Got: Dragon Strafing

Published May 14, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hey Guys,

Love the podcast, and I’m really sad I only discovered it with season 8! It has really deepened my GoT experience to listen to your commentary and debates, so many thanks.

One thing I wanted to bring up from S8E5’s instacast was Big D’s comment about the dragon being able to now fly like “Top Gun” and evade the bolts. While I agree that it was a bit of a change from the previous episode, the writers gave us a plausible explanation for this: we see Euron looking up into the sun, and then the dragon coming out of it. Fighter and bomber pilots have used diving out of the sun as a way to surprise their enemies since World War 1, so at least now we have a plausible explanation for why the gunners couldn’t hit the dragon with the Scorpions: they were surprised by its arrival and didn’t have time to aim inaccurately. Then, after the first strafing run, the dragon is flying low to the water, so the gunners who have previously aimed quite high (at the sun) have to adjust the elevation significantly downward, plus traverse the Scorpion to the dragon’s new position, which takes time and makes it difficult to get accurate, aimed fire on the dragon..

Anyway, thanks for all you do and keep up the great work!

Mark

Follow Up Email:

Hi Guys,

When my husband Mark said he wrote you an email about dragon tactics, I was super psyched because I also think the podcast is awesome. However, upon reading the forwarded copy, I noticed that what he very humbly neglected to mention is that he is a graduate of Annapolis and was a highly accomplished USMC Intelligence Officer for eight years. So he really does know what he’s talking about (much like you, Big D 😉 ).

Sincerely,
Loyal wife and Loyal listener Alicia

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