GAME OF THRONES PREDICTIONS: THE LONG NIGHT

The event that I look forward to the most in Game of Thrones is the second coming of The Long Night, which was a darkness and winter that lasted a generation. Throughout the show, we witnessed the White Walkers building their undead army and gradually marching towards The Wall. Meanwhile, The War of the Five Kings has left the Seven Kingdoms more weak and vulnerable than they have ever been, which makes them ripe for conquest for either Daenerys Targaryen or the White Walkers.

As of current events, Ramsay Snow has threatened both the Night’s Watch and their wildling allies. I predict that the resulting conflict between the Boltons, Night’s Watch, and wildlings will weaken The Wall’s defenders, leaving it vulnerable to attack. If The Wall is breached, Westeros will fall! The North will be the first kingdom hit by the White Walkers’ onslaught and by the time word spreads of what is happening, it will be too late and the other kingdoms will be easy prey. We have seen the White Walkers themselves and their undead army, but we have yet to see the pale spiders that are as big as hounds.

However, I believe there will be a reincarnation of The Last Hero from the first Long Night. I suspect that this new Last Hero will be either Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow, or Bran Stark.

If Daenerys Targaryen finds a way across The Narrow Sea, she will have the largest and most powerful army in the known world, consisting of over 8,000 Unsullied, 2,000 sellswords, now 100,000 Dothraki, and three dragons. With those numbers and firepower at her disposal, she could be a serious ally against the White Walkers especially due to their weakness to fire. Also, due to her family’s dark reputation, no one in the Seven Kingdoms would accept her claim to the Iron Throne, but if she were to arrive during the White Walkers’ invasion, she can be regarded as a savior and more of Westeros would accept her.

As for Jon Snow, when word spreads that he came back from the dead, he might become a symbol for The North to rally behind after the Boltons are dealt with. Since The North is the kingdom closest to The Wall, if Jon Snow can unite The North, they would be the first line of defense against the White Walkers and stall them until either Daenerys arrives or the rest of the kingdoms unite.

I am intrigued by Bran Stark’s training under the three-eyed raven because he has immense potential in magic, which could turn him into the Merlin of the Game of Thrones universe. Once his training under the three-eyed raven is complete and he learns his role in the war to come, I think Bran will become an irreplaceable asset against the White Walkers. Also, he could use his knowledge of the past, present, and future to guide the Seven Kingdoms to the desired outcome.

In the end of this new Long Night, I think the Seven Kingdoms will become even more unified than they ever were before. The reason for this is because when the first Long Night came, it allowed the hundred kingdoms of the First Men to unite into The North, becoming a more cohesive nation. Due to this, I think the same will happen to the rest of the Seven Kingdoms if they survive the new Long Night that is. Either way, I look forward to seeing how events will unfold.

Overall, this season on Game of Thrones, Winter is here . . . and the dead come with it!

SUPERHUMAN ASSASSIN

The skills of an assassin is undeniably lethal whether if they are killers for hire or just kill for the fun of it. Their profession would require them to be proficient in the use of firearms, edged weapons, poisons, and stealth. While assassins who are mere mortals are deadly enough, I wonder what it would be like if there was a superhuman who had powers that revolved specifically around assassination. Since they would be a killer, this assassin would be a lethal supervillain and I am already thinking of ways to include this individual in my sequel series. I am thinking this assassin could be one of the first supervillains the characters in my sequel series will face when they emerge from exile.

HEROES REBUILT

As I continue to write the updated edition of my sequel series, I thought of how the Young Guardians would emerge from exile. If they are forced to rebuild their organization from the ground up, they would require serious benefactors and allies with financial and political influence. They would need someone to fund their operations, someone with political connections to keep hostile parties off their scent, and scientists to build their weapons and equipment. These would be three of many necessary allies that the Young Guardians would need to start anew in a world that has all but forgotten the meaning of the word “superhero”. These individuals would add more insight to inner workings of the futuristic world and provide political suspense. I cannot wait to tinker with these thoughts further.

CONCEPT: THE RECKLESS HERO

One of the main characters of my sequel series will be the archetype for a hero who is arrogant, reckless, and impulsive. The reason for his haughty personality derives from his intense power and gives him a sense of invincibility. However, this cocky nature makes him careless and prone to taking foolish risks. This along with his tendency to become an adrenaline junkie would make him the comic relief of the team. Sadly, as the first volume proceeds this character will receive a savagely brutal lesson in humility while fighting an individual who is significantly more powerful than him, which would add more to his development. I look forward to writing his part of the story.

