I recently posted on my Wheel of Time twitter page @dontarmon that the casting of Michael McElhatton was the biggest statement Amazon Prime had made regarding their Wheel of Time series so far. The tweet got 154 likes but most of the comments disagreed. I can understand why. Everyone argued that Rosamund Pike was obviously the biggest statement being an established Hollywood star and it’s hard to disagree with that. Hear me out.

Despite starting out in acting in the late 90s, most of us would be liars if we didn’t admit that we first met Michael McElhatton in Game of Thrones playing Lord Roose Bolton. It’s this role that almost certainly landed him the role of Rand’s beloved father Tam. And having done little notable work since people wouldn’t be forgiven for being a little underwhelmed by the casting. That shouldn’t be the case however. Since his excellent performance in Game of Thrones Michael has went on to star alongside stars such as Jessica Chastain, Jackie Chan and Ben Affleck. He’s also been in a Guy Richie movie and even had a role in the highest rated TV show of all time Chernobyl. Michael’s star is on the rise with more films in the works including a part in a Disney movie. So to say Amazon has a top star on their roster would be a fair remark to make.

What is more remarkable then is that IMBD only have Michael McElhatton to star in 1 episode of the first series. To readers of the book that makes sense but the general consensus online was that by casting such a well-known actor (thanks in large to his work on game of thrones albeit) that meant that Tam would have an extended role to play in the early series. We know now that’s not the case. Michael will play Rand’s father in one episode of The Wheel of Time and we won’t see him again until (it’s been a while so forgive me if I get this wrong) season 4, assuming the show runners follow the one book per season standard. This is what I meant by the statement they have sent out. Bringing someone in of Michael’s talents and asking him to play a role that he may not be asked to reprise for 4 more years is a massive commitment, and one am sure both Michael and the production team wouldn’t have even considered unless they was incredibly confident of its success.

Perhaps I am reading too much into this. After all it was inevitable that some actors would jump from Game of Thrones to Wheel of Time. I guess Michael won’t be the last either. Who can we expect next to join the cast. Sean Bean as Morridin? Lena Headey as Lanfear? Ian McElhinney (Barristan) as Thom? The list is endless and terrifying. I love both book series, just as I am sure I will love both tv series and it is this love that desperately wants to keep the two as distant from each other as possible. But in seeing Michael McElhatton as Tam Al’Thor I saw a casting that made real sense and really gave me confidence that Amazon Prime are in this for the long haul.

So the wait is finally over and Daniel Henney has been cast as al’Lan Mandragoran. We’ve just recently had all our Emond’s Fielders cast but let’s be honest; this is the one we were all waiting for. The King of Malkier plays such a huge part in the opening of the Wheel of Time series and it was very important who they cast to perform alongside the promising young cast and the excellent Rosamund Pike. When I saw the name Daniel Henney my first reaction wasn’t to jump up and punch the air. In fact my first reaction was who. However, after a little bit of research I knew I’d seen his face somewhere before. Daniel has starred alongside some big hitters, including Hugh Jackman in Wolverine: Origins and The Last Stand with Arnold Swarzenegger. These two aren’t the best films in the world but they were big budget movies and you assume he would have had to show some acting talent to get cast in them. In Wolvering, Daniel plays Agent Zero and he actually wasn’t the worst in that film, albeit that being not a difficult task.

To be honest the casting hasn’t got me quite as excited as the other cast announcements we’ve had so far. I’m putting that down to the showrunners setting the bar too high early on. The rest of Daniel’s filmography is a mystery to me other than Big Hero 6 but obviously that was just a voice casting role. On seeing pictures of him I didn’t immediately see our exiled king, but he’s growing on me. Fan reception has been really positive so far with lot’s really excited by him jumping into the role. Now, the more I think about it, the more I can visualise him morphing into our Lan.

In the build up to the Amazon show moving into production I started to really think about how are characters were going to be cast and the only one I had any real conviction about was Lan being of some sort of Asian descent. So Daniel being Korean-American fits this bill perfectly. He will look brilliant in the samurai like armour, swinging around his curved blade and cutting grasshoppers in half. So without even having to do anything he’s ticked one of the boxes for me. His acting ability really shouldn’t be something to worry about. In the movies I’ve seen him in, he’s never acted badly, just been the victim of bad writing. So that’s another box ticked.

The most important part is can he capture Lan’s character. I spoke about this in a couple of my previous posts regarding some of the other cast members. Often the issue of Rosamund Pike being of average height and Moiraine being described as small. I believe that as long as the essence of the character is captured we can forgive a few inches. Same here applies to Lan. I always saw Lan as this grizzled warrior, old way before his years due to a life time of battles. In the series Lan is middle aged, perfect fit for Daniel who is about 40 years of age. But he does lack that grizzled, veteran like look and the make-up department will really need to get stuck in to make Daniel look like he’s had a real tough paper round growing up.

All these things really aren’t that important. After all this is just my opinion. We didn’t read a picture book version of the Wheel of Time so it stands to reason that we all have different ideas in our head of what Lan will look like. For some, Daniel Henney is one million miles away from what they imagined, for others he’s as if Lan himself has jumped straight of the page. What it all boils down to is what ends up on out TV screens a couple of years down the line. The most important thing to be excited about now is that we have a cast! This project is gathering steam every week. We have our Aes Sedai, We have our Dragon and now, FINALLY, the Golden Crane flies for Tarmon Gai’don…

Although good and evil often appear as black and white, it is not always the case. Can evil deeds be committed via good causes? Can good come from evil intentions? It’s not always as crystal clear as it seems and the Wheel of Time series has many incredible ways of showing this.

One character that does exist on the darkest side of the evil scale, without a hint of grey, is Padan Fain. He is, without doubt, one of the most interesting characters not only in the wheel of time series but in all fantasy literature. His character arc from a cowardly, weak, low key bad guy to a terrifying, sinister bad ass that was willing to take on both the Dragon and The Dark one was a pleasure to read. Having turned Darkfriend in his twenties he eventually was given the task to hunt down the Dragon Reborn, no doubt being suited to this role considering he was a peddler. His desire for immortality fuelled his allegiance and eventually he completed his task in narrowing down his search for the dragon to three young boys. This version of fain is the coward, driven by his own selfish desires he is weak minded and relies on his trolloc and myrddraal allies to do his dirty work. But it is when Padan Fain enters Shadar Logoth and merges with the spirit of Mordeth that his transformation begins into one of the most powerful entities in the series. He tortures Myrddraal for Creators sake!

