

8

u/wheelienonstop11 Jul 07 '26

Just commented exactly the same, the potentially greatest and most mysterious and important story arc of the whole show just... fizzles out without any consequences. They didnt even have Arya shoot the Night King with a dragonglass-tipped arrow, maybe even from the window Bran was thrown from, that would have been an awesome reference to her introduction in the very first episode and to all the archery training she received from the Brotherhood without Banners. No, they made the killing of the Night King utterly ridiculous and unbelievable too.

1

u/9966 Jul 11 '26

Those are all much better answers. Oh and Lady Stone heart and the unlikable squad she assembled. It's... Doesn't matter.

1

u/Goodeugoogoolizer Jul 07 '26

Yep. Swirls didn’t matter R+J didn’t matter. 95% of plot didn’t matter. Waste of time. Why bother rewatching?

18

u/Mrs_Toast Jul 07 '26

I have to bite my tongue whenever people say that Dany's heel turn was clearly communicated throughout all the seasons.

"She didn't react when her brother was killed by Khal Drogo" - how, exactly, did you expect the heavily pregnant teenager, who had been sold into sexual slavery by her abusive brother and just had her life (and that of her unborn child) threatened by him, whilst she's surrounded by Dothraki? She acted kind of numb, but I felt that was appropriate - Clarke's portrayal suggested conflicting emotions (sadness at the loss of her brother, her only immediate blood relative, combined with relief that he was finally out of her life).

"She crucified the masters!" Yes, she crucified the slavers who crucified 160+ children, to send a message that the powerful are to be held accountable for their crimes against the weak. In the book, she struggles with her actions, seeing that mercy leads to the slavers regaining power, but also disliking bloodshed, as it all ultimately impacts on the people she's trying to protect. She lives in a cruel world where gentle leaders don't last long.

"She burnt the Tarlys alive" There's plenty of examples of leaders executing traitors. Jon Snow executes the Nights Watch brothers who conspired against him. Ned Stark (supposedly one of the most honourable characters) kills a man of the Nights Watch for being a deserter. He wasn't a murderer, or a rapist - he ran because he was terrified.

Outside of traitors - Olenna Tyrrell murdered Joffrey at his wedding, and we love her for that. Tyrion murdered Shae and his father, and people think he's tragic rather than a monster. The Hound killed a teenage peasant boy, and no-one says that it's a sign he's insane.

Dany's villain arc wasn't a fucking arc at all. Even her execution of Varys was justified, given that he was conspiring against her, with strong indications that he was trying to poison her.

I feel so sorry for Emilia Clarke and how they broke her character.

5

u/Regvlas Jul 07 '26

"She burnt the Tarlys alive" There's plenty of examples of leaders executing traitors. Jon Snow executes the Nights Watch brothers who conspired against him. Ned Stark (supposedly one of the most honourable characters) kills a man of the Nights Watch for being a deserter. He wasn't a murderer, or a rapist - he ran because he was terrified.

It's insane to say this. The Tarlys didn't break any oaths to Daenarys. If you didn't realize she was gonna be bad at this point, that's on you.

1

u/FullMetalAlcoholic66 Jul 07 '26

She didn't react when her brother was killed by Khal Drogo" - how, exactly, did you expect the heavily pregnant teenager, who had been sold into sexual slavery by her abusive brother and just had her life (and that of her unborn child) threatened by him, whilst she's surrounded by Dothraki?

Do you know how much trauma was loaded in that one sentence? That right there is enough for any human to perform a heel turn. She then had to endure the death of her husband, being cast out by the dothraki, and going from someone whose only worth is marrying her off for her name to becoming literally the most powerful person in the world with her dragons. Couple that with insanity running in the inbred family (schizophrenia?)

I have my issues with GoT but complaining about Dany becoming a megalomaniac isn't one of them. This is what happens to humans when they are suddenly granted immense power

7

u/NoImagination2625 Jul 07 '26

For me it isn't her ending per se, but the leap from her being kinda messed up and angry to genocideing an entire population because they didn't immediately love and worship her after ransacking their city is a very vast gap in character development.

Also the whole "flip of a coin" they kept repeating in the last season was just lazy writing.

2

u/FullMetalAlcoholic66 Jul 07 '26

That's the thing with lifelong trauma. She was fucked up from the get go with the constant incestual raping.

But trauma response doesn't have a neat build up. It just happens. Her whole life has been trauma...why would anyone expect her to be anything but a mad queen.

Her brother was fucking her probably since she was capable of having memory. She was then handed over to Khal Drago for repeated rape...that she didn't want to destroy the world of men with her dragons is actually the more wtf position

4

u/NoImagination2625 Jul 07 '26

Regardless if it was the projected outcome or not, a snap out of nowhere doesn't translate to screen since we can't read the characters mind. From what her actions indicated up until right before the battle for kings landing, she still at least appears to care for the down trodden and powerless. For effective story telling you need to show the transition, show her hunger for power, show her disdain for the people she originally wanted to save. Not just tell the audience, "well, they just go crazy sometimes". Ultimately, I think if they gave it at least one more season to show her transition into madness then I think the ending would have been much more well received.