CONCEPT: EXILED HEROES

From a political standpoint, I can see the potential consequences that can come from a superhero’s battles. Due to their immense powers, a superhero’s fight with a supervillain will inevitably result in significant loss of life and expensive property damage. This would cause a superhero’s reputation to fluctuate in the public’s eye from being a hero to a menace to society. As a result, there have been cases such as Watchmen, Civil War, and The Incredibles in which governments would pass laws that would either ban or regulate superhero activity. With this in mind, I am planning to reimagine my sequel series again into a scenario in which the Young Guardians as an organization have been banned by the interstellar government. I even thought of how this situation would occur. There is a specific war that has been mentioned throughout my sequel series, but has not been elaborated so far. What if the events of this war forced the Young Guardians into exile? However, without the Young Guardians to protect it, I can imagine that the interstellar government would become vulnerable to the cancer of evil. Due to this fact, I am thinking that one of the themes of my sequel series will be how the Young Guardians make a comeback and return from exile to protect the government that banned them.

CONCEPT: A FLAWED HERO

As I continue to write the first volume of my sequel series, I grow increasingly interested in working on the main protagonist of the story for a variety of reasons. To begin with, he has the potential to become the most powerful superhuman of his era because his powers constantly grow and evolve. However, his constantly growing powers are completely dependent on his ability to form connections with others. After experiencing a traumatic event, the main character becomes psychologically withdrawn, which prevents his powers from growing after a few years. Therefore, one of the main themes of the story revolves around the main character overcoming his psychological withdrawal so that his powers can grow again. I drew inspiration for this character development from my own experiences with autism in that I had to overcome my psychological limitations in order to become the person I am today. I look forward to developing this character further and I will keep you updated.

CONCEPT: PRANKS

I watch a lot of funny pranks on the Internet and on America’s Funniest Videos. When I was writing the second volume of my series, I wondered what the Young Guardians would do when they were off duty. With this in mind, I decided that they would pull pranks on each other. In the second volume of the series, two of the Young Guardians pull a prank on one of their own that involves Halloween masks and an air horn. I could not stop laughing as I wrote it.

MY THOUGHTS (PART 10)

As the years roll by, I start to notice how much my control over my autism has improved as I age. When I was younger, my mind was overflowing with so much activity that I could barely contain it. During this time period, I had little control over my motor skills. In fact, my earliest memory consisted of me spinning around in circles while shopping with my mother at the grocery store when I was in kindergarden. This lack of impulse control persisted until after I graduated from high school. By the time I went to college, my autistic impulse control had improved to the point in which no one would know I had autism unless I tell them. If I was able to acquire this much control over my autism this early in life, I cannot wait to see how much more my control will improve as I age.

FILM REVIEW: CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

I saw Captain America: Civil War yesterday and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It does raise the issue of how the superhero community would be affected by politics. Also, both Captain America’s faction and Iron Man’s faction each had compelling arguments towards government regulation of superhuman activity and it was difficult to see who was right and who was wrong, which made the film all the more suspenseful. I’m just glad Captain America lived because I was afraid that if the film was anything like its comic book namesake, then Captain America would die, but I am pleased that Captain America lived. Captain America is my favorite Avenger and it would have broken my heart if he died. I liked this version of Spider-Man because he was a 15 year old kid who wanted to impress his idols and prove his worth as a superhero even though he was easily the youngest and least experienced superhero in the whole film. In addition, the film had a sad note to it because from a moral perspective the supervillain had won because he had turned the Avengers against each other, which essentially made the team fail as an organization. Still, I look forward to seeing how these superhuman regulations will influence future films especially since Doctor Strange is coming this November. Based on the trailer, it looks like Doctor Strange comes into contact with magic that warps the very fabric of our reality, which is too big for government regulations to handles. I will have to just wait and see how the Marvel Universe unfolds in the future. This was a very satisfactory birthday film!

INSPIRATION: KARAMBIT

After watching the martial arts film, The Raid 2, I became aware of a unique dagger from Southeast Asia called a karambit. While examining this weapon in action, I noticed that it was not only designed to slice, but also shred its target like a tiger’s claw. The brutality and lethal precision that the karambit demonstrated in The Raid 2 made me wonder how much damage this weapon could deliver if it was wielded by someone with superhuman powers instead of a mere mortal. With this in mind, I am thinking of making a specially designed karambit to be the weapon of choice of one of the characters in my sequel series. Just thinking about what this dagger would do in the hands of a superhuman sends chills down my spine. I cannot wait to write it!