Padan Fain provides one of the more interesting obstacles that our heroes come up against in the series. He isn’t somebody with brute strength or incredible swordsmanship. He has no talent in the power whatsoever. He opposes them with his cunning and the sheer darkness that emits from him. At one point he ventures into the ways and Machin Shin fears what is inside him, bending to his will which is completely unheard of. Jordan himself even speculated that Fain/Mordeth could be something entirely new to the pattern, although it does contain an old evil as Birgitte mentions. In order to look into this further we have to look at where most of Fain’s power comes from.

Mordeth is the ancient evil that resides in Shadar Logoth. It was once a person who came to the ancient city of Aridhol and gained the trust of the king. Mordeth was once a good person who fought on the side of light. It is here we discuss the first point in how good means and intentions can later aid evil. Mordeth was so intent on destroying the Dark One that he was willing to do anything in order to defeat it. He delved into many things including the mysterious Finn and was said to eventually come across Mashadar. Perhaps Mashadar is the ancient power Birgitte is talking about, not just of its existence in Shadar Logoth but in the many other turnings of the wheel also. The part that could be something entirely new is perhaps Mashadar and the power the Dark One gave Fain binding together creating something completely new and menacing. I also believe that Mashadar and Machin Shin are linked in some way. Machin Shin feared the spirit of Mordeth and the power of Mashadar within him. It makes me think that Machin Shin has felt it before and was aware of it. Perhaps it is an off spring of its evil, both taking the form of a deadly mist. Or perhaps they are just two ancient evils, independent from the Dark One, with Mashadar being the more powerful of the two. Never the less Fain was able to manipulate Machin Shin like no one ever had before and sent it seeking Rand outside of the ways.

So in trying so hard to fight against the shadow Mordeth and Aridhol became a place of darkness and evil itself. Another occurrence of this is of course the White Cloaks. Children of the Light.

The Children of the Light were founded during the Hundred Year War and were originally a kind of religious group, devoted to finding darkfriends and only coming into conflict when confronted by directly by the forces of evil. This quickly changed, mostly due to the Aes Sedai’s failure to end the Hundred Year War and eventually they were a fully functioning military group that had become obsessed with opposing the Dark One. As Aridhol had many years before them their hatred and obsession with fighting the forces of evil saw them ultimately aid the Dark One. They opposed the Aes Sedai at every turn, believing all Channellers to be evil. With the Aes Sedai being the chief opposition to Evil in the series you can see how their religious zeal has made them unwitting allies to the Dark One. What’s more, their predictability and discipline makes them easy to manipulate as their blind self-belief is both easy to antagonise and replicate. This also makes them easy to infiltrate and many darkfriends can be found amongst the ranks of the white cloaks. The Dark One most likely realised early on that the Children would be a useful tool to be used against the forces of good. The most frustrating thing about The Children of Light is that there are actually some good hearted people amongst their ranks who truly only care about battling the dark one. They have been misguided for so long by tradition and misshapen beliefs (most likely moulded by the dark one himself along the way) that even the good Children are shackled by the white cloaks on their back.

Many other nations are guilty of the same vanity and miss placed belief as the Whitecloaks, albeit not as extreme. Even the Aes Sedai bicker and plot amongst themselves all the while aiding the Dark Ones cause. The Towers attempt to capture the Dragon was made in good intentions, simply to make sure he survived until the last battle. Yet that attempt almost broke Rand and if they had broken him, the last battle would have been lost. Many of the nations can be found guilty of doing wrong in the attempt to do right.

One nation especially guilty of this is Seanchan. From their belief that anyone who can channel the one power is less than an animal, to their conviction that the whole world is their divine right, most of what they do aids the dark one in one form or another. After all it was Ishamael who convinced Artur Hawkwing to send his armies to Seanchan in the first place. All of their workings have underlining currents laid by the Dark One. Even their prophecy seems to want to cripple the Dragons fight against Evil. The key tenet of their prophecy is that the Dragon must kneel before the crystal throne. On top of all this the Seanchan had so much success in wiping out the shadow spawn on their continent that none have been since in centuries and most believe them to be a myth. So now probably the most effective army in the series believes their enemies to be fairy tales and their chief allies in confronting the dark ones, the aes sedai, they see as less than animals that must be leashed. Here is conclusive evidence that good intentions and righteous thoughts can often lead to hatred and despair. Padan Fain excluded, none of the above have dark or impure intentions at heart. In fact it is the unrelenting way in which they go about their belief in what they are doing is good that ultimately leads them to evil doings. Their inability to compromise and accept mistakes cripples them and in doing so makes them the perfect tool for evil. Thus committing evil through good means.

Wheel of Time Wednesdays exploded this past week with the biggest news we’ve had since Amazon revealed they was starting production on the show. Our Emond’s Fielders have been cast! I don’t know how the rest of you feel but this for more me made me feel like ‘wow this is actually happening.’ Rosemund getting cast was huge, her name and talent added real weight to the show but now we have our main stars cast, the people who will carry this series hopefully for the next (dare I say it) 10 seasons+! How everyone feels about the cast is another matter but no one can deny that the ball is well and truly running now! So let’s kick things off with a bit of honesty here. I LOVE the new cast members. I don’t care that we haven’t seen a lot of them; I didn’t expect us to have known who they was going to be. Anyone remember what Kit Harrington was in before he was Jon Snow? I think these guys look the part! So without further delay let’s look at each cast member individually!

Josha Tradowski has been cast as the Dragon Reborn, Rand Al’thor. Who? Josha Tradowski. He’s a young lad from Netherlands and there isn’t really much more to say about him. I done some research on the actors as they was getting announced and his work was the hardest to get any real grasp on as it’s a lot of foreign films. However boy does he look the part. Bang some flaming red hair and some big heels on his boots and we have a Rand. The boy is 6’2, so he’s by no mean short, but to be taller than the other cast members some camera trickery will need to be worked. On a final note, the work I did find for Josha was all very highly rated, his performances being well appreciated. Rand broods for a lot of the series so as long as he looks like our Dragon it doesn’t matter how he sounds.

Rand’s love interest for the beginning of the series Egwene is being played by Madeleine Madden. Once again not a well-known actress but from the research I done a very experienced one. This girl has starred in tons of television work and was recently involved in the big budget Dora the Explore live action film. Okay I know Dora the Explorer isn’t going to make any of us feel better about her taking a major role in the Wheel of Time but the way I’m choosing to look at it is any role in a big budget movie has 100’s of applicants and she was chosen to star. The girls got to have talent. I think looks wise she was a little different to how I imagined but I’m very open minded about appearances and more interested about how she portrays the character. She’s played tons of different roles and should therefore be very adaptable. I think her appearance pairs up well with Josha and can see them building some on screen chemistry before it fizzles out in later seasons.

