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I was about to gloat in victory, but I went back 5 pages or so and couldn't actually find whether I had actually ever got round to posting "Compel's Grand Unified Theory of Thrones."

So, meh. What did surprise me though.

Technically he's undead now.

For a moment there, I thought they were going to go the unexpected route and leave him dead.

Did anyone else notice Melisandres glamour beginning to fail when she was tending to Jon?

Yeah, I kinda thought that too.

It's interesting how they're using Bran to explain some of the stuff that the show has been almost ignoring to this point.

Considering how long book fans have been waiting for confirmation of what happened last night, it's crazy to think that another suspicion may be confirmed soon.

To wit -- we saw Lyanna in this flashback, and the preview of next week shows Ned at the Tower of Joy. I'm guessing that they'll give that to us in snippets, but it certainly looks like it's full speed ahead toward R + L = J.

Another excellent episode that's leading the story forward. I feel like they might actually rap this up in season 8 at the latest at this point. It's like by not having to wait for Martin they can just run the show at the speed they would want to and finish it up.

I enjoyed the Sparrow poking the Jaime bear. A confrontation is definitely a brewing. I'm not sure that the Sparrow is really used to dealing with people as...straight forward....as Jaime.

Interesting that Bran might not stay at the tree/cave. Also I thought Lyanna was Ned's younger sister and not older. She seemed the oldest kid there and they did kinda leave out the older Brandon for some reason.

Overall solid. Davos continues to be a favorite for me up there with Tyrion.

But Brandon was there, wasnt he? I thought Brandon was the elder boy, who told Ned (middle child) to spar with Benjen (the youngest).I

A great episode. I wish they had shown us a shot of John's torso at the end there, instead of just his head. I'd really like to know what happened to the many holes in his body...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Shadow Captain Edithae wrote:
But Brandon was there, wasnt he? I thought Brandon was the elder boy, who told Ned (middle child) to spar with Benjen (the youngest).I

The mutton chops man. Could only be a young Ser Rodrik.

 Hulksmash wrote:
I enjoyed the Sparrow poking the Jaime bear. A confrontation is definitely a brewing. I'm not sure that the Sparrow is really used to dealing with people as...straight forward....as Jaime.

While true...I'm not sure that the direct approach will work with them. He seems more than happy to martyr himself and potentially supercharge their cause. The way you bring him down is to publicly discredit him. If Tywin was around, he'd handle it, but I'm not sure there's a Lannister left that's capable of making that happen since Tyrion's in Essos. I'd trust Kevan to manage a battle or war, but he seems to lack Tywin's gift for subterfuge.


Oh...and how about the Iron Islands? Looks like that whole storyline isn't gone after all!

Yeah. I thought who got the Iron king was left a bit vague (people thought it was a Faceless man). Guess that got addressed.

 pretre wrote:
Yeah. I thought who got the Iron king was left a bit vague (people thought it was a Faceless man). Guess that got addressed.

It was strongly implied that it was his brother, given that he returned from banishment almost immediately after Balon's death.

Ah, of course. Linda from the Elio Garcia channel names him as Rodrik Cassel.

[youtube]https://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=TqaMUM7hzpo[/youtube]


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 pretre wrote:
Yeah. I thought who got the Iron king was left a bit vague (people thought it was a Faceless man). Guess that got addressed.

Euron could actually be a Faceless Man. And by that, I mean the real Enron learned their magical arts (so he is the real Euron). There's a theory that he is the "dusky woman" who accompanies Victarion Greyjoy and the iron fleet.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 djones520 wrote:

 pretre wrote:
Yeah. I thought who got the Iron king was left a bit vague (people thought it was a Faceless man). Guess that got addressed.

It was strongly implied that it was his brother, given that he returned from banishment almost immediately after Balon's death.

I think the general consensus was that Euron was indirectly responsbible because he hired the Faceless Men to do it.

Shows how much I cared about the Iron Islands. I can't remember anything of their actual story line. Literally nothing.

@Gorgon

The problem kinda sorts itself out actually. There doesn't seem to be a leadership in place outside of the Sparrow (granted maybe we haven't been witness to it) and the movement seems to be largely centered in Kings Landing (again from what we can see). So if it as it appears then brute naked force might be the best bet.

Much preferred this episode to the last one. The Bolton bit annoyed me a bit, but I'm happy to see the Greyjoy storyline starting. I'm guessing there'll be the Kingsmoot either next episode or the one after.

 Breotan wrote:
So, it appears that the men on the Nights Watch don't hold up as well to being slammed around by the Hulk the way Loki does. ;P

Spoiler:

That was the bestest part of the whole episode

My wife was like "but the gates closed" and I was like "But they have a Hulk"

Its even more entertaining in the books. In the books, the giant rips one of Stannis' knights limb from limb, and the poor bastard was only trying to strike up a friendly conversation with him or something.

 Hulksmash wrote:
Shows how much I cared about the Iron Islands. I can't remember anything of their actual story line. Literally nothing.

