Game of Thrones

[AndrewCrossett]

NNNOOOOOOOOooooooooooo!!!!!

They killed another Dire Wolf! This time they have gone too far! I will now stop watching the show and so on. Rawwrrr! Twitter hashtag stuff!

So that leaves Ghost and Summer as the only direwolves still alive and with their masters, with Arya's wolf Nymeria still probably alive out there somewhere.

Makes me wonder what the larger purpose of the wolves is to the story. There must be a reason why each Stark child had a wolf, and possibly some significance to which ones have remained alive. Maybe the Stark children with the ability to warg have kept their wolves? (Bran is the only one we're sure of, but I understand there are hints in the books that Arya can do it too... but maybe if she's truly become "no one" she will no longer have a connection to her wolf?)

That Umber guy was funny. He knows whats up. I hope we see him a couple of more times.

I can't shake the feeling that Umber and Karstark are basically trolling Ramsay... playing with him like a couple of cats with a clueless mouse. We'll see, I guess. For the Umbers to betray a guest in their house to his enemies would be a Walder Frey-level violation of the hospitality laws. Either those laws no longer mean anything in the North, or something is going on.

We all knew Jon was leaving but DAMN! That's a way to go. Kinda like his pops in the first episode.

So I get that Jon claims the right to resign from the Watch because his oath was until death, and he's died. But if that's the case then he was no longer Lord Commander when he revived, and had no right to execute those prisoners or pass off the leadership to Edd.

So there were only four conspirators against Jon? I was under the impression a large portion of the Night's Watch was in on it.

So everyone in the Small Council pretty much knows that the Mountain is this new Sir Strong dude? So why the ruse?

I haven't heard anyone use that name for him... Qyburn openly called him "Ser Clegane" to the "little birds." So I guess that element from the books has been dropped.

Arya's final missions seems to be to kill Jaquen.

Are you basing that on her evading the answer for who else was on her kill list? I doubt it. She was just saying that she no longer has a kill list except for what the Faceless give her... which is what they wanted to hear, and why they gave her sight back.

The little birds being little kids is meh. This is the kick ass spy network? Some Sherlock Holmes ripoff?

We've always known they were kids. But given that Varys was just expressing his total confidence in their loyalty the scene before, I have to think Qyburn is fooling himself if he thinks he can buy that loyalty with a few bags of candy. Varys didn't get to be the most feared spymaster in the world by deluding himself.

Will Ramsay begin another torture world tour on this kids? Or will it be Osha?

I think Ramsay will be too busy in the near future to torture Rickon much, and then he'll be dead. I think he's more interested in banging Osha, which may not be a great idea, as Theon found out.

There's a pretty solid theory going around the Internet that Hodor (Willis) was a warg who often jumped into Lyanna's horse. (Maybe because he was secretly in love with her, maybe because he just liked horses.) The theory goes that the horse was killed while Willis was occupying it, which caused the permanent brain damage that left him mostly mute. I think that could be true with the added idea that, because he was secretly accompanying Lyanna everywhere, he is the only living person who knows the secret of Jon Snow's parentage (that he is the love child of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen). Finding out what the name or word "hodor" means might be the key to unlocking that secret.

[JBatmanFan05]

I haven't heard anyone use that name for him... Qyburn openly called him "Ser Clegane" to the "little birds." So I guess that element from the books has been dropped.

He called him "Ser Gregor." So yea, seems no Strong nomenclature. Perhaps the writers struggled with understanding the name change..."if like everyone knows it's Gregor Clegane then why...."

[Daryl]

He called him "Ser Gregor." So yea, seems no Strong nomenclature. Perhaps the writers struggled with understanding the name change..."if like everyone knows it's Gregor Clegane then why...."

Yeah, it's a ruse the show just doesn't seem to have time to mess with. "Oh, uh, no. He's totally a DIFFERENT tall, almost mute, super-humanly strong guy that is loyal to the Lannisters. Nope, not the same guy at all..."

[hobo]

So that leaves Ghost and Summer as the only direwolves still alive and with their masters, with Arya's wolf Nymeria still probably alive out there somewhere.

Makes me wonder what the larger purpose of the wolves is to the story. There must be a reason why each Stark child had a wolf, and possibly some significance to which ones have remained alive. Maybe the Stark children with the ability to warg have kept their wolves? (Bran is the only one we're sure of, but I understand there are hints in the books that Arya can do it too... but maybe if she's truly become "no one" she will no longer have a connection to her wolf?)

besides bran, the only person the show has even hinted at having supernatural gifts is Rickon. Unless they start showing Jon and Arya doing this soon, I'd say they aren't going in this direction.

I imagine Arya at some point would meet her wolf again, either to remind her she's a Stark, or to reinforce that she's no one.

[The Big G]

HBO you god damn teases

[lancerman]

The funny thing is the good things we basically get to see him do is with the person we'll later see him burn alive. This just highlights what a horrible person he is. He wants to be king so badly he'll destroy the only person he seemingly still loves to get what he wants.