Zoe Robins is probably the most experienced actress in the new cast announcements, and the one I am worried about most playing Nynaeve. I try not to judge a book by its cover and certainly believe in second chances but she was a Power Ranger. I haven’t watched Power Rangers for a long long time, but I seem to call some really bad acting in it. She also had a recurring role in The Shannara Chronicles, which is pretty much the playbook on how not to adapt a fantasy book series. However, I’m all about second chances and just because you played for a bad team doesn’t mean you’re a bad player. I watched some of her scenes from Power Rangers and Shortland Street and she was head and shoulders above the rest of her co-stars acting wise. Here’s one fan hoping she pulls it off. The role, not her braid.

I saved the best two till last. The ones who I am absolutely sure will nail their roles. First up is Barney Harris as Mat. He’s just Mat. Throw him in a coat and hat and you have the lovable gambler right there. Looks wise he’s already hit the nail on the head for me, but I did watch some clips of him acting also. He’s brilliant. Again I’ve only skimmed through the bits of videos I could find on youtube but he looks really good. Can certainly see him talking with all the swagger of Mat Cauthon. Am willing to roll the dice on this one and say he’s going to kill it.

Marcus Rutherford as Perrin is definitely the casting I am most comfortable with. When I first seen a picture of him I nodded my head and said yeah I guess I can see him as Perrin, but the more I look at him, the more am sold by it. He does need to put on some weight for the role, and I truly hope that the production team insist on this before they start shooting. This guy has everything to pull this character off. The clips I saw of him impressed me more than anything I’d seen of the other four castings and what’s more, the videos I watch of him acting were of very sullen, reserved roles very similar to Perrin. Playing Perrin will be like something he’s done before and I’m really confident he’s going to Hammer it. Again, for me it really important he bulk up for this role. Perrin is describe as being huge in the books and whilst appearance isn’t everything for me this is even more important the Moiraine being small.

On a final note, I seen a little bit of confusion over the skin tones of the castings. I understand it, with Nynaeve, Perrin and Egwene being cast a lot darker than Rand and Mat. In the books, not a lot of emphasis is put on the colour of peoples skin. Nationality and race is determined by the places customs, traditions, fashion and faith. Their culture defines them. Not the colour of their skin. I almost believe this was an intentional tool Jordan used, a message he was sending. Very rarely he went into huge detail about the skin tones of his characters, with the Seanchan being the exemption. All the other races of Randland, he seemed to be uncharacteristically vague on the description of peoples skin tone. So it really isn’t surprising to me that there are different skin colours amongst our heroes, and it has in no way  made me any less excited about their castings.

So the Wheel of Time has been shaken and the first casting of our heroes has fallen before us. And what a casting it is! Rosamund Pike, Hollywood star, will be playing Moiraine in the series. I have seen early on some criticism of her being too tall or look nothing like how she is described. I’m choosing to ignore these whilst making my own judgement for a number of reasons. There are too many positives involved in this amazing casting for me not to be excited about it. So let’s discuss.

I’d like to get the negatives out of the way first. So one of the main reasons some fans haven’t been as thrilled by the appointment is that she is too tall. At 5’8 its understandable why some people would be worried about her playing the tiny Moiraine. This really isn’t a problem. You only need to look at other successful castings to see that size doesn’t always matter, capturing what the character stands for, their essence, matters a whole lot more. In Lord of the Rings Aragorn is a giant of a man, descended from Numernorean super humans. He should be about 6’7 but is played by Viggo Mortensen who’s 5’9. He nailed it. Game of Thrones they cast Mark Addy as the juggernaut Robert Baratheon. Mark is also about 5’9, but he killed it as the once great now over weight king of the seven kingdoms. Eddard Stark in Game of Thrones is about 36 at the time of his death but he was played by the Sean Bean who was in his early 50’s at the time. He was superb. Tom Hardy played Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and they used camera tricks to make him appear a lot larger than his 5’7 frame. There is a reoccurring pattern here which is that if the actor in front of the camera is good enough, size doesn’t matter. Not the size of the hammer it’s the actress you’re throwing it at? That’s not the saying is it?

Another criticism is her appearance. The same logic applies, it doesn’t matter what she looks like. Small changes like this can be applied for the right reasons. Hermione Granger recently changed skin colour at Hogwarts for the play The Cursed Child and that play has had rave reviews. Again it comes down to capturing the essence of the character.

Now onto the positives and there are many. Rosamund Pike is a huge actress; she’s starred alongside Tom Cruise, The Rock and Kiera Knightly and has been in mega bucks films such as Wrath of the Titans and even a James Bond film. For her role in Gone Girl she was nominated for every award under the sun. Make no mistake this is an amazing signing for the Wheel Of Time team. Her portray as one of the main characters gives this series such credibility they it may have lacked before. The Wheel of Time deserves to be taken seriously, but the same can be said of The Sword of Truth novels and Dune yet to this point that hasn’t been the case, as well as many more books that have been ruined by terrible adaptations. Rosamund Pike alone has helped ease some of the fears of that happening.

It’s not just her fame that has me excited about her playing Moiraine. Whilst famous and talented, she is also very versatile. She’s starred in very serious films such as Pride and Prejudice and Gone Girl, has been in comedies like Johnny English and even taken on sci-fi fantasy genre before in Doom and Wrath of the Titans. Her acting talents will come in handy when pulling off some of the more serious plot points as I imagine a lot of the explaining of the story will be left up to her and how she gets it across is key. Look at Cate Blanchett at the beginning of Fellowship of the Ring. But its also important that she doesn’t take herself too seriously in the role as well. She’s work with CGI heavily in her other fantasy outings which means we can rely on her to pull of the special effects sides of things as well.

I think Rosamund Pike will be perfect as well at guiding the young stars of the show until they are ready to take the reins fully further down the line. Sean Bean and Lena Heady deserve a lot of credit in season one of Game of Thrones for getting the likes of Kit Harrington, Sophie Turner and Maisie Williams ready to take the reins in later seasons.

To sum up I am very happy with Rosamund Pike’s casting as our pocket sized aes sedai Moiraine. With strong additions in the roles of Lan, Thom and a solid villain to fill Ishamael and Fain’s boots as well as some good young talent to cast our boys and girls of Emond’s field then I think we are in safe hands for the series going forward. I can’t wait for more news on the cast as time goes by.