@Gorgon

The problem kinda sorts itself out actually. There doesn't seem to be a leadership in place outside of the Sparrow (granted maybe we haven't been witness to it) and the movement seems to be largely centered in Kings Landing (again from what we can see). So if it as it appears then brute naked force might be the best bet.

But does the leadership matter if moving against the church leads to a general uprising against the Lannisters? He was talking revolution, and it's becoming clear that the Lannisters aren't popular in King's Landing and probably less so elsewhere. Now, if the High Sparrow gets poisoned or taken out covertly...perhaps that's a different result, but it's likely that another fanatic would just take the reins (even if loosely), like we see in our own world with fanatical groups.

I expect to see a much tighter Iron Islands storyline in the show, which would probably improve it and make it more memorable. I hazard to guess that GRRM has told them that this storyline DOES matter to the overall story, because they easily could have moved past it this season.

 ImAGeek wrote:
Much preferred this episode to the last one. The Bolton bit annoyed me a bit, but I'm happy to see the Greyjoy storyline starting. I'm guessing there'll be the Kingsmoot either next episode or the one after.

I found myself a bit in the disbelief portion with the Boltons. Roose was just way to cold and calculating to have let that happen to him. Whatev's though. Just one more check mark in the column of satisfaction when Ramsey finally runs into Jon Snow on the battlefield.

 djones520 wrote:

 ImAGeek wrote:
Much preferred this episode to the last one. The Bolton bit annoyed me a bit, but I'm happy to see the Greyjoy storyline starting. I'm guessing there'll be the Kingsmoot either next episode or the one after.

I found myself a bit in the disbelief portion with the Boltons. Roose was just way to cold and calculating to have let that happen to him. Whatev's though. Just one more check mark in the column of satisfaction when Ramsey finally runs into Jon Snow on the battlefield.

Yeah, threatening him one day with "Well if my lady has a boy son" and then the baby is born right after calling Ramsey a rabid dog I felt was a little out of place for Bolton. But then again he's juggling a lot and starting to see if plans coming apart with the escape of Sansa and a Stark in all but name as the Lord Commander.

The possible showdown between the sparrow and cersei have me getting hyped for a trail by combat and maybe my favorite theory coming true.

 Ustrello wrote:
The possible showdown between the sparrow and cersei have me getting hyped for a trail by combat and maybe my favorite theory coming true.

Which is?

 djones520 wrote:

 Ustrello wrote:
The possible showdown between the sparrow and cersei have me getting hyped for a trail by combat and maybe my favorite theory coming true.

Which is?

Cleganebowl

 Ustrello wrote:

 djones520 wrote:

 Ustrello wrote:
The possible showdown between the sparrow and cersei have me getting hyped for a trail by combat and maybe my favorite theory coming true.

Which is?

Cleganebowl

Ahh. The Church selecting him as their Champion would seem fitting.

Yes. A certain Septon has been cast for this season. I think the actor's name was Ian McShane.

Anyone else think that either the show writers or Martin have jumped the shark on being dark and edgy? I mean...I'm basically just watching/planning to read the rest of the series because it appears it will FINALLY get to the war with the White Walkers/Others after what amounts to 2-3 excellent books and 2-3 books of trivial universe building and set up for the final showdown. I could go on a rant about the mistakes I feel he's made in setting up the series' climax, but most of it has been said before by critics of books 4 and 5, so that would be a pointless endeavor.

Just a quick checklist of atrocities we've known to have occurred



Now...as a medieval pseudo realistic fantasy rape, is sadly, to be expected. In marriages, as a Lord's right, and as a spoil of war. Clegane and Ramsay's actions before/after they commit rape takes it to an entirely other level of sadism.

Having BOTH Clegane and Ramsay (both arguably sociopaths) in positions of power seems to be a bit of a stretch. Someone that barbaric and unhinged can only be tolerated for so long. I just feel like the show/books are getting darker and edgier to one up the already grim events of prior books and because the story is now coasting on shock value and the ultimate .

That's just my two cents. Last night's episode left a really bad taste in my mouth.

In a word, kinda no. Mostly because of all the foreshadowing that was going on considering it.

Ramsey is pretty much the Game of Thrones equivalent of the Joker.

I wouldn't say Clegane is really in a position of power, I don't think he really is Gregor anymore, more like an automaton under Cerseis control. That's the feeling I got from the books (and series) anyway.

 Compel wrote:
In a word, kinda no. Mostly because of all the foreshadowing that was going on considering it.

Ramsey is pretty much the Game of Thrones equivalent of the Joker.

Sadly the show hasn't a good job of foreshadowing, except when they're beating viewers over the head with it.

(Case in point: Roose "You're a rabid dog". Family Hug. Stabby stabby).

The show is very bad at subtlety.


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 ImAGeek wrote:
I wouldn't say Clegane is really in a position of power, I don't think he really is Gregor anymore, more like an automaton under Cerseis control. That's the feeling I got from the books (and series) anyway.

Well...thats one way of putting it. In the books, its doubtful that he still has a head.

Automaton indeed.

As the head of a house and Tywin's chief enforcer, Gregor was undoubtedly in a position of power up until his demise. He was probably one of the 50-100 most influential individuals in the realm at one point and certainly one of the most feared.