If I was in Stannis I guess he wouldn't be so infatuated with hot redhead lady witch. But what's your point? That Stannis isn't actually evil because he thought he knew a thing. The guy wanted to be king, some random woman showed up one day and told him he was destined to be king, now he's burning his own people alive so he can get the thing he wants. I'm not seeing how this character isn't a evil person. There's no angle you can come at it from where Stannis isn't a bad guy from the moment we're introduced to him.

You do realize it's not merely being King... Right?

Mel is telling him that he is Azor Ahai reborn. The savior of the entire freaking world. Most likely the guy that's supposed to deliver Westeros from the Wight Walkers. And it's not like Mel is just some good looking girl Stannis took a fancy to. She's proven herself many times.

It's not his daughter vs a throne in Kings Landing. It's his daughter vs the fate of the world. That's what he thinks, and had good reason to think.

[AndrewCrossett]

It's recently become more evident that Melisandre probably isn't the evil manipulator most of us took her for, but a true believer who really thinks she is doing what her benevolent God wants her to do. Enough of a true believer that she didn't bat an eye at the prospect of torturing a little girl to death. (I guess the real world religion equivalent would be Abraham and Isaac, only if God had let him go through with it). It's clear that there is real power there, coming from... somewhere.

The question is, where is that power coming from? Are the gods real? If so, what are they? Where are Melisandre's visions coming from, and why?

[Kirby101]

Before this show ends, I want to see Dragons battling White Walkers.

[abulafia]

i am also very unhappy with the tower of joy scene. first of, that dornish guy? was he there for diversity reasons?
ned without ice, i could get that. 2hander might not be the weapon if choice in some battles.
but dayne with 2 swords?
the guy that is famous for his excalibur sword? and they tone that down with giving him badass 2swords?

ofc team north vs two wasn´t supposed to be a glorious victory, but i expected something different than in your face ned is not so noble
well
shaggy dog...what is the storytelling function of the dire wolves?
we already had grey wind to die powerless to defend his stark. i hope it is just a ruse or that the book will tell it differently. so underwhelming

i just can´t see this twist in the books. for the tv show it means that rickon will die soon.
jon is the MVP. there can´t be a legitimate stark running around. bran will be the wildcard. rickon has no function

ok, rickon might live in this scenario:
jon will be queens consort
rickon warden of the north
bran wise druid of something
sansa lady of the vale and riverrun

[JBatmanFan05]

Can anyone explain to me how Ned's role in Dayne's death is supposed to be dishonorable? Like B&W and some others say it apparently was.

Howland, who is simply trying to win the battle to save a "kidnapped" (believed kidnapped) woman, does something Ned didn't see coming (now, yes, you can say Howland was dishonorable with that cheap shot attack) and Ned merely (and mercifully) puts Arthur Dayne out of his slow dying misery?

[MichaelC]

His victory wasn't dishonorable considering it was war and not a duel. However, his apparently b.s. story about it was. He told his children about his glorious victory repeatedly, when the reality was that he basically got lucky when an ally thought to be dead turned out to just be wounded, and used that misconception to get in a sneak-attack.

[sunofdarkchild]

His victory wasn't dishonorable considering it was war and not a duel. However, his apparently b.s. story about it was. He told his children about his glorious victory repeatedly, when the reality was that he basically got lucky when an ally thought to be dead turned out to just be wounded, and used that misconception to get in a sneak-attack.

Ws gonna say the same thing. The dishonorable thing was his later lie about it.

[abulafia]

Can anyone explain to me how Ned's role in Dayne's death is supposed to be dishonorable? Like B&W and some others say it apparently was.

Howland, who is simply trying to win the battle to save a "kidnapped" (believed kidnapped) woman, does something Ned didn't see coming and Ned puts Arthur Dayne out his dying misery?

who are B&W?

my guess would be that it is just deconstructing the knight in shiny armour saving the damsel in distress. but i expected team north to be outskilled and winning with a feature of bravery, even against the odds of superior swordsmanship.
i would be ok if ned would have done some speech before finishing dayne off. but maybe that was the point. ned was a coherent character so far. i dislike damaging that with flashbacks

i am not aware that he boasted with his victory against dayne. if he did not boast and just let the heroism of that fight be sparked by imagination of his followers, i think that would be a good explaination

[JBatmanFan05]

The dishonorable thing was his later lie about it.

This "lie" seems to be a good bit of deviation from the books then (A Clash of Kings, Chapter 21, Bran III):

Something his father had told him once when he was little came back to him suddenly...
"The finest knight I ever saw was Ser Arthur Dayne, who fought with a blade called Dawn, forged from the heart of a fallen star. They called him the Sword of the Morning, and he would have killed me but for Howland Reed." Father had gotten sad then, and he would say no more. Bran wished he had asked him what he meant.

Boy, what a dishonorable liar book Ned is. Dayne would have killed him but for Howland Reed, he claimed. When in reality: Dayne would have killed him but for Howland Reed.

Can't handle the truth liar braggart Ned?

[AndrewCrossett]

Did Ned ever claim to have killed Dayne himself?

I think the perception of dishonor comes from killing a man with a backstab. For a knight, even in the heat of war, that's always been considered dirty pool.