Throughout the Wheel of Time evil arises in many forms. At its core it is a story of good versus evil. If you’ve read the books you know that there is a lot more to it than that, but strip away at the 100s of plot lines and the skeleton you are left with is a tale of light against dark. Rand and our heroes come up against some incredibly unique and diverse adversaries across the 14 mammoth books but the one enemy we see most is the Trolloc.

Trollocs are bio engineered half man half beast creatures of pure death and destruction. They were created by the Forsaken Aginor during the War of Shadow to be more aggressive, stronger and ultimately more deadly than the humans fighting for the forces of light. They serve in the series as a means to provide a very serious threat to our characters but also highlight our heroes fighting prowess. As Rand starts to learn how to wield a sword or when Perrin starts swinging around his axe/hammer combo Trollocs start to fall by the hundreds and it’s what keeps the story entertaining. Can you imagine 200 pages going by without seeing our heroes at the least cut off one agent of evils head? Similar to orcs in the Lord of the Rings, Trollocs provide the cannon fodder for our good guys to take swings at without killing anyone important to the story. It’s not to say they don’t pack a punch themselves. As early as the first few chapters a Trolloc nearly kills Tam Al’thor. They stamp their authority early in the story and show us that they mean business.

Roughly 5% of all Trollocs reproduction via breeding results in a Myrddraal. More man than beast, these creatures are vastly more intelligent than their Trolloc relatives, being able to control and command the Trollocs making them a far more effective fighting force. They provide far more tests to the side of good as they challenge them on both a mental and physical level often able to outsmart their enemies. Their first appearance, when Rand sees one on the road, is a truly chilling moment. We see the Myrddraal continue to provide such entertainment as they remain a constant threat throughout the series. Often in other series, enemies that are threatening at first become almost pointless later in the story. Whilst this is true of some of the channellers such as Rand, for the likes of Mat, Perrin and other none Power uses they are still frightening and skilled enough to cause serious harm and therefore remain relevant to the story throughout.

One of the most intriguing shadowspawn is the Gholam. Another one created by Aginor in the War of Shadow, the other Forsaken allowed him to create only 6, 3 male and 3 female, as they feared what such powerful creatures, immune to the Power, could do to them. By the time of our story only one has survived, but so powerful is it that it provides a lot of trouble for our band of heroes. They appear as a man, yet it is only the appearance that they share. They have no skeleton, or any other bodily organs. They are immune to most normal attacks and seemingly feel no pain. Due to lack of skeleton they are able to squeeze through tiny cracks as if made of smoke. Throughout the story the Gholam provides an excellent nemesis to Mat. They both have similar attributes as the Gholams sinister intelligence clashes excellently to Mat’s cunning wit. They are both also exceptionally fast and one excellent moment were they exchange throwing knives made me smile like a grinning Trolloc.

The character I found the most interesting amongst the agents of the Dark One was Slayer. I love a character that is literally cloaked in mystery. How and why he came to be is almost unknown. We know that he consists of two souls, Isam Mandragoran and Luc Mantear. However these two characters were both known to be on the forces of good. Isam was of the royal blood of Malkier and related to Lan! Luc was of the royal blood of Andor and Rand’s uncle! Isam was forced into the blight after the fall of Malkier and was raised in The Town, a nest of darkfriends and Samma N’Sei, so its not hard to see how he may have turned to the Shadow. However Luc was a good man, and was sent into the blight by Aes Sedai Gitara Moroso to seek out his glory. Somehow whilst out there murdering trollocs Luc has met with Isam and the two have found their way to Shayol Ghul. Birgitte states that he is a new occurrence which means he has never been part of the pattern before but hints he may be an old evil. Whether or not Jordan himself planned to reveal more about Slayer before he died I don’t know but it is interesting to think of an old evil taking a completely new form in the pattern. However he came to be the two men fused to become one being and was named Slayer. Whether one or both of these men originally had the ability of a dreamer it is unknown but together they are able to enter the dream world and are one of the most deadly uses of it. Even most of the Forsaken fear Slayer for his ability there. His ongoing battle with Perrin throughout the books is one of the best head to heads in the series. He’s a character you can never predict and his incredible ability makes him a threat to every character on the side of good. He almost kills Rand once or twice and it’s only Perrin’s skill and perseverance that saves Rand and the world from death. It just makes Slayer as a character so much more interesting that he is linked to two of the most important men in the book, Rand and Lan. It’s a shame we don’t see more interaction and acknowledgement between these three characters but at the same time I feel Jordan wanted to keep this character as mysterious as possible. It’s part of the characters charm after all.

Darkfriends provide the remaining bulk of the Dark Ones forces. Apart from maybe trollocs these are the most numerous enemy that the group come up against in the series. Rand couldn’t swing a cat by the tail with smacking a darkfriend on the head. Not that Rand would want to hurt a cat, unlike some darkfriends (am looking at you Eldrith!). The most prominent Dark Friend is of course the sadistic, terrifying and rotten Padan Fain. He plays one of the more central villainy roles in the series but I will cover him in part 3 as we need to take more time to look at him and his influence. The darkfriends ranking system is one that I found very interesting. Unlike in normal society where normally the richer or more noble you are the higher your ranked, Darkfriends seem to be ranked on either their commitment to the dark one or the history of evil. One major player in the series who serves as a Dark friend is Jaichin Carridin who is a high ranking officer in the children of light. Yet he acknowledges that he is ranked far below a beggar in the streets of Tear named Cully who he would need to bow to in other circumstances. Mili Skane, a highly trained assassin, is ranked below Jaichin but is allowed to kill him on the orders of Morridin. Their order seems chaotic which is no surprise as that is what they are looking to encourage. Darkfriends are found throughout the who world from the two rivers and Padan Fain to the Aiel waste and Mats spearwife lover. Even Aes Sedai rank are part of this Darkfriend network.

That brings me to of course the Black Ajah. Founded by Ishamael after the War of Power they was forced to obey him. He provided them with oaths that went against those taken up by the Aes Sedai, forcing them to remain secret. Their goal was to weaken the White Tower, encourage division and discourage the search for more Aes Sedai. By the time of the Last Battle it was thought that over 20% of the White Tower was sworn to the Black Ajah.  These ladies provided some of the most fascinating moments in the series. I would liken their order to that of a school ground. Their constant bickering and squabbling for power and control, all this whilst under complete control was at times laughable but always entertaining. That’s not to say they don’t supply constant threat for the side of light. Liandrin is one of the most frequently featured Black Ajah in the series. Early on we see her set a trap for Egwene and co resulting in Min taking a severe beating and Egwene being collared. At one point she even tried to take on a Forsaken which shows the ambition of some of these girls. Of course she is beaten, basically stilled and tortured afterwards. Most are very evil. Galina on her good days uses her strength and influence in the tower to sexually abuse her lesser women and on her bad days tortures Rand. Alviarin was already a Darkfriend before she entered the tower and rose to become head of the council of thirteen. Merean was a part of the tower for nearly 200 years and was considered kind and fair. She raised Siuan and Moiraine to the shawl. Yet she then tried to kill Moiraine. Yet Sheriam only joined the Black Ajah to improve her political status and was very upset to be caught up with the Dragon Reborn and the Forsaken. She joined out of greedy, not being evil. Even amongst the Black Ajah many different type of evil can be seen. As is evident throughout all Jordan’s books what may appear black and white at first soon is revealed to be in many different shades of grey. This is evident even in some members of the Darkfriend club who may not be what they appear, such as a certain Verin, however we will discuss double agents, redemption and misguided good/evil in part 3.