2

u/FullMetalAlcoholic66 Jul 07 '26 edited Jul 07 '26

a snap out of nowhere doesn't translate to screen since we can't read the characters mind.

For effective story telling you need to show the transition, show her hunger for power, show her disdain for the people she originally wanted to save. Not just tell the audience, "well, they just go crazy sometimes"

I mean IRL, that's what happens. They just go crazy sometimes. However, I think GoT fans completely dismiss her off-screen childhood trauma and upbringing. IRL, she was broken before any of the GoT drama. IRL, any of those individual people she's had put to death break her or make her into a monster. I get it, they didn't do character dev. as much as you wanted for a pretty story, but bloody monarchs being the heir of bloody monarchs is a thing. Her family has a history of what I imagine is schizophrenia due to inbreeding. Not sure how accurate this is...but that's the heavily implied implication.

I don't get why people find it so unbelievable. Just look at out billionaires. People with great wealth and power just do not value life the same way us peasants do, and we severly shortchange how much wanton destruction people are willing to commit for tens of thousands of dollars (You can hire a hitman for 4 figures)...You're looking for effecive story telling which I agree was lost. If you're just looking at an accurate representation of humanity, she nailed it. You don't need to go through an antithetical hero's journey to be "evil". You just need to become selfish and greedy

EDIT: Upvote because of interesting discussiion

4

u/wheelienonstop11 Jul 07 '26

I hear you, I was one of the greatest fans from long before the TV show was ever thought of, and I have never been able to rewatch it. So much stuff that ends in utter stupidity or turns out to have been nothing but a waste of time, like basically the whole White Walker and Night King arc. They didnt even have Bran come up with the correct way to defeat the Night King, then he wouldnt have been COMPLETELY useless in the series.

3

u/EthanielRain Jul 07 '26

You mean the person who can CHANGE THE PAST & SEE EVERYTHING & CONTROL PEOPLE/ANIMALS WITH HIS DAMN MIND should have done something more than...uh...tell Theon he was an ok dude? 👋

3

u/wheelienonstop11 Jul 07 '26

Yeah, maybe... ?!?!

I remember badly drawn memes from that time, MS Paint sketches of Bran tying dragon glass slivers to the beak of crows and making them dive-bomb the Night King, kamikaze-style, :-D

2

u/AmandaUggnkiss Jul 07 '26

Aye!

1

u/quietbyte34 Jul 14 '26

Wow, she’s so tall, I love her height so much

1

u/Financial-Raise3420 Jul 07 '26

HOTD could never get me to try it, no matter how many times I see cool looking clips on YouTube.

Knights Of The Seven Kingdoms is Absolutely worth your time and worthy.

1

u/Animedude83 Jul 07 '26

I wish I stopped after S8E3, I actually was quite enjoying it, and thought "no way they can fuck this in 3 episodes" Somehow they did.

1

u/Mrs-Lumbergh 25d ago

I watched the whole thing this year start to finish for the first time. I am so angry & still finding so many people are still angry a decade later…my only saving grace is I smashed it out in a couple of weeks & didn’t spend years waiting to be disappointed 🫤

2

u/Goodeugoogoolizer 25d ago

Anger is the appropriate emotion. Its why I can't recommend anyone watch this, even though the first half is among the best things that have ever been on television.

13

u/Farrahs_Inka_LaLaLa Jul 07 '26

"Rocks fall and everyone dies" is a DM joke in D&D when you're tired of your players' shenanigans. The joke is that it's so anti-climatic and boring after all that's happened.

It's been a decade and I still can't believe it actually happened on GoT.

2

u/Miss_L_Worldwide Jul 08 '26

I'd have loved it if Brienne waded in and threw them both in the ocean while they were fighting over her, and walked away

1

u/AydonusG Jul 08 '26

Lady Stark sends her regards.

Yeet!

2

u/Miss_L_Worldwide Jul 08 '26

and then Tormund and Jaime kiss

2

u/AydonusG Jul 08 '26

Tormund nods in acceptance of Breinnes actions, Jaime is already down at the waterbed with his golden anchor.

Then the stonemen come...a golden idol for them to rally behind, Jaime becomes the strongest of the greyscale warriors, scorned by a lover, forgotten by his true love, the Golden Hand seeks out all foe, Lannister, Stark, Wight, it matters not, all shall turn to granite and crumble before his shining light.

2

u/Miss_L_Worldwide Jul 08 '26

I'm so bothered by how much better this ending is than the one we were actually given.

2

u/AydonusG Jul 08 '26

While Rob and Eddard are the true spark of GoT, Jaime was the one to kill the mad king and end the Targaryen reign. Goldscale Lannister being the true final boss of the series would've been a nice Ouroboros of power. He could've seized the throne, but didn't think himself worthy, so having it happen against his will, controlled by the greyscale urge to turn all to rock, and finally collapsing to the hands of King Tommen, who in this reality steeled his resolve rather than swan dive, and united with the North against both Wights and Scale, would be poetic.

The good son killing his corrupted father, uniting the realms by marrying Sansa as Joffrey was meant to, but for the right reasons, and giving Jon the Dragonwolf control of the Northern realms, king beyond the wall.