The Wheel of Time, in large, follows the old classic fantasy story of an evil dark lord and a young lad turned shining hero. I spoke previously about its comparisons to the Lord of the Rings and other fantasy epics as well as similarities to religion and mythology. The dark one is our main antagonist, Shai’tan. He serves as the one who challenges our heroes and threatens to destroy all that is good in the world. Sounds familiar right? But the Wheel of Time also offers other forms of evil. Some of these come in the form of slightly less prominent antagonists, or mysterious evil and sometimes even in the form of friends. It explores many different views and how what some may perceive as evil, others see as good. These different forms of evil inside the series make it a much more interesting read. We are no longer faced with the black and white good vs evil story line we are so often use to but many more shades of grey. This article will be exploring these different types.

The one we have to start with is the Dark One himself. From early on in the first book right up until the end of the last we feel his presence and as the story goes on he just grows in stature and scope. He is an omnipotent being of absolute power who, pound for pound, all our heroes combined couldn’t match in pure strength. Shai’tan possesses the sharpest of wit and cunning accumulated over countless years. However in my opinion he makes a poor villain to match up against our heroes. His lack of a physical form means he rarely comes face to face with our heroes. He often operates through his sinister agents in order to attack the forces of good and the things he does do himself are nationwide and not often directed solely at Rand and the group, such as the winter and the drought he summons. He remains trapped inside his prison for the entirety of the story and therefore makes a poor enemy to face off against Rand. Fortunately for us, the Dark Ones presence in the story was never to be the main antagonist to Rand. The Dark Ones sworn enemy is the Creator. The two serve as almost exact opposites one another. One creates, the other corrupts and destroys. The Dark One provides the overhanging menace in the story, and the impossible odds that our heroes are up against, but it is other, more relatable, more direct evils that make the best villains in the Wheel of Time series.

A lot of these come in the form of the Forsaken. The Forsaken where the chosen generals of the Dark One in his war on the light. In previous ages there where many of them, but in the series only the 13 most powerful remain. Their names are Ishmael, Demandred,  Lanfear, Rahvin, Sammael, Aginor, Balthamel, Be’lal, Asmodean, Semirhage, Mesaana, Graendal and Moghedien. I could write I whole essay on these 13 characters alone and some of them are so interesting they probably deserve a whole discussion of their own. Through their terrifying strength, sinister scheming and wicked brutality these 13 characters provide the perfect enemies for Rand Al’thor and his companions to battle against throughout the series. Ishmael remains the arch nemesis to the Dragon throughout the series, at first posing as the Dark One himself in the form of Ba’alzamon, then taking on his true form as Ishmael and eventually his return as Morridin. He serves as an Anti-Christ type character throughout the series and his constant threat pushes the story on. Even the opening pages in the series require his presence as he taunts the previous Dragon before the breaking of the world. This first appearance of a Forsaken sets a precedent for them as he is enveloped in mystery and his motives are unclear. It is said by Jordan himself that Ishmael is equal in power the Dragon and therefore makes him the perfect opposition in the battle of light versus dark. Ishmael is the only known Forsaken who chose willingly to join the Dark of his own accord. After discovering the theory of a never ending battle between light and dark he came to the conclusion that in a never ending battle the dark would have to eventually gain victory and for that reason alone he decided to join evil. His logic is of course flawed as in a wheel where light and dark has battled for eternity every variant has already been played out and the light have remained in the ascension. The creator wasn’t stupid when he created the Wheel. The Dark Ones existence is essential to life itself. Rand realises this during Tarmon Gai’don and opts to allow the Dark One to survive and remain trapped. This was always the creators intention. To have this battle played out again and again and have life strive to survive and ultimately understand its own place in the wheel. There is no life without death and no light without dark. This understanding is what continues the wheels turning and had Ishmael understood this, the dark one would have been lacking in a formidable ally.

Although Ishmael serves as Rands main nemesis, that isn’t to say that the other 12 Forsaken don’t offer up tons of entertainment in the villainess ways. Lanfear remains one of the most intriguing characters in the series. Her obsession with Lews Therin  / Rand Al’Thor drives the character to commit acts of great evil whilst also helping the side of good at times. It is unclear as to whether she truly loves Rand Al’Thor or whether it is simply because he spurned her many years ago as Lews Therin and her ego demands she win him back. She was the first Forsaken to swear to the Dark One having been the one to release him through her curiosity but even her loyalty to the Dark One is flawed as she even thinks about over throwing him and the creator. She is totally driven by her desire to be with the Dragon and her quest for power. She is highly skilled in the world of dreams although Moghedien surpasses her. This is another example of Lanfears incredible ego as she is aware that she is less superior in skill here but still insists that the world of dreams belongs to her. She uses it often to manipulate the heroes of the story. Without her presence the story would be sorely missing something. She is unique in her role as double agent, openly working for the forces of evil whilst consistently aiding the forces of good, all in selfish means. I haven’t encountered a character like this before and found her fascintating to read as I found her incredibly difficult to predict. I often found myself wondering what her motives were and once or twice even questioned if she truly did love Rand/Lews. Eventually it is her jealously that destroys her as she attempts to kill rand when she learns he has slept with another woman which leads to her death via door push.

Moghedien is the true master of the world of dreams amongst the forsaken and uses it to excellent effect. She consistently torments our heroes throughout and remains a constant threat. I loved this character as she supplies a different outlet of threat to the heroes away from the battlefield. Often we see battles with use of great power either on the battlefield or using the one power. This is a different type of threat that requires the group to react in different ways. Demandred doesn’t feature much in the book but when he appears he tips the last battle on its head providing an incredible plot twist that no one was able to suspect. Some of these characters show great weaknesses such as cowardice. This makes them more relatable and human which again just makes them better characters for the story. More often than not the weakness in our evil characters is usually arrogance. At times during the story I felt sorry for Asmodean before I remembered he was a millennium old mass murdering devil worshipper. But Jordan in his creation of the forsaken provided us with incredible characters with many different levels that showcased many different sides of evil, and that is just amongst the forsaken.

Where do I even begin? Game of Thrones has been the highlight of my week since it first aired April 2011. When people criticised the first season for being slow, I watched in awe at the dialogue and acting skills. When people said it lacked actioned, I pointed out its political intrigue. And when people said it was boring I straight up punched them in the face. From that first season the show grew in every way possible. I remember the first major battle scene at the gate of Kings Landing and as much as I love it I can’t help but smirk at the stark difference between that and the Battle of the Bastards. The sets grew, the story lines grew, the cast grew (UP) and the show turned from a fantasy drama TV series into a Hollywood level juggernaut. And all through this entire adventure spanning 8 years, I’ve loved every moment of it. It doesn’t matter that it didn’t end the way I wanted it to. This wasn’t my story and I’m not going to let my preferences get in the way of the story GRRM and D&D are trying to tell. So instead all I’ll say is my thanks and gratitude to everyone involved for entertaining me for nearly the last decade of my life.

With that out the way let’s talk about the last episode on its own. I don’t think a show of this size was ever going to make everyone happy. I mean this is without doubt the biggest show that has ever been made. Every man, woman and child has their own preference on how they wanted it to end and so whatever happened this was never going to please everyone. I’ve spoken previously about the criticism the final season has received and once again I find myself leaping to its defence in its final ever episode. But I don’t think the episode was perfect. Far from it. I can think of two HUGE points that I have real problems with. And several small ones also. But that’s not to say there wasn’t plenty I enjoyed about the episode as well and ultimately, I was happy with how the show ended.

When I’m faced with good news and bad news I always ask for the bad first, so the good acts as a kind of soothing agent for the bad. So I’ll start with what I didn’t like about this episode. The first HUGE problem I had with the episode is the release of Jon Snow. Everyone seemed to have a problem with this, as well as lots of other things. My issue is simple. The Unsullied and Dothraki worshipped Daenerys. She freed them and inspired them. They followed her half way across the world. Why would they accept Jon Snow simply joining the Nights Watch as adequate punishment for killing their Queen? Plenty of people have pointed out that the Nights Watch is beyond pointless now as the Wildlings are now allies to the North and the Night King has been killed. I guess the Nights Watch will remain as a kind of prison for thieves and rapists as opposed to an actual order. Regardless of why the Nights Watch remains, Grey Worm and co shouldn’t have accepted this as punishment. They have no idea what the Nights Watch is. They’d have simply seen it as him walking away. This could have been rectified in one of three simple way. Option 1; Jon Snow actually dying. He’d have paid the ultimate sacrifice for saving thousands of people from Dany and her liberators. Option 2; Faking his death. The Unsullied would have been satisfied to see him dead and left, and Jon rocks up beyond the wall so no one could ever find out he was dead. Could have been kept between him, Davos, Tyrion and maybe Arya. Her faceless man skills may have helped with the deception. Jon’s honour may have prevented that happening but it would have worked better than the Nights Watch crap that they used. Option 3; Davos smuggles him out moments before his execution. He goes to the one place no one will find him, beyond the wall. Anyone one of these would have fixed that huge problem in the episode.

The other major issue in the episode that didn’t sit well with me was the North becoming an independent kingdom so easily. I’ve no issue with the north finally getting its independence back. But it just came so easily! If your one of those high lords and hear the north say they’re going to rule themselves, you’d be wanting the same treatment. Bran the Brokens new reign started with him bending over for his big sister. Didn’t sit right with me at all. I’d have understood it if maybe Sansa had said ‘the north won’t be ruled anymore its suffered too much, we are willing to fight for our independence if we have to’ and at this point bran is like ‘I don’t want to start my reign with a war, okay the north will be its own kingdom but you fuckers are on your own this winter don’t be asking for shit of me.’ And then everyone is like oh shit yeah its winter we will be better together than apart. Just all seemed far too easy. They were my two biggest issues with the final episode of Game of Thrones. There were other bits I didn’t like.

Tyrion’s speech about why Bran should be king was at time wonderful, but in parts really cheesy. Most of the lords of Westeros have no idea about Brans powers, so I didn’t understand why they voted for him just because of Tyrion’s speech about stories. The speech could have been better. Didn’t like Pod on the Kings Guard. There was a strange moment where Bran was like ‘perhaps I can find where Drogon is’ that just seemed pointless. Why didn’t it show us where he had taken Daenerys. I wasn’t particularly fused into Bran teased us with it so when he didn’t show me I was a bit pissed. A few others spring to mind but nothing major.

But there was plenty that I really liked about the episode. I think Tyrion and Jon’s conversation whilst he is Danys prisoner is excellent for explaining why Dany burnt all of Kings Landing to the ground. I have talked about in the past Dany’s violent tendencies. Tyrion brilliantly points out the times Dany has violently killed in the past. When her dark side has shown. But because it has always been evil men on the receiving end she has been applauded for it. Remember when we first meet Hizdahr, the son of one of the Masters of Meereen. He reveals that Dany had his father executed, but that his father was a kind and generous man who was loved in the city. Dany’s past atrocities have been viewed as justifiable because we have perceived the recipients as evil. Tyrion highlights this, reminding us that Dany is actually more predictable than we first thought. Kings Landing wasn’t her losing her mind, but another demonstration of what she perceives as justice.

I actually like the Jon and Dany scene. A lot of people thought her death was very underwhelming but I found it quite moving. Jon realises whilst speaking to her that she has lost her mind. She is once again wholly uncompromising. She refuses to forgive Tyrion. She is unremorseful about the death of innocent people and unarmed soldiers. When Jon mentions dead children for a moment her madness shatters and the girl we knew shows a little, but it is quickly replaced with her knew resolve. I think Jon’s mind was made up long before he got to the throne room what needed to be done. He had to try for honours sake to break through to her and when that failed he had no choice. We have heard, many times before, how dragons are very intelligent creatures. Drogon destroying the Iron Thrones was him in fact destroying his mother’s true killer. His decision to not kill Jon Snow may be odd to some, but as he towered over him I knew it wasn’t going to happen. Fire can’t hurt a dragon after all. Perhaps Drogon in his wisdom knew it was a mercy what Jon Snow had done.