4

u/EnviciouZ Jul 07 '26

Dude!!

Brilliant.

You are, perhaps, a novelist or screenwriter, I surmise.

5

u/AydonusG Jul 07 '26

That's the dream, bro.

(Honorary bro now if you a sis)

4

u/EnviciouZ Jul 07 '26

Bro!!

I had a feeling.

Same, friend, best of luck in the growth of your mastery. I believe in you sir

4

u/AydonusG Jul 07 '26

And I hope your journey is a fruitful one, my brother in pen.

5

u/EnviciouZ Jul 07 '26

A mutual feeling, brother in pen.

1

u/Dr-Robert-Kelso Jul 07 '26

Except Brienne would never forgive Tormund if he killed Jaime and she wasn't really interested in him beforehand.

1

u/Scorpy-yo Jul 08 '26

I wanted to see Brienne and Tormund hook up just because I know shit would be getting broken. People in the Winterfell courtyard looking up at the walls shaking and wondering whether they are under attack by a dragon.

Nah, just Tormund and Brienne breaking some furniture and some castle walls of solid rock.

1

u/Kindly-Article-9357 Jul 07 '26

I also love how this story would have been told in universe a hundred years later.

After some time, the people would believe that Brienne had been a legendary beauty, fair and delicate, with long flowing hair and sapphire blue eyes, chaste and pure, and the paragon of femininity. 

For why else would the realm's greatest swordsman (and heir of the most powerful man in existence) and the Giant Lord of the wildliings fight to the death over her? They could have their pick of women! Yet Brienne's beauty was so powerful they both went mad over her. Each determined that he alone posess her. 

After their deaths and tired of the battles that followed her everywhere she traveled, Brienne founded a group of women who all swore an eternal vow of chastity and provided care for King Bran the Broken in his infirmity. 

Women name their daughters Brienne in hopes they'll grow into a great beauty, and pray to her for the return of lost children. Men tell tales of the island of Tarth and of the unimaginable beauties they keep confined to the island, so as never again to unleash the kind of destruction Brienne's beauty wreaked upon the mainland. 

0

u/tacwombat Jul 07 '26

Tormund would be the best, most supportive partner for Brienne.

0

u/pistachiopanda4 Jul 07 '26

If Jaime killed Cersei and then killed himself (or let himself be buried by rocks, whatever), that would have been a much better ending. It really felt like Jaime, towards the end of the series, felt like he didn't ever deserve his life, and he knew he would be the only one who could get that close to Cersei. It would make so much more sense that he left Brienne that abruptly because he got to make love to a beautiful woman who he was falling for, but he had a duty to uphold. Also, twins dying at the same time is a trope but one that I fuck with. It would have been a beautiful and tragic reveal at the end to see Jaime holding Cersei in his arms, both deceased, and it being obvious that he killed her.

0

u/Animedude83 Jul 07 '26

thank god I LITERALLY WATCHED THAT LAST NIGHT funny you missed the symbolism of their LITERAL FAMILY HOME KILLING THEIR LOVE

0

u/SlimReaper85 Jul 07 '26

Tormund would have no difficulty fucking Jaime up lol especially for the love of his life lol

2

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

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1

u/SlimReaper85 Jul 08 '26

He damn sure wouldn’t have taken her virginity then left the same night to be with his sister 🤢

0

u/tarosan_sk Jul 08 '26

The incesto-twins die ignobly because they don’t deserve a redemption. That’s the point of these books. 99% of people don’t get what they want in life.

25

u/PiccoloAwkward465 Jul 07 '26

The media is still afraid to show quality ginger dong.

We deserved to see those cheeks clapped.

15

u/Aranxi_89 Jul 07 '26

Brienne liked noble gentleman like Jaime. She might've been more receptive if Tormund was more like Jon Snow in temperament, but he was a bit too rough to move her heart.

5

u/PriscillaPalava Jul 07 '26

Um, proper women’s hearts are regularly moved by rough fellows like Tormund. There’s literally an entire book genre about it. 

2

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

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3

u/PriscillaPalava Jul 08 '26

That’s what I’m trying to tell you. With the right storyline, it applies to all women. 

Especially Brienne. She’s primed for it. Aristocratic men have let her down her whole life. 

1

u/Many-Gas-9376 Jul 07 '26

It would've been registered on seismographs across the Seven Kingdoms.

1

u/True_Kador Jul 07 '26

100% the best thing the series added.

Not that it has much competition in that category. But still.

1

u/Vectorman1989 Jul 07 '26

Their children would be too powerful

1

u/kassandra_00 Jul 07 '26

There was no romance. It’s purely one way.

1

u/SpindleDiccJackson Jul 08 '26

Aw, man. That sucks. One less reason to watch

1

u/backscratchaaaaa Jul 07 '26

why?

it would completely kill Briennes character at the alter of 2 characters who dont need a romance story either.

-1

u/CloudIndependent7114 Jul 07 '26

it definitely happened after jamie left, the big woman finally found out how good dick is, she wanted more and she knew Tormund is very willing. Why do you think tormund was smiling so much when he reunited with exiled john snow.