Bran becoming king surprised me along with everyone else am guessing. But it’s a choice that made sense. I had my money on Gendry. Whilst I wasn’t totally convinced by Tyrion’s speech on his behalf his appointment is a good one. His knowledge of the past means he has infinite wisdom to draw upon and he can ensure he will not repeat the mistakes of the past. His ability to see everything everywhere if he wants to means he can stop rebellions before they start. And his appointment of Tyrion as Hand was a great moment. ‘he’s made some terrible mistakes. Now he will spend the rest of his life fixing them.’ Really good piece of writing in a season that has been heavily criticised for it.

In all I do feel like the final season of Game of Thrones has stumbled over the line. Without the book to draw from like in the previous few season the writers have had to work with a skeleton outline provided by GRRM and it has showed. The story has swayed at times, with character arcs veering in odd directions. Had the books been finished we may not had had that problem. For instance the Nights Watch we now know is completely pointless in terms of responsibilities in the show however that might not be the case in the books. In the books I don’t believe there is a Night King and maybe there won’t be. Perhaps the living will simply win a temporary victory and the threat of the others may return one day? D&D have tried their best without the source material from the books. In times it has been triumphantly successful (see battle of bastards, spoils of war) and others it hasn’t, but ultimately they have delivered a good ending to an exceptional series. We finally got a happy(ish) ending with Jon being with Ghost beyond the wall, Sansa liberating the North (without burning them all to death) and Arya doing what Arya does. We have paid for this happy ending with blood and fire, (RIP Ned, Robb, Robert, Hound, Jaime, Prince Oberyn, Summer, Shaggy Dog, Lady, Grey Wind and many more) so enjoy it as much as you can. Game of Thrones may have stumbled across the finish line, but it certainly won the race.

This will be the first review I have written whilst actually watching the episode. I first watched it the day it came out, earlier than I’d normally watch it to avoid spoilers. I mentioned in my past review something I’d like to reiterate here. I don’t agree with a large section of the fan base that this season has been garbage. Is it the best season yet of Game of Thrones? No of course not, that title belongs to season 4. Which means the previous 3 season have also not been the best. People complain about the poor writing but point to me where this takes place? We don’t have the amazing dialogue that D&D (David Benioff and D B Weiss the show runners) had to draw on in the past because the show has over took the books and D&D simply aren’t as good a writers as GRRM is! He takes 10 years to write one book! You can’t expect them to come up with the same stuff it’s unfeasible. So they’ve made up for it with some of the most jaw dropping cinematic moments in TV history. Nothing in the history of TV can match up to what Game of Thrones has put out this season. There are few movies that can even compete. I really enjoyed this episode. Shocked? Yes! Not what I wanted or expected? Definitely! Does that mean am going to criticise the show? Of course not. I know people who stopped watching Game of Thrones when Ned Stark died. Others I know trailed off when Robb was murdered. People have been surprised and disappointed by Game of Thrones for years. The show has never ever tried to please the masses. This is the story they always intended to tell, so in the nicest possible way, shut up and enjoy, because once it’s gone, we will never see it’s like again.

The episode starts with Vary’s and it becomes clear second time of watching he was attempting to poison Dany. I was very shocked he went for this tactic so quickly. He hasn’t even given her a chance do anything rash yet! He served for years under the Mad King without attempting to poison him. I may have been because he knew once Dany took Kings Landing there wouldn’t be much chance for him to pull this off. He then attempts to persuade Jon to stake his claim. Bold move considering Jon’s loyalty. That obviously fails and eventually Tyrion tells Dany that Vary’s had betrayed her. She blames Jon Snow. Not buying this one bit. Jon never once said he would keep this secret. His honour demands he tell his sisters the truth. You would expect nothing different from our King in the North. Sansa betrayed Jon. Varys betrayed Dany. That’s the only betrayals we’ve seen so far.

We see Varys quickly burn the letter he was writing when the soldiers come to claim him but what of the ones already written? Have they already been dispersed across the 7 kingdoms? I was also curious about his removal of his rings. Some asked me why he would do it if he knew he was just going to die. My conclusion is that maybe he thought there was a chance he may stand trial and I suspect the poison he had been using to try kill Dany may have been hidden in the rings, similar to other jewellery we’ve seen store poison in the past. Just a guess. Varys is executed without trail via Drogon fire. The moment Drogon appears out of the darkness is just one of many incredible images during the season. Jon gives Dany a very intense stare as she passes judgement. We’ve seen Jon execute people in the past. He never does it lightly and even to this day some of it still wears on him. Dany is cold in her judgement to someone who up until very recently had served her loyally.

I think with the passing of Missandei passed Dany’s last real friend from the world. Grey Worm has always been a servant, a loyal soldier. When Missandei went both of them lost the only thing that brought them real happiness. All that was left was conquest and revenge. Grey Worm throwing her collar into the fire seems like an affirmation of her last words, Dracarys. That was his way of saying here is what I think we should do. When Tyrion tries to convince her to not burn the city to the ground she gives Grey Worm a look as if to say don’t worry, the nothing has changed.

Eventually the battles starts. Dany decides to be a bit more intelligent with her flying and comes at the iron fleet with the sun at her back. She then quickly and easily destroys the fleet and most of the scorpions on the walls as well as the gates and the golden company in front of it. I have saw plenty of people complaining about how easy it all was for her. Trust me this is normal. For those who don’t know anything about Thrones lore Aegon  wiped out Harrenhal, one of the world’s greatest cities, with just one dragon and burnt it to a crisp. He wiped out an army of 100,000 in seconds. Its why the Targaryens have ruled for 400 years. Nothing trumps a dragon for long. Unless you’re a 10,000 year old death god or a lucky surprise shot, your done for.

The city falls and the bells signalling Kings Landing’s surrender ring out. But the Dany we knew has gone. This Dany wants vengeance. So many times we have seen her let down. Not just in this season but across many. Jorah’s betrayal, her handmaids betrayal, her Khalasars betrayal. Now she has lost her closest friends and allies. For those that say that all this has been rushed haven’t been watching the show closely enough. Yes she locked her dragons away when a young girl was burnt by Drogon. She also burnt all the Khals alive the next season. She watched her brother be burnt to death via molten gold without batting an eyelid. She’s shown tons of moments of darkness. These people don’t love her, they don’t even like her. She has united half of the seven kingdoms under Cersei Lannister, the most hated woman in the world, purely because they dislike her. Her best friends are dead and the man she loves doesn’t want to have incest love with her! I’ve had bigger tantrums over less. I personally don’t actually think she’s gone mad. This was vengeance not blind, random, acts of evil. Hot and fiery blooded vengeance on Cersei and all who follow her.

There were many moments throughout the season that could have evaded this one defining moment. A kinder word from Jon (he has a habit of disappointing women by the way). Better counselling from Tyrion. Maybe had Varys not abandoned team Dany so easily she mightn’t have done what she did. Who knows.

As for the rest of the episode. I liked Jaime and Cersei dying together. The world’s most insane love story comes to its brutal end. I think they’ve tried to make some symmetry with the way Cersei died and the way Margery died. Jaime was never the good guy in this story. Anyone who expected him to be the good guy again hasn’t been watching. He was a man who had honour but also pushed kids out of windows. And he loved his sister, in a weird way. Was nice to see them die together. Some spoke out about a prophecy saying she would die by her brothers arms or something? Well she died in his arms if that counts. If they are actually dead that is. Unless we see a body am not counting anything out.

Clegane bowl was everything it should have been. Brutal, vicious and so satisfying at the end. Rest in peace pooch.

Arya went south to kill the queen and after what she went through in this episode I don’t think that has changed at all do you? I honestly can’t call what is going to happen anymore but am going to attempt it here. Arya kills Dany… Jon fakes own death and goes north to Tormund and ghost to live happily ever after as King beyond the wall. Gendry gets the thrown. A bit out there I know but stranger things have happened so far this season.

Verdict for S8 ep5 8.5/10

Huge franchises have a history of fizzling out at the end. Incredible story telling is difficult to maintain. Star Wars has given us some real stinkers in the 40 odd years it’s been about, with Return of the Jedi not quite living up to the previous two instalments (stupid Ewoks), all of the prequel trilogy being garbage (stupid Jar Jar) and plenty of people not like the Last Jedi (stupid blue tittie milk). The Hobbit trilogy started promising and gradually got worse. The new Harry Potter films are painful to watch. Matrix, Jaws, Freddy Kruger… I could go on. So for Marvel to not only pull off a fitting ending, but absolutely smash it out the field, is an incredible achievement. 22 films in just over 10 years got us to this one point in movie history and didn’t disappoint. Not even a little bit. The film was fantastic. Here is why.

We pick up after the snap, as you can imagine everyone is really sad. Eventually, somehow, they find Thanos. I remember getting comfy in my seat for another epic battle. Nope. They just cut his head off without anyone taking a hit. Boop. Gone. He reveals that he has destroyed the stones and the Avengers have zero chance of him ever getting their friends back so Thor goes for the head. Except we know the Avengers get their friends back because we’ve all seen the trailer for Spiderman Far From Home. I decided to start with one of the very few negatives I had for the film. We KNEW the Avengers where going to win before the movie started. And I know that’s how movies work the good guy wins. But they don’t write it on the fucking movie poster do they. Having seen the advertising for the new Spidey film I spent most of the film wondering when he was going to show back up with the rest of them.

Now everyone who is reading this MUST have seen the film by now, so im not going to run through it scene by scene and analyse and shit. Instead just going to share what I liked and didn’t like. So here goes.

I thought their new take on time travel was really interesting. The whole change the past to save the future has been done hundreds of times. When ant man reappeared and it became apparent this was the route they was going I was sceptical but Banner/Hulk… Banulk?… Bulk?… Hanner? Never mind explained that back to the future was all bullshit I was on board. When the team split up and all went to different times and places I was surprised. I had really expected the lesson here to be ‘last time out we weren’t really working together but now we will and we will win’. So when it didn’t play out like that I was surprised but still enjoyed it. The little groups the team turned into set up some really nice scenes and dialogues throughout the film. Tony decision to help out in the end after figuring out time travel once again highlighted the main difference between Cap and Iron man. Captain America is the guy who would always stand up in a fight, even if he knew he would lose, because it the right thing to do. Ironman is the only one who can get the job done, win the fight, even if it challenges him morally. He’s the only one who can do it, so he must. Both incredible characters, so different yet heroes all the same.

I didn’t care that our other Captain wasn’t present much in the film. This film was very much a good bye to the old guard and she graciously sat on the side lines and let them have their moments whilst packing enough punch to remind us that she will be number one going forward for the Avengers.

I was surprised by how much of a role Hawkeye got to play in the film. I didn’t bother me, I think Renner has played the part brilliantly, but he’s only human, lacking Tony’s Genius, Cap’s serum and Banner’s gamma rays. Of course he had to be present for Nat’s death and whilst I thought the whole no I’m jumping bit went on a little too long ultimately it was really sad. Hulk was almost worthless in the film. Another thing I was a little disappointed by but only a little. The cast was huge and it’s hard to give everyone a chance to shine but he was really only there to click his fingers and that’s it. Even in the last fight he didn’t show up at all.

Quick talk about some of the scenes in the past. Nebula and War Machine were my favourite partnering. Couldn’t be two more different people but he really tried to reach out to her and I enjoyed it. But the lift scene with Cap and the Hydra agents was brilliant. Hail Hydra! Awesome!

Now the Endgame. Past Thanos working out the Avengers plan was a smart move on behalf of the writers. The battle didn’t disappoint. Fat Thor swinging two hammers about was epic to watch. Tony and Cap all kicked ass. Captain Marvel showed up at the perfect time to remind everyone how big her balls are. And Captain America picking up Thor’s hammer. I don’t clap when a movie finishes, or cheer often. This is one of the few moments I’ve shown real emotion at a movie scene (the previous was ‘for Frodo’). Thanos once again was excellent in this film, top, top bad guy. Eventually, thanks to hulks snap, the cavalry show up (Spidey, Dr Strange etc.) and we hear Cap say for the last time Avengers Assemble! *fist punch moment*

I still don’t like super Potts. Am sorry. This isn’t a woman hating thing. I like every other woman super hero. But we saw Pepper turn super hero in Iron Man 3 and it was shit then. Pepper hates Tony’s suits why would she show up wearing one. And does anyone remember how long it took for tony to master flight in his suit? Pepper shows up flying around like Tinkerbelle meets terminator. Bit of a cheesy all the women in the room now moment when all the female super heroes fight alone for a bit but that’s fine. Still just pepper I got a problem with.

But other than that the film was exceptional. No surprises from me to see Tony lay down on the wire and sacrifice himself although I didn’t see it happening that way snatching the stones. He built the new glove so it obviously had like an app built in to swap stones between suits. I AM IRONMAN. Can’t be certain but I think they were his last ever words. Emotional scene with peter and robo-pepper to follow which was nice. As soon as we knew Cap was going back in time alone I knew he wasn’t coming back. Am happy that 30 odd years old super virgin final got him some. Amazing film, amazing ending. Amazing cast. Just… amazing.

Verdict for Avengers: Endgame